X plan to stop in Edinburgh in 2007

[uktog]

I see from early info on the X website that there will be round Britain cruises in the early summer 2007 including a stop in Edinburgh - welcome to all who plan to be part of these trips and I will try and keep you right on the great things to do in our lovely city

 

Ann

[CruisingChick]

Hi Ann,

 

My son was in Edinburgh in August of 2004. He and his High School Drama Club performed at the Fringe Festival. He absolutely loved it. They are applying to go again next summer (2007). They stayed at the University of Edinburgh whle they were there and got to see the Military Tatoo and go on a ghost tour. They really had a blast. Not to mention performing in the Festival.

[uktog]

If you are in Edinburgh of an evening, the ghost tours are just fantastic. We are locals nad just love them. So is Mary Kings Close, a 16th century haunted street below the Royal Mile you really get the feel of what Edinburgh life for the workers was (as opposed to the smart New Town houses) The tattoo - on last week July, first two august is fantastic,but gone are the days you could just rollup on the nights as we did as teenagers; the 2006 event is already booked out and has been for a month or so

[tom_uk]

Anyone know what X regards as 'Edinburgh'? - Leith? Rosyth?

 

Changing the subject, I had the great pleasure of living in Edinburgh for 9 months a few years ago, and I took a flat in the Old Town, in Wardrop's Court (next door to Deacon Brodie's). I regularly had Ghost Tours through the court, and I got used to seeing the various actors. And during the festival a theatre company from the US or Canada use the court as the stage for a cut-down version of Macbeth. My staircase had a set of open-air stone stairs up to the first-floor (american second-floor) level, and I remember coming home one evening and finding Lady Macbeth on the landing - 'Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be what thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature - 'tis too full of the milk of human kindness....'.

 

Only in Edinburgh.

[uktog]

As you say Tom, only in Edinburgh! - and what a wonderful place to rent a flat - to those of you stopping by in Edinburgh Deacon Brodies is a brilliant pub, never mind the tales of who Deacon Brodie was! They are going to alter the Cruise Port at Leith but it will not be for another year, so my guess is it is going to be tender at South Queensferry - or maybe tender at Leith. Would be surprised if X went into Rosyth but you never know. The only advatnage of Rosyth is you get to sail under both Forth Bridges. Wherever it is, I will go down to see the ships

[poetic license]

This itinerary really caught my eye, but my heart sank when I saw the date it sails: May 17, 2007. We are planning to take a European cruise with two of our daughters next year as a graduation gift to one of them, but this comes the week of her final exams ... exactly one week too early! As it is a unique tinerary that does not repeat over the summer season, it's a real loss for us. If only it were a week later!

 

Anyway, here is the itinerary as posted on the Celebrity website:

 

17 May 2007 9 night Scotland and Ireland on CENTURY

Amsterdam, Netherlands, Edinburgh, Scotland, Inverness/Loch Ness Scotland, Kirkwall, Scotland, Belfast, Northern Ireland, Dublin, Ireland, St. Peter Port, Channel Isl, Amsterdam, Netherlands

 

I've read the wonderful comments with interest, even though we won't be able to sail this one. Thanks for posting them!

 

Cheers~

Nicki

[Seabee]

I sure wish X would give us some more time in these ports. Two of the tender ports allow very little time to be ashore...particularly the Channel Island port. With 5 hours in port and a tender ride, you would be lucky to get more than 3 hours ashore. The itinerary was enticing but after looking at the time ashore, I have decided to pass this one up.

[excitedofharpenden]

I'll second Ann's recommendation of Deacon Brodie's. Great pub.:) I have a pal who lived in a flat on George IVth Bridge for a while (opposite the converted church). He now leads a quieter life south of the City.;)

 

Tom, I think you may be talking of the Reduced Shakespeare Company. They were on BBC Radio 7 the other day. Here's a listen again link if you are interested:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/networks/bbc7/aod.shtml?bbc7/reduced_shakespeare_radioshow

 

There is so much to see and do in Edinburgh, even without the Fringe being there. I enjoyed going to see the Royal Yacht Britannia in Leith and the hike up Arthur's Seat amongst many other things. A great stop for a cruise.

