A Magical voyage across the pond LIVE UPDATE 9/30 - Page 10 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Glad to hear that you were able to get all your Palo dinners and tastings booked! It certainly sounds like their was a lot of drama over the public vs. private tastings. We've only done three cruises but each time we made friends and enjoyed conversations with table mates on the ship. Cruise people are usually pretty friendly.
Oh cripes, Disney. 10:30 is yeah, a little late. Can you cancel these later, if you change your mind? I can't remember anymore!
But at least you got everything booked, especially the Palo meals!
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Congratulations on getting everything you wanted so far. I should hope that would be the case when you are at opening time for Platinum! If they were already booked by the time you tried, then I would say Disney needs to open up some more slots or offerings.
That does seem crazy, the decision that Disney have made about the private tastings! There are many hours in the day, you’d think they could have them without interfering with the public ones. I must say, 10:30 seems very late for the ones you booked. I thought these things were mostly during the day.
It is very late, but I know that Disney do some of their tastings that late. It's not ideal, but if they're not offered at any other time (which they're not ) what can you do?
Glad to hear that you were able to get all your Palo dinners and tastings booked! It certainly sounds like their was a lot of drama over the public vs. private tastings.
I just think it was a silly decision on Disney's part. Goodness knows what they were thinking...
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We've only done three cruises but each time we made friends and enjoyed conversations with table mates on the ship. Cruise people are usually pretty friendly.
That's been our experience too - and heck, that's how we met Mari and Raleigh!
Congratulations on getting everything you wanted so far. I should hope that would be the case when you are at opening time for Platinum! If they were already booked by the time you tried, then I would say Disney needs to open up some more slots or offerings.
Yes, there would definitely be something going wrong if everything was gone for platinum members!
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Very odd with Disney's decision on the private tastings! Perhaps, they need another lounge or two on board to accommodate these as it benefits both Disney and their guests! Glad all worked out with you Palo reservations as well as the different drink seminars! Wow, you and Mark are certainly going to be boozing it up on this cruise! I think my Cognac tasting was about that time as well at around 10 pm or so.
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
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Very odd with Disney's decision on the private tastings! Perhaps, they need another lounge or two on board to accommodate these as it benefits both Disney and their guests!
Goodness only knows...
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Glad all worked out with you Palo reservations as well as the different drink seminars! Wow, you and Mark are certainly going to be boozing it up on this cruise!
Pre-trip report – part eleven: time for the shore excursions…
Finally, on the day of our booking window, it was time to book the shore excursions. Our first port of call is Portland for Stonehenge. Having been to Stonehenge a number of times, we had no intention of doing that. For a while, we were going to rent a car and go to the Donkey Sanctuary, then I thought of maybe just getting off the ship and walking around the local area. When the shore excursions came out, we both agreed that there was one that appealed to us. It’s called A Lord’s Private Manor and English Cream Tea. We’d said that the only way we’d pay for a shore excursion was if it was something exclusive, given we can visit this part of the world pretty much any time we like. Now this tour is a bit exclusive.
You drive over to Minterne House and Gardens, home to the Digby and Churchill families for over 350 years. Once there, you meet the lord of the manor for a specially arranged private peek behind the scenes of the mansion that is not open to the general public. It’s a 90-minute tour of the house, conducted by Lord Digby in person. See what I mean about it being exclusive? It’s hardly as if we can just pop over and do this at any time…
You then explore the magnificent Himalayan-style gardens, which lie in a valley that was landscaped in the 18th century. Stroll through more than a mile of stunning plants, including an exceptional collection of flowers, shrubs and even a water garden with cascades and streams. Finally, after all that, you finish with a Dorset cream tea in the family dining room and frankly after all that walking, I think we’ll need it!
Frustratingly, when it got to the Cork shore excursions, the one we’d agreed on wasn’t available. We hadn’t been overly enthused about the excursions here, so we’d struggled to decide and eventually opted for Waterford, Country and Crystal, a full day tour, including lunch. It would have shown us Waterford’s ancient fortified walls and Reginald’s Tower, which dates back to the Viking era, before visiting the House of Waterford Crystal, having lunch at a local hotel and then visiting the town of Lismore.
I couldn’t believe it when it wasn’t on the list. Thank goodness for the back-up plans that we’d made that we wouldn’t need. Well, we needed them now! Our second choice was an adult only departure (three words that always make me very happy ) to Kinsale and Cork’s countryside. You drive to the town of Kinsale and stop briefly for a photo opportunity of the Bandon River on the way. You then have 30 minutes of free time to explore this pretty little town believed to have been founded by the Anglo Normans around 1177.
Our next port of call is Sydney, Nova Scotia and once again I was disappointed to find that the excursion I really wanted to do wasn’t available – the puffin tour by boat, which would have taken you out for two and a half hours to get “really unobstructed views” of these beautiful birds in their nesting grounds. I guess it’s just not the right time of year for it. Such a shame.
