pazb51

But you could contact the same operator those folks are using and see if they can form a group for you. EM

That's right, will go to our Roll Call. Thanks for the tip!

Yes easyboy, thanks for pointing that out. I have actually been visiting our roll call but our group is quite big so we cannot join existing groups

Okay, I will. Thanks!:)

We are a group of 10 going on the British Isles Cruise on the Caribbean Princess departing from Southampton on August 29. We are looking for highly-recommended private tour operators for the following shore excursions: Ring of Kerry from Cobh; Giants' Causeway with Antrim Coast from Belfast; Loch Lomond, Stirling, and the Trossacks from Belfast; and the Archaeological Tours from Kirkwall. THANKS!!!:)

Panache used to share a vehicle yard with the coach operator I used to drive for some years ago, and I knew the gaffer (he's Italian) and several of his drivers. All very pleasant folk, scrupulously-clean modern vans. No contact in recent years, though I see their vans on the road from time to time. I recall some time back one CC member on here having a right blast about them - turned up late, took the wrong route or whatever. If they were as bad on a lot of their jobs they wouldn't still be around, so I'm guessing that CC member was unlucky with the driver.

Other than that I've only found a couple of reviews, both good.

 

You could also try http://www.airlynxexpress.co.uk/

I see their buses and vans on the road a lot.

nb we call them minibuses - a "van" in the UK is a "panel van" in the US, not very comfortable for ten people :D

 

Salisbury and Stonehenge you can do in one hit. Half-hourly train to Salisbury, ho-ho from there to Stonehenge, then check out Salisbury city centre & its magnificent cathedral. Train & ho-ho is probably your cheapest option despite the size of your party, though no harm in getting quotes from Panache, Airlynx or whoever .

 

Bath (a small city, the centre is mainly Georgian with Jane Austen connections and the iconic Crescent, but also world-renown Roman Baths.) is more distant, but easily done as a day-trip. Again by train, hourly service. Train passes through Salisbury but I doubt you'd have time to visit both cities in one day - and certainly not Stonehenge as well. With one exception - if you went by van you could visit Stonehenge & Bath in one hit, or a combination of other sights in the same direction like Avebury Ring.

 

Winchester is only about 15 mins from Southampton by very frequent train Superb old cathedral, attractive city centre.

 

Portsmouth is about 50 minutes away by bus or train. Historic dockyard, historic ships, Spinnaker Tower, Solent waterfront, small Southsea castle and adjacent D-Day museum, lots more besides.

 

OK, that's four of your days taken care of ;)

 

Google those places, see what you think.

And use the search facility on this forum for stax more info. (forum search top right of this page, type in an appropriate word such as "Stonehenge")

 

JB :)

Hi John Bull! I need to ask for your Solomnic advice again. We no longer need transfers from Heathrow Airport to Southampton, apparently our airline provides transfers for free. But we still need tour operators for the private tours that we plan to do either for one or two days, depending on the itinerary and the quotes. We are a bunch of seniors and we feel we can cover more ground if we organize our own private tours instead of depending on public transportation. I wrote Coachholidays and a representative from Wallace Arnold World choice responded only to tell me that they don't have tours from Southampton, only from London. Panache Travel wrote back to inform me that they only provide vehicles and do not do tours. I have written to Angela Coaches, Coliseum Coaches and International Friends and am still waiting for their replies. Princess Coaches replied to tell me that they are not available on those dates. Can you recommend reliable tour operators in that area?

Panache used to share a vehicle yard with the coach operator I used to drive for some years ago, and I knew the gaffer (he's Italian) and several of his drivers. All very pleasant folk, scrupulously-clean modern vans. No contact in recent years, though I see their vans on the road from time to time. I recall some time back one CC member on here having a right blast about them - turned up late, took the wrong route or whatever. If they were as bad on a lot of their jobs they wouldn't still be around, so I'm guessing that CC member was unlucky with the driver.

Other than that I've only found a couple of reviews, both good.

 

You could also try http://www.airlynxexpress.co.uk/

I see their buses and vans on the road a lot.

nb we call them minibuses - a "van" in the UK is a "panel van" in the US, not very comfortable for ten people :D

 

Salisbury and Stonehenge you can do in one hit. Half-hourly train to Salisbury, ho-ho from there to Stonehenge, then check out Salisbury city centre & its magnificent cathedral. Train & ho-ho is probably your cheapest option despite the size of your party, though no harm in getting quotes from Panache, Airlynx or whoever .

 

Bath (a small city, the centre is mainly Georgian with Jane Austen connections and the iconic Crescent, but also world-renown Roman Baths.) is more distant, but easily done as a day-trip. Again by train, hourly service. Train passes through Salisbury but I doubt you'd have time to visit both cities in one day - and certainly not Stonehenge as well. With one exception - if you went by van you could visit Stonehenge & Bath in one hit, or a combination of other sights in the same direction like Avebury Ring.

