Sharing my experience on British Isle Cruise with Princess

[travelngal]

We just returned on a cruise with Princess on the Royal Princess cruising the British Isles. We had a balcony on the Dolphin deck, mid ship and thought it was a great location. The cabins were well insulated and we heard minimum noise from any other cabins.

 

Many people here have written great things to do while in port, so I wanted to share, what we did and how it was, to help others.

 

We arrived in London on the day we were to board the ship, we took a Princess transfer to South Hampton. We met others who had arranged their own transportation, but our experience was very good, although it was a little pricey. The boarding process was a little backed up, but we boarded within 1 hour of arriving at the Princess terminal.

 

Ports:

 

Guernsey, St. Peter Port - This is a tender port.

- We did this on our own, listening to others who advised to take the local bus, bus #91 (or #92, which is the same, it just goes around the island on the opposite way). It is a local bus, so there is no guide/information. It takes you around the island and shows you the beautiful coast as well as other small towns/villages on the island. We had a local get on and share some information until he got off at the golf course. We had a pleasant day, speaking with other cruisers, but didn't learn much about the island. It was 1 pound per person, you can buy tickets from the bus driver directly. Near the stop where the bus begins, there is a great coffee shop and local restrooms.

- We also went to the Castle Cornet, which is to the left as you exit where the tender comes in. It was interesting, but not the best castle we saw on the trip.

 

Cobh, Ireland - We docked at this port

- We did this on our own as well. We had been to Blarney Castle and Kinsdale before, so we didn't want to do that.

- We were going to take the Cobh Road Train as we'd heard good things, but due to the wait, we decided to walk around the downtown area, bought some Irish Scarves and walked slowly up to the Cobh Cathedral. It was lovely, although the day we were there they had services with first communion, so we didn't tour it.

- We spent part of the day in the local park people watching and had the opportunity to talk to some locals to hear about their lives. That was the best part of our day.

 

Dublin, Ireland - We docked at this port.

- We chose to take the Princess bus, at a cost of $18 round trip to downtown Dublin (they dropped us near Trinity College).

- We had recently visted Dublin, so had no desire to do Trinity - Book of Kells, Guinness, etc.

- We had booked a tour with Dublin bus tours for their Castle and Mountain Tour. It was quite lovely. We drove up to Malhide Castle, which was fantastic with very nice grounds. The cost was included in our overall trip, but normally is about 12 euro/pp. It is nicely done with furnishings and great stories by the local guides. We then drove up to Howth, a great village and enjoyed the town for lunch and walked part of the pier to look for local seals. This also included a Hop On Hop Off, but as we'd recently been in Dublin, we didn't take advantage of this. The tour was about 24 euro/pp. It ran from 11-4. We then caught the bus back to the ship.

 

Belfast - we docked at this port.

- There is a free shuttle to downtown, right across from the town hall. The day we were there, it had a fair (bank holiday). So we got to enjoy this with some local artist, food and crafts.

- We had recently been to Belfast and toured the "Troubles areas", as well as the Giant Causeway and LondonDerry. If we had not just recently done this, we would have stayed in Belfast or done one of these things. Belfast is one of our favorite cities as the people are so friendly and helpful and willing to share their history with us.

- We chose to go to Carrickfergus Castle on our own. It was was a quick 20 minute train ride away. It costs us about 4 pounds/pp. We arrived and followed someone's great directions of heading left from the train station - walk downhill on Victoria Street, cross Albert Road/St. Brides' Street using the pedestrian crossing; continue downhill through the North Gate. Continue Straight down the road and in about 5-10 minutes you'll reach Carrickfergus and the sea. It was about a 10 minute total walk from the train station to the Castle. The castle was not furnished, but is quite nice with some great history. They do free tours and we arrived about 1 hour before one began, so we explored on our own. We spent about 2 hours in the Castle before going back into the little town. We had lunch at a place called The Central Bar, which had very reasonable lunches and excellent food. We were the only tourist in the bar, and had some great conversations with the locals, who were quite friendly. If it is full, there is additional room upstairs. You order at the bar with your table number and they bring out great food. We had fish and chips and one member of our party did the soup and bread. We all greatly enjoyed it. Taking the train back into Belfast, we walked around the fair area before catching the free shuttle back to the ship.

 

Greenock, Scotland. We docked at this port.

