Adventures of Kevin, Cyndi, Kaitlyn and Kenzie: Vacation Part 2- Dover, Embarkation, Fun Day at Sea, and Liverpool

Dover

We only had one afternoon in Dover, so we knew we’d only have time for one thing. We decided to hike the White Cliffs and have tea at the Visitors Center on top.

Kaitlyn and I are just across the street from our hotel. The cliffs in the background are the ones we climbed up and hiked along the top of.

Having “tea”, well milk and a brownie at the top of the White Cliffs.

Kevin and I had tea and scones with clotted cream and jam. One of my coworkers told me I had to try clotted cream and she was right. Best. Stuff. Ever!

After tea, we hiked one of the trails along the top of the cliffs.

Yes Mom, I had a “death grip” on Kaitlyn the entire time we were up there…

Dover Castle… We will have to go back sometime, so we can actually visit it.

Kaitlyn playing around with Daddy’s hat in the hotel room…

This was the view from our hotel room window the next morning. Kaitlyn was so excited to see the ship had arrived while she was sleeping.

Embarkation

The Embarkation Photo… Let the fun begin!

Getting ready to sail out of Dover…

So our itinerary was supposed to be like this…

9/13/2013 Depart Dover
9/14/2013 Fun Day at Sea
9/15/2013 Stavanger, Norway
9/16/2013 Fun Day at Sea
9/17/2013 Edinburgh, Scotland
9/18/2013 Invergordon, Scotland
9/19/2013 Fun Day at Sea
9/20/2013 Belfast, Northern Ireland
9/21/2013 Glasgow, Scotland
9/22/2013 Dublin, Ireland
9/23/2013 Fun Day at Sea
9/24/2013 Le Havre, France
9/25/2013 Debark in Dover

However, soon after we boarded the ship we got word that the itinerary was going to be changing due to a huge storm in the North Sea. Carnival had been watching this storm for a while. It was producing 30 foot waves and 70 – 80 mph winds. If we were able to get through that, we were taking a chance that we would not be able to get out of Stavanger for several days. So, Carnival went to work on the schedule and managed to rearrange most of the ports. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to get us into Belfast as they have a very small port and the piers were booked, but they went out of their way to add another port. To pull this off, they got the charts of the Mersey River couriered down from London to Dover for the Captain to decide the feasibility of going to Liverpool. It turned out to be a really good decision because the port of Stavanger actually ended up closing the day we were supposed to be there it was so bad. We were still a little disappointed to be missing Belfast though. So, this was our final itinerary…

9/13/2013 Depart Dover
9/14/2013 Fun Day at Sea
9/15/2013 Liverpool, England
9/16/2013 Glasgow, Scotland
9/17/2013 Dublin, Ireland
9/18/2013 Fun Day at Sea
9/19/2013 Invergordon, Scotland
9/20/2013 Edinburgh, Scotland
9/21/2013 Fun Day at Sea
9/22/2013 Stavanger, Norway
9/23/2013 Fun Day at Sea
9/24/2013 Le Havre, France
9/25/2013 Debark in Dover

Kaitlyn’s first “casual” photo of the cruise…

That night, we went to the Welcome Aboard Show. At the show, John Heald, the Cruise Director, gave some stats about the passengers. The passengers were overwhelmingly American and Canadian. Out of over 2,000 guests on the ship only 42 were under the age of 18. So John asked if there were any kids in the audience. Everyone around us pointed out Kaitlyn. Since she was the only child in the audience John asked if she could have a prize. I brought her on stage. She did her shy routine, burying her head while I answered the questions: what’s your name, how old are you, where are y’all from. And John gave her a gold medal and told her she got the first prize of the cruise. Of course, he also told her she was supposed to rub it three times, put it under her pillow before she went to sleep, and in the morning she’d find $20 under her pillow. She did try putting it under her pillow too! Thanks John!

Fun Day at Sea

Kaitlyn insisted on wearing her medal to lunch the next day. And by that time she was a mini celebrity. Not only did everyone at the show know her name, but the show was being repeatedly re-broadcast on the stateroom TVs the entire cruise. People kept coming up to her saying hi and telling her pretty and cute she was.

After lunch we had some new friends frolicking alongside the ship. We didn’t get a picture of the whales, but Kevin did catch one of the dolphins (bottom-right corner of the picture).

Kaitlyn’s all ready for elegant night! She was so proud of her first pair of big girl “high” heels.

First family elegant night photo of the cruise…

This was the only night Kaitlyn didn’t order off the kid’s menu. She wanted the Maine lobster!

One of the waiters made this flower for her out of a napkin, straw, and straw wrapper!

Kaitlyn has one of the animal night lights at home that projects “stars” on the ceiling. She LOVES it. Kevin found tiny travel sized versions, so we surprised her with one right before bedtime.

Liverpool

Welcome to Liverpool!

This is the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Liverpool, Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King…

The center roof and stained glass is supposed to represent the crown of thorns.

This is the Anglican Cathedral, Liverpool Cathedral, which is literally right down the street. It’s also really cool that the street which connects the two is called Hope St.