Friday, September 27, 2024

SUN, BUT NO DUBLIN!

Regal Princess/At Sea
Friday, September 27, 2024
Sunny, 54F


Our view of Dublin from the ship

Dublin  (Irish: Baile Átha Cliath)  is the capital of Ireland.

Our first sunny day since last Saturday in Pittsburgh! Then, early this morning, the captain announced that he was very sorry but our trip to Dublin was cancelled.  The sea on this tender port was too rough to safely take passengers ashore.  Apparently, some lifeboats used for tendering were lowered, but safety is paramount, and that was that. Captain TK of the Blazebuster for 15 years and four year Navy veteran agreed.

No Book of Kells, no Aran sweater market, no Irish cottage pie. We won’t be able to meet the 573,000 people we were hoping to meet.  We did not have a Dublin tour scheduled because we wanted to walk around the city, have a genuine Irish lunch, and enjoy a city we had never visited.

After the announcement, the crew was scrambling to arrange activities to do on the ship—can you imagine 3600 passengers with nothing to do? At least I have books!

First on TK’s agenda was visiting the Future Cruise agent to sign up for future cruise vouchers. Then, shockingly, he booked an Eclipse Cruise on the Sun Princess for August 2026 out of Southampton that includes Cherbourg, Bilbao, Malaga, Cartagena, Gibraltar, Lisbon, and Santiago de Compostela.  We need to stay healthy and truly determine if this is what we want to do in August 2026, but there was only ONE stateroom left in the category TK likes.  Now the room is reserved for us with a deposit, and we have until 90 days before the cruise to cancel without any penalty and our money back.  That’s my TK.

A day at sea, why not tea? That is what we will do this afternoon.

Tomorrow, Belfast! Let’s hope for sun and fun!

TK's Takes:  Sunniest day since we havea been here. Stuck on board with 3000 people, crowded.  That's bogus, man.

Note: Even though we are off on a great vacation, we are still thinking of the hurricane in Florida, and other things that are going on in the world.  We have a close friend whose home is in "The Bend" of Florida, and that area was already hit by two recent hurricanes.  Others, inlcuding family, also live in Florida and we know they have been affected. Prayers all the way.

4 comments:

  1. I want that eclipse cruise! But it looks like Tim took the last good cabin. lol

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  2. Maybe you'll see the Odyssey in Belfast harbor. That's the ship for "Residential Cruisers", like Randy Cassingham (author of the This Is True newsletter.) They haven't been able to leave port (last I heard) due to a boatload (pardon the pun) of details and nitpicky inspection items.

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    Replies
    1. I forgot to look for it. I did hear that it was finally supposed to leave last Friday, but I did not verify. Darn it!

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