COREY SANDLER BLOG

November 2025: We Came Back. Circling the British Isles (Part Two)

By Corey Sandler

So where were we? Two partial circumnavigations of the British Isles by luxury cruise ship.

We left off in last month’s blog in Kirkwall, the principal town of the Orkney Islands at the top of Scotland.

Back to the mainland we headed to Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, at the northern reaches of Ireland; about 80 percent of that island is within the independent nation of the Republic of Ireland.

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom though nearly evenly split between those who want that association to continue and those who want to join with the Republic of Ireland.

Ask a political scientist and you might hear this sort of description of Northern Ireland’s government: a consociational devolved legislature within a parliamentary constitutional monarchy.

Wazzat?

A sharply divided region with religious factions operating its own legislature, with a limited range of powers that can be overridden by the superior parliament of the United Kingdom.

The good news is that The Troubles of the 1960s and 1970s are mostly gone and relations between Nationalists (those who want to hold on to the link to King and Country) and the Republicans (who want to break away and become part of the Republic of Ireland) are mostly civil.

Belfast, Northern Ireland: Devolved Into Something Close to Peace

Today tourists come to visit the place where the great ship Titanic was constructed between 1909 and 1912. Tour guides cannot resist lame jokes about guests who disembark a handsome new ship to visit a museum devoted to the unsuccessful maiden voyage of another.

Titanic Belfast is housed within a striking building that suggests either the hull of the great ship, or the iceberg which brought it down. The buildings in the background were part of the design and drafting offices of Harland & Wolff, the shipbuilder which once employed 15,000 Belfasters. Photo by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.
The Crown Liquor Saloon in downtown Belfast is owned by the National Trust. Much of The Crown’s elaborate tiling, stained glass, and woodwork was installed about 1876 by Italian craftsmen who had come to Ireland to work on the many new churches being built in Belfast at the time. They came to the saloon, with their tools, after hours. Photo by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.

Cruise Ship Up the Mersey: Liverpool, UK

Until the 1960s, Liverpool was not much known outside of the British Empire. It had been a major trading port for cotton, linen, and slaves.

During World War II, its port and factories made it a prime target for German bombers and large parts of the city were leveled.

Out of the ashes, like a phoenix, came music which conquered the world. It was first known as the Mersey Beat, after the River Mersey that runs along the port and out to the sea. And then came The Beatles. It is worth noting that all four of the members of the band were born during the war; John Lennon’s middle name was Winston.

Paul, George, Ringo, and John grace the waterfront in a statue modeled after a famous photograph of The Beatles. Today the Beatles Industry brings about $100 million and nearly 2,500 jobs to the city. Photo by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.
The Three Graces in Liverpool include the Royal Liver Building (a former insurance company), the Cunard Building, and the Port of Liverpool offices. Nearby is the terminal for the ferry across the Mersey from Liverpool to Birkenhead, made famous in the song “Ferry Cross the Mersey” by the Liverpool group Gerry and the Pacemakers. The building was renamed The Liverpool Gerry Marsden Ferry Terminal in 2021, months after Marsden died. Photo by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.

Holyhead, Wales: The Welsh Connection

Holyhead, on the large Isle of Anglesey, is a major Irish Sea port with connections inland to Wales and England and by sea to Ireland and beyond.

Confusingly, its name is pronounced as if it were referring to the “holly” bush although its ancient name meant “holy.” That is by no means the most difficult part of the Welsh language, though.

About 20 miles east, near where Anglesey connects to the mainland of Wales is the village of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch,

which I’m sure you understand to mean “The church of Mary (Llanfair) of the pool of the white hazels over against the fierce whirlpool and the church of Tysilio of the red cave.”

Instead of revisiting the village–or taking Welsh language lessons–we chose instead to venture to the bucolic village of Beaumaris, home to the substantial and never completed Beaumaris Castle. Work began in 1295 and sputtered to an end in 1330.

The Bay of Beaumaris on Menai Strait, which separates Anglesey from the mainland of Wales. Photo by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.
Beaumaris Castle was taken by Welsh forces during a brief rebellion in 1403. In 1592 the Roman Catholic priest and activist William Davies was imprisoned here before he was finally hung, drawn, and quartered with the bits and pieces put on display throughout the realm. Photo by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.

Portsmouth, UK: Nelson’s Last Stand

On one of our cruises a looming storm caused us to divert to the lively port town of Portsmouth on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent.

The only city in England not located primarily on the mainland, Portsmouth is 22 miles southeast of Southampton.

Portsmouth’s history dates to Roman times, and as a major Royal Navy dockyard and base for centuries.

