Long Port Review of British Isles Cruise

[Denverite]

This review is only of the ports visited and not a review of the ship. We were on the Grand Princess 8/21/07 RT Southampton British Isles cruise. We did most of the ports with private excursions or on our own. We did two Princess excursions, the Tattoo and the Normandy Landing Beaches.

 

St. Peter Port:

Like the previous cruises, our stop at St. Peter Port was aborted due to “adverse weather conditions” according to the captain. We had read other cruise reviews and anticipated that we would not stop at this port.

 

Holyhead, Wales:

A group of 12 of us had booked with Busybus for an all-day excursion in their 15-passenger van. (See “Tips” below regarding number of passengers to reasonably seat in a van.) We all met onboard and were able to catch the first tender. The vans and buses park in a parking lot near the tender dock, so if you don’t see your guide, just walk the short distance to the parking lot. Bob was our guide/driver and he was very funny! The tour consisted of two castles (Caernarfon Castle and Conwy Castle), a trip through Snowdonia National Park, lunch at Betws-Y Coed and a quick stop at Llanfair PG (the long-name place).

 

Caernarfon Castle was started in 1283 and is the seat of the investiture of Charles as Prince of Wales. In addition to the castle ruins, there is a small room showing photos and video of Charles’ investiture. Also, there is a really good Regimental Museum in the castle. Conwy Castle is basically ruins of a very large castle, but with great views of the city and the ring of town walls. Some of our group opted to just walk through the town instead of visiting Conwy Castle. We climbed through the ruins and had a great time taking photos. For more information on both castles: http://www.caernarfon.com and http://www.conwy.com.

 

One of the highlights of this trip was going through the countryside on a very small road that big buses would never navigate. Busybus dropped us off (if you wanted to walk) and we explored the flora and fauna and rocks and talked with a local lady out walking her dog. We met up with the Busybus van a short distance down the road.

 

We stopped at Betws-Y Coed for lunch. There were a few places for lunch, an ice cream shop and a few souvenir shops where the bus dropped us off. It would be great to explore this little town if you had more time in the day.

 

Finally, we stopped briefly at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch to buy any souvenirs. Our group decided we didn’t need much time here and preferred to beat the big buses back to the tender port. We left a few minutes before the big buses and had no line to catch a tender.

 

The Busybus excursion was great. Bob was a great guide and Fred at Busybus was very quick to respond to all e-mails when we were trying to put together a group to reserve the mini-bus. Busybus also had another larger group on a large bus, but we really enjoyed the small van. If at all possible, if you can get enough people on your roll call, try to reserve the smaller van.

 

Dublin, Ireland:

We toured Dublin on our own. We purchased shuttle tickets from Princess ($5 per person each way). Shuttles operated approximately every 20 minutes, until the end of the day. More on that later. We had pre-purchased Hop On Hop Off tickets online. The shuttle drops you off very close to Trinity College and close to the HOHO bus route. Entire bus route takes about 1-1/2 hrs (we actually did the route twice). We first stopped at Trinity College to check out the line to see the Book of Kells—long line so we continued on with the bus tour. It was pointed out that the U.S. Embassy is located in the Phoenix Park (near where the President of Ireland has her residence) and is the only embassy allowed in the Phoenix Park, supposedly to signify Ireland’s appreciation for assistance from the U.S. After the bus tour, we walked to the Temple Bar area after wandering around and finally asking directions. We had lunch at Gallagher’s Boxty House. There are plenty of pubs to choose from in the Temple Bar area with most displaying their menus outside. At about 3:00pm we walked back to Trinity College and found no line for the Book of Kells. We walked right in to the ticket counter and had no problems with crowds. For me, just as interesting was the library at Trinity College which houses around 200,000 of the library’s oldest books. Marble busts are placed down either side of the room. Other documents are displayed in glass cases (1916 copy of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic which signaled the start of the Easter Rising). The library is an amazing room to visit. It was about 4:00pm when we made our way back to catch the shuttle, thinking we would beat the crowds. The last shuttle was at 4:30pm. The line was very long. The traffic was unbelievable and the shuttles were having a hard time returning from the ship. We waited for about an hour and no shuttle, although the Princess people were there frantically calling on their phones. Princess staff flagged down some of the excursion buses that were returning to the ship and found a few empty seats so we were able to catch a ride on one of those. Some of the people waiting in line didn’t return until 6:00 or so, but of course the ship waited. I don’t know if this just happened with our cruise or if other cruises have had the same issue.

