Concerned About The Prospect of Sea Sickness On a Stena Line £12 Kids' Day Cruise? This Will Put Your Mind At Ease.

Last weekend Smix & I had a full scale adventure at sea, taking a Stena Line Day Cruise, which I reviewed in full for you. You spend six hours plus on board, so that may be daunting to anyone who experiences travel sickness easily.

I get very sick, almost instantly on any size of bus, so I can't partake in travel tours that use them for a leg of the journey. Planes I'm usually okay, trains are touch and go- I have to be facing forward on the journey. So I wasn't too sure about how the large ferry experience would go. I have been fine any other time I've been on the Stena Super Fast, but I've been sick on competitor's boats in years gone by.

So if you are concerned like me, you'll be pleased to hear this ship, and this crossing journey specifically seems grand.

There is one section of the journey just for about twenty minutes when you just pull out of Belfast Lough, and again right that spot on the return, where it gets a little choppy. So if you experience that on your trip, don't panic, it doesn't last long, it passes. Try to be near a window or outside for that part. Do not hide up in the toilets. I found the lack of sight line to outside to match the bobbing about made me queasy.

So here's a sped up, snippet jigsawed journey so you can see just how flat the waters were. This was February and a day where it was grey and drizzling on land in Belfast.

Lastly-  read all about the day cruises here. I reviewed the entire trip and gave you pointers to be prepared for your trip.

Summer in Newcastle, County Down

Continuing on our week in The Mournes, here's what you can see & do in Newcastle, the main seaside town at the base of the mountains.

It's always been a fun, family destination with twee, little shops with fancy dress & jokes to buy. There's a new bead shop where you can pick & choose from hundreds of designs and make your own necklace, bracelet or brooch.

Doll's house accessories in Bon Bon's

There are a handful of amusement arcades with video game machines, two penny drop gambling games and a few rides too.

Down in between the buildings we found an outdoor funfair with five rides including small chairaplanes and a waltzer.

These boats are £2 a go.  

For food there's a KFC, Subway, Country Fried Chicken, Mauds Cafe and dozens of ice cream parlours.  There's even a machine that makes candy floss outside Bon Bon's shop.

So whether you're staying at The Mourne Lodge, Dan White's Cottage or Hanna's Close, or just down for the day, Newcastle is a nice little nostalgic seaside stop off.

Expensive, but cool, American import sweets available from Ben & Jerry's icecream shop.

We Took The StenaLine Daytrip to M&D's, Scotland's Theme Park.

Yesterday was a busy day! My son and I had an adventure, taking the StenaLine Superfast Ferry from Belfast to Cairnryan, on a daytrip which included entrance and unlimited rides at M&D's, a theme park just outside Glasgow.

We chose to take our car, which costs from £31 for an adult, including M&D's, or you can book a coach tour which starts at £28 per adult. There are benefits to both choices. With the coach you can relax and don't have to worry about directions, driving, or petrol costs. We chose to drive however as you can go at your own pace, stop off at services for snacks, or a quick peek at Ayr on the way past, plus you've your own privacy in your car. I still get car sick on buses, so driving was definitely the best option for us, plus I love driving places I've never been before, it all adds to the adventure! 

http://www.stenaline.co.uk/ferries-to-britain/day-trips/belfast-cairnryan-mds-car

 http://www.stenaline.co.uk/ferries-to-britain/day-trips/belfast-cairnryan-mds-coach

So, I'll talk you through our trip, and you can see how it would work for your own trip. 

Check in at the Belfast docks is before 7am, so it's a very early start. You'll need a print out of your booking etc. but we didn't need passports, or any ID, although it recommends you have them with you just in case. You are given a lane to wait in, then you drive into the boat in turn. Once you park up  you can head up into the main part of the boat.

The 730am sailing is understandably quite quiet, but the whole ferry is open for business. There are multiple cafés and lounges, including the Taste restaurant where you can get hot breakfast and unlimited hot drink refills. 

