Southern Cruise

On ‎6‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 12:47 PM, cherylakers said:

Just wondered if anyone just off the Crown will be doing a review.

 

We are going in August and wondering about shuttles at the different ports, etc.

 

Thanks

Cheryl

Finally finished my review the review I started on the plane ride home.  Feel free to ask questions!  It was the trip of a lifetime and we made some wonderful memories.

Crown Princess British Isles May 2019

May 9 - Travel day. We flew Delta One overnight from Atlanta to Heathrow. We landed around 7 am and had the fast pass for immigration so we were out of immigration within 15 minutes. We took the Heathrow Express to Paddington (£25 for 2 people since we arrived on a weekday and bought the tickets 90 days in advance), then a taxi (£8) to the Doubletree Hilton Hyde Park across from Kensington Palace.  My sister arrived on Saturday morning so she only paid £11 for two people on the Heathrow Express 90 days in advance.  The Doubletree Hilton Hyde Park hotel was located in a nice, walkable neighborhood with plenty of restaurants, groceries, and shopping nearby and easy access to the tube and most important to us, the hop on hop off bus picks up right outside the hotel.  If we go back to London, I would definitely stay there again. 

May 10 - London - I was excited to see London and we met up with friends who had arrived earlier in the week and did the hop on hop off bus. We were told the total HOHO loop was 90 minutes but we were surprised at how slow traffic affected the tour and ended up not seeing as much as we planned.  Have a plan for what to see in London but be ready to adjust on the fly if you are affected by weather, traffic, tube issues or protesters.

May 11 - London - Day 2, we took an Uber from the hotel straight to the Tower of London around 9:30 am because the tube line near us was closed for the weekend due to maintenance and we had read to get there as early as possible.  We took the Beefeater tour and it was entertaining and informative.  We had lunch at the café at the Tower of London and it was delicious.  The Tower of London was much more crowded when we left around 1 pm. We jumped on the hop on hop off at the Tower and once again had difficulty with traffic and seeing the sights. I wondered what the HOHO bus would be like in high season (summer).  Less than 1/2 way thru the loop we were told we could not get any closer to Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abby and surrounding sites because police had closed many streets due to protesters. We were disappointed but got as close as possible then walked the remainder of the way to Buckingham Palace. You could only see from the gate since you cannot tour until later in the summer.  .  If I go back to London, I will try the HOHO bus mid-week and see if that helps.  It may be like any major city, crazy all the time. We got some decent pictures of Buckingham Palace but it started raining pretty hard so we grabbed a cab and headed to Kensington Palace which was unaffected by protesters.  We toured Kensington Palace and walked around Kensington Gardens then joined our friends for dinner at the Goat pub at Kensington High Street.  Food and drink were both great.

May 12 - London to Southampton - Windsor Day Tours. We knew we had to get to Southampton from London and wanted to see the English countryside along the way and had read the great reviews for Windsor Day Tours.  Jill was able to pick us up at our hotel in London because it was Sunday.  Her tours can also originate from Heathrow. We had a photo stop at Eton College, then on to Windsor castle and the town of Windsor. Windsor Castle as wonderful; there was a slight wait for security. Buy your tickets in advance.  We then had a lovely lunch at the White Lion in a tiny village called Wherwell.  We saw thatched roof cottages and lovely scenery.  After lunch we visited Winchester Cathedral and the town of Winchester where we grabbed our 2 bottles of carry on wine and then Jill took us on to the Room2 suites in Southampton. The cost of the tour was just a little more than the princess transfer but we wanted to see the English countryside and Windsor Castle and Jill worked with us to customize our tour. She was a great tour guide and very knowledgeable. We highly recommend Windsor Day Tours.

Southampton - Room2 Suites is a new hotel that was clean, walking distance to Oxford Street restaurants and 3 minutes by car from Ocean Cruise terminal. We paid Uber £7 pounds instead of walking because we had 3 suitcases and the road across to the terminal was multi lane.

May 13 – Crown Princess Embarkation - Our suggested arrival time was 1:30 for Dolphin Deck and as we weren’t sure of lines we arrived a few minutes after 1 pm. Very short wait for check in and we were in our cabin by 1:50. Our bags were already at our door – off to a great start. My sister was on Deck 10 and got her bags by 4 pm. Princess had very organized embarkation at that time of day.

May 14 - Guernsey - Our plan for Guernsey was to take it easy and just wander around since we knew we had future days with all day plans. If you want to see things in Guernsey do your research and get a good map, Signage is available but not very intuitive. There is more than one museum and signage just pointed to museum without specifying. We arrived via tender around 9 am to find that most of the places to visit opened around 10 am, even the tourist center, (perhaps they open earlier In June and July later in the season?) but we could have left the ship later. We were worried about tender lines so we got up early. We wandered a bit then headed back early around 1 pm which worked in our favor. Tendering later in the afternoon was a nightmare with a 90 minute wait and was hampered by high winds.