 

Greenock:

For this particular cruise, if passengers wanted to see the Military Tattoo, we had to book it from Greenock (instead of Edinburgh) because this was the last day for the Tattoo and our ship did not arrive in Edinburgh until after the Tattoo was over. The tradeoff is that Greenock is not a tender port so you don’t have to tender in when you return at night; however, the ride is about 2-1/2 hrs from Greenock. Here is where I made my first mistake—from previous cruise reviews, I assumed we would leave about 5:00pm for the Tattoo, and our booked excursion indicated 5:00pm. Knowing I wanted to see some of the countryside, I booked a short tour with Doodlebus for 7:30 to 2:30 thinking we would be back in plenty of time to have a late lunch and change to warmer clothes. Warning—once we received our excursion tickets onboard I discovered we were to leave the ship at 3:15 for the Tattoo. There was a group of six of us that had booked with Doodlebus and we decided to go ahead and make the most of it. However, we didn’t count on the ship having problems docking in Greenock. The captain said it was windy, but the people onshore said they had never seen a ship have problems docking (they tried 3 times before they got it right). Perhaps they were training someone? So instead of getting off at 7:30, it was closer to 8:30 or so. Iain from Doodlebus was waiting for us and we were some of the first people off the ship. Iain said we could still do an abbreviated tour and get back to the ship by 2:30pm. Our tour consisted of Stirling Castle, a drive through the Trossachs Mountains, and a stop to visit Hamish the Highland Bull. Stirling Castle was very different from the castle ruins we had seen in Holyhead. This castle was more intact—special places to see were the Great Hall (great photo op sitting in the “kingly” chairs), the kitchen area, tapestry area, chapel, and Outer Defences with cannons. There are guided tours but we opted to tour on our own—there were very few crowds as the big buses had not arrived. We had a quick bite to eat at the Unicorn Café (very reasonable prices and good food). Then we had a drive through the Trossachs Mountains with a stop to see Hamish. Iain called Hamish over and Hamish came roving over from the meadow to see his friend (Iain did have food for Hamish so perhaps that is why Hamish came over so willingly). We had a quick stop at Loch Lomond for photos. The Doodlebus all-day tour contains much more than this, but we really saw a lot in our abbreviated time and it was a great way to spend the day. Iain is a great driver and guide and he looks really good in his kilt! I highly recommend Doodlebus if you are visiting Greenock. Doodlebus also has tours from Edinburgh and Invergordon. We were back at the ship at exactly 2:30—a quick change of clothes and we were ready for the Tattoo.

 

Tattoo: Princess assigns you to a certain bus. If you are traveling with friends, you just need to let the tour desk know and they will put you all on the same bus. We were assigned to Bus #1—that doesn’t mean Bus #1 leaves first. Whatever bus fills up first, leaves first. For the 2-1/2 hr bus ride, there is one restroom stop. Our friends had brought food for us (meat, cheese, bread and cookies) and we brought bottled water, so we had a feast on the bus on our way to Edinburgh. We arrived in Edinburgh about 6:00pm—traffic was very congested. Our seats were in the very top row in the middle (which turned out to be okay as it was windy and chilly and there was a backing at the top row). Also, you could stand up to take photos in the back row. As has been stated before, the seats are very small and you will be very cozy. Luckily we had no rain as umbrellas are not allowed. The Tattoo was fantastic and definitely worthwhile. There were 2 performances that night and we were there for the early show (7:30pm). Make sure you pay attention when your guide tells you how to get back to the bus—because all of Bus #1 was in the top row, we were last to get out and our guide thought we had already left so she didn’t wait for us. For the bus ride back, there is no restroom stop. We arrived back at the ship about 11:30pm.

