Guernsey

So now that cruise is booked I thought I'd ask what your favorite place to visit in the various stops we'll make. I'll do them one at a time and spread out the questions so as not to hog the board.

First stop is Guernsey. We will be there June 7th 2018, which is I believe a Thursday. 6am/6pm but tendering so probably about 8 hours in port, if it isn't canceled due to weather.

What is not to be missed? What excursion did you take (ship, private or DIY?) Since we will be, as I saw somewhere, "sampling" our various stops, what would you sample?

Thanks in advance for all the help suggestions. Everyone has been so incredibly helpful. If you ever want to cruise to Nebraska, I'll be happy to return the favor.;p

Guernsey is tiny. You can reach anywhere using the cheap bus service, so research what is there and hop on a bus!

Thanks

I was just doing that now as a matter of fact. Looks like Castle Cornet, Hauteville House and Herm Island (Shell Beach) are the spots we would be most interested in. Trip Adviser poster indicates 3-4 hours at Castle Cornet and that Shell Beach is beautiful. Appears it is only about a mile walk so wouldn't even need a bus to get there (might getting back though after 3-4 hours exploring.)

Thanks

 

I was just doing that now as a matter of fact. Looks like Castle Cornet, Hauteville House and Herm Island (Shell Beach) are the spots we would be most interested in. Trip Adviser poster indicates 3-4 hours at Castle Cornet and that Shell Beach is beautiful. Appears it is only about a mile walk so wouldn't even need a bus to get there (might getting back though after 3-4 hours exploring.)

Herm Island is a 30minute boat trip from Guernsey.it is not connected to Guernsey

Herm Island is a 30minute boat trip from Guernsey.it is not connected to Guernsey

When I was reading about it it did say you have to take a ferry. We'll have to see how it goes. Thanks

We just walked around St. Peter Port on our stop in Guernsey last month. The highlights for us were the Candie Gardens and Castle Cornet. Our stop was not as long, so we just went to those two main sights. We stopped by the base of the Victoria monument--too early to get a key from the museum to go up in it. We were also too early for the museum and did not want to walk back uphill after Castle Cornet.

We just walked around St. Peter Port on our stop in Guernsey last month. The highlights for us were the Candie Gardens and Castle Cornet. Our stop was not as long, so we just went to those two main sights. We stopped by the base of the Victoria monument--too early to get a key from the museum to go up in it. We were also too early for the museum and did not want to walk back uphill after Castle Cornet.

That's kind of what I'm leaning towards too. I've heard Guernsey gets skipped sometimes cause the sea is too rough for tendering and I don't want to plan something really special and have to miss it. Ship gets in really early (6am) and if I figure a couple of hours before we can get off, that's still going to be pretty early for anything to be open. Supposed to leave at 5 so we'll want to plan on being back at the ship by 3:30-4 (?) so that doesn't really leave a lot of time. Hopefully it will be nice enough that we can walk around Castle Cornet and walk back and forth to ship so we can see some of the town.

That's kind of what I'm leaning towards too. I've heard Guernsey gets skipped sometimes cause the sea is too rough for tendering and I don't want to plan something really special and have to miss it. Ship gets in really early (6am) and if I figure a couple of hours before we can get off, that's still going to be pretty early for anything to be open. Supposed to leave at 5 so we'll want to plan on being back at the ship by 3:30-4 (?) so that doesn't really leave a lot of time. Hopefully it will be nice enough that we can walk around Castle Cornet and walk back and forth to ship so we can see some of the town.

I wish you luck as we have missed it due to weather on 4 cruises due to weather. I know many people who got there and loved the island. Enjoy!

I took the town bus around the island. It took about a hour. It is a town bus so no commentary from the driver. We did stop for a bathroom stop for the driver where we could get off the bus for a few minutes. You could buy a ticket or an all day ticket (like a HOHO ticket).

I would suggest going early. We were on the first bus, filled with Princess passengers, when we returned the line was very long. I believe there is a bus in each direction per hour(?).

Guernsey has their own money which is not used in the rest of Britain, ask for British £ after any purchases.

A couple of suggestions, you could join a walk around St Peter Port by a qualified island tour guide. There is no pre-booking required, you just turn up around 10:20 (leaves sharp at 10:30) at the tourist information office (you can ask at the Pier for directions, about a five minute walk from the pier), and takes approx. 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours, costs GBP 8.00 per person.

