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6 Aug 21, 06:11 AM |
#1
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VIP Dibber
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Scottishnellies UK Cruise - Day 3, Belfast
We woke at 8:30 to find we had docked at Belfast. Our side of the ship had an awful view which could only be described as dreich. Dreich in weather, and dreich in surroundings.
The kids side was marginally better Kevin, Kieran and I went for breakfast at the buffet restaurant at 9:40 (which is open 7:30-11) and we walked straight in after using the hand washing stations. The main seating area next to the buffet stations was very busy, but when we walked through to the next seating area it was fine and we got a nice table by the window. Kevin had yogurt and fruit followed by a full cooked breakfast kieran had a mountain of waffles and pastries then some cereal. And I just had a few cooked bits and a croissant the food was all very nicely cooked and nice n warm so no issues there. When we left the restaurant at 10:30 it was getting very very busy and there was a huge queue to get in now. Definitely best not to leave it til the last hour! You can also eat breakfast in your MDR if you choose but I think those close at 9:30 which will be why the buffet gets so busy. They were doing lots of emergency drills with the crew today so kept announcing things over the tannoy explaining it was an ‘excercise only’ then reading out the warning messages. When you were walking around there were crew everywhere at their wee stations. We made our way to the Spa as I had bought myself a massage before we boarded (cheaper to do beforehand than on board) and wanted to book it in. All booked in for tomorrow afternoon at 2:45 we headed back to the cabins. Hannah had ordered room service breakfast so she didn’t need to get out of bed. On the package we have the food is free but she pays £3.50 delivery. If she thinks that’s worth it to save her getting up then that’s fine by me. She was still wrapped in her quilt like a big caterpillar messing on her phone. She said she will be going to the gym at 3 now. Kevin and Kieran went to the gym for an hour before it closed at 12 as kieran wanted some time on the cross trainer. Kevin was just going to supervise as he will be going back to the gym at 3 with Hannah. I chilled in the cabin and uploaded my Greenock trippie. Once kevin came back we got ready and went to the tropical pool. This is an indoor pool and bar with a retractable glass roof for when the weather is nice. Today it just had massive pools of rain on it above us! kieran had gone to meet one his Snapchat pals, Finley, who boarded in Greenock yesterday. We passed him in the outdoor pool as despite the rain coming down, the water is a constant 28 degrees, as is every pool on the ship. We sat at a table and the waiter came over straight away and said ‘a pina colada and a skyfall?’ It was frank - our waiter from the Virtuosa bar last night! It would’ve been rude not to…. He brought the drinks back using both our names. You can’t fault how hard the staff try here that’s for sure. Kevin and I had a go in the Spas for a while then wrapped in towels to dry. By this time kieran messaged to say he was at the buffet having lunch with his wee pal. I was delighted he was off having fun and it doesn’t bother me about him having to be with us for lunch. He’s quite capable. at 2pm we went back to the cabin to put on dry clothes so we could go for some lunch at the buffet. We messaged Hannah to tell her incase she wanted to join us but as usual no response. I love mozzarella and they it make it from scratch on this ship so i wanted to try that. I had: pumpkin soup (yum once I added salt) Szechuan salad with chicken (light n zesty) mozzarella, tomato & olive salad (yum) Mozzarella with home made pesto (YUM!) I had wee glass of red with it and it all went down very nicely 😊 Kevin abandoned me to go to the gym with Hannah. Bless him. He’s such a good dad coz really he would’ve rather just sat with a couple of beers! I manfully carried on by myself rounding off my wee lunch with a trio of mini desserts Blueberry cheesecake Mango panna cotta Lemon meringue slice I was a happy girl. Lunch finished, and tummy full, I went for a wander around. The arcade was mobbed and the queue for the desk to buy a fun pass (which lets you play things as it’s all cashless) was so long I swung past and saw Hannah and Kevin in the gym, bodyswerving the man mountain PT who intercepted me to ask if I needed him to help me work out. ‘No no thanks! Just visiting!’ There was certainly plenty of seating around all the various bars and lounges and there were lots of family’s sitting at tables playing cards and dominoes. I think it’s easier for the teenagers to amuse themselves but there’s definitely not enough entertainment for the 2-12 years age group when there’s not a sunny pool to play in. The pub was definitely the busiest I settled in the sky bar (adults only) with a seat overlooking the outdoor pool, where there were still folk playing despite the tipping rain I then realised that where a kieran was again! I had a wee Baileys Alexander. I was quite tired now so decided to go back to the cabin and have a wee disco nap. I slept soundly for over an hour! The kids bought themselves some crepes from the chocolate shop in the afternoon (these aren’t included in the package) Ready for the evening and met the kids at the champagne bar for a la vie en rose before our show. Not sure what I’m going to do when I get home and can’t have this pink champagne cocktail any more! It’s so delicious. While sitting here they announced our departure would be delayed due to high winds. Oh Lordy. headed through the casino and had our room cards scanned to check we had booked and paid for this show. We took our seats in the carousel theatre after collecting the complimentary cocktail. There was a choice of two. Called different names but they were basically a Moscow mule with Rosemary, or a rum mai tai with mango. There was a jazz trio playing which was really nice to start us off The show was really good. The costumes and makeup were a bit freaky, and I still couldn’t tell you the storyline, but there was juggling, acrobats, contortionists and some really good dancing. Kevin didn’t enjoy it. He just screwed his face up and shook his head at the end. Both kids said they definitely want to see the other one so I will just book for the 3 of us for that night. We had 40 minutes til dinner so the champagne bar it was where we did then start to sail away from dock. through to dinner and tonight’s menu was Mediterranean night We hadn’t even ordered when kieran announced he was going to grab a burger at the buffet and go hang out with Finley so we just let him go. Dinner at 8:30 takes us til 10:30 and I would rather he was off having fun than a slow dinner with us if that’s what he wanted. Kevin didn’t want dessert so headed off to the Virtuosa bar to see if he could get a seat while Hannah and I had dessert. he text to say he had one just as we were finishing. That’s one thing I’m not enjoying on this cruise - the seat lottery. Everyone