At sea Day 1 Leaving Ireland

     We were now well out into the Atlantic with the Irish coast about 300 miles behind us. We are on a slightly deviating course from what we would normally take but the captain is steering us well away from the tropical storm that is in the Atlantic. He says we will be about 300 miles from it when it passes to the north and then he will get back on track for Halifax. This afternoon with the wind blowing up this afternoon the ship was rocking a bit. However after a few hours it was relatively calm again. The hour gained last night is followed by another one tonight. They are appreciated!

 

Ready for Formal Night

  Today was a typical day at sea. We did the 45 minute zumba class in the morning and the stayed for the ballroom cha cha class after that. Both were a good way to start the day. I sat and did a puzzle while Judy did a hula class. All the classes are held in the Atrium and with over 3000 people on the ship it gets pretty crowded.

    We had lunch at the Pub lunch which Princess offers on a regular basis. It serves

Our Table

pub fool like fish and chips, prawns, etc. The first of the enrichment lectures took place today was called The Mindful Eating Cycle by a doctor who has some interesting ideas about a balanced approach to eating. There are more lectures scheduled. Judy stayed for a movie and I carried on to line dancing. I should have gone to the movie. However all movies are shown on demand on this ship. We tried to watch the Lady Antebellum concert on the big screen outside but the wind was blowing and the temperatures are still on the cool side.

   

Chocolate Journey

Tonight was formal night and our appetizers arrived at 5 and after a glass of wine we were dressed and off to night time activities. We had a bit of time before dinner so we had our formal photographs done. We always like to see what we look like! It was lobster night with the “chocolate journey” dessert! We attended the production show Born to Dance in the Princess theatre. It is one of the newer shows that we have seen before. It is a far cry from some of the shows in the past!

Cork And The Spike Island Visit

   We were in Cove at 5am this morning with a sailing time of 9:30 tonight. We had

Cove Ireland

a noon reservation for our trip to the island so we had breakfast in the dining room and went ashore by mid morning. We have been to Cove many times on our crossings so there was not much new here. We did follow the Titanic trail as Cove was the last major port before it headed out across the Atlantic and there are reminders of that wherever you go. Just offshore the liner Lusitania was torpedoed by a u-boat in World War 1. The main street is active with bars and souvenir shops. By afternoon they were full of passengers from the ships.

Officer's Quarters

 

Judy In The Prison Wing

       The main attraction of the day for us was a visit to Spike Island. It was not even an attraction when we were here a few years ago but it is now ranked as the #1 Tourist attraction on trip adviser. It is slowly being supported by the local governments. Our visit was very interesting. Spike island started life as a fort for the protection of the harbor which is apparently one of the best in the world. The shuttle ferry to the island took about 25 minutes. We were immediately met by our guide who gave us about a 90 minute tour of the fort. It started existence as a fort along with 2 other facilities built at the same time. This was in addition to some Martello Towers which were built throughout the British Isles. After it was a fort, they turned it into a prison which like the Dublin jail, held prisoners for transport to the developing colony of Australia and Tasmania. During WW2 it again became a defensive position for the protection of the harbour. It still contains 2 - 6 inch guns for protection. After the war it was again turned into a prison. At that time some new cells were built. It was finally abandoned about 20 years ago and fell into disuse. It is currently being updated and rebuilt.

Housing in Disrepair

        One of the interesting things about the fort was that there was housing for solder's families. In addition to the houses there was a school and a church all of which are in terrible disrepair. There was a fire in the Officer's building years ago and today it remains a shell. While serving as a prison, a riot broke out and a cell block was set on fire. Interesting enough after breaking out the prisoners got down to the dock only to find that the boats were chained up. The guards had locked the prison gates and the prisoners had to

Spike Island Church

break back into the prison to escape the army which was being sent to quell things. Our guide for all this (John G) was a great story teller mixing facts with humour. He did an absolute great job.  We did have about 90 minutes to explore the grounds after the tour which was too short to fully explore the place. 

    When we returned to Cove we walked up the hill to the large church for a quick visit. Then we stopped around the corner at Doyle's bar for a drink. Away from the town center, Doyle's is a neighborhood bar with about a

Deck Of  Cards Housing Cove

dozen people in it. Only 2 other cruise passengers were in there. We met a woman who was born on Spike island and attended school there. What are the chances! She filled in some of the story about the families that lived there.

   Returning to the ship, we dressed and went to an Irish folkloric show and then after dinner attended the Pub Night show. This is a “new” show put on by the staff that we saw for the first time last spring. We gain an hour tonight which is a good thing. We have started our 5 day crossing of the Atlantic heading for Halifax.

