July 9, 2017- 12 day British Isles Cruise!!!! AAAHHH!!!

[JenTen1585]

I'm so excited ... and also nervous! We just put our deposit down for the 12 day British Isle Cruise leaving on July 9, 2017. This is a huge commitment of money and hard to plan so far away, but I am so excited! Myself, my husband and my will be 8 year old daughter will be going. I've opened it up to my sisters and mom as well but it's hard for them to commit ... they are thinking about it. We are going to try to put money away each month. I think it will be such a wonderful experience! The itinerary is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Day 1 Dover, England
Day 2 Le Havre (Paris), France
Day 3 Peter Port, Guernsey
Day 4 At Sea
Day 5 Dublin, Ireland
Day 6 Liverpool, England
Day 7 Greenock, Scotland
Day 8 At Sea
Day 9 Kirkwall, Scotland
Day 10 Invergordon, Scotland
Day 11 Newcastle, England
Day 12 At Sea
Day 13 Dover, England

I have never been to a single one of these places and am so excited to get a taste of all of them! This will knock off the first 3 items on my bucket list!

As background, we live on Marco Island, Florida - a small tropical island and tourist spot in southwest Florida. We have a beautiful beach here which I almost completely take for granted. I'm not a water kind of gal unfortunately, although I do love and appreciate the beauty of my Island. But for vacations, I love to go places other than other Islands or beaches.
2 years ago we were looking to go on our first Disney Cruise and when we looked at the prices, the 7 day cruise through the Norweigian Fjords was actually cheaper than the 7 day Carribbean Cruise and while we needed air fare, we found a really affordable one and we had the most magnificent time! Our daughter was in heaven on the ship and I was in heaven seeing a new country and exploring far off lands!!!
This year we got an annual pass and are going on our 4th trip of the year to the World in October. We had a great year but really wanted to do a Disney Cruise again.
This itinerary caught our imagination and fancy!!! It seems like a dream! 12 days is a long time to be off work and a lot more money to budget, but it's so exciting!
We considered taking the Princess cruise with a similar itinerary, which was 600 per person cheaper. That's a big difference. We weighed the pros and cons. Pros of Princess - my husband and I really enjoy Princess - we've taken 3 cruises on Princess and loved every one of them - we enjoy gambling and love the casino and -PRICE (although my husband and I admitted that we could easily lose the 600 per person savings in the casino) Pros of Disney-our daughter will be 8 years old and these magic years will only last so long ... the Disney ship is literally magic to her and she lights up when we even talk about it.
In the end, your children are the biggest Pro there is and we want this a dream vacation for our little girl as much as for us. For me, the ports are the dream, for Dakota, the ship is the dream. And my husband, a little of both. We are all going to have the best time. Screw the money! You only live once!!!
I will keep adding as we make plans!!!

Anyone else coming??!!!

 

[21stamps]

How Exciting!!!!!! I just pushed back a British Isles/Iceland cruise til 2018, got a great deal on NCL so doing Alaska June '17 instead.

Your itinerary is amazing!!!!! One of my closest friends lives in Dover, but I have never been to Scotland...Please do a trip report when you return!!

 

[King Racoon 77]

Won't be on this cruise but will be waving from Guernsey when y'all get here .

 

[JenTen1585]

How Exciting!!!!!! I just pushed back a British Isles/Iceland cruise til 2018, got a great deal on NCL so doing Alaska June '17 instead.

Your itinerary is amazing!!!!! One of my closest friends lives in Dover, but I have never been to Scotland...Please do a trip report when you return!!

I did an Alaskan cruise 10 years ago on Princess and LOVED it!! The air just smells better there and the experiences were so fun! We did white water rafting in Juneau, went on an off road jeep tour in Skagway, saw the lumberjack show in Ketchican, and went on a ghost tour in Victoria, British Columbia. It was awesome!!! We did a 7 day mediterranean cruise on Norwegian 8 years ago and I loved Norweigian as well- they have a lot of fun restaurant choices and the beds were super comfy. Norwegian has great deals going on right now but unfortunately their British Isles cruise is during my Daughter's school year so it won't work. Have fun!!!

 

[JenTen1585]

Won't be on this cruise but will be waving from Guernsey when y'all get here .

Awesome!!! I'm looking forward to exploring Guernsey!!!!!

 

[King Racoon 77]

Awesome!!! I'm looking forward to exploring Guernsey!!!!!

Are you planning a pre booked trip or going out by yourself ?