- We took the train into Glasgow as we'd never visited Glasgow before. We did the Hop On Hop Off bus, for a cost of about 13 pounds/pp. We enjoyed some time in Glasgow before catching the train back to the ship.

 

Orkney Islands, Scotland. We docked at this port.

- Unfortunately, by the time I booked this cruise for our group, all the local tours were full. We ended up taking a Princess tour of Skara Brae and Skaill House. I had also considered taking the Ring of Brodger tour with Princess, but it was waitlisted and unavailable. Frankly, after taking the first tour, we drove by the Ring of Brodger and I was glad I hadn't spent the money Princess requested for the second tour. We booked this online prior to the cruise and were glad we did as the cost to book on the ship was higher than pre-booking.

- The Skara Brae and Skaill House tours were very nice. I had read great things about the Skara Brae. However, I was unprepared for the wind and mud. I wish I had brought some rain/water/mud proof boots as much of the island was muddy. The island is also known for its wind, so be prepared. The Skara Brae is over 5000 years old and well worth the trip. The tour guide did an excellent job. If you can arrange a tour on your own, I would recommend it. We went with Princess, which was pricey, but with everything else being sold out, were glad we didn't miss out on these treasures.

- We also walked into Kirkwall as a local guide had recommended going into a store called the Oden Stone. I was very glad we did as they had some local art work and some interesting items. Everyone in our party bought a little something here. We also walked up to the Earls Palace and the Biships Palace and the St. Magnus Cathedral. Here too, there was a local art festival across the street which we had the opportunity to go and see some local artist both at work and selling their wares. It was quite nice.

 

Invergordon, Scotland - We docked at this port.

- We booked a tour with WOW Scotland Tours. This was a great experience. The local guides can not meet you inside the port gates, so after you walk down the pier, you have to leave the gates and the local guides are waiting across the street. We took the Outlander tour and HIGHLY recommend it. We went to Culloden battlefield, Loch Ness, Beauly Priory, Clava Cairns, the Clootie well and many other places our guide shared with us. It was one of the major highlights of our trip. It was not the most inexpensive trip we took, but Gordon and his team give you a day well worth it!

 

Edinburgh, Scotland. This was a tender port.

- We chose to take a Princess tour due to the tender port as we'd heard concerns with not always being able to get into town. This was a good choice as those who went into Edingburgh on their own were in after all the Princess tours for the tenders and got in too late to be able to get into the Holyrood Palace and other areas of interest. We took the tour to Glamis and St. Andrews. We booked this online prior to the cruise, which was more cost effective than booking from the ship. Glamis castle is still a functioning home, so it is fully furnished and the tour guide did a great job. The tour was about 1 hour, and there is a small cafe and gift shop as well as restrooms here. We then drove onto St. Andrews and of course had to visit the old course (where the Open was being set up) and visited the town, including the old church. This was an all day tour and we did enjoy it and felt it was one of the Princess trips that was worth the money.

 

Le Havre, France. We docked at this port.

- We rented a car from Rent-A-Car in advance. They are the only rental car agency at the port. They had a number of rental cars ready for those of us that had reserved our cars in advance. Please note, it will be a stick shift, everyone that rented had one, although some said that they requested an automatic. They open at 8:00am

- We took a chance and drove to Mt. St. Michel. We left the car rental agency by 8:15am. We had decided if we were by Caen in about 1 hour, we'd go to Mt. St. Michel and if not, we'd go North to the Normandy beaches. We did well and go to MSM by 10:45. We parked in the lot. Note: Parking is 12 euros, unless you park where the buses or campers then it is more. We caught the free buss up to the MSM entrance. We walked up the hill to the abbey and took the tour. It was 9 euro for the tour a few more euro for the audible tour. We stayed until about 2 pm and then thought we'd drive to the Normandy beaches on the way back. Unfortunately, we got a little lost out in the country and lost our cell phone signal, so we decided to stop in the city of Bayeaux where there is a beautiful church and drove onto Honfleur where we enjoyed the little town, before filling up and heading back to the port.

- We dropped the car off at the port and the cost was about 90 euro for the car and 56 euro to fill it up. We filled up in the city of Honfleur and still arrived to the port with a full tank. It was about 15 minutes away on the highway.

- We brought an international data package, which we used on the drive as roads from Google Maps were different. We did fine with this until we got off on a road to head toward the Normandy beaches, but lost the cell signal and had gone a different way than the Google map print out. Lesson Learned for not downloading the directions before losing the signal....

