SteveinPhilly

We're still in the brilliance - free WiFi day - and just want tip say that the shuttle was fabulous. We bought the return for 6 # and shared a cab up to castle with another couple. 6# total. Saw castle-had explorer pass - and walked down mile to see parliament (must see open every day) and 4pm bus back to ship. Thank you tartan exile and lotharian!

Jill: thanks for a great report. I read the first 3 reports but time is running short. We leave in 3 hours to fly to Amsterdam for the BOTS baltic and then BI) so I printed out to read while on our layover in Heathrow. But looked great and thank for posting.

I have been in correspondence with them since I first heard about possible problems on 31st May. They respond very quickly and assured me that this was someone causing mischief. Had my latest confirmation from them about our tour just this morning. Anyone can put a so-called ‘news’ story on an open news website just by paying. I’ll let you know how we get on 1st & 2nd July. Been with SPB twice before and can’t fault them.

 

 

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Thanks for clarifying. Good that you heard from them. I'm sure others will await your report. Have a great time (we'll be in British Isles then so I won't see your posts after tomorrow until July.

Confused by what you are saying here "... she said they are trying to salvage the tourist business being lost by Alla." I thought the story was about SPB. Please clarify.

It is about sob. Alla is trying to rescue the folks who booked on sob and can't go .that's the impression I got from her comment. I never mentioned sob tours. She brought up when she said they - alla - had to deal with one of the palaces being closed one day last week when brilliance of the seas was in port. If anyone is booked with sob is suggest they communicate with them and see if they get a reply. Alla always replied fast and has an 800 phone number in us

Apparently the "rumors" are real. I just heard from my contact at All (we go with them next week) and she said they are trying to salvage the tourist business being lost by Alla. Anyway, If I was booking now, I'd look at Alla or I Love Travel. At least we know that there is "possibility" of an issue. Just my opinion

Just returned from ST. Petersbury via Celebrity Silhoutte - great trip.

used TJ travel which was wonderful

could do one or two days

we did 2 days and yes they were very full days but great.

we had a mid size tour - 10 of us plus driver and hostess

she was great and loves her country

 

please consider a tour that does the VISA for you - and includes it in the price of the tour.

plus a company like TJ got us into the Hermitage before it opened to the general public.

it was busy but not like we observed later.g

Thanks for post Jane. As I said, we have Alla. Another person booked 3 vans for TJ. (we are there next week). Just to clarify, ALL tour companies in St. Petersburg hand the "visa" issue but it's not a regular formal VISA. That costs $400 and takes time. There is a 72-hour Visa-free ruling in Russia. As long as you are on a CRUISE and are in port less than 72 hours and with a licensed guide you don't need a separate "visa". For Alla, we provide passport # and they provide a "ticket" to show.

As noted earlier, all the tour companies are good, it depends on what palaces you are seeing and how long you are in each one. And ALL of them advertise "early morning" entrance to Hermitage. Now we'll be in a slightly different situation because the World Cup will be played in St. Petersburg on our 2nd day so should be busy place

And Re: SPB tours, as I said, look at all the Trip ADvisor posts from folks there this week and no problems. If there was an article on issues with them, I'd love to see it in ENGLISH ;-)

Really appreciate all the information!

 

We will be traveling with my parents on Royal Princess Jun 18-30 and stop in Edinburgh on Jun 27. I think taking train or shuttle then walk uphill to Edinburgh castle entrance will be too much for my parents but interested to take the shuttle for return trip. Can I pay the shuttle driver directly when get on-board the bus? Or I have to purchase tickets in Queensferry?

 

Also I am under the impression that it's not easy to hail taxi in Queensferry, thinking I should book it in advance, where is any ideal spot or is there a designated location in Queensferry for taxi pick up?

 

Thanks in advance!

It sounds to me like your best bet is to that the shuttle with your parents and buy the 20# ticket. It's only a short flat walk to get on the Hop Off Hop On bus and you round ride around and get off (and on at the castle.). It eventually brings you to where the shuttle bus takes you back to ship. And you'd have a full day of sightseeing with narration.

S

Would you mind sharing your chart on the St. Petersburg tours? We couldn't find it on the web. Thanks.

Newlaxfan posted(or replied to me via message) that it was so old they didn't figure it was date. We are on alla next week. We return after July 4th if I can answer questions.

Steve, just wanted to remind you that if you don't feel you will use the HOHO part of the transport, you can buy one way tickets into and out of Edinburgh on the HOHO shuttle for £4 each way.

