Bonnetts Abroad Past Trips

Round Britain

Took the 09:30 ferry from East Cowes to Southampton, got into Southampton at 10:30.

We could see Emerald Princess berthed next to the Ocean cruise terminal from the ferry

It's only about half a mile from the ferry terminal to the cruise terminal, so we walked it. The ship clearly visible as we walked.

Outside the cruise terminal, we gave our bags to the porter who loaded them onto a conveyor belt, and we headed indoors.

We had had some trouble completing the online check in process, so we were directed into the blue line, rather than the green line. The blue line was much shorter, we were at the check–in desk within 10 minutes.

Sat down, had a cup of coffee (free) and waited for embarkation.

We could have gone through when the first batch was called, but we didn't realise that we were platinum (having cruised with carnival before). Even so, it wasn't long before we were through security and onboard ship.

Finding our cabins was easy, after which we went off to have a look around the ship

Back to the cabin, where our bags had now arrived outside the door. Freshened up a bit and then down for a drink before dinner in the DaVinci dining room.

When we woke up, the ship had already dropped anchor just under two miles of the coast.

We had breakfast tine the “International Market” and then collected a ticket to await our turn to go ashore in a tender.

We didn't have to wait long, and were ashore by 08:30.

The tender put us ashore at the Albert Pier, the first thing you see as you come off the pier is a statue of Prince Albert.

We had downloaded a walking tour, the first stop, just opposite the end of the pier is the town church, who's claim to fame is being in the guiness book of records as the church which is closest to a pub, the Albion House Tavern.

Outside the church is the inevitable sculpture of Victor Hugo.

The tour led us along the main street, with many little alleys of the side.

And then on to the Sunken Garden

We walked up the hill to the Candie Gardens, very nice, well kept borders, statues of Victor Hugo and Queen Victoria, and lovely views over the port.

We were feeling a bit weary by this time, so enquired at the Information Office about a bus to take us around the island, but by that time everyone else had had the same idea, and the queues were very long. So we left Guernsey, with its blue pillar boxes and yellow telephone kiosks and went back to the ship.

A pleasant walk around St. Peter Port

We were off the boat by 9 o'clock, walking along the sea front in the general direction of the tourist information office.

In front of tourist information is the memorial to the Lusitania, and also an interesting mural

The woman in tourist information was extremely helpful, and outlined a circular walk that would take in the highlights of the port.

We set of in the direction indicated, heading to towards the “holy ground”

After the holy grounds we walked up the hill to see the mural dedicated to Jack Doyle, a famous boxer from the town.

We continued heading up the hill towards the cathedral, we were now high enough to have quite a good view over the port.

The Cathedral itself is impressive, but there was a funeral in progress, so we didn't feel that we could go in, so had to content ourselves with the outside vistas.

We left the Cathedral grounds and continued going up the hill to see the famous “Pack of Cards” houses

The town museum was the next stop

Many interesting artefacts from the Lusitania

As we left the museum, we were heading to a viewpoint that would give us views over the port, but we never did find it, instead we walked along until we found a road that would take us over the railway and back to the ship

Only about 3.5 Miles, but it was quite hilly in places

As we sailed out of the harbour, we stood out on deck to admire the passing scenery

The ship anchored off Dun Laoghaire, providing a tender service to the shore, but we decided not to get off.

In Belfast the cruise terminal is a couple of miles away from the city centre, so we had no choice but to pay for a shuttle bus, $16 each, for a 5 mile round trip.

The bus dropped us outside the Tourist Information, where we were able to pick up a map if the city centre

We decided that our first stop should be the Cathedral, over the road from the Cathedral is a memorial to the people of Ireland who fought in the Spanish Civil war.

The Cathedral itself was closed, so we walked around the outside of it

Whilst admiring the Cathedral from Buoy Park, we stopped to photograph a statue of a boxer, which caught the attention of a couple of workmen who were having breakfast on a park bench, who were very enthusiastic about the history of boxing in Belfast, and how there was a boxing. club on almost every street corner. The statue was honouring Belfast's first World Boxing Champion – John Joseph "Rinty" Monaghan 1918–1984 [unveiled August 2015] – Retired as Undefeated World, European, British & Empire Flyweight Champion

We wandered away past the Dumpling Library, through Saint Anne's Square, down Emily Lane into Talbot Street, which was adorned with an incredible Wall Mural

We walked onwards, down Hill Street, passing the Dirty Onion and Yardbird, which claims to be Belfast's oldest building

On the same street if the Jameson Living Barrels, wall art, created from the staves of barrels once used to age Jameson Whiskey.