 

Overall, we had a great trip and would highly recommend both the Royal Princess and the ports to anyone. The ship had lots of entertainment and many different venues to keep us all engaged.

 

Hope this was helpful to you as others who posted gave me great ideas for my trip! Bon Voyage!

[FritzG]

Thanks, we're on the August 25th cruise, and your report was very helpful. We will keep our Princess tour for Edinburgh on your own. We had considered cancelling it.

[paddingtonbear]

Thanks for taking the time to write your trip report. It is very helpful.

[BassettMom]

Thanks for posting. We are on the August 1st cruise. I booked the Outlander tour in Invergordan--glad to hear you recommend it.

 

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

[tartanexile81]

Thank you for your interesting summary.

 

I'm very surprised to hear there had been concerns about not being able to get into Edinburgh from South Queensferry. We're down at Hawes Pier most cruise days volunteering and this is the first time we've ever heard this. There are various options to get into Edinburgh - taxi, local shuttle, Princess shuttle, train and local bus and I've started detailed threads with photos on using the train and the shuttle bus. The ship usually docks very early and independent tourists tend to flock ashore as early as the first tender (and not just Elite either because I recognise the cruise cards. Would be interested to hear what appear to be the problem so we can pass this on to someone appropriate.

 

Hope you'll reply.:)

[insidecabin]

Edinburgh, Scotland. This was a tender port.

- We chose to take a Princess tour due to the tender port as we'd heard concerns with not always being able to get into town. This was a good choice as those who went into Edingburgh on their own were in after all the Princess tours for the tenders and got in too late to be able to get into the Holyrood Palace and other areas of interest.........

 

Thank you for your interesting summary.

 

I'm very surprised to hear there had been concerns about not being able to get into Edinburgh from South Queensferry. We're down at Hawes Pier most cruise days volunteering and this is the first time we've ever heard this. There are various options to get into Edinburgh - taxi, local shuttle, Princess shuttle, train and local bus and I've started detailed threads with photos on using the train and the shuttle bus. The ship usually docks very early and independent tourists tend to flock ashore as early as the first tender (and not just Elite either because I recognise the cruise cards. Would be interested to hear what appear to be the problem so we can pass this on to someone appropriate.

 

Hope you'll reply.:)

 

We were on the 21st-2june tripSQ on the 30th

 

At SQ we arranged a friend pickup at 10:00

Initial plan was to get to the tender tickets around 9:20(15min ride).

anouncements were being made that the weather was slowing down tendering so we aimed for 9:00 to collect tickets to be safe.

 

Boarded the maid of the forth around 9:35 out of the pier 9:55

between 9:00 and 9:30 they called 8+ numbers before us

 

There were local shuttle buses waiting/loading so if we had taken that option would have been in the city by 10:45 subject to traffic(1/2 marathon day)

 

No idea on Holyrood times but it seems plenty got off before us and a 9:00 am shuttle or before would have been possible.

 

Princess did not notify of the potential traffic issues do to event/roadwork but I have no idea how bad these were as we went to Falkirk.

Edited June 9, 2015 by insidecabin

[Cosmic Rays]

Thank you for your interesting summary.

 

I'm very surprised to hear there had been concerns about not being able to get into Edinburgh from South Queensferry. We're down at Hawes Pier most cruise days volunteering and this is the first time we've ever heard this. There are various options to get into Edinburgh - taxi, local shuttle, Princess shuttle, train and local bus and I've started detailed threads with photos on using the train and the shuttle bus. The ship usually docks very early and independent tourists tend to flock ashore as early as the first tender (and not just Elite either because I recognise the cruise cards. Would be interested to hear what appear to be the problem so we can pass this on to someone appropriate.

 

Hope you'll reply.:)

 

Please, as a local, can you suggest the best way of getting to the Royal Yacht? Is there an alternative to going into Edinburgh and then back to Leith please?

[tartanexile81]

We were on the 21st-2june tripSQ on the 30th

 

At SQ we arranged a friend pickup at 10:00

Initial plan was to get to the tender tickets around 9:20(15min ride).

anouncements were being made that the weather was slowing down tendering so we aimed for 9:00 to collect tickets to be safe.

 

Boarded the maid of the forth around 9:35 out of the pier 9:55

between 9:00 and 9:30 they called 8+ numbers before us

 

There were local shuttle buses waiting/loading so if we had taken that option would have been in the city by 10:45 subject to traffic(1/2 marathon day)

 

No idea on Holyrood times but it seems plenty got off before us and a 9:00 am shuttle or before would have been possible.

