British Isles

[helenb]

8 hours ago, fruitmachine said:

The train is an option, but the X99 Cruiselik service (https://www.lothianbuses.com/cruiselink-x99/) takes you into the city centre from the end of Hawes Pier - where the yellow traffic cones are on the left of this picture (https://maps.app.goo.gl/5eaPB687Tfzcakm3A) - rather than having to walk up the half-mile path to the rail station at bridge-deck level.

 

Last year, their £12.00 round-trip ticket also gave free access to all buses in the city (plus many that go outside it) and to the Edinburgh Tram.

 

 

I saw that, and I have it in my notes as an option. But when I checked out their site, they did not yet have up any information about 2024, so I still have it listed as a 'backup'. if it is as convenient as I have heard people say, I may use them instead of the train.

[fruitmachine]

1 minute ago, helenb said:

I saw that, and I have it in my notes as an option. But when I checked out their site, they did not yet have up any information about 2024, so I still have it listed as a 'backup'. if it is as convenient as I have heard people say, I may use them instead of the train.

The schedule for this year is still draft (they list all the ships they offer it for on that page) plus Edinburgh bus fares normally increase every April and they have not been announced yet for 2024/25. Last year, that announcement was only made at the beginning of March.

 

For a large ship like Princess, there is no doubt that it will run as previously.

 

I'd expect an update on the timetable very soon, and on the fares at the start of March.

[helenb]

Thank you for the update! And also the picture of where to pick up the bus... that is very helpful!

[Catchum]

3 hours ago, KKB said:

We hit LeHavre in Oct on our N. Europe tour. Our friends got off & said "meh".

It was the last day so we relaxed, did laundry & packed. Possibly the same this time.

Le Havre is a acquired taste, the church is a must see. But the bee bus to Honfleur was fabulous- book in advance as they fill up. We had a wonderful meal with a carafe of local wine by the harbour, wondered the medieval streets and rode the gallopers. The guide on the bus was also very good. 

[john watson]

We did the trip into Edinburgh using a taxi from Inverkeithing and the train goes across the famous Forth Rail Bridge. The best time to go is when the Edinburgh Military Tattoo is on this is out of Glasgow or Edinburgh Firth of Forth usually the latter is overnight with tender service.

 

Regards John

[ontheweb]

56 minutes ago, john watson said:

We did the trip into Edinburgh using a taxi from Inverkeithing and the train goes across the famous Forth Rail Bridge. The best time to go is when the Edinburgh Military Tattoo is on this is out of Glasgow or Edinburgh Firth of Forth usually the latter is overnight with tender service.

 

Regards John

And don't forget (unless it has changed), during the same period the Military Tattoo is scheduled, Edinburg also has the Fringe Festival. So much to see and do! 

Edited January 22 by ontheweb
spelling correction

[fruitmachine]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

And don't forget (unless it has changed), during the same period the Military Tattoo is scheduled, Edinburg also has the Fringe Festival. So much to see and do! 

Yes, plus...

Edinburgh International Festival, the one that started it all off (dance, opera, music and theatre) and which spawned the Fringe Festival from all the groups that weren't invited to the first International Festival

Edinburgh International Film Festival

Edinburgh International Book Festival

Edinburgh Art Festival

Edinburgh International Television Festival

It used to be said that we had three weeks of culture and 49 of an arts-desert, but there's now a lot more happening year round, including several other festivals!!

 

[mskaufman]

If it helps, here are some pictures from our cruise last summer.

 

[insidecabin]

If you want to do Paris seriously consider getting off at Le Havre and doing a land extension before flying/train home. (not practical for many living UK especially if driving) 

 

Le Havre was added to the Princess Itinerary to be able to add PARIS as a draw people in port..

 

The centre of Glasgow is quite walkable, plenty of shops, restaurants and architecture
If around George square do drop into The Counting House now a pub was a bank spectacular ceiling.

Some of the better stops are not central they need transport to get the best out of the time.
The HOHO is a good option but if wanting to do maybe one or two places more thorough consider taxi between.

 

https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums

Kelvingrove Art and museum  is quite big and needs time to do properly

15-20min walk from kelvin grove(needs google maps is
Riverside (Transport) Museum is a great stop and again best done not rushed.

