Emerald Princess British Isles Cruise Pre-Cruise

Originally we were booked on a Carnival Pride Northern Europe cruise to St Petersburg and we all know what happened to that.

We still wanted a cruise, and decided upon the Emerald Princess British Isles cruise. As it turned out, I have some OBC leftover from covid canceled Princess cruises, and even a casino OBC.

There was a slight glitch getting the share holder OBC for the cruise - now Princess wants a form filled out. Fine - I downloaded, filled out and faxed in (first try was an email).

I booked Princess air and thought it was easy peasy and a good price for Premium Economy. Why Premium Economy? More room, two check bags free, priority luggage and more. Flying into LHR, hopefull things will go smoothly. I am putting both Airtags and TilePro trackers in the check luggage. We sometimes have had enough problems in US airports.

To get from LHR to Southampton, I chose Eddie Manning's (https://www.limo.co.uk/) with a tour stop at Hampton Court Palace.

Our hotel in Southampton for two nights is Holiday Inn Southampton booked off of their website.ut

Prior to the trip, I had purchased memberships in several organizations. I doubt I used all of them enough to justify the cost of each, but overall I would do it again. If nothing else, I figured I helped fund some organizations that really need money - especially after covid.

Oyster cards - Check, but a waste - I later read you can use contactless payment and skip those.

Royal Oak Foundation Membership Card - Check (US tax deductible and amounts to a membership in National Trusts of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland)

Historic Scotland Membership Card - Check - not sure why I got that, but am sure I had a good reason?

Historic Royal Palaces Membership Card - Check - for Hampton Court and some others maybe)

Westminster Abbey Association Card - Check

I did end up using all of them, and some get you discounts in the gift shops as well as admission.

And so it begins...

The trip got off to a rocky start when torrential rain in Dallas and other areas forced many flight delays and cancellations. Our flight to Dallas was delayed, delayed more, delayed more, cancelled. Even though I booked the flights through Princess, American was also working on getting us rebooked. We would have misconnected in Dallas for the original flight to LHR but luckily the next (and last) flight to LHR still had our original Premium Economy seats available. We still had to run (jog?) in DFW to catch the new connecting flight, boarding the aircraft one minute after scheduled departure. The flight was held up for another 20 minutes or so for other late connections. Whew. We made it. A cocktail can't come soon enough.

No time for pictures of the Premium Economy cabin, which was full with other grumpy fliers, anyway. Maybe next time. We did manage to get to LHR about an hour or so after our first flight was scheduled, but it seemed like an eternity. Luggage made it just fine - no trackers required. The one casualty from the later arrival was that we would have to skip our planned stop at Hampton Court on the way to Southampton, but we would manage to get there after our cruise.

Our flight into Dallas had less than a handful of passengers!

Never seen a plane tire changed at the gate before...

The food wasn't 5 star, but the Woodford Reserve helped! And the food wasn't bad on it's own.

"Breakfast" before arriving into LHR.

Not the Holiday Inn, but the Leonardo Royal Hotel is across the street. We will be staying there later this year.

Eddie (of Eddie Manning's - https://www.limo.co.uk/ ) and our luxury Mercedes Benz vehicle. We will use his services again.

Southampton Day 1 continues...

The Standing Order - https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/pubs/all-pubs/england/hampshire/the-standing-order-southampton

Eddie had recommended Mike's Fish and Chips for the best in Southampton, but I was too tired to find it. I asked at the Holiday Inn front desk for recommendations for Fish and Chips and they seemed to be drawing a blank until one mentioned a pub that she knew had Fish and Chips. Well, of course. There was also a grocery store nearby. Bonus!

The Standing Order Southampton

Biltong's & Bangers - I had to find out more about here, too. https://www.biltongandbangers.com/

Biltong's & Bangers

Lidl - the supermarket - https://www.lidl.co.uk/

and back to The Standing Order

Got two orders of Fish and Chips to go. It was pretty good - certainly a lot better than it may look stuffed in a box.

Southampton Day 2

View from our room at the Holiday Inn

More walkabout...

The Pig in the Wall

Wanting more Fish and Chips, we stopped in The Standing Order for more, but they were out. How is that possible?

Duke of Wellington had Fish and Chips, but said they couldn't do Take Away. What???

So back to the hotel to replan. I located Mike's (Eddie's recommendation) on Google maps and decided it would be a nice walk, so off I went.

Ennio's

Found this on the way to Mike's. Think they have everything anyone might want or need.

Found it - Mike's Fish & Chips

Mike's Fish & Chips, Southampton

Mike's Fish & Chips Menu, Southampton

An ATM at a gas station near Mike's. There could be some sketchy people in the area.

Back at the hotel with two orders. The servings were huge and tasty! The small bottle of ketchup was extra.

Really can't tell the size from the picture, but a huge amount of chips.

Carnival UK as seen from Holiday Inn.

Westquay mall - not far from Holiday Inn

More walk about - Carnival UK

Moxy

Warning - new driver!

One of the Travelodge hotels.

I kept wondering why someone had stolen all the "I"s from the Toilet signs.

Stopped at Biltong's but it was late and they had run out of the regular, so I settled for something else.

Had to stop in at Heavenly Desserts - https://heavenlydesserts.co.uk/ Most of their creations need to be consumed there, but I was not to be denied and found something that could be taken with.