 

Princess did not notify of the potential traffic issues do to event/roadwork but I have no idea how bad these were as we went to Falkirk.

 

MY OH was volunteering on the pier that morning and there was a stiff breeze so like all tender ports the weather will have an impact. I think the tenders had to drop their speed and were taking longer than usual to embark / disembark passengers. However I can only ever remember one occasion when the ship couldn't dock at all unlike Guernsey etc where there's been numerous cancellations.

 

As far as the traffic to Edinburgh with 30 000 people running in the half marathon then there would inevitably be some road closures and diversions but this wouldn't have affected the train service and I understand that advice was being given on the pier that trains were the best option for DIYers.

 

My main concern really was that the OP seemed to be saying that there were general "concerns about not always being able to get into town" and this sounds like something being discussed on some forums. I've never heard it said before and just wanted to know if there was any particular reason. BTW Holyrood Palace is open till 4:00 with last admission at 3:15 so I can't imagine why it was seen as too late when getting off the tender to go there.

[insidecabin]

The ships and some like to spread a bit of fear and get people on the ship tours.

Train is best option for most if you don't mind the hill.

[GolfMom321]

We are booked for a 10 am tour at Real Mary King's Close, we need to be there at 9:45. Is this likely to be a problem? We'd planned on getting a taxi into town.

 

Oh, we're on the July 20th sailing, so we are in Edinburgh on Wednesday July 29th.

[HRPro]

We are booked for a 10 am tour at Real Mary King's Close, we need to be there at 9:45. Is this likely to be a problem? We'd planned on getting a taxi into town.

 

Oh, we're on the July 20th sailing, so we are in Edinburgh on Wednesday July 29th.

 

I think the secret is to get off on one of the earliest tenders--we're there 7 to 7, so hoping to get an early tender even ahead of the Princess tours if possible. We want to be at Edinburgh Castle when it opens at 9:30. We're on the July 8th cruise, just ahead of you, so I'll post back and share our experience. I've done the Real Mary King's Close tour--fascinating and fun tour. You'll enjoy it. Take a small flashlight since you'll be walking in very dim light.

[GolfMom321]

I think the secret is to get off on one of the earliest tenders--we're there 7 to 7, so hoping to get an early tender even ahead of the Princess tours if possible. We want to be at Edinburgh Castle when it opens at 9:30. We're on the July 8th cruise, just ahead of you, so I'll post back and share our experience. I've done the Real Mary King's Close tour--fascinating and fun tour. You'll enjoy it. Take a small flashlight since you'll be walking in very dim light.

 

Thank you so much for that tip! We will definitely do that!

[cboyle]

<snip>

 

Dublin, Ireland - We docked at this port.

- We chose to take the Princess bus, at a cost of $18 round trip to downtown Dublin (they dropped us near Trinity College).

- We had recently visted Dublin, so had no desire to do Trinity - Book of Kells, Guinness, etc.

- We had booked a tour with Dublin bus tours for their Castle and Mountain Tour. It was quite lovely. We drove up to Malhide Castle, which was fantastic with very nice grounds. The cost was included in our overall trip, but normally is about 12 euro/pp. It is nicely done with furnishings and great stories by the local guides. We then drove up to Howth, a great village and enjoyed the town for lunch and walked part of the pier to look for local seals. This also included a Hop On Hop Off, but as we'd recently been in Dublin, we didn't take advantage of this. The tour was about 24 euro/pp. It ran from 11-4. We then caught the bus back to the ship.

 

<snip>

Thank you for posting all this valuable information!

 

Could you please tell me the port times in Dublin for your sailing?

 

Thanks!

 

Carolyn

[jesunrise]

We just returned on a cruise with Princess on the Royal Princess cruising the British Isles. We had a balcony on the Dolphin deck, mid ship and thought it was a great location. The cabins were well insulated and we heard minimum noise from any other cabins.

 

Many people here have written great things to do while in port, so I wanted to share, what we did and how it was, to help others.

 

We arrived in London on the day we were to board the ship, we took a Princess transfer to South Hampton. We met others who had arranged their own transportation, but our experience was very good, although it was a little pricey. The boarding process was a little backed up, but we boarded within 1 hour of arriving at the Princess terminal.

