British Isles/ Caribbean Princess Help Please

[suspaul]

Hello. We are new to big ship cruising, having dine mostly river cruises in Europe, however we are doing the above cruise in July. I'm so confused, there ae so many options for excursions and while we have finally narrowed down several I'm trying to get information from those who have done this trip before.

 

My questions are: we would like to do a HO/HO tour in Dublin, Glasgow and Edinburgh, I note that there are Do On Your Own excursions offered by Princess but they seem awfully expensive to me, essentially they get you from the port into the city, hand over a map and your time is free until the departure back to the ship. I'm looking for a more cost effective way r/t into these cities where we can pick up one of the HO/HO buses or just amble around. Any suggestions? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your time.

Susan

[majortom10]

Shuttle bus service in Dublin is 16$ per person return then hoho bus where you get off shuttle bus. You can catch a train into Glasgow and then do hoho bus and best way to get into Edinburgh is after being dropped off by tender at South Queensferry short walk to Dalmeny train station £4-60 pp return to Edinburgh. We are currently on this cruise now.

[suspaul]

Thanks shilly3191. Really appreciate your taking the time to reply, especially since you are now on this cruise. Enjoy the rest of your trip.

S

[gstewart]

I live in Edinburgh. I would agree, get the train into the city. The main stop for the open top hop on hop off buses in Edinburgh is directly above the station on Waverley bridge. They are a good way to get around the city. You can buy castle tickets from them which prevents you having to queue for tickets at the castle.

[suspaul]

gstewart, thanks for the info. I had read about the train into Edinburgh, would you mind telling me where it is in relation to the ship port of South Queensferry, is it walkable to the train? Also, can we buy tickets on board or is there a ticket machine on the platform? While we will only have a day in Edinburgh we thought the HOHO would be a good way to catch a glimpse of the city and get our bearings for a future independent trip. Any other info you can think of would be appreciated. Any thoughts on lunch at The Oink? We have friends from GB who rave about it and say it's a must do?

Again, thanks,

Susan

[dr__dawggy]

There is a great volunteer organization that offers free (tips are appreciated and accepted) tours of the small port town of Greenock and the surrounding countryside. They meet cruise ships at the dock.....sign up for the tour/s you want. The two three hour tours we took with this group were among the highlights of our cruise.....highly recommended.

 

http://www.inverclydetouristgroup.co.uk/

[suspaul]

Great link dr__dawggy, I took a quick look thru the website and have bookmarked it for a closer look. Thanks for your help.

S

[leavingocalaagain]

gstewart, thanks for the info. I had read about the train into Edinburgh, would you mind telling me where it is in relation to the ship port of South Queensferry, is it walkable to the train? Also, can we buy tickets on board or is there a ticket machine on the platform? While we will only have a day in Edinburgh we thought the HOHO would be a good way to catch a glimpse of the city and get our bearings for a future independent trip. Any other info you can think of would be appreciated. Any thoughts on lunch at The Oink? We have friends from GB who rave about it and say it's a must do?

Again, thanks,

Susan

 

 

Go to the active thread on this section and there is a great description for the train:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1851903

[Pheebs]

Hello. We are new to big ship cruising, having dine mostly river cruises in Europe, however we are doing the above cruise in July. I'm so confused, there ae so many options for excursions and while we have finally narrowed down several I'm trying to get information from those who have done this trip before.

 

My questions are: we would like to do a HO/HO tour in Dublin, Glasgow and Edinburgh, I note that there are Do On Your Own excursions offered by Princess but they seem awfully expensive to me, essentially they get you from the port into the city, hand over a map and your time is free until the departure back to the ship. I'm looking for a more cost effective way r/t into these cities where we can pick up one of the HO/HO buses or just amble around. Any suggestions? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your time.

Susan

 

On Caribbean Princess at the moment, we were in Dublin the other day. Didn't bother with a shuttle bus at $16pp we enquired to take a taxi into the city. I think it was around €15 for a couple (we were a group of six) the taxi driver offered a tour and it was cheaper than the Ho-Ho as we took shortcuts etc and got in places you wouldn't get down, we stopped for lunch and had some free time before he took us back round and then back to the ship. Was a great day out! The driver's name was Tony and he drove a black Toyota (I think!) people carrier.

 

Glasgow we went on the train to the city from Greenock central (from the port terminal turn right and up to the traffic lights turn left and down the street and through the shopping mall and station is on the other side about 20min walk ) the cost was £6.90 for a return to Glasgow Central.

 

Don't know about Edinburgh yet will be there a few days time, in Kirkwall at the moment!

 

Hope you enjoy the ship more than us, first time on a big ship :o :(

[majortom10]

The free tours in Greenock last approx 2hrs and they will only let you book one trip to be fair to other cruisers.

[suspaul]

Another huge thanks to all, such useful information. It seems there is more than enough to keep us busy at each port.

 

leavingocalagain, thanks for the link, will take a look.

 

Pheebs, how lucky was that? Definitely sounds better than the HOHO bus tour. We will be part of a group of 8 so probably won't work for us and I think it's too late to try to book a private tour but maybe I need to look into it. Like I mentioned, we are not used to big ship cruises either, are you having a nice time? You sound as if this may not be your "cup of tea". Appreciate your input.

 

Shilly3191, again, thanks and will kept the Greenock info handy.

 

S

[dr__dawggy]

The free tours in Greenock last approx 2hrs and they will only let you book one trip to be fair to other cruisers.

 

We took two tours last year, and the second lasted three hours. But that was at the beginning of the cruise season. I think we were the first Princess ship in port for the cruise season following a TA. Maybe they have tightened up a bit since we were there.

[ischeer]

gstewart, thanks for the info. I had read about the train into Edinburgh, would you mind telling me where it is in relation to the ship port of South Queensferry, is it walkable to the train? Also, can we buy tickets on board or is there a ticket machine on the platform? While we will only have a day in Edinburgh we thought the HOHO would be a good way to catch a glimpse of the city and get our bearings for a future independent trip. Any other info you can think of would be appreciated. Any thoughts on lunch at The Oink? We have friends from GB who rave about it and say it's a must do?

Again, thanks,

Susan

 

Go to the active thread on this section and there is a great description for the train:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1851903

 

Be aware that the "walk" to the train involves a vertical climb (steps, paths) of about 160 ft. The photos in the referenced thread will give you some idea of the height of the climb.