Quick Review, Century, Ireland & Scotland

[TourDeCruise]

Hi Lucky White Heather! Say hi to your DH from us! We're getting ready to go on our next cruise to New England/Canada at the end of this week. Wish you could join us. Thank you for being such wonderful hosts in Edinburgh! We're so happy we had the opportunity to spend time with you.

 

We were on the same cruise as the OP, and really enjoyed this itinerary. We hope to repeat it again in the future.

 

We did the Edinburgh on Your Own and were very happy with our choice. Edinburgh has so much to see and do & is a lovely town/city, and any extra time spent taking the train would have been counter-productive for us. We needed every extra minute. Besides if we did not do Edinburgh on Your Own, we would not have had sufficient time to meet Lucky White Heather & her DH who live there and our other 2 friends who were on the same cruise with us. The precious time we spent with them, seeing the sights in Edinburgh, and the delay getting off the ship definitely made Edinburgh on Your Own a very wise choice and worth every penny -- even if just for one of these reasons.

 

As mentioned in previous posts, there was no shuttle option to go back and forth from the ship to Edinburgh. The only similar choice was the Edinburgh on Your Own with the "single journey" in and out as Lucky White Heather and the OP mentioned.

 

Kathy

[tom_uk]

Is there another way to get to Edinburgh from the port other than climbing 100 steps to the train station?

 

There are a couple of different ways out of Edinburgh Waverley station. The most obvious is to climb the 100 steps (there may not actually be that many - could be less, might be more) which bring you out onto Princes Street on the Waverley Gardens side. You actually emerge beside the top level of Waverley Shopping Centre (also known as Princes Mall), which is a small multi-level shopping mall at street level and below. This is where the Tourist Information Centre is. There's probably a way into the shopping centre from a point part-way up the steps, and if you went that way you'd probably be able to use the escalators in the shopping centre to get to street level. But I wouldn't advise this as the shopping centre is rather labyrinthine and you could get confused quite easily. The '100 steps', while strenuous, are simple to see and understand.

 

There is another way. There are two roads down into the station - these allow taxis to get down to platform level, and these two roads come down from Waverley Bridge, which itself connects with Princes Street. There's a pedestrian pavement (Brit-speak for 'sidewalk') on these, and you can walk up them, up a slope instead of climbing steps.

 

Here's a link to a map ( I hope):

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&q=edinburgh+waverley+map&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wl

 

Waverley station is the bit between North Bridge and Waverley Bridge, and you should be able to see the roads I'm talking about on the map.

 

Once you get out of Waverley Station, you are right in the heart of Edinburgh. The New Town is to the north - indeed, Princes Street is its southern boundary. The Old Town is the other side of Waverley Gardens. Just walk to North Bridge, walk across it heading south, then at the far end turn right up the High Street, and you are on the Royal Mile: Edinburgh Castle at the top, Holyroodhouse Palace & the Scottish Parliament at the bottom, and 1000 years of history and fascination in between.

[lucky white heather]

Hi Lucky White Heather! Say hi to your DH from us! We're getting ready to go on our next cruise to New England/Canada at the end of this week. Wish you could join us. Thank you for being such wonderful hosts in Edinburgh! We're so happy we had the opportunity to spend time with you.

 

We were on the same cruise as the OP, and really enjoyed this itinerary. We hope to repeat it again in the future.

 

We did the Edinburgh on Your Own and were very happy with our choice. Edinburgh has so much to see and do & is a lovely town/city, and any extra time spent taking the train would have been counter-productive for us. We needed every extra minute. Besides if we did not do Edinburgh on Your Own, we would not have had sufficient time to meet Lucky White Heather & her DH who live there and our other 2 friends who were on the same cruise with us. The precious time we spent with them, seeing the sights in Edinburgh, and the delay getting off the ship definitely made Edinburgh on Your Own a very wise choice and worth every penny -- even if just for one of these reasons.

 

As mentioned in previous posts, there was no shuttle option to go back and forth from the ship to Edinburgh. The only similar choice was the Edinburgh on Your Own with the "single journey" in and out as Lucky White Heather and the OP mentioned.

 

Kathy

Hi Kathy, so nice to hear from you!!!!I've passed on your good wishes to Ian as well!

 

The city is choc a bloc right now because the festival is in full swing and you cannot get accommodation for love or money unless you booked well ahead.

