Princess Ring Of Kerry tour with British Isles

[whatcruiseisnext]

Has anyone done the Princess Ring of Kerry Tour before a British isles cruise? We are interested in opinions of it. Also what hotels does Princess use in Shannon, Killarney and Cork. Do you have any free time in these cities? What time of day do you arrive in Cork for your last night prior to embarking ship? We are booked on the British Isles cruise in June 2015 but are thinking of adding the Cruisetour portion. Thanks for your help.

[whatcruiseisnext]

Surely someone must have done this cruisetour???

[ar1950]

Surely someone must have done this cruisetour???

 

I haven't done it, but, the description on Princess UK website makes it sound like a good tour. I did a google search and found reviews on the one day Ring of Kerry tour (don't know if it is the same as the Princess tour on that day although it sounds like it): http://www.viator.com/tours/Killarney/Full-Day-Tour-of-The-Ring-of-Kerry/d911-3544KIL01/TR

 

If you do the tour let us know how it is. :cool:

Edited July 20, 2014 by ar1950

[whatcruiseisnext]

Thanks for the reply...I am interested in the the Cruisetour called Ring of Kerry. It is a 4 day pre-cruise tour that then ties into the British Isles. It does do the Ring of Kerry Tour that you mention...or something similar but has lots of other tours/places also that it goes.

[Casey12]

I don't know how current this is but I found this http://cruiseweb.com/PRINCESS-EUROPE-CRUISETOURS-01.HTM

 

Day 1 Shannon

Arrive in Shannon for a full day of leisure. Enjoy a traditional Irish welcome at a ceili evening with dinner, wine and entertainment. Overnight at the Bunratty Castle Hotel.

Day 2 Shannon/Killarney

Motorcoach to the Cliffs of Moher featuring panoramic views of the Clare coastline. Continue to Killimer for a ferry crossing to Tarbert. Overnight at the Killarney Plaza Hotel.

Day 3 Killarney

Tour the Ring of Kerry, one of the most magical places in Ireland. Return to Killarney for a guided tour of Muckross House in Killarney National Park. Dinner tonight is at a local pub. Overnight at the Killarney Plaza Hotel.

Day 4 Killarney/Cork

Motorcoach to Cork where you'll board a private boat for the short crossing to Garinish Island for sightseeing. Then, visit Queenstown Story in Cobh. Overnight at the River Lee Hotel in Cork.

Day 5 Cork/Southampton

After breakfast, fly to London's Heathrow Airport and transfer to your ship in Southampton.

[ar1950]

Thanks for the reply...I am interested in the the Cruisetour called Ring of Kerry. It is a 4 day pre-cruise tour that then ties into the British Isles. It does do the Ring of Kerry Tour that you mention...or something similar but has lots of other tours/places also that it goes.

 

Yes, I knew that it was not the four day Princess tour. That is what I referenced when I said the one you are asking about sounded like a good tour when I saw it on the Princess UK website. The only thing I could find in the way of reviews was the one day of the tour that was reviewed on that site. Sounds like that day is great and hopefully the other three days will be at least as enjoyable if you do the Princess excursion. Again, if you do it let us all know how it was.

[Sea Day Cruiser]

Surely someone must have done this cruisetour???

 

 

Below is a review I wrote after my sister and I did the Ring of Kerry tour two years ago. It's pretty long so I hope it will give you some of the information you are looking for.

 

Both my sister and I have been to Ireland before. I have driven on several trips in Ireland, but I wasn't willing to drive in the larger cities anymore. We rented a car for four days and drove around the west coast of Ireland up into Connemara north of Galway. Then we turned in the car and met up with our tour at Bunratty which is near Shannon airport.

 

We really enjoyed our land tour in Ireland. We were very happy with the hotels we stayed in and with the bus transportation. Our guide was wonderful. I think her name was Hillary.

 

This was the first time I'd been on a land tour with bus transportation so I didn't really know what to expect. I never felt we spent too much time on the bus. We never drove all day. We did have to be ready to leave in the morning usually around 7:30 or 8 AM. Our bags had to be outside the door of our hotel rooms an hour before that. There were about 30 people on the Princess tour so we never felt crowded and there was plenty of room on the bus.

