British Isles/Iberia--Royal 05-51

[Suzy Q]

Posting this portion of my review from the Princess board for the guide/port info.
Questions, email me.
Ports/Tours—Bilbao—Had a private tour arranged and we drove to San Sebastian, Azpetia, back to Bilbao to see the Guggenheim, then back to ship. Bilbao is a large city with tons of traffic. Tour –clientes@autoseladio.com

LeVerdon—Had private tour, drove through wine country to St. Emillion, toured underground monuments, had lunch at outdoor cafe, shopped (wine shops & souvenirs), back to Bordeaux for a brief stop and back to ship. Tour — (Alain) [email]dionysos.bordeaux@free.fr[/email]


Greenock—Private tour to Edinburgh. Loved the Castle and walked the Royal Mile which is shops and pubs, just outside the exit. Found an antique store too. Friendly people. Edinburgh is about 1 hour and 20 min from Greenock. Tour —glencoaches@yahoo.com

Dublin—Took ship’s shuttle to Kildare Street—4$ pp each way. Walked to Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells and The Long Room. Don’t miss this. Later did hop on hop off bus 12.50 euros pp, 19 stops. Tried to see Dublin Castle—paid admission, got in and was told most of the Castle was closed for something or other but here’s a film to watch. (Have seen better on the Travel channel) Make sure if you try to do this that the whole Castle is available. We saw only the chapel.

Cobh—pronounced “Cove”—had private tour to Blarney Castle, Woolen Mills (shopping and eating), Kinsale and Cork. Ladies, do NOT use the restrooms at the Castle. Use the ones across the street at the Woolen Mills. Walk to the top of the Castle to kiss the Blarney Stone is spiral rock slippery-when-wet climb. Had lunch in Kinsale, a little seaside touristy town. This was June 7, a Bank Holiday so many shops in each stop were closed. Tour —[url]http://www.butlers-buses.com/[/url]

Falmouth—took ship’s tour to Land’s End. Had to tender in. Had to wait 45 min in the bus for late passengers as earlier time of tour had been announced in Patter due to tendering (not the time on the tickets). Driving through Cornwall is beautiful. Land’s End is breathtaking. Saw St. Michael’s Mount. Had “cream tea”, which is not tea but biscuits (scones), jam and clotted cream. About a million calories. Although the day was cloudy and cool it was incredibly stuffy on the bus as there was no AC and the windows are non operational. 47 people stuffed in a tin can basically.

LeHavre—Took ship’s tour “Paris On Your Own”. Never been to Paris but this tour offered the best opportunity to see a little of everything. Tour simply provides transportation into and return from Paris. Others went to the Louvre, Versailles, etc. Over 3 hour ride into Paris. Dropped off at about 10:20AM and told to be back by 2PM so less than 4 hours. Princess tour guide sent us in the wrong direction but we were finally able to find a hop on hop off bus. Incredibly expensive at 25 euros pp but linked to several other lines and was good for 24 hours so not too bad if we’d had more time. It was unseasonably HOT in Paris that day (98). Paris is amazingly beautiful. The buildings and history there! The down side—it’s full of cranky Parisians. Rude sums it up. Were able to at least see the outside of everything we hoped to see. Paris is a huge city, way too big for less than 4 hours visit. The ride back to the ship was a nightmare as the AC on the bus was broken. 86 in the bus. We were in the front seat. Can’t imagine what the people in the upper glassed-in level were feeling. Were delayed 20 minutes at a rest stop (in the 86 degree bus) as our tour guide continually miscounted the passengers mistakenly thinking someone was missing. Complained to the excursion manager and was given partial credit. Some passengers took the train into Paris and this was supposed to shave time off the trip. Six passengers (not on ship’s tour) were late in returning to the ship and we waited for them. Not sure how this was communicated to the ship…port agent? They pulled up in a taxi at 6:25 and we sailed at 6:45 instead of 6 as scheduled.

Rotterdam—There is a large terminal area immediately across from the ship. A jet way-like apparatus telescopes out from the terminal to the ship allowing protection from the elements and it was drizzling. A free city-provided shuttle into the shopping area is just outside the terminal. Spent about 3 hrs walking around but were exhausted from the LeHavre stop and went back to the ship. People were very friendly in Rotterdam.

Zeebrugge—Had a private guide arranged, as we wanted to visit my Mom’s birth village 20 min outside Bruges. After that visit, we drove to Bruges. Bruges is a beautiful old city. 50k people in the old part of town and 150k in the entire surrounding area. Something like 6 million visitors a year. There are canal rides, city tours, shops, and cafes. Streets and sidewalks are narrow and crammed with fellow tourists. Bought lace and chocolates. Had Belgian waffles and DH had a Belgian beer. Tour -- [email]brugsetaxiservice@brugge.com[/email]