British Isles 2021 - Which itinerary?

[eurodl]

We are looking at 2 itineraries for a 12-day British Isles cruise for 2021.  Both are on Crown Princess.  Which one would you do?  We would appreciate any first hand opinions.  Both are round-trips from Paris.

 

Thank you!

[Cotswold Eagle]

And the itineraries are?

 

I can guarantee they don’t leave from Paris, though. 

Edited September 17, 2019 by Cotswold Eagle

[GastroGnome]

They certainly don't! 

 

If they are the ones I think I have found from the website they are either Le Havre, Southampton, St Peter's Port, Cobh, Dublin, Belfast, Grenock, Invergordon, Edinburgh, Le Havre.  or  Le Havre, Southampton, St Peter's Port, Cobh, Dublin, Belfast, Grenock, Kirkwall, Invergordon, Edinburgh, Le Havre.  If I'm reading this right you must have 2 ports in one day on the latter?

 

To be honest there isn't that much in either.  Le Havre is 2 hours (at least!) from Paris.  Southampton is about 1.5 hours from Stonehenge.  I don't know about the Scottish ports - but Dublin is also 30 mins from the Dock unless Crown Princess is really small.  It looks like a lot of time on a coach to me!

[John Bull]

There's very little difference between those cruises -   or indeed any of Crown Princess' British Isles cruises during the season.

Main difference is that some visit Portland (England's south coast), others visit Kirkwall (Orkney Isles, north from Scotland.)

 

May and September are shoulder seasons, and although you can never predict the weather in the UK (here on the south coast we're currently experiencing an Indian Summer,  those months are less likely to be good weather than mid-summer.

And, again its by no means always the case, but the weather in the south  is generally far better than in Scotland.

So if circumstances dictate those months, I'd be inclined to pick Portland over Kirkwall.

 

And altho these are quoted as British Isles cruises, there are no Welsh ports, or any ports accessible to Wales.

And they're remarkably light on English ports - just Southampton plus sometimes Portland. I think that to a degree the cruise lines reckon most folk board in Southampton and will spend some time pre-cruise or post-cruise in London or elsewhere in England.

Since you' boarding in Le Havre, that's not possible for you - another reason for choosing Portland over Kirkwall. You'll still have 2 or 3 Scottish ports.

 

BTW - Stonehenge is very much closer (32 miles vs 62) and easier by road or rail from Southampton rather than from Portland.

It's also cheap & easy to DIY by taking the train from Southampton to Salisbury  (half-hourly service, 35 minutes, about £11 return fare) and the ho-ho from Salisbury station to Stonehenge. Subject to ship's hours in port, you should also have time to look round Salisbury's historic city centre & magnificent cathedral  http://www.thestonehengetour.info/

There's plenty to see much closer to Portland, altho other than ship's shuttle to the Victorian seaside resort of Weymouth you'd need a tour.

 

One other thought - if you have the time both  pre-cruise and post-cruise. ..........

Book air to London and back from Paris - book as "multi-city" (aka "open-jaw" ) return flights, and book the cruise to start in Southampton. Spend a few days in London pre-cruise. Arrange with Princess to leave the ship at its last port-of-call, Le Havre, (Princess do allow this)rather than completing the cruise next day in Southampton, spend post-cruise time in Paris and fly home from there.

 

Just MHO as always

 

JB 

[eurodl]

18 hours ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

And the itineraries are?

 

I can guarantee they don’t leave from Paris, though. 

It's Paris/Le Havre, sorry.  The itineraries are pretty much the same except for those 2 stops.

[eurodl]

8 hours ago, John Bull said:

There's very little difference between those cruises -   or indeed any of Crown Princess' British Isles cruises during the season.

Main difference is that some visit Portland (England's south coast), others visit Kirkwall (Orkney Isles, north from Scotland.)

 

May and September are shoulder seasons, and although you can never predict the weather in the UK (here on the south coast we're currently experiencing an Indian Summer,  those months are less likely to be good weather than mid-summer.

And, again its by no means always the case, but the weather in the south  is generally far better than in Scotland.

So if circumstances dictate those months, I'd be inclined to pick Portland over Kirkwall.

 

And altho these are quoted as British Isles cruises, there are no Welsh ports, or any ports accessible to Wales.