 

The tour included breakfast and dinner each day. In most cases it was in the hotel and an area of the restaurant was set aside for our group. There were two dinners not in the hotels which will be described later.

 

The land tour started at Bunratty on Sunday. We got to the Bunratty Castle Hotel and checked in; actually Princess had already checked us in. We got to our room and dropped our stuff. There is a Blarney Woolen Mills store next door to the hotel so we went over there for a while. Also took some pictures of Bunratty Castle. The tour did not include a tour of Bunratty Castle but we had been there before so it didn't matter. I think there was time that afternoon for us to tour the castle if we had wanted to.

 

Sunday night all the people on this tour met with the tour director/guide and walked across the road to Bunratty Folk Park where we had dinner. It was called a Traditional Irish Feast and was held in a place called the Corn Barn which was nothing like a barn. It was an Irish ceili which means a night of music and dance. As we entered the building we were given our choice of mead or Irish creme. I took the mead and Carol took the Irish creme. Both were good. The dinner was Irish brown bread, a really good salad, and the best Irish stew I've ever had. Along with that there were jugs of white and red wine on the tables which never ran out. Dessert was tea and what they called apple pie but was more like cake with apples baked into the middle of it.

 

During and after dinner we were entertained with Irish music and dancing and poetry. The performers were really good and the whole evening was a lot of fun.

 

Monday the sun was out most of the day. We had to have our luggage outside our doors by 7:15 AM. Breakfast was at 7:15 also and we had to be ready to leave on the bus at 8:15. We made it. Our bus driver was named Paddy. He took us to the Cliffs of Mohar. That place is so changed anyone who has been there in the past wouldn't recognize it. The little visitors center and gift shop is now a huge building built into the side of a hill. You can't get anywhere near the edge of the cliff. They have used Liscanor flat stones as fencing (about 4 feet high) to keep people back at least 30 feet from the edge. You can no longer look straight down at the water below. It is a lot safer now but also disappointing. I remember going there the first time in 1965 and there was nothing there but a little old man with a donkey cart who sold postcards and penny whistles. And the cliff where you could look straight down at the Atlantic.

 

Carol walked up to O'Brien's Tower which is a round tower built on the coast and from which you can look out and see the cliffs. She had never been there. I had so I wandered around the underground visitors center instead.

 

After leaving the cliffs we stopped for lunch at a pub in Kilrush and then took the ferry across the River Shannon. Our driver was very good at driving his big bus onto the ferry. There were at least one other bus, an oil tanker truck, and maybe 100 cars on the ferry. It takes about 20 minutes to cross the river. From there we drove to Killarney where we spent two nights. The first night there we had dinner in the hotel with all the others on the tour.

 

Tuesday, was the Ring of Kerry day for us. We had to be up early again. I think for the Ring of Kerry day we had to be up and ready to go by 8:30 which was a little later then the day before. Since we were spending two nights at our hotel in Killarney, we didn't have to get up early enough to put our luggage out ahead of time for the bus.

 

We left Killarney about 8:30 and headed out onto the Invereigh peninsula. I don't think that's spelled right, but I can't find it on the map right now so I will have to leave it that way. We drove through a couple of small towns and made several photo stops along the way to take pictures.

 

All through the first part of the day the weather was fine -- alternately cloudy and sunny. We drove past a series of mountains called Macgillcuddy's Reeks. Gorgeous views. I was reminded of why I came to Ireland. About half way around the Ring of Kerry is the town of Waterville. It is at the end of the peninsula. After you leave Waterville you start climbing and the road winds up to the top of the big hill or mountain, whichever you want to call it. Carol and I were looking forward to stoppingg there because we had been there with Tim and Brian and earlier I was there with the girls.

