Cruise Do-It-Yourself

Day 13: Disembarkation/Flight to Los Angeles via Toronto

Well, all good things must come to an end.

We booked a Princess Transfer to Heathrow and was assigned to disembarkation group Pink 2 which had a meeting time of 6:30am at the Wheelhouse bar. As our flight was scheduled to depart at 12:05, I felt it was more convenient to book the transfer with Princess than using local transportation.

While our group was not express walk-off (which means we still had to pick up our luggage at the terminal), we still had plenty of time. The bus finally left at 8am and we arrived at Heathrow at 10:15am. This gave us enough time to check out the United lounge at Heathrow. Check out the photos below. Much nicer and had more food and beverage options than the LAX United lounge.

Our flight to Los Angeles had a connection in Toronto and a layover of about 2 hours. After this experience, I have to say the U.S. border entry process in Toronto is a nightmare.

Here's how the process works: 1) you have to scan your passport in a kiosk, 2) you have to wait for your name to show on a screen indicating your luggage has been transferred, 3) you then pass through a customs and immigration agent to check your passport, and 4) you fall in line at another security checkpoint.

By the time we got to step 4, it was about 30 minutes before our plane was scheduled to depart. If we had remained in line, we wouldn't have made our flight. Fortunately, the agents were probably used to this situation by now and were calling passengers whose flights were about to depart and made them go in front of the line. We made it to our gate as the plane was already boarding. If I had known about this situation, I would have booked a longer layover or not connect in Toronto at all. I heard later from other passengers that it is the same situation in Montreal so better not connect in Canada at all.

Thankfully, we arrived back safely in Los Angeles later that evening to end an otherwise memorable and enjoyable cruise.

Day 3: Cork, Ireland (Cobh - for Blarney Castle)

DIY trip to Blarney Castle (and kiss the Blarney Stone) and downtown Cork

We slept in a little bit this day and got off the ship at 9:30am. We headed to the train station which is right across from the ship's gangway. See photo below. Bought return tickets for €8.50/person. The train ride took about 25 minutes. The train station at Cork had an ATM and we got some euros there. We walked about 15 minutes to the bus station at Parnell Place and bought return tickets for bus 215 for €7.60. The 215 bus left at 11am for Blarney and the ride took about 40 minutes. The bus stop for Blarney Castle is Woolen Mills. We headed to the castle and fell in line for the Blarney Stone. The line was long and moved at a snail's pace. It took about 1.5 hours to finally reach the Blarney Stone. If you're afraid of heights (as I am), you might think twice about going up the castle to kiss the stone. I decided this is a once in a lifetime experience so I might as well go for it. And it wasn't that bad. There was actually a person holding you while you lie on your back to kiss the stone.

Train station across from ship's gangway

Parnell Place Bus Station

Ticket prices for Blarney Castle

Blarney Stone seen from the outside

Kissing the Blarney Stone

We left the Blarney Castle and took the 215 bus back to Cork at 1:50pm and had lunch at Farmgate Cafe inside the English Market. We walked back to the train station and caught the 4pm train back to Cork.

Train ride back to Cobh:

We arrived back in port at 4:25pm. Since the ship wasn't leaving until 6pm, we walked around the port area and looked into going inside the White Star Line building. Since it cost €9 to get in, we decided against it since we only had a short amount of time left. We just bought some groceries and soda at a grocery store and headed back to the ship.

So the total cost of visiting the Blarney Stone was €29.10/person. Compare that to the cost of the ship tour and you can see why a DIY tour is much cheaper. And the ship tour doesn't even allow you to kiss the Blarney Stone because of time limitations.

While going to the Blarney Stone is considered a tourist activity, the train and bus ride, plus lunch at a local restaurant and walking around the city, also enabled us to experience Cork as a local would. Ultimately, this is what we try to do whenever possible when visiting a new place.

Day 2: Guernsey

St. Peter Port, Guernsey: DIY tour amidst pouring rain.

Our original plan was to walk to Candie Gardens, stop by Ben Le Provost Chocolatier (world-famous chocolate shop, then walk to Hauteville House (Victor Hugo's house) and then a final stop at Castle Cornet.

