BonnieGreen

Staying at Robert Treet hotel pre cruise. Is a taxi best to take to cape Liberty cruise terminal? Is 9:00 am to early to leave?

Hi, we're staying at the same hotel prior to the same cruise (Anthem of the Seas, June 30th)! And I was wondering the same thing. We are a party of 4.

Bonnie

This thread is full of such valuable information! We just booked the Anthem for June 30, 2016. Got plenty of time to plan, but I'm thinking of the Hampton Inn in Elizabeth. I believe they have a shuttle from EWR to their hotel. Would just need to figure out transfer to the pier. We also plan on doing Statue of Liberty and WTC Memorial the day before the cruise. Is it possible to take public transportation from Elizabeth to that end of Manhattan? Thanks in advance for advice! Bonnie

2. Great Scot Tours (Gordon Ross). Our guide was Gordon’s friend, David Frooth. David was dressed in his kilt and was a joy to tour with. We were picked up on time at the Greenock port and got a fantastic tour of the Loch Lomond area. We toured the magnificent Stirling Castle with David as he pointed out things we should see. He then drove us to Edinburgh and dropped us off within a ½ block of where we had dinner reservations (a few businesses away from the entrance to the Tattoo. After the Tattoo we all met up at the designated corner with his big red umbrella and he led us to where he parked the car nearby and got us back to the ship by 12:30AM (which we believe was the first group back from the Tattoo). I know we beat all the Princess busses which arrive between 1:30 and 2:30AM

 

 

Bonnie -

It looks like we will also be using David as our tour guide for our Tattoo day next August. Gordon Ross advised me that he was retiring, but he arranged with David to be our tour guide for Tattoo Day. We will be a small group (only 6). I have a couple of questions:

1 - Where did you eat dinner? And how much time did you allow for dinner to guarantee you had time to get to your seats in a timely manner?

2 - Where was your lunch stop?

3 - Did your group provide David with a ticket to the Tattoo or did he just meet up with you after the event?

Lorraine

 

Lorraine: You will love David! Our group was also 6 and it was a perfect day. We ate dinner at The Whiskey Experience in the Amber Room. I believed we had 5:30 reservations and we were a little late due to heavy traffic, but we called and they were fine with that. David dropped us off about 1 block from the restaurant. It is about 25 steps from the Tattoo Entrance. You get to cross the barricades to get to the restaurant. Be sure to have your email confirmation printed out as proof that you have a reservation at that restaurant. The food and service was great and we had plenty of time. We stayed until just before the Tattoo started. (Be sure to use their restrooms before you leave. David will tell you that there is no time to visit the restrooms after the Tattoo is over...the crowd is crazy getting out.) We sat in the bottom of the U shape.

 

David had a place where he told us he would pick us up. He had a big red umbrella so that we can see him. He just drops you off for dinner and then he spends the time finding a parking place. The car was just around the corner from where he picked us up. We were on our way back to the ship so fast we were the first ones back! He does not expect a ticket to the Tattoo or even to be invited to dinner.

 

I really don't remember a lunch stop....I think we just snacked along the way in anticipation of our big dinner.

 

Hope that helps you! Bonnie

Bonnie,

 

May I ask how many were in your group with Great Scot to the Military Tattoo?

 

We were looking at Timberbush, but they are not accepting bookings until February. As tickets go on sale shortly - it would be nice to know we have transportation as we start buying our tickets.

 

Right now we have 32 people signed up for the private mode of getting to the Tattoo. I've got an email into Gordon Ross, but haven't heard back yet. So I was curious if you had a large group with him or not.

 

Thank you for any information you can share.

There were 6 people in our group. I don't believe they can handle 32 people! So sorry to learn about Gordon's dad passing. Bonnie

I recently returned from the August 16th British Isles Cruise on the Caribbean Princess. The cruise was very intense in that we only got two full sea days, so we were pretty exhausted by the end. A lot of our fellow cruisers continued on the 17 day second part from Southhampton to New York. We were happy to be going home instead.

I did want to just tout a few of the tours we took. I planned everything through our very active Roll Call here on Cruise Critic. All tours went extremely smoothly, the guides were fantastic. We saw things that that the Princess Excursions didn’t get to see and experience. My tour groups were Cruise Critic people and we all got along great and saw each other on other tours in other ports.

There are four tours that I want to give a shout out to. All the tours guides were waiting for us as we got off the ship even if we were early. We had great vehicles. And they were very aware of when we needed to return to the ship.

1. Tourdublin.ie: Our guide was Dick Shaw and he was very knowledgeable as we toured Trinity College, St. Patrick’s Cathedral. He took us to a fabulous pub in the countryside and we all enjoyed a great Irish lunch. We visited Powerscourt House & Gardens and he gave us the tip that we didn’t need to pay for admission to see the Gardens since we got a good look of them from the café on the terrace.

2. Great Scot Tours (Gordon Ross). Our guide was Gordon’s friend, David Frooth. David was dressed in his kilt and was a joy to tour with. We were picked up on time at the Greenock port and got a fantastic tour of the Loch Lomond area. We toured the magnificent Stirling Castle with David as he pointed out things we should see. He then drove us to Edinburgh and dropped us off within a ½ block of where we had dinner reservations (a few businesses away from the entrance to the Tattoo. After the Tattoo we all met up at the designated corner with his big red umbrella and he led us to where he parked the car nearby and got us back to the ship by 12:30AM (which we believe was the first group back from the Tattoo). I know we beat all the Princess busses which arrive between 1:30 and 2:30AM

3. Shorexcursions.co.uk: This company is run by Nigel Newell and he was our driver. We were sort of in a caravan with his son and wife driving two other vehicles. He had a fantastic route out of Invergordon, with many scenic stops. We saw the Falls of Shin and Dunrobin Castle. The falconry show at Dunrobin was great and we entered through the “back stage” and saw all the birds of pretty up close and personal. We also got a great tour of Clynelish Distillery. Nigel seems to know everyone in the area.

4. Overlordtour.com: Normandy was the highlight for me and my husband. Our tour guide was Oliver. He was very knowledgeable and passionate about the history of D-Day. We were first brought to Omaha Beach and experienced what our men went through. Visiting the Cemetery next was very solemn. Oliver had maps and photos to illustrate everything he was telling us. He brought us to what looked like a deserted farmhouse and we wondered why we were there. It turns out to have been the rallying point of our paratroopers. Oliver had photos of that day showing where the Rangers actually stood in front of the farm buildings. It was very emotional.

All these guides were so accommodating and courteous. I would highly recommend these companies and these guides in particular.

The other tours we took went well, but we were in larger vehicles (coaches and mini-coaches). I like the 6-8 passenger tours better. Fiona was great from ecoach.ie. She got our bus going first out of the port of Cobh and we were the first bus at Blarney Castle. We had the place to ourselves and easily got to the Blarney Stone with no crowds. When we left the line was almost an hour long wait. Frank on busybus.co.uk was very cheerful and had us doing “spot the black sheep” game all during the tour of Wales we took out of Liverpool. Bryan on odysseycoachtoursco.uk was very funny after we toured the Giants Causeway out of Belfast. I must add that we were on of the other Odyssey Coach busses that had a very hard to understand guide with a bad audio system and no air conditioning. So we changed busses and were happy after that.

Hope I was helpful in my report. Just remember to have all tickets, pre-paid admissions, emails necessary with you when you go out for the day on your tours. Meeting with your group a half hour before the time to meet-up with the guide off the ship is plenty of time. Keep aware of sudden time changes in port arrival and departure times. Bonnie