And they're remarkably light on English ports - just Southampton plus sometimes Portland. I think that to a degree the cruise lines reckon most folk board in Southampton and will spend some time pre-cruise or post-cruise in London or elsewhere in England.

Since you' boarding in Le Havre, that's not possible for you - another reason for choosing Portland over Kirkwall. You'll still have 2 or 3 Scottish ports.

 

BTW - Stonehenge is very much closer (32 miles vs 62) and easier by road or rail from Southampton rather than from Portland.

It's also cheap & easy to DIY by taking the train from Southampton to Salisbury  (half-hourly service, 35 minutes, about £11 return fare) and the ho-ho from Salisbury station to Stonehenge. Subject to ship's hours in port, you should also have time to look round Salisbury's historic city centre & magnificent cathedral  http://www.thestonehengetour.info/

There's plenty to see much closer to Portland, altho other than ship's shuttle to the Victorian seaside resort of Weymouth you'd need a tour.

 

One other thought - if you have the time both  pre-cruise and post-cruise. ..........

Book air to London and back from Paris - book as "multi-city" (aka "open-jaw" ) return flights, and book the cruise to start in Southampton. Spend a few days in London pre-cruise. Arrange with Princess to leave the ship at its last port-of-call, Le Havre, (Princess do allow this)rather than completing the cruise next day in Southampton, spend post-cruise time in Paris and fly home from there.

 

Just MHO as always

 

JB 

 

We thought Le Havre would be better as we wanted to spend some time at Disneyland Paris and the D-day beaches.  We also want to do a self-drive tour of Ireland, preferably before the cruise.  We can do sail/rail and then Eurostar to Paris.  Your thoughts?

[Cotswold Eagle]

17 minutes ago, eurodl said:

 

We thought Le Havre would be better as we wanted to spend some time at Disneyland Paris and the D-day beaches.  We also want to do a self-drive tour of Ireland, preferably before the cruise.  We can do sail/rail and then Eurostar to Paris.  Your thoughts?

 

My thought would be to fly from Ireland to Paris, if you’re doing it that way round. Unless you really, really enjoy sitting on trains 🙂

 

But there is merit in adapting JB’s suggestion - tour Ireland, board in Southampton, hop off in le Havre for the beaches, then to Paris. 

Edited September 18, 2019 by Cotswold Eagle

[eurodl]

55 minutes ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

 

My thought would be to fly from Ireland to Paris, if you’re doing it that way round. Unless you really, really enjoy sitting on trains 🙂

 

But there is merit in adapting JB’s suggestion - tour Ireland, board in Southampton, hop off in le Havre for the beaches, then to Paris. 

That's  a good suggestion.  Didn't know you could get off the boat early. Hubby doesn't like to fly so hence the trains.

[John Bull]

2 hours ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

 

My thought would be to fly from Ireland to Paris, if you’re doing it that way round. Unless you really, really enjoy sitting on trains 🙂

 

But there is merit in adapting JB’s suggestion - tour Ireland, board in Southampton, hop off in le Havre for the beaches, then to Paris. 

 

 

Or fly from LAX to Ireland, road trip ending in Dublin, fly Dublin direct to Southampton (or ferry plus train costs time but you'd get a taste of Wales), cruise out of Southampton, jump-ship on the last full day of the cruise in Le Havre, explore the D-Day sights, Paris & Disneyland Paris, fly home to LAX from Paris.

That'd be the most economical on your time & pocket.

Direct open-jaw return fares from LAX start at around $1398, or  $450 with one aircraft change each-way

 

JB 

[Cotswold Eagle]

7 hours ago, eurodl said:

That's  a good suggestion.  Didn't know you could get off the boat early. 

 

Disembarking in Le Havre rather than crossing the Channel back to Southampton is quite common and should be relatively easy in this case if some passengers are doing starting and finishing in Le Havre anyway. 

 

You should be able to find previous threads about this on this board.  

[ducklite]

Ireland is an island.  There is no train service from Ireland to England.  You'd have to take a ferry or plane.  

 

None of this is making any sense.  You are putting together a complicated schedule that makes me think you haven't actually looked at a map.  

[Cotswold Eagle]

On 9/18/2019 at 7:47 AM, eurodl said:

 

 We can do sail/rail and then Eurostar to Paris.  

