British Isles, Princess shore excursions question

We booked a British Isles cruise in July, and would like to reserve some of the Princess shore excursions. I noticed that all listed tours are in non air conditioned motor coaches. Is this true ? If you took a Princess shore excursion, what was your experience traveling in a non air conditioned tour bus during summer ? Thank you.

Just back from BI cruise, loved it!! The only Princess excursion we took was in LaHavre and we went to Honfleur. We were there on a Sunday and I wasn’t sure about the availability of taxis or Uber. The bus was comfortable and had AC. Very good guide.

The rest of our excursions (some of the ports are super easy to do yourself) we did shared private excursions. They were all excellent, a fraction of the price of ships excursions, covered more ground than ships excursions and most were in much smaller buses. I’d be happy to share the names of the companies we used if you are interested, just let me know. All are 5* rated on TripAdvisor.

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We booked a British Isles cruise in July, and would like to reserve some of the Princess shore excursions. I noticed that all listed tours are in non air conditioned motor coaches. Is this true ? If you took a Princess shore excursion, what was your experience traveling in a non air conditioned tour bus during summer ? Thank you.

We have done the Princess British Isles cruise 3 times, all in July, and took nothing but Princess excursions. We never once felt any discomfort in a tour bus without air conditioning.

Thank you Sunsetbeachgal. That would be great if you could share the private tour companies you used.

Just back from BI cruise, loved it!! The only Princess excursion we took was in LaHavre and we went to Honfleur. We were there on a Sunday and I wasn’t sure about the availability of taxis or Uber. The bus was comfortable and had AC. Very good guide.

 

The rest of our excursions (some of the ports are super easy to do yourself) we did shared private excursions. They were all excellent, a fraction of the price of ships excursions, covered more ground than ships excursions and most were in much smaller buses. I’d be happy to share the names of the companies we used if you are interested, just let me know. All are 5* rated on TripAdvisor.

 

 

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Currently on the Royal in Belfast. The trip today and yesterday in Dublin had coaches with aircon not that you need it much!

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Thank you Sunsetbeachgal. That would be great if you could share the private tour companies you used.

Hi Pansy!

Following is a synopsis of what we did at the ports including those where we did not do a tour. The companies required payment at the time of reservation but if the ship didn’t make it to the port we would have gotten a refund. The prices are in pounds or Euro, you can convert.

Guernsey-did on own. We walked to the German WWII museum, you could also tour the castle or just spend time in the cute town.

Cobh-Used “ecoach “ Blarney Castle 1/2 day tour. Cost 39€ per person. A lot of folks on our roll call used Paddywagon Tours. Large bus. Blarney is touristy but grounds are absolutely beautiful. Line to kiss the stone was very long, we did not do it! There is a nice Titanic museum in the adorable town of Cobh within a very short walk of the ship. We had a local beer and listened to live Irish music at a pub in Cobh after our tour.

Dublin-Princess had a shuttle to downtown, $8 each way. We did a walking tour, some of our group did HOHO bus, others went to Guinness factory tour and had a great time. We had a fun dinner at the Temple Bar area before walking back to Catch Princess shuttle.

Liverpool- ship docks right downtown, walk off and can go to Beatles museum and lots of shopping within a short walk.

Belfast-used Odyssey Coach Tours for shore tour to wonderful Giants Causeway Tour. 33 £ per person. Small bus.

Greenock-used Discover Scotland for shore tour called Loch Lomond, Trossochs and Stirling Castle. Fantastic day. 49 £ per person. Small bus

Invergordon-our sailing missed this port due to high winds. I had a private tour arranged but can’t comment as we didn’t go there.

Edinburgh- we had already been to Edinburgh so we did an excellent full day excursion to St. Andrews that included a walking tour on the famous Old Course (we are golfers) and plenty of free time to shop and have lunch. I booked it through Viator. Cost $115 per person. The rest of our party took the shuttle and did Edinburgh on their own. It’s a beautiful city!

LaHavre- we had already done DDay Beaches on previous trips so we did a Princess excursion to Honfleur, a beautiful village. Princess offers a number of trips to Paris but they involve a 2 1/2 to 3 hour bus ride each way which was way too much for us! Family members who had never been to Paris did it and were happy.

Hope this helps! We were in all cases back at the ship at least 1 1/2 hours or more before all aboard.

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Remember this is mainly a Briitish Isles and Ireland cruise so unless you are lucky with the weather you are more likely to need heating than air conditioning![emoji16]

We live in the North of England and have similar weather to Scotland and Ireland and it is rarely warm enough to need air conditioning. Saying that however we are having a warm spell at the moment so you never know.

We are also doing this cruise in July so have our fingers crossed for good weather as the last few summers here haven't been very good.

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