Celebrity Dropping Lerwick From Several Itineraries - was it really that bad.

Just for more fun.... If you have some old 10 pound notes stored away for your next trip to the UK, it's likely that you also likely have some round 1 pound coins. The round 1 pound coins have also expired.

We were there on the Norwegian fjord Cruise in May and I did not think tendering was bad. Seas were not rough and it was better and shorter ride than Maui last fall. There is not a lot to do in port, we had canceled ship excursion because of poor experience in Bergen. Did get some very good fish and chips and did some shopping. Saw some fantastic knit goods, but out of our price range.

 

Wonder if this has anything to do with Brexit? Did get some Pounds to us for local money.

 

 

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Nothing to do with Brexit.

It`s more likely the local council has a reluctance to outlay on infrastructure to accommodate cruise ships in what is a short season..

The Northern Isles, fortunately, don`t need cruise traffic as an income as they are sufficiently rewarded with oil related money.

Nothing to do with Brexit.

 

 

 

It`s more likely the local council has a reluctance to outlay on infrastructure to accommodate cruise ships in what is a short season..

 

The Northern Isles, fortunately, don`t need cruise traffic as an income as they are sufficiently rewarded with oil related money.

I really can’t see what rexit has to do with it. I think it is probably more to do with an environmental issue as the place was having more cruise ships than they can handle.

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Celebrity have most likely made this decision on the feedback from previous visitors.

I`m sure the majority of islanders will just shrug their shoulders at this decision.

It can`t be pleasant when you have a small town that is invaded by two cruise ships dropping off 5/6 thousand tourists.

I`ve seen it on Grand Cayman where 7 ships have descended on the island. Not good. Impossible to walk on the pavement/ sidewalk.

As for environmental reasons...I don`t think that alone is a reason. After all, they have a large facility there for oil.

These islands don`t have a high unemployment problem. They don`t depend on cruise traffic.

A lot of people move to the island for the peace and tranquility.

We called at Lerwick in August and enjoyed it very much. But that was on Viking Sun, which was able to dock. Tendering raises weather issues that make the larger cruise lines evaluate ports differently, because of passenger complaints when ports are canceled.

You won’t miss much. We were there two weeks ago on our transatlantic on Serenade of the Seas. We were disappointed. There’s really nothing there of interest and the worst experience is that the shop we stopped at refused to take any currency other than British pounds. No credit cards accepted either. They wouldn’t take our British pounds because they said they were too old, not the new colorful ones. Got the impression that we weren’t welcome. Be happy that Celebrity was smart enough to reroute to somewhere where they welcome cruisers.

Think this is a bit unfair. You should check you have the correct currency when you are visiting any country. The UK is a very welcoming, inclusive place. Shetland is a small place and they are looking on how better to accommodate the large cruise ships. Cruise ship passengers are very welcome but unfortunately the infrastructure is not the same as some well established destinations. Time and a more generous attitude would be more appropriate.

Think this is a bit unfair. You should check you have the correct currency when you are visiting any country. The UK is a very welcoming, inclusive place. Shetland is a small place and they are looking on how better to accommodate the large cruise ships. Cruise ship passengers are very welcome but unfortunately the infrastructure is not the same as some well established destinations. Time and a more generous attitude would be more appropriate.

The OP thought they had the correct local currency, I'm not sure that it's reasonable to expect a tourist to check for expired currency. Actually I'm surprised there isn't more discussion about expired UK currency on CC.

However I will agree with you about the lack of infrastructure. We enjoyed our stop in Lerwick a couple of years ago at a beautiful ruins site operated by the national government. However there really aren't good spots for the tour buses to stop and there aren't any restroom facilities. Perhaps the tourist season is too short to justify additional expenditures, but if they don't then the tours and cruise lines will stop coming.

If you want to watch the tendering effort of any cruise ship just watch this link:

https://www.shetlandwebcams.com/town-hall-east/

And, if you want to know which ship(s) will be there on what days go to this link:

https://www.lerwick-harbour.co.uk/visiting-cruise-ships-2019

Enjoy. But keep in mind Lerwick is a number of hours ahead of us in the United States. UK, not so much, of course.