May 15 - Cork/Cobh – We had a great day with Craig @ Munster Bus Tours and we saw Cork, Kinsale & the Jameson Distillery.  We had 6 people and were able to see so many things that we would never have seen on a big tour.  Craig drove us around the city of Cork, we visited a local sweet shop/candy company where they were hand making candy, got great pictures at the beautiful St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral and then headed to Kinsale. Before we enjoyed a lovely lunch in coastal Kinsale, Craig took us to a small memorial garden honoring the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on 9/11.  The memorial garden was an unexpected, touching spot that we never would have seen on a large tour.  Craig had secured a lunch reservation for us in Kinsale. After Kinsale we toured Charles Fort. Craig was engaging and entertaining and gave us great personal insight into the area.  His pride in his home country was evident and the scenery was spectacular, exactly what we imagined Ireland to be.  One note about the Jameson Distillery – it was an interesting tour but we thought we would see a working distillery and instead toured their old factory and did not actually see any actual whiskey production. We did enjoy the tasting!

May 16 - Dublin – A free shuttle was provided into Dublin since we docked at a different place than originally planned – this created a bit of a headache for those just going into Dublin.  My sister booked a private tour that left Dublin at 11 am and she needed to meet the tour in Dublin.  She was waiting for the ticket for the Dublin shuttle at 9:30 am but it took forever and she finally arrived at the meeting spot in Dublin 15 minutes late so she lost her money on the excursion.  If you plan a private tour in Dublin and have to get into Dublin, I would allow at least 2 hours to get off the ship and shuttle to your meeting place.  Dublin patter is attached and explains Dublin shuttle and private arrangements.

We didn’t properly read the description for the Princess excursion for Powerscourt Estate and didn’t realize it was just gardens only. I thought you toured the house as well, but the house was damaged by fire years ago and was only restored as a gift shop with a small room showing a film about the history of the estate. If gardens are your thing, this is a great place to visit.  There was beautiful landscaping, acres of flowers, and a Japanese garden but I was a little disappointed. We were dropped off back in Dublin and wandered around Trinity College and had a lovely pub lunch. 

May 17 - Belfast – This day was at the top of my bucket list and it was a wonderful day. We booked a private Antrim Coast and Giants Causeway Tour with Alister at City and Causeway tours and it didn’t disappoint. The Torr road was a fun, curvy drive and the scenery was spectacular. Northern Ireland is such a lush, green beautiful place. As with all of our private tours, we were mostly able to beat the large coaches since we only had 6 people. Our goal for this trip was to go as far inland as we could with the time we had and concentrate less on the cities and that worked out well. The Giants Causeway was surreal but very crowded.  We walked down to the causeway and had planned to take the shuttle back but they closed the shuttle service so that a VIP tour could use the shuttle.  I felt sorry for the folks who had mobility issues and had to walk back up the hill, it was over a mile each way.  We did not pay to go to the visitor’s center. Alister took 2 couples back to the ship and then drove us 1 ½ miles to TEC Belfast to see the Game of Thrones Tour Exhibition.  This was an added bonus for us since we are GOT fans and it was fantastic. If you are a GOT fan and in Belfast this summer, it is worth the money.

May 18 - Glasgow – This was our second bucket list day and it was remarkable. We booked a private tour with Tom at Photo walk Scotland.  Although the day was cold and rainy we got to see some lovely places including Glencoe, Stalker Castle and Kilchurn Castle. We even stopped at a beautiful small church and got amazing picture of blue bonnets in full bloom. Tom gave us the flexibility to change our plans when the rain didn’t let up for a while and took us to the castles instead of another Glen. He also was kind enough to share some sunny day pics with us since it was so rainy. Despite the weather it was one of our favorite days of the trip.

May 19 - Sea Day – After 9 full days of travel, a sea day was much needed so we took it easy and just relaxed.  We don’t have a lot to review on the Crown Princess but will say that it is a lovely ship. This was our 4^th cruise and all ships we have been on could be improved slightly but the Crown Princess was great for what we wanted, a nice way to see the British Isles.  We did not see any shows or comedians but my sister took in a few and said they were fine. 

May 20 - Kirkwall - This was our 2nd Princess Tour - West Mainland Sightseeing and it was OK but it reminded us why we choose private tours. The tour guide was very nice but it was her first day on the job and she neglected to tell the bus driver to even slow down for the Standing Stones of Stenness. We just rode right past it with not photo stop. We were able to tour the Ring of Brodgar and see a bit of Kirkwall as we were whizzing by the sights.  For us, Guernsey and Kirkwall were just bonus days so that was Ok.  Private tours at Kirkwall were limited and booked up quickly.  Plan far ahead if you want a private tour in Kirkwall.

May 21 – Invergordon - We booked a private tour with Invergordon tours and saw Castle Leod, Urquhart Castle, Culloden Battlefield, and Clava Cairns. The scenery was lovely.

May 22 - Edinburgh - previous reviews had suggested the Princess Excursion “Edinburgh on your own” to maximize your time in the city since ship tours got tender priority. This was a great in theory but didn’t necessarily work for us. I think our Princess meeting time in the theatre was 8:15 am.  Our plan was thwarted because we had to wait over 30 minutes in the Princess theatre for our total group to gather to go to the tender and then another 20 minutes on the bus in South Queensferry for four people who never showed up. The ship was in Edinburgh from 7 am to 7 pm but we didn’t get to the city until well after 10 am and got picked back up at 3:15 pm. Not nearly enough time to see such a great city. You could find your own transportation back you just needed to tell the driver.  We walked straight to the Edinburgh Castle; we printed our tickets which we bought online from a kiosk.  The lines were long.  If you are going to the castle, buy your tickets in advance. Edinburgh was the best city we visited (compared to Dublin and London) and the only city we think we would revisit. Looking back at the patter for Edinburgh, you could get in line for a tender ticket in the Michelangelo dining room starting at 7 am.  I would set an early alarm, take my chances on my own, grab the earliest tender ticket and take the X99 bus into town. It is a 45 minute ride from South Queensferry to Edinburgh.

