Up early for a half day Princess tour of the Lochs. This was a late change for us as we decided that the original tour which was 5 hours in Glasgow, on a Sunday, in very cool weather, wasn’t a very attractive proposition.
No pastries for breakfast, nor cooked food, so once again, the banana, juice and coffee. I never take the coffee from the waiters and like the Dawn/Sea etc., there is a machine dispensing brewed coffee, once you find out where it is. The Royal has a large Horizon Court seating area, but moving towards the centre of the ship, where the bakery is situated, the seating style changes and tucked away there is the drinks station. The coffee is passable, so I haven’t used any of my Robert Timms coffee bags on this leg.
Meeting time in the Symphony dining room was 7:15am for a 7:45 tour. Bus #3 with Jim as a driver and Kit, the tour guide. We sat in row 2, leaving the front rows for the disabled as per the notices on the seats, left and right. The couple getting on the coach in front of us did the same. Then an Indian couple showing no signs of disability at all, plonked themselves in front, behind the driver on the disabled seats.
Once all 40 of us were aboard, Kit pointed out that if anyone wanted to move to the two spare seats at the front, they could, so we did… She was a bit school ma’amish (that will confuse the spell checker) and stood there rather imperiously at the front of the coach, making sure everyone had fastened up their seat belts before she gave the call to set off.
A nice enough lady, but throughout the whole tour, a totally humourless commentary. It made us realise just how good some of the others were. As mentioned throughout this blog and all previous blogs, a 4 hour (or more) dissertation without humour, can be a real drag, no matter how informative.
We headed along the Clyde for a fair way before crossing over and returning on the opposite bank. As we approached Dumbarton, I remembered that it was Jackie Stewart’s birthplace. Kit mentioned the house and family garage just as we passed it! No prior warning at all, so all I managed was a half shot of the house which has a blue plaque on the wall.
To Loch Lomond, or Luss, on the banks of Loch Lomond, a tiny little place with a 40 minute stop to walk to the water’s edge and meander through a couple of souvenir shops. In a mad spending frenzy, not helped by a misread price, I came away with a Royal Stewart tartan souvenir (how appropriate), for son Stewart, who was indeed named after Sir Jackie, but as I paid rather more than I expected, I hope he likes it. He can buy his own sporran. Incidentally, it is Grandson Noah’s 5th birthday today. How time flies.
Back on the coach again for a very pleasant drive, as the weather stayed dry, but when the sun hid, it was rather cool. I was very impressed with Jim’s driving. Very measured and considerate.
One inland stop interested me, the top of ‘Rest And Be Thankful’. Many years ago, this used to be featured annually on the BBC’s Saturday afternoon sports programme, as it was a round of the British Hillclimb Championship, but it was then a very narrow winding road. We travelled up on a good modern road.
One other short photo-stop before we arrived at Hunter’s Quay, the vehicular ferry back across the Clyde. Although we were coach #3, we were the only coach on the ferry, so Jim and Kit between them must have herded us on smartly, as the next coach would have been on the next ferry, 20 minutes later. It was distinctly cool by this time and quite overcast, but Jim was still in a short sleeved shirt and pullover. He has a brother in NZ, in Manurewa…
Back at the ship and straight on. The deck 5 International Food Court was beckoning. A nice quiche with a spoonful of chicken, pineapple and lime salad with a light curry sauce and also a spoonful of the excellent shrimp and radish salad, plus a vanilla laced flat white – WITH NO SUGAR! If the Sun Princess has similar food for next year’s cruise, we’ll be delighted. I wonder if they’ll have reintroduced chocolate doughnuts as they were on the Emerald and I suspect, early morning here on the Royal too.
A pleasant afternoon relaxing and trying frantically to keep up to date with the blog and a bit of a nana nap.
The Horizon Court evening meal was an Italian theme. Superb. The range of dishes is staggering. When Paula headed off to grab a dessert, I recognised a familiar face entering the buffet area, Chris Watkins, Paula’s overall favourite Princess entertainer. When Paula returned I shot off and caught up with him and asked if he wanted to join us. He did, much to Paula’s delight. We had a great meal and at 8pm, we had to rush to the theatre to see illusionist, David Cats. Although the show wasn’t due to start until 8:30, the theatre was just about packed, so we were lucky to get seats. Once again, just two shows scheduled and no doubt people missing out. Every single seat was filled way before the show started.
This was a classy, well produced show, but as with all illusionists, you know it is trickery of some sort and it is difficult to justify a standing ovation, but quite a few people did think it deserved one.
On then to ‘Ye Olde British Pub Night’ down in the Vista. Interesting that they had a fair bit of scenery for what is obviously a regular feature of the Royal cruises. We left after a while but they had quite a decent number of people there enjoying it. We have to say that Sam, as cruise director, appears to be very competent and confident and very relaxed in front of a microphone.
A relatively early night for us and a sea day tomorrow, which promises to be interesting. I stated earlier that I didn’t think there were too many Elites on this cruise, but we’d received and accepted an invitation to lunch with the Captain tomorrow in Sabatini’s Restaurant, for the most travelled passengers. We have no idea how many are going but it should be interesting as it certainly wouldn’t happen (to us) on the Sea or Dawn!
We have also pencilled in a trip to the live recording of the Wake Show, as Chris Watkins will be on it and we may as well show our support - if we can get in.
So a sea day and possibly staying indoors all day as it will be too chilly (for us) to be outside.
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