 

Ports:

 

Guernsey, St. Peter Port - This is a tender port.

- We did this on our own, listening to others who advised to take the local bus, bus #91 (or #92, which is the same, it just goes around the island on the opposite way). It is a local bus, so there is no guide/information. It takes you around the island and shows you the beautiful coast as well as other small towns/villages on the island. We had a local get on and share some information until he got off at the golf course. We had a pleasant day, speaking with other cruisers, but didn't learn much about the island. It was 1 pound per person, you can buy tickets from the bus driver directly. Near the stop where the bus begins, there is a great coffee shop and local restrooms.

- We also went to the Castle Cornet, which is to the left as you exit where the tender comes in. It was interesting, but not the best castle we saw on the trip.

 

Cobh, Ireland - We docked at this port

- We did this on our own as well. We had been to Blarney Castle and Kinsdale before, so we didn't want to do that.

- We were going to take the Cobh Road Train as we'd heard good things, but due to the wait, we decided to walk around the downtown area, bought some Irish Scarves and walked slowly up to the Cobh Cathedral. It was lovely, although the day we were there they had services with first communion, so we didn't tour it.

- We spent part of the day in the local park people watching and had the opportunity to talk to some locals to hear about their lives. That was the best part of our day.

 

Dublin, Ireland - We docked at this port.

- We chose to take the Princess bus, at a cost of $18 round trip to downtown Dublin (they dropped us near Trinity College).

- We had recently visted Dublin, so had no desire to do Trinity - Book of Kells, Guinness, etc.

- We had booked a tour with Dublin bus tours for their Castle and Mountain Tour. It was quite lovely. We drove up to Malhide Castle, which was fantastic with very nice grounds. The cost was included in our overall trip, but normally is about 12 euro/pp. It is nicely done with furnishings and great stories by the local guides. We then drove up to Howth, a great village and enjoyed the town for lunch and walked part of the pier to look for local seals. This also included a Hop On Hop Off, but as we'd recently been in Dublin, we didn't take advantage of this. The tour was about 24 euro/pp. It ran from 11-4. We then caught the bus back to the ship.

 

Belfast - we docked at this port.

- There is a free shuttle to downtown, right across from the town hall. The day we were there, it had a fair (bank holiday). So we got to enjoy this with some local artist, food and crafts.

- We had recently been to Belfast and toured the "Troubles areas", as well as the Giant Causeway and LondonDerry. If we had not just recently done this, we would have stayed in Belfast or done one of these things. Belfast is one of our favorite cities as the people are so friendly and helpful and willing to share their history with us.

- We chose to go to Carrickfergus Castle on our own. It was was a quick 20 minute train ride away. It costs us about 4 pounds/pp. We arrived and followed someone's great directions of heading left from the train station - walk downhill on Victoria Street, cross Albert Road/St. Brides' Street using the pedestrian crossing; continue downhill through the North Gate. Continue Straight down the road and in about 5-10 minutes you'll reach Carrickfergus and the sea. It was about a 10 minute total walk from the train station to the Castle. The castle was not furnished, but is quite nice with some great history. They do free tours and we arrived about 1 hour before one began, so we explored on our own. We spent about 2 hours in the Castle before going back into the little town. We had lunch at a place called The Central Bar, which had very reasonable lunches and excellent food. We were the only tourist in the bar, and had some great conversations with the locals, who were quite friendly. If it is full, there is additional room upstairs. You order at the bar with your table number and they bring out great food. We had fish and chips and one member of our party did the soup and bread. We all greatly enjoyed it. Taking the train back into Belfast, we walked around the fair area before catching the free shuttle back to the ship.

 

Greenock, Scotland. We docked at this port.

- We took the train into Glasgow as we'd never visited Glasgow before. We did the Hop On Hop Off bus, for a cost of about 13 pounds/pp. We enjoyed some time in Glasgow before catching the train back to the ship.

 

Orkney Islands, Scotland. We docked at this port.

- Unfortunately, by the time I booked this cruise for our group, all the local tours were full. We ended up taking a Princess tour of Skara Brae and Skaill House. I had also considered taking the Ring of Brodger tour with Princess, but it was waitlisted and unavailable. Frankly, after taking the first tour, we drove by the Ring of Brodger and I was glad I hadn't spent the money Princess requested for the second tour. We booked this online prior to the cruise and were glad we did as the cost to book on the ship was higher than pre-booking.

