British Isles cruise, Dover train and tour guide questions please!

[Scuppersisontheboat]

Hello!  After cruising around the canals of the Netherlands for a few days on a 40’ canal boat, we are doing a Celebrity British Isles cruise out of Amsterdam.  We have never been to Ireland or the UK so are quite looking forward to it.  We prefer seeing nature and the countryside, small towns to big cities, and touring by ourselves instead of in a group, and we rarely use ship excursions.  Some places we will just rent a car, but I was hoping someone may have a favourite Uber or taxi driver that does tours, or a highly recommended local tour guide?  
The other main question is regarding Dover.  Should we book train tix to London, the quick direct one is just over an hour each way.  Has anyone done this on a day trip?  I ain’t sitting on a bus 2.5 hours each way… I know I said we prefer small towns but figure we should get to see London.  I am interested in the Dover Castle and other sights there, but there will be many castles on this trip and this is the only stop where there is time to get to London.  What do you think?

for towns with guides (or ideas of must do’s - I do have a nice summary generated and fine tuned by ChatGPT): lots of time in each port, with departures at 6 or 7pm.

-Cork

-Belfast

-Greenock 

-Lerwick

-Liverpool

 

Thank you!

Mark

[Island2Dweller]

Doing Dover to London as a day trip is entirely viable.  It's a high frequency commuter service.

But rail ticket pricing in the UK is worthy of a doctorate in complication.

If you are willing to accept fixed times, then you may get quite cheap tickets called "advance fare" tickets (these go on sale about 10 weeks ahead, thought the release date is not an exact science).

If you want flexibility, there is a range of walk-up fares from £31 (only valid on the slower trains, not on the "HS1" service and only valid leaving Dover after 1000) through to £111 (valid on any service at anytime).  Those prices are the return.

If you want cheap and are prepared to fix your time, book tickets ahead.  If you want flexibility, don't buy anything in advance.  Instead speak to the staff in the station ticket office when you reach the station and tell them your plan, they will sell you the cheapest option.  This is especially relevant because if the "we" is more than three then the staff may have "groupsave" fare options which can knock a third off the walk up fares.

[Cotswold Eagle]

11 hours ago, Island2Dweller said:

if the "we" is more than three then the staff may have "groupsave" fare options which can knock a third off the walk up fares.

Good point - I feel we don’t mention GroupSave enough on this board somehow. Even better news, it’s actually ‘three or more’, not ‘more than three’ 😀

 

OP - the journey planner at National Rail does a pretty good job of sorting through these options for you. 

[Scuppersisontheboat]

Thank you!  It’s just the 2 of us, I should have mentioned.  I will check out the rail link.  Given our limited time I think we will book specific trains.

 

For some of my other cruise stops listed, someone mentioned the HOHO buses would be a good option?

 

Thanks,

Mark

[WendyVF]

I did the HoHo in Liverpool and really liked it.  

Greenock - Scottish Highlands Tour - https://www.discoverscotlandtours.com/tours/highland-lochs-glens-castles-shore-excursion/

Cork - Scenic Train to Cork and Blarney. https://www.shoreexcursionsgroup.com/tour/scenic-railtour-to-cork-and-blarney-castle/eucrtrain

Belfast - Giants Causeway with Odyssey Coach Tours https://odysseycoachtours.co.uk/giants-causeway-tours/   I paid a little extra and did the small group tour, well worth the extra money.