 

As we drove up the mountain this time it got mistier and mistier. Actually it was raining and very overcast. We couldn't see anything. There is a statue of the Blessed Mother there at the very top and we got out of the bus and took a couple of pictures there. We tried to take pictures of the view looking down on the Atlantic, but we couldn't see anything below. The name of the place where the statue is located and where you can sometimes have a great view is Coomakiste Pass. It is 1000 feet above sea level. If you are lucky enough to be there on a good weather day, it's a great view.

 

After we left the Pass and drove down the mountain, the mist cleared. We stopped a few more times to take pictures and then had lunch at a place called Moll's Gap. It was also another good spot for picture taking. After we left there we arrived at a place called Lady's View. It's a spot where Queen Victoria stopped to view the scenery back in the 1800s. Sorry, don't remember the exact year. There are three lakes there, the Upper lake, the middle lake and the lower lake. More great scenery and pictures.

 

Shortly after that we were back in Killarney. We dropped off excess junk at our hotel and then went for a ride on the jaunting carts. Our cart had one poor horse pulling the cart with nine people on it including the driver. He took us down by a lake where we saw lots of ducks and one white swan and an old castle. The jaunting cart ride lasted about 40 minutes. From there we were taken to Muckross House for a tour of the house and grounds.

 

Tuesday night we all had dinner in a pub called Danny Mann's pub. The dinner wasn't very good, but the music after dinner was great. There were two Irish men who were there to play music. One played the accordion and the tin whistle. The other played the guitar and whistled. They said whistling is becoming a lost art because too many kids now spend all their time with video games and computers. Their music was fun and they had everyone clapping along. There was one little girl who performed a couple of Irish dances. I think she was maybe around 10 years old. After she finished she passed a jar around for everyone to put in their donations. That kid probably raked in a lot of money that night.

 

Wednesday we were up early again. Bags outside the door at 7 AM. Then we headed off to a place where we had never been. We drove through more beautiful scenery and some tunnels blasted out of rock to a place called Glengarrif in County Cork. There we boarded a small ferry and were taken to a small island with more scenery.

 

The island was called Garinish and it's proximity to the Gulf Stream gives it mild weather and beautiful gardens. It is only 37 acres and you can walk all over it. We only had about an hour and a half so no one walked all over it but we did cover quite a bit.

(This really was the only part of the four days that I think could have been improved. I'm not sure if there would have been time, but I think it would have been better to go to someplace like Blarney Castle which isn't far from Cork.)

 

After we left the island we had a two hour bus ride to Cobh. This was the port for the Titanic. The passenger ship Lusitania was sunk near there by a German sub in World War One so there is a lot of history there and they have an interesting visitor center. In front there is a statue of an Irish girl named Annie Murray. At age 16 she left Ireland for America with just her two little brothers. She was the first immigrant to go through Ellis Island in New York.

 

Then we were taken to our hotel in Cork. It is a very nice, newly renovated place. We had no hot water so had to call the front desk. The discovered the boiler that supplied this room wasn't on. It didn't take long at all for the water to heat up.

 

Thursday was the day we flew from Cork, Ireland to London. We had to get up at 4 AM and have luggage outside our door to be picked up at 4:50 AM. We skipped breakfast except for grabbing a scone to eat later. It was a short ride to the Cork airport. Our flight was on Aer Lingus ( Irish Airlines). The airport had no walkway from the gate to the plane like we are all used to. We had to go downstairs and then go outside and climb the steps up into the plane. Of course, it was raining and we had to use the rear steps and door which were farther away. We were soaked by the time we got aboard the plane. The flight was completely full. Going through security before the flight everyone had to take their umbrellas out of carry-ons, bags, etc. and they were each examined individually.

 

After we arrived at London Heathrow we were met by a Princess representative. There were 32 people in our group from the cruisetour and the rep led us to our bus which took us to Southampton. We arrived in Southampton around noon and were checked in immediately. Then we had a short wait before going through security and on to the ship.

 

Ireland is a beautiful country. We were lucky and had good weather almost the entire time. We were happy with the hotels, our guide, the bus driver, and with just about everything we saw. Princess contracts with a tour company to handle the tours. I think the tour company was Globus, but I'm not positive of that. It was two years ago.

