Day tours in dublin

I am planning on doing two day tours in Dublin. One to the cliffs of Moher and the other to blarney castle. Anyone ever use paddy wagons? Any of suggestions?

Yes we used Paddy Wagon in August last year and they were fine but not great. We just took one of their stock tours ....you know, one of 42 people on a coach. They do have mini-busses and if you could get on one of those it likely would be much better, the year before I had organized a tour in one of their mini-buses with about 14 people from our roll call but had to cancel the cruise do health reasons; the folks that did the tour said they enjoyed it. I will say they recruit driver/guides who are knowledgeable and entertaining. So would we use PWT again, yes we would but not with one of their stock tours in a big coach.

PWT also have started a more upscale tour company called Elegant Irish Tours which uses large mini-vans which you may care to look into.

http://www.elegantirishtours.com/

Thanks for the information

I have no experience of Paddywagon, but they are a well-established company. My only thought is that both of these tours last twelve hours and a lot of that time will be spent sitting in a coach. If you feel up to that amount of travel in a day then that's fine.

I'm not sure how long you will be in Dublin or if you have been previously but I would agree that those are both very long days. There are lots of things in Dublin itself and certainly other Irish sights much closer to Dublin. Loved the cliffs but skipped the Blarney stone on both my trips as it is overhyped and too touristic for me You might consider the Rock of cashed as an alternative.

I am planning on doing two day tours in Dublin. One to the cliffs of Moher and the other to blarney castle. Anyone ever use paddy wagons? Any of suggestions?

We did tours with Paddywagon out of Cork (Blarney and Kinsale), Waterford and Belfast last August, a small group of 10, though the minibus was for 16. We had the same guide in all three ports and he was very good, witty and informative, we were more than satisfied. Some friends did the tours on the bigger bus and weren't as happy, understandable perhaps.

We had an overnight in Dublin and did tours on both days with Derek Smith of Beautiful Meath Tours, he has a van to seat seven passengers and we visited Newgrange and the Boyne Valley one day and Glendalough and Powerscourt the other. Derek is an excellent guide and a fund of information, we thoroughly enjoyed the tours with him, undoubtedly the best of our cruise. But we weren't driving for long periods, on both days we were dropped off in town and got to see Dublin also. I also really wanted to see the Cliffs of Moher but decided against it, maybe on a land tour some day...:)

beautifulmeath@gmail.com

http://beautifulmeath.com/

Paddy Wagon was ok. There prices were low. Blarney Castle is some distance from Dublin. We visited there from Cork.

I think the HoHo bus is a great value for doing Dublin. Don't miss Trinity College and the Book of Kells. Also, liked the Guinness brewery.

If you're interested in a private walking tour we can highly recommend Garvin as does just about everyone on TripAdvisor where he has a 5 star rating. http://www.dublintourguide.ie/#!about/c1f7s

He was incredibly personal and so obviously enjoyed sharing his wealth of knowledge and love of Dublin that his excitement was contagious.

I have no experience of Paddywagon, but they are a well-established company. My only thought is that both of these tours last twelve hours and a lot of that time will be spent sitting in a coach. If you feel up to that amount of travel in a day then that's fine.

Dublin to Blarney castle is roughly 328 miles return and to the Cliffs of Moher 350 miles rtn

Dublin to Blarney castle is roughly 328 miles return and to the Cliffs of Moher 350 miles rtn

Personally, I would not go that far to see Blarney Castle, unless i was taking in some other major sites for a couple of overnight stays.

Personally, I would not go that far to see Blarney Castle, unless i was taking in some other major sites for a couple of overnight stays.

I agree, Blarney is quite far from Dublin, most cruisers do it from Cork.

I agree, Blarney is quite far from Dublin, most cruisers do it from Cork.

Smart cruisers do not do it at all.

Smart cruisers do not do it at all.

Not sure I'd agree with that. I accept that kissing the stone, etc is cheesy but the actual castle and grounds are lovely, straight out of a picture post card. We were there on a glorious summer day last August and the views from the top of the castle were breath-taking, we also enjoyed exploring the quite extensive grounds.

Not sure I'd agree with that. I accept that kissing the stone, etc is cheesy but the actual castle and grounds are lovely, straight out of a picture post card. We were there on a glorious summer day last August and the views from the top of the castle were breath-taking, we also enjoyed exploring the quite extensive grounds.

Visiting Blarney Castle was great, except for waiting 45 minutes in line to enter the castle while the Chinese tourists consistently broke in front of the queue.

Still, we did Blarney from Cork, NOT from Dublin.

I agree that Blarney Castle is much closer to Cork than Dublin, however the OP may be using Dublin as a home base. We rather enjoyed walking around the grounds of the Blarney Castle and seeing the castle but had no interest in standing in line going up in the tower to kiss the stone.