- The Skara Brae and Skaill House tours were very nice. I had read great things about the Skara Brae. However, I was unprepared for the wind and mud. I wish I had brought some rain/water/mud proof boots as much of the island was muddy. The island is also known for its wind, so be prepared. The Skara Brae is over 5000 years old and well worth the trip. The tour guide did an excellent job. If you can arrange a tour on your own, I would recommend it. We went with Princess, which was pricey, but with everything else being sold out, were glad we didn't miss out on these treasures.

- We also walked into Kirkwall as a local guide had recommended going into a store called the Oden Stone. I was very glad we did as they had some local art work and some interesting items. Everyone in our party bought a little something here. We also walked up to the Earls Palace and the Biships Palace and the St. Magnus Cathedral. Here too, there was a local art festival across the street which we had the opportunity to go and see some local artist both at work and selling their wares. It was quite nice.

 

Invergordon, Scotland - We docked at this port.

- We booked a tour with WOW Scotland Tours. This was a great experience. The local guides can not meet you inside the port gates, so after you walk down the pier, you have to leave the gates and the local guides are waiting across the street. We took the Outlander tour and HIGHLY recommend it. We went to Culloden battlefield, Loch Ness, Beauly Priory, Clava Cairns, the Clootie well and many other places our guide shared with us. It was one of the major highlights of our trip. It was not the most inexpensive trip we took, but Gordon and his team give you a day well worth it!

 

Edinburgh, Scotland. This was a tender port.

- We chose to take a Princess tour due to the tender port as we'd heard concerns with not always being able to get into town. This was a good choice as those who went into Edingburgh on their own were in after all the Princess tours for the tenders and got in too late to be able to get into the Holyrood Palace and other areas of interest. We took the tour to Glamis and St. Andrews. We booked this online prior to the cruise, which was more cost effective than booking from the ship. Glamis castle is still a functioning home, so it is fully furnished and the tour guide did a great job. The tour was about 1 hour, and there is a small cafe and gift shop as well as restrooms here. We then drove onto St. Andrews and of course had to visit the old course (where the Open was being set up) and visited the town, including the old church. This was an all day tour and we did enjoy it and felt it was one of the Princess trips that was worth the money.

 

Le Havre, France. We docked at this port.

- We rented a car from Rent-A-Car in advance. They are the only rental car agency at the port. They had a number of rental cars ready for those of us that had reserved our cars in advance. Please note, it will be a stick shift, everyone that rented had one, although some said that they requested an automatic. They open at 8:00am

- We took a chance and drove to Mt. St. Michel. We left the car rental agency by 8:15am. We had decided if we were by Caen in about 1 hour, we'd go to Mt. St. Michel and if not, we'd go North to the Normandy beaches. We did well and go to MSM by 10:45. We parked in the lot. Note: Parking is 12 euros, unless you park where the buses or campers then it is more. We caught the free buss up to the MSM entrance. We walked up the hill to the abbey and took the tour. It was 9 euro for the tour a few more euro for the audible tour. We stayed until about 2 pm and then thought we'd drive to the Normandy beaches on the way back. Unfortunately, we got a little lost out in the country and lost our cell phone signal, so we decided to stop in the city of Bayeaux where there is a beautiful church and drove onto Honfleur where we enjoyed the little town, before filling up and heading back to the port.

- We dropped the car off at the port and the cost was about 90 euro for the car and 56 euro to fill it up. We filled up in the city of Honfleur and still arrived to the port with a full tank. It was about 15 minutes away on the highway.

- We brought an international data package, which we used on the drive as roads from Google Maps were different. We did fine with this until we got off on a road to head toward the Normandy beaches, but lost the cell signal and had gone a different way than the Google map print out. Lesson Learned for not downloading the directions before losing the signal....

 

Overall, we had a great trip and would highly recommend both the Royal Princess and the ports to anyone. The ship had lots of entertainment and many different venues to keep us all engaged.

 

Hope this was helpful to you as others who posted gave me great ideas for my trip! Bon Voyage!

 

This port report on ALL of your experiences took a LOT of time and may I say how much it helps to have!

 

Thank you for your trouble on behalf of others!:D

[CruisePrincess6]

We are on the next cruise and was wondering if there are any taxis available in Guernsey. Are souvenirs sold outside the Dublin port? We plan on taking the ship's tour to Glendalough since visiting Dublin in the past and would like to see the countryside. Glad you liked the tour of Glamis and St Andrews. My husband is a golfer and is quite excited.