 

Karen

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Thrak]

Great write up! I'm guessing this is pretty much exactly what the OP was looking for. Many thanks for the info as I was really hoping someone could give an answer to this query.

[Tuscan]

Surely someone must have done this cruisetour???

 

QUOTE=whatcruiseisnext;43449829]Has anyone done the Princess Ring of Kerry Tour before a British isles cruise? We are interested in opinions of it. Also what hotels does Princess use in Shannon, Killarney and Cork. Do you have any free time in these cities? What time of day do you arrive in Cork for your last night prior to embarking ship? We are booked on the British Isles cruise in June 2015 but are thinking of adding the Cruisetour portion. Thanks for your help.

 

Has anyone done the Princess Ring of Kerry Tour before a British isles cruise? We are interested in opinions of it. Also what hotels does Princess use in Shannon, Killarney and Cork. Do you have any free time in these cities? What time of day do you arrive in Cork for your last night prior to embarking ship? We are booked on the British Isles cruise in June 2015 but are thinking of adding the Cruisetour portion. Thanks for your help.

 

DH and I took this tour last year (June) in conjunction with a BI Cruise on the Caribbean Princess. We had a smaller group of about 18 people and the tour itself was great! Not a lot of bus time, despite how the narrow, twisty roads in Ireland can make a short distance seem like a quest. The scenery is beautiful and there were also several stops each day, which broke things up quite nicely.

 

As for the hotels:

We stayed at the Bunratty Castle Hotel after arriving in Shannon. It was OK, although the room we had could have used a little sprucing up. But, the hotel was pretty much the only game in town. It's right by the castle, which you can tour and is just steps away from the "Folk Park" where the first group dinner is held. The Bunratty Castle had a REALLY good breakfast, too. If you go a night or 2 in advance, there are two restaurants just down the road that are within walking distance. You can use the path behind the hotel or the street. Gallegher's is for seafood and the other restaurant (can't remember the name) is right next door to it. The hotel also has it's own little pub with music each evening.

 

In Killarney (nice city), we stayed at the Killarney Plaza, which was very, very nice. On the last night of the 2 night stay, there was another group dinner held around the corner at a local pub. The hotel's location made for an easy walk around the city and it was right near a large park (Killarney National Park). The food at the hotel was very good, too.

 

In Cork, we stayed at the River Lee Hotel, which had the most "modern" décor of the three. It, too, was very nice. The last group dinner was held in their restaurant and it was good. It had a busy Happy Hour scene in it's upscale bar area. Enroute to the hotel, we had a brief city tour and the guide told us what section of the city to avoid (kind of run down and spotlights everywhere). The hotel was located NOWHERE near that. We got there late afternoon and the group dinner ended fairly late, so we did not go exploring as we had to be up early for the flight to Heathrow.

 

As for the Tour:

 

Princess contracts out to Globus to be the tour operator . . . and that, to us, provides peace of mind for the level of comfort (hotels & food).

 

We pretty much had an afternoon free in each location, as well as time after dinner. Lunch is on your own and it seemed that all but one of the dinners was as a group. Also, there is an Irish Breakfast offered daily.

 

We really enjoyed seeing the Cliffs of Moher (Beautiful - and several vantage points from which to view it). The actual Ring of Kerry (Dingle Peninsula) drive out of Killarney was really, really beautiful. (Sit on the right side of the bus). There were some stops in a couple of small towns included, as well. There also was the "shopping stop" in one of the small towns, but our guide timed it so that we got there before all the other tour buses and they really had some quality products.

 

Our tour of Muckross House only went inside the manor and did not venture into the gardens or the farm. Also, the gardens on Garinish weren't as lavish as I thought they would be, although the boat ride to and from the island was such a beautiful setting. They have a pretty decent café there, too, where it seemed everyone went after what turned out to be the 10 - 20 minute tour of the gardens.