We are unsure if we will use the HOHO shuttle or the train to get into town. We may make our decision that morning, depending on weather, crowds, how quickly we can get off the ship etc. We will be there during the Tattoo and the Fringe Festival, so guessing traffic will be pretty intense, which might slow down the shuttle. So thinking the train might be faster, even with the 120 steps.

Once in Edinburgh, our plan is to walk to the Royal Mile and then walk DOWN it towards the Palace of Holyrood. After touring the Palace, we will get on the HOHO at that point and take the 70-90 minute loop. Our cruise ship has an overnight there and we are staying in Edinburgh that night for the Tattoo. So the next morning will tour the Castle first thing, then walk DOWN the Royal Mile from the Castle to the spot we started out at the day before. Then either the train or the HOHO back to the ship. We are hoping this will give us time to enjoy Edinburgh, without the rush rush rush of too many tours. Any opinions? Suggestions?

The lines for the HOHO shuttle might not be too long the second day we are in Edinburg, and still need to check train schedule to see how often it leaves the cruise port and the times it returns to the port. So more to do!!!

.

Hi Anita: If I remember the shuttle is 4# each way or 6# return. 9# gives your return plus the regular buises in Edinburgh. 20# includes the two HOHOs.

You are luckt to be there overnight. We get Dublin for our overnight (but, because of tides now dock at 11am instead of 7am). I don't know which date in August you are on but 4 of my friends are probably on your ship. I encourage them to use CC but they seem to want to be "independent" and don't join "groups" - their loss. :D

I'm going to bold my answers and hope this works :)

Hi Steve

 

 

 

We did not go in the castle. TBH, we were castle'd out by the time we got there! I think your plan would work, if you mean that your timed ticket allows entry anytime between 10 and 11:30. When we got on the shuttle, we were stuck in rush hour traffic for some time, which slowed us down. Even so, I think it took about 20 minutes to get to St Andrew Square.

 

I'm confused here - sorry - but I thought the shuttle from Queensferry takes 45 minutes to get to St. Andrews Square? Am I wrong? You say it took 20 minutes WITH rush hour traffic?

 

Then, if you want to use the HOHO, just follow my notes above to find it and you can take it to the castle (I think that is the only stop they always make). If I have that wrong, you will have to let your guide or the driver know if you want to get off the bus. If you sit upstairs (where the guide is), he asks for a show of hands for anyone wanting to get off at each stop and then he tells the driver. If you sit downstairs, there is a button you push; you will hear the guide's commentary. At least, this is how it was on the Green bus (which is the one with a live guide, in English).

 

The HOHO loop takes 90 minutes, and this is what we did. I had injured my foot in Dublin and had made it worse with all the walking we did in other ports, so we thought we would ride the loop and get off if we saw anything we wanted to check out more closely. As it turned out, we didn't.

 

Walking down the Royal Mile can take some time, I have no idea how long it would take to see the castle, but I'm sure others will post who know.

 

On board was 6:30 pm, with sailaway at 7 pm. After the HOHO loop, we decided to go back and explore Queensferry and get some lunch. Unfortunately, just as we arrived, the skies opened and dumped a lot of rain on us, so we just got back on the ship. This was probably around 1 pm. I think we ended up doing laundry that afternoon!

 

Our ship ((RCI Brilliance of the Seas) is in 7am to 6pm. (On Board at 5:30). So ours will be different. You were on Princess I think so you "do laundry". RCI does not have self-serve laundry on any of their ship. And the price for a bag is pretty hefty). So this wont apply to us.

So, if you got to the castle at 10, spent an hour checking it out, then another 90 minutes walking down the Royal Mile and exploring, you should have plenty of time to take the HOHO loop, assuming your ship (the Royal?) is on the same schedule as ours. IIRC, they make 2 stops for the Ryal Mile, so be sure and pay attention to where the stops are on your way to the castlle.

 

I think we can probably do that. Would be a shame to not take the HOHO bus. for the 11 # extra.

 

 

 

The only other notes I can add have to with bathrooms. On the way to the HOHO stop, you can use the McDonald's I mentioned above. There are bathrooms in the food court in Waverly Mall, but you need 30 p (or maybe 20) to use them. Just be prepared and it will be fine.

 

 

 

Good luck, you'll love it Thanks for the tips. Isn't that what CC is for? Hopeyour leg heals up soon!:)

ML

tartanexile81

 

I hope you are still monitoring this thread.

 

We arrived home late Sunday night (May 20), and then, in a happy surprise,<snip> So enjoyed meeting you and your hubby (I won't use your names because I haven't seen you sign your name on any posts and am unsure if you want people to know).