 

The Burrell collection   another great stop but a ways out of the city

If time allows consider the Peoples Palace at Glasgow green(smaller).


For Cobh if you don't fancy going far there is the titanic museum, the titanic trail walking tour, the cathedral at the top of the hill and numerous pubs that have live music.

last time we were there we did Spike Island

 

Dublin,  check the date and times of the Dart if booking things like entry to Book of Kells,

Sunday service starts later, less frequent  there are a couple of early bus options but need map to find the stops.

 

Belfast loads of local tour options, Giants Causeway, Troubles, game of thrones...

If doing it give Titanic loads of time(we were 4hours on our visit in 2012 and even consider that museum and area(slipway, pump house, Nomadic) as a single stop for the day only adding something after if you get time.
Last time we did the Botanic garden and Ulster museum by bus from the centre, spending a bit of time in the centre before heading back to the ship.

NCL have a round Ireland in May that's a good trip if the weather cooperates.  

[ontheweb]

16 hours ago, fruitmachine said:

Yes, plus...

Edinburgh International Festival, the one that started it all off (dance, opera, music and theatre) and which spawned the Fringe Festival from all the groups that weren't invited to the first International Festival

Edinburgh International Film Festival

Edinburgh International Book Festival

Edinburgh Art Festival

Edinburgh International Television Festival

It used to be said that we had three weeks of culture and 49 of an arts-desert, but there's now a lot more happening year round, including several other festivals!!

 

Thank you. 

 

DW's late father was a Scotsman. He was an RAF pilot during WWII, and then emigrated to the US where he worked for British Airways (BOAC) when he started.

 

I have been there with DW on both a cruise and a land trip, the latter also with our son. (She had been there earlier as the family still had relatives and flew for free due to his employment.) When we went by land and the Tattoo and Fringe Festival both made hotel rooms very expensive, we stayed in Glasgow and took public transportation to Edinburg every day.

 

In case we decide to go again, could you give the time frame for those other festivals?

[fruitmachine]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

Thank you. 

 

DW's late father was a Scotsman. He was an RAF pilot during WWII, and then emigrated to the US where he worked for British Airways (BOAC) when he started.

 

I have been there with DW on both a cruise and a land trip, the latter also with our son. (She had been there earlier as the family still had relatives and flew for free due to his employment.) When we went by land and the Tattoo and Fringe Festival both made hotel rooms very expensive, we stayed in Glasgow and took public transportation to Edinburg every day.

 

In case we decide to go again, could you give the time frame for those other festivals?

I think this site gives most of them except the TV one, but that's more an industry gathering. 

https://www.edinburghfestivalcity.com/

 

[irishgirl]

I did the British Isles cruise September 5-17, 2023 on the Regal Princess.  We spent 2 nights before and 4 nights after the cruise in London.  We stayed at the Hampton Inn Waterloo because of the location.  
 

in London we used The Tour Guy for Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London.

Westminster Abbey we went to Evensong which is free to everyone and starts at 5:00 pm.  But,you have to get in line about 4:00.  It fills up fast.

 

Guernsey:  we did the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society tour.

Portland:  we used Dorset tours for Stonehenge 

Cork:  Best of Cork and Countryside through Princess

Dublin:  we rode the train into Dublin and rode the HOHO bus

Belfast:  we booked Giants Causeway and Antrim Coast through Get Your Guide

Glasgow:  we booked Stirling Castle and Loch Lomond through Timberbush Tours

Inverness:  Urquhart Castle, Culloden Battlefield and Loch Ness

Edinburgh:  we had tea at the castle

then we toured Paris through Princess with lunch on a Seine river cruise.

[NavyVeteran]

If you are looking at a Princess cruise in August, there is a simple way to see if it is during the Tattoo. If the itinerary says that the ship will overnight in either Greenock or South Queensferry departing 2:00 am the next morning, then they are planning on offering excursions to the Tattoo in Edinburgh. Most Princess ships offer the tattoo from Greenock instead of South Queensferry, since South Queensferry is often a tender port. If the ship leaves both Greenock and South Queensferry in the afternoon, then you're not going to the Tattoo.