 

We took the 6 passenger horse and carriage (Jaunting Car) ride to and from the Killarney Plaza Hotel to a small castle (Ross?) in the heart of Killarney National Park which was really, really nice. After that we walked around Killarney that afternoon and evening. It's fairly, if not very, lively at night.

 

The stay in Cork was really to visit Cobh and the Titanic display at the port.

 

It really was a great tour and we would recommend it. In short, the people were friendly, the guide was good, the scenery was beautiful, the towns were lovely, it's only 4 nights and not covering vast expanses, it had a good balance between the bus and free time and the hotels were very good. It's just a very enjoyable tour to combine with the British Isles cruise.

 

I hope this helps. Sorry so long.

[whatcruiseisnext]

Below is a review I wrote after my sister and I did the Ring of Kerry tour two years ago. It's pretty long so I hope it will give you some of the information you are looking for.

 

Both my sister and I have been to Ireland before. I have driven on several trips in Ireland, but I wasn't willing to drive in the larger cities anymore. We rented a car for four days and drove around the west coast of Ireland up into Connemara north of Galway. Then we turned in the car and met up with our tour at Bunratty which is near Shannon airport.

 

We really enjoyed our land tour in Ireland. We were very happy with the hotels we stayed in and with the bus transportation. Our guide was wonderful. I think her name was Hillary.

 

This was the first time I'd been on a land tour with bus transportation so I didn't really know what to expect. I never felt we spent too much time on the bus. We never drove all day. We did have to be ready to leave in the morning usually around 7:30 or 8 AM. Our bags had to be outside the door of our hotel rooms an hour before that. There were about 30 people on the Princess tour so we never felt crowded and there was plenty of room on the bus.

 

The tour included breakfast and dinner each day. In most cases it was in the hotel and an area of the restaurant was set aside for our group. There were two dinners not in the hotels which will be described later.

 

The land tour started at Bunratty on Sunday. We got to the Bunratty Castle Hotel and checked in; actually Princess had already checked us in. We got to our room and dropped our stuff. There is a Blarney Woolen Mills store next door to the hotel so we went over there for a while. Also took some pictures of Bunratty Castle. The tour did not include a tour of Bunratty Castle but we had been there before so it didn't matter. I think there was time that afternoon for us to tour the castle if we had wanted to.

 

Sunday night all the people on this tour met with the tour director/guide and walked across the road to Bunratty Folk Park where we had dinner. It was called a Traditional Irish Feast and was held in a place called the Corn Barn which was nothing like a barn. It was an Irish ceili which means a night of music and dance. As we entered the building we were given our choice of mead or Irish creme. I took the mead and Carol took the Irish creme. Both were good. The dinner was Irish brown bread, a really good salad, and the best Irish stew I've ever had. Along with that there were jugs of white and red wine on the tables which never ran out. Dessert was tea and what they called apple pie but was more like cake with apples baked into the middle of it.

 

During and after dinner we were entertained with Irish music and dancing and poetry. The performers were really good and the whole evening was a lot of fun.

 

Monday the sun was out most of the day. We had to have our luggage outside our doors by 7:15 AM. Breakfast was at 7:15 also and we had to be ready to leave on the bus at 8:15. We made it. Our bus driver was named Paddy. He took us to the Cliffs of Mohar. That place is so changed anyone who has been there in the past wouldn't recognize it. The little visitors center and gift shop is now a huge building built into the side of a hill. You can't get anywhere near the edge of the cliff. They have used Liscanor flat stones as fencing (about 4 feet high) to keep people back at least 30 feet from the edge. You can no longer look straight down at the water below. It is a lot safer now but also disappointing. I remember going there the first time in 1965 and there was nothing there but a little old man with a donkey cart who sold postcards and penny whistles. And the cliff where you could look straight down at the Atlantic.

 

Carol walked up to O'Brien's Tower which is a round tower built on the coast and from which you can look out and see the cliffs. She had never been there. I had so I wandered around the underground visitors center instead.