 

[21stamps]

I did an Alaskan cruise 10 years ago on Princess and LOVED it!! The air just smells better there and the experiences were so fun! We did white water rafting in Juneau, went on an off road jeep tour in Skagway, saw the lumberjack show in Ketchican, and went on a ghost tour in Victoria, British Columbia. It was awesome!!! We did a 7 day mediterranean cruise on Norwegian 8 years ago and I loved Norweigian as well- they have a lot of fun restaurant choices and the beds were super comfy. Norwegian has great deals going on right now but unfortunately their British Isles cruise is during my Daughter's school year so it won't work. Have fun!!!

Oh this is so good to read!!

We have our first DCL coming end of November.
Our first time on NCL in June.
And then 1st time on MSC summer '18.

The DCL cruise will be my son's 1st cruise ever, hopefully he likes it now that I've already booked two more!lol He is 6 years old, so it's really great to read that your daughter has loved them!

 

[216bruce]

We are on this one too. Disney's European cruises are wonderful. You'll love it.

 

[mammaminnie]

Very jealous!!! British Isles is on my bucket list for sure. We are toying with Alaska next year which is also on my list.

 

[JenTen1585]

Are you planning a pre booked trip or going out by yourself ?

We usually do the excursions planned through the cruise line. What do you recommend seeing?

 

[JenTen1585]

Oh this is so good to read!!

We have our first DCL coming end of November.
Our first time on NCL in June.
And then 1st time on MSC summer '18.

The DCL cruise will be my son's 1st cruise ever, hopefully he likes it now that I've already booked two more!lol He is 6 years old, so it's really great to read that your daughter has loved them!

6 is the perfect age! That's how old my daughter was on the DCL cruise and she loved it so much that on the day we had to leave, I looked over at her and there were silent tears running down her face. She said she didn't want the trip to end!

 

[King Racoon 77]

We usually do the excursions planned through the cruise line. What do you recommend seeing?

Depends what sort of things you like doing. The rib ride is quite a good one of the top of my head. Will look at the other options and let you know. I can guide you to a great coffee shop if you want free wifi

 

[Ralphlaw]

Jealousy reigns supreme on my end. Feel free to come early and spend a few days in London. Even Dover is worth an overnight. The castle is great, with WWII tunnels and other great things. I can't wait for the trip report.

By the way, the Premier Inn in Dover is a very nice little hotel with a great view of the harbor. I will never forget looking out the window and seeing The Magic pull in that morning. Be sure to do everything you can to get a seaside facing room.

 

[janiebubble]

Yay! We will be welcoming you into Liverpool like we did this year after the Magic visited Liverpool in June we went straight home and booked another cruise! Seeing her again made me have to get back on board. We are doing the Northern European in May next year

If you want any help/advice with Liverpool let me know, it's my home town.

 

[JenTen1585]

Jealousy reigns supreme on my end. Feel free to come early and spend a few days in London. Even Dover is worth an overnight. The castle is great, with WWII tunnels and other great things. I can't wait for the trip report.

By the way, the Premier Inn in Dover is a very nice little hotel with a great view of the harbor. I will never forget looking out the window and seeing The Magic pull in that morning. Be sure to do everything you can to get a seaside facing room.

Thank you for such wonderful suggestions! We are definitely coming in the day before and were deciding whether to stay in London or Dover.

 

[JenTen1585]

Yay! We will be welcoming you into Liverpool like we did this year after the Magic visited Liverpool in June we went straight home and booked another cruise! Seeing her again made me have to get back on board. We are doing the Northern European in May next year

If you want any help/advice with Liverpool let me know, it's my home town.

Thank you so much! I am looking at the Port Adventures and would love your opinion as to must sees. I will post the ones I am looking at soon.
We did the Norway Fjords Cruise in 2015 on the Magic, which has some common ports with the Northern European Cruise! It was AWESOME!!! Such a wonderful way to see new places!!

 

[Love Mickey 18B]

We went on the Inaugural BI cruise this past June. You will love it. We did your itinerary, but backwards. After our first day at sea, we did Newcastle. We loved the entire trip. We did the Normandy Beaches from LeHarve, a big hit for DH and I learned a lot too. My personal favorite was the stop in Kirkwall Scotland, we did the Neolithic dig - it was fascinating and I got to hug a standing stone. Since you have a year to plan, you may want to read some of the Outlander book series. It is set in Scotland. Let me know if you have any questions. I frequent these boards, but not daily. good luck

 

[JenTen1585]

We went on the Inaugural BI cruise this past June. You will love it. We did your itinerary, but backwards. After our first day at sea, we did Newcastle. We loved the entire trip. We did the Normandy Beaches from LeHarve, a big hit for DH and I learned a lot too. My personal favorite was the stop in Kirkwall Scotland, we did the Neolithic dig - it was fascinating and I got to hug a standing stone. Since you have a year to plan, you may want to read some of the Outlander book series. It is set in Scotland. Let me know if you have any questions. I frequent these boards, but not daily. good luck

That is awesome!!! Did you do a trip report? I would love to hear your shore excursions at each port and thoughts! That's a good idea re: Outlander!! Getting in the mood!! Thank you!