The weather has been atrocious this summer..no other word for it I'm afraid ....so the windy city you experienced the day you were here was a much better bet!

 

We just got home at the weekend from a crossing on the QM2 with homeward flight on Silverjet..that's the way to go if you cannot find a ship coming this way.. we don't travel business class as a regular thing so we were quite impressed .

 

Do let us know if you are coming this way again sometime so we can meet all over again..it was fun!!!!

Regards to your DH..... Yvonne

[lucky white heather]

There are a couple of different ways out of Edinburgh Waverley station. The most obvious is to climb the 100 steps (there may not actually be that many - could be less, might be more) which bring you out onto Princes Street on the Waverley Gardens side. You actually emerge beside the top level of Waverley Shopping Centre (also known as Princes Mall), which is a small multi-level shopping mall at street level and below. This is where the Tourist Information Centre is. There's probably a way into the shopping centre from a point part-way up the steps, and if you went that way you'd probably be able to use the escalators in the shopping centre to get to street level. But I wouldn't advise this as the shopping centre is rather labyrinthine and you could get confused quite easily. The '100 steps', while strenuous, are simple to see and understand.

 

There is another way. There are two roads down into the station - these allow taxis to get down to platform level, and these two roads come down from Waverley Bridge, which itself connects with Princes Street. There's a pedestrian pavement (Brit-speak for 'sidewalk') on these, and you can walk up them, up a slope instead of climbing steps.

 

Here's a link to a map ( I hope):

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&q=edinburgh+waverley+map&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wl

 

Waverley station is the bit between North Bridge and Waverley Bridge, and you should be able to see the roads I'm talking about on the map.

 

Once you get out of Waverley Station, you are right in the heart of Edinburgh. The New Town is to the north - indeed, Princes Street is its southern boundary. The Old Town is the other side of Waverley Gardens. Just walk to North Bridge, walk across it heading south, then at the far end turn right up the High Street, and you are on the Royal Mile: Edinburgh Castle at the top, Holyroodhouse Palace & the Scottish Parliament at the bottom, and 1000 years of history and fascination in between.

 

You are absolutely correct Tom UK about Waverley station..and the flight of steps up to Princes St . beside the Balmoral Hotel as well as the alternate ways to get out /enter the station by roadway but just wondered if the OP was asking about the steps at South Queensferry station which is not on the same level as the point at which the tenders drop you in Sth. Qu. as you come off the ship???

[woodmill100]

Thanks for your review. We're doing this cruise on May 29, 2008, so it was very informative. Is there another way to get to Edinburgh from the port other than climbing 100 steps to the train station? Is there a shuttle bus?

 

 

:eek: :eek: YIKES! $59 is very expensive just for a bus ride into the city. Blimey, I'd take you for $40 :D :D I'd say either get a taxi into the city - most taxi firms have people carriers that can take 7-8 pax if you can find passengers to share otherwise, if you can't do the walk to the station (it's a hill I think - steps are at the train station) get a taxi to the Station. There are much cheaper ways of getting to the City without spending that sort of cash with the line. Give me a shout at woodmill@btinternet.com if you need tips.

 

Although I am in Fife now, Edinburgh is where I was born I have spent most of my life. I hope those on the recent cruise managed to see at least some of what the city has to offer.

[lucky white heather]

:eek: :eek: YIKES! $59 is very expensive just for a bus ride into the city. Blimey, I'd take you for $40 :D :D I'd say either get a taxi into the city - most taxi firms have people carriers that can take 7-8 pax if you can find passengers to share otherwise, if you can't do the walk to the station (it's a hill I think - steps are at the train station) get a taxi to the Station. There are much cheaper ways of getting to the City without spending that sort of cash with the line. Give me a shout at woodmill@btinternet.com if you need tips.

 

Although I am in Fife now, Edinburgh is where I was born I have spent most of my life. I hope those on the recent cruise managed to see at least some of what the city has to offer.

 

When I saw the exorbitant price they charged to get into town I was also astounded but ...taxis are not thick on the ground at Sth. Queensferry really, although they can be booked by email before hand if you can research the companies who might be willing to take an email booking. The good news about the arranged bus is the ship will wait for it in the event of traffic problems from EDI back to Sth Qu. and it gives many PAX a reassuring feeling about getting back in time for their departure.