British Isles Cruise from Dublin Question

Hi everyone! My wife and I are discussing taking a British Isles cruise next year. This cruise has been on my wife's bucket list for a long time. I want to make it happen for our 52nd wedding anniversary next year.

There is an itinerary that is round trip from Dublin on the Crown Princess that appeals to her. I checked the Princess website but it doesn't specify which hotel the cruise line uses for its pre-cruise stay.

Does anyone know the name of the Dublin hotel recommended by Princess? Thanks in advance!

Your answer may change, so I would contact your TA.

Your answer may change, so I would contact your TA.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I thought someone might have previous experience to share with me. I haven't contacted my TA yet. I'm doing some research first. There is one other British Isles itinerary we are looking at as well.

Dublin is not an embarkation point this year for British Isles cruises, and if memory serves me not last year either. So they probably don’t have any hotels in place yet.

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Whatever you do, I'd stay close to the Temple Bar area.

Yes this is the first time Princess will be sailing out of Dublin. They probably won't have any hotel information until this time next year.

Whatever you do, I'd stay close to the Temple Bar area.

The most expensive pubs in Dublin are right there!

Can't think of any reason I would want to stay just there.

It's almost always less expensive to book hotels on your own. We enjoyed our British isles cruise last summer. It overnighted in Dublin but was round trip out of Southampton. We spent three nights in London and one in Southampton before the cruise. We paid a lot less by booking our own hotel rooms, probably less for all four nights than one booked through Princess would have cost.

It's almost always less expensive to book hotels on your own. We enjoyed our British isles cruise last summer. It overnighted in Dublin but was round trip out of Southampton. We spent three nights in London and one in Southampton before the cruise. We paid a lot less by booking our own hotel rooms, probably less for all four nights than one booked through Princess would have cost.

Thanks for your input. In addition to the round trip Dublin itinerary, we have also talked about round trip out of Southampton. Two questions come to mind.

(1) Can you share where you stayed in Southampton before the cruise

(2) How did you get from the hotel to the ship on embarkation day?

On past cruises, we made arrangements through the cruise line for hotels and transfers but I'm open for other options. This will be our first cruise overseas.

Thanks

When we did a Princess cruise out of Southampton, we stayed in London the night before and the next morning took the Princess cruise transfer from Victoria Station to the cruise port. Our hotel was the London Marriott Grosvenor Square and Victoria Station (a bus depot) was a short taxi ride away. The transfer was easy, about an hour and a half drive to Southampton with a rest stop, and our bags were delivered right to the ship.

If you wanted to stay in Southampton instead, many people on here talk about a Holiday Inn that is near the port.

You could arrange private car transfer from the airport to the hotel (since Princess transfers run on embarkation days). A good website to check out is londontoolkit.com.

Hi We are from the UK and have done the round Britain cruise twice. I have attached a few notes of how we did our own tours. They are about 3 year old so prices may be a little bit more . Hope it helps

Hi, We went on the round Britain Cruise and have listed some information that might be useful for doing tours on your own.

GUERNSEY, After landing at the pier by ships tender walkdown the pier to the main street along the front, turn left and walk about5mins you will see the tourist info office who will tell you where to catch thelocal bus at the terminus which is just another 5 mins walk in the samedirection. At the terminus, catch the route 91 bus, the fare is only a fewpounds each, this takes you all round the island, which last about one and ahalf hours. There is a rest room at the terminal before you start out. Thetimetable is four services daily but when a ship is in port, they put extrabuses on so if you miss one just wait for the next. Once back in town you canvisit the castle, which is just a short walk from the bus stop. After that youcan walk about town do some shopping and then head back to the pier, don’tleave it to late as there will be long lines to get back on the tenders.

Cohb, (Cork)

The ship docks next to the railway station, Just walk intothe station and buy a return ticket to Cork.The fare is about 6 Euros. It takes about half hour to get to cork station. At Cork station, turn leftand walk for about 10 min until you get to second set of traffic lights thenturn left. You should see the bus station after about 5mins walk. (there willbe plenty of people to ask directions if you get lost). At the bus station askat the ticket office which bus for Blarney again its only a few Euros, Ask thedriver to put you off at Blarney although you will probably be with severalother people getting off there. Its just a few minutes walk to the entrance to BlarneyCastle and grounds. Once you have paidthe entrance fee I would recommend going straight to the Castle and get in theline for kissing the stone. If you are not so good on your legs or don’t likesmall spaces I wouldn’t advise going in to kiss the stone as there are lots ofsteps around inside the turret to go up and come down, After you have done thekissing bit, you can look around the gardens and the family stately home. Oncefinished just head back to the bus stop and go in reverse. You should be backat Cobh by about 2.00pm this gives plenty of time to look round the Cathedraland go in the small bars along the front to have the crack and a few pints ofGuinness.

