As anyone who cruises regularly, one of the best perks of cruising are meeting new friends. Some friendships last and some don’t but then there are the ones that are extra special. This was the case of Len and Honor Hall. We met in April of 2022 on the Grand Princess during a 16 day Hawaiian Cruise, and as usual, at the Horizon Court Buffet. We happened to meet up for just about every breakfast and lunch.

Len and Honor were from Northern Ireland, about 45 minutes away from Belfast, and when people say Irish people are kind and friendly, they weren’t kidding. The four of us would spend hours at a time just laughing and swapping stories, They were incredible people. We kept in touch with them and hoped we’d meet again.

In 2023, we decided to go on the Regal Princess for a trip around the British Isles and one of the stops was Belfast. We had a video chat with Len and Honor and told them the news and they told us they would meet us at the ship and give us a personal guided tour of the city.

WOW, did they ever! Len found out when the Regal Princess would be in port prior to our arrival. This way he could see exactly where to meet us. On the day we arrived, we disembarked the ship and there they were, 20 yards away from the gangway! We gave them hugs, jumped into their car and headed to the Titanic Center, where Len had already purchased passes. The Titanic Center is awesome and highly recommended.

After the full tour, they drove us to Stormont, which is the equivalent to the Capital Building.

Afterwards, we headed to the Belfast City Hall, where then President Clinton had given a speech.

We walked through downtown to a restaurant for lunch. My attempts to grab the bill failed, so they again treated us.

We took a trip through the part of Belfast where most of “The Troubles” happened. I was under the impression that most of the conflict had ended, but Len took us down one street where there were steel barricades that they still close up and night. Turns out Len had grown up in the area and worked at one of the hospitals where many of the injured were treated.

After the tour, we headed up to Belfast Castle on the other side of Belfast. We could see our ship from within the Castle.

On the way back to the ship, we drove past the old courthouse. The courthouse was on one side of the street and the prison was directly across, interconnected via a tunnel.

As the end of our day neared, Len and Honor took us back the the ship and we said our goodbyes.

We continued to keep in touch, but then we got the news that Len was ill. In one of our last video chats, he said things weren’t looking too good but he was going to fight. After a few months, we got a text from Honor that Len had passed away.

Rest In Peace my friend!