 

 

 

I don't remember what time we took the tender but it must have been around 8:30 or so. We did have short wait to get on one but it wasn't too bad. the trip took 15-20 minutes, as I recall.

 

<SNIP>

 

 

 

Loved Edinburgh and all our ports, saw so much. We are happy to be home and reunited with our dog. Now we have to readjust to the altitude, making our own meals, and cleaning up after ourselves :)

 

Thanks again, happy cruising

Mary Lynn

Mary Lynn I'm so glad you posted! Now we have a person who did it! A few comments here:

First off - So Tartanexile81, you are a female? :D I never realized that. !!

Next Mary Lynn can you pleaase answer some more questions:

Did you visit the Castle? If so, how did you get there and at what time? I thought we could be off the ship by 9AM (after the ships excursions() and take the shuttle and start at the Castle with a timed ticket for 10- 11:30 and then walk down the royal mile and still have time for a HOHO loop.

What time did you catch the shuttle back to ship? And What time was ON BOARD? If you could describe in a bit more detail your day in Edinburgh it would be a BIG (no HUGE!) help.

Steve

On the cruise right now and use the shuttle system. It's a work in progress and for the most part seems to be a good option.However, we got on the broken bus and sat at the pier for over 35 minutes before the driver admitted there were problems. We then got onto another bus and had to wait until that filled, missed our scheduled tour in Edinburgh. The return trip about 4: was a bit slow due to traffic, but worked out well.

Tenders went quickly, the port also used on of their larger boats in the afternoon.

 

Seems the lower rate of 6GBP return forced other vendors to lower their price. Glad we didn't attempt the 120 steps at the rail station.

 

Darcy

What kind of tour did you miss? We were going to repurchase castle tickets but they Are times. Does anyone know ihowblong the window is to get in with a timed ticket?

They're about 75 minutes for a complete loop. It seems a lot of money just to get to the Castle if that's all you want to use it for. It would be £16 per person. A taxi would only cost £8 as a guess and you can just hail one on the street

I'd just prefer to not WALK up to the castle (but rather DOWN) :D

The purpose of the HOHO would be to see the castle Walk down Royal Mile and take one or two full 75 minute loops for narration and photos. Then we could SEE the most and KNOW what we are seeing. :)

That woul;d be 11# more than taking Shuttle Return and local bus to get up to the castle (9# total)

You posted them in the old thread... [emoji846]

 

 

 

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My apologies to all tartan exile. Do you know how long each of the JoJo loops red andvgreenbtske ifbyouvstay on. Would help.

Also, if we wanted to RIDE up to the castle and walk down the royal mile?

TartanExile - I SWEAR that I posted these questions yesterday here but I don't see them - so posting again.

First off, thanks for going beyond the call!

Next, we are on the BOTS in Queensferry on Saturday June 13th. We are in "tender" from 7am to 6pm. That means that with tendering BOTH ways (on board is 5:30 pm) and the 45 minute bus ride to Edinburgh each way (plus time to wait for bus) we don't have a lot of time.

We will plan to take the bus return plus local transport (9#) I think. We want to visit the Castle and walk the Royal Mile (pedestrians only) and at least see the Parliment Bls=dg. - not sure open on Saturdays). Because the shuttle will only take us to the square, we need to get UP THE HILL to the castle. And, I'm told that we should buy tickets to the castle in advance - or have a Discover Scotland Pass - to avoid the lines. We could certainly get to the Castle on one of the three HOHO loop buses but we wouldn't know the times.

Another option is to take a shuttle at about 8am (assuming that's possible with 2,000 folks wanting to board the shuttle, and then take a HOHO bus (with a route that stops at Castle) for a full loop (an hour?) to see sights and get off at castle on next go round. And walk Down the Royal Mile. Depending on time we might take another HOHO look from square and just stay on. In order to get back to the ship:ship: on the shuttle I would guess that we would need to leave the square no later than 3:45-4:00 and HOPE there is room. :confused:

I guess we'll learn more one folks start using the service and post their experiences.

But what are YOUR thoughts on our plan to see inside Castle and Royal Mile and getting there from where shuttle leaves us off?

TartanExile- you are to be congratulated for all your work. Here's a question I haven't found the easy answer to yet (We are on the BOTS coming to Queensferry 6/23 7am to 6pm (not a lot of time considering tendering and 45 minute drive to Edinburgh.

