Places to Drink - Scotland/Ireland/Portland First Timers

[NCLGirl2013]

In October my husband and I will be celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary with our first ever trip abroad from US to a cruise in Ireland/Scotland and England. My husband and I don't want to do anything too fancy at the ports but instead he would like to walk around and just experience the local places and find some good pubs to have a drink at. Since we've never been to any of these, can someone recommend some good places to get a drink at? If you've been to these ports before, is there stuff straight off the ship that you can walk around and go to or do you need to take transportation to a different area? I've looked at the cruise excursions offered through the cruise lone and it is mostly sight seeing that does not interest us too much and is very limited options. Any and all advice is welcome! We are beyond excited but I am also very nervous! 

Edited June 30, 2023 by NCLGirl2013
Added picture of stops

[gumshoe958]

At some of those ports (Newhaven, Invergordon, Douglas, Dun Laoghaire, Cobh) you will dock within easy walking distance of local bars, cafes and restaurants. But in all cases except Douglas you would need to use local buses, trains or cabs to visit the actual city served - Edinburgh, Inverness, Dublin, Cork - where there are far more choices.

 

The docks at Kirkwall, Belfast & Portland aren’t easily walkable to anywhere but in all cases the cruise line should provide a shuttle bus (maybe with a charge) that’ll take you into the nearest town centre.

[fruitmachine]

1 hour ago, NCLGirl2013 said:

In October my husband and I will be celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary with our first ever trip abroad from US to a cruise in Ireland/Scotland and England. My husband and I don't want to do anything too fancy at the ports but instead he would like to walk around and just experience the local places and find some good pubs to have a drink at. Since we've never been to any of these, can someone recommend some good places to get a drink at? If you've been to these ports before, is there stuff straight off the ship that you can walk around and go to or do you need to take transportation to a different area? I've looked at the cruise excursions offered through the cruise lone and it is mostly sight seeing that does not interest us too much and is very limited options. Any and all advice is welcome! We are beyond excited but I am also very nervous! 

I can help with detail for Edinburgh, but it would help if you said some more about what you do want to do. 

 

Is 'sightseeing' not of interest, or would you like to mix a few sights with some general exploring and experiencing the area (at a much lower cost than a ship excursion)?  What are the things that interest you when nearer to home?

[JimmyTheSaint]

A few suggestions for Belfast. The most obvious one and the most famous is The Crown

 

https://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/restaurants/scotlandandnorthernireland/thecrownliquorsaloonbelfast?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gmb#/

 

A good one for lunch and a pint is The Kitchen Bar  https://www.thekitchenbar.com/

 

And one connected to the most famous ship of all time https://www.titanichotelbelfast.com/fine-dining-belfast/harland-bar?_gl=1*1cjchjh*_up*MQ..&gclid=CjwKCAjw-vmkBhBMEiwAlrMeF7cWTFS0bJDrebVJbv9K1HGh08SKXjmhn2Alkv6SigO4oVyf_SI6xhoCIXkQAvD_BwE

[edinburgher]

The Cafe Royal and the Guildford Arms almost next door to each other on W. Register St. Edinburgh, almost across from the Balmoral Hotel, are both historic and beautifully decorated. Both are very well known and there will be many images and reviews of both to be found  online.

 

Having said that, Edinburgh is packed full of historic pubs in both the centre and the area along the Royal Mile/High St, way way too many to even begin to suggest a small number.. If you really do only want to walk around, then head for the area between the Castle and Holyrood Palace (Royal Mile/High St)  and also down into the nearby Grassmarket as you will find many many pubs along the route and can decide which appeal to you most.  There are also many interesting and historic sights along that same route, so you could take in some "sightseeing" without actually trying to take it in if that makes sense..

Edited July 1, 2023 by edinburgher

[Meander Ingwa]

I would encourage you to reconsider the agenda at Kirkwall and take advantage for a chance to visit Skara Brae and the other ancient sights

 

Edinburgh is easy to get to from the port on the tram line.  

 

There are as many opinions about pubs as there may be about pizza or BBQ.  I usually start by noodling around google maps for the areas and look at what's there and click in to the venue web site for info about vibe food and drink

[fruitmachine]

On 6/30/2023 at 5:07 PM, NCLGirl2013 said:

Edited Friday at 05:08 PM by NCLGirl2013

It's probably worth pointing out that the cruise line stretch credibility when the use phrases like "London (Southampton)", which are two cities 80 miles apart, in the same list as "Edinburgh (Newhaven)", which are the city and a small district of it (just over 2 miles from the castle) that the ship tenders to.

 

[gumshoe958]

1 hour ago, fruitmachine said:

It's probably worth pointing out that the cruise line stretch credibility when the use phrases like "London (Southampton)", which are two cities 80 miles apart, in the same list as "Edinburgh (Newhaven)", which are the city and a small district of it (just over 2 miles from the castle) that the ship tenders to.

 

Even worse - although not included in this itinerary: Paris (Le Havre) which is 120 miles! About the same as LAX to San Diego.

 

Edited July 2, 2023 by gumshoe958

[Meander Ingwa]

Agree the last thing I would do at Le Havre is waste my time going in to Paris.  With two amazing places close at hand Rouen and Bayeux, might as well watch Paris on TV

[Catchum]

At the risk of lowering the tone of the discussion can I mention Weatherspoons. They are a chain of pubs which serve good beer at excellent prices. Not fancy but good beer at excellent prices. Certainly Portland, Cobh and Edinburgh have them. Please don't miss Edinburgh it is a city like no other you can catch the bus or train to the city easily. Portland  is super easy you have to be bussed off the dock to the town, Weymouth which is a great seaside town. Dublin get of the ship walk to the station get the train to dublin and get yourselves to the Guinness brewery. Google - insert name - cruise port and you will be down the rabbit hole with the  rest of us.

