Day 11 - London, England

This morning starts early for the Tauck group. We are asked to be aboard the motor coaches at 7:15am for a drive to one of London's most popular tourist attractions, the Tower of London. As our coach departs the hotel, we are introduced to Linda, our local tour guide for the day.

Linda, local tour guide

On the drive to the Tower of London, Linda described many of the sights we were passing and their historical significance. Again, Tauck has selected an excellent local guide. Linda also explained that the reason we were on the coach at such an early hour was so our group could have private access to view the Crown Jewels before the hordes of tourists arrive. Tauck arranged for an early-access private VIP tour for their guests!

Soon after arrival, we are greeted by our Yeoman Warder for a tour of the grounds.

The Yeomen Warders of Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, and Members of the Sovereign's Body Guard of the Yeoman Guard Extraordinary, more commonly referred to as Beefeaters, are ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London. To become a Yeoman Warder, each must have completed at least 20 years of military service.

Our Yeoman Warder led us through the grounds, stopping periodically to show where individuals were beheaded by King Henry VIII, including two of his six wives! It was a short, but fascinating walking tour. Soon, we arrived at the Jewel House, where the famed Crown Jewels are stored. There are military guards out front, and security is extremely tight.

Unfortunately, cameras are not allowed to be used when you enter the Jewel House, so I cannot show any photos of my own. Otherwise, I would have taken a photo of the British Scepter with the Cross carried by Queen Elizabeth which has a 530 carat "Star of Africa" Cullinan diamond (see below). The diamond has an estimated value of over $2 billion! No less impressive are the many crowns on display from various kings, queens, princes and princesses over the ages. I had seen the Crown Jewels back in 2003, but seeing them in a small group without the pushing and shoving of a crowd is definitely the way to go. Thank you, Tauck!

British Scepter with the Cross

After viewing the Crown Jewels, we were given about an hour to explore the grounds on our own. I split from the group and decided to walk through the White Tower.

The White Tower

The White Tower is perhaps the most famous castle keep in the world. Nearly 1,000 years ago, it was built to awe, subdue and terrify Londoners, and to deter foreign invaders. It is an iconic symbol of London and Britain. The White Tower houses the Royal Armories and there are some pieces that date back 350 years, a fact which I found fascinating.

Royal Armories

Our group departed the Tower of London and drove just a few miles to St. Paul's Cathedral. St Paul's is an Anglican cathedral, the seat of the Bishop of London and the mother church of the Diocese of London. It sits on Ludgate Hill at the highest point in London.

St. Paul’s Cathedral

As you can see from the photo, it is an absolutely beautiful day to be touring London with clear skies and an outside temperature of about 70 degrees (F). This St. Paul's church was completed in 1697 and has the second-largest unsupported dome in the world.

If you Google Lagniappe, you will find the definition as “..something given as a bonus or gratuity.” Well, Tauck has a habit of throwing in a Lagniappe or two on every journey, and today it is a flight on the London Eye!

The London Eye (formerly The Millennium Eye) is 443 feet tall and was the world's tallest Ferris Wheel when it opened in year 2000. There are 32 sealed and air-conditioned capsules, each one capable of holding up to 25 people. A flight on The Eye takes about 30 minutes (one 360 degree rotation) and offers unbeatable views of London.

The view of London from The Eye

This was a really cool way to end our tour of London, with a birdseye view of the entire city! And of course, Tauck secured VIP passes so we got to bypass the huge lines of tourists and locals waiting to gain entrance to The Eye. 

You could see all of these attractions on your own in London, but you would not have the VIP access that Tauck provides, nor the experience of Tauck Tour Directors. When we returned to our hotel this afternoon, I asked Dale, one of the Tauck Directors, for a recommendation of a restaurant close to the hotel. She mentioned that there was a great little Indian restaurant just a block from the Churchill. What a great tip! I took her recommendation, and it was amazing.

This evening, we all gathered in one of the hotel's meeting rooms for a farewell cocktail reception. Everyone enjoyed their favorite beverage from the open bar, and trays of hot and cold hors d'oeuvres where passed around. A classical quartet provided beautiful background music as we all reminisced about the last 11 days together.

After an hour of mingling at the cocktail reception, we were invited to a beautiful and delicious Farewell Dinner in the adjoining room. It was a fitting end to another exceptional Tauck experience. 

Watch for our full review of Tauck and Ponant Le Soléal coming soon to CruiseReport.com.

Day 10 - Portsmouth, England

This was my third time in Portsmouth, actually the fourth if you consider an embarkation and disembarkation of the same cruise as two visits. It never occurred to me that there was anything worth seeing here, but that's why you travel with Tauck. They know stuff.

The iconic Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth

Disembarking a ship, even a "small" ship with only 200 people, can be stressful and chaotic. Tauck did an excellent job of splitting the disembarkation process into three separate groups, each with their own disembarkation time slot. It makes things go much smoother. We had until 6am this morning to put our checked/large bags out in the hallway for collection. By 8:30am, our group was heading down the gangway to the port shuttle waiting to take us to the terminal building.

Guests disembark in Portsmouth

Once in the terminal, we identify our pieces of luggage, and take them to a nearby truck where they are loaded to be delivered to our hotel in London. The entire process is very efficient. Motor coaches outside the terminal are labeled based on the Tauck Tour Director to which you are assigned. Tauck could not make it any simpler!