Because we want to see the inside of Edinburgh Castle (which is up the hill) and walk down the Royal Mile, I'd like to ask:

1 Should we get tix for the Castle on line a few weeks before? (we are on the Baltic cruise starting on 6/9). My thought was to shoot for 11am. Then we could buy the 9# return ticket and take the local bus from where shuttles leaves off to the Castle and rthen walk down Royal Mile and maybe see Parliment Bldg and then take the shuttle back at say 4pm to get us to the ship by 5pm or so with 5:30 On Board. We'd consider the ticket for 20# that would allow us to take ONE fiull loop - on one of them and continue again until we get to the castle. Then see castle and walk down the Royal Mile. The problem there is with timed tickets. If we want castle and royal mile then I can't see how we will be able to use HOHO to take another rout or get off.

I think the real test of the shuttle from and to the ship is to know what is the LATEST time you would have to be at the shuttle departure point to be CERTAIN you would be at the tender port by 5pm at the latest (assuming others are doing it too).

I hope others who are sailing in May will return here and post their experiences. And thank you for your advice on my projected plans outlined above.

I'm just a little confused on the HOHO portion of the ticket. Is it one bus company (Lothian) that has 3 routes, or are there 3 different companies we can use. I see the "City Sightseeing" bus logo on the bottom of the flier. That's the company I was going to purchase originally, and the only company where I actually found a map of their route. It also shows "Edinburgh Tour" and "Majestic Tour" logos as well. Are they all owned by Lothian? Can anyone clarify?

 

Thanks, Brenda

It sounds like it Brenda. The HOHO option (as they say it starts around the corner from the X99 bus) is good as it will get you to the Castle for not much more and you can make a loop. You should be prepated to buy your castle tickets ahead of time to avoid the line and be assured of a time.

S

It looks like they only get you back 45 minutes before the ship departs - that would make me nervous unless they DID have a lot of buses lined up to leave at once. Hopefully someone who's cruising in May can report back!! :)

Notice that there are not just set times. They will run ever 20 minutes ALL DAY. So just plan to be on one that leaves 75 minutes before on board and you'll be fine. I think this a great service. Yes, we'll hear from those traveling in May.

.

Actually this URL is even better! https://lothianbuses.co.uk/news/article/new-service-x99

This is great! So do you know if they will have more than one bus as - at that price and schedule many of the 2100 passengers on our ship (Brilliance of Seas in Queensferry on Saturday June 24th) will want to take it.

I smiling a lot but with cautious optimism:cool:

Looks like Busy Bus changed their mind. The site now says " 100% refund if your ship fails to dock that day"

https://www.busybus.co.uk/wales-from-holyhead

Good to know!

The Port of Helsinki website - http://www.portofhelsinki.fi/en/passengers/international-cruise-ships shows your ship at the West Harbor/Hernesaari LHC berth.

 

The Port of Copenhagen website - http://www.cmport.com/en/ships-in-port/cruise-ships/copenhagen - shows your ship at the C190 (Langelinie)

Thanks. Bummer about Helsinki. Changes some plans.

But I appreciate the research!

Steve

Take a look at this site, it provides lots of info but you will have to wade thru...

https://www.whatsinport.com/index.htm

Hope this helps with your questions.

 

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Can't find Any details for the BOTS for Copehagen on June 19th. Hopefully my email to RCI will get the info. But thanks for trying. Sure seems like it should be easier to find.

I have literally spent an hour trying to find the info. Maybe SOMEONE knows. I depend on CC folks

We have two cruises planned in June on theRCI Brilliance of The Seas.

In at least THREE ports (2 in the Baltic) - Stockholm and Helsinki, there are at least two terminals (and as many as FOUR), for that city. Thet are not close to each other and I'm trying to judge time. I thought there'd be a site for this info (not on RCI site) but one I found (for Helsinki) just confirms date and time but doesn't give any more info.

Anyone got a comprehensive site with this info?

Thanks!

There is also an excellent thread on cruise critic by tartanexile81 which describes, with pictures, how to take the train from South Queensferry to Edinburgh. You will see a picture of the staircase and you can then decide if it is doable for you. The thread is at www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2031574. I hope this helps you.

 

Barb

And Tartan Exile said a few months go that ther was a private shuttle service and he wasn't sure if theywould operated this season. Seems like a nice goldmine for a company that charged a fair price with THOUSANDS of cruise passemgers arriving. :)

We haven't had a 2018 briefing yet but the shuttle bus is run by a private operator who probably depends on it now for a substantial chunk of his earnings so I'm pretty sure it will be running again. When I know for sure, I'll update the thread.

Tartan Exile. Any update. Do you know the name of the Shuttle service? Seems they woulddo really well on port days as there will be a lot of Do it Yourselfers and Taxis are running 35 L I hear. We are coming in on Royal Caribbean and I see no offer from them for a shuttle.