[Incognito1]

On 1/22/2024 at 10:44 AM, KKB said:

Invergordon--did a Loch Ness/Highlands/Invernesss Tour via invergordon-bustours FANTASTIC

Completely fell in love w/ this area

So did we.  Just gorgeous and the people were so wonderful.  I recommend getting off the ship early; there's a bus tour company right outside the gate that's less than half the ship's price ($50, maybe?).  We were there before 9 and were the last passengers to get on.  Wish I could remember the name of it, but the guide was Lorraine.  Super smart, personable, native to the area and loves it.  Her narration was a highlight of the trip.  Did a few small stops, Loch Ness and a castle at the end.  The ship's bus was near us for much of the trip.  We beat it back to the port, so no worries there.  There's not a lot to see in the port town.

 

In Edinburgh, book your castle tickets IN ADVANCE at https://www.edinburghcastle.scot/. They limit how many people at a time and if you don't have a prepaid ticket, you may wait in a very long queue. We wanted to walk and see things, but even though we are relatively fit, it was definitely a hike.  If you have any sort of mobility issues at all, best to take the ship's tour.

[MickeyandLV]

We did the British Isles cruise Spring 2023. Because King Charles decided to have his coronation the weekend we were supposed to go to London pre-cruise, we decided to start in Edinburgh.  We flew into Edinburgh and spent 4 days there and then flew to Southampton to catch the cruise. We are so glad we had a few days in Edinburgh. There was not enough time to see everything we wanted to see in one shore excursion day. Since we watch the TV show Outlander, we wanted to see locations used in the show. We spent a whole day just taking an Outlander tour. We did the hop-on-hop-off tour also.

Also a pre-cruise hint.  Most of the castles have books with pictures and descriptions of the castles. I purchased them on-line (amazon or ebay) before the cruise and was able to read and enjoy them before visiting the castles.  I know we went to Sterling, Edinburgh and Doune castles this time.

 

[nini]

The Military Tattoo is only in August. We wanted to return for that. However, there is not even one Princess ship offering an excursion for it during their August itineraries. They used to, and I am very disappointed.

[NavyVeteran]

6 hours ago, nini said:

The Military Tattoo is only in August. We wanted to return for that. However, there is not even one Princess ship offering an excursion for it during their August itineraries. They used to, and I am very disappointed.

Princess has Tattoo excursions on one 2024 itinerary and one 2025 itinerary. The following cruises include the Tattoo:

• Regal Princess - Embarks 7 August 2024 - Tattoo excursions from Greenock on August 12
• Regal Princess - Embarks 13 August 2025 - No Tattoo excursions listed yet, but ship stays in Greenock from 8 am August 19 to 2 am August 20

[Rick&Jeannie]

We did the British Isles cruise on the Crown back in 2019.  We had a group of 6 and we did a "side trip" transfer excursion visiting Stonehenge on the way to the ship (run by International Friends.)  We had a blast, both on the Stonehenge trip as well as the cruise itself.  We are all Beatles fans and there was a heavy leaning towards all things Beatles on 2 or 3 of the ports.

 

[ontheweb]

13 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

If you are looking at a Princess cruise in August, there is a simple way to see if it is during the Tattoo. If the itinerary says that the ship will overnight in either Greenock or South Queensferry departing 2:00 am the next morning, then they are planning on offering excursions to the Tattoo in Edinburgh. Most Princess ships offer the tattoo from Greenock instead of South Queensferry, since South Queensferry is often a tender port. If the ship leaves both Greenock and South Queensferry in the afternoon, then you're not going to the Tattoo.

Our Princess cruise in August had an overnight for Edinburgh. Our port was Rosyth. (The ship was the no longer in service for Princess Ocean Princess.)

[nini]

7 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

Princess has Tattoo excursions on one 2024 itinerary and one 2025 itinerary. The following cruises include the Tattoo:

• Regal Princess - Embarks 7 August 2024 - Tattoo excursions from Greenock on August 12
• Regal Princess - Embarks 13 August 2025 - No Tattoo excursions listed yet, but ship stays in Greenock from 8 am August 19 to 2 am August 20

 

Thank you so much for finding and posting this! Ugh... the Tattoo is not cheap through the ship. Even our favorite cabins are still available. 😍 Now..... to tell DH

[NavyVeteran]

12 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Our Princess cruise in August had an overnight for Edinburgh. Our port was Rosyth. (The ship was the no longer in service for Princess Ocean Princess.)

