Port Questions - Emerald Princess British Isles - June 2022

[Denmal]

We are sailing on the Emerald Princess in June and have some questions on ports: 

1.  Dublin - We actually dock at Dun Laoghaire and the Dublin on your own is alittle expensive - What is the best way to get into Dublin - There will be 4 of us. 

2. Liverpool - Can I just walk into town from the dock ? 

3. Greenock ( Glasglow ) - this is also a little expensive to get into town - Suggestion on what to do in Greenock ? or area ?

Thanks

[Harters]

2 - Yes. The cruise terminal is about a 10 - 15 minute walk to the main central retail centre at Liverpool One.  And less to attractions such as the Museum of Liverpool (well worth a visit)  and the Albert Dock area, which are both on the waterfront.

[John Bull]

1. DART train every 10 minutes from Dun Laoghaire direct to central Dublin is the Connolly stop.

https://www.dublinpublictransport.ie/dublin-trains

 

2. As per the post from the Harters (local expert)

 

3. Train from Greenock West to Glasgow Central. Return tickets £7.90 (off-peak) to £12.40 (anytime), broadly half-hourly service. 10-15 minute walk from cruise terminal to West Greenock station.

Not my part of the UK, but Glsgow certainly has places of interest, or there are other places which can be comfortably fitted into a day-trip, such as circumnavigate Loch Lomond & The Trossachs by car and a cruise on the loch.

 

JB 🙂

 

[Mikel1733]

When in the UK do you need their currency or can you use American credit cards?

[John Bull]

10 hours ago, Mikel1733 said:

When in the UK do you need their currency or can you use American credit cards?

 

Visa and Mastercard are very very widely accepted - even a lot of market stalls, taxis & such. And usually no minimum spend. Because cards give a better exchange rate than exchange bureaux, use your card for all bar the smallest purchase (there may be a minimum foreign exchange fee). 

Amex and particularly DC aren't widely accepted, except in places like central London.

 

Since outlets offering to charge the card in the customer's own currency is prevalent outside the UK (including on cruise ships) I guess the same applies to purchases in the UK.

DECLINE any offer to charge your card in USD. Outlets can set their own exchange rates - some will be at rip-off exchange rates, none will be at an exchange rate as good as your card provider even allowing for any card fee for foreign exchange.

Some outlets have POS machines which automatically convert to the currency of the card - so do check the charge on the screen before authorising, and if it's showing in USD ask them to change it back to charging in local currency. This also means that you can check that the charge is the same as on the check / price label (tax is always included in advertised prices).

 

If you're going to spend some time in the UK or elsewhere outside the USA, get a card which doesn't charge a fee for foreign exchange. They probably won't give you other perks like cashback, but for foreign travel they can save you a lot of money. We have one card with no foreign exchange fee, which we use exclusively for travel abroad. It also has the advantage that we can easily see how much we've spent on foreign travel. .

 

Cash payments need to be in GBP -  very few places accept USD or Euros, and those that do are likely to give a very poor exchange rate.

 

JB 🙂

[Harters]

2 hours ago, John Bull said:

We have one card with no foreign exchange fee, which we use exclusively for travel abroad.

As do we.

 

As JB mentions, many small outlets are now taking cards (since Covid) when preiously wouldn't. You will not need much hard currency

[Denmal]

Thank you for all the responses.  We will now take the DART into Dublin.  We try to use public Transporation whenever possible. 

 

In addition, we are going to Guernsey on this voyage, when last there I bought a bottle of Blue Bottle Gin in the downtown area.  I attempted to look up the liquor store where I purchased it but it appears to be out of business.  Any ideas where I can purchase another bottle.  I am a Gin drinker, and it was wonderful and of course I cannot get it here in the US.

[Guernseycruiser]

On 2/17/2022 at 8:14 PM, Denmal said:

Thank you for all the responses.  We will now take the DART into Dublin.  We try to use public Transporation whenever possible. 

 

In addition, we are going to Guernsey on this voyage, when last there I bought a bottle of Blue Bottle Gin in the downtown area.  I attempted to look up the liquor store where I purchased it but it appears to be out of business.  Any ideas where I can purchase another bottle.  I am a Gin drinker, and it was wonderful and of course I cannot get it here in the US.

 

There is a very small "Liberation store" close to the tender pier, however looking at their website, I cannot see that Blue Bottle Gin is advertised.  There are some other local gins advertised.  Blue Bottle Gin is made by Randalls which is a competitor of "Liberation" hence I do not expect it to be sold in this establishment.  Next time I am passing the store, I will pop in and double check for you.  Otherwise there are no liquor stores in the main town, hence you would need to stop off on route during an island tour.  Perhaps another suggestion would be to email the producers of Blue Bottle Gin asking them to confirm which stores in addition to their own, stock this gin, and which is the nearest to the tender pier.

 

https://liberationqualitydrinks.gg/collections/spirits/type_gin?page=1

https://www.randalls.gg/

 

Happy to help as a local with any other questions about Guernsey.

 

[Denmal]

On 2/23/2022 at 6:30 PM, Guernseycruiser said:

 

There is a very small "Liberation store" close to the tender pier, however looking at their website, I cannot see that Blue Bottle Gin is advertised.  There are some other local gins advertised.  Blue Bottle Gin is made by Randalls which is a competitor of "Liberation" hence I do not expect it to be sold in this establishment.  Next time I am passing the store, I will pop in and double check for you.  Otherwise there are no liquor stores in the main town, hence you would need to stop off on route during an island tour.  Perhaps another suggestion would be to email the producers of Blue Bottle Gin asking them to confirm which stores in addition to their own, stock this gin, and which is the nearest to the tender pier.

 

https://liberationqualitydrinks.gg/collections/spirits/type_gin?page=1

https://www.randalls.gg/

 

Happy to help as a local with any other questions about Guernsey.

 

Guernseycruiser:  We arrive on the island Friday June 3rd.  Which is the start of a bank holiday weekend due to the queen's jubilee.  Are there any special celebrations planned on the island and do you think the shops/restaurants/pubs will be open ?  I might want to pick up a souvenir of the jubilee.  Thanks again

[Guernseycruiser]

12 hours ago, Denmal said:

Guernseycruiser:  We arrive on the island Friday June 3rd.  Which is the start of a bank holiday weekend due to the queen's jubilee.  Are there any special celebrations planned on the island and do you think the shops/restaurants/pubs will be open ?  I might want to pick up a souvenir of the jubilee.  Thanks again

 

There are special celebrations planned, however our local government has not announced full details of events on each day.  The most shops will be closed as this is a public holiday, however the restaurants and pubs will be open, as well as all the tourist attractions.  Souvenir shops maybe open in St Peter Port, but I cannot be 100% certain.