[NCLGirl2013]

On 7/4/2023 at 3:36 PM, Catchum said:

At the risk of lowering the tone of the discussion can I mention Weatherspoons. They are a chain of pubs which serve good beer at excellent prices. Not fancy but good beer at excellent prices. Certainly Portland, Cobh and Edinburgh have them. Please don't miss Edinburgh it is a city like no other you can catch the bus or train to the city easily. Portland  is super easy you have to be bussed off the dock to the town, Weymouth which is a great seaside town. Dublin get of the ship walk to the station get the train to dublin and get yourselves to the Guinness brewery. Google - insert name - cruise port and you will be down the rabbit hole with the  rest of us.

I'm going to add this to my list for Portland. Good to know Dublin is pretty easy to get to from the cruise port.

[NCLGirl2013]

So Inverness and Invergordon it seems are pretty far apart.  Glenmorangie Distillery it seems is pretty close to Invergordon. Are taxis/Ubers pretty readily available in Invergordon to get to Glenmorangie and then the same question to get to Glenmorangie to Inverness? 

[gumshoe958]

32 minutes ago, NCLGirl2013 said:

So Inverness and Invergordon it seems are pretty far apart.  Glenmorangie Distillery it seems is pretty close to Invergordon. Are taxis/Ubers pretty readily available in Invergordon to get to Glenmorangie and then the same question to get to Glenmorangie to Inverness? 

No Uber anywhere near there. And Invergordon is a small place so taxis will be limited. You’d be advised to pre-book any journeys you need if you’re not planning to take an organised tour.

[NCLGirl2013]

On 7/6/2023 at 12:11 PM, gumshoe958 said:

No Uber anywhere near there. And Invergordon is a small place so taxis will be limited. You’d be advised to pre-book any journeys you need if you’re not planning to take an organised tour.

Unfortunately every shore excursion operators I have found are for a group, not just two people. I have not found any that other what we are wanting to do which is just the distilleries 

[edinburgher]

15 minutes ago, NCLGirl2013 said:

I have not found any that other what we are wanting to do which is just the distilleries 

Have you joined a Roll Call for your sailing? It may be worthwhile asking on there if anyone would be interested if you were to organise a tour. Give the details of the itinerary, timings and cost.

 

Alternatively, try searching for any distillery in the vicinity of Invergordon as there may be one or two you could visit without doing a longer tour.

If it helps, Invergordon has a train station.

Edited July 8, 2023 by edinburgher

[NCLGirl2013]

6 hours ago, edinburgher said:

Have you joined a Roll Call for your sailing? It may be worthwhile asking on there if anyone would be interested if you were to organise a tour. Give the details of the itinerary, timings and cost.

 

Alternatively, try searching for any distillery in the vicinity of Invergordon as there may be one or two you could visit without doing a longer tour.

If it helps, Invergordon has a train station.

I have on the roll call but also my husband is NOT a people person so he would not enjoy it if we had to do it with other people anyway 😅  I'll check out the Invergordon train station and see if there are any options that work for us 

[John Bull]

Portland is a rocky peninsula, connected to the mainland by a road on a natural shingle bank.

The port is secure, you can only leave or enter on a shuttlebus.

 

The free shuttlebus drops you at Portland Castle - it's only a very small castle, and just a seven- minute walk back from the castle to the port gate via the little volunteer-run D-Day museum. Both are interesting, but each is worthy of an hour or less. There are only a couple of locals' pubs in the area, I don't know either of them.

https://goo.gl/maps/afhRauVvtHXRUUve6

 

Instead I suggest that you take the payable ($10?) ship's shuttle 5 miles to the traditional Victorian seaside resort of Weymouth. Plenty of pubs & cafes, fish-and-chips, quaint narrow little tourist streets, smugglers museum, seafront promenade and large sandy beach - often with sand sculptures.

A pleasant & lazy day.

https://goo.gl/maps/jtamYgHUHqXbiUfu5

 

Lots of sights within easy driving distance of Portland, but you'd need to book a tour - there are no tours or even taxis available on-spec at the port. 

 

JB 🙂

[diathoney]

On 7/2/2023 at 2:19 AM, fruitmachine said:

It's probably worth pointing out that the cruise line stretch credibility when the use phrases like "London (Southampton)", which are two cities 80 miles apart, in the same list as "Edinburgh (Newhaven)", which are the city and a small district of it (just over 2 miles from the castle) that the ship tenders to.

 

Winchester is easy to get to from Southampton (train or Uber). The Cathedral /pedestrian area is very walkable. You can tour the beautiful cathedral, castle ruins and walk up the old tower at the end of the shopping street for a great view.

[Harters]

On 7/10/2023 at 11:37 AM, John Bull said:

Weymouth. Plenty of pubs & cafes, fish-and-chips,

If you go to Weymouth and are looking for fish & chips, look no further than Bennett's right on the harbour

 

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g190817-d2346134-r861869397-Bennett_s_Fish_Chips-Weymouth_Dorset_England.html

 

Or there's Rockfish - a small local seafood restaurant chain, located on the main promenade

. 

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g190817-d17766521-r861861431-Rockfish_Weymouth-Weymouth_Dorset_England.html

Edited August 11, 2023 by Harters