After a quick breakfast, we explored the rest of the boat. There's a cinema, a children's play area and even a spa on the top deck. You can access the jacuzzi and sauna for £10, or book massages or pedicures. 

We settled in the Pod lounge. It's nearest the cinema, has computer access and XBox Kinnect for the kids. The whole boat has free wifi, which actually works! Plus there are charging sockets absolutely everywhere. If you're a frequent traveller you'll know the struggle of finding an ipad or iPhone charging plug at an airport, no such struggle on the Stenaline.

We settled down in the Pod lounge and Michael played Minecraft and popped in and out of the cinema. The Superfast crossing takes slightly over two hours, and by 10am we were off the boat and hitting the road in Scotland. 

The road to M&D's is pretty straightforward. You follow the A77 for about an hour and 45 minutes, so we were able to do the drive easily without a Sat Nav, just with printed directions. The A77 turns into the M77 near Glasgow, then you simply turn off onto the road to the A8 and from there you'll see signs for 'Scotland's Themepark'. I love long distance driving, especially places I haven't been, so I loved the drive. The first half of the drive is rural and absolutely beautiful, but the road is excellent quality, no bumpy gravel tracks! We drove off the boat around 10am and were parking up at M&D's at 12 noon exactly. The carpark is close to the entrance and completely free.

M&D's is like Barry's here in Northern Ireland. It's free to walk into and walk around. You could dander in and get food or play the fete games whenever you like. The rides cost a certain number of points, and locals can buy cards or wrist bands for a certain amount of rides. As part of the StenaLine day trip, whether by car or coach, you get an UNLIMITED ride wristband, so you can ride all the rides for free and as often as you can fit into the four hours or so you have there. Your wristband has a barcode which you simply scan to enter each ride.

We decided to start with the biggest, tallest ride, the Ferris wheel. I thought it would be a relaxing, pleasant start to the day. It was terrifying! It's really, very high and my legs went like jelly! It's a great place to start though as you can nosy at the park from above and plan where you'll go next. 

The park at just after noon was fairly quiet. We headed next to the kiddie ride section. There are about ten rides for ages 5-12 which my son just loved. At that time of day we didn't have to queue for more than one turn of the ride, walking straight onto most of them. All rides are measured by height, and some you will have to accompany your child on. Again because rides are unlimited and free, it isn't much of a problem.  

We were fairly hungry after our long drive, so it was time to find some food. The entire M&D's park is compact. It's not like when you visit an American theme park and spend the day trekking about ten miles between spaced our rides. The rides are a short distance apart, and there are food stalls scattered throughout the park. You can get hot dogs, nachos, popcorn and candy floss walking around the park, and there are plenty of picnic tables to sit and enjoy them, or indeed your own picnic.

We hadn't brought food, so we strolled back to the entrance plaza where there was a food hall with plenty of seating. 

Here there was a sit down, proper family restaurant, or quicker, decently priced fast food places for pizza, chicken or Angus beef burgers. We grabbed a popcorn chicken kids meal for under a fiver and shared it and that was plenty! 

There's also a shop called Sweet Explosion, where you can buy tiny chocolates that look like cupcakes, as well as mallow pizzas and traditional sticks of rock as presents and souvenirs, all a reasonable prices. 

Heading back into the park, we ventured to some of the more grown up rides. Michael unfortunately was a tiny bit too short to ride most of them, but if you are taking teenagers there are a good half dozen huge roller coasters and thrill rides to choose from. I was secretly quite glad I only had to go on the children's rides. The chairaplanes were excitement enough for me! They were definitely my son's favourite, we went on them three times. Even as the park because busier from 2pm on, none of the queues were for longer than ten minutes.

There is also a free high diving pirate act show on at various points through the day. Check the times to catch a show, near the chairaplanes. 

There are two long flume type rides, which have these giant walk in dryers to dry yourself off afterwards! 

