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Scotland Tours/Shore Excursions

gotcha3

By gotcha3,
in British Isles/Western Europe

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gotcha3

gotcha3

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Okay, I am under a bit of a time crunch which is why I didn't do the whole thread search thing. I have not had good luck with that time consuming and very often useless task and figured someone might offer up info on a particular tour/driver or SHORE EXCURSION they enjoyed. OK, here are the cities I'm interested in; Leith (Edinburgh), Dundee, Invergordon, Kirkwall, Stornoway, Oban and Greenock (Glasgow). 

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harola

harola

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We used Wow Scotland (Outlander tour to Beaulieu, Inverness, Clara Cairns, Culloden battlefield, Loch Ness, Inverness) for tours in Invergordon and Thistle tours (whiskey galore and Dunrobin castle) which were both excellent. The whiskey excursion was in a van and the whiskey tasting in Clynelish was superb. Very special tour

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edinburgher

edinburgher

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On 11/16/2023 at 1:55 PM, gotcha3 said:

Leith (Edinburgh), Dundee, Invergordon, Kirkwall, Stornoway, Oban and Greenock (Glasgow). 

i have copied below, a reply I recently gave to a question about whether a tour in Edinburgh was needed or not and you may find it helpful to read if you will be a first time visitor to the city.  Of course if you have already visited several times and looking to get out of the city on a tour this time, it will be less helpful.

 

No tour necessary for Edinburgh.  Once in the city most on a first visit will head to the Royal Mile and neighbouring streets.  Including visits to eg the castle, museum and other points of interest this area alone can easily use up most if not all of your time. this is super easy to DIY on foot.

 

For information on reaching the city from whichever port or tender point your ship will use, go to

 

https://www.cruiseforth.com/content/ship/ and "find your ship". 

 

The full 2024 schedule may not already be posted and you may need to check back if that is when you are travelling. Once you know your ship location go to the "how can I get around" section. Noting that it may be Leith you will already be in the city and only need a taxi, public bus or tram to travel into the centre.

 

Much tourist info about Edinburgh can be easily found online or by reading past threads which you can find using the SEARCH tool, and reading about the city will help you decide the sights of most interest to you personally. 

 

One piece of advice.  If you decide to visit Edinburgh Castle, buy your tickets online ahead of time and at the same time, pre-book an entry slot to save waiting in very long lines on the day.

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edinburgher

edinburgher

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FWIW I find the cruise critic search function practically useless

 

 Many members find the SEARCH TOOL very quick and easy to use, so if you are having such difficulty with it, you may be doing something wrong and should read once again how to use it.. Either that or your device is not compatible and you could try on a different device. 

 

Someone has already linked you to results for Dundee.  Here are results for the other ports you listed.  It took me  just a fraction under two minutes to find them using the (excellent) SEARCH tool.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=edinburgh&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=148

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=invergordon&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=148

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=kirkwall&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=148

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=stornoway&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=148

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=oban&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=148

 

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=greenock&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=148

 

Edited by edinburgher
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fruitmachine

fruitmachine

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On 11/16/2023 at 1:55 PM, gotcha3 said:

Okay, I am under a bit of a time crunch which is why I didn't do the whole thread search thing. I have not had good luck with that time consuming and very often useless task and figured someone might offer up info on a particular tour/driver or SHORE EXCURSION they enjoyed. OK, here are the cities I'm interested in; Leith (Edinburgh), Dundee, Invergordon, Kirkwall, Stornoway, Oban and Greenock (Glasgow). 

If you don't like or understand the Cruise Critic search function, just do a Google search, but tag the phrase site:boards.cruisecritic.com on to the start or end of your search.

It's important you get the above phrase exactly right, so copy and paste it into the Google search box to achieve this, or follow this link and then add your own search terms in the box: https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Aboards.cruisecritic.com

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edinburgher

edinburgher

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2 hours ago, SomewhereGirl said:

Is this last minute cruise in June 2024?

What a strange question. If you are referring to  either my post #9 or my #10  I don't think any wording in either post suggested that it might be "June 2024", definitely not last minute,so I don't know where you got that from or why you would even mention it.  Nor can I see anyone else mentioning that date. Can you enlighten us all with an explanation?

