"On Your Own" Carnival Excursions

[GAPaige]

We will be on Pride next week and are debating buying the Dublin On Your Own Excursion. I'm curious to know if this excursion leaves when it says it does or do the participants wait in the long tender line? If it saves us hours of line waiting, it's 100% worth it to me to pay to have extra time in Dublin, but if we will be in the line with everyone else, I don't want to waste the money.  It says the hours of the excursion are 10-4:30, so I'm curious how much of that is actually in the city vs time in line, tendering, transportation, etc.

[stobe1]

If the excursion is through Carnival you will receive priority tender access before those not on Carnival sponsored excursions. So in short, you would be one of the first ones on the tender and off the ship. 

[GAPaige]

12 minutes ago, stobe1 said:

If the excursion is through Carnival you will receive priority tender access before those not on Carnival sponsored excursions. So in short, you would be one of the first ones on the tender and off the ship. 

Thanks Stobe1, that's what I was hoping!  I wasn't sure about this one because it leaves after the tender line will already be open.

[lazydayz]

1 hour ago, GAPaige said:

Thanks Stobe1, that's what I was hoping!  I wasn't sure about this one because it leaves after the tender line will already be open.

 

You might want to look at the Dublin walking tour, which leaves earlier.  It was a great introduction to Dublin, and for our cruise at the end of July, was cheaper than the Dublin On Your Own tour. 

[Joanne G.]

I don't know about the tendering process, but I have been to Dublin and have taken the DART to Dun Laoghaire, where the tenders come in.  It was a short ride, like 20 minutes or less.  On a Carrnival excursion you will be on a bus, but that also should be a short ride, as Google tells me the distance between them is about 6 miles.  

 

As for if the Carnival excursion is worth it, that's a tough call.   You will be guaranteed a spot on a tender at the time determined by your excursion, but if that is after the tender line has opened for others, as you have said, it's hard to say if the excursion will give you the maximum time in Dublin.  I can say that the DART runs frequently, like every 10 minutes, and is easy to use.

 

My uneducated guess is that the stated excursion times of 10:30 to 4:30 could mean only about 4 hours in the city, allowing an hour on either end for loading up a bus, ground transportation, and tendering.   Perhaps try to pin down the details with the excursion staff once you are on board.   What time do the tenders start running?  How long is the tender ride?  How frequently do the tenders run?   Where in town does the excursion bus drop you off, and how close it that to what you want to see?  On your own, you can research the DART and city tram lines in relation to what you want to see.

 

Enjoy Dublin, however you decide to get there.  

 

[GAPaige]

8 minutes ago, lazydayz said:

 

You might want to look at the Dublin walking tour, which leaves earlier.  It was a great introduction to Dublin, and for our cruise at the end of July, was cheaper than the Dublin On Your Own tour. 

We had considered that.  Is it possible to leave the tour and arrange our own transport back to the ship?  We have tickets for St. Patrick's Cathedral at 12:00, so could not do the entire walking tour.

[Joanne G.]

6 minutes ago, lazydayz said:

 

You might want to look at the Dublin walking tour, which leaves earlier.  It was a great introduction to Dublin, and for our cruise at the end of July, was cheaper than the Dublin On Your Own tour. 

That sounds worth looking into.   I did several walking tours on my recent Pride cruises in Europe, though not in Dublin, and I found them enjoyable and informative for my first visit to a city.   Depending on the length of that excursion, you may be able to stay longer in the city and return to the ship on your own by public transportation or a taxi.   

[Joanne G.]

1 minute ago, GAPaige said:

We had considered that.  Is it possible to leave the tour and arrange our own transport back to the ship?  We have tickets for St. Patrick's Cathedral at 12:00, so could not do the entire walking tour.

I am sure that would be possible.  Just let the guide know so he or she isn't looking for you!  

[lazydayz]

1 hour ago, GAPaige said:

We had considered that.  Is it possible to leave the tour and arrange our own transport back to the ship?  We have tickets for St. Patrick's Cathedral at 12:00, so could not do the entire walking tour.

 

Yes, and in fact, they build in some time that you can branch off to do some shopping or wander on your own.  And you can certainly leave the tour at any time, just inform your guide.  Ours was Sean, and he is a real treasure - a wonderful ambassador for Dublin. 

[kdr69]

I did not know we would tender in Dublin?  Guess i thought since it was a major port there would be a dock?

[lazydayz]

48 minutes ago, kdr69 said:

I did not know we would tender in Dublin?  Guess i thought since it was a major port there would be a dock?

 

We tendered, as did the other cruise ship that was in Dublin that day.  I believe it is due to shallow water near shore.  

[JHU]

I was on Holland America (very small ship) last August and we tendered to the distant port.

[kwokpot]

5 hours ago, Joanne G. said:

My uneducated guess is that the stated excursion times of 10:30 to 4:30 could mean only about 4 hours in the city, allowing an hour on either end for loading up a bus, ground transportation, and tendering.   Perhaps try to pin down the details with the excursion staff once you are on board.   What time do the tenders start running?  How long is the tender ride?  How frequently do the tenders run?   Where in town does the excursion bus drop you off, and how close it that to what you want to see?  On your own, you can research the DART and city tram lines in relation to what you want to see.

Could be as short as 3 hours. On these kinds of 'On your own' ship excursions there's a lot of hurry up and wait for everyone.There's lots and lots of wasted time. 

[Joanne G.]

2 hours ago, kwokpot said:

Could be as short as 3 hours. On these kinds of 'On your own' ship excursions there's a lot of hurry up and wait for everyone.There's lots and lots of wasted time. 

I won't dispute that at all, having just done a couple of them.  But you do get more time on these "on your own" excursions than you do on the structured excursions that say they include free time, which can be as little as 30 minutes, and you might spend half of that time looking for a bathroom LOL.