A Day At Sea ~ What and How I Packed For 19 Days (Day 11)

 

We had been on our cruise ship for a week before we had a full day at sea.  This is the itinerary we wanted - we only had 2 sea days with our 9 days in port.  The only pictures we took the entire day were that evening while we walked around the Lido deck.

 

Our day was mellow.  We ate breakfast in one of the dining rooms for a change and enjoyed sharing a table with a couple from England and another couple from Florida.

 

After breakfast I headed to the Princess Theater to hear a port presentation for our final two ports - Invergordon and Edinburgh, while Les went to the fitness center.  We both took naps and had room service bring a snack of fruit, cheese and crackers.

 

Dinner that night was our absolute worst of the trip!  The dining room was overwhelmed since everyone was onboard at the same time.  We opted to share a table and that was a huge mistake.  Service was horrible.  We were seated at 5:45 and didn't get our food for over an hour.  Of course they serve multiple courses and everything just dragged.  My main course was cold while they tried to time everything to come out at the same time.  We finally left the table at 7:20 without getting dessert.  I  don't enjoy spending an entire evening in a crowded dining room.  I didn't write it down, but I'm pretty sure we had gelato at some point.

 

When it comes to travel there seems to be a trend to only pack carry-on luggage.  People who have lost their luggage refuse to check a bag, while others don't want to pay for checking one.  I considered doing this, but considering how long we were going to be gone and how active we planned to be, it just didn't seem possible.

 

Many who go carry-on only end up washing things by hand in the sink every few nights.  That's not what I want to spend my time doing while I'm on vacation!  Our experience traveling internationally is that airlines typically don't charge for checked luggage, which was the case for this trip.

We each checked one mid-size suitcase and carried a backpack on the flight.  This allowed us to put our backpacks on our suitcase when moving from the airport, hotels or ship.  We never have to worry about weight allowances with these suitcases - they have never weighed more than 40 pounds.

Last year I bought a set of packing cubes and they are wonderful!  I wasn't sure if I truly liked them until this trip.  One thing I did was pack a separate cube for our London days so I only needed to pull it out when we were in our tiny hotel room.  I did this again when we left the cruise ship and once more when we left Bayeux.

 

Now on to what I packed...

4 dresses for dinner
4 skorts (these were the perfect choice for excursions and walking on a breezy ship)
8 tops
4 pairs of shoes - Sketchers Go-Walk, trail shoes, casual sandals, dressy sandals
2 jackets - a light weight cycling jacket and a puffer coat.  This coat was a total last minute purchase that I'm so glad I got!  I loved the way it fit and it kept me very warm on the ship and in Normandy.

1 sweatshirt

2 purses - a smallish one that I carried on the ship and a backpack that I wore when we were in ports.

Toiletries, underclothes, socks, etc.

 

Some important miscellaneous items: 

Single load laundry detergent (I bought and used two of these.)

Electrical adapter - the UK has different outlet types than France and these are both different from the US.  My adapter works for all.

Magnetic hooks for our cabin.  The walls in cruise ship cabins are all magnetic so these hooks are great for hanging up the daily schedule, light jackets, and our medallions.

Individually packaged wet wipes.  Another thing I'm so glad I packed!  These were great when we needed to freshen up while out on adventures.

Foreign currency - we needed both Euros and British pounds.  We used our credit card, but there are times when cash is needed.  I spent all the Euros but came home with some pounds... both British and gelato based.

 

 

We both wore everything we took at least twice and many things we wore three times!  I can honestly say I don't think I under-packed or over-packed.   Princess ships have laundry rooms on each deck that has stateroom cabins.  I knew we would leave LA on a Wednesday, so I planned to do laundry each of the Tuesdays of our trip.  I ended up doing laundry on the first Tuesday morning, then again the following Monday night.  Everything that we packed went straight into the laundry basket when we got home!

Anniversary Dinner and Bagpipes (Day 10, Part 2 of 2)

 

 

Our 32nd anniversary was on Thursday, May 25th.  That was the day we spent in Belfast and at the Giant's Causeway.  We decided to go to one of the specialty restaurants on the ship on Friday, May 26th.  We chose Sabatini's Italian Trattoria.  When we celebrated our 20th anniversary on the Carnival Magic we visited Cucina del Capitano.  When we celebrated our 25th anniversary on Royal's Jewel of the Seas we visited Giovanni's Table.  An Italian dinner on a cruise ship for our anniversary seems to be our thing!

