We sailed 12 nights around the British Isles on Majestic Princess. Exploring amazing ports along the way including Liverpool, Belfast & The Orkney Islands.
Sometimes in life, we can all be guilty of missing what's right in front of us, taking for granted something we see every day, not appreciating the simple things on our doorstep.
When we think of bucket-list cruising, our minds drift to the sun-soaked Mediterranean, a grand World Voyage, or floating down the Danube. But we shouldn't ignore the beauty sitting right in our own back garden. So we took our first-ever cruise around the British Isles, exploring places on our doorstep we'd somehow never thought to visit. And in another first, we stepped onboard Princess, a line we'd been intrigued by for years but never actually sailed.
A voyage of firsts. An adventure in our own neck of the woods, through ancient lands, iconic cities, and the rugged edge of a kingdom.
Our journey began at the Ocean Terminal with no preferential treatment, no Diamond membership privileges this time. Pure Princess noobs, handed two wearable metal discs, the Princess Medallion, instead of traditional keycards.
Majestic Princess reveals her scale immediately: 19 decks, over 3,500 passengers, and a central Piazza of gold and silver architecture and three decks of marble. Our home for 12 days was an inside cabin, one of the last available when we booked. We hoped being stripped of an ocean view might turn out to be a blessing in disguise, forcing us out to explore every corner of the ship.
As the ship filled, a surreal realisation hit: the vast majority of guests were American and Canadian. Embarking on a cruise around our own homeland, and finding ourselves distinctly in the minority.
Up on the open decks, the sailaway party was in full swing: line dancing, cocktails, and yes, actual English sunshine. Ahead of us: twelve days, just two sea days, and an immediate six-day gauntlet of back-to-back ports.
Our first tender port, and our first hyper-local food challenge of the trip: a proper, authentic Cornish pasty, made fresh in the window of a well-reviewed local spot. Potato, swede, beef, a little onion, baked red hot. Delicious.
Beyond the pasty, Falmouth gave us Pendennis Castle, built by Henry VIII, with WWII bunkers dotted along the old moat and narrow lanes of independent bookshops and quiet bakeries. A perfect, peaceful opening chapter.
Cobh: the first chapter of the Titanic Trilogy
Neither of us had ever set foot in Ireland. Cobh changed that and delivered the opening chapter of a historical thread we'd wanted to trace for years: the story of RMS Titanic. Cobh, then Queenstown, was her last port of call before the open Atlantic. At the White Star Line terminal, the final 123 passengers walked down what's now called Heartbreak Pier to board the tenders that carried them out to the ship, for most, the last time their feet would touch land.
We stood at the Titanic Memorial Garden overlooking the harbour, then took in the Cobh Heritage Centre's wider history, Titanic, the Lusitania, and the millions of Irish emigrants who left these shores for America.
Hyper-local challenge: not Guinness, this is County Cork, where the stout of choice is Murphy's. We drank it at the Titanic Bar, inside the original White Star Line building.
Dublin
Weather turned, and the choice was: brave the tenders and a 40-minute coach ride into rain-soaked Dublin, or take a rest day on the ship. We chose the ship, a swim, a soak, lattes and cakes at the International Café, an afternoon in one of Majestic Princess's hidden Deck 17 "living room" alcoves watching football, sushi for dinner. Not the day we'd planned, but exactly the reset we needed after three straight days of ports.
Liverpool: chapter two of the Titanic Trilogy
Home of the Beatles, two great football clubs, and the Three Graces on the waterfront, right where Majestic Princess tied up. Before Southampton, both the White Star Line and Cunard were headquartered here, making Liverpool central to the whole ocean liner story.
We found a side door ajar at the original Cunard Building and ended up with an impromptu mini-tour from a security guard turned brilliant, unofficial guide — the building's now used for offices and film shoots, including Downton Abbey and Taylor Swift videos. Just behind it, Albion House: the White Star office where survivor names were announced from the balcony after the Titanic news broke.
The Cavern Quarter was a full Beatles pilgrimage, young crowds queuing for a local Beatles convention. And facing the classic Sunday dilemma of roast versus fish and chips, we simply ordered both.