Visiting Blarney Castle was great, except for waiting 45 minutes in line to enter the castle while the Chinese tourists consistently broke in front of the queue.

 

Still, we did Blarney from Cork, NOT from Dublin.

You want to try and get to Blarney early to avoid the lines, we were first things in the morning and just walked in, but the lines were humongous when we came down. On a good day the views from the battlement are stunning.

Any other suggestions?

It seems that there is a lot to see in Dublin within walking distance of Trinity College without a guided tour.

We are docking on Celebrity Silhouette and Celebrity said they offer no shuttle from the Port to "downtown".

Anyone know what transport options there are?

Thanks.

It seems that there is a lot to see in Dublin within walking distance of Trinity College without a guided tour.

We are docking on Celebrity Silhouette and Celebrity said they offer no shuttle from the Port to "downtown".

Anyone know what transport options there are?

Thanks.

Who did you talk to with Celebrity? We have been to Dublin twice, once with Celebrity Infinity and last year with the Norwegian Star. Both ships had a shuttle that dropped us off at Trinity College.

The port is largely industrial and I don't remember seeing a place with taxis in the port terminal area.

Here is what I found on the internet for the Dublin passenger port terminal.

http://cruiseportwiki.com/Dublin

It seems that there is a lot to see in Dublin within walking distance of Trinity College without a guided tour.

We are docking on Celebrity Silhouette and Celebrity said they offer no shuttle from the Port to "downtown".

Anyone know what transport options there are?

Thanks.

Have to agree that there is a lot to see but I might still recommend a guided tour. Have recently been to Dublin twice and took wonderful walking tours. A free Sandemans went on for close to three hours because our guide always had one more "little story" to tell us and we ended at a park near Trinty where he was still talking but some of us finally departed. On an earlier visit we did the rebellion tour, do not remember the price but had a Rick Steves discount. Theses are led by a rotating group of local professors, great info and totally different perspective of the area. Either would be good on a cruise day.

Perhaps the shuttle from the cruise ship is offered by the city?

Perhaps the shuttle from the cruise ship is offered by the city?

It may be, but I also wonder if the ship does provide a shuttle but it is charged for, as done by Fred Olsen, who has taken us there a couple of times. Fred now offer free shuttles for people who booked on full fare, (non guarantee). The only other cruise company who has taken us there is Swan Hellenic and they include trips with their fares so I would not have expected to pay with them.

I was also under the impression there is normally a shuttle bus provided, but we do not travel on the big American Cruise Lines. On one visit we decided to just walk out of the port and along the river bank towards the city centre. It did take a bit of time to get out of the port, (depends on docking location though), and by the time we reached the Customs House, (just before the city centre), we decided it was time to return. That was fine for us and we enjoyed the walk as we were returning with Swan three weeks later.

Who did you talk to with Celebrity? We have been to Dublin twice, once with Celebrity Infinity and last year with the Norwegian Star. Both ships had a shuttle that dropped us off at Trinity College.

 

The port is largely industrial and I don't remember seeing a place with taxis in the port terminal area.

 

Here is what I found on the internet for the Dublin passenger port terminal.

 

http://cruiseportwiki.com/Dublin

Thank you for that reassurance. I spoke with a sales rep in Celebrity's Miami office. She admitted that she didn't have access to information beyond the Excursions sold by Celebrity but said it didn't appear a shuttle is offered in Dublin.

Did you dock or tender?

Thank you for that reassurance. I spoke with a sales rep in Celebrity's Miami office. She admitted that she didn't have access to information beyond the Excursions sold by Celebrity but said it didn't appear a shuttle is offered in Dublin.

Did you dock or tender?

Dock

Dock

The luas dublins light rail is near the dock port and it takes you right into o Connell street near trinity college as for heading to cliffs of blarney from Dublin as a resident dub I wouldn't paddy wagon tours are great but if there is any sort of a delay on the motorway you could be delayed for hours if these are offered from the ship go for it

 

We had an overnight in Dublin and did tours on both days with Derek Smith of Beautiful Meath Tours, he has a van to seat seven passengers and we visited Newgrange and the Boyne Valley one day and Glendalough and Powerscourt the other. Derek is an excellent guide and a fund of information, we thoroughly enjoyed the tours with him, undoubtedly the best of our cruise. But we weren't driving for long periods, on both days we were dropped off in town and got to see Dublin also. I also really wanted to see the Cliffs of Moher but decided against it, maybe on a land tour some day...:)

 

beautifulmeath@gmail.com

http://beautifulmeath.com/

I will second the recommendation for Derek from Beautiful Meath! We just got back from a Princess cruise and had a wonderful day with Derek visiting Newgrange, Knowth, Trim Castle and a few other places.

He truly had a love for the area, and was very accommodating to my mother in law who was mobility challenged.

For those who are looking for something different than the regular day in Dublin you should definitely check his tours out!