May 23 - Sea Day – we spent the day repacking. I did go to afternoon tea in the dining room which was just Ok and crowded.

May 24 - Le Havre - The ship docked in Le Havre on schedule and we easily got off the ship for our tour. We had 12 hours before we had to be back on the ship. We booked a private excursion with Overlord Tours to go to the D Day beaches. The cost was €980 for up to eight people. We had 6 and our group and the van was comfortable. Eight people in the van would have been tight. Our guide for the day was Thierry, we were very impressed with his passion and knowledge of the Allied landing on June 6, 1944. It was an hour and a half drive to Omaha Beach which went by quick due to Thierry’s narration. We toured the American cemetery, Omaha and Utah beaches, Pointe Du Hoc and stopped for a delicious lunch in Saint Mere Eglise where we saw the church where Paratrooper John Steele got caught on the steeple when he was trying to land in the town square to fight the Germans.  Thierry was a great guide and we had no trouble understanding his English.

May 25 - Southampton to Heathrow – Princess Disembarkation was the easiest we ever experienced. We put our bags out the night before and found all three easily the next morning. We did leave fairly early so not sure if this was a factor. We chose private arrangements on the form and had passenger services change us to 6:55 am disembarkation for our 7:30 pickup. It was fast and efficient. We used Smiths for Airports for transfer for four back to Heathrow for £163 pounds.   We were waiting on our driver by 7:05 am.  Wait under the signs not on the sidewalk in the lanes.  The driver must come in and confirm that you are there before bringing the car into the lanes to pick you up.  We left at 7:45 am and arrived at Heathrow at 9:20 am for a 12:50 pm flight. Had business class for two of us. Checked in and through security in 20 minutes. Our fellow travelers had to wait in security for approximately an hour before clearing. The departure gate was cramped and hot but we timed it so we only had to wait for 15 minutes to board.  At Heathrow you wait in the giant shopping area until your gate is called ~30 minutes before your flight.

Crown Princess British Isles Notes:

Crown Princess Mini Suite D618 – we had plenty of storage space and loved the extra room in the bathroom with the real tub and shower and the clothesline which we used a lot.  We had planned to ask for hangers but found an adequate supply in the closet.  We did take 4 pants hangers which was great when we had to hang dry our clothes.  The balcony had two chairs with ottomans and a small table.  We enjoyed the extra cabin space in the mini suite and the sofa; our friends often came to our room for a drink before dinner or to hang out in the evening. One note about cabin D618, we were startled early on the first tender day as the tender that lived just below our balcony was deployed and the gears were quite loud as it moved away from the ship and then was lowered down – it was fun to watch it deploy, you just need to know that if you are on Deck 9 in a mini suite, you may hear and see tender boats on tender days.

PRIVATE VS SHIP TOURS – For the first time, we did a mix of private vs. ship tours and were very happy with the private tours.  We are cautious travelers and only chose private tours with 5 star ratings and they all lived up to their reviews.  When we had a private tour for a non-tender port, we just blended in with departing Princess tour groups, got off the ship and found our guides.  We will definitely book private tours for future cruises. Private arrangements do require some extra time and planning for the tender ports.

TENDERING - For tender ports, Guernsey, Kirkwall and Edinburgh allow extra time if you have private tours. There were tender delays even for the Princess tours due to high winds at Guernsey and Kirkwall. At one point during the Kirkwall day, waves were so rough that a crew member was hurt and tendering was suspended for an hour.  There was a 90 minute wait to get a tender at Guernsey later in the day.

LAUNDRY - Laundry was a crap shoot and as expected impossible on a sea day. If you are a super early riser or late nighter your chances are better. My sister started her laundry at 5 am and had company while she was there. Deck 9 had 2 working washers and only 1 dryer so we ended up hang drying a lot of clothes which was not a problem, it just takes extra time if you are out of clean clothes. We used the bathroom clothesline quite a bit. Deck 10 had 1 working washer and 2 working dryers. If you intend to do multiple loads buy your tokens early. You swiped your cruise card and it is $3 per wash and $3 per dry and $1.50 for detergent. I should have brought Woolite or similar as I did hand wash a bit but I managed with body wash and shampoo. I did bring tide pods and dryer sheets with me.  Later in the trip, we checked and finally found an open dryer and ran our hang drying clothes down while it was free. 

BRITISH ISLE CLOTHING - With such long port days, I easily could have gotten away with only 1 or 2 pair of dress pants and rotated shirts. Since this was our 3^rd cruise, we don’t always want a huge meal every night.  We only ate randomly in the dining room and even then only 5 out of the 12 nights. We grabbed pizza, a hamburger/hotdog or ate at the buffet when we didn’t want to change for dinner after a really long tour day. Nice jeans or khakis and collared shirt or polo worked for most nights in the dining room for my husband. I should have brought more jeans/casual pants since we did have a few days of wearing jeans for 3rd or 4th time as I was trying to find an open washer/dryer in the very busy of laundry room. We only did one formal night and my husband did fine with a long sleeve collared shirt and khakis and I wore a blouse with black pants. We saw plenty of people who looked lovely in tuxedos and formal gowns but we were not wasting precious suitcase space on fancy clothes on our 16 day vacation.