Dublin.

The ship shuttle $8pp each into the centre and drops you afew minutes walk to the TrinityCollege. If you go in theCollege, there are students who will take you on a tour for a fee, whichincludes the entrance to the place where the Book of Kells is kept. If youdon’t take the tour just get in the line for viewing the Book. After walk outof the Campus through the main Archway and across the road is the tourist info.Ask there which bus stop for visiting the Kilmainham Gaol Prison, It’s only afew Euros to get there and ask the drive to let you know when to get off. Asyou are getting off ask the drive to point out where to get the bus back. Youpay the entrance fee and join the escorted tour. The guide will walk you aroundand tell you all about the place. When you come out its just a few minutes walkto the bus stop. Almost every bus that stops here will take you back to the citycentre. When you get back its well worth a walk around the Temple Bar area. There are some great pubswith live acts and plenty of Guinness. Then it’s just a short walk back to theshuttle.

Belfast.

We hired a car from Enterprize rent a carcity depot at 157 Cromac Street. They picked us up at the ship and drop usback. It was £34 total for the hire and £20 for fuel. We drove to Giants CauseWay .Tip park at the small pub for free, just have a coffee or something thenwalk down to the Cause Way. After we went to Bushmills distillery and did thetour which is interesting and they have a nice restaurant for lunch, real Irishstew very nice. We then drove to the Rope Bridge at Carrick a Rede. We then hadscenic drive back along the coast with plenty of time to spare.

Greenock Glasgow.

Walk from the ship into the town keeping left. In the townthere is a shopping centre mall, walk through the mall to the far end and upthe escalator to the Station. It takes about 30mins to get to Glasgow CentralStation and it cost around £13 return each. There are plenty of things to seein walking distance of the station and many restaurants and bars for lunch.

Invergordon Inverness

There is a small town but not a lot to see. If you get offthe ship as soon as you can just outside the dock area there will be a few tourpeople selling tours to Inverness and Loch Ness by coach for around

£10each. As the coach fills they set off, therewere about 6 coaches waiting when we got off early.

South Queensferry Edinburgh

You tender ashorehere under the Forth Rail Bridge. When you get ashore walk left for about 5mins and you will see a sign for the train station on the right. It’s a footpath uphill for about 10 mins. the return fare is around £5 each. The stationin Edinburgh is right in the centre and easy walking to Royal mile and theCastle. Tip if you are going to visit the castle buy you ticket on line beforeyou go as there are usually long lines to buy at ticket when you get there

We did this cruise last August. The shuttle buses from the port into Dublin and Belfast were free. We took the hop-on/hop-off bus in Dublin one day to go to the Guinness tour. We also did a HoHo bus in Glasgow (taking the train from Greenock). We took an independently booked tour to Blarney Castle and Kinsale from Cobh. It was very good. We did an independently booked tour from Invergordon to Urquhart Castle. It included a boat ride on Loch Ness and a stop at Clava Cairns and Cawdor Castle.

There were lots of good day-by-day reviews here on Cruise Critic that I read before we went. I did a live thread that's here.

We left from Southampton two years ago and booked the Premiere Inn in Southampton for four nights pre-cruise - through Expedia. Very simple hotel but clean - rooms small but we didn't mind. We really enjoyed the little bar they had there and had drinks and appetizers a few nights. The cab ride to the port took about five minutes - all very easy. We flew into Gatwick from Toronto and took a bus (about 2 hours) from the airport to Southampton. The bus left us at the bus station and we couldn't get a cab to stop for us - think it was our luggage - we ended up walking to the hotel - only about ten minutes. We booked our bus tickets before leaving home - can't remember the bus company but I'm sure you could google it.

Southampton is a lovely town and you will not regret staying there.

Hope this helps!

All these comments are very helpful and have given me a lot of information and options.

Feel free to add to this conversation if you think of anything else that might help.

We had a wonderful time on the British Isle cruise last year as well. Here a link to my review. British Isle Cruise 2017 Photo Review

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2539994

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You can take the www.nationalexpress.com (coach) from Heathrow airport to Southampton Coach station. From the Southampton Coach Station it is a short taxi (under £10) to the dock.

If, staying in London -

- you can take the National Express from Victoria Coach Station to Southampton Coach Station, taxi to the port

- you can take Princess transfer from Victoria Coach Station, they take you direct to the ship.

