canalgirl

Hi Anne

we are from the Toronto area! Yes my daughter Gianna will definitely be in the kids club. Let's try to meet up on the Southampton excursion.

I will look into the The Scottish Wool Centre myself and let you know.

I am booking book of kells in advance too.

See you on the ship.

Cinda

Yes you can DIY in Guernsey, but I would not necessarily recommend this. There are many excellent places to see outside of the main town including the Little Chapel, the German Occupation Museum and various gun bunkers and trenches to walk through. If you can’t find a private tour, you may wish to consider hiring a car, and then separately to hire a guide to accompany you so that you would get to see everywhere without getting lost, and also beat the tour buses to the top attractions. Please be aware that driving in Guernsey involves small roads.

 

If you have any specific questions on Guernsey please feel free to post and I will try to help.

Hi and thank you. We were going to do the local bus in Guernsey. It didn't look all that complicated. Thoughts? The Island looks very charming. Do you have any suggestions on a nice lunch venue?

I'd say Edinburgh is a DIY port and I'd be happy to help you plan your day if you tell me what kind of thing you're interested in. Edinburgh is a compact walkable city and if you pre-book your transport into the centre from SQ it's even easier. The shuttle bus is also excellent though and only £6 round trip

Hi And thank you.

we have purchased the Scotland Explorer Pass so that should help with the lines at Edinburgh castle. What would you say are the must dos in Edinburgh. We have 2 kids - a 6 year old and a 14 year old. We love art, Do you have any recommendations for places to eat? I heard there is a restaurant in the castle. Is it worth it?

Hi Anne, we are on the same cruise if you are leaving from Le Havre.

We booked stonehenge/salsbury with the cruise company.

For Liverpool - we booked the Fab Four Taxi ride which is a 3 hour guided tour of all things Beatles. We will do either the Tate Museum or the Maritime Museum which are close to the port on our own.

Guernsay we will do on our own.

Glasgow I have booked a guide to take us to Stirling Castle and the national park as well as a museum in the City

Inverness I have booked a guide to take us to Urquhart Castle / Loch Ness via Jacobite cruise

Edinburgh we will do on our own. There is a bus that takes cruise passengers to the City relatively inexpensively. I did get the Scotland Explorer pass which is cheaper than paying entrance into 2 castles and allows us to have access to castles for 3 days out of 5 which works great for us. This will allow us to bypass lines. You may want to consider it.

For Ireland

We have booked guides for Cork - to take us to the Castle, the Fort and the City of Cork.

Belfast is also a tour which will take us to the Giant's Causeway and the ric a rak rope thingy. He has some other stops for us and then will take us into Belfast to see the murals.

For Dublin we will do this ourselves. I understand that Princess offers a shuttle into the city for $8. It isn't on their site but a number of people have said this happens.

When we land in Le Havre we have booked a guide to take us to Juno beach etc. This same guide will drive us to the airport the next day!

We are spending some time in Paris in advance of the trip.

I do hope that the Air France pilots do not strike because we are flying air france.

Best,

Cinda

HI, We are contemplating using Invergordon Tours as a private excursion. there were mixed reviews on Trip advisor. What was your experience with them? Thanks

We did a slightly different itinerary on Princess this past summer. We did Guernsey on our own, spending most of our time touring Castle Cornet but also a considerable amount walking through St. Peter Port to see gardens and the architecture. We did the hop-on/hop-off bus from Merrion Square in Dublin on our second day there. Guinness was our main stop. The first day we walked to the castle and toured the art museum. We walked in Belfast (after catching the free shuttle to the center of the city) and enjoyed the Ulster Museum and nearby gardens. We also liked the view of the city from Victoria Square, a modern shopping center with a viewing platform in a glass dome.

 

Cobh (for Cork) was one of the ports where we prebooked an excursion with an independent company. It went through Cork to Blarney Castle and Kinsale. It was a great day. There's plenty to see at Blarney if you don't want to wait in line. The views from the top, though, are very good. We did not have time to go the Woollen Mills.

 

Invergordon was another port where we prebooked an independent excursion (Invergordon Tours) to Urquhart Castle, a cruise on Loch Ness, Clava Cairns, and Cawdor Castle. I thought it was a great day. Some folks we met on the same excursion, though, complained about the cramped seats.

 

We took the train into Glasgow on our own from Greenock. Our train ticket came in a combo package with the HoHo bus for the city. We enjoyed the transportation museum (Riverside Museum), Kelvingrove Art Gallery, the Mackintosh House at the Hunterian Gallery (also the nice collection of Impressionist paintings there), and cathedral.

 

Edinburgh is another port we did on our own, catching the train from South Queensferry into the city. I bought our tickets to the castle in advance. It was during the Fringe Festival and very crowded.

HI,

We are spending a few days in Paris prior to our sailing from Le Havre.

Does anyone have a recommendation on a car company or a way to get from Paris to Le Havre.

I believe the train is just too complicated with luggage and kids in tow.

Thanks in advance!

Cinda

Hi

We are travelling on the Royal Princess British Isles Cruise this summer.

I generally book private cars to take us around because we like the flexibility - we have 2 kids ages 6 and 14.

There are so many ports on this cruise I am getting dizzy with choice.

I figure that we can do it ourselves in:

Guernsey

Dublin

Edinburgh

We have tours booked for

Southampton to go to Stonehenge

Cork

Liverpool - yeah Beatles!

Belfast

We are still debating on:

Invergordon

Edinburgh

Glasgow

Your suggestions are welcome

Thanks

Cinda

Wow! That sounds wonderful! Papillon Tours sure got high marks when we looked at the reviews. We are taking this tour and one in Rome with them and look forward to them both. Thanks for posting this!

Hi, may I ask how your tours were with Papillon. we are thinking of using them for florence and rome.

thanks

C

Hi, I am travelling with hubby and two kids (ages 5 and 13). We are taking the 10 day mediterranean cruise on Disney Magic in July out of Barcelona. Our ports: Villefranche, Livorno, Olbia, Civitavecchia, Naples, Palermo, Palma de Mallorca.

One question I have is has anyone taken a private car service? I was considering for ports of Livorno and Civitavecchia (Florence and Rome) as opposed to taking the Disney excursions. I was thinking the car service might be good for the kids so we can be flexible in timing and what we see. Love to hear from anyone who has done this, has had a good/bad experience etc.

Also, for Naples - Pompeii or Capri?

Any great excursions that you highly recommend or don't!

Tips for the boat etc.

Would really love to hear from you for planning purposes.

Thanks in advance.