[dickinson]

We took this cruise May 9. It was the first one of the season. We took mostly ship excursions. We went to Liverpool instead of Orkney. Liverpool is easy to do on your own as a lot is right there at the docks. You can take a ferry across the Mersey, go to the Beatles Experience Museum (which we did and highly recommend) or even go to a Maritime Museum (which I believe is free). We also walked around a little bit.

 

The night before docking in Le Havre as we were sailing at night around 9 pm we could see the white cliffs of Dover. Don't forget to look out the windows to see it (port side).

 

We took a ship excursion to Paris (Louvre and lunch at Eiffel Tower). On these boards some think the almost 3 hour bus trip in each direction is too much so they don't do it. We thought it went by quickly and were so glad we did this excursion. On the way to Paris we did a potty break at a rest area which also sold souvenirs. On the way back to the ship we did not have time to stop. I would recommend this excursion.

 

When our cruise ended we were going to spend 2 days in London. We booked with International Friends to pick us up from the ship and take us to Stonehenge, Windsor Castle and Salisbury Cathedral. They then drop you off at your hotel around 6 pm. I highly recommend them. Our tour guide was Tony and he was great. In London we did the HOHO bus for two days. Toured the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and Kensington Palace. We did a walking tour with them to see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. Much better than getting there early and waiting to see it on your own however I would not suggest doing it this way if you have walking difficulties.

 

If anyone will be in London during August and September they open up Buckingham Palace for tours because the Queen takes her vacation and will be gone during that time period. Otherwise you can take a tour to see the Queen's Mews (her coaches). We did not do this.

 

Hope this helps someone.

[FritzG]

If you're in London while Buckingham Palace is open for view we'd highly recommend it. We visited last year, and we were amazed at how much access we had. There were many more rooms available than in past years, and you could spend as much time in each room as you wished. Many of the rooms had benches in them so you could sit and look around which was necessary because there was so much to see in each room. It was definitely the highlight of our time in London before the Ruby Princess TA last fall. We bought our tickets online, and they were delivered to the U.S. within a week or so.

Edited June 12, 2015 by FritzG

[miss dee]

Thank you for your interesting summary.

 

I'm very surprised to hear there had been concerns about not being able to get into Edinburgh from South Queensferry. We're down at Hawes Pier most cruise days volunteering and this is the first time we've ever heard this. There are various options to get into Edinburgh - taxi, local shuttle, Princess shuttle, train and local bus and I've started detailed threads with photos on using the train and the shuttle bus. The ship usually docks very early and independent tourists tend to flock ashore as early as the first tender (and not just Elite either because I recognise the cruise cards. Would be interested to hear what appear to be the problem so we can pass this on to someone appropriate.

 

Hope you'll reply.:)

we are arriving into edinburgh on july 18, 2015. celebrity does not know where we will be tendering to. we would like to go the the royal yacht britannias. can you assist me.

[Shismom]

Thanks for your review! We're booking this cruise for next May and are debating between a mini-suite and a balcony on Dolphin deck. I'm trying to figure out if a balcony cabin will give us enough room. Princess lists the cabin size inclusive of balcony. So, can you tell me the approximate dimensions of your balcony?

[SusanaM]

Thank you so much for the excellent account of all the ports you visited. We are doing almost the same itinerary leaving August 13th.

Susanam

[The Shutterbug]

Thanks for posting! Glad you enjoyed coming to Northern Ireland again, we are very friendly :) We were married in Carrickfergus Castle and you would have passed our house on the train journey to there :) glad you enjoyed your day docked in Belfast, hope you come back again.

[HRPro]

Just reporting back after our July 8th BI cruise. We tendered into South Queensferry and had absolutely no problem getting early tender tickets on the Royal Princess. We were on the first or second tender and arrived at the tender dock by 7:45. We walked to the train station and caught the 8:00 am train into Edinburgh--very easy and convenient. Edinburgh is very easy to do on your own, so don't feel that you need to do a Princess tour for transportation into the City. The local shuttle bus service also worked well for those who chose that option. We had plenty of time to tour Edinburgh Castle, Holyroodhouse Palace, Mary King's Close and the Royal Mile. It was a full day and we caught the train back to SQ in plenty of time to catch the tender back to the ship. In addition to ship tenders, they also used a local ferry as a tender. The local volunteers were very friendly and helpful.