excursions on Princess' British Isles Cruise July 20...what to do?

[fearless cat]

We are four adults looking for alternatives to Princess' excursion offers. We'd prefer small tours, preferably 1/2 day, as two of us have mobility issues and one is diabetic. Suggestions for reliable tour companies in each of the ports would be appreciated. Time is flying! Thank you!

[Krazy Kruizers]

I would suggest that you join your Roll Call and see what private excursions people on your cruise are doing. Private tours can not be discussed here.

You didn't mention what ship you will be on.

At this link scroll down until you find the ship you are on -- open that up. Then scroll down until you find your cruise date and open that up:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=106

 

Also you can ask on the Ports of Call what people suggest for your various ports at this link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=233

[Chloe1500]

Fearless, you can also look for local tour companies offering excursions from cruise ships at many of these ports. When the ship docks, local tour operators will meet the ship at the terminal and fill their vans and coaches themselves without you having to fill a van yourself.

 

We did this Princess cruise two years ago and booked local tour operators directly ourselves online in Greenock, Invergordon, Orkney, and Belfast. You can find them by checking Trip Advisor for each port with many reviews as well.

 

In Dublin, we took the ship shuttle (small fee) into town and were dropped at Trinity College, and then we did a local walking tour we booked online and afterwards, explored from there on our own.

 

We used public transportation in Edinburgh (train) and in Le Havre to go to Honfleur (regional bus). There are several threads about doing this on the Port of Calls forum under British Isles and France. If mobility is an issue, the train to Edinburgh might not work for you because of a walk up a hill to reach the station. However, there is an independent shuttle bus for a fee (can't recall how much) that will take you from the tender area to an area near the castle and return. (Still, there is a hill to climb to reach the castle.)

 

We also teamed up with others on our roll call for private drivers in vans for Cobh for the Blarney Castle and Kinsale and a tour/transfer from Southampton to the airport that took us to Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral.

Edited June 21, 2015 by Chloe1500