After boarding our coach, we are introduced to Jean, our local tour guide for the morning. As the coach meanders through Portsmouth, Jean educates us as to why this is such an interesting place, and why it is worthy of a longer visit.

Jean, our local tour guide in Portsmouth

Soon we arrive at Portsmouth Historical Dockyards for our morning excursion. We are each given tickets and are basically on our own to explore the dockyards. There are a lot of different exhibits here, restaurants and gift shops. I wasted no time in heading straight for the HMS Victory.

HMS Victory

The ship was launched in 1765 and is famous as Lord Nelson's flagship. Perhaps she is best known for her role at the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21, 1805. With 104 guns, this ship was built to do some serious damage. And, she has been immaculately preserved. The ship has been through multiple repairs and restorations over the decades. It was fascinating to walk through the decks to see the cannons, and how the sailors live, all 850 of them!

Cannons on one of the upper decks

I found it interesting that the cannons got larger as you descended into lower decks, with the largest being on the lowest cannon deck. I cannot even imagine how loud it must have been with all of those cannons firing. After touring every deck of the Victory, I walked through the Mary Rose exhibit.

The Mary Rose is a warship of the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. After serving for 33 years in several wars, she saw her last action on July 19, 1545. While leading the attack on the galleys of a French invasion fleet, she sank in the straits north of the Isle of Wight. The wreck of the Mary Rose was rediscovered in 1971. It was raised in 1982, in one of the most complex and expensive projects in the history of maritime archaeology.

Remains of the Mary Rose

Trying to imagine more than 500 men on a ship that size is mind-boggling. When she sank, 500 men died, only 35 survived. The presence of both the Mary Rose and the HMS Victory make a visit to the Portsmouth Historical Dockyard a must. If you are cruising into or out of Portsmouth, plan an extra day or two as there is a lot to see here.

After our time at the dockyards, we re-boarded the coaches for a short drive to our lunch destination. Tauck arranged for a group lunch at The Still and West, a Portsmouth pub located right on the waterfront.

My traditional pub dish, a meat pie with gravy, mashed potatoes and cabbage was very good. And, the pint of Guinness made it even more enjoyable! As with all Tauck arranged events, everything is included in the price, even gratuities.

After lunch, we once again boarded the coaches for the two-hour drive to London. We arrived at our hotel, the Churchill Hyatt, at around 5pm. Again, Tauck has thought of everything. Instead of having to stand in line to check-in, our Tour Director brought our room keys to the coach and handed them to us as we disembarked. Nice.

Tomorrow, we will be exploring London.

Day 6 - Liverpool

This morning Le Soléal is docked in Liverpool, England. The city of Liverpool stretches along the east bank of the River Mersey. While most North Americans think of Liverpool as the birthplace of the Beatles, this is also an historic shipping and trading port. Liverpool has the reputation of being "England's finest Victorian city."

Le Soléal docked in Liverpool (on the River Mersey)

There were five different excursions offered in Liverpool today. However, with only a few hours to explore the city, guests will only get a small taste of what the city has to offer. I opted for the "A Walk Through Liverpool", which was only an hour and a half. Honestly, if I had it to do over, I think I would have chosen "A Taste of Chester" tour. I would have had more walking exercise and some other guests I spoke with seemed to really enjoy that tour.

Our walking tour started at 8:30am just outside the cruise terminal building. We met Paul, our local guide for the day.

Paul was not as grumpy as he may look in the photo, that is just the best picture I could get. Sorry, Paul. We walked a couple of hundred yards to a memorial to the engine room workers on the Titanic, all of whom remained at their post as the ship was sinking.

Marine Engine Room Memorial

As we continue our walk into town, we stop from time-to-time to learn more about the history of Liverpool. We end up across the street from the Town Hall building. The building was featured in the Beatle's movie "A Hard Day's Night".

Liverpool Town Hall

Just a few blocks from Town Hall, we arrive at Mathew Street. Situated in the Cavern Quarter at the heart of the city, Liverpool's most famous street not only houses the Cavern Club but numerous references and connections to the "four lads who shook the world" and Liverpool's long musical heritage. There's shopping, bars and pubs, and on summer weekends the street is packed with partying locals and tourists.

The Cavern Club is located on Mathew Street. The Beatles made their first appearance at the club on February 9, 1961, after returning to Liverpool from Hamburg, Germany. They made 292 appearances at the club.

Of course, no visit to Mathew Street would be complete without taking a selfie with a life-size bronze statue of John Lennon. The statue leans against the Wall of Fame. Each brick in the wall is inscribed with the name of a group that played at the original Cavern Club.

After our visit to Mathew Street, the tour was to continue to the Liverpool Museum. I decided to peel off from the group and do some souvenir shopping and exploring on my own. Liverpool is an easy city to navigate on foot and there is a large shopping district just 15 minutes walking from the cruise terminal.

Our ship sailed from Liverpool at 12 noon as we were enjoying lunch. I captured a quick photo of a Dazzle Ship as we sailed down (or up) the Mersey.

Dazzle Ship

This afternoon, there was a movie showing in the theater and most of the guests attended. The movie was "Out of Ireland" and it was a documentary on the mass emigration of Irish to the USA and Canada.

Tomorrow, we will be in Cork, Ireland.