 

Belfast:

We opted to not go to the Giant’s Causeway/Antrim Coast but spend the day in Belfast. As it was Sunday, we waited until about 9:30am before venturing out to the free shuttle provided by the city of Belfast. The Princess Patter indicated the last shuttle would be leaving Belfast at 5:00pm, but the Belfast shuttle provided a schedule that indicated the last shuttle would be at 6:00pm. The ship was scheduled to sail at 6:30pm. The ride into Belfast was only about 15 minutes. Unlike Dublin, the buses ran about every 15 minutes and there was no problem waiting for a shuttle. The drop off point was right at the Visitors Center. The Center opened at 10:00am on Sunday and based on previous reviews, we purchased souvenirs first thing (cute pencils with sheep, dish towels with sheep, Guinness souvenirs, Irish fairytale books for children, etc.) Prices are reasonable and it wasn’t too crowded in the morning. The Center locks their doors about 3:30 and the lights start going out at 3:45 so it is better to visit in the morning. Also, you can book HOHO tickets, Black Taxi tours or Lagan Boat tours here. We had prebooked HOHO tickets online. Since most things were still closed Sunday morning, the HOHO bus was very popular and lines were long. We were lucky and got an extremely intelligent guide on our bus and we rode the entire tour without getting off. We had anticipated that we would book an extra Black Taxi tour of the Troubles area, but we got a really good tour and explanation on our HOHO bus. We wanted to do the Titanic boat tour, but it was already booked up, so if this is something you really want to do, either prebook online or book first thing at the Visitors Center. Because it was Sunday, City Hall was closed but we did get a look at the outside of the building. City Hall is very close to the Visitors Center.

 

We ate lunch at the Crown Bar (beer was good, food was mediocre). It was Sunday and the menu was limited. If nothing else, just take a look around the bar area of this pub—there are individual cubicles with doors for patrons using the bar, so I guess you can have your own little party behind closed doors.

 

Kirkwall (Orkney Islands):

This is a tender port, but our group of 8 met onboard and had no problems getting on one of the first tenders. Our friends booked a private excursion for 8 of us with Discover Orkney. John Grieve was our guide. John is (or was) head of the tourism department, as well as a trainer for other guides, so he was extremely knowledgeable. He took us immediately to Skara Brae and we beat the buses. This is not a really large area so it was nice to have the place to ourselves. We then visited the Stones of Stenness, the Ring of Brodgar, and Maes Howe. John had “divining rods” similar to what you see people use to find water. He would take these two rods and walk between the stones and all of a sudden the rods would move together indicating an energy field and where a stone would have been. Knowing we might not believe this, we all tried it and sure enough you could feel the rods move as you approached a certain place at the Stones of Stenness or the Ring of Brodgar. John seemed to anticipate when the buses would be visiting each site (he had scheduled some of the buses), so he was able to get us in and out of sites between or before buses arrived. John had called ahead and arranged lunch at a place (forget the name) for our group. Lunch was excellent—sandwiches of meat, tuna, salmon, or cheese and tomato, baskets of chips (fries), platter of fish (salmon, crab cakes and halibut), all served family-style on large platters. Drinks were extra. Cost was 7 pounds per person. John ate with us and it was great to have time to just talk about the local culture. John is getting married next year so after a little prompting, we heard all about the marriage traditions in Orkney. We also visited the factory of Shelia Fleet where she gave us a tour and we saw the staff making jewelry. She really designs exquisite jewelry and has a Web site if anyone is interested in jewelry from Orkney. Our last stop was the Italian Chapel, built by Italian prisoners of war during the Second World War. We really had a great time on this tour—it was very folksy, informative and low-key without crowds.

 

Invergordon:

Six of us had arranged for a tour with Alastair Cunningham of Clans and Castles. Alastair was a wonderful guide—very knowledgeable and very professional. He has written a couple of booklets that are for sale at the gift shop at Urquhart Castle (one about a castle and the other about Clans and Tartans). Our tour consisted of Culloden Battlefield, Clava Cairns, Urquhart Castle and Cawdor Castle. I wasn’t sure about visiting a field (Culloden Battlefield) but it turned out to be very interesting. There is a short film in the visitors center that explains the battle that took place there with Bonnie Prince Charlie. After the rebel Scots lost the battle, Highlanders were not allowed to speak Gaelic, play bagpipes, wear the tartan, or own weapons, in an attempt to destroy their way of life. It was also interesting to compare Clava Cairns (burial grounds) to that we had seen in Orkney (Maes Howe).

