Onboard Neptune now - British Isles Explorer

[MaynardsMom]

On 5/20/2023 at 3:27 AM, Moonlion said:

Day 11 (May 19th, Edinburg):

We then Ubered from the RYB to the top of the Edinburg Castle (£12). Viking offers a free shuttle from the pier to Charlotte Square which is a few blocks from the Castle, but we didn’t want to waste any time. We didn’t buy tickets to the Castle but could walk up to the top of the esplanade to take photos and enjoy the views of the city. 
 

 

How long did the Uber take to the Castle?  We will be in Edinburgh on the August 29 BIE and because of losing Ullapool and Orkeny we get a day and a half in Edinburgh.  We dock at noon and want to go straight to the Castle leaving the next day for other adventures.  Not sure how long it will take us to get off the ship, but hoped that if we booked the 3:00 p.m. entry we'd have plenty of time to get there explore.  

 

Thanks for your running updates on the cruise.  It has helped our planning so much!  

[Moonlion]

4 minutes ago, MaynardsMom said:

How long did the Uber take to the Castle?  We will be in Edinburgh on the August 29 BIE and because of losing Ullapool and Orkeny we get a day and a half in Edinburgh.  We dock at noon and want to go straight to the Castle leaving the next day for other adventures.  Not sure how long it will take us to get off the ship, but hoped that if we booked the 3:00 p.m. entry we'd have plenty of time to get there explore.  

 

Thanks for your running updates on the cruise.  It has helped our planning so much!  

The Uber from the Royal Yacht Britannia to the top of the castle took about 25 minutes; from Holyroodhouse to the New Haven pier, it  took a little over 15 minutes. Of course, your travel time could be more or less depending on traffic, which will depend on day of week, time of day, etc. 
 

We were in Edinburg on a Friday. When we got to the Castle around noon, it was mobbed. I was glad we decided not to purchase tickets to the Castle because we probably would have skipped it. 

[LindaS272]

7 hours ago, Moonlion said:

Day 12 (May 20th, Invergordon):

 

We did an independent tour today with Thistle Excursions which I booked through TripAdvisor ($150 pp). We visited a lot of sites on this 7-hour excursion: Culloden Battlefield, Clara Cairns and Beauly Priory from the Outlander series, Cawdor Castle and Gardens (beautiful castle and gardens - not to be missed in our opinion!), lunch stop in Inverness, Loch Ness (we didn’t spot Nessie 🥲), and more. Our guide, June, was excellent and there were only 6 of us in a minivan, all fellow passengers from the Neptune. The weather was lovely in the morning and held out until the mid-afternoon when we had some light rain on and off. Fortunately, we had done all the outdoor activities by then. We thoroughly enjoyed this excursion and can highly recommend. 
 

Dinner tonight in The Restaurant was excellent!

Did you stop at Tain for Glen Morangie?

[Moonlion]

47 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

Did you stop at Tain for Glen Morangie?

No, not on this tour. However, I believe that Thistle offers another excursion that stops at a distillery. 

[SteelCity Cruiser]

4 hours ago, Moonlion said:

TripAdvisor referred to ours as “Tour 2.”  Our excursion included a tour of Cawdor Castle and a drive by of Urquhart (which is basically a ruin). 

Yep - that's a little different.  We're stopping at Urquhart (it was on my extremely long list of places to see in Scotland) but not Cawdor.  Our description didn't include a lunch stop so our friends and us are going to see if the World Cafe can whip up a box lunch for us for the day.

 

[LindaS272]

1 hour ago, Moonlion said:

No, not on this tour. However, I believe that Thistle offers another excursion that stops at a distillery. 

It’s not just “a” distillery—it’s the best Scottish whisky, IMO! 😄🥃

[Moonlion]

58 minutes ago, SteelCity Cruiser said:

Yep - that's a little different.  We're stopping at Urquhart (it was on my extremely long list of places to see in Scotland) but not Cawdor.  Our description didn't include a lunch stop so our friends and us are going to see if the World Cafe can whip up a box lunch for us for the day.

 

Ours didn’t include a description of a lunch stop either. However, we stopped for an hour in Inverness to see the Inverness Castle (not open to the public now) which was enough time to grab a quick lunch. 
 

Unless, you arrange a private tour (e.g., skip the drive down to Loch Ness), there’s not enough time to tour both Urquhart and Cawdor Castle. Urquhart is one of the Outlander sites, but basically a ruins. Cawdor is a working castle, beautifully decorated inside and the gardens are truly amazing. All the sites were interesting, but Cawdor was a highlight, at least for those of us on our tour. 

[What was that?]

3 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

It’s not just “a” distillery—it’s the best Scottish whisky, IMO! 😄🥃

There's no question that it is very good - but I would want to do a taste-off between Macallan and Glenmorangie. Let me look in my liquor cabinet and see if that is possible today...

[Moonlion]

Day 13 (May 21st, Shetland Islands):

 

Today, we woke to gorgeous sunshine, calm seas, no winds and balmy temps. We were told by our tour guides and every local we encountered today that this is extremely unusual for the Shetland Islands. 
 