 

Winchester is only about 15 mins from Southampton by very frequent train Superb old cathedral, attractive city centre.

 

Portsmouth is about 50 minutes away by bus or train. Historic dockyard, historic ships, Spinnaker Tower, Solent waterfront, small Southsea castle and adjacent D-Day museum, lots more besides.

 

OK, that's four of your days taken care of ;)

 

Google those places, see what you think.

And use the search facility on this forum for stax more info. (forum search top right of this page, type in an appropriate word such as "Stonehenge")

 

JB :)

Thanks you so much John Bull for this wonderful avalanche of information!:) Will check out airlynexpress too. Hope you won't mind my consulting you every now and then.

If you travel from Southampton by Nat. Express http://www.nationalexpress.com/coacheslanding.aspx you'll need to book. To get any sense out of their website, ignore references to Southampton Cruise Terminal or individual terminals at Heathrow. Click on "view" to see if the coach calls at T4 on its way to Heathrow Airport Central Bus Station, some do.

Depart Southampton coach station around 8.30 is usually OK, 9.30 am is comfortable. It's a £5 to £8 taxi ride from any cruise terminal to the coach station.

If you check back through this thread, you'll see there are free bus services from both the Central Bus Station and T4 to Hatton Cross.

 

For a private transfer from cruise terminal to hotel for 6 plus luggage you'll need a minbus (van). Southampton operators are much cheaper than Heathrow operators, try www.westquaycars.com/ but ignore their quoted £85 web price, that's for a car. Or www.panachetravel.co.uk who specialise in minibuses.

JB

We are a party of 10 arriving in Heathrow on Aug. 26 and we plan to go directly to Southampton and stay for 3 nights before embarking on our British Isles Cruise on Aug. 29. I have been looking for reviews on Panache Travel but have found none so far. How well will you rate them, are they dependable? We likewise will be needing transfer service upon disembarkation at the end of our cruise from Southampton to a London hotel.

Can you also please give suggestions on the best sights to see in that area, i.e., Stonehenge, Roman Baths, Salisbury, Winchester? We have two days to do all that.

Thank you for your kind words. If there is any other questions please let me know.

 

Also, take the advice of the previous poster.

 

Doing a ships tour is almost always more expensive then booking directly.

First of all, sorry about misspelling your handle I-CruiserI:( Yes, I will be consulting fabnfortysomething since it seems we have similar problems. Thanks again for your generous help!

http://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2215240#

 

the above link will take you to my review of our May Norway cruise.We didn't do all your ports but my advice re ship sponsored Flam railway is don't do it!

A lady on our roll call put together a group at about 10% discount but even booking directly on the Flam railway website will be a lot cheaper-The NCL excursion cost $100 more per person for seats on the same train!

Also try to get seats on coach 8 as that stops directly opposite the waterfall viewing platform-most of the coaches were stopped within the dark tunnel at that point and that included most of the ship allocated coaches

Thank you so much fabnfortysomething!!! Now that I found someone who has a similar problem as my own and who has had experience with cruising, it makes my researching so much easier. I hope you don't mind but I might need to consult you every so often. My husband is a stroke victim and although he doesn't need a wheelchair, has limited mobility. We did our first cruise last year, AMA Waterways Danube River Cruise, and like you, we discovered that cruising is the most convenient way for us to travel.

Thank you so much for your valuable info Ice Cruiser, much appreciated!!!:) I guess we will take the HAL-sponsored Flam railway shoreex. I read somewhere that there are allocated seats for the Cruise lines so we will be assured of getting on the train. I will also look into your other suggestions.

Hi Ice Cruiser! My husband and I are taking the HAL Eurodam 19-Day Baltic-Norwegian Fjords Cruise departing from Copenhagen on August 7. This is the Norwegian Fjords portion of our cruise. My husband has limited mobility and I would appreciate some advice on the best way to see these areas. So far, our choice is limited to the shore excursions offered by HAL. I am hoping that you can give us alternatives, including local tour operators. Thanks!!!

19 Aug 2015 Copenhagen, Denmark

20 Aug 2015 At Sea

21 Aug 2015 Flam, Norway 07:00 AM - 06:00 PM

21 Aug 2015 Scenic cruising Sognefjord CO

22 Aug 2015 Stavanger, Norway 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM

23 Aug 2015 Kristiansand, Norway 08:00 AM - 05:00 PM

24 Aug 2015 Oslo, Norway 08:00 AM - 05:00 PM

24 Aug 2015 Scenic cruising Oslo Fjord CO

25 Aug 2015 Gothenburg, Sweden 08:00 AM - 04:00 PM

26 Aug 2015 Copenhagen, Denmark 07:00 AM

We are taking the 19-day Baltic and Norwegian Fjords on the Eurodam, departing Copenhagen on August 7. Since my husband has limited mobility, I don't think we can do a DIY in Kiel and in its stead take one of HAL's shore excursions: The Medieval Lubeck and its Famous Marzipan; The Countryside Drive, Lake Cruise and the City of Roses; or The Lakes and Villages of Schleswig-Holstein. Has anyone taken any of these and can recommend which one we should take? Or are there other options like reliable local tour operators?