Weatherwise we got really lucky, it only rained for about two minutes at one point, and the sun came out beautifully about 3pm. If you do get caught in the rain, there are stalls selling ponchos, so you don't really have to stop the fun if the weather doesn't play ball.

Amazonia is a rainforest attraction which costs extra, but we were so busy with the rides included, we didn't have time to visit it. You also get a free game of pirate golf included in your entrance price, and there is indoor bowling too should your day turn out too wet. 

Your homeward bound sailing is at 730pm, which means check in is at latest 7pm. We knew from the earlier journey it took about two hours, so we left M&D's around 430pm so we could stop off at services for food, and have a relaxing return trip. The four and a half hours at the park is plenty. We got to ride everything we wanted to, didn't feel rushed, and were ready to hit the road when time was up.

 Again the journey is pretty straightforward. Get on the M77 which turns into the A77 and stay on it for two hours and you can't go wrong. If you left M&D's about 3pm, you could easily spend an hour in Ayr, or stop off at any of the picturesque villages along the way.

We made Cairnryan in good time, and were tired out on the slightly busier 730pm return sailing. We explored the ship a bit more, taking in the shop. It's a well stocked, airport type shop, with lots of bargains. I bought a very necessary, large Carebear. 

Even with the return ferry being busier, there were still plenty of places to sit and relax, and a lot of choice of food and drink, from whole meals, to cafe snacks, or choices from the bar. 

The StenaLine docked in Belfast at 945pm, and we drove off tired but super happy. Thank you so much Steanline, M&D's and Bronagh for sending us on the fantastic daytrip. If you have any questions about the trip, and taking it yourself this summer, give me a shout on Twitter @rudedoodle. The trip runs daily from 1st July throughout the summer, both coach and car service. It's definitely worth the trip, and it's a bargain price for a family day out. 

Looking forward to our next summer 2015 adventure! This one will be hard to beat! 

Fantastic Robot Exhibition Opens For Summer 2015 at Titanic Belfast

Today sees the comprehensive collection of robot stars from tv and movies open to the public at Titanic Belfast. We went along last night for a sneak peek to meet our favourites. Mine is the Terminator, my son's is R2D2. With family favourites like Iron Man & other Star Wars droids on show, it's the perfect daytrip stop off. If you've no kids, don't be put off! My friend texted me last night when she saw my photos on Instagram and I reassured her, if RoboCop is there, it's for grown ups too!

I'm of course tempted to share all my photos of the 50+ robots on display, but that would spoil your own visit, so I'll show you my favourites.

This guy! If you've a bit of a fear of robots like me, this robot from RoboCop gives you the fear just seeing the model of him. Slightly worried he'd shoot my knees off. Son of course just thought it was a cute little robot friend.

Many retro robots on display. It's hard to tell but this one is 6ft tall! 

There is a section where kids can build their own robots from blocks, and parents can reminisce about old toy robots from the 80s that we lusted after to carry our cans of Coke around.

I didn't recognise this terrifying baby robot, but I loved it.

Again this post is only a fraction of the number of robots on display, but I really don't want to spoil your own experience by showing you who all is there. 

The Titanic shop has a little robot section set up to accompany the display, and I was delighted by the retro toy packaging

If you fancy stopping for food after your visit, Bistro 401 is right on site and the food is delicious! 

I had to show you these edible nuts and bolts. They were made of chocolate and I couldn't believe you could actually eat them until I'd bitten into one! 

Robots runs from today, 26th June, to 13th September. It costs £6 for adults, £3 for children, or £16 for a family ticket. It's well worth making it part of your summer 2015. 

http://www.titanicbelfast.com/The-Experience/Upcoming-Events/ROBOTS.aspx

Cheese and Onion Crisp Flavoured Chocolate Bar from Tayto

I hadn't planned on blogging about this, but so many people are sharing my photo of this bar I added on my Facebook I reckon you all might like to see it too.