Dublin And The Old Jail

   We docked in Dublin at 5am this morning. The sail time was 3:30 which means that our actual time ashore was quite short. We were on the shuttle bus and at the drop off point before 8am. We needed to get going early because we were going to the old Jail which is a bit out of the central area of the city.

Cell Door

Old Jail 

   We had seen the big attractions (St. Patrick's, Trinity College, etc.) on our previous visits and so we chose to do something off the beaten path. We spent a bit of time looking once again at the painted doors of an older area of the city. We have visited this area on our last 2 visits but they are so interesting I wanted to do a quick walk through. We needed to get to the old jail and had a few choices. The hop on hop off bus did stop there but because we needed to get back to the ship so early, we would not be able to take advantage of all the stops. We tried to take a bus but we needed coins to pay the fare so we decided to walk. It took over an hour (a few wrong turns) but we were there in time to have a tea before our 10:30 tour time. We had booked online weeks ago.

 

In A Cell

  The jail (Kilmainham Gaol) is a “historic” site no longer in use. It is over 200 years old and had a long history. It did house many political prisoners over time and there were a number of public view hangings in the jail. The guide gave us an excellent review of Irish history with a riot against the British, separation from the empire and then the civil war with what became “northern” Ireland. In all it was a very well used place. We sat in the “court” where people were tried and saw the trial holding cells. The youngest prisoner ever was 5 years old and many children were interned there due to stealing food, receiving 10-15 year terms. It also held prisoners that were designated for “transport” to the colonies – Australia. The cells were designed for 1 prisoner but sometimes held up to 7 in the small dark damp cold spaces. Prisoners were in their cells 22 hours a day and had 1 hour of exercise and 1 hour

Hanging Courtyard

of hard labour (breaking rocks”). In all the tour lasted over an hour. The visit to the Kilmainham Gaol although off the beaten track was certainly worth it. I am surprised that Princess does have a visit as part of a local tour.

    We opted for public transportation to get back to the city centre. With a bit of help we easily got our tickets and were on the tram. Because of the limited time in the city, we did not visit the St. Mary's laundry which the nuns ran for abused children. The girls were virtually held as prisoners in a work camp environment. A crossing of the Ha Penny bridge brought us to the famous Temple Bar area. It is really the place to visit for the many tourists in town. We stopped at the Quay Bar – we had been to the actual

The Quay Bar

Temple Bar before - where we finally had a nice cider and a local beer. It was a good place to sit down for a bit of time and watch the tourists go by. Finally we made our way back to Merrion Square which was the pick up location for the shuttle bus. We were back on the ship by about 3pm. It was quite a hectic day with the amount of travel and limited time frame.

Quay Bar Rest

    We rested for a few hours and the headed off to the crab shack, a “specialty” restaurant. Stacey at CAA included that in our travel package. We could have used the voucher for the steak or Italian restaurants but opted for the sea food. It was excellent and we managed to get through most of the king crab legs and the shrimp. It was better than on the last cruise. 

      One entertainment venue today had a selection of Irish music by one of the house bands. The lead singer is from Ireland. It was very entertaining and she sang 2 songs that I use with line dancing. We are in Cove early tomorrow with a very late sailing so we can relax in the morning. We are going to Spike Island (Island Prison) tomorrow).

Finally Greenoch

     We finally made it to Scotland! We slowed down during the night as the strong winds caused the ship to take longer to get here. Apparently we were rocking a bit from the waves but it was during the night! The end result was that we were almost an hour late getting here. It was probably a good decision not to take a tour.  

 

Scottish Countryside

   All systems seem to be back to normal today.. The Medallion system is now being used on this ship. It means faster internet and that is great for us. Gaining of an hour meant that we had a really good long sleep.

  We did 45 minute zumba class with a different instructor. She was better than the instructor we had yesterday but it is basically zumba gold which is a good thing. At breakfast we met university professor/actress who lives in Los Angel but grew up in Detroit.

In Greenoch

She has very fond memories of Windsor. She said that once through the tunnel and into Windsor, it was very quiet. That probably is not a good thing. We had a very lively and interesting conversation with her. She is on sabbatical and will stay in New York to see if she can find some acting jobs. The others 2 at the table were 2 Australian women who were the most miserable people we have met. We don't usually find Australians like that.