 

The OP didn't actually give the travel date, but given that we are already mid November with very little of 2023 left,  I don't think it was unreasonable to warn that the 2024 calendar may not be totally up to date,

(actual wording The full 2024 schedule may not already be posted and you may need to check back if that is when you are travelling).but that was a copy/paste of a reply I had given to an earlier thread where  that poster was arriving into Newhaven (Edin) and the current poster mentioned Leith (Edin) and I  had actually been  thoughtful enough to change  the location  on the copy/paste to suit the current thread.

 

Despite best intentions, as it appears that nothing I have written on this thread pleases everyone, hoping the Mods now lock  it as it has fast descended into total farce.

Edited by edinburgher
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SomewhereGirl

SomewhereGirl

Posted
Posted (edited)
3 hours ago, edinburgher said:

What a strange question. If you are referring to  either my post #9 or my #10  I don't think any wording in either post suggested that it might be "June 2024", definitely not last minute,so I don't know where you got that from or why you would even mention it.  Nor can I see anyone else mentioning that date. Can you enlighten us all with an explanation?

 

The OP didn't actually give the travel date, but given that we are already mid November with very little of 2023 left,  I don't think it was unreasonable to warn that the 2024 calendar may not be totally up to date,

 

My previous post was not directed at you.

 

Allow me to enlighten you...  Like you said, it's already mid-November.  People are probably not cruising around Scotland in Winter, so I copied and pasted the listed ports into Google, and the most likely result is an Azamara cruise in June 2024, which is not exactly last minute.  Now, if the OP was sailing around Scotland this Winter "kind of last minute", that would a bit of a time crunch.

 

Edited by SomewhereGirl
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Globaliser

Globaliser

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50 minutes ago, SomewhereGirl said:

Like you said, it's already mid-November.  People are probably not cruising around Scotland in Winter, so I copied and pasted the listed ports into Google, and the most likely result is an Azamara cruise in June 2024, which is not exactly last minute.

 

From the usual sources, it looks like the last call on Oban this year (2023) may have been on 18 September; and possibly the last call on Dundee this year was on 29 July. The OP posted on 16 November about "taking a cruise kind of last minute". But the next call on Oban looks like it's not until 7 June 2024, and the next call on Dundee on 24 June 2024.

 

So - although there's never any guarantee that the usual sources are 100% accurate - I hope that whatever may or may not be going on in the OP's life that may or may not be creating "a bit of a time crunch", I hope that they will be reassured that there should be plenty of time to research these ports using CC's search function, and to see some of the accumulated wisdom that is already on the boards. Sifting through the accumulated wisdom is usually better than just taking some random answers from whoever happens to see and respond to a new thread now.

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karatemom2 "Live from...." Rare

karatemom2

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OP, if you are still checking this thread I hope you have a great cruise and enjoy Scotland. It was our favorite part of our British Isles cruise!

 

I would also highly recommend Discover Scotland tours. We went on their Glasgow tour which included Trossachs National Park, Luss and Stirling Castle. In Invergordon we did a private tour with Highland Inverness tours to Dunrobin Castle, Falls of Shin, Cairn Liath and Dornoch. And Edinburgh we found easy to do on our own using local taxi. We visited Edinburgh Castle, Royal Mile, St. Giles Cathedral and Royal Yacht Brittania. 

 

Edited by karatemom2
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edinburgher

edinburgher

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Posted (edited)
17 hours ago, SomewhereGirl said:

Allow me to enlighten you...  Like you said, it's already mid-November.  People are probably not cruising around Scotland in Winter, so I copied and pasted the listed ports into Google, and the most likely result is an Azamara cruise in June 2024, which is not exactly last minute.  Now, if the OP was sailing around Scotland this Winter "kind of last minute", that would a bit of a time crunch.

Thanks for explaining that.     June would make more sense but I don't think I was alone initially  in thinking that "last minute" didn't exactly make sense when looking at the ports of call, because a predominantly Scottish itinerary doesn't make sense in what is a Scottish winter, because we do not experience "Caribbean type" sunshine at this time of year unfortunately, (nor at any other time of year!) and I had thought that the cruise calls to Edinburgh were already finished for 2023 hence my referencing the cruise calendar for 2024.

 

Our one and only " last minute" sailing was due to family reasons at the time, and made only 9 days before we actually sailed, and getting ourselves organised in that short length of time was somewhat challenging to say the least.

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