 

Cawdor Castle was interesting because it is actually lived in—the countess dowager goes to her other home during the summer and opens this castle to the public, so you get to see the furnishings, etc. Also, Alastair went in the castle with us and explained what we were seeing. Many times guides are not allowed to go in the castles with their group. The gardens outside the castle are also worth seeing. Urquhart Castle is another castle but the ruins of this castle “sit brooding beside the dark waters of Loch Ness.” There is a very good short film (about 8 minutes) in the visitors center that explains the history. We had lunch at Cawdor Tavern—one person had the haggis—brave soul! Our last stop was in Beauly, searching for Heather Honey which we found in a deli. First we visited the Beauly Priory, a very old chapel and graveyard that had Europe’s oldest tree (of course you wanted to know that bit of trivia).

 

The day was packed with history and interesting facts (like information about clans and tartans, as well as historical facts about battles and castles). Alastair is great!

 

South Queensferry (Edinburgh):

Being sort of castled-out, we opted to just visit Edinburgh. We tendered into South Queensferry and caught a cab. There were about 4 cabs at the dock when we got there and it appeared that more cabs were coming to the port. Cost of the cab to Edinburgh was 18.60 pounds, plus tip, divided by 4 of us, so it was an economical way to get to the city. We had the cab drop us off at the top of the hill at the castle and walked down the Royal Mile. Based on reviews, we visited the Real Mary’s Close, the People’s Story Museum, and St. Gile’s Cathedral. Real Mary’s Close is described as follows: “Hidden deep beneath the Royal Mile lies Edinburgh’s deepest secret; a warren of hidden ‘closes’ or streets where real people lived, worked and died. For centuries they have lain forgotten and abandoned…until now.” The first tour is at 10:00am—we got there about 9:50 and got on the first tour. The People’s Story Museum is free and tells the story of the life and work of Edinburgh’s people from the late 18th century to the present. There are various scenes with wax models, as well as lots of old “stuff”—letters, pictures, kitchen and work tools, etc. We did shop on the Royal Mile—bought some plaid wool scarves as presents at two for 10 pounds.

 

We had lunch at Tass, a pub on the Royal Mile. The special lunch menu had a choice of two of three items (soup, sandwich, dessert) for 5.50 pounds. Food was good, sandwiches were large, and sticky toffee pudding was good (but not as good as that at the Cawdor Tavern).

 

We also walked over to Prince Street but it was basically just a shopping street. We did look at the Sir Walter Scott monument, a large gothic rather ugly tower (you can walk to the top if you want) and then easily caught a cab back to the port. The tender ride back to the ship was quite bumpy.

 

Le Havre:

We opted to take the Princess Normandy Landing Beaches tour and it was really a great excursion. We saw a part of Omaha Beach (where the U.S. soliders landed), Pointe du Hoc (where the rangers arrived in attempt to get rid of the guns at the top of the cliff that were a danger to the soliders arriving on Omaha Beach—the guns had actually been moved before the rangers arrived), the American cemetery, and a museum at Arromanche. The American cemetery is breathtaking—it is right on the cliff overlooking the edge of what was Omaha Beach. It is very peaceful and quiet and very well maintained by the U.S. Over 9,000 American soliders are buried here. Lunch was at a large farmhouse and was quite good considering the amount of people they had to serve from the Princess excursions. Princess did a great job with this excursion and I highly recommend it if you want to see the Normandy Landing Beaches. The trip by bus is a bit over 2 hours each way.

 

Southampton to Heathrow:

We had a 4:20pm flight and 4 of us had booked with Woodford Chauffeur Cars for a car to take us to Winchester to see the cathedral. Since it was Sunday, I had e-mailed a person at Winchester Cathedral and we were told we could get in the cathedral between 8:45 and 9:30 before the next service. The choir was practicing when we arrived in the cathedral. We also visited the Great Hall that contains the Roundtable from the Knights of King Arthur. We spent about an hour in Winchester and then were on our way to Heathrow. It took about 30 or 40 minutes to get to Winchester and about an hour to get to Heathrow. All in all, a smooth way to spend our last day before returning to Denver.

 

 

General Tips:

(1) Vans are small by our standards. For example, the Busybus van could hold 14 passengers, plus the driver. If you had 14, that meant that 3 had to sit in the back seat and 2 had to sit in the front with the driver. The front seat is a bit crowded if you try to seat 2 people there, plus the driver. So either check to see that you have some small people who haven’t visited the Horizon Court too much on the cruise, or be comfortable and book with fewer people. Our group of 12 was perfect for the 15-seater, our group of 6 worked great with an 8-seater, our group of 8 was a bit cozy in the 8-seater but we managed.