     Greenoch turned out to be a very nice little town. The entire area is very green! The waterfront

Horse Power

has been cleared of the old shipbuilding structures that were here 4 years ago and in their place a very nice area has been developed. We picked up a walking map of the city and spent about 3 hours walking the streets. The waterfront now has a large indoor pool, parks, walkways, college buildings, etc. We found a statue of Ginger, a work house from the shipbuilding days. Interesting was the fact that James Watt inventor of the steam engine worked in this town. That is where the terms watts came into use during the industrial revolution. Down some of the old streets took us to the town square. I was looking for a pub to have a pint but we seems to

Bank Street

keep going. It wasn't really a problem. In all a very nice little stop and it was unfortunate that our tour of Sterling Castle was canceled.

Is There Beer In There?

     There was a Scottish folkloric show in the Princess theatre before the ship sailed at 5:30. We think that we seen this show before but it was quite entertaining. It contained a piano, accordion, a fiddler 3 dancers 4 pipers and a drummer. They seemed to be well received. It was sushi night in the lounge where we chatted with our friends from Hamilton. The Country and Western party was held in the Atrium but was well underway by the time we finished dinner. The main show was an encore by a singer we had seen before. He does put on an enjoyable show.

  We have an early arrival/early departure in Dublin tomorrow. We intend to get into town as early as we can but expect the wait for the shuttle will be long.

At Sea North Of Scotland

    Things seem to be back to normal today. There are still a few services that are not back on line but the internet and TV are now working fine. The Medallion system is now being used on this ship. It means faster internet and that is great for us. The information in the guide book did not mention what happens when you are elite.

    The captain has been on the PA system a number of times trying to keep the ship informed. The information is timely and complete and if anyone doesn't know what is happening, it is their own fault. Missing the tidal window and the 50 knots wind have added time to our passage. We just turned south towards the next port over the top of Scotland. Unfortunately the delay yesterday because of the computer problem led to the missed high tide added about 5 hours to our arrival time. So now we don't get to our next port until 11 am tomorrow. Our tour has been canceled and having already been to Greenoch 3 times so we could not find anything that we wanted to do. Since we will only be there for 6 hours, we decided to just walk around, something that should take about 30 minutes! Perhaps it will be pub time!

Formal Night

    We had to report to British immigration at 7:30 this morning. It was quick – look at the passport, stamp and go. Not like Japan at all! Breakfast with a couple from Texas followed and then the wait for the zumba class. Even I found it pretty mundane. We have experienced much better routines on other ships. We did attend the meet and greet Cruise Critics gathering where we sat and talked to people from Virginia. There wasn't any formal programme. That was followed by a port lecture on Scotland and Ireland. Afterwards I asked about 2 specific things in Dublin and he did not know what I was talking about. We hug around for the line dancing (hey NO electric slide! Yea) and then it was time to get ready for formal night tonight. Judy also found time to buy an evening purse an I ordered 2 bottles to take off the ship. We again met our Hamilton friends for cocktails in the elite lounge.

    It was the traditional champagne waterfall night but the rocking of the ship had

Happy Birthday Judy (1 Day Late)

little effect. The Captain gave his talk and again apologized for what has happened in terms of the schedule. He really likes to talk. He mentioned that there are over 300 Canadians onboard and about 2100 plus from the U.S.A. Not too many people seemed to be upset about it the problems that have occurred. The line up at the tour desk was long when we decided no to try to book something else. Dinner was good as usual and the waiters did sing the Happy Birthday song for Judy. After 2 champagnes , wine and some Baileys (not like Judy at all), we were ready for the production show called Bravo with the diva singing the lead. We saw this production last year and it is still one of the best shows we have seen on Princess.

    Finally we turn back the clocks an hour tonight. Tomorrow should be an easy day. Late arrival and a wandering of less than 1 horse town are in store!

Kristianstand Norway 5th Largest City In Norway

   Yesterday the excuse for getting up late was jet lag, today just because. The day

From The Hill

was cool with clouds still around. When we left the cabin balloons were hanging outside, there was a sign on the door and a card in the mail slot. Today was Judy's birthday.

    The Vikings and the big moose (reindeer?) were waiting for us as we left for the 20 minute walk into the city. We had been here 4 years ago but are at a different dock. This is what we call a one horse town. There is not a whole lot to see or do and the added off and on rain showers did not

Old Town

help. It seemed that all day we put on rain gear, took out the umbrella then put it away again. It took about 15 minutes to get downtown and about 10 minutes to walk through it. We had wanted to take the local ferry which visits 4 islands in about an hour but apparently it is shut down for the season. So we reverted to the oh well plan.

