July 2-3
Majestic Princess is the itinerary we chose for our British Isles cruise. We chose the ship for itinerary as hit the most "first-timer" ports. I honestly was looking at just about any line other than Princess (a bit tired of them but they had the ports I was looking for). It’s larger than ships we have been on recently at 3,560 passengers, but of course that is small by mega ship standards. She’s a Royal Class Princess ship for those that follow Princess. The Noordam on Holland America that we were on for Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines was just over 1,924 passengers. It was a refreshing change with food that was better than most anything on Princess, but I digress, on to the current trip!
We spent 6 days in London prior to boarding the ship in
Southhampton. Greg worked in Bristol for 6 months and I visited for a week, and
we spent a rainy day on a HOHO in London, took a Thames River cruise, saw the
changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and Big Ben. We spent most of the
time in Bristol. He was working so I toured the area on my own. Together on the
long weekend we went to Stonehenge, Bath, Cheddar & Wales for a couple of
castles. I took the train into London
and visited Kensington Palace and Tower of London. We met up in London, and we
even took the Chunnel from London to Paris and spent a whirlwind day in Paris
before flying home. So, I wanted to see some other areas prior to going on the
cruise. Here are a few photos from my visit in 2004:
Friday 2, 2026 - Friday July 3, 2026 –Kew Gardens –
London, England
We had a 6:40p flight from Orlando to London Heathrow. We toasted with our Prosecco and managed to get some sleep and arrived at 7:55 in the morning and grabbed an
Uber to the London Maida Vale Marriott. The hotel had a room ready and checked us in early. Yay!
We got a bit settled and took trains to visit the Royal Botanic Gardens aka Kew Gardens, which is London’s largest UNESCO World Heritage Site. Kew Gardens grows more flower species across 121 hectares than any other garden in the world.
We grabbed lunch at a cafe before walking the rest of the way to the gardens.
The gardens are beautiful, but to be honest, we were a bit underwhelmed. We have seen some pretty spectacular gardens around the world and this one was more about having the most species vs visual beauty. London was still under the heat dome, and our entire visit was in 90* plus heat.
There were Henry Moore Sculptures throughout the gardens. The areas are the Broad Walk Promenade, a Treetop Walkway, The Hive - A unique 17-metre-tall aluminum structure that was designed by UK-based artist Wolfgang Buttress and opened in 2016, Palm House, and the huge Temperate House.
We cooled off with ice cream and cold drinks between the various areas of the Gardens.
We took the trains back to our hotel and went to the Elite Lounge for “dinner”. The hotel didn’t have a separate room for the lounge but had a section of their dining room with food and drinks. Each night we were there they had a daily soup, a pasta dish, chicken legs or other hot dish, salad, cheeses, breads, and dessert. Wine, beer and soft drinks were included. It was a very different setup from the usual Elite lounges and offerings.
It was early to bed after the flight and touring to be fresh for
our visit to Windsor Castle tomorrow.
Canada Goose
Common Wood-Pigeon
Eurasian Jackdaw
Eurasian Jay
Eurasian Magpie
European Robin
Rose-ringed Parakeet
Eurasian Wren
Photo album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/RMUoUNiE417QQ45S8
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