 

2 hours ago, ducklite said:

Ireland is an island.  There is no train service from Ireland to England.  You'd have to take a ferry or plane.  

 

None of this is making any sense.  You are putting together a complicated schedule that makes me think you haven't actually looked at a map.  

 

No need to be so rude. The OP is clearly aware of that. The ferry companies and the train operators market rail and sail integrated services between Ireland and Great Britain. And an explanation was given of trying to avoid flying. 

 

The Ireland tour - Cruise from Southampton - debate Le Havre- Normandy - Paris suggestion that JB and I have helped develop is a reasonable way of achieving what the OP was after. Why does it make no sense?

Edited September 19, 2019 by Cotswold Eagle

[eurodl]

On 9/17/2019 at 7:50 PM, John Bull said:

 

 

Or fly from LAX to Ireland, road trip ending in Dublin, fly Dublin direct to Southampton (or ferry plus train costs time but you'd get a taste of Wales), cruise out of Southampton, jump-ship on the last full day of the cruise in Le Havre, explore the D-Day sights, Paris & Disneyland Paris, fly home to LAX from Paris.

That'd be the most economical on your time & pocket.

Direct open-jaw return fares from LAX start at around $1398, or  $450 with one aircraft change each-way

 

JB 

 

This is exactly what we were thinking if we cruise from Southampton.  We were originally going to end in Southampton and then Eurostar back to Paris.  This was before we knew we could possibly debark early.  We did see the cruises leaving out of Le Havre and thought that might work too, but some people have mentioned that Le Havre gets missed quite a bit.  My sister-in-law is on a cruise in the Mediterranean at the moment so we will have to discuss when they return.  I'm still a fan of the TA cruise 🙂

[eurodl]

3 hours ago, ducklite said:

Ireland is an island.  There is no train service from Ireland to England.  You'd have to take a ferry or plane.  

 

None of this is making any sense.  You are putting together a complicated schedule that makes me think you haven't actually looked at a map.  

 

I do realize Ireland is an island and in fact have looked at several maps.  If you read my OP you can see I mentioned SAIL/RAIL which would infer ferry/train.  Not sure who you are responding to but everyone has made some very good suggestions.  I don't find them complicated at all.

[Ashland]

If you do decide to debark the ship at an earlier port do pre-arrange this with your cruiseline...fee might apply.

[John Bull]

13 hours ago, eurodl said:

 

, but some people have mentioned that Le Havre gets missed quite a bit.  🙂

 

Le Havre is a reliable port - one reason why trans-Atlantic liners have used it for decades.

 

But there are two major reasons why it's very very occasionally missed .......

 

1. French strikes & protests. In the past, ports and land borders have been easy targets for the French to blockade as a protest against Government policies on matters such as national pensions, which have nothing to do with the ports. 

But it's been a few years since the last occasion.

 

2.  Le Havre is often the last port-of-call before turnaround in Southampton. If a cruise has been delayed by weather, mechanical issues, a medical issue or whatever, the cruise line will sacrifice Le Havre in order to get to the Southampton turnaround on-time. Same thing can happen on cruises world-wide. 

But for your cruise both Southampton and Le Havre are turnaround ports, so that's very unlikely.

 

I don't think that failing to port at Le Havre is a significant risk.

 

4 hours ago, Ashland said:

If you do decide to debark the ship at an earlier port do pre-arrange this with your cruiseline...fee might apply.

 

Most cruise lines do give permission to disembark at Le Havre  -  Princess for sure.

NCL is the only cruise line I know that has declined.

But yes, definitely get the cruise line's permission in advance. And some cruise lines (don't know if this includes Princess) charge an admin fee, but it's not a significant amount.

 

JB  

[ducklite]

14 hours ago, eurodl said:

 

I do realize Ireland is an island and in fact have looked at several maps.  If you read my OP you can see I mentioned SAIL/RAIL which would infer ferry/train.  Not sure who you are responding to but everyone has made some very good suggestions.  I don't find them complicated at all.

I misread your original post and apologize.  

[eurodl]

5 hours ago, ducklite said:

I misread your original post and apologize.  

 

No worries.  Thanks ducklite!

[eurodl]

11 hours ago, Ashland said:

If you do decide to debark the ship at an earlier port do pre-arrange this with your cruiseline...fee might apply.

 

Good to know.  Thank you.