That only works for the smaller ships. The larger ones use tenders at South Queensferry and therefore usually go to the Tattoo from Greenock.

[freewilly]

We went in August  of 2023 -  Bucket list trip. We sailed on 

Carnival Pride  because we have status with Carnival and they do our laundry, so we could pack less. We also were familiar with the Spirit Class ship. We arrived early to London.. saw Stonehenge then next day went to Canterbury and next day we sailed from Dover. Spent 9 days  seeing England, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland,and  Scotland. We bought tickets to the Tattto in January as Carnival offered excursion to/from tattoo that did not include the ticket. We saw Dublin, Belfast, Greenock, Edinburgh, Cobh, Liverpool, London and a few more spots! We had a blast!  We were in Edinburgh during the Fringe and Tattoo.. could not have been more fun. Best of luck with your planning. I see the Carnival Legend is doing this same cruise August 9-18 2024. 

Edited January 25 by freewilly

[dockman]

Did it on emerald several years ago...caught covid along with few dozen others and spend most of cruise in quarantine on a closed off half of a deck with security guards in hallway where i could watch from the balcony but not allowed to leave room for six days...was vaxxed of course and very mild symptons but those were the rules...good news is i had done most of the ports before...also got a credit for days in quarantine...bad news was getting covid in spite of being as careful as i could possibly be...

[ontheweb]

8 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

That only works for the smaller ships. The larger ones use tenders at South Queensferry and therefore usually go to the Tattoo from Greenock.

And they really do not come much smaller than the former Ocean Princess. What a wonderful cruise that was, not only the itinerary, but how on such a small ship you got to really meet other passengers and even crew members. 😊

[Trish Traveler]

On 1/18/2024 at 12:24 PM, karatemom2 said:

We did the British Isles cruise on the Emerald Princes in 2022 and it still ranks as one of our top 5 cruises in my estimation. They are port intensive, so you need to be prepared for an energetic vacation as there is so much to see and do and each destination. Here is an itinerary of what we did on our 4 day stay pre-cruise in London, and then at each port on our cruise:

 

London: Buckingham Palace

              Westminster Abbey

              Tower of London

              Churchill War Rooms

              Shakespeare's Old Globe Theatre

              St. Paul's Cathedral

              Maritime Museum at Greenwich

 

Southampton Departure - transfer and tour vis International Friends:  Windsor Castle 

 

Guernsey - Private Tour: Castle Cornet 

                                        WWII Sites and Museum

 

Cobh - Princess Tour: Rock of Cashel

 

Dublin - Princess Tour: Glendalough Monastic City

                                     Christchurch Cathedral

 

Belfast - Odyssey Tours: Giants Causeway

                                        Dunluce Castle

                                        Titanic Museum

 

Liverpool - Wales Tour via Busy Bus: Conwy Castle

                                                           Snowdonia Park

                                                           Pontcysyllte Aqueduct

 

Invergordon - Private Tour: Dunrobin Castle

                                            Cairn Liath

                                            Falls of Shin

                                            Dornoch Cathedral

 

Glasgow - Discover Scotland: Sterling Castle

                                                Doune Castle 

                                                Village of Luss

                                                Loch Lomond

                                                Trossachs National Park

 

Edinburgh - used local taxi: Edinburgh Castle

                                            Royal Mile

                                            St. Giles Cathedral

                                            Royal Yacht Brittania

                 

Le Havre - Normandy via Overlord Tours: Omaha Beach

                                                                   American Cemetery

                                                                   Bayeux - for Cathedral and Bayeux Tapestry

                                                                   Honfleur

 

Southampton Departure - transfer and tour via EC Minibus:  Stonehenge

 

It was a busy and action packed cruise vacation, but one I highly recommend!

Thanks for all the great ideas.  We are planning for fall of 2024.