Belfast: where the story began
Cobh was Titanic's last port. Liverpool was her corporate home. Belfast is where she was built, the final, crucial chapter of our Titanic Trilogy. In the dry dock at the Titanic Quarter sat something extra special: SS Nomadic, the last surviving White Star Line ship in the world, Titanic's mini sister ship. The Titanic Belfast museum itself is spectacular, part art gallery, part dark ride, part world-class history museum.
Hyper-local challenge: our first-ever Guinness, at Fibber Magee's, alongside a bowl of lamb-and-potato Irish stew that warmed us from head to toe. Irish music, historic memorabilia, a pub that looks like a film set, one of those rare travel moments where everything locks together.
Greenock: sunny Scotland, in the rain
Our fourth country of the trip, and our sixth straight port day. The rain never let up, so we broke out the umbrellas anyway. Coffee at The Alchemist, a genuinely great coffee shop that felt teleported in from a trendy metropolitan city, and a stroll round Greenock rather than the trip into Glasgow.
Hyper-local challenge, contested but non-negotiable: Irn-Bru.
A sea day, and getting to know the ship properly
Our first full sea day, and a chance to actually map out Majestic Princess. Two main hubs: the Piazza decks (5, 6, 7) for restaurants, bars, and entertainment, and the top decks (16, 17, 18) for the pools, outdoor cinema, and the buffet. Our own favourite quiet corners: the aft-deck terrace by the buffet, the Hollywood Pool Club's cabanas, and the Vista Lounge during off-peak hours, proof that even on a big, lively ship, you can find pockets of calm if you go looking.
Orkney: as far north as this trip goes
The most northern point of the entire itinerary, sharing a latitude with southern Alaska, Oslo, and the tip of Greenland. Though part of Scotland today, Orkney's islanders are fiercely proud of their Scandinavian and Norwegian heritage, flying their own red, yellow, and blue flag rather than the Saltire or Union Jack. For the first time on this voyage, it didn't feel like exploring our own back garden any more, it felt like arriving in another world.
We wandered Kirkwall's cobbled streets, the castle ruins, St Magnus Cathedral and, being one-quarter Scottish, picked up a small history book on Clan Campbell, tracing a personal thread right at the edge of the UK.
Hyper-local challenge: fresh Orkney scallops, tipped off by a friend as a favourite on the London restaurant scene for their exceptionally sweet, clean taste paired, entirely correctly, with an Irn-Bru.
Edinburgh (cancelled) - two sea days instead
A bridge announcement changed the plan: 37 gusting to 40 knot winds forced the cancellation of our Edinburgh call. Two back-to-back sea days followed instead. But the weather had one more surprise, the sun broke through, the ship spread out across the open decks, and for the first time all voyage we could properly breathe. A highlight: a lecture from guest speaker Susan Morrison on the gruesome history of Scotland's monarchs, sharp, funny, and the kind of history teacher everyone wishes they'd had at school.
Le Havre: don't sleep on the "bracket" port
Everyone knows the cruise industry's "brackets" trick, a nearby big-name city listed in brackets to nudge you further afield. Last time we were here, we took the bait and went straight to Paris. This time, we gave Le Havre our full attention and it paid off.
Le Havre shares an artistic thread with Paris: Claude Monet grew up here. We stumbled into a major exhibition on Monet's time in the city, which gave us a roadmap to seek out the exact spots he painted - Sainte-Adresse beach, a local water polo match, and St. Joseph's Church, somewhere between Neo-Gothic and Blade Runner.
Hyper-local challenge: Normandy cider and cheese, sampled at a waterfront spot for our final port stop of the trip.
Coming home
To some, this might seem an odd choice, a cruise around your own home islands, to places reachable by car or ferry. But we don't want to endlessly repeat the same destinations on the same ships. We want new adventures, new ships, new itineraries — even when "new" means finally visiting what's been on the doorstep all along.
Liverpool felt completely different this time. We finally made it to Ireland. Kirkwall felt like a genuinely remote, exotic adventure. And we learned exactly what Princess is all about, the parts that match our taste completely, and the parts that don't. No right or wrong, just an honest new experience.
A voyage of firsts, not lasts. And a quiet reminder to never miss what's sitting right in front of you, because sometimes, it turns out to be pretty amazing.
