On the map below I have identified the ports to be visited on our July British Isles cruise aboard the Ocean Princess. In each port I have also identified many of the points of interest listed on the Princess Cruises web site in the Port Excursions section. Some points of interest have been difficult to localize and may not be on the map.
While this map can be manipulated with pan and zoom you should probably use the link below the map reading "View British Isles in a larger map" to view the detail. When viewed in Google Maps you can also get an Earth View. Should you wish to explore the map in Google Earth use a Keyhole Markup Language (KML) file which can be imported directly. The file can be downloaded from this page (see the link in the sidebar). Google Earth will show much more detail than Google Maps.
Should you discover errors in my locations or data please let me know.
View British Isles in a larger map
Thoughts on the Britain Segment
Posted on July 11, 2013
As we began planning this extended tour We had booked the Baltic portion and both trans-atlantic voyages. We had hoped to find a land tour that we could fit nicely into the eleven day window but none could be found. There were tours but each seemed to overlap with one cruise or the other. This situation brought us to search for an alternative and that turned out to be this eight day British Isles cruise on the Ocean Princess.
It left a two day window before and after when we will be on the ground in England and we decided to focus those brief intervals on the Dover – Canterbury area and London. Neither will give us more than a sample of the areas but when added to the four ports on the cruise the sample will be quite broad.
The Ocean Princess will take us to Guernsey in the Channel Islands (the route map shows Jersey). I am looking forward to this as one of my Grandfathers originate from Jersey, another of the Channel Islands. Our second port will be Milford Haven, Wales. My research suggests this will be a port where we can enjoy a day just walking and exploring. I have no idea what to expect in Dublin, our third port, but a tour that takes us out into the country nearby seems appealing.
Port of Milford Haven
We have definite plans for Edinburgh where we will be for nearly two days. The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo will have begun the day prior to our arrival so we have made plans to attend a performance with another couple with whom we will be cruising. During the day we will visit Edinburgh Castle and walk as much of the Royal Mile as we can handle. On the second day we expect to tour the Royal Yacht Britannia. After that we will relax for the two sea days returning to Dover. Upon returning to Dover we will be off for a couple of days in London before returning to Southampton and our final voyage on the Queen Mary 2.
Royal Edinburgh Tattoo
Our ship, the Ocean Princess, at 32,000 gross tons, the smallest ship on which we have cruised. We anticipate this will be an interesting, more personal experience since we will be among 700 passengers rather than the 2,600 on the Queen Mary 2 or the 3,000 on the Crown Princess.
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