We did two Viking Excursions, one optional and the other the included one. In the morning, we did the “Walking the Nature Trails of Moussa Island” ($129 pp). If all conditions line up perfectly, this could be a fabulous experience…or a disaster. Ours fell somewhere in between. There is a half hour bus ride to the small pier across from Moussa Island and then a half hour boat ride to the Island.
 

The tour description said we would walk about about 3 miles around the perimeter of the island to learn about the island’s wildlife. However, we were only able to walk about a half mile to the Broch (which was interesting to visit) and back the same way because of poor ground conditions (heavy rains the past couple of weeks made the walking paths very muddy and slippery). Also, we didn’t see as much wildlife as expected (the birds and wildlife haven’t arrived in full yet because of a very cold spring). Sheep roam freely on the island and therefore there’s a LOT of sheep dung everywhere!  The tour is described as “demanding.”  However, the most strenuous activity was avoiding slipping in the mud and not stepping in the sheep dung 🤣. Although we enjoyed the hike and lovely sunshine, we probably wouldn’t recommend this excursion. The Shetlands are known for their strong winds. Our tour guide said that the boat ride is often canceled several times a week in the summer because of rough seas and winds. Not sure what alternative Viking would offer if this excursion were canceled. 
 

We did the included excursion in the afternoon (Shetland Panorama and Ponies). It’s a 1 hour, 45 minute bus ride to the western side of the Island with a couple of photoshops along the way. The “Ponies part” consisted of 5 or 6 Shetland Ponies in a pen by the side of the road and a 10-15 minute presentation by the breeder.  Some people seemed to enjoy this excursion while others commented that it was a waste of time.  Although OK, it wasn’t one of our top-rated excursions on this cruise. 
 

Dinner tonight in the Restaurant was excellent, every dish we ordered was perfectly prepared and delicious!

[SteelCity Cruiser]

Moonlion, out of curiosity, what have been the general tour guide/bus driver tipping practices in the UK - yes tip, no tip and general amount guidelines.  We're 'heavier than usual' tippers on these trips (since we see some passengers not tip guides and drivers at all) but I've gotten some conflicting advise on the topic and would appreciate your observations.

 

[Moonlion]

25 minutes ago, SteelCity Cruiser said:

Moonlion, out of curiosity, what have been the general tour guide/bus driver tipping practices in the UK - yes tip, no tip and general amount guidelines.  We're 'heavier than usual' tippers on these trips (since we see some passengers not tip guides and drivers at all) but I've gotten some conflicting advise on the topic and would appreciate your observations.

 

Sorry, I don’t really know what people are tipping the guides/drivers on the Viking excursions which are usually large bus tours with 40-50 passengers. From what we could see, most people discreetly handed the tour guide some kind of tip at the end of the tour but I have no idea the amount. 

[goldwingers]

4 hours ago, SteelCity Cruiser said:

Moonlion, out of curiosity, what have been the general tour guide/bus driver tipping practices in the UK - yes tip, no tip and general amount guidelines.  We're 'heavier than usual' tippers on these trips (since we see some passengers not tip guides and drivers at all) but I've gotten some conflicting advise on the topic and would appreciate your observations.

 

I am curious about this as well.  SteelCity, I believe we are on the same cruise.  We have the 4 day pre ext. from Oslo to Bergen.  I had read on this site somewhere that Norway is mostly cashless so had planned on using our CC since we don't want to end up with Kroner (?) left over.  But we will have several excursions while there and wondered how much to have on hand for tips.  We normally get foreign cash from an ATM but that would probably not be in small denominations.  So some idea of how others have approached the tipping would be helpful.  Same question for Pounds - we have a good supply of Euros from prior trips, but I think only the stop in Dublin uses Euros?

 

Thanks to anyone who can help!

[DGHOC]

Goldwingers, I tend to take cash out of a cash machine and then either pop into a local bank to ask them to break the notes or into a shop to buy a basic item like mints or chocs etc and then collect the change. I always try to tip in local currency, it's just common courtesy.

Edited May 22, 2023 by DGHOC

[goldwingers]

4 hours ago, DGHOC said:

Goldwingers, I tend to take cash out of a cash machine and then either pop into a local bank to ask them to break the notes or into a shop to buy a basic item like mints or chocs etc and then collect the change. I always try to tip in local currency, it's just common courtesy.

Yes, good idea - that's what we normally try to do.  This itinerary has stops with (I think) 3 different currencies.  I'd like not to have an excessive amount left over of Kroners or Pounds, that's why I'd prefer to use a CC if possible, but I don't want to stiff the guides & drivers, they deserve recognition - especially after being out of work for so long with the lack of tourism.

 

Leaving 2 weeks from today - getting last minute details attended to!  Love the reports on the ports of call - save some of that lovely weather for us!

 

Thanks

[goldwingers]

On 5/21/2023 at 12:10 PM, SteelCity Cruiser said:

Yep - that's a little different.  We're stopping at Urquhart (it was on my extremely long list of places to see in Scotland) but not Cawdor.  Our description didn't include a lunch stop so our friends and us are going to see if the World Cafe can whip up a box lunch for us for the day.