WEATHER – I believe Scotland is having the hottest summer on record for June but for May all previous advice was accurate, layers, layers, and more layers. We took a warm coat and a rain jacket and alternated them or wore both at the same time depending on wind and rain. We really only had one very rainy day although we expected more. Lots of partly sunny days. I was happy to have a scarf and hat most days. Long sleeve shirts were a good base layer and I wore a sweater 3 days. I expected the weather to be in the 50s and 60s but the wind made it feel much cooler.  My sister bought a warm hat in Kinsale because it was colder than she expected.

FOOD - we weren’t sure what to expect with Princess and British Isles food but we were happy overall. We cruise specifically by itinerary and find cruising to be the best solution for us budget wise with meals/hotel/transportation all rolled into one, especially in places where we would never drive. We had been warn-+ed to expect bland, simple food in Scotland and Ireland and were pleasantly surprised at the delicious food at every stop. We had all sorts of yummy comfort food including cottage pies, fish and chips and hearty soups with sandwiches. We did not have one bad meal in port.

Crown Princess food was as expected, a few stand out dishes but mostly average. As mentioned before, we don’t cruise for the food or ship entertainment just for the travel and transportation. Formal nights were the day of Guernsey and the first sea day. We only did one formal night and my husband did fine with a long sleeve collared shirt and khakis and I wore a blouse with black pants. We saw plenty of people in tuxedos and formal gowns but we were not wasting precious suitcase space on fancy clothes. We had anytime dining and turned up between 6 pm and 7:15 pm for each night in the Dining Room – we only ate there 5 out of 12 nights and Formal nights were more crowded.  If the wait was going to be more than a few minutes they gave you a pager so we grabbed a drink at the International Café while we waited. We had less wait when we went at 6:15 or 6:45 vs. 6:30. On our last dining room night the night before Le Havre, we were moved to one of the fixed dining rooms and had better service than in the Michelangelo Dining Room.

TIPPING - We haven’t cruised in 5 years so this may now be the norm but Princess automatically adds 18% for alcohol. On past cruises with Celebrity and Royal Caribbean we were able to add tip and decide how much to charge. Princess also doesn’t give you a receipt, you just have to hope the bill is right and check your bill periodically. They do have a self-serve kiosk where you scan your cruise card and get a print out or use the Princess @ Sea app.

PRINCESS @ Sea app:

The app was good for checking your stateroom balance by day and the total spent. Each person sees what they spent and the cardholder on file sees all cardholders. The messenger part was somewhat disappointing since it didn’t notify you when you received a message which made it difficult to make arrangements if you were traveling with other people. You had to occasionally check to see if you had received a message. Hopefully this will change when the Ocean Medallion service is finally rolled out. There were Carnival employees on board working on the service but about all we saw was the TV system was updated some to support on demand programming.  Not sure how ocean medallion rollout will change this.

Crown Princess Dublin Shuttle Info.bmp

On ‎6‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 12:44 PM, Jenny2121 said:

Has anyone taken the Princess trip British Isles (Dublin Overnight)?  If so, when Princess docks, will there be buses, taxis waiting near the ship?  I have read that people are not allow to walk thru the port to the exit.   On this trip, Princess has buses, that u pay for, that will take you to Edinburgh and Glasgow and drop u off and pick u up in the afternoon.  I find it odd that Princess is not doing this for Dublin. Especially for a two day visit.  Or is it something you need to sign up for on the ship? Thanks, Jenny

Haven't finished my review but here are the Crown Princess patters from May 13 - 25, 2019.  We did not have Dublin overnight, we had Kirkwall as another stop.

Crown Princess Embarkation.pdf Crown Princess St Peter Port Guernsey.pdf Crown Princess Cobh Cork.pdf Crown Princess Dublin.pdf Crown Princess Belfast.pdf Crown Princess Greenock Glasgow.pdf Crown Princess British Isles At Sea 2019.pdf Crown Princess Kirkwall Orkney Islands.pdf Crown Princess Invergordon.pdf Crown Princess Edinburgh South Queensferry.pdf Crown Princess Southampton Disembarkation.pdf Crown Princess Guernsey St Peter Port Port Guide.pdf Crown Princess Le Havre.pdf Crown Princess Kirwall Port Guide Map.pdf Crown Princess Belfast Shuttle Form.pdf Crown Princess Le Havre Shuttle Form.pdf

On ‎6‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 12:47 PM, cherylakers said:

Just wondered if anyone just off the Crown will be doing a review.

 

We are going in August and wondering about shuttles at the different ports, etc.

 

Thanks

Cheryl

Have not been able to finish my review for Crown Princess May 13 - 25th but did manage to get the patters scanned. 