Imo even with your husband's limited mobility in mind, I'd say Stockholm is a DIY port.

You can do everything in your own pace and the public transport network is very accessible even for those with limited mobility.

Get yourself a 24 hour travel card for the public transport network when you arrive and you should be able to get yourself around easily, it is also much cheaper then doing a hoho bus tour.

 

I've done one of the HoHo bus tours in Stockholm and I was not impressed.

 

@pompeii I'm not aware of any discount codes for the Stockholm card.

Thank you so much Desdichado62 for your helpful info!!! We will just DIY then instead of taking a tour or the HOHO!!!:)

The Squares location is closer to Tivoli, National museum, Glyptoteket etc bur further away from Amalienborg, Nyhavn, Rosenborg, Marble Church etc

 

Admiral is closer to Amalienborg, Nyhavn, Rosenborg, Marble Church etc but further away from Tivoli, National museum, Glyptoteket etc.

 

 

Imperial is off center so to speak, Tivoli is in walking distance but everything else requires a longer walk.

 

 

 

There is no problems in getting a taxi from any of the hotels.

 

Well as you point out, I´m anish Viking for your help!!!not the huge expert on Ho/Ho busses but Stromma runs my prefered canal tour so that must count for something. :D

 

 

That SPB tour looks very expensive, so If you think that the Ho/Ho bus tour covers the same thing I would take that instead.

 

 

Does that cover your questions, else you just ask again.

Thank you so much Danish Viking for your help!!!

My husband and I are doing a private tour in August with SPB Tours and they quoted US$560 per person for their 2-day Highlights and are giving me a discounted rate of US$460 per person for a private Berlin tour if we got both. I thought that was such a good deal but after reading all the posts here, I am thinking twice about it. Any advice?

Hi again Danish Viking! Thank you for your prompt reply!:) This is the link to the SPB website detailing their Copenhagen Highlights Tour https://spb-tours.com/index.php?plugin=tour_details&action=inscandinavia&tId=30

Hi Danish Viking! You simply are amazing and so generous with your time and knowledge! Anyway, my husband and I will be arriving in Copenhagen on August 6 for our 19-day Baltic Norwegian Fjord Cruise on the Eurodam departing from Copenhagen the following day. My husband has limited mobility so that is a major consideration in our travel. I am looking at The Square for our overnight stay mainly because of its proximity to the major attractions. Are the Imperial Hotel and Admiral just as centrally located? Which do you suggest or are there are other hotels we should consider? We plan to take a cab from the airport to the hotel and then the cab again from the hotel to the port the following day. Is that okay?

Also, for our turnaround between the Baltic and the Norwegian Fjords, our ship will be again be staying overnight in Copenhagen. I am thinking of taking either an SPB packaged tour or a HOHO, what do you advise? I have noticed that there are several companies offering the HOHO in Copenhagen, which one is the best? I know you don't suggest the HOHO but our alternative is the packaged tour.

Thanks so much!!!:)

My husband and I are taking the 19-day Holland American Baltic & Norwegian Fjords Cruise on the Eurodam departing from Copenhagen on August 7. My husband has limited mobility and I would like some advice on which ports we should DIY and which should we take tours in, including HOHO. We are booking a private car in both St. Petersburg and Warnemunde/Berlin. Another question is, which HOHO line offers the best deal in Copenhagen since I have read that there are several companies offering the HOHO.

My husband and I are taking the 19-day Holland American Baltic & Norwegian Fjords Cruise on the Eurodam departing from Copenhagen on August 7. My husband has limited mobility and I would like some advice on which ports we should DIY and which should we take tours in, including HOHO. We are booking a private car in both St. Petersburg and Warnemunde/Berlin. Another question is, which HOHO line offers the best deal in Copenhagen since I have read that there are several companies offering the HOHO.

My husband and I are taking the 19-day Holland American Baltic & Norwegian Fjords Cruise on the Eurodam departing from Copenhagen on August 7. My husband has limited mobility and I would like some advice on which ports we should DIY and which should we take tours in, including HOHO. We are booking a private car in both St. Petersburg and Warnemunde/Berlin. Another question is, which HOHO line offers the best deal in Copenhagen since I have read that there are several companies offering the HOHO.