We boarded the tender at 8:25am. The good news: there were no lines and no tickets needed to board the tender. The bad news: it was pouring rain outside. Because of the rain, we decided to skip Candie Gardens and head straight to Victor Hugo's house. We arrived there around 9:15am and found that it doesn't open until 10am. Since there was no point in walking around town in the rain, we decided to just wait outside the front of the house until it opened.

Once Hauteville House opened, we paid £7/adult (children free) for the guided tour. You cannot visit this attraction on your own, you have to sign up for the guided tour. Our tour guide was French and was hard to understand at times but the house was very impressive even by today's standards. The tour runs about an hour.

After Hauteville House, we walked about 20 minutes down to Castle Cornet. There is a cannon firing at exactly 12noon.

After Castle Cornet, we lined up for the tender around 12:20pm. Since it was raining hard, Princess provided umbrellas to the passengers waiting in line. At 1:30pm, we arrived back at the ship.

I'm pretty sure this would have been a nice little town to walk around if it hadn't been for the rain. As it was, the weather made it a difficult situation and we had to make the best out of it.

Day 1: Embarkation in Southampton

Embarkation in Southampton

We took a National Express Bus, departed Victoria Coach Station 9:30am and arrived Southampton Coach Station 11:45am (£33.50 total for 2 adults/1 teen).

We then took a taxi from Southampton Coach Station to Ocean Cruise Terminal. The fare was around £6 so I gave the driver £10.

We arrived at the terminal around 11:55am and dropped off our luggage at some sort of station outside the terminal. The stations are assigned by deck and there were no porters involved so we didn't have to tip anyone. We finished the check-in process around 12:25pm and were given a yellow card with the number 17 on it. At this time, they were calling group #4.

The two sailings prior to our cruise had a code red (Norovirus outbreak) so it took the crew some time to sanitize the ship after debarkation. I believe that was the reason for the slow embarkation process. Around 2pm (about an hour and a half wait), our group was finally called to board.

Southampton Cruise Terminal viewed from ship

After getting on board, we headed to the buffet for lunch. The good news: code red has been lifted. However, the crew still made everyone wash their hands before entering the buffet. At 4:15pm, we headed to the muster drill.

Cabin

Our cabin: inside stateroom M718 (Marina Deck)

Pros of this stateroom:

Most convenient to Horizon Court. The cabin is right next to the stairway and walk up one flight of stairs and you're at the entrance to the buffet.
Very close to the Kids/Teen Center for children and the fitness center. Only two flight of stairs up.
Easy access to the Concerto dining room using aft elevators.

Cons:

As in every inside stateroom, there is no outside light. Since this was a port-intensive cruise, we figured we won't be staying much inside the cabin. On the sea days, we spent most of our time at the piazza and at the buffet. The problem with no outside light is that the inside lights turn off when there is no room card inserted on the light switch by the door. So if your cabin mates leave the room and take their key card with them, the lights will turn off after a few minutes and you have to grope in the dark for your own key card and then insert it in the light switch.
It's a long walk to the anytime dining rooms. You have to use the aft elevators down to deck 7, walk to the piazza, and then take the stairs down to deck 6 or 5. After a long day in port, it makes the buffet a more inviting option for dinner.

Pre-paid Internet

We purchased the pre-paid internet package prior to cruise. The package consists of 100 minutes plus a bonus of 20 minutes for pre-purchasing it. Please be aware that the 20 bonus minutes IS NOT AUTOMATIC. When you create your account, you get the 100 minutes. You need to see the internet manager, show him your pre-paid receipt and then he can add the bonus minutes to your account. This is such a hassle because a) the times we used the internet, the manager was rarely there, and b) when he was there, there was a long line of people waiting for his services. My advice, buy the pre-paid package but be prepared for the hassle of getting the bonus minutes.

Pre-Cruise Day 2: Oxford & Highclere Castle

For this day, we took the Oxford and Highclere Castle: The Real Downton Abbey tour from London, 8am - 7pm

http://www.premiumtours.co.uk/tours/tour/oxford-and-highclere-castle-downton-abbey-tour.id296.html

My wife is a huge Downton Abbey fan so she's been looking forward to this trip for a long time.

As in the previous day, this tour departs from Victoria Coach Station. Since we've been there the day before on the Stonehenge and Bath tour, we weren't alarmed by the chaotic atmosphere and eventually made it to our tour bus.

