Dublin Disappointment (Almost) Fixed By a Pub

Tuesday, April 4th was an At Sea day. We were sailing from Dover to Dublin. 

We spent the time walking around the deck for exercise and then played some board games with the travel buddies. 

Wednesday, April 5th

We were near Dublin for our excursion which was called Historic Dublin on Foot. We took a tender (small boat) to the dock.

Art had been looking forward to seeing the Book of Kells. 

The Book of Kells is one of the most famous artefacts in the world. An illuminated manuscript made by Scottish or Irish monks in around c. 800 E, the book illustrates the four Gospels of the Christian New Testament book in beautiful, meticulous detail. 

My brother and sister-in-law knew about it and said they'd wanted to see it when they were in Ireland, but the lines were too long.

Our son said they'd wanted to see it too when they were in Ireland, but weren't able to see it either.

Art used the Viking chat line when making excursion purchases in February to make sure we'd be able to see it on this tour. He was reassured twice that indeed, there would be a 40 minute stop at Trinity College so everyone could see it. (To be honest, I have to admit I didn't know about the Book of Kells.) I would have just chosen to go on the included free tour.

However, when we got on the tender, tour members there told us they'd gotten a letter saying we would not be seeing the book and that it was a mistake when they announced it during a Port Talk the evening before. (We'd missed seeing that note from the Viking excursions coordinator.)

What? 

What?!?

Our guide, Gus met us and said it was a shame since coming to Dublin and not seeing The Book of Kells was like going to Paris and not seeing the Mona Lisa.

Instead, we walked around Dublin, saw statues of Oscar Wilde, and Molly Malone as well as a sculpture about the Irish famine.

We went through department stores and up and down streets showing Georgian and Victorian buildings. 😕

We walked through the campus of Trinity College where there was a long line to the Book of Kells.

Sigh...

Art was feeling rather downhearted when Gus took us to Kennedy's Pub where we could all have a drink of our choice.

We shared a bottle of Schweppes sparkling lemonade (me) and a pint of Guinness (Art). We then learned what a pub was for. It's a place to socialize and talk to people and lift your spirits. And lift our spirits it did, indeed. That's a photo of Gus with us taken by George and Suzette of Arizona who we sat and laughed with that afternoon. 

It ended the disappointing tour on a happy note. 

That evening we got to see a show highlighting the music of duos like Simon and Garfunkle, Sonny and Cher, Chad and Jeremy.

It was a rather nice day.

We hoped the following day would be better.

POSTSCRIPT 1:

I did complain to Viking about the reassurance by their Chatline that we would see the Book of Kells. I showed them a copy of the chat guaranteeing it. I showed them the letter we got on the ship saying the Port Talk was a mistake. 😠

They emailed me a $250 a person voucher for a future cruise that we'd have to sign up for in 12 months. (Yes, it's nearly twice the original cost of our excursions .) 🙄 

But still....

In other words, they want us to commit to another cruise.

I think not.

POSTSCRIPT 2: 

I sent a curt reply to the voucher email they sent me saying we were ticked off for being forced to commit to another cruise. 

I got a call back right away saying they looked at it further and saw that what I was saying was true and that what we were promised was not delivered so they were doing a one time exception and sending us a check instead to cover what we paid for the excursion. 😊 

OK... I'm feeling better now.