celebrity Ireland-Iceland Cruise

[Willieb285]

Scheduled to take this cruise in May, 2017on Eclipse. Anyone been on this cruise before who can advise which shore excursions are best in Ireland or Iceland?

[FunCruiser56]

We did a great golden circle with Geo-Iceland. Awesome tour, mini bus and the guide really loves to show off his country. See as much as you can, we would love to visit Iceland again someday.

 

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[morninglory8]

Also going on this cruise and was interested in the same thing. Is it better to hire a private guide in each stop or to take the ship excursions?

[villauk]

Go to 'Ports of Call' board for information on excursions for all your ports - many recommendations over there ;). Also, join your roll call as there are probably already private tours being organised.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=19

Edited February 22, 2017 by villauk

[Xport]

Scheduled to take this cruise in May, 2017on Eclipse. Anyone been on this cruise before who can advise which shore excursions are best in Ireland or Iceland?

 

Also going on this cruise and was interested in the same thing. Is it better to hire a private guide in each stop or to take the ship excursions?

 

 

While Celebrity has no doubt visited your ports in the past, this is--to the best of my knowledge--the first year in which Celebrity has packaged Iceland and Ireland into a single cruise... I did an extended variation on your itinerary during June/July 2015 but needed to do two consecutive cruises [14 nights to Iceland/Faroe Islands/Norway on Celebrity Eclipse round-trip from Southampton followed, 4 days later, by 12 nights to the British Isles/British Open on Celebrity Silhouette round-trip from Amsterdam]...

 

I was personally pleased with the excursions offered by Celerity on both cruises but surely there are capable, well regarded private tour operators available... Without knowing your exact itinerary/interests, it is difficult to provide advice... By all means, consider doing the Golden Circle while in Reykjavic [we were there for an overnight and then had an additional port call at Akureyri in northern Iceland] if this is your first visit; it was a long but very memorable day... Having done a week-long land tour of southern Ireland in 2010, I chose different tours--to mix up my experiences--than I'd have selected as a first time visitor...

 

If you read through the excursion offerings from Celebrity [many are minor variations on a central highlight or two], follow the good advice from villauk to consult the Ports Of Call forums here on Cruise Critic, and do some research on TripAdvisor [which is the parent company to Cruise Critic] for each of your ports, you will quickly get a sense of which tour destinations are available, popular [they're ranked on TripAdvisor], and appeal to you... Once you've homed in on what you'd like to do, you can then assess whether you want to do a ship or private excursion [TripAdvisor also provides reviews/rankings of tour operators at each destination]...

 

Enjoy your trip; I loved my time in Iceland and Ireland... If I have any further advice--recognizing that weather is unpredictable despite historical trends--it is that you ought be prepared to dress in layers [temperatures varied wildly during my most recent trip] and be prepared for rain [which certainly didn't dampen my experience or enthusiasm]...

[4774Papa]

The Golden Circle tour is a great choice for one day in Iceland. We used a private company.

 

For Dublin, I recommend the HoHo bus.

 

For Belfast, don't miss the Giant's Causeway and Rope Bridge. We used Odyssey (private company).

[Willieb285]

Thanks for the input. Will definitely do the Giant's causeway and the golden Circle. Will also look into Odyssey.

[FunCruiser56]

from the port in Iceland take a taxi to Hallgrimskirkja, (google it) A massive beautiful church. You can see it from the port. take the time to go up the elevator for a view you won't forget. We walked around the town, people were very friendly.

Also right across from the docks is John Lennons peace light, you can take a ferry over to it and walk around, we ran out of time so were unable to go across.

 

 

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[sr4mjc]

We're are taking a similar cruise in May 2018, out of Dublin. We are in Reykjavik from 1pm to 3pm the following day. The Golden Circle tour is 8 hours, departing the ship at 1:30 on the first day. Thoughts on an excursion that runs until 9:30pm?

[villauk]

We're are taking a similar cruise in May 2018, out of Dublin. We are in Reykjavik from 1pm to 3pm the following day. The Golden Circle tour is 8 hours, departing the ship at 1:30 on the first day. Thoughts on an excursion that runs until 9:30pm?

 

 

Have you asked this on the 'Ports of Call' board or your roll call as everyone will be in the same boat as you (excuse the pun) regarding tour times ;)? Tour companies are very flexible if they know there is a late arrival for a ship, have you enquired with any operators?

[maisiecat]

Scheduled to take this cruise in May, 2017on Eclipse. Anyone been on this cruise before who can advise which shore excursions are best in Ireland or Iceland?

 

 

Why not join the roll call? It's very active!

 

 

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[harz99]

While Celebrity has no doubt visited your ports in the past, this is--to the best of my knowledge--the first year in which Celebrity has packaged Iceland and Ireland into a single cruise... ...

 

Second year, May 2016 we did Cobh and Belfast together with three Icelandic ports on Eclipse from Southampton.

 

OP could try searching Eclipse roll calls for May 2016 to see what others have done, although I would recommend GeoIceland without hesitation.

[Willieb285]

:p Thanks for all the replies. Good info, looking forward to this cruise.