Round Britain cruise - May 2025

Just a short post because by the time you read this post, Mrs PBT’s and I should be cruising up the eastern side of the Britain and heading into the potentially choppy waters of the North Sea. We’ve embarked on 14-night cruise aboard the Cunard Queen Anne, that will take us right round the British Isles in an anticlockwise direction, visiting a number of interesting locations on the way, including Invergordon, Stornoway, Greenock and Liverpool, as well as calling at suitable deep-water ports for Edinburgh, Dublin and Cork. There will be coach trips to these three cities, although having visited both the Scottish and Irish capitals, I shall give these two destinations a miss, and see what’s available locally, in their respective ports.

We sailed on the Queen Anne on last year, on a cruise of the western Mediterranean, and it will be interesting to see how the ship is settling in. I say this because the Anne is the newest vessel amongst Cunard’s four Queen ships, and has experienced a few teething troubles whilst settling in. These things are to be expected, and I imagine that any issues will have been sorted by now, so it’s fingers crossed for a smooth sailing plus the chance to experience parts of these fair isles of ours.

Mrs PBT’s has packed enough clothes and supplies to cover an around-the-world journey, which might be somewhat excessive, although I understand her caution given the unpredictability of British weather. With this in mind, I have prudently included one relatively thick coat, because as the saying goes, "There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing." My packing could have been minimized further if not for the additional items my wife requested to be included in my suitcase. Consequently, I had to opt for the largest suitcase we’ve got at home, to accommodate these extras.

That aside, we are both looking forward to our trip. Saturday was extremely busy as we both spent the day thoroughly clearing out our kitchen. This involves removing items accumulated over the past 30 years rather than simply packing for a holiday. While we are away, we are having a new kitchen fitted. It obviously makes sense for the work to be carried out in our absence, although we have left our son Matthew in nominal charge of proceedings, so we will see how things progress during our absence.

Well-known ports of call include two days in Liverpool. However, exploring the city on the first day might be challenging due to an open-top bus parade for Liverpool FC, celebrating their recent football championship. Unfortunately, this means my plans to visit several National Inventory pubs have been altered. A work colleague, with family connections to Liverpool, has warned that the pubs will be extremely crowded, noisy, and best avoided. 

Which means postponing visits to the NI pubs, will have to wait until the following day. However, my wife has informed me that we will have a royal guest on board ship in the form of  the Princess Royal - so Princess Anne visits Queen Anne. This might mean movement on and off the ship will be restricted, due to security concerns surrounding the royal personage, so we shall see how it turns out. 

When our ship visits Ireland, there will be a coach transfer into the city from our stop at Dun Laoghaire, However, since I have visited Dublin before, I will probably skip the city tour and explore the local area instead. Our next stop, Cobh (formerly Queenstown), holds historical significance as it was the last port of call for the Titanic on its ill-fated maiden voyage. Following its departure from Cobh, the ship entered the Atlantic and tragically met its end on 15th April 1912, after that fateful collision with an iceberg. 

I am tidying up this post with the help of AI as it is currently quite disorganized due to being dictated rather than typed. While embracing new technology, I remain committed to maintaining creativity. Let's see how this turns out. I will be taking my laptop with me, so hopefully, I will be able to post while at sea or at least once we dock somewhere with a 4G signal. That's all for now, although I plan to be back in touch soon. 

No photos, at the moment, unfortunately, due to the dreaded IT issues. I had enough trouble connecting my laptop to the ship's Wi-Fi, and now it's not recognising the link to my photos, I'm afraid you will have to use your imaginations until I get the issue fixed. Sorry!