 

[Love Mickey 18B]

That is awesome!!! Did you do a trip report? I would love to hear your shore excursions at each port and thoughts! That's a good idea re: Outlander!! Getting in the mood!! Thank you!

I did not do a trip report, but I do journal my trips. I'll provide you with our experiences each time I visit this site. Here's day one. This will be fun for me, as I relive the trip.
I booked a direct non-stop flight from Boston to Heathrow on Delta. We arrived in London early morning and we arranged pick up by Disney Cruise line (I did not want try and figure out how to get from one place to another, so all of the land pre and post cruise was booked through DCL). We arrived at JW Marriott Grosvenor early and our room was ready. This is a lovely hotel and we were impressed with their service, especially Claudia who works in the lobby. We were staying here 2 nights before the trip, so we could get used to the time zone changes. In London we visited Lady Diana's Memorial in Hyde Park (across the street) Oxford Street, Buckingham Palace, and did the London Eye. Everything we did was within walking distance. There's a lot of traffic in London, One note, if you are staying at a Disney hotel and getting DCL bus to Dover, it is a first come, first on the bus list. The sign up happens the day before the cruise. We were touring London that day and did not check in with the DCL desk until early afternoon and were on the 4th bus out the next day. I loved London. You'll hear me say I love..... a lot It was a fantastic trip. The bus ride to Dover is about 2 hrs, with one rest stop. The bus does go by Big Ben, London Bridge, so you can see those, if you don't get to walk over to them. the rest of the trip was boring, but lovely country, green fields. You'll see a lot of green on the trip.

Arrival at the port was also uneventful. Note - they keep your passport when you check in. This bothered some guests, but I guess it is normal when foreigners cruise from here (port Canaveral).

You'll see the White Cliffs of Dover from the ship. Others on our facebook group stayed in Dover precruise - on their own. No Disney hotel in Dover for pre stay.

Sail away was the usual fun Disney party. the next day was a Sea Day, with all the fun of that. Next I'll report on our first port of Newcastle. Thanks for reading.

 

[JenTen1585]

I did not do a trip report, but I do journal my trips. I'll provide you with our experiences each time I visit this site. Here's day one. This will be fun for me, as I relive the trip.
I booked a direct non-stop flight from Boston to Heathrow on Delta. We arrived in London early morning and we arranged pick up by Disney Cruise line (I did not want try and figure out how to get from one place to another, so all of the land pre and post cruise was booked through DCL). We arrived at JW Marriott Grosvenor early and our room was ready. This is a lovely hotel and we were impressed with their service, especially Claudia who works in the lobby. We were staying here 2 nights before the trip, so we could get used to the time zone changes. In London we visited Lady Diana's Memorial in Hyde Park (across the street) Oxford Street, Buckingham Palace, and did the London Eye. Everything we did was within walking distance. There's a lot of traffic in London, One note, if you are staying at a Disney hotel and getting DCL bus to Dover, it is a first come, first on the bus list. The sign up happens the day before the cruise. We were touring London that day and did not check in with the DCL desk until early afternoon and were on the 4th bus out the next day. I loved London. You'll hear me say I love..... a lot It was a fantastic trip. The bus ride to Dover is about 2 hrs, with one rest stop. The bus does go by Big Ben, London Bridge, so you can see those, if you don't get to walk over to them. the rest of the trip was boring, but lovely country, green fields. You'll see a lot of green on the trip.

Arrival at the port was also uneventful. Note - they keep your passport when you check in. This bothered some guests, but I guess it is normal when foreigners cruise from here (port Canaveral).

You'll see the White Cliffs of Dover from the ship. Others on our facebook group stayed in Dover precruise - on their own. No Disney hotel in Dover for pre stay.

Sail away was the usual fun Disney party. the next day was a Sea Day, with all the fun of that. Next I'll report on our first port of Newcastle. Thanks for reading.

Oh, this is awesome!!! Thank you so much!! I'm so excited to read about your cruise day by day!!! My husband and I have been discussing whether to stay in London or in Dover pre-cruise. It really depends on how we get our flights and what makes sense timing wise I guess - if we have a full day before, I'd like to stay in London. If we arrive only the night before the cruise and don't have a lot of time pre-cruise, then I figure Dover would be the way to go and stay one night in London post cruise. I'm an attorney and work as an associate in a firm so I'm really pushing my luck with this 2 week trip as it is, otherwise I would spend more time in London! The DCL hotels for July 2017 aren't out yet, I don't think. But good to know about the bus transfer sign up should we choose to stay at one of their hotels!