Crown Princess Embarkation.pdf Crown Princess St Peter Port Guernsey.pdf Crown Princess Cobh Cork.pdf Crown Princess Dublin.pdf Crown Princess Belfast.pdf Crown Princess Greenock Glasgow.pdf Crown Princess British Isles At Sea 2019.pdf Crown Princess Kirkwall Orkney Islands.pdf Crown Princess Invergordon.pdf Crown Princess Edinburgh South Queensferry.pdf Crown Princess Southampton Disembarkation.pdf Crown Princess Guernsey St Peter Port Port Guide.pdf Crown Princess Le Havre.pdf Crown Princess Kirwall Port Guide Map.pdf Crown Princess Belfast Shuttle Form.pdf Crown Princess Le Havre Shuttle Form.pdf

On the Crown for the British Isles in May, we did see plenty of people who looked great in their tuxedos and formal dresses on formal night but my husband did just fine with his long sleeve dress shirt and khakis and I did fine with dressy black pants and a somewhat dressy shirt.  We were vacationing for 16 days and I was not going to take up precious suitcase space with my husbands sport coat when we needed heavier clothing to layer for the British Isles.  With such long port days and often getting back to the ship after 6 or 7 pm, we noticed that the dining room dress code seemed to be a little more relaxed for everyone and we ended up wearing jeans and a nicer shirt/sweater some nights to the dining room (we only ate in the dining room 5 out of 11 nights). 

On ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 11:28 AM, railman said:

Keep in mind there is only one laundry room on each deck with two washers and two dryers.  On our last cruise we opted to pay for laundry service to avoid the hassle.  If all goes according to plan we will be elite at the end of the year.  Looking forward to free laundry service!

On our May Crown Princess cruise, only 1 of 2 dryers worked on Deck 10 so that made it even harder to do laundry.  We bought 6 tokens total on the first day since I had read that they do run out later in the cruise.  I took my own tide pods, dryer sheets and had some travel soap sheets and ended up hang drying a ton of clothes in the bathroom and in the closet and just put a towel in the bottom of the closet floor. When I cruise again, I will take some Woolite or something similar in a travel bottle from the dollar store because you can always wash delicates in the bathroom sink and hang dry - our bathroom had a clothesline.  I did find you could grab a washer and dryer later in the evening after 10 pm and my sister said she had no problem at 5 am but she did have company. I think the trick is to determine if there are off times - during dinner, maybe, or if you are going into port later than normal on a long day. Our room wasn't too far from the laundry so we just checked it periodically. 

On ‎4‎/‎27‎/‎2019 at 6:33 PM, cfly said:

We will be doing ATD on Crown Princess. I have read many posts but still have some questions so thanks for your responses.

I know that we can call day of starting at 8am to reserve a time, but we will generally be off the ship by then so that will not be an option for us.

We are a couple and are happy to eat at a table for 8 each night. Many nights we will be happy to eat at 5:30. If we just show up at the MDR at that time are we likely to have a long wait? more than 15 minutes?  What about eating later on a long port day-say after 7pm? Will there be a long wait then? I read that Princess changes its dining on long port days so that everyone is on ATD. Is that true-no one has reservations? We usually like to see the early shows so we will want to be finished dinner early enough to get to the theatre venues for decent seats. Is getting into the shows an issue too?  

Some nights we plan to book specialty dining but there are no times between 5:30 and 7:30. Does this mean they are all sold or that we are likely to be able to get such a time on the ship?

 

We had ATD on the Crown BI cruise that sailed 5/13 - 5/25.  I tried to make a reservation twice and was told just to show up.  We only ate in the main dining room 5 nights out of 11 because the port times were so varied and intensive and we found it easier after being gone all day to just grab a burger, a slice of pizza or do the Buffet.  We had 6 people total and usually turned up for ATD between 6:15 and 7:15 and never waited more than 15 minutes.  They gave you a pager, so we just grabbed a table and a drink by the International café.  Our final night of ATD was on Thursday before disembarking on Saturday and it was also a sea day.  They actually moved us to one of the fixed time dining rooms and we had better service.  I do think you have a better shot if you show up at 6:15 or 6:45 vs. 6:30 (on the half hour).  Good Luck.

British Isles

On ‎6‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 2:18 PM, TW6cruiser said:

We are on this cruise in August and from my research I found the same as this post.....in Dublin the shuttle is free or for a fee depending upon which dock the ship is located.  I have not been able to find anything though regarding times of the shuttles...as people who posted Patters from prior years were in port at times different from us. 

Looking at our Crown Princess Dublin Patter for 5/16/19, shuttle service began at 8:30 am which was our scheduled arrival time and if you had independent arrangements you had to go to Explorers Lounge and wait.  My sister missed her independent tour in Dublin at 11 am because it took so long to get into Dublin. 

6 hours ago, Diver2014 said:

We were on the Crown from May 25 to June 6, 2019.  Our passports were taken when we checked in for the cruise in Southampton.  We didn't get them back until a few days before the end of the cruise (our room steward delivered them to us and we had to sign for them).  People who embarked in Dublin on May 28 didn't get their passports back until June 6 per the group in the Wheelhouse bar waiting to go on their shore excursions.  There was a lot of confusion with people embarking/disembarking in 3 different ports - many guests didn't know about the other ports of embarkation and wondered why there were already so many people on the ship.  Getting off the ship for shore excursions was easy - go to the Wheelhouse Bar, get a number and out you go within a few minutes.  The most we had to wait was 10 minutes in the Theater to gather everyone together for the buses.  Those on private excursions didn't have to wait long either.  Several ports were working ports and people could not just get off the ship and wander around - you had to take a shuttle ($16 round trip) from the ship to the port entrance.  Your Princess Patter will give details of each port.  This cruise was one of the best we had ever been on as far as the ports and excursions but I wouldn't want to be the person(s)  in charge of getting people on and off the ship.

I am glad they worked out some of the organizational kinks for your cruise (we sailed just before you).  It really was an amazing trip, just a little frustrating at times.  I agree I would not want to be charge of herding so many people and the security team was working so hard to get folks off and on the ship.  I think a huge factor in the delays were the tender ports where high winds created havoc and slowed or stopped tenders altogether.

