June 26, 2025: Dublin and the Irish Sea

(written June 26 by Devri)

First of all, I should note that we’ve officially been on our trip for 5 weeks today. 

Second, we got up really early today because we had to meet in the theater at 7:30 to meet for our excursion. We were all a little bleary eyed. Brian woke me up around 1:30 when he went to the bathroom, and the ship kept blowing its horn the rest of the night, waking me up again. Also, we’ve been doing this for 5 weeks. 

(Brian takes over narrative)

On our excursion, we headed south of County Dublin (near where we docked) to County Wicklow, known as the Garden of Ireland. We found mass of domed granite mountains, penetrated by deep, wooded valleys that formed some of the most magnificent landscapes in Ireland.

We then took a guided tour of the monastic ruins of Glendalough. Established by St. Kevin in the 6th century, the ruined churches of the monastery are scattered around two lakes. This was once a famous place of learning, inhabited by thousands of students from Ireland, Britain and Europe.

Here, we found one of Europe’s finest examples of round tower architecture, as well as a cathedral, stone churches and decorated crosses.

After that we got back on the coach and travelled the short distance to Ballyknocken  Country House Farm and Cookery School – one of Ireland’s leading centers of cuisine. We watched as a chef demonstrated how to make traditional Irish scones. We then were lucky enough to be served warm scones (which are basically biscuits, remember this is the United Kingdom) served with homemade preserves.

We then explored the school’s herb garden and orchard before returning to the ship.

In case this is all starting to look a little fake, that’s because it’s a complete lie. Let’s rewind and tell you what actually happened that day…

(Devri again)

First thing in the morning, we got to the theater where we met for excursions, put on our assigned bus sticker, and waited. And waited. And waited. They announced a couple of times that they almost had our water shuttles ready. Then, about 8 a.m., the captain made an announcement that due to the high winds and waves, they were canceling our stop in Dublin. He expressed his apologies while staying firm in the decision.

We were absolutely livid so relieved. The kids asked with a hesitant spark of hope, “Does this mean we get a sea day today?” Yes, children. Christmas came early this year (Brian: or you get a snow day off of school). Seriously, they were so happy. They were only sad that the call was made after they had gotten up so early. Brian and I were disappointed that we weren’t more disappointed. Gabe had thrown up last night (he’s eating way too much junk this trip, and it seemed to have caught up to him), and we had both independently toyed with the idea of not having everyone go on the excursion. We were tired, and a rest day sounded great. We’ll be sad in a week or so when we can’t say we got to see around Dublin. Maybe. We actually didn’t have plans to go to Dublin; our excursion was going to take us south instead. We were going to see the countryside and eat some scones. Not exciting. We were happy to go back to the room and take a nap.

Which is what Brian and I did. 

The closest we got to Dublin

The new order of the day

Michael and Gabe hung out with friends. Michael said that he did end up taking a nap. Rachel went swimming. Brian and I read some after our nap. I bought the charm of the day, Big Ben, for Rachel and I. I meant to play games on the lido deck with Brian, but that didn’t happen. 

There were really only 3 things of note, maybe 4. 

1- Gabe and his friend Oliver got stuck in one of the glass elevators for 5 minutes until they were rescued. Apparently, Oliver freaked out a little bit, and he seemed to be bothered by the elevators the rest of the day. Gabe got a voucher to the candy shop on ship for his troubles. Brian and I wished there was a video to watch because I imagine it would be a little entertaining. We were speculating on how many buttons they pushed before they got help. Also, how many people saw them stuck up there. 

Kids' towel animal

Our towel animal

2-We all met up for dinner, and Michael sent his chicken leg flying. “Not again!” He said as he started laughing. We all remember the corn fritter incident on MSC. 

After the chicken leg went flying

2 desserts? Yes please

Bacchus Dining Room took the grape theme very seriously

3-Brian went back to the medical center because his ear is still plugged up and hurting. He got more antibiotics and a steroid shot. 

4-Brian and I went to the Love and Marriage show. It wasn’t quite as funny as the one we saw with Ben and Jenny on the Celebration, but we did laugh. It’s only noteworthy because I usually get too lazy at night to go to any shows.

(Brian: there were 5, let me explain…no, there is too much, let me sum up…)

5-Michael came into our room at 2am to let us know that Gabe had just thrown up. He had done it in his bed this time and so it was all over his pajamas, bed, and pillow. Michael was really great about helping him get to the bathroom and cleaned up and then stayed up with us while I got room service to come remake his bed. We all made it back to bed. Unfortunately, I had some insomnia this night so I had just fallen asleep at about 1am or something, then woken up not even an hour later, and then I couldn’t fall back asleep until probably 4. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end as we woke up to Michael again coming in our room at 6am to let us know that Gabe had thrown up again. This time it was really all over himself mostly, and so he got in the shower and we took his clothes out. At this point, I was exhausted and done so I just left his bedding (it wasn’t as bad this time) and pulled him in to sleep in our room. Finally that seemed to do the trick, though I don’t think he ever went back to sleep.

Especially after a night like that, we’re all getting pretty excited to head home soon, just three days away!