(2) Check to see if your guide/driver uses a microphone. Sometimes the people in the back seat will have a difficult time hearing the guide if he does not use a microphone.

(3) Tender tickets: We did not have to wait until Princess tours left in order to get tender tickets. The tender operation worked quite well and we never waited in line to get off the ship.

(4) Weather is always “iffy” in Scotland and Ireland, but we really lucked out on our trip. Although it was chilly in the mornings, we had mostly cloudy or sunny days, with just a few rain showers. I never used an umbrella but did wear a fleece jacket in the mornings and sometimes a rain jacket.

(5) Food: Try the sticky toffee pudding. It was great! Now if you want to try haggis, you are on your own with that one!

 

This was a great trip--one of my favorites.

[aclay]

Thanks for taking the time to write a review and also letting us know about it on our rollcall, we appreciate it. Some great tips there - thanks again!

A

[spongerob]

Your comments sure bring back a lot of memories. We used some of the same guides you did.

 

Did you happen to note the name of the farmhouse/hotel in France where you had lunch? I recall looking at one of their dinner menus (fabulous and expensive) but didn't note the name of the place. I agree that it was quite nice and wine was excellent.

[Kevbirch]

 

Finally, we stopped briefly at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

to buy any souvenirs.

 

Did you know that you can get a 50% rebate on your vacation price if you can pronounce the name of the town (without being under the infuence of alcohol) - even with practice. :eek:

 

Kevin

[Spikesgirl]

Funny, Kevin, not even our guide could pronounce it, but he did point out that it was simply a marketing gimmick to get the spot on the map. It worked!

 

Great reveiw, Denverite. It gave me more than one fuzzy memory thinking back upon our BI cruise this summer.

 

By the by, we had deep fried haggis balls on our Greenock tour. They were definitely better than the haggis my dad used to make, but I'd never tell him that!

 

Charlie

[Kevbirch]

Funny, Kevin, not even our guide could pronounce it, but he did point out that it was simply a marketing gimmick to get the spot on the map. It worked!

 

 

Yep, that was way back in the 19th century, but I don't know what they were trying to market, there's not a lot there. The locals call it Llanfair PG today - (much easier to write on letters and envelopes huh?). That's easy to pronounce - here's a quick Welsh lesson. Anytime you see Lla, it's pronounced thl, f sounds like a v so, it sounds like Thlanvia - it's easy to add the PG at the end . . .

 

By the by, we had deep fried haggis balls on our Greenock tour. They were definitely better than the haggis my dad used to make, but I'd never tell him that!

 

Your dad must not have prepared the haggis to the true original recipe then? Did you try the haggis balls with a wee dram too?

 

Kevin

[coxswain]

Sunday isn't a great day to visit Belfast - most places are closed or only open at 1pm.

 

 

 

 

jj......

[dog]

So, the only tender ports were Kirkwall and Edinburgh?

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

dog

[Denverite]

Dog: Actually there were 4 tender ports but we missed Guernsey. Holyhead was also a tender port.

 

Spongerob: The restaurant in Normandy was at the Ferme Hotel, La Raconniere. And actually we used some of the same guides you did, as I read your review from your previous trip! So thanks for the recommendations.

 

Spikesgirl: "Deep fried haggis balls" - Oh my.... I think I will stay with the sticky toffee pudding.

 

And about that pronunciation of Llanfair PG...well just ask Bob on the Busybus to play his CD--a children's song that teaches you how to pronounce the name, but I only got the last part of it...I was laughing too much!

[spongerob]

Thanks, Denverite. It was a very enjoyable meal. I found it a little difficult to reconcile how peaceful and beautiful the Normandy countryside was, with the thought that so much fighting had taken place there.

[bankofdad]

(5) Food: Try the sticky toffee pudding. It was great! Now if you want to try haggis, you are on your own with that one!

 

This was a great trip--one of my favorites.

 

Wonderful review! You've given me some great ideas for our upcoming trip.

 

Regarding haggis, I think it's quite tasty, but DW just can't get past what's in it! I had a great meal at the Wea Windas along the Royal Mile during our last visit. DD is pretty adventurous from a food standpoint, too, but she wouldn't try it once I described the ingredients. Think of it like you're eating a sausage, or a hot dog - you're better off NOT knowing what's it it!!:D