Pre Cruise Trip To Liverpool
NCL Getaway Transatlantic
Southampton to NYC
Some vacations are planned, some not so much, and some just pop up when not expected because a deal is just too good to refuse.
Early September 2023, I was actually not long back from a solo trip and Passion for Cruises make a Facebook post with this amazing deal. £1600 for a balcony, drinks package, $50 per cabin off excursions, 3 – yes 3 specialty restaurants, and a flight back from NYC to London. Well, how could I possibly say NO to that! So, I quickly got on the blower and booked myself a trip!
I have been on this ship before so felt quite confident that I would settle in quickly and soon feel at home. I was right. It was amazing! Read on if you want to know what a lady on her own does when she is travelling to the other side of the world with NCL.
Now, because I live on the Isle of Man (small Island in the Irish Sea), and the weather and transport links from my Island at this time of year are not great, I always travel to the UK a few days early before a big trip and this time would be no different. With the cost of travelling from my Island and paying for hotels being rather expensive at the time of travelling, I decided I would economise in a few small ways. So, I wouldn’t fly to Gatwick or Heathrow in the South of England – I would instead fly to the North of England (Liverpool) and stay for a couple of nights with my daughter who lives there.
I flew with Easyjet and the flight was quiet, comfortable and uneventful. After a flight time of about 30 minutes or so I landed in Liverpool, and right outside the terminal is a bus station. I got the Bus 500 which is an express bus into the city centre and I was with my daughter and her partner in their apartment before I knew it.
What to do in Liverpool
I am lucky in that my daughter lives right in the city centre, so there is bags of stuff to do right on her doorstep. As she works from home I made sure I was out pretty much all day every day.
Day 1 Liverpool – Cultural Overload
Walker Art Gallery. This is one of my favourite art galleries. It is relatively small, so easy to navigate and because I have been there that many times it’s almost like I am visiting old friends. One of my personal favourites is the Portrait of Henry VIII which is based on the Hans Holbein Whitehall Mural (destroyed in a fire). I am awestruck with this painting. He isn’t wearing a crown, but you are in no doubt he is a man of great power just by his stance and his glare. So, I trot along to see him – but he is not taking visitors today! HOW RUDE! Something about his room being decorated?! So I cheered myself up with a lovely coffee and cake from the onsite cafe.
I also make a point when I visit a gallery of examining a specific painting in detail, and learning all about it. Today I chose “Eventide, a scene at the Westminster union”. (Herkomer) Depicting ladies who were unfortunate enough to find themselves living in workhouses, the picture however makes the place look happy and comfortable which is at odds with how we know workhouses to be. I didn’t expect workhouse residents to have access to bibles and cups of tea, and I certainly didn’t think they would be laughing in a way the charming lady at the front is!
Right next door is the Liverpool Library – A must if for no other reason than to see its beautiful interior, specifically its glass dome roof and the fabulous “Picton Reading Room”. I was interested to find out that this was the very first public library with electric lighting. With the spiral staircases, leather bound tomes and a rather grand clock it put me in mind of Hogwarts library.
Then I finished my cultural day by dropping into the building on the other side of this library – the World Museum. Now I have been here on countless occasions, so today my intention was to see a specific exhibition called Return of the Gods. I am particularly interested in Greek myths and the stories of the gods and goddesses has always enthralled me. This exhibition was small but perfectly formed. If I have one criticism there wasn’t nearly enough Goddesses!
I finished today off by a visit to Mathew Street where I had a half a lager at “The Grapes” pub.
Day 2 – Sightseeing and Shopping
🎶What’s got four arms, loves to grab ya, answer is 2 liver birds 🎶
The most famous buildings in Liverpool are the Three Graces, and out of those the most famous has to be The Royal Liver Building. Coming from the Isle of Man, this building is seared into a lifetime of memories of day trips and mini-breaks, but it never fails to make my heart soar every time I sail down the Mersey and get my first glimpse.
It has actually only opened to the public fairly recently, but as soon as I heard it was possible to go up to the top I promised myself the first chance I had, this is what I would do.
IMPORTANT – you can’t just rock up! There are timed slots, each lasting an hour or so, and you get booked in with a group and stay with them throughout. ALSO this is not an excursion for people who can’t manage spiral stairs. They mention this a few times before they let you even pay or get into the lift.
Things you learn about:-
1. Concrete
Steel rods run through concrete giving the building the tensile strength required to withstand stresses. The Liver Building was one of the first to use this method and was extremely innovative at the time
2 Clocks
I have always assumed each tower had 3 clocks. I was wrong. The one looking to the river has 3, the other only 1. Who knew! I was also surprised when I was told the clock didn’t have numbers of any sort. How come I had never noticed that either! The clock faces are also bigger than that of Big Ben.
3 Birds – Liver Birds are everywhere, flags, scarves, refuse bins, TV shows, Hollywood Blockbusters
These two birds made of copper have quite a story behind them. A girl bird (Bella) who looks out to sea to watch out for boats returning, and a boy bird (Bertie) who is busy watching out over the city looking for a sign that the pubs have opened. Folklore says that if the birds flew away the city would fall. So, obviously these copper birds without feathers are very much tied down. Who wants to take a chance on such a thing! Interesting fact alert – the guy who created these birds was a German. When WW1 started this chap was interned as a prisoner of war on the Isle of Man (where I live).
4 Life Assurance
The Royal Liver was an insurance company started in a pub. Ironically, a lot of people died on this building site due to there being no health and safety to speak of in those days,
The tour itself starts in the basement and it’s not the easiest place to find if you don’t know where you are looking. Yes, I went into the main door at the centre of the building, and thought NOPE this isn’t it, so I turned around quite sharply. The entrance is to the right as you are looking at the building, and down some stairs. You buy a timed ticket. There is a small exhibition/model/green screen/photos and fridge magnets etc to look at and/or purchase while you are waiting to be called.
You then sit and watch a short video and are given a safety briefing. You go up a lift, and then out onto the balcony to see one of the clock faces. You also see the back of Bertie as he is surveying his city. You get to walk around here and see different viewpoints for example Birkenhead. We walked up a flight of spiral staircases and into the clock tower room. This was a cool place. You get to see the mechanics of how these clocks work, and there is a video projected onto the wall about Liverpool in general through the ages, and the Liver building.
Time to go back outside now and have a walk around. You can see the city, the river, but I think what I enjoyed the most was that we were up there dead on 1pm and so we got to hear the clock chime. Then it was time to go. Our tour was over.
Liverpool is full of culture with some great pubs, it’s definitely worth checking out if your cruise passes that way.
Southampton is quite a distance from Liverpool, and there are a variety of ways to get there. A person can take a flight, they can take a train, they can take a private car if they are feeling flush. I decided I was going to take the National Express from Liverpool, via Heathrow Airport to Southampton. I have never actually been on such a coach before so this in itself was quite an exciting thing for me. Another aspect of this “economy drive” was that it was an overnight coach so I wasn’t having to pay for a very expensive hotel in Southampton on the night prior to the cruise. This coach would leave Liverpool at around 11 at night, and arrive in Southampton at about 8am on the day of embarkation. More on that to come.
So far so good!
