Musings from around the ship Mark III

Photography Classes

Born out of the World Cruise 2023 Facebook page, was a series of photography classes.  Dave and Kelly gave up a lot of their time to run these sessions, not once but three times on this cruise.  They covered things like composition and Mobile phone photography. 

I thought I knew all I needed to know about my S23 Ultra, but these sessions opened my eyes to look for the other capabilities of my phone.

Dave and Kelly took us on an excursion around the ship photographing items of interest, taking on a different perspective.

Here is a group of avid photographers

Dover Farewell

The night before arriving at Dover  Princess put on a farewell party in the Atrium for those departing.   For us, it brought a close to the first half of the World Cruise.

Here we were also introduced to our new Captain, Gavin Pears, our little Irish Leprechaun and so full of life, that took over from Captain Perra in Cobh.

Some of you may recognize him as he had once sailed with P & O Australia.  Quite significantly from our last port of call at Invergordon, he also mentioned that during his time as a Marine Pilot, he had navigated drilling rigs into the harbor where he worked, similar to what we had seen.

This is a man you couldn’t help but like within the first five minutes of meeting him and he always seems to enjoy himself as much as we are on this cruise.

Previously we felt that we were kept in the dark about a lot of things happening around the ship and our ports of call, but Gavin has been very informative throughout the second half of this cruise…    Did I mention he loves the microphone!!

He has very quickly become a favorite Captain around the ship.,

If I had a dollar for every crew member who has also sung his praises, I could pay for another world cruise.

We also said farewell to a few key officers  in Dover

The crew deserved nothing short of a ticker tape parade.

Did I mention I had only just met the Captain

Wine Fairs 

What do you do when you have a whole lot of wine, but not enough bottles to sustain keeping them on the menu…. Have a Wine Fair!

Set out beautifully on tables paired with some lovely finger food, here you can work your way around trying a variety of whites and reds that have been heavily reduced.  Bottles could be bought with prices ranging from $25 - $50 that can be drunk anywhere on the ship with no extra corkage added…  

They have had a couple of these now and have been very popular both times.

Dover Welcome Party

Of course, after every farewell, there is another Welcome party

Shetland Islands

 Our next port of call was to be the Shetland Islands… but as the weather would have it, we were not able to tender due to the adverse conditions.  So it turned out a morning of scenic cruising.  Alas DI Jimmy Perez will have to wait for my return!!

These last few ports have only served to increase our appetite to come back and visit these lovely small villages, towns, and the beautiful countryside of the United Kingdom.

Invergordon - Dunrobin Castle

It was a serene and peaceful sail in as we glided through the smooth waters of Cromarty Firth.  We passed many drilling rigs which apparently dock in this bay to undergo repairs.

The town was still sleeping when we left for our tour of Dunrobin Castle.  It was a lovely drive through the Scottish Highlands and Fiona our tour guide was one of the best we have had so far.  She was a wealth of information and her storytelling kept us entertained throughout the whole day.

It was a quick stop at a viewpoint known to the locals as “Millionaire’s View”.  A stunning vista looking down the Dornoch Firth surrounded by a number of Scotland’s  biggest mountains.

A stop at Falls of Shin had us looking for Atlantic Salmon fighting their way back upstream to the calmer waters of their place of birth to spawn their future generations.  But alas there was no salmon leaping today. The good news is that, unlike their Pacific relations, they survive their spawning and return to sea to spawn again.

Endless breathtaking scenery as we drove the countryside

Shin Falls

No Salmon leaping here

More beautiful scenery

Dunrobin Castle is the nearest thing Scotland has in fairytale architecture.  It is not until you stand in their beautiful landscape gardens, that you can see the the similarities to famous Disney Castle,  which in turn takes its inspiration from King Ludwig’s castle Neuschwanstein.

She did a lovely job playing outside the Castle Doors

Now that is what you call a toy room

Nannies and baby shared a room

Beautiful gardens

Very majestic from the gardens.

After we were “done roaming” the castle we walked around the beautifully manicured gardens and then watched the superb Falconry display.

Within the gardens, there is a small museum and here you can see the family had a real fascination with hunting, unfortunately, that included game hunting, I was saddened to see these beautiful animals in the manner in which they were displayed.... stuffed!....  Our main reason for even going in was to see the ancient pictish stones that were on display.

It was then back to the Royal Burgh of Dornoch.  A beautiful historic town where we also enjoyed a yummy pastie for lunch, the most expensive pastie we have ever had, but it was delicious….  There is something about Scotland that makes you fall in love with their beautiful knitwear and yes I succumbed and bought myself a beautiful jumper.

We stopped at the Glenmorangie Distillery, where for those who enjoyed the s

mall tasting Fiona gave us of the delicious Golden Nectar Whiskey, could make a purchase. The Whiskey was smooth and sweet, it was the price tag that had the bite!!!

Fiona was very good at pulling out yummy tasty treats out of her bag… and we all loved Tunnocks Caramel Wafers, so much so several of us rushed to two of the local supermarkets in Invergordon, only to buy up all the stock on the shelves.

Apparently according to the wrapper, over 7,000,000 of these are made and sold every week.....

Invergordon was a lovely town to walk around to finish off our day.  If only I was better prepared I would have visited www.invergordonoffthewall.org.uk website and downloaded the app that would help us follow the Mural Trail.  There are at least 17 murals to be found. 

With a bag full of biscuits, my beautiful jumper, and a wonderful day under our belts we headed back to the ship…..

On the dock, there is some last-minute shopping

Beautiful Sailaway ....