After a short while we came to the Jaffe memorial Fountain, and the Dome. The Dome claimed to have a viewing area at the top, but as we got nearer to it, we found out that is was closed.

After that we walked to St. Georges Market, which was a combined affair, mainly pseudo antiques, but also had a fantastic array of seafood stalls. Didn't buy anything, so walked down to have a look at the Waterfront Hall. After which we headed back to the shuttle bus pickup and went back to the ship.

All in all, we walked about 5 miles.

The ship docks on Merseyside, right on the edge of the centre of Liverpool.

We disembarked, and sauntered along Merseyside.

Monument to the engineers who lost their lives.

The Liver Building

Outside Tate Liverpool

Albert Dock

We then headed inland, towards the protestant cathedral, passing the tower, a wild life patch, St. Vincents Church and some wall murals.

When we got close to the cathedral, we were blocked by a locked gate, we asked a group of men who were hanging around, and they kindly directed us towards an entrance. Finally made it into the cathedral grounds.

The cathedral was completed in 1974, entrance was free. Inside, there was an area laid out for a celebratory dinner.

We left the cathedral, and paused briefly to admire St. James' gardens, but we didn't go down into them.

We walked down Hope Street towards the metropolitan cathedral

Up the steps and into the cathedral

At day at sea as the ship sailed around the North coast of Scotland towards Orkney

The ship docked at the Hatston cruise terminal, a free shuttle bus is provided by Orkney, that goes into Kirkwall. The first bus was at 08:30, we were on the next one.

We had organised a hire car for the day. We picked it up from Orkney Cars, shortly after 10. They were extremely helpful, providing is with maps, and showing us photos of what to look out for. The car was a brand new VW Golf.

After a pleasant drive to the south of the island, we crossed one of the Churchill barriers and stopped at the Italian chapel

We then drove around the edge of Scapa Flow to visit the Standing Stones of Stennes

And then on to the Ring of Brodgar

Followed by a brief drive to Skara Brae

Our final stop was the Brough of Birsay, which can only be reached at low tide over a causeway.

We drove back to Kirkwall around the top of the island, filling up the car in Kirkwall. We returned the car at about 15:00 and caught the shuttle bus back to the ship

A most enjoyable drive around Orkney

The ship docked in the small town of Invergordon on the shores of Cromarty Firth. We'd already determined that there wasn't a lot there, so we had booked a coach trip to Inverness.

The coach dropped us in Inverness by the Cathedral, we picked up some maps at the nearest tourist information and set of to explore.

We crossed the River Ness via a pedestrian bridge and walked towards the city centre

We followed the banks of the Ness

Community gardens

Faith, Hope and Charity

Our first scheduled stop was Leakey's book shop

We had lunch in a Wetherspoons and then header towards the castle, which turned out to be closed, so went round the museum instead, before heading back to our coach pickup point

Inverness seems to be a very pleasant little city.

The ship anchored offshore in the middle of the Firth of Forth

Once the rush had died down, we got the tender to the shore, as we walked down the jetty to the town we took the opportunity to admire the bridge from up close.

We got a map of the local town from a man on the quay, and walked along the seafront into town.

Past the Black Castle, and then up the hill to the Bridge Mural

And back down the hill to the oldest church in the town

To The Binks viewpoint

We sauntered back to the quay, stopping at another viewpoint on a harbour wall

And then back to the quay to get the tender back to the ship

The tender ride back was very crowded.

A day as sea as the ship sailed down the east coast of Britain

Last day of the cruise, we has planned to get off and walk into the town, but the ship docked at a berth quite a long way from the centre, so we stayed on the boat, and packed our stuff ready to disembark.

The ship berthed at the Queen Elizabeth terminal in Southampton,

We had chosen to carry our own luggage off, we had been told we would be able to disembark from 7:15, but in fact we were off the ship before 7.

Walking from the ship out of the port proved to be a bit of a slog, but we managed it, and before long we were at the ferry terminal, ready to come back to the Island.