Day 103

May 5, 2019 – Dublin, Ireland

Another port with a slow sail in. Ian on the mic and muffins for the taking. We finally arrived at port and were allowed to leave the ship at 10 am. This was a working container port and we would be taken into the city center by shuttle bus.

We have been to Dublin twice before and decided this would the city to get some boxes to ship home and of course get the VAT refund. We went up to the Lido and made a few sandwiches to take with us. I went to the front desk to ask a question about a notice we received about shipping things home. The young lady who helped me was the same one who told me Ireland is not a part of the EU. She said she had information for me about the VAT refund. She handed me a piece of paper that had two locations on it. One was at the airport, the other in town. No mention of the EU.

We rode the shuttle in and we were dropped off near Merrion Square. I did some research before we left and found a place that handles GlobalBlue. This is one of the many third parties that handle VAT refunds. We decided to go to this place first. While walking we realized that Dublin and Belfast were very similar. More so than I guessed they would be.

We arrived at the exchange/refund/tourist information center. When I asked about VAT and GlobalBlue I was told they do handle that. Hurrah! However, not on Sunday and not tomorrow. Holiday. You will have to go to the airport, he said. Since we aren’t flying I asked if customs was before security. Yes it is, was his response. He said the store across the river might have more information.

I did a quick Uber check. £40 one way. About 100 usd. We took the bridge back over the River Liffey and went to the souvenir shop that may have more information. We went in the basement and spoke to a young lady. They don’t handle GlobalBlue. She also said customs is after security in the airport and it said so on one of the forms. I asked if she had a customs stamp. This is all we need. The rest could be done by mail. She does not.

We decided to go to the place the young lady on the ship gave me.

The walk was not too far but they couldn’t help us. “Around the corner”, was the response. We went around the corner. No. We went back and the fine gentlemen that told us to go around the corner let me use the phone to call GlobalBlue. The gentlemen I spoke to on the phone said I can do it all online. “Without a customs stamp”, I asked. “Yes”, was his response. I thanked him and we left.

We decided to have lunch and sat out on a bench in front of the Irish Whiskey Museum. We decided we would take a tour afterward. There was another ship in port and Dublin was starting to get busy.

We went in, booked a tour, and waited for the tour to start with a couple of Irish Coffees. Coffee, Powers Irish Whiskey, cream and chocolate powder on top. This is the original recipe.

We began the tour. Fiond gave the tour. Since this place wasn’t a distillery and represented no single company, he could talk about all Irish whiskey.

He gave a great tour and talked about how Ireland made 60% of the Whiskey in the world in the 1800s. I knew that Scotland had that title today but I didn’t remember why. It had to do with a distillation process that was many times faster that the Irish thought cheapened the whisky. Scotland capitalized on this process and was able to produce as much whiskey in a week that Ireland could produce in 9 months. This was the end of most distilleries in Ireland. Several thousand down to 5 today.

After the tour we sampled 5 different types.

Fiond reinforced what I had already know about distilled spirits. Most, if not all of the flavor comes after the distillation process. Irish whiskey is also aged in Bourbon barrels purchased from the US. 3 years and one day is the minimum. Why one day? It is one more day than the Scottish minimum of three days. The age of the whiskey is a better indicator of price than quality or flavor. Single malt has little to do with taste or quality. It just means it came from the same malting process.

We did our sampling. I prefer Bourbon but I did enjoy sampling these.

After out tour we decided to find some boxes and tape for shipping. This was a bit difficult on a Sunday but we did find a place and decided to buy two large plastic bins. HAL will cover shipping of 4 boxes/suitcases with no weight limit. American Air has a 50Ib limit. I think we have this part figured out.

We boarded the shuttle and went back to the ship. We had dinner aboard and returned to our rooms rather exhausted. I read this in the “When and Where” booklet for tomorrow.

Alice captured my reaction.