 

Phil

[Fredr]

hello,

 

For those of you who really enjoy the sailing aspect of a cruise, I hope that Celebrity uses Rosyth as the port for Edinburgh. This means that the ships will sail quite a long ways up the Firth of Forth and under both bridges. As I have been on 15 cruises, the sail up this fascinating and beautiful river was one of the great travel treats that I have experienced. There will be a short shuttle ride to the Rosyth train station and a nice train ride to Waverly train station in the heart of Edinburgh, from which you can walk to many of Edinburgh's many famous sites.

 

Hope that this helps,

 

Fred

[TourDeCruise]

This cruise caught my husband's eye today and he immediately called me at work to say we should put it on our short list for 2007. The itinerary as it stands now says Century will be there on Sat., May 19th from 7am-6pm and that it will be docked, not tendered. Of course that could change.

 

We certainly appreciate your recommendations for what to do in Edinburgh. From what we have seen on a travel show, Edinburgh looks lovely. The program featured a ghost tour. The ghost-tour effect would be better at night, but we would only be there during the day. No ghost tours during the day?

 

How cold would it be in May?

[TourDeCruise]

Phil: How far is Edinburgh from you? I looked on a map and it looks like a long distance. Kathy

[uktog]

Rosyth does indeed give you the delights of going under both bridges. Also if you have already "done" Edinburgh on previous trips you are really well placed for a quick trip up to somewhere like St Andrews (c a hour away). Ghost tours are really night things, however, I will check out the "character" tours through the days from companys like Mercat Tours. Mary Kings Close is also great through the day as you are effectively undergoround and that has a ghost element (I will say no more)

[excitedofharpenden]

Phil: How far is Edinburgh from you? I looked on a map and it looks like a long distance. Kathy

Kathy, it's an hour by plane from Luton (not too far from me) and if you book flights early enough and are prepared for an off-peak time, I have had a flight before taxes on easyjet for £8. It cost me more than to get the taxi home (5 miles) including tip!:eek:

 

Phil

[tony_b]

Just had to jump in here. Not to denergrate my 'low-land' chums praising Edinburgh (a bonnie wee city)... but Inverness will give you a taste of the highlands - the true Scotland :-)

[uktog]

Just had to jump in here. Not to denergrate my 'low-land' chums praising Edinburgh (a bonnie wee city)... but Inverness will give you a taste of the highlands - the true Scotland :-)

 

But Tony they do get their own stop at Inverness as they also stop at Invergordon so we can share:D

[TourDeCruise]

Both the Inverness highlands and Edinburgh would be fantastic. So far we are leaning towards this cruise in 2007.

I found the Mary Kings Close tour on the web, and it looks very interesting. The 2007 cruise might be at the same time as the 10-day ghost event judging by the dates for last year & this year. Do you think they would still allow tourists or would the event preclude other visitors from taking a tour? It might be too crowded at the close then. I also looked at the Mercat tours and they sound great too.

In Inverness, we would like to visit the Kilvarock Castle. Any suggestions about this castle?

Phil: If we do this cruise, possibly we would come to London first and then fly to Amsterdam. Jack is considering going to Iceland beforehand too.

[uktog]

I would expect Mary Kings Close to still be taking visitors then. The trick is they only allow so many an hours into the close but as I recall they do advanced booking - they certainly do for groups on 12-15 so one way might be to see if you can get a group together through a cruise roll call and add that into your itinerary. You would be able to include it in a trip to the Castle and the Royal Mile. One warning, it is likely at that time in May that you would not be able to go round Holyrood Palace as it is General Assembly time - when most of the ministers of the Church of Scotland come to Edinburgh and either the Queen or more usually he representative takes up residence in Holyrood. This year the assembly starts on May 20th.

Now some of my fellow Scots might flame me as this building took a long time to build, was seriously over budget and has got currenlty some issues on defects, but an alternative to visit just opposite the Palace of Holyrood is out new Scottish parliament building which you can tour round and see some modern Scottish craftsman work using products mainly from Scotland (stone, beautiful woods etc)

From Iceland you can get a direct flight to Glasgow (very popular with Icelandair) and then travel through as required. Amsterdam is easy from both London and Edinburgh

[TourDeCruise]

Thank you for all the valuable information, which I will save. Celebrity removed the Europe 2007 cruises (or at least some of them) from their site, but we are hoping they will keep this cruise intact. We are already discussing what to do in ports.

 

There is an extensive ancestry library or research center in Edinburgh. Do you know if it is close to the main sights? My husband is interested in going there if time permits.

 

Thanks again,

Kathy