London for a few days before our British Isles cruise

We are flying into London's Heathrow Airport a couple of days before the cruise to enjoy this beautiful city. Tickets have been ordered (& have arrived!) for a West End theatre production of Jersey Boys. Yeah, I know... Jersey Boys in London? What's she thinking? One of the most recent acclaimed West End shows is War Horse, but I really want to see something fun & upbeat before departing on this cruise; and since I haven't already seen Jersey Boys and could get great seats... we will be there in wonderful seats watching the show & eating ice cream (as they do in the West End theatres)! The West End is considered the heart of London and if you're a theatre lover, you will think you've died & gone to heaven!

We are staying at the Renaissance Chancery Court as it is very nicely located within walking distance to many major sites and neighborhoods (including the West End and Covent Garden, the British Museum, Chinatown, and more... did I say shopping?).

If you've never been to London, take a tour on a double decker HOHO bus!. One reputable company that offers these tours is the Original London Sightseeing Tour It's a hop-on hop-off bus tour that also includes a Thames River cruise.

While in "The City", you may want to see the Cabinet War Rooms that housed Churchill's WWII bunker, watch the changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, visit the British Museum or Tate Modern. Need a break? Have a pint in a pub or visit a famous London tea house!

For shopolics, there's Oxford Street as well as the famous Harrod's department store. After I realized that I couldn't afford much at Harrod's or Harvey Nickels, I discovered Selfridge's a more mainstream department store. A couple of years ago, Ken & I walked to Selfridges and then split up, each going to pursue our own shopping passion. We were to meet at a designated time & place for lunch. When he spied me at the appointed time, I only had one very small bag. He was quite impressed that I had such a small bag and that it contained hair accessories (clips, bows, and such). BUT, when our AmEx bill came a month later, he was shocked beyond all measure! I had conveniently forgotten that US dollars and British pounds are quite different and so thinking that the amount was a dollar amount, it looked good to me. That is until the AmEx statement came and showed the true conversion! Needless to say, I am still proud to sport those expensive hair accessories!

If you have a craving for some excellent Chinese food while in London, be sure to head for Chinatown, just off Leicester Square (pronounced Lester). You won't be disappointed! Of course, I am always on the look-out for an interesting, historic, fun pub for a fish & chips dinner!

By the time we get to London, things will have settled down from the Royal Wedding!

Upcoming Cruise to British Isles on Crown Princess: July 16-28, 2011

British Isles Cruise Itinerary

1 London (Southampton), England 5:00 PM
2 Paris/Normandy (Le Havre), France 7:00 AM 8:00 PM
3 At Sea
4 Edinburgh (South Queensferry), Scotland 7:00 AM 7:00 PM
5 Inverness/Loch Ness (Invergordon), Scotland 8:00 AM 7:00 PM
6 At Sea
7 Belfast, Northern Ireland 7:00 AM 6:00 PM
8 Glasgow (Greenock), Scotland 7:00 AM 6:00 PM
9 Liverpool, England 7:00 AM 7:00 PM
10 Dublin, Ireland 7:00 AM 6:00 PM
11 Cobh, Ireland 7:00 AM 5:00 PM
12 Guernsey (St. Peter Port), England 9:00 AM 6:00 PM
13 London (Southampton

Meet Elliott, our Cattail Cruisers Mascot

Elliott has been cruising with the Cattail Cruisers since 2006, so this is his 6th year of cruising with us! He was born in the jungles/rain forests of Panama and adopted by me. He loves shipboard activities... you may see him at the disco, horse races, or even in the dining room (he is partial to bananas)...

Princess Secrets and Tips - this list was compiled from an online forum.
Enjoy!

• Complementary plate of assorted stuffed olives at the martini bar.
• Pre-purchase internet minutes before you leave; you’ll get free minutes based on the package you pick.
• Escargot!!!
• One of the dining rooms will be open for lunch on embarkation day.
• Volcano dessert, available on children's menu basically a huge banana split.
• Cocktails for $2.99 in all the bars after 8.00pm.
• Request that the steward remove the soft drinks and bottled water from inside and on top of the fridge to make room for our own drinks.
• Request extra hangers.
• Passenger Service Desk (also called the Hotel Manager) will make a hole in our card which we hang on lanyards. They will also do that for you in the casino and give you a lanyard.
• There is another electrical point under the bed.
• Bring a roll of quarters and laundry supplies.
• Sabatini’s reservation for the night that they are serving Italian food in the main dining room.
• Reservations for the steak house - ask to sit at the counter overlooking the kitchen area, fun to watch the staff put it altogether and see the teamwork involved.
• The Fettuccine Alfredo!!! Plus it’s served in a Parmesan bowl, a crispy melted cheese bowl.
• Bring along a small electric alarm clock.
• Computer station in the Future Cruise booking area or Internet Cafe, free e-postcard, 300 character limit but you could send more than one message to the same email address if you need to get a longer message out.
• Appetizers and sushi are free in the Vines wine bar but not the cheese.
• Duck liver pâté appetizer.
• Various lamb entrees.
• Ask for anchovies on your caesar salad at dinner.
• twice-baked goat cheese soufflé,
• Lobster and Scampi Dinner with a side of Alfredo

cattail cruisers enroute home a day early

Good morning from the Caribbean, off the shores of Tortola. I am so disappointed that we had to miss Tortola as I was excited to stop here. But, such is life. Celebrity Cruises, the CDC, and the captain made the decision for us to return a day early, thus missing tortola. We will arrive in Charleston on thursday rather than friday. This, of course, is due to so many onboard having norovirus. At least 1/3 of my group were ill. Ken thus far has escaped and I didn't have noro, but lethargy & migraine that lasted well over a day. That being said, cruising is still a nice way to travel and we are looking forward to our next cruise to the Greek Isles in May! Thank you all for your emails, birthday wishes, etc... I appreciate it very much! Will be in touch more as I still have some minutes remaining! This afternoon we have a wine & food pairing scheduled as well as a back stage tour... followed by formal night with lobster, dancing, and singing!!! More later...
Bubbles

Calm Seas on the Atlantic

Ah, life on the high ca lm seas is good!  Wow – what a chaotic day we had yesterday!  We checked out of the french quarter inn, proceeded the north charleston performing arts center for cruise check-in, then to drop our luggage and park our car at the pier.. only to be told that we could not drop/park until 2 pm.  So we headed to SNOB for a lovely low country lunch… I chose the maverick palmetto burger, ken the PEI mussels, Phyllis & Rick duck pot pie.  After lunch, back to the pier to drop luggage/park and embarkation at 4 pm.  Our stateroom is concierge class and is one only 4 cc class that has a larger balcony.  Very nice indeed.  Ken just smiled and said thank you!   Phyllis and rick are real sports, however, with a sky suite… large room, balcony and a butler!   Today has been very relaxing… I had a good night’s sleep and woke up to the smell of banana waffles from the palm springs cafe… & they did not disappoint!!!!  Crispy bacon, grilled tomato and fresh squeezed orange juice rounded out my  breakfast.  Mandatory life boat drill followed breakfast and once that was done, the day was ours!  10 of my cattail cruisers are meeting for dinner tonight & invited us to join them.  It’s  one of our 2 formal nights and I will be wearing my princess shoes and perhaps a one shoulder dress… or perhaps a sequined top with my long harem style skirt… Ah, decisions! 

Thus far all of my cattail cruisers are happy and smiling… and that makes me smile too!  OK, signing off for now…

Bubbles