I’ve spoken to has said it’s not normally like this, that there would normally be more venues open, more seats, more entertainment. I’d hope so as I can’t imagine this at full capacity as apparently it’s only at about 60% just now. Hannah and I joined him there. The entertainment was more muted tonight. Just a guy with a guitar instead of a full band. and quite muted song choices like Layla/red shoes/man that can’t be moved type songs rather than dancy stuff, so it was only kids on the dance floor tonight. Frank appeared again to see us and brought us out some nuts n crisps with our drinks since another waiter had already got us drinks. Despite being more muted entertainment, that was where the chilled vibe stopped. It got busier and busier (I think a show must’ve emptied out from somewhere) and people started crowding into the bar standing around the tables. It was getting harder to get a waiter for a drink, it was getting louder and more lairy by the minute. Just as I had said to kevin I wasn’t enjoying the clientele as much tonight, Hannah leaned over to say she thought maybe it was time for bed as it wasn’t ‘good vibes’. It just had that slightly edgy atmosphere like another few pints in and it could end badly for some. Now maybe it’s because the weather had been wild today so there had been more daytime drinking, but whatever it was I wasn’t sure about it. I mean we like a few cocktails don’t get me wrong, but there were definitely more folk I would say were proper drunk. And a lot of them had very tiny, very tired kids with them. Kieran had texted his dad earlier to say he had headed back to the room to bed, but agreed to meet kevin at the midnight buffet for food. Hannah and I went back to our rooms. Kevin came back saying he’d had some rolls and tuna, and kieran had ate pizza and chips. He did say the buffet also felt a bit rowdy tonight so I really hope it’s just a one off. We can really feel more movement in the ship tonight as we head south. Tomorrow is a day at sea which will be new for us.
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Helen xx Here's a link to all my previous trip reports since 2015 trip report list by year |
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6 Aug 21, 07:41 AM |
#2
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Imagineer
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So you could have boarded in Greenock? Where's the fun in that? ;-)
Jings I hope the weather doesn't start to spoil your enjoyment. All we've got is a bit or rain here now and again, not much wind. Just shows you, when you're out on the open sea, how different the weather is. Are folk getting off at the ports for tours and things?
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6 Aug 21, 07:41 AM |
#3
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VIP Dibber
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I was wondering if the ship felt busy, what a shame you had bad vibes this evening, but it sounds like you’re enjoying yourselves still. So lovely that Kieran has got himself a mate to hang round with
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6 Aug 21, 08:01 AM |
#4
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VIP Dibber
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Such a shame about the weather and this does worry me about packing more people into the bars with the all inclusive drinks package. I hate any 'atmosphere' like that. Have you tried any of the bars on the upper decks? Are they any quieter? I know the Sky Lounge won't be open to us with younger kids.
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6 Aug 21, 08:24 AM |
#5
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slightly serious Dibber
Join Date: Nov 06
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We have done a few cruises and have our p and o staycation in a few weeks. The weather really does worry me. I like to be warm on holiday! I have never know cruises to have ‘drunks’. We prefer the Caribbean from the Florida ports. 95% Americans on board but that suits us. Don’t let this put you off cruising as it’s not a true reflection. Xx
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6 Aug 21, 08:47 AM |
#6
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Thread Starter
VIP Dibber
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You can only get off if you do MSCs own tour. You can’t go your own way. And the tours are either a walking tour about the city, or a coach tour without getting off, so some people are but not many.
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Helen xx Here's a link to all my previous trip reports since 2015 trip report list by year |
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6 Aug 21, 08:51 AM |
#7
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Thread Starter
VIP Dibber
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The problem is they have nowhere near enough entertainment. So the very few bars with a band or even just playing any music are jam packed. You can get a seat in the likes of the starship bar but there’s not even so much as background music so they’re miserable.
We haven’t tried the sky lounge as we have Hannah with us but from what I hear we wouldn’t get a seat there either
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Helen xx Here's a link to all my previous trip reports since 2015 trip report list by year |
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6 Aug 21, 08:57 AM |
#8
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Thread Starter
VIP Dibber
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I know. I’ve always avoided hotels that are almost all British for the same reason. I’m really hoping it was a one off night after the weather being so bad. It looks brighter today although it’s very choppy and I’m really not enjoying all the swaying about!
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Helen xx Here's a link to all my previous trip reports since 2015 trip report list by year |
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6 Aug 21, 10:36 AM |
#9
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Imagineer
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Such a shame about the weather. I know I may be biased, but Belfast is a great wee city to walk around (but obviously you need it to be be dry! )
We enjoyed the Sky Lounge in the evenings, it definitely had a more 'chill' vibe. Though by the sounds of your experience, with not everything open perhaps all venues are busy I loved the freshly made mozzarella too - delicious!
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6 Aug 21, 11:50 AM |
#10
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Thread Starter
VIP Dibber
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Yeah I did a walking tour of Belfast a few years back when I was on a work thing and loved it but when I saw yesterday’s weather I was glad I hadn’t booked it!
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Helen xx Here's a link to all my previous trip reports since 2015 trip report list by year |
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