 

After leaving the cliffs we stopped for lunch at a pub in Kilrush and then took the ferry across the River Shannon. Our driver was very good at driving his big bus onto the ferry. There were at least one other bus, an oil tanker truck, and maybe 100 cars on the ferry. It takes about 20 minutes to cross the river. From there we drove to Killarney where we spent two nights. The first night there we had dinner in the hotel with all the others on the tour.

 

Tuesday, was the Ring of Kerry day for us. We had to be up early again. I think for the Ring of Kerry day we had to be up and ready to go by 8:30 which was a little later then the day before. Since we were spending two nights at our hotel in Killarney, we didn't have to get up early enough to put our luggage out ahead of time for the bus.

 

We left Killarney about 8:30 and headed out onto the Invereigh peninsula. I don't think that's spelled right, but I can't find it on the map right now so I will have to leave it that way. We drove through a couple of small towns and made several photo stops along the way to take pictures.

 

All through the first part of the day the weather was fine -- alternately cloudy and sunny. We drove past a series of mountains called Macgillcuddy's Reeks. Gorgeous views. I was reminded of why I came to Ireland. About half way around the Ring of Kerry is the town of Waterville. It is at the end of the peninsula. After you leave Waterville you start climbing and the road winds up to the top of the big hill or mountain, whichever you want to call it. Carol and I were looking forward to stoppingg there because we had been there with Tim and Brian and earlier I was there with the girls.

 

As we drove up the mountain this time it got mistier and mistier. Actually it was raining and very overcast. We couldn't see anything. There is a statue of the Blessed Mother there at the very top and we got out of the bus and took a couple of pictures there. We tried to take pictures of the view looking down on the Atlantic, but we couldn't see anything below. The name of the place where the statue is located and where you can sometimes have a great view is Coomakiste Pass. It is 1000 feet above sea level. If you are lucky enough to be there on a good weather day, it's a great view.

 

After we left the Pass and drove down the mountain, the mist cleared. We stopped a few more times to take pictures and then had lunch at a place called Moll's Gap. It was also another good spot for picture taking. After we left there we arrived at a place called Lady's View. It's a spot where Queen Victoria stopped to view the scenery back in the 1800s. Sorry, don't remember the exact year. There are three lakes there, the Upper lake, the middle lake and the lower lake. More great scenery and pictures.

 

Shortly after that we were back in Killarney. We dropped off excess junk at our hotel and then went for a ride on the jaunting carts. Our cart had one poor horse pulling the cart with nine people on it including the driver. He took us down by a lake where we saw lots of ducks and one white swan and an old castle. The jaunting cart ride lasted about 40 minutes. From there we were taken to Muckross House for a tour of the house and grounds.

 

Tuesday night we all had dinner in a pub called Danny Mann's pub. The dinner wasn't very good, but the music after dinner was great. There were two Irish men who were there to play music. One played the accordion and the tin whistle. The other played the guitar and whistled. They said whistling is becoming a lost art because too many kids now spend all their time with video games and computers. Their music was fun and they had everyone clapping along. There was one little girl who performed a couple of Irish dances. I think she was maybe around 10 years old. After she finished she passed a jar around for everyone to put in their donations. That kid probably raked in a lot of money that night.

 

Wednesday we were up early again. Bags outside the door at 7 AM. Then we headed off to a place where we had never been. We drove through more beautiful scenery and some tunnels blasted out of rock to a place called Glengarrif in County Cork. There we boarded a small ferry and were taken to a small island with more scenery.

 

The island was called Garinish and it's proximity to the Gulf Stream gives it mild weather and beautiful gardens. It is only 37 acres and you can walk all over it. We only had about an hour and a half so no one walked all over it but we did cover quite a bit.

(This really was the only part of the four days that I think could have been improved. I'm not sure if there would have been time, but I think it would have been better to go to someplace like Blarney Castle which isn't far from Cork.)

 

After we left the island we had a two hour bus ride to Cobh. This was the port for the Titanic. The passenger ship Lusitania was sunk near there by a German sub in World War One so there is a lot of history there and they have an interesting visitor center. In front there is a statue of an Irish girl named Annie Murray. At age 16 she left Ireland for America with just her two little brothers. She was the first immigrant to go through Ellis Island in New York.