On ‎5‎/‎31‎/‎2019 at 1:38 PM, omc329 said:

We did the May 4th out of Dublin.

 

Shuttles in Dublin were $8 each way, $16 round trip per person on the first two days of our arrival. (overnight) When we returned to Dublin to disembark, Celebrity had the other dock. Taxis were not allowed into the dock we had been assigned on return except by calling ahead, circling, checking in and a nightmare of hoops. I "assume" because of that?, the shuttles were free for those going into Dublin that day unlike the embarkation days.

 

Also, because we embarked from Dublin, there was a nightmare of immigration issues. They couldn't even decide what was what. They took our passports the day we embarked. They returned them a few days later. Then we were told at Southampton we had to appear with them for immigration before leaving the ship for tours. After waiting around for an hour or so, it was determined it was holding things up too much and immigration "allowed" us to hand in our passports and go, but only for the Dublin folks. The LeHavre folks had to stick around. Also note, ship's excursions were handled from a different point than independents, but I understand they had much the same issues.

 

We had to go through immigration yet again when we reentered Ireland in Cobh. I did not receive notification of this one until I returned to my room around 9PM the night before. The notice was dropped in the cabin while we were at supper. This time we were told we would get our passports back as we entered the lounge, and then we would present them to immigration. They lost my sister's, nieces and son's passports as well as at least one other passenger's passport. They did find them after around an hour of searching. UGH!!! Some of the folks had their passports restamped, others were told another stamp wasn't needed as we already had them from the airport and they were still good. I was told he still had to meet me in person. I said "Nice to meet you, have a nice day!" Thpttt!

 

Because of the immigration we got off the ship late, BEHIND all the ship's tours, making our private tour of 12 late, arriving to Blarney and long lines we should've been through by the time we arrived.

 

Other port issues. Initially they were late arriving in Dublin. Embarkation there was another nightmare. Belfast, because of tides, was around an hour or so late. St Peter's they made tender, but seas picked up and getting all the passengers back on board was a major feat that had us leaving late. They made up the time though, so no impact other than the struggle to get everyone back on board.

 

Other ports were as shown.

We embarked in Southampton on May 13 and I think we were told we would get our passports back after Cobh/Cork but we actually got them back on the first sea day after Greenock/Glasgow. 

I also think we didn't dock as planned in Dublin and were offered a free shuttle as well.  We did a Princess Excursion for Dublin so we got off fairly early (9 or 9:30 after an 8:30 am arrival) but my sister booked a private excursion and it was such a nightmare to get into Dublin that she missed her tour.  She arrived at the tour meeting spot at 11:15 and the tour left at 11 am. I am hoping the issues we faced with Princess disorganization are better for future 2019 cruises since our cruise was only the 2nd BI cruise of the season. 

For all of our private tours, we had 2 or 3 couples; we met at the International Café and blended in with Princess tour crowd headed to the gangway and then found our guide at the dock.  It is imperative that you get a contact name and phone # and have at least one phone with an international plan in case you need to contact your tour guide. 

On ‎3‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 4:24 PM, TM said:

We're doing a British Isles cruise in August.  I've got some private tours booked.  But are there local guides for hire at the cruise ship ports looking to show the sites?  Specifically at Guernsey, Glasgow, Invergordon and Cork?

 

Thank you in advance for all responses.

We just sailed on the Crown Princess on from May 13 - May 25, 2019 so I can give you some current info:

For Cork/Cobh – we had a great day with Craig @ Munster Bus Tours and we saw Cork, Kinsale & the Jameson Distillery.  We had 6 people and were able to see so many things that we would never have seen on a big tour.  Craig drove us around the city of Cork, we visited a local sweet shop/candy company where they were hand making candy, to a beautiful cathedral and before we enjoyed a lovely lunch in coastal Kinsale, he took us to a small memorial garden honoring the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on 9/11.  We enjoyed staying ahead of the big ship tours and he had secured a lunch reservation for us in Kinsale.  Craig answered all of our questions and gave us personal insight into the area.  His pride in his home country was evident and the scenery was amazing, exactly what we imagined Ireland to be.  One note about the Jameson Distillery – it was an interesting tour but we thought we would see a working distillery and instead toured their old factory and did not actually see any actual whiskey production.

For Guernsey – we did NOT book a private tour but BEWARE – tendering issues (high winds) caused havoc on our day in Guernsey and some folks waited 90 minutes to return to the ship.  Make sure if you book with a private company that they will refund your money if the ship isn’t able to tender in Guernsey.  Also, many of the shops/museums and the tourist office in Guernsey didn’t even open until 10 am so we got up early and rushed off the ship to maximize our time only to find that most places weren’t open yet.

On ‎4‎/‎2‎/‎2019 at 1:25 PM, Southern Cruise said:

UPDATED REVIEW - this was a fantastic day and despite cold, rainy weather, we enjoyed the beautiful scenery, Tom was flexible and easily modified our schedule when the rain showed no sign of letting up so instead of doing a 10 minute hike to a waterfall in another Glen, he took us to see two castles and stopped at a beautiful small church along the way.  We got great photos and thoroughly enjoyed the day. 

 

For Glasgow in May - we booked The Glencoe tour for 4 people with Tom @ Photowalk Scotland.  Tom has been very responsive and accommodating as we determined what we wanted to do.