    They do have a hill and public park in the city, much like Bergen, so we walked up it. Good views of the city but the rain was back and the rocks were slippery reminding us of the time that Judy fell the last time we were in Norway. We headed to the old town -Posebyed- which has the largest collection of old, low-rise timber houses. That led us back to the central square where the Kristiansand Cathedral is located. We missed a concert by a few minutes. We

Cathederal

had not seen any indication that there was music in the church every time a cruise ship is in port. A walk to the waterfront park was next where the 2^nd largest fountain in Norway is found. It is not that big! The town visit ended with a stroll back to the ship past the very modern buildings of the fish markets and upscale restaurants near the cruise port. It had started to rain again.

   We lunched on a specialty pizza at Alfredo's where we tried to get in yesterday but found the lineup too long. The rest of the day was spent doing puzzles and reading. With the temperature around 15C it has been too cool to sit outside. There was not much planned for the ship in the afternoon except for Effy (more jewelry stuff), Spa specials, movies, etc.

   We were suppose to sail shortly after 3:30. At 4:30 we were still alongside. Apparently the ship was on shore power which knocked out some of the computer servers onboard. Safety systems were good but the accounting system for the staff and guests was knocked

Regal Princess

out. The CO could not verify if everyone was aboard. All guests had to remain in their cabins until a face to face verification was completed. It was completed quickly but once some people were counted, they left their cabins before the captain gave the all clear causing a bit of delay. Actually when all was over we were only about 90 late sailing. However this was enough to cause us to miss a high tide resulting in a further distance to go as the ship needed to take a different route. Added to the distance was the prediction of high winds and a 3 meter swell.

   The result of the computers being out lasted until we went to bed. TV reception and internet were still down. Dinner was disrupted because all is done using their data base.

Happy Birthday

The patter (daily log) was not available either. Frankly I think someone or something fried their system . However here we are at sea. I was waiting for an announcement “anyone who can do navigation please report to the bridge”.

    We did hear the diva sing in the atrium. Because of the computer problems fixed dining was canceled. We did not get a chance to celebrate Judy's birthday dinner at our regular table but we did have a bottle of wine between us. We decided to skip the late show since we have to report to Scottish immigration (onboard) at 7:30 tomorrow. It will be our first day at sea.

Ashore In Aarus Denmark

     After our short transit, we arrived early this Sunday morning in Aarhus Denmark. We were late getting up as the jet lag and activities in Copenhagen were probably catching up to us a bit. We did manage to get to see everything that we wanted.

    The city itself is the second largest in Denmark and but was very quiet. The port shuttle

Colored Alley

bus dropped us right at the start of a very long pedestrian way. These European cities have it right. Get the traffic off central area and let the shops, bars and eateries take over. Most of the day we walked along these car restricted ways. By afternoon, they were filled with people sitting, drinking a cold beer, eating and having a relaxing day. I wonder what Windsor would be like if traffic was restricted along the main core of the city.

We walked into the Latin Quarter (why it is called that we could not find out) which is a bit older that the main street but filled with interesting “crayon coloured” houses. The one small lane way that we found was brightly painted by the graffiti artists. It was typical of the bright colours in the area.

The Church

    There is a large cathedral where Sunday services had just finished by the time we got

Up the Tower

there. When we entered the Aarhus Domkirke baptisms were being performed. The church itself was very much in the reformation style. It is the longest and tallest church in Denmark built in the traditional red brick style that can be seen on many of the older buildings. There are over 200 frescoes from the 14^th and 15^th century with an alter that was carved in the 16^th century. Of course the church tower was open for climbing. It was only 200 or so steps up but the spiral was quite steep. There were ropes on either side of the staircase to use as grips. They ended in the belfry which was as high as you were allowed to go. Of course the views of the city were very nice but the constant overcast skies that have been with us took away some of the beauty. Unfortunately that seems to be the weather we can expect for the next few days.

Old Decorated Street

    Next we headed to city hall stopping a in the Mollestein area which again has some very old restored and colourful houses. Along the way we stopped at the Church of Our Lady, a 12^th century Dominican priory that survived the Protestant Reformation. That took us to a large park near the art museum. Behind it was the city hall area where a festival was going on. It was alive with people enjoying the food, entertainment and children's craft area. We headed back down the walkway along the narrow canal and by all the soccer fans enjoying their beer to the shuttle bus location. After a cup of tea and a bite to eat it was time to relax.

    The rest of the evening was a little more relaxed with a stop at the lounge for some Mexican salsa and chips. We meet a couple from Hamilton while there. Then it was on to the Effy store for the jewelry talk. They have it every day and night. We did not stay for the free draw (Judy has won the gifts before) as it was getting close to our dinner time. However the champagne was good. After dinner we did go to the show . The performance was quite good. Tomorrow we are in Norway for more wandering.