The US is one of the few countries too timid to change their currency and make it happen. Canada decided to do away with paper currency for small denominations and said that, after a certain date, paper would no longer be accepted. Now they have one and two dollar coins as the only thing in use. England decided to go with a new type of more secure paper money and did the same. Remember our experience with trying to go to a one dollar coin? The government left it to people to decide which they wanted to use. When was the last time you paid with a one dollar coin? On our recent trip to England we had some old notes and was able to exchange them at a bank in a small town.

The US is one of the few countries too timid to change their currency and make it happen.

Another way to put this would be: the US is one of the few countries that is a true democracy, in which the government doesn't force change on the people. We are just back from 4 weeks in the British Isles, and my pockets were never so heavy what with all the 1 and 2 pound coins. [Also interesting that Britain still measures roads in miles. Imperial measures live, just like Bird!]

Just to be clear, when was the last time the U.S. declared some currency to be expired? Think about it. ;)

 

The currency is still valid, it just needs to be exchanged at a bank. If an area depends on tourism you would think the local shops would still accept the currency as a goodwill gesture.

 

We experienced the same thing during our cruise out of Southampton earlier this year. We didn't find out the currency was expired until our last evening in London when it was too late to exchange the money. However one of the Brits we met on the cruise said it wasn't a problem for him and exchanged the money for us.

 

Thanks again

Just to be clear, very little of the economy of the Shetland Islands is derived from tourism. They certainly don't "depend" on it. It's a remarkably stable economy, with most of its revenue coming from oil, fishing, and livestock.

We stopped at Lerwick on our May, 2018 Fjords cruise. I hired a minibus and driver and put together a group from our roll call. Interesting scenery, but obviously anti-climatic after the sensational beauty of the fjords. But more pleasant than plenty of other ports we've been to in other parts of Europe. Clean, safe, lovely people. Just a very nice day.

PS I'm genuinely surprised that the shop wouldn't take credit cards. My instinct is telling me that you were making a very small purchase, perhaps below the minimum they accept for a credit card purchase. Or maybe you just wanted to dump the expired money on them so that they could hassle with changing them at the bank.

One issue no one has mentioned so far about this expired money problem is that three Scottish banks issue their own Sterling notes. We never saw Bank of England notes in Scotland. [There are some older threads showing that it used to be a problem spending the Scottish notes in England, but that is no longer the case.] But I would think that would make merchants on these outer islands even more leery of taking the expired notes because there aren't any Bank of England branches nearby.

One issue no one has mentioned so far about this expired money problem is that three Scottish banks issue their own Sterling notes. We never saw Bank of England notes in Scotland. [There are some older threads showing that it used to be a problem spending the Scottish notes in England, but that is no longer the case.] But I would think that would make merchants on these outer islands even more leery of taking the expired notes because there aren't any Bank of England branches nearby.

You can legally use Scottish, English and Northern Irish notes anywhere in the UK. Shops shouldn’t refuse to take them as they can pay them in to their local bank at no charge. I bring Scottish notes down to England regularly from visiting family and always get funny looks when I try to use them.

It must appear awfully confusing for foreign visitors. I apologise on behalf of our confusing system 😂😂😂

Pound notes from Guensey can not be spent in UK,coins can as they are the same shape etc

You can legally use Scottish, English and Northern Irish notes anywhere in the UK. Shops shouldn’t refuse to take them as they can pay them in to their local bank at no charge.

Nope. When you offer to buy at a shop, they are entitled to accept or refuse any means of payment they choose. They can refuse Scottish notes, they can refuse £50 English notes, they can accept large amounts of shiny beads - entirely their right [emoji846]

This page from the Bank of England politely busts many myths around acceptance of bank notes:

http://edu.bankofengland.co.uk/knowledgebank/what-is-legal-tender/

I just booked the May 7, 2019 Iceland and Ireland cruise & it includes both Cork (Cobh) AND Lerwick. After seeing this thread I double-checked the Celebrity website and it still shows both ports. Am I missing something here?

Which ship are you booked on?