Henry VIII, or someone like him, stands guard at the entrance to the naval yard. Photo by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.
HMS Victory, a 104-gun wooden sailing ship of the line launched in 1765, is undergoing preservation in Portsmouth in a drydock. Her most famous wartime engagement was at the Battle of Trafalgar, where Lord Horatio Nelson took on a Franco-Spanish fleet; Nelson was wounded in the battle on October 21, 1805 and died later that day. The British lay claim to HMS Victory as the world’s oldest naval vessel still in commission. The Americans point to the USS Constitution, launched in 1795, as the oldest naval vessel still in commission and still in use. Constitution (nicknamed Old Ironsides for her tough wood hull) still takes to the water regularly from her home port in Boston. Photo by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.

Portland and Weymouth, UK: Home of George III’s Bathing Machine

On our second cruise in this contract, we once again had to divert because of weather and this time ended up in Portland, a small island fronting on the English Channel and tied to the mainland of the UK by a barrier beach called Chesil Beach.

There are two very different aspects to Portland. The southern tip, Portland Bill, is a somewhat wild and desolate place with a substantial lighthouse to warn seafarers of danger.

To the north is the well-known British beach resort of Weymouth, filled out with pubs, fish and chip shops, and an amusement park.

The lighthouse at Portland Bill. Photo by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.
The carousel at Weymouth. The beachside resort was a favorite refuge for King George III who came here on doctor’s orders to seek relief from various illnesses including mental disorders. He brought with him an elaborate “bathing machine” that was essentially a cabin that was dragged into the water to allow him to disrobe and enter the sea in relative dignity. A replica is on display not far from the prancing horses. Photo by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.

Greenwich (London), UK: We Are Back

The turnaround port for these two cruises, the end of the first and the start of the second, was the Greenwich Ship Tier on the River Thames, about five miles downstream of Tower Bridge.

This is the largest mooring in London, a floating pontoon just offshore of Greenwich. Viking Vela tied up to moorings in the river and we used various ferries from the Thames Clipper fleet to transfer from the ship to the shore.

We came ashore just below the famed Cutty Sark, perched up on the bluff and nearby to the Old Royal Navy College and the Greenwich Observatory.

The Cutty Sark was in 1869 one of the last tea clippers built and one of the fastest, capable of cruising at 17.5 knots. She spent only a few years on the route to and from China before her value was eclipsed by steamships. Her next assignment was to carry wool back from Australia. The ship was named after the short shirt of the witch in Robert Burns’ poem Tam o’ Shanter, first published in 1791. In turn, Cutty Sark Whiskey was named after the ship. She has been on display in Greenwich since 1954, undergoing several restorations over the years. Photo by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.
Figureheads on display at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. Photo by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.
The Trafalgar Tavern was first opened in 1837 in Greenwich. Illustrious habitués included writers Wilkie Collins, William Makepeace Thackeray, and Charles Dickens. The wedding breakfast in Dickens’ 1865 “Our Mutual Friend” was set in the Trafalgar’s Hawke Room. After a few stints as a home for retired seamen and as a fire station, it reopened as a pub in 1965. Photo by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.

Three days, two nights off. We began this contract in Boston, where the American Revolution was hatched and here we were in London, home of King George III during the uprising.

Why not go see Lin-Manuel Miranda’s superb “Hamilton” in the company of some of the mad king’s descendants?

In the song “What Comes Next?”, George III asks:

“I thought that we’d made an arrangement
“When you went away.
“You were mine to subdue.

“Well, even despite our estrangement,
“I’ve got a small query for you:

“What comes next?
“You’ve been freed.
“Do you know how hard it is to lead?

“You’re on your own
“Awesome. Wow.
“Do you have a clue what happens now?

“Oceans rise,
“Empires fall.
“It’s much harder when it’s all your call.”

Indeed. Now perhaps more than ever.

Hamilton at the Victoria Palace in London. Photo by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.

After the show we jumped on the Tube to the Embankment and boarded a Thames Clipper downstream. We passed alongside the London Eye, Westminster, and then through the Tower Bridge.

The London Eye and London County Hall illuminated just for us as we proceeded downriver. Photo by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.
Passing through London Tower Bridge. Photo by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.
Be It Ever So Humble. And then, near midnight, we approached Viking Vela moored in the River Thames at Greenwich. Nearly all of the guests who had joined the ship that day were sound asleep. By my count there were lights on in just six staterooms on the port side. But we were back!

All text and photos are by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved. Copyright 2025. If you want to obtain a copy of one of my photographs for personal or commercial use, please contact me using the link on this page. Or, click here to contact me.

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