 

I think we will be on the same tour.  I just booked this because of the good reviews here.  I had wanted the Viking Outlander tour but it was sold out even before we got a chance to book.  So we had to settle for the Cawdor/Culloden since the Urquart one was sold out as well.  This Thistle tour hits all the spots we wanted to see and it is also far less expensive.  This thread is so helpful.

 

I see you are from Pittsburgh - we are in Beaver Falls area.  Maybe we will meet up on board the Venus?

[Mich3554]

10 hours ago, Moonlion said:

Sorry, I don’t really know what people are tipping the guides/drivers on the Viking excursions which are usually large bus tours with 40-50 passengers. From what we could see, most people discreetly handed the tour guide some kind of tip at the end of the tour but I have no idea the amount. 

We have done quite a few Viking excursions and there has not been a single one that we’ve been on that has had 40 passengers.  Most passenger counts tend to range from 20-35.  Our trip in The Shetlands was a boat tour to a bird sanctuary (which was fabulous) and there were 10 passengers.  My excursion today in Bergen had 21 passengers, DH said he had 22 on his (we went in different directions).

[SteelCity Cruiser]

53 minutes ago, goldwingers said:

I think we will be on the same tour.  I just booked this because of the good reviews here.  I had wanted the Viking Outlander tour but it was sold out even before we got a chance to book.  So we had to settle for the Cawdor/Culloden since the Urquart one was sold out as well.  This Thistle tour hits all the spots we wanted to see and it is also far less expensive.  This thread is so helpful.

 

I see you are from Pittsburgh - we are in Beaver Falls area.  Maybe we will meet up on board the Venus?

We are most certainly on the same cruise, and extension.  When do you fly out (wondering you are on different flights)?  We're going with a group of about 25 through our local travel guy, and most of us, I think, are on the extension in Oslo and we're extending 2 days in London as well.

 

FWIW - we'll be in the UK most of this cruise so we're going to order UK Pounds from our bank in advance then we'll get a small amount of Euros and Kroners for the time we are in Norway and Ireland.

[MikeyB]

FYI...

Viking will not exchange currencies.

However, they will happily break larger denominations into smaller ones.

 

[Moonlion]

4 minutes ago, Mich3554 said:

We have done quite a few Viking excursions and there has not been a single one that we’ve been on that has had 40 passengers.  Most passenger counts tend to range from 20-35.  Our trip in The Shetlands was a boat tour to a bird sanctuary (which was fabulous) and there were 10 passengers.  My excursion today in Bergen had 21 passengers, DH said he had 22 on his (we went in different directions).

Sorry, not so in our case. Our optional excursion, Scenic Assynt, had 2 buses - ours had exactly 44 passengers, the other had close to 50 according to another passenger on that bus. Our optional excursion, Walking the Nature Trails of Moussa Island, was almost a full bus, more than 35 I would say. 

[goldwingers]

55 minutes ago, SteelCity Cruiser said:

We are most certainly on the same cruise, and extension.  When do you fly out (wondering you are on different flights)?  We're going with a group of about 25 through our local travel guy, and most of us, I think, are on the extension in Oslo and we're extending 2 days in London as well.

 

FWIW - we'll be in the UK most of this cruise so we're going to order UK Pounds from our bank in advance then we'll get a small amount of Euros and Kroners for the time we are in Norway and Ireland.

We are flying out on the 5th British Air @ 9:45 PM.  We were assigned a different itinerary thru Viking but I upgraded to premium economy on the website & this was the best route.  A bit less than 3 hrs to change planes (& terminals) in Heathrow, so hopefully that will be long enough. You will be at the Clarion Hub in Oslo?  They changed the hotel on us a while back.  Look forward to getting to know you!

 

Barb (& Wayne)

[goldwingers]

1 hour ago, MikeyB said:

FYI...

Viking will not exchange currencies.

However, they will happily break larger denominations into smaller ones.

 

Good to know, I will keep that in mind, thanks

[SteelCity Cruiser]

50 minutes ago, goldwingers said:

We are flying out on the 5th British Air @ 9:45 PM.  We were assigned a different itinerary thru Viking but I upgraded to premium economy on the website & this was the best route.  A bit less than 3 hrs to change planes (& terminals) in Heathrow, so hopefully that will be long enough. You will be at the Clarion Hub in Oslo?  They changed the hotel on us a while back.  Look forward to getting to know you!

 

Barb (& Wayne)

Very different flight arrangements.  We're going Lufthansa with 2 connections in DC and Munich.  We won't get into Oslo until 6 pm on the 6th.  Kind of stinks to be honest.  And yes, we'll be at the Clarion Hub as well.

 

[PRH]

On 5/18/2023 at 11:56 AM, MikeyB said:

My Dear Moonlion,

We will be on the next cruise out of Bergen.

Question- Any wait staff in the  Restaurant or stations you would recommend?  I always seem to get seated with newbies.  Also any names for the bar staff?  Thanks.  I enjoy your writeup.

Explorers Lounge bartender was great.  Vlad in the MDR was fantastic!

[MikeyB]

Thank you PRH!

Next time we meet, the first drink is on me.

[MikeyB]

I hope your cruise exceeded your expectations!