British Isle Itinerary ..which would you recommend

[ontheweb]

18 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

That's easy to do when the ship overnights at Rosyth. The ship is close to Edinburgh and it stays there all night.

 

Transportation is more complicated when the ship is  on the other side of the island at Greenock and when the ship is leaving port at 2:00 am. If you make your own arrangements, you need to make sure you have your transportation lined up to take you from the Tattoo directly back to the ship.

Our transportation back to Rosyth did not go as planned. We bought round trip tickets for the train, but by the time we got to the train station after the Tattoo, the last train to Rosyth was gone. We ended up having to take a taxi back.

[Whitla42]

If you do go to Belfast another place to visit is Hillsborough Castle. It is in a small place but can be accessed by a main road , so easily accessible. The gardens have just had a makeover and it has only recently been opened to the public . The house would be your normal stately home but with a lot of interesting facts. It is the Queens main residence in Northern Ireland when she is over. 

[cruisequeen4ever]

We did the Dublin overnight, and that’s the one I’d recommend because there’s so much to do in that area. Cobh was beautiful, and I adored Blarney Castle and Kinsale, but I can’t imagine needing another day. Glasgow, we went to Invereray and Glendalough; again, wouldn’t have needed another day. Dublin, we spend a day touring there and a day tour to Kilkenny and the Wickelow Mountains. 

[xroadrunnerx]

Would you recommend do it yourself to the Tattoo or a Princess excursion provided of course it is an overnight 

[Kingofcool1947]

33 minutes ago, xroadrunnerx said:

Would you recommend do it yourself to the Tattoo or a Princess excursion provided of course it is an overnight 

 

Yes.  You can do your own tattoo   It is not difficult to DYI.  👍

Good luck and enjoy.   

Edited July 2, 2019 by Kingofcool1947

[ontheweb]

11 hours ago, xroadrunnerx said:

Would you recommend do it yourself to the Tattoo or a Princess excursion provided of course it is an overnight 

We did it ourselves and despite we paid for the train roundtrip and still had to take a taxi back because the last train had departed, paid much, much less than a Princess excursion. And in addition we were able to spend the day in Edinburg seeing much of the fringe festival and also a museum that DW wanted to see.

[NavyVeteran]

4 hours ago, ontheweb said:

We did it ourselves and despite we paid for the train roundtrip and still had to take a taxi back because the last train had departed, paid much, much less than a Princess excursion. And in addition we were able to spend the day in Edinburg seeing much of the fringe festival and also a museum that DW wanted to see.

That worked out for you going back to a ship overnighting in Rosyth. It would have not worked going back to a ship leaving at 2:00 am from Greenock. If you are in Greenock, you need to make sure of your return transportation - either with Princess or with a reliable tour company. If something goes wrong at the last minute, you may not have a way to get back to Greenock before the ship leaves.

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

That worked out for you going back to a ship overnighting in Rosyth. It would have not worked going back to a ship leaving at 2:00 am from Greenock. If you are in Greenock, you need to make sure of your return transportation - either with Princess or with a reliable tour company. If something goes wrong at the last minute, you may not have a way to get back to Greenock before the ship leaves.

Yes, I realize that. I was only relating our experience. I'm very glad we did this on the small since sold Ocean Princess, and it was able to do an overnight in Rosyth as a port for Edinburg.

[stpointer]

I have finally decided on my British Isle cruise.  However I will have to wait until July 27 2021. Sailing on the Island Princess (which will be a first for me).  A rather unique itinerary...in fact this is the only sailing.  Stops include Guernsey, Cork, Holyhead, Belfast, Glasgow, Shetland Islands, Orkney Islands, Aberdeen, Edinburgh (For the Tattoo!!), Newcastle and Portland.  There is no Dublin I'm afraid.  I will certainly need to research Aberdeen, Newcastle and Portland but the other ports sound amazing!!!  Only 700 days to go!!!  Anyone have any thoughts?

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, stpointer said:

I have finally decided on my British Isle cruise.  However I will have to wait until July 27 2021. Sailing on the Island Princess (which will be a first for me).  A rather unique itinerary...in fact this is the only sailing.  Stops include Guernsey, Cork, Holyhead, Belfast, Glasgow, Shetland Islands, Orkney Islands, Aberdeen, Edinburgh (For the Tattoo!!), Newcastle and Portland.  There is no Dublin I'm afraid.  I will certainly need to research Aberdeen, Newcastle and Portland but the other ports sound amazing!!!  Only 700 days to go!!!  Anyone have any thoughts?

Sounds great (except for no Dublin). Enjoy, especially the Tattoo; it is an unforgettable experience.

[cruisequeen4ever]

I think the most touring options would come with the Dublin overnight. Second pick would be Cobh. We did the Dublin overnight one and loved it.

[Tinkerbellsparkle]

The British Isles is tiny, I would recommend renting a car, and using hotels or bed and breakfasts to explore rather than a cruise. There are also internal flights, trains and buses to get about if you don't fancy driving.

If you are interested in the Edinburgh Tatoo and the Fringe Festival (huge arts festival of entertainment, theatre, circus, singers, comedians, street performers, acrobats, magicians, dancers, which lasts about 3 weeks in august) you would need a few days to experience this. Hotels book up and sell out early too.

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, Tinkerbellsparkle said:

The British Isles is tiny, I would recommend renting a car, and using hotels or bed and breakfasts to explore rather than a cruise. There are also internal flights, trains and buses to get about if you don't fancy driving.

If you are interested in the Edinburgh Tatoo and the Fringe Festival (huge arts festival of entertainment, theatre, circus, singers, comedians, street performers, acrobats, magicians, dancers, which lasts about 3 weeks in august) you would need a few days to experience this. Hotels book up and sell out early too.

If you want a hotel in Scotland at that time, you will do better staying in Glasgow than Edinburgh. There is easy bus transportation between the two cities.

[stpointer]

The reason I chose this itinerary was for the unusual ports.  I thought Holyhead, the Shetland Islands and Orkney Islands were unique while at the same time  visit Glasgow, Edinburgh and Cork. Would I miss not seeing Dublin?  Would I be able to cover the same sites through a destination vacation?  I enjoy the ease of the cruise.