Friday, July 5 – Dun Laoghaire.
I can’t get pics to load tonight from our cabin so I’ll add them tomorrow from up in the lounge on the top deck where the wifi will hopefully be better.
Today’s the day! We left our very comfortable hotel in a nice part of Dublin, by taxi at noon today to head to the Carlisle Pier Cruise Ship Terminal in the ocean side town of Dun Laoghaire. We travelled through some really nice neighbourhoods on our way south down the coast from downtown.
It’s always a bit nerve racking on the way to the ship’s port. Will the ship be there, won’t it? Will we find the right pier or will the taxi driver find the right spot, etc? You know, travel drama stuff. Well today all went well. We came around the corner towards the terminal area and there she was, the very beautiful Star Legend. The taxi driver let us off outside the gates and he could have come into the terminal to drop us off, but it was good to dust off our legs for the first time today and walk the 250 ft to the registration tent.
We were a bit early so after dropping our bags at the check in tent, we went for a walk through the seaside town of Dun Laogharie. There were some really nice shops laid out along a main drag which felt very touristy and a small shopping mall with a grocery shop for the locals.
Then it was time to head back to the ship and get aboard. Check-in was done and we were off to check out our room. The room is beautiful as you may have seen on my previous blogs. The Star Legend is almost identical to the Star Pride which I’ve been on a couple of times so it was like coming home. One small snag, the beds hadn’t been pulled apart, and love her as I do, there was no way I was going to sleep with my sister. We were initially told the beds couldn’t be split in this room however, in the end our room steward came to the rescue and found a way to make it happen and all is well.
We toured the ship, had lunch, attended a couple of talks on the excursions available and on the port of the Isle of Man where we’ll be tomorrow and then went up on deck to say goodbye to Ireland, until next time. The Windstar fleet has a sail away protocol where they unfurl the ships flag (or the sails in the case of the sailing ships) to the very stirring music of Vangelis’ Conquest of Paradise as the ship pulls away from the dock or mooring. Gives me a lump in my throat every time.
There was just barely enough time to head to our cabin to change for a lovely dinner in the main dining room. We spoke with a lovely couple from NYC at the next table during dinner which is typical of a Windstar cruise. Very friendly cruisers.
So, not a lot to talk about today. So I’ll sign off and report on our first day at sea tomorrow!
Lois' Adventures 