First - the cruise left from Portsmouth, England.

We had a very good time on this cruise of the West Coast of the United Kingdom. Ports were Guernsey, Scilly, Fishguard, Stornaway, Oban, Isle of Man, and Waterford, Ireland. All places we might never have visited if not for this itinerary and was the reason we chose it. The good things: Again, a very interesting itinerary. The nicest fellow passengers you could ever meet. We were one of maybe 5 American couples. - we met once Canadian couple and the rest were Brits and the loveliest people ever. There was a very significant elderly population and we were a bit put off at first but we had wonderful conversations about Brexit and the American election and everything else you could imagine. The dining and bar staff were wonderful as well; Peter the Maitre'D for the main dining room was masterful at making sure we sat with people close to our own age (mid-60's) and that was a great thing. We made some good shipboard friendships. We had some truly outstanding tour guides as well and had fabulous tours of St. David's Catherdral, Inverary Castle, a pretty rigorous hike through the bluff on the Isle of Man etc. The Kallanish Stones in Stornaway (the oldest known stone circle in the world)) was impressive as well.

Things that could have been better: THE COFFEE. Even the British were complaining! The ship is frayed around the edges although it is schedule for refurbishing later this year. We had a disaster on the Isle of Arran - it was a first time port and someone hadn't done their homework. The tenders had a 3 hour window where they could get us ashore and back due to tides and an issue with a concrete dock. Everything on the island was closed on a Sunday morning and the scheduled tours were canceled due to the time frame. Very disappointing - surely someone should have done a better job of scouting the place. Read more