Some people take a car service from/from Heathrow to Southampton.

- www.westquaycars.com

If arriving/departing on embankment/disembarkment days, you can take http://www.internationalfriends.co.uk

There a few Southampton hotels cruise passengers use

Premier Inn West Quay

Holiday Inn Herbert Walker

Novotel

Ibis

Take a taxi from hotel to dock.

In Greenock, the Inverclyde Tourist Group offer a choice of 3 free - yes free - 2 hour local tours.

We booked ours online (you’re reserving a place) before we went, but they were also in the cruise terminal where you could sign up for a tour. If not booked before the day, you may be unlucky and the tour you’d like to do is full or you may have to wait until the afternoon if they’re full in the morning.

I’d highly recommend them and we had a wonderful tour with a great guide.

They appreciate a donation so that they can keep offering the tours but it’s not compulsory. It was well worth the donation though.

Happy cruising.

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We did the British Isles cruise out of Southampton 2 years ago. We have been to London before, so we skipped it on this trip and went straight to Southampton for 1 night to be ready for the cruise. We stayed at Grand Harbour Hotel, right on the waterfront, and you can clearly see the cruise ships from there. There are several good restaurant choices nearby and a traditional pub, but other than that, there isn't much to see in Southampton. Transport from the airport is about an hour and half, we booked a car both ways via Smiths for Airports and would recommend them. Actually, we always book private transport rather than ship transfers, usually cheaper or at least no more and you get more efficient, personalized service. However, I think I would prefer cruising from Dublin. The airport is not far from the city, there is a big choice of hotels and restaurants and sightseeing, and then it's a short ride to the pier. I agree with the posters who encourage you to book your own arrangements in either city, it's easy to do, less expensive and you have total control.

Wow! This is all wonderful information. I really appreciate everyone's input. Please continue to contribute with any other tips you can think of.

We did the British Isles cruise out of Southampton 2 years ago. We have been to London before, so we skipped it on this trip and went straight to Southampton for 1 night to be ready for the cruise. We stayed at Grand Harbour Hotel, right on the waterfront, and you can clearly see the cruise ships from there. There are several good restaurant choices nearby and a traditional pub, but other than that, there isn't much to see in Southampton. Transport from the airport is about an hour and half, we booked a car both ways via Smiths for Airports and would recommend them. Actually, we always book private transport rather than ship transfers, usually cheaper or at least no more and you get more efficient, personalized service. However, I think I would prefer cruising from Dublin. The airport is not far from the city, there is a big choice of hotels and restaurants and sightseeing, and then it's a short ride to the pier. I agree with the posters who encourage you to book your own arrangements in either city, it's easy to do, less expensive and you have total control.

Reading through these great responses as I posted a similar question as well. Trying to decide whether to depart from Dublin or Southampton. Since there isn't as much to see in Southampton as Dublin, I wonder if it's better to cruise from Southampton with an over night in Dublin. This way I'm spending a little more time in Dublin and not having to spend money on a hotel there since I'll have the cruise ship to go back to at night.

Thanks for your input. In addition to the round trip Dublin itinerary, we have also talked about round trip out of Southampton. Two questions come to mind.

 

(1) Can you share where you stayed in Southampton before the cruise

 

(2) How did you get from the hotel to the ship on embarkation day?

 

On past cruises, we made arrangements through the cruise line for hotels and transfers but I'm open for other options. This will be our first cruise overseas.

 

Thanks

(1) A few hotels in sight of the quayside and also close to the Southampton city centre:

Premier Inn, West Quay Southampton cheaper budget hotel chain.

Holiday Inn, Herbert Walker Avenue. 1960's style clean and pleasant hotel with swimming pool.

Grand Harbour Hotel Southampton. A more modern styled hotel with swimming pool.

(2) All three in easy reach of all the various places the cruise ship might be berthed using a taxi 5/10 mins around £7

Hilton at the Ageas Bowl, Hampshire Cricket ground much further away Interesting if you have the budget. I used my own car to get to quayside but a taxi will work, estimate £15

Stayed at all of these hotels pre-cruise and all are fine for an overnight. See internet websites for each hotel and book direct through cheapest way.

Regards John

We stayed at the Ibis Budget in Southampton. The emphasis is on budget--a very no frills place to stay. We took the train from London to Southampton the morning before our cruise and enjoyed our afternoon in Southampton. We walked to the pier from our hotel. It was walking distance for us, but others might have difficulty walking that far with luggage.