Oxford

Our first stop was the college town of Oxford and we arrived there around 10:50am. Our guide gave us about a 30 minute walking tour of the town and then let us explore on our own.

We planned on having lunch at this Pub but it was still closed at 11:30am so we just ate at some restaurant along the main street.

Bampton

After departing Oxford at 12:20pm, our next stop was the town of Bampton where the village scenes of Downton Abbey were filmed. We arrived in Bampton at 1pm and spent an hour there.

Front yard of Isobel Crawley's house

Highclere Castle

Our next stop was Highclere castle and we arrived there around 3pm. We spent about 2 hours there which includes a walking tour inside the castle plus the gardens in the backyard. There is a small cafeteria outside in the back but be warned that there are a lot of wasps. I wasn't sure if it was because of the time of the year but there were swarms of wasps everywhere. It was nice to see the inside of the castle in person however there is no photography allowed inside so I couldn't show any pictures. My wife spent a good hour inside while my son and I waited in the back fending off the swarm of wasps.

At 5pm, we departed Highclere Castle and arrived back in London around 6:45pm. We had dinner again at Nando's since it was the closest to the hotel.

Arrival in London

Our ETA was 12:20pm but we actually landed at 11:50am and out of the gate at 12:10pm. The United gate must have been the farthest as it took us a good 20 minutes to reach the queue at passport control. We finally cleared passport control at 1pm and proceeded to pick up our luggage. After picking up our luggage, we bought the following SIM card from a vending machine. Using an unlocked smart phone, this allowed us to use the internet and check e-mail even if there is no wi-fi available. It gave us unlimited data for 1 month and cost £15. The SIM card works anywhere in the UK but not in Ireland.

I booked a National Express bus to Victoria Coach Station for £5/person plus a £1 booking fee at 2:30pm. Since our flight ETA was 12:20, I thought we should have plenty of time to make the 2:30 bus. As it happened, we arrived at the bus station at 1:20pm. So I went to the National Express counter to see if we can take an earlier bus. The person at the counter said it's no problem, there's a bus arriving in 10 minutes and just show our reservation ticket to the bus. Here's our bus with the luggage compartment in the bottom of the bus.

Our hotel was the Premier Inn London Victoria which was about 4 blocks from the bus station and about a 7 minute walk. In hindsight, it probably would have been a better idea to use a taxi or car service upon arrival. Although it cost around £50-60 for a taxi, it was definitely more convenient after a long flight and pulling our luggage. The hotel cost £393 for three nights. It was a decent hotel and met our needs. It was close to the bus station with lots of places to eat nearby.

We finally arrived at our hotel room around 2:30pm. After taking a nap, we stopped at a bank ATM to get some cash. We didn't get cash at the airport after I read this article about the best way to get cash in the UK:
http://www.smartertravel.com/blogs/today-in-travel/cash-on-arrival-new-game-plan-for-airport-atms.html?id=21194088

For dinner, we stopped by Nando's which was just around the corner from the hotel to try their Peri-Peri chicken. It was pretty good - probably better than the El Pollo Loco we have back in Los Angeles. After dinner, we stopped by Sainsbury's down the street to get some groceries and breakfast food for the following morning.

Pre-Cruise Day 1: Stonehenge & Bath

For this day, we booked this tour:

http://www.londontoolkit.com/tours/premium_stonehenge_bath.htm

The tour departs from Victoria Coach Station at 8am. We walked to the station from our hotel and arrived there around 7:50am. When we got there, it was pure chaos. If you are taking any of the tours from London Toolkit that depart from Victoria Station, do not be alarmed. The tour buses depart from the same station as the commuter buses so there is a thick crowd of people waiting in the morning. The commuter buses depart first and then the tour buses take their place. Eventually, everyone gets on the right tour buses.

Stonehenge

We arrived at Stonehenge around 10:50am and took the short shuttle ride to the stones. Took a few pictures and headed back to the visitor center for lunch.

Visitor Center

Bath

Around 12:20pm, we departed for Bath and arrived there around 1:30pm. We stopped by Sally Lunn's to sample her "world famous bun". It was nothing special - just a big hamburger bun. We then headed to the Roman Baths around 2:30pm.

Roman Baths

After the Roman Baths, our tour guide walked us around the city for about half an hour and finally departed Bath around 5pm. Made it back to London around 7pm.