 

Then we were taken to our hotel in Cork. It is a very nice, newly renovated place. We had no hot water so had to call the front desk. The discovered the boiler that supplied this room wasn't on. It didn't take long at all for the water to heat up.

 

Thursday was the day we flew from Cork, Ireland to London. We had to get up at 4 AM and have luggage outside our door to be picked up at 4:50 AM. We skipped breakfast except for grabbing a scone to eat later. It was a short ride to the Cork airport. Our flight was on Aer Lingus ( Irish Airlines). The airport had no walkway from the gate to the plane like we are all used to. We had to go downstairs and then go outside and climb the steps up into the plane. Of course, it was raining and we had to use the rear steps and door which were farther away. We were soaked by the time we got aboard the plane. The flight was completely full. Going through security before the flight everyone had to take their umbrellas out of carry-ons, bags, etc. and they were each examined individually.

 

After we arrived at London Heathrow we were met by a Princess representative. There were 32 people in our group from the cruisetour and the rep led us to our bus which took us to Southampton. We arrived in Southampton around noon and were checked in immediately. Then we had a short wait before going through security and on to the ship.

 

Ireland is a beautiful country. We were lucky and had good weather almost the entire time. We were happy with the hotels, our guide, the bus driver, and with just about everything we saw. Princess contracts with a tour company to handle the tours. I think the tour company was Globus, but I'm not positive of that. It was two years ago.

 

Karen

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

QUOTE=whatcruiseisnext;43449829]Has anyone done the Princess Ring of Kerry Tour before a British isles cruise? We are interested in opinions of it. Also what hotels does Princess use in Shannon, Killarney and Cork. Do you have any free time in these cities? What time of day do you arrive in Cork for your last night prior to embarking ship? We are booked on the British Isles cruise in June 2015 but are thinking of adding the Cruisetour portion. Thanks for your help.

 

 

 

DH and I took this tour last year (June) in conjunction with a BI Cruise on the Caribbean Princess. We had a smaller group of about 18 people and the tour itself was great! Not a lot of bus time, despite how the narrow, twisty roads in Ireland can make a short distance seem like a quest. The scenery is beautiful and there were also several stops each day, which broke things up quite nicely.

 

As for the hotels:

We stayed at the Bunratty Castle Hotel after arriving in Shannon. It was OK, although the room we had could have used a little sprucing up. But, the hotel was pretty much the only game in town. It's right by the castle, which you can tour and is just steps away from the "Folk Park" where the first group dinner is held. The Bunratty Castle had a REALLY good breakfast, too. If you go a night or 2 in advance, there are two restaurants just down the road that are within walking distance. You can use the path behind the hotel or the street. Gallegher's is for seafood and the other restaurant (can't remember the name) is right next door to it. The hotel also has it's own little pub with music each evening.

 

In Killarney (nice city), we stayed at the Killarney Plaza, which was very, very nice. On the last night of the 2 night stay, there was another group dinner held around the corner at a local pub. The hotel's location made for an easy walk around the city and it was right near a large park (Killarney National Park). The food at the hotel was very good, too.

 

In Cork, we stayed at the River Lee Hotel, which had the most "modern" décor of the three. It, too, was very nice. The last group dinner was held in their restaurant and it was good. It had a busy Happy Hour scene in it's upscale bar area. Enroute to the hotel, we had a brief city tour and the guide told us what section of the city to avoid (kind of run down and spotlights everywhere). The hotel was located NOWHERE near that. We got there late afternoon and the group dinner ended fairly late, so we did not go exploring as we had to be up early for the flight to Heathrow.

 

As for the Tour:

 

Princess contracts out to Globus to be the tour operator . . . and that, to us, provides peace of mind for the level of comfort (hotels & food).

 

We pretty much had an afternoon free in each location, as well as time after dinner. Lunch is on your own and it seemed that all but one of the dinners was as a group. Also, there is an Irish Breakfast offered daily.