Again, we had a couple of back-up options already planned and thank goodness we did. We’ve opted for the Fortress Louisbourg and Rum Experience, a half-day excursion, where you visit Louisbourg Lighthouse, the first ever in Canada and second oldest in North America. You get the chance to take photos of it and then move on to Fortress Louisbourg, a restored 18th-century French settlement recognized as a Canadian National Historic Site. You take a short guided tour, then visit the resident watering hole for a 35-minute rum-tasting and learn about the 18th-century rum trade—how this popular libation influenced everything from sugarcane to slavery. Again, I’ll have to let them know that I can only have one type of rum beforehand. Then you have time on your own afterwards.
The next day we head to Halifax, which we’ll be returning to on our second cruise with Mari and Raleigh. We haven’t talked shore excursions with them yet, mainly because this is the only port of call that has any details available at the moment on it. We suspect they may be interested in the Bay of Fundy Tides and Wines and, if they are, that’s great. We’ll do it with them. It’s pricey, but it sounds fun.
As we can also visit the Bay of Fundy from our next stop in Saint John, we decided to go for a tour of Peggys Cove here. There were a few to pick from, including a tour that just took you there and gave you some free time, which didn’t sound that exciting. We loved the idea of Peggys Cove, lobster lunch and maple, but my goodness, it was pricey at $150 each. Mind you, you did get a lobster lunch (as the name suggests ) and a stop at Acadian Maple to learn how maple syrup makes its way from the tree to your table, with the chance to sample delicious maple treats during the stop.
In the end, we opted the Peggys Cove and Titanic – adult only departure. Yes, those three magic words again! On this tour, you visit Peggy's Cove, a famous fishing village, known worldwide as having one of the world's most photographed lighthouses, and learn how glaciers and constant pounding from ocean waves have shaped the village's granite shores. You also visit the famous deGarthe Monument, which artisan William deGarthe carved in the coarse stone, before visiting the lobster fisheries and getting the chance to see and touch a live lobster. I’m not so sure about this bit. Then we’ll head to the Fairview Lawn Cemetery, the final resting place for 121 passengers of the Titanic.
Now we were hoping to do either the Halifax City Tour or the Halifax City and Harbour Duck Tour, but sadly both clash with the tour we’ve already chosen, so the website wouldn’t let us do that. Boo! However, it looks as if the cruise terminal is pretty close to downtown Halifax, so hopefully we’ll have time to go and do our own walking tour and explore it ourselves. After all, we have the whole morning before our tour, so it’s totally do-able.
The next day we’re in St. John and this is where we’ve opted to do the Bay of Fundy tour, as there seem to be more. We toyed with doing the whale and wildlife watching one, but as Mark said it’s not orcas, which is what he still really wants to see and we’d be on a catamaran. I wasn’t sure how bouncy that would be out on the ocean. There was another option for land and sea, but the one that we opted for was the coastal photography tour. I liked the fact that the guide will show you how to use your unique vision to capture Fundy in indelible images. You get the opportunity to Capture some of the iconic images of New Brunswick, including a beach, fishing wharf, waterfalls and more. Your coastal adventure also makes a photo stop at the world-renowned Reversing Falls Rapids, where the mighty bay causes the Saint John River to reverse direction twice every day and flow upstream.
Like Halifax, I tried to book a walking tour or a city tour here, but the timings didn’t work out. However, again, the cruise terminal is right in the middle of the city and now I have the itinerary for the walking tour, I’ve been able to work out our own once we get back from our excursion, so that’s all worked out Ok.
I remember really enjoying Halifax--especially the public garden. And I do believe I recall seeing quite a few Hop on Hop Off tour buses there as well.
That exclusive tea sounds like a very unique experience. Please forgive my ignorance, but how is a Dorset cream tea different from any other cream tea?
Won't be too much longer, and you'll be setting sail!
I remember really enjoying Halifax--especially the public garden. And I do believe I recall seeing quite a few Hop on Hop Off tour buses there as well.
Oh cool... I'll make a note of the public gardens..
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That exclusive tea sounds like a very unique experience. Please forgive my ignorance, but how is a Dorset cream tea different from any other cream tea?
In all honesty, there is no difference... now a Cornish vs. Devon cream tea - that's a whole other thing. There was a massive news story recently about a National Trust property in one of the two counties (I don't remember which now) advertising their cream tea, but it was the cream tea of the other county. Anyway, huge deal - all over the national newspapers. In Devon, you put the cream on the scone first. In Cornwall, the jam goes on first. Yep, that's the difference... and trust me, it's a big difference!
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Won't be too much longer, and you'll be setting sail!
I can't believe how quickly it's coming around now!
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Can you cancel these later, if you change your mind? I can't remember anymore!
If they were already booked by the time you tried, then I would say Disney needs to open up some more slots or offerings.
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) what can you do?
Perhaps, they need another lounge or two on board to accommodate these as it benefits both Disney and their guests! 
Glad all worked out with you Palo reservations as well as the different drink seminars! 
I think my Cognac tasting was about that time as well at around 10 pm or so.
) to Kinsale and Cork’s countryside. You drive to the town of Kinsale and stop briefly for a photo opportunity of the Bandon River on the way. You then have 30 minutes of free time to explore this pretty little town believed to have been founded by the Anglo Normans around 1177. 
I’m not so sure about this bit. Then we’ll head to the Fairview Lawn Cemetery, the final resting place for 121 passengers of the Titanic. 
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