 

https://photowalkscotland.com/

 

Depart Greenock after disembarking.  Drive up to Tyndrum via Loch Lomond. Rest stop/coffee stop in Tyndrum.  Continue to Glencoe, via Rannoch Moor and Glen Etive.  Explore Glencoe area.  Lunch in Glencoe.

Late to the party but just off the Crown Princess British Isles Cruise on May 25, 2019 and we could walk off between 6 am and 6:30 am if we handled on our own luggage. 

We were able to get in one of the first independent transportation groups and disembarked at 6:55 am and were out of the terminal by 7 am.  Easiest disembarkation ever.  Took longer to go down the ramp than to find our luggage and walk out the door. 

For Glasgow in May - we booked The Glencoe tour for 4 people with Tom @ Photowalk Scotland.  Tom has been very responsive and accommodating as we determined what we wanted to do.

https://photowalkscotland.com/

Depart Greenock after disembarking.  Drive up to Tyndrum via Loch Lomond. Rest stop/coffee stop in Tyndrum.  Continue to Glencoe, via Rannoch Moor and Glen Etive.  Explore Glencoe area.  Lunch in Glencoe.

On ‎2‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 3:24 PM, rcarrosq said:

On June 1 we will be sailing on Sapphire Princess out of Southampton London for a 14 day Baltic Cruise. England has always been on my bucket list so we are flying in a few days prior and planning to do some sightseeing in London before our voyage starts.  We've booked a hotel in Kensington and I was looking for any advice on the best ways to get around without using a taxi service.  I read there's a tube really close to our hotel but I also read about the bus service which is also fairly cheap and gets you where you want to go.  I'm also looking for transport from Heathrow to the hotel but since we will have luggage, I'd prefer a taxi service.  I spoke with my  TA who gave me the name of a service he recommends but the quote I received for 4 people with luggage would cost 150 pounds ($192).  That sounds pretty pricey to me as I've read the hotel is about 40 minutes from our hotel.  The quote we received to go from our hotel to the cruise pier is 190 pounds ($245)

 

Does anyone here have any suggestions or tips on cheaper taxi services to from airport to hotel and then hotel to cruise terminal?  Any advice would be  much appreciated.

Our plan is Heathrow Express to Paddington, then a taxi (less than 10 pounds) to our hotel in Kensington/Bayswater area.  We bought 2 tickets for 13 pounds each (90 days out weekday arrival).  Heathrow Express Weekend arrival is much cheaper.  We will have 2 days in London and plan to use the tube, public bus, and maybe uber??  For transfer to Southampton we are using Windsor Day Tours from London hotel to Southampton the day before the cruise and seeing Windsor, Eton, and Winchester Cathedral along the way.  We are using Smiths for Airports to transfer from Southampton back to Heathrow.   Good Luck!

On ‎10‎/‎29‎/‎2017 at 3:41 PM, Kevin's girl said:

After spending our morning at Powerscourt, we were off to wander Dublin on our own. Neither of us are the guided tour sort of people, so being dropped off in the city and free to do our own thing suited us just fine. We were given a map of the city and told what time to be back at the meeting point. There was also an option of coming back to the ship via public transportation if you wanted and all were shown the bus stop. All you needed to do was let the guide know so you were not waited on later.

 

Fishmonger Molly Malone on Suffolk Street in front of the Tourist Information Office

 

On to the Temple Bar neighborhood on the south bank of the River Liffey. I just love the cobbled streets here.

 

 

 

Do you remember where you were dropped off in Dublin after Powerscourt?

On 12/3/2017 at 9:17 PM, Kevin's girl said:

Edinburgh was our next port of call. I knew we wanted to see the castle and walk the Royal Mile. I wanted to see Holyrood Palace but Kevin didn’t. Hmm, how could we make a compromise? I booked our tickets online well in advance and chose the entry time slot 9:00 - 11:00. I received a email later on that apologized for any inconvenience but the castle opening time was actually 9:30 and we would need to make adjustments. No big deal for us. I also booked an excursion through the cruise line - Edinburgh On Your Own. Remember this is a tender port. Cruise excursions get off first followed by all others on private tours. I know this was expensive, but for us worth every penny. Our excursion left the ship at 8:30 in the morning and we had time for breakfast in town before arriving at the castle just after 9:30 and before the maddening crowds.

It was a chilly, misty, rainy morning as we came into port. The weather traded between better and worse all day.

We boarded our tender and were greeted by the gentleman that had been our captain on the Falkirk Wheel. He had told us that he would be on board the Maid of the Mist tender when we were due in at Edinburgh. We said hello and it was nice to see him again. He was tickled that we remembered. This is him to the left as we took the tender ride over. The ride itself was not bad despite the pouring rain and great wind that spurred us along.

 

 

 

 

Once ashore, we found our bus to the city and were off. Our guide was a very nice gentleman who let us know about the best ways to get into the sites from our drop off/pick up spot and about a park way up the hill just to the side of our meeting point. Just enough info to be helpful and the rest on our own. I had bought a nice city map to help with the small streets, it stayed in my back pack the whole time. It’s very easy to get around. As I mentioned above we were early enough to grab a bite before heading up to the castle. It was also a chance to wait out the current monsoon.

Can you advise how much actual time you had in Edinburgh if the on your own excursion  starts at 8:30 am. What time did you actually tender since Princess excursions have priority.    We also want to maximize our time in Edinburgh.   THANKS. Love your review.

