Dublin

Our first two ports of St. Peter Port, Guernsey & Milford Haven have been scrubbed due to a pretty violent storm system. Instead, we are sailing directly to Dublin, scheduled to arrive there this evening (Monday) at 6pm. Departure is scheduled for 11pm Tuesday evening with Liverpool our destination. We have a Beatles tour scheduled there we’re really looking forward to. Depending on the weather at that point, we’ll either double-back to pick up Milford Haven, or we’ll head north toward Belfast – an unscheduled but welcomed stop.

As I write, we’re 10 hours from Dublin – temps in the high 40’s, with rain, fog, & moderate seas. We’ve sailed on most all of Holland America’s ships over the years – this particular vessel is the smallest and by far the most intimate. With only a few hundred folks onboard, it’s very easy to get around and extremely easy to make new friends. The only negative we’ve noted are the small elevators and the fact they’re down for servicing most of the time. When operating, they’re slow and maximum capacity is about six. After lunch, five…and after dinner, maybe four! Food has been great the first two days. As we understand it, the ship will be placed in dry-dock within the next couple of years for major maintenance work & renovation. She’s been sailing now just short of 30 years, but truly is a magnificent small ship in many respects.

We’ve met all of our assigned tablemates. Always a concern, as you just never know who you may be sitting with each evening for two hours. Holland America DOES offer the option of sitting as just a couple, but we enjoy meeting new folks and learning. Going all the way back to 2012, we’ve been very fortunate for the most part. Everyone is special and unique in their own way, and we try to find the good, although occasionally, that can and has been a challenge. I should quit here while I’m ahead, shouldn’t I? I will say…we definitely have our favorites and stay in touch with them to this day. That goes for folks we’ve met outside of dining – good friendships endure! And we’ve met several couples already we enjoy talking with – some from the U.S., but also Australia, Canada, U.K., & Ireland. Love the various accents and personalities! I’m sure we’ll meet many more.

The Captain just made an announcement and apparently, there’s a ferry occupying our birth in Dublin and will remain in place late into the evening. He said the plan now is to meander on the outskirts of Dublin harbor and dock at approximately midnight – LONG after our bedtime! So, at this point, our plan for tomorrow would be to have breakfast at 6:30, disembark, and start exploring the city. The weather forecast is still sketchy at this point, but we sure don’t plan on returning, so we’ll just deal with whatever Mother Nature throws our way and make the best of it. Photos may be a little wet-looking. We’ll see.

This evening, we have a dinner in the Pinnacle Grill – Holland America’s signature high-end restaurant on all ships…compliments of our travel coordinator, Vacations to Go. Wonderful company…and we’ve been dealing with the same gal (Pam Dixon) for the past five years. Thank you for dinner, Pam!

UPDATE 

It’s now 5:30am – we docked shortly after midnight. Dinner in the Pinnacle was awesome as always. I got a little carried away with the wine, and while we planned to catch a comedy show at 8pm, draining the bottle put me in bed around 7:45. It’s a very chilly 46 as I write – forecast for the day is a high of 62, with afternoon showers moving in. We’re off for breakfast in a few minutes, then a face-to-face passport verification with local officials. From there, who knows – 

UPDATE

We were off the ship by 8:30, caught a shuttle bus to the edge of the city and from there, began our exploration of Dublin. Frankly, neither of us packed appropriately. We could both use a few more layers! We researched the temp & rain patterns before leaving, but I think living in Phoenix for so long has warped our interpretation of chilly. The rain stayed away all day, but the winds were ridiculous & relentless – just friggin’ cold! Winds that cut right through you. I recall packing last week and thought about a stocking hat…”nah”, I said to myself, “I can get by with a baseball hat”. I sure missed the mark! Cheryl was less optimistic than me, so she was moderately comfortable with her mittens on!

We spent around 6 hours roaming the city, and as I’m sure most of you know, Dublin’s the capital and most populated city in Ireland. They say it’s listed as one of the top 30 cities in the world – I don’t know if I’d go quite that far. The locals we met were very friendly and overall, it’s very clean and well-kept. City sites were few – we expected to see grand castles and similar architecture, but from that standpoint it’s pretty bland. Don’t get me wrong. Dublin Castle is awesome, and both Christ Church & St. Patrick’s Cathedral are beautiful – but aside from some other historical sites on a smaller scale, it’s basically an older city with several hundred pubs. Quite busy – many nice parks. We thought St. Steven’s Green (22 acres) was the most beautiful. The home of Guinness – a massive facility – and you also have Heineken and Jameson Distillery. To really appreciate Ireland, we’re told you need to get out in the countryside for a few days and should we ever return, that’s what we’ll do. Again, Dublin’s very nice, but not what we were expecting.

We returned to the ship late afternoon – grabbed a quick burger & fries. Even though we don’t sail until 10:30 tonight, neither of us have a desire to go pub-hopping as it’s just too cold and blustery.

Guest Services just knocked. We have a HUGE water leak outside our door – one photo below. It’s coming from deck 11 – no water in our cabin…YET!

Oh…and the Captain just announced that because of deteriorating weather south of us, we’ll be heading to Glasgow & Belfast after we leave Liverpool tomorrow. That’s exciting news for us – we’ll be able to visit the Titanic museum in Belfast in a few days.

So…some photos below from earlier today – shotgun tourism, so to speak!