Tayto Ireland have made a limited edition chocolate bar with bits of their world famous Cheese and Onion crisps through it. I checked out www.TaytoCrisps.ie and their online shop doesn't seem to stock it, and it was only released in the south of Ireland.

My husband went down to Dublin last night to see a Mastodon gig and I requested he brought me a bar back. I just had to try it! It tastes like sea salt Lindt only greasier. I certainly wouldn't buy it again, but I'm glad I got one to try.

Below are some photos of our Easter-time visit to the Tayto Factory in Northern Ireland, which is located in a castle. They run a 90 minute tour that takes you round the working factory and shows you the steps in making your favourite crisps. It has to be pre-booked through the website www.Tayto.com but its very cheap, very fun and informative and you get free crisps to take home!

Stena Pirate & Princess Cruise - a great day at sea

On Saturday we had a wonderful family day out thanks to Stena Line UK on their Pirates and Princesses Cruise.

The day cruise on the huge, swish Stena Superfast costs £10 per person, £5 for under threes, which is a decent price for an exciting activity packed adventure at sea. We left Belfast at 11.30am on a cold but sparklingly sunny morning, and started by checking into our Superfast Cabin on Deck 10.​

​Cabins are priced at £35 per leg of the journey (outward bound to Scotland, and homeward bound) but are completely optional, as the ship has many comfortable lounges to relax in during the entire day trip. We found the cabin a fabulous extra touch, as you can enjoy complimentary tea, coffee, chilled water and biscuits in your room when your little ones get tired from all the excitement.

We then hit the Sun Deck to see if we could spot our house on the journey out of Belfast Lough. The Superfast is massive, with so much to explore on each deck.​

We also explored the various lounges. The Pod Lounge was a hive of activity, with Playstation Kinnect games to try out, free use of ipads, and for younger children entertainers were balloon modelling and face painting.​ This is also where the onboard cinema is located.

There are quieter lounges to relax in too, and much to my excitement, retro and kitsch art objects decorating the ship.​

Part of your day of free entertainment is a magic show. Northern Irish Magic Man Trevor Price has the kids in the palm of his hand, with classic magic tricks and jokes including a pink dove act. My son loved the show so much he insisted we saw it again on the return journey, and I can recommend going twice if your children do love it, as Trevor mixes up the act and you see different tricks in each show.

There is a small soft play area, probably more suitable for under 4 year olds, which was surprisingly quiet given the amount of children on board. There is so much to do elsewhere that it was never overcrowded.​

​By this point we had almost reached Scotland, so we took time out to get some lunch in the Superfast's Taste Restaurant. For quick meals it was absolutely delicious. My son had fish and chips and my husand had steak. I chose the Maple ribs which were so tender the meat just fell off the bone. It was like Bubbacue at sea. My husband was so jealous he hadn't ordered them too.

We had arrived at Cairnryan. At this point passengers who were onboard for just the journey across disembarked. You have a 90 minute stop but you stay aboard the Stena Superfast during this time. ​

I went back up to our cabin and had a cuppa and some Scottish Shortbread, when in Rome style.​

Now there's a little known secret deck on the Superfast that made the trip extra special for me. The Nordic Spa is an oasis of calm with massages available from £10. I was treated to a gel nail manicure, then took some time in the Jacuzzi. It was my intention to spend five minutes there, then rejoin the boys on the lower decks, but it was just too nice and I ended up staying in paradise for about half an hour, until I noticed we were moving again and on our way back toward Belfast.

I hurried back to meet the boys who were busy taking part in the organised treasure hunt.​

We caught the magic show again and then spent some time having coffee in our cabin. All too quickly we saw the familar coast of Larne and by 5.45pm we were docked in Belfast once more.​

Thank you, Stena for a great day out. There are Pirate and Princess Cruises sailing all spring and summer. Check dates and get more info on the Stena UK site.​ Keep up to date with news and offers on the Stena Facebook and Twitter.