13 day British Isles and Northern Europe Cruise

In 3 weeks we will be in London starting our 13 day British Isles and Northern Europe Cruise on NCL's Jade. I have been working hard to try and plan everything out so we can see and do as much as possible. When we travel there is no relaxing. This may be our only time at these places and we want to make the most of it.

Here is our itinerary. Start off in London then go Paris, Falmouth, Cork, Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow, Inverness, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Brussels/Brugge and back to London. We only have 2 days at sea. That is quite an itinerary. Also interested on how we will like NCL. We love Royal Caribbean however NCL's itinerary was better so we are giving them a try. We tried Carnival for our last Mediterranean Cruise and they did not live up to Royal Caribbean.

London is probably what I am most looking forward to seeing. We have 1 day in London before the cruise and 1 day after. The first night we will be near London Bridge and second night in Victoria. While there we hope to visit Tower Bridge, Tower of London, London's yet, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and House of parliament.

Something I just now realized was that England, Northern Ireland, Scotland all use British Pounds. We were suppose to get our Euros this week but ran out of time (purchasing our new patio set instead). I am so glad we did not exchange all of our money to Euros now. Unfortunately the US dollar is even weaker to the pound so things over there are going to cost us even more.

I think I have our transportation figured out in London. This will be our first time usually all public transportation so it could be interesting. We will use the underground around London and take a train to Southampton where the cruise leaves. I think we are going to purchase all of our tickets once we get there though.

I am still trying to figure out how to pack light so we are not carrying all of our luggage around London. (I bought a new larger shoulder carrying carry out last week too – I am excited about it). We are now thinking of leaving the garment bag at home. That means no tux or formal dresses. I am a little sad about it however the less luggage the better! With NCL freestyle cruising there is less formal attire. We usually love dressing up but we cannot be carrying all of our luggage throughout the underground and train stations.

In Paris our only hope is to go up into Eiffel Tower. We are thinking about climbing the first two levels (approx 1000 stairs) then taking the elevator to the top. Wait and see how that goes.
Falmouth we are going to explore on our own. We hope to visit Pendennis Castle. They have cannons that go off at noon and that would be neat to see. After that we will see what we find to do.

Cork we are also exploring own our own. Now I am not sure if the cruise is porting in Cork or Cobh. We booked a Titanic Walking tour in Cobh. We also hope to visit the Cobh Cathedral. We may have to take a train to Cobh. Should be another interesting adventure. In Cork one could visit the Blarney Stone and even though it would be neat to see and kiss it, I think we are going to pass on it this time.

In Dublin there are several cathedrals and castles to see. I think we are going to get off the ship and see what we can find. There is nothing that we really want to see or do there. Just see how the day goes but it will probably we St Patrick's Cathedral and Dublin Castle.

Then there is Belfast. At first it did not appear to be much to do however they have a nice welcome center and Belfast Big Wheel (similar to London's Eye). So I purchased tickets to ride it. That is when I realized that everything is in Pounds not Euros! But at least I figured that out prior to going there. After our ride, we will probably explore the city and see what we can find.

The remaining ports are Glasgow, Inverness, Edinberg, Amsterdam and Brugge. I have not planned those cities out yet. That will be this weeks project.