Albrecht's
Cruises & Travels
Oceania Sirena -British Isles 2024
18 April to 3 May 2024, Cruise was 22 April to 3 May
Started with a 3 day pre-cruise stay in London with daily excursions.
Actual itinerary stopped at Cobh not Waterford as shown on map.
18 April
Flew British Airways from SFO to LHR (Heathrow), plane was an A380,
older plane, business class seats had some mechanical issues and were
generally not very comfortable. Food was so-so.
19 April London
Met at airport (Terminal 5) by driver and had ride to hotel in London,
Mayfair, hotel. Dinner at the Footman in Mayfair, good Fish and chips.
20 April London, Hampton Court, London
Breakfast at hotel then coach ride to Hampton Court, beautiful! Lots of
orange tulips! Wonderful art, faded (sadly) hanging fabrics, lovely
chapel,
then lunch in London One Twenty One Two Restaurant, then boat ride on
Thames (Hornblower Yachts).
Boat ride started at Big Ben
and ended at Tower of London
Stopped a Buckingham Palace after boat tour
21 April London, Oxford, Burford, Stow-on-Wold, London
Coach ride to Oxford, supposed to be a tour of New College, but we
didn’t feel like the walk, so once we were there, we stopped at the
Ashmolean Museum which was a great place with a lot of great
exhibits! Lunch at The Lamb Inn in Burford, chicken, mashed potatoes,
etc. supposed to be a typical menu. Then visit to Stow-on-the-Wold.
22 April London, Stonehenge, Southampton
Coach ride to Stonehenge, then to Southampton and boarded ship
Dinner at the Red Ginger upgrade restaurant onboard. Not particularly
impressed. The food was good, but not great, and they kept trying to
upsell us with drinks and even chopsticks. Cancelled our other
reservation for this place later..
23 April At Sea
Donna got a pedicure in the morning (become trend on cruises). Sailed
into North Sea that evening. Channel was fine, but North Sea was fairly
rough sailing.
Apr 24 Edinburgh (Rosyth), Dunfermline
Walked on our own through Dunfermline where we were docked, saw the
wonderful Abbey Church of Dunfermline and took pix for Mike’s friend the
Episcopal priest St. Margaret’s of Scotland in Halifax, NS. Visited
Andrew Carnegie Museum and Library.
Apr 25 Kirkwall (Orkney Islands)
Took the Scotland Ancient Treasures of Orkney Skara Brae shore
excursion! Got off the bus at standing stones but didn’t go up the
hill. Loved the ruins at Skara Brae including walking through one of the
tunnels! Very windy, no wonder they built underground.
Then wandered about Kirkwall, Mike got new tweed jacket at Aurora.
Apr 26 Stornoway (Hebrides)
Decided to skip the Scenic Lewis and the Standing Stones shore
excursion. Instead wandered around the historic toen, Had a great Fish
& Chips lunch at Blake’s.
Apr 27 Glasgow (Greenock)
Bus tour to Loch Lomond, which turned out to be a mixed tourist trap
with a deck to see an unremarkable body of water, the outside of a
museum and no time to do anything because our stop was only 20
minutes. Then we went to the Glengoyne Distillery which had a marvelous
tour and sampling.
Loch Lomand
Glengoyne
Apr 28 Belfast, Ireland
Walked around town, saw a lot of stores that were the same as in the
U.S. (Starbucks, KFC, H&M, TK Maxx (TJ Maxx here), and McDonalds (had a
hamburger & fries and diet coke). Not impressed. Got blue plaid scarf
and green bead bracelet at Carrolls.
Did drive by Harlan & Wolf yards, still in operation
Dinner at Tuscan Steakhouse restaurant onboard. Donna had the whole
lobster. Great!
Apr 29 Dublin, Ireland
Bus trip to Powerscourt, Wonderful gardens and got to see the Pepperpot
Folly!!!!
Pepperpot
At dinner could see 11 Guinness tankers (truck) waiting to go out.
Apr 30 Holyhead, United Kingdom
Took the shuttle bus to town then walked a ways, including a bridge
with a circular walkway going up. Walked around town for a while and
checked out some shops, but it was cold, windy, and rainy, so we went
back to the ship for lunch. Cocktail party for Oceania Club members in
Sirena Lounge with music and drinks, and recognitions for staff.
May 1 Cork (Cobh), Ireland
Decided to not go to the Blarney Castle and stone (yuck on the kissing
and climbing all those stairs). Walked around Cobh for several hours.
Beautiful town, walked off the ship to historical center with shops, but
first walked along the waterfront, stopped in several shops, purchased
ponytail holder, Christmas “JOY” ornament at Tregan next to the Titanic
Experience. Walked to the end of town and on the way back stopped in a
coffee shop in an off-shoot street near their library for cocoa.
Beautiful and sunny! Had coco at a sidewalk café.
May 2 Plymouth, United Kingdom
Tour of the Dartmoor and nature preserve and tea and scones at A Taste
of Devon: Devonshire Cream Tea at Tudor Rose Tea Rooms. Dinner again at
Tuscan Steakhouse
Discussed how Devon crem Tea was different from Cornish cream tea, but
clotted cream served, while served in Devon was from Cornwall.
Last Night dinner
May 3 London (Southampton), United Kingdom
Two-hour bus ride to Heathrow, then waited about 4.5 hours in the United
Loungs (advantage of flying business class). Then 11.5-hour flight to
SFO, cleared customs and home by 9:30 pm, very long day. United Polaris
class on a 777-200 is much better than BA A380-300, both food and seat
comfort.
For more information here are Oceania Currents from the cruise (daily newsbulletins) (click here).
Our Tavel agent for this cruise