Our meal was absolutely fantastic!  The best meal we've ever had on any cruise.  Although, the only pictures we took during dinner was of our dessert!  We both ordered the Hazelnut Rocher described as a blend of chocolate, pralines, and hazelnut ice cream sealed in milk chocolate.  This thing was huge!  Normally desserts on a cruise ship are just the right size.  This was so big and rich that neither of us came to close to finishing it.

We wandered around the piazza for a while and listened to the "Sisters Duo" play.  They are two sisters from the Ukraine who both play the violin.  Watching them play is so interesting as they communicate only with their eyes.

We then were "treated" to bagpipe music by Pipe Major, David McRobert.  Let's just say two minutes of this is plenty and he played for 15!

Glasgow, Scotland (Day 10, Part 1 of 2)

After our very busy day on Thursday we were ready for a more leisurely paced day in Glasgow, Scotland.  This was our first of three stops in Scotland.  We didn't wake up to an alarm and we took our time getting to breakfast.  There we met a lovely couple from Florida who are also Pentecostals!  They even know some of Les' family.  

 

Our ship docked in Greenock and it was about an hour train ride to Glasgow.  Below is the Men of Clyde sculpture in Greenock. Three shipyard workers are hauling a ship's propeller. A tribute to the long and important ship-building tradition of Greenock and the River Clyde shipyards.

We really enjoyed riding the trains in Europe.  They always seemed very relaxing and the scenery is amazing!

With absolutely no plan, we got off the train and just started walking around Glasgow.  It is the most populated city in Scotland and the fourth most populous in the UK.  There were lots of interesting buildings, both old and modern.

We found the coolest building for a coffee shop!

As with most of the European cities we visited, cycling is part of the culture.  Les really liked this traffic sign.

 

The River Clyde runs through Glasgow.  There are 15 bridges that cross the river and a lovely walkway.  We saw a few.  

Have I mentioned the beautiful weather?

We also spied on a wedding party outside the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Andrew.  Building of the cathedral began in 1814.

We also started looking for more information about the McElhaney family.  The more we learned, the more we realized that the name is as likely to be Scottish as it is Irish.  While we were in one of the shops we saw family tartans and started looking for the McElhaney tartan.  We didn't find what we were looking for but we did meet some very helpful store employees.

Prior to our arrival in Glasgow we had attended a port talk.  This gave us tips about getting around and things to see.  One of the things mentioned was the "traffic cone" statue.  This is actually the statue of the Duke of Wellington on his favorite horse Copenhagen.  It was sculpted by Italian artist Carlo Marochetti and erected in 1844.

 

No one knows exactly when the statue was first capped with a traffic cone.  Most say it happened some time in the 1980s.   The city council tried to put a stop to this practice, but even doubling the height of the base of the statue couldn't stop it.  They finally gave up after a "Keep the Cone" campaign reached 10,000 signatures in just 24 hours!

We finally took the train back to Greenock to return to our ship.  We had a special date planned for that night - I'll tell you about our evening in the next post!

Lunch and the Irish Countryside

On our way to the Giant's Causeway Richard had passed a lunch menu around the bus.  This was optional, but after our exploration, we were definitely ready to eat. The Fullerton Arms in Ballintoy did not disappoint!  We both ordered burgers, the meat was locally sourced and these were the tastiest burgers either of us had ever had!  Richard even helped bring the food out.

Prior to lunch there was a discussion on the bus about which way we would return to Belfast.  There was an option of visiting a Guinness brewery or taking a more scenic route back.  There were a few people loudly cheering for Guinness.  Of course Les and I weren't interested in that.  Fortunately, Richard took a vote and the majority preferred the scenic route.  Cheers for the silent majority!  Instead we got one more stop - the Portaneevy Viewing Point.

 

From here we could see Rathlin Island:

 

This little one is Sheep Island.

The views were spectacular!

On a day that included some very dark history, we were rewarded with amazing weather and unbelievable views.  I can almost understand why someone would want to take over this land - it's just beautiful!

Would you believe that the only time we got any rain was on this day?  We got just a few sprinkles while we were in the bus!

We got back to the ship around 5:00 p.m.  It was a fun, full day.  We were definitely too full for dinner, but had a surprise in our cabin - chocolate covered strawberries courtesy of our travel agent, Paula!  We eventually split a personal size pizza at Alfredo's and finished the night with gelato.

 

Even our stateroom cabin celebrated our anniversary!