IRELAND, GREENLAND, ICELAND AND NORWAY
Journal of a July 2005 Cruise

Cruise 2005: Ireland, Greenland, Iceland and Norway
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This page last updated: 19th July 2015.
2: Cobh

Cobh We are up around 6.30am., go to the Orangery, have porridge and a cooked breakfast.

Most of the morning is spent ambling around the ship, familiarising ourselves with its various nooks and crannies. Christine finds the library and borrows a couple of books. I discover the computer centre or Cybersuite. This is situated just behind the Crows Nest, a bar and viewing area at the very front of the ship. It contains about a dozen computers and is a very quiet room, except when it is being used for classes. When not using the computers one can swivel the chair round and just look at the views out of the window.

Internet access is available but it costs £15 an hour. Time can be pre-booked in multiples of 15 minutes. Over the course of the cruise I spend £30 for two hours time online just accessing my webmail deleting spam. At the time I was getting around 200 spam emails a day, and needed to delete them regularly so I could cope with the remaining non-spam on my return.

We have a snooze later before a light lunch in the Orangery. Meanwhile the ship arrives in Cobh. About 12 miles from the city of Cork, and once known as Queenstown, it is famous for being the last port of call for the Titanic.

We go ashore about 1.45. It is cold and breezy to begin with but soon gets quite warm. The town is not particularly wheelchair-friendly but we manage. Christine wants to shop for a woolly cardigan as she hasn't packed any. She can't thoil the £70 price-tag of the one on sale aboard ship. It seems though that half the shops here shut for lunch from 1pm till 2.15. We struggle up a steepish road to a place called Rings Corner and back down again to the West Beach. We rest and have an ice-cream. I leave Christine admiring the view across the harbour while I do a recce of the shops to find one that might stock something suitable. I find some in a shop that is accessible and fetch Christine. We end up buying two lovely cardigans for just €80.

We spend a pleasant time sitting in a park known as the New Promenade. According to the The Cobh and Harbour Chamber of Commerce

In July 2000 the Cobh Millennium Project was officially opened giving the public a beautifully restored Bandstand, a sculptured statue of The Navigator the work by M. Gregoriy, and a children's playground.
Not knowing the name of the statue, we give it the epithet, The Man in the Bath. The park also has some old posts which have been painted in vivid colours.

After returning to the ship we order tea and pastries from room service. We don't use the room service much on the cruise. With all the food available on board, when in the cabin the most we want is usually just a cup of tea so it seems easier to make it yourself than order it up.

During dinner we discuss the day's events with our fellow diners. One couple took the coach tour to Youghal and Lismore. The most seasoned cruisers eschewed the £12 coach into Cork laid on by P&O and took the train which cost only a few euros. Departure from Cobh isn't until late in the evening. Several rowing boats go past the restaurant window.

Tired, we go early to bed.

Photographs Journal page 3