CURRENTS

Good morning from Belfast… well, Belfast Cruise Port to be more accurate.

We docked this morning at 10:00am, so there was no real rush to get off the ship, or so we thought. As usual, we put on our daily TV show hosted by Peter, our Cruise Director, who gives us a rundown of each port we visit.

Today required a shuttle bus as there is no pedestrian access out of the port. According to Peter and our daily Currents newsletter, the buses only ran every hour, with the first one leaving at 10:30am. We had already missed that one, so we headed up to Waves for a quick breakfast. By chance, we bumped into Rick and Diane and agreed to meet just before 11:30am for the next shuttle.

We had also been told that the shuttle service took a break between 12:00pm and 1:00pm, so if we missed the 11:30 bus, we’d be stranded until 1:30pm. Armed with this information, we made our way off the ship around 11:15am and found a sizeable queue already waiting. We joined the line and were told the bus would be arriving shortly.

Well, “shortly” turned out to be a flexible term. The bus eventually rolled up at 11:45am and we managed to squeeze on. Just before departure, a local lady informed us that the buses were actually running every 30 minutes. Suddenly our return journey seemed a lot less complicated.

The trip into Belfast took around 15 minutes and dropped us right in front of City Hall. Naturally, that became our first stop. We didn’t take a formal tour, but we had a look around the foyer, which was absolutely stunning. Marble everywhere you looked, from floor to ceiling, with beautiful ornate details throughout.

As we emerged, we were approached by a gentleman in a bright red coat trying to sell us tickets for the hop-on hop-off bus. We politely declined but immediately bombarded him with questions about shops, coffee houses and, most importantly, the best pubs within walking distance.

To be fair, he was brilliant and incredibly helpful considering he wasn’t making a sale.

Armed with our newly acquired local knowledge, we headed down Donegall Place and were immediately confronted by Marks & Spencer, Boots and Primark.

The girls were in heaven.

Rick and I, on the other hand, were somewhat less enthusiastic, especially as the rain had started to make an appearance.

We agreed to meet in the café on the second floor of Marks & Spencer while the ladies explored. Unfortunately, the café queue appeared to stretch halfway back to Dublin. After locating the girls, Rick and I decided to seek refuge in one of the pubs our Dublin taxi driver, David, had recommended. We were convinced there was a Guinness with our names on it somewhere nearby.

We were about three minutes from The Dirty Onion when the heavens opened. Not just rain, but proper Belfast rain. 

Not being dressed for such weather, we retreated into Whites Tavern, another well-known establishment that had just opened for the day. We dashed inside, ordered two pints of the black stuff and informed the girls of our exact location.

Eventually, they arrived looking slightly damp but otherwise unharmed. Lorna was carrying enough shopping bags to suggest she had personally rescued the Belfast economy. Diane had a few purchases too, but nothing compared to Lorna’s haul.

My first question was, “Where exactly do you think all of that is going to go?”

She confidently assured me it would fit. I suspect this confidence stems from the fact that when we get home, I’ll discover I’ve somehow “accidentally” packed fewer clothes than I left with.

The girls joined us for another round while we waited for the rain to ease.

It didn’t.

In fact, it got worse.

Thankfully, a kind member of staff appeared with two abandoned umbrellas that had never been reclaimed. We gratefully accepted them and ventured back into the storm.

The Dirty Onion was only about five minutes away, but despite our partial protection, we still got thoroughly soaked. We finally found the pub, walked inside, looked around for approximately ten seconds, and walked straight back out again.

Not exactly our cup of tea.

Fortunately, we’d noticed a few other bars along the way and eventually settled on The Cloth Ear, which looked much more inviting. We found a table, ordered another Guinness and decided on fish and chips for lunch.

The food arrived and was perfectly good. Not quite the best fish and chips we’d had on the trip, but certainly enjoyable.

After lunch, we wandered next door to admire the entrance of the Merchant Hotel.

Wow.

This place was seriously impressive. Plush furnishings, ornate décor and a level of luxury that practically demanded you straighten your posture as you walked through the door. Attached was an equally beautiful bar, and for a moment we wished we’d come there instead.

Then we saw the prices.

A few photos later, we continued our walk back. By now the rain had finally stopped, and Belfast looked considerably more welcoming. We passed the shops once again, although still not enough to persuade Rick or me to go inside.

The girls, however, remained fully committed to their shopping mission.

We didn’t mind because we had discovered another source of entertainment: a street performer singing Elvis songs.

Now, when I say Elvis outfit, I’m using the term rather loosely. It looked more like one of those disposable fancy-dress costumes you buy from a discount shop and throw away the next day.

The performance itself wasn’t exactly award-winning either.

In fact, it was spectacularly bad.

The good news was that he didn’t seem to realise this.

Still, you have to admire the confidence. He gave it absolutely everything, and for effort alone he earned a solid 10 out of 10.

We were now getting close to “next bus back to the ship” time, so we gently ushered the ladies away from the shops and made the short walk back to the shuttle bus stop.

Right on the corner, we spotted Karlis, the ship’s Culinary Chef. He had actually disembarked today as his contract had come to an end, so we were really pleased to bump into him one last time. It gave us the chance to thank him for all the great courses and wish him well for whatever adventures came next.

With the shuttle departure time approaching, we said our goodbyes and headed for the bus.

Well, I almost headed for the wrong bus.

Apparently, a Windstar ship was also in port that day, and I very nearly found out exactly where they were docked by boarding their shuttle instead of ours. Thankfully, my mistake was spotted before I ended up on an unexpected sightseeing tour of Belfast Harbour, and we managed to board the correct bus.

We arrived back at the ship with plenty of time to spare. It was now late afternoon, and with our departure scheduled for 8:00pm, we relaxed for a while before getting ready for the evening.

At around 7:00pm, we headed down to Martinis for a quick pre-dinner drink before meeting up with Rick, Diane, Stacy and Geoff in The Terrace.

After a couple of drinks, we wandered up to find them, only to discover that The Terrace was absolutely packed. We searched around for a few minutes before Diane suddenly appeared and informed us they had managed to secure a table in Waves instead.

Perfect.

We joined the gang and discovered that tonight’s theme was British cuisine. Oceania had really gone all out, with a fantastic selection of traditional favourites on offer. There was pretty much everything you could think of.

For me, the choice was easy.

Cottage pie.

And it was absolutely delicious.

After dinner, we naturally gravitated back to Martinis, where David was once again entertaining everyone on the piano.

Now, David does have a playlist, but it tends to become more of a suggestion whenever we arrive.

Before long, we had convinced him to start playing songs for our unofficial game of “Beat the Intro.” To his credit, he always joins in with good humour and happily plays along.

What followed was a great evening of us loudly shouting out answers after only a few notes, much to the disbelief, amusement and occasional horror of the other guests trying to enjoy a quiet drink.

Eventually, common sense prevailed. We decided it was probably best to call it a night and head to bed, especially as we would be arriving in Scotland the following morning.