 

We really enjoyed seeing the Cliffs of Moher (Beautiful - and several vantage points from which to view it). The actual Ring of Kerry (Dingle Peninsula) drive out of Killarney was really, really beautiful. (Sit on the right side of the bus). There were some stops in a couple of small towns included, as well. There also was the "shopping stop" in one of the small towns, but our guide timed it so that we got there before all the other tour buses and they really had some quality products.

 

Our tour of Muckross House only went inside the manor and did not venture into the gardens or the farm. Also, the gardens on Garinish weren't as lavish as I thought they would be, although the boat ride to and from the island was such a beautiful setting. They have a pretty decent café there, too, where it seemed everyone went after what turned out to be the 10 - 20 minute tour of the gardens.

 

We took the 6 passenger horse and carriage (Jaunting Car) ride to and from the Killarney Plaza Hotel to a small castle (Ross?) in the heart of Killarney National Park which was really, really nice. After that we walked around Killarney that afternoon and evening. It's fairly, if not very, lively at night.

 

The stay in Cork was really to visit Cobh and the Titanic display at the port.

 

It really was a great tour and we would recommend it. In short, the people were friendly, the guide was good, the scenery was beautiful, the towns were lovely, it's only 4 nights and not covering vast expanses, it had a good balance between the bus and free time and the hotels were very good. It's just a very enjoyable tour to combine with the British Isles cruise.

 

I hope this helps. Sorry so long.

 

Thank you both! Exactly what I was looking for!!!:):D

 

We have added the Princess Ring of Kerry cruisetour to our British Isle cruise on the Royal Princess next June! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Edited July 21, 2014 by whatcruiseisnext

[whatcruiseisnext]

My hubby just read these reviews and he also says THANK YOU!

 

 

What type of clothing did people wear on the land portion? Is it dressy or casual like jeans? What about in the evening for dinners?

[Sea Day Cruiser]

My hubby just read these reviews and he also says THANK YOU!

 

 

 

 

 

What type of clothing did people wear on the land portion? Is it dressy or casual like jeans? What about in the evening for dinners?

 

 

Definitely casual. You keep one bag with you and the rest of your luggage meets you at the ship. If you keep everything with you there are huge luggage fees for the flight from Cork to London. Princess loads all the excess luggage on a truck and takes it to the ship in Southhampton.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Tuscan]

My hubby just read these reviews and he also says THANK YOU!

 

 

What type of clothing did people wear on the land portion? Is it dressy or casual like jeans? What about in the evening for dinners?

 

It's casual. There were no formal dinners on the tour, so jeans / khakis are fine. I brought one "nicer" pair of pants / shoes / blouse to wear and I think I wore it twice. But that's just me.

 

Also, you can only carry one suitcase that cannot weigh more than 40 lbs, due to the airline regulations from Cork to Heathrow. You're other suitcase(s) will be "Meet me at the Ship" that will go by ferry to Southampton and will be at your cabin when you board the ship.

 

In fact, I think it was quite a hefty charge for every pound over 40 lbs.

 

I hope this, too, helps. :)

[gbldcl]

Many thanks to all who contributed. We are doing this tour July 28, 2015 and appreciate all of the good advice.

 

Gordon

[whatcruiseisnext]

It's casual. There were no formal dinners on the tour, so jeans / khakis are fine. I brought one "nicer" pair of pants / shoes / blouse to wear and I think I wore it twice. But that's just me.

 

Also, you can only carry one suitcase that cannot weigh more than 40 lbs, due to the airline regulations from Cork to Heathrow. You're other suitcase(s) will be "Meet me at the Ship" that will go by ferry to Southampton and will be at your cabin when you board the ship.

 

In fact, I think it was quite a hefty charge for every pound over 40 lbs.

 

I hope this, too, helps. :)

 

Thank you SO much!

[Coral]

On 7/20/2014 at 12:37 AM, Sea Day Cruiser said:

 

 

Below is a review I wrote after my sister and I did the Ring of Kerry tour two years ago. It's pretty long so I hope it will give you some of the information you are looking for.

 

Thank you for extensive write up!