Do you remember where the Princess bus drops you off in Edinburgh?

THANKS!

On 12/20/2018 at 2:46 PM, cruising in mn said:

We are in a private van for 6. No bus for us. 

I have no idea on crowds, but we are taking private to avoid them. Also Overlord I'm told, has access to areas other tours./tour groups do not. So I'm hoping it wont be crowded. 

 

Let us know how it goes since you go 2 months before we do!  Have fun!!

8 hours ago, pizzalady1 said:

I have been looking at Overlord for 2020. While they reserved the date, they will not confirm it until full payment is made. I don't think I would want to put that much on a credit card now for a cruise in 20 months. Also, it kind of scares me to try to get people to pay me back, or who may want to back out and not have paid me or if paid, wants a refund. 

Is your private van for 6 people with overlord and can you share the cost?

On ‎10‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 8:59 AM, traveler2100 said:

We are on the crown princess and arrive in Le Havre 5/24/2019

We only want to see the normandy beaches--nothing else

The Princess excursion is over $400 for 2 and is 10.5 hours which is in our opinion quite high and quite lengthy.

How far from the port are the beaches and can we just take local transportation to save some ?

anybody know of any local excursions that are shorter and less$

On ‎11‎/‎15‎/‎2018 at 7:56 PM, cruising in mn said:

I booked a full day private tour with Overlord for July of 2019. They required one cc, with 100% payment in full to secure the tour. They do NOT allow a CC to hold it, and told me there is no way to pay when you get there as they are usually sold out 6+ months in advance. I found 2 other couples on my roll call and we paid in full last month. Just wanted to make sure you all knew what to expect from them. I hear they are worth it, so I'm happy to have it paid for :-) 

On ‎11‎/‎15‎/‎2018 at 7:56 PM, cruising in mn said:

I booked a full day private tour with Overlord for July of 2019. They required one cc, with 100% payment in full to secure the tour. They do NOT allow a CC to hold it, and told me there is no way to pay when you get there as they are usually sold out 6+ months in advance. I found 2 other couples on my roll call and we paid in full last month. Just wanted to make sure you all knew what to expect from them. I hear they are worth it, so I'm happy to have it paid for :-) 

We are on the 5/13 cruise out of Southampton and will be in Le Havre on your embarkation day.  We got this quote from Overlord Tour 9B

The price below is a price for a bus that holds 16 people and from their quote process I assume they take small groups until the bus is full. 

They are requiring full payment before confirmation email is sent which I understand because they do seem to be popular option for private tours.  All other private excursions we have booked have been "your email serves as confirmation, no deposit required" which makes me nervous so we shall see how it goes.

Port: Le Havre

Ship: Crown Princess

Pick-up: 8.00am at the dock

Return: 5.30-6pm at the dock

Sites to visit:

From Le Havre: Omaha beach, the American cemetery, Bayeux, Honfleur

The 2019 price for this tour is 110 Euros per person.

Our only concern with booking a private excursion is how crowded the whole area will be since it is so close to the 75th anniversary of D Day.

 

 

Back at the ship, we got cleaned up and met Deedee and Chip at Crooners for some refreshments before dinner.

 

 

 

While we were sitting there lo and behold who walked by looking perfectly healthy but the sisters! They were all decked out in Flashy-Blinky 4th of July shirts, and appeared to be headed to the blow-out sale on Deck 7! I thought the most ridiculous thing was sister #1 saw me, pretended she hadn’t seen me, and then grabbed sister #2 and steered her away from the area where we were sitting. It was just like junior high! I hope they had fun at the junk sale and bought lots of worthless things with all the money they saved skipping out on the tour![emoji849]

 

We ate in the dining room again, and had a nice, relaxing meal. It was pretty late when we finished dinner, and I spent a little time in the casino before I called it a day. We had great plans for Belfast and the coast of Northern Ireland, but that also meant another early start to our touring day.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Loving your review and the amazing pictures.

I am curious how much local currency you took with you for each port, especially since you had to pay extra for the excursion with the rude no show sisters.

Did you purchase the T11 bus tour tickets in advance?

Enjoying your review!

My last cruise with Princess - our itinerary showed debarkation starting at 7 AM, however, shortly after six, they started to allow walk offs off.

 

Curious (I've never paid attention) if others are finding that?

 

I asked on Tripadvisor and two others said, 6:15 and 6:30 for their most recent cruises.

 

We have a flight time that has changed slightly the day we leave and we are traveling light with carry on only, so will get off with the first guests - hoping for that to be earlier than seven so we can just have a bit more breathing space to get to the airport in time.

 

We should still make our flight home if we leave at 7 AM, it would just be nicer to have more than one hour to get through security (leave Southampton and need to get to our gate at Gatwick right around 11.) We will have checked in online the day prior and will not have to stop to drop bags - just get through Security and to our gate (and if they have trusted traveler or Nexus, we will get through even quicker)

Please update us with your experience. I am curious about walk off time as well and how long to get from Southampton to Heathrow on a Saturday. THANKS!

Crown Princess has embarkation at 3 different ports for B I cruises next summer: Le Havre, Southampton and Dublin. You might check the roll calls for all 3 embarkation dates that week since some passengers will be getting on prior to Dublin.

Princess released Summer 2019 BI Cruise itineraries on 12/14/2017.