I would also suggest trying to go to the Little Chapel and possibly the Occupation Museum as well. You could take the round the island bus in an anti-clockwise direction, so that you would see most of the island, then disembark at the stop after the airport, and walk around the corner to the Occupation museum. After you have finished, walk back to the airport, and embark on a bus that will take you to the Little Chapel (not the round the island bus), after you have finished, you could then take a bus back into St Peter Port.

I attach some links below which may be of assistance:

www.visitguernsey.com

www.buses.gg

If you need any further assistance, please feel free to post, and I will see if I can assist.

I am sure you will enjoy your visit to Guernsey, fingers crossed that the weather is kind for you.

We should have visited three times on cruises, but on one occasion we could not tender due to the swell.

The twice we did visit we enjoyed very much, the first time taking the round island public bus for an island overview and visiting the gardens and town sights which interested us the rest of the time. We also enjoyed walking along the waterfront. Other pax chose to enjoy more museums than we did.

Best if you read as much as you can before deciding which sights are of interest to you, rather than which were of interest to others, then you can plan for opening hours and transport if needed.

You mentioned Tripadvisor, but have you thought to go to the DESTINATIONS section at the top of the CC home page? From the dropdown choose ALL DESTINATIONS then St Peter Port from the ports drop down.

There you will find an overview, where you tender into, info on tourist info, public transport, recommended sights etc. Worth reading. You could do the same for some of your other ports if they too are listed.

On the occasion we could not tender into St Peter Port, we ended up visiting Herm. It was a small cruise ship. We anchored off shore then zodiacs were used to get us to the little jetty. That was a first for us! Thoroughly enjoyed our walk around this scenic little island, but we were lucky as the weather was beautiful.

Alas, we didn't make it ashore in July due to the swell. I had plans to go to Hauteville House and the National Trust sweet shop. You may wish to book a tour of Hauteville House in advance. I understand that it is walkable from the tender point and could be combined very well with Cornet Castle. Fortunately,, you do not have to pay a deposit.in advance.

"You mentioned Tripadvisor, but have you thought to go to the DESTINATIONS section at the top of the CC home page? From the dropdown choose ALL DESTINATIONS then St Peter Port from the ports drop down."

I had never noticed destinations before, thank you. More reading for me to do.

"National Trust sweet shop" I hadn't come across this in my reading and it sounds like the kind of place I love to visit. DH can look at WWII stuff and leave me to this shop. Thanks for mentioning.

We did a nice bike tour that covered about half the island in 2013. It started from the dock.

Thanks for the suggestion but I'm afraid if I told DH he was taking a bike tour, I'd be in a lot of trouble.

When I was reading about it it did say you have to take a ferry. We'll have to see how it goes. Thanks

There was a story in the paper a couple of weeks ago where a football fan going to an away match booked a really cheap room for the night, only (according to Google) about 10 miles from the stadium in Portsmouth. Trouble was, it was on The Isle of Wight, so most of that 10 miles was water.

We took a walking tour with Annette Henry annettehenry.com -- reasonably priced and very entertaining. You can book with her by sending an email, pay when you get there. Our itinerary had to be rerouted due to high winds and seas the day we were to go to Guernsey so several of us emailed Annette and she let us all know that she had rescheduled for the day we would be in port. We went up and down stairs, learned about living in Guernsey now and during pirate days. She told us stories of her parents and grandparents during the occupation.

Following, we’re expected to visit on July 1 so fingers crossed 🤞

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Hello anthonyy7 -- It's a small cruise world. I will also be cruising this summer and hopefully stopping in Guernsey, but my cruise is later than yours. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you.

Thank you everyone for the above information.

I think Hauteville house is now closed until 2019 for renovations (according to the french Victor Hugo's houses website).

Envoyé de mon iPad en utilisant Forums

Guernsey was our last port stop on our “British Isles” RC cruise last July ‘17. We booked a walking tour through the ship of St. Peter’s Port with the last stop being Castle Cornet. Allow yourself a few hours if you decide to go to the castle. Great weather (about 75/sunny) and very nice island. Enjoy.

I'm curious to know what happens when the ship needs to skip Guernsey port of call because of swells (I'm supposed to be there on may 2018) : does the ship stay anchored without tendering? Does she sail to another port of call (which one?)? Or do we arrive earlier to our next port of call? I read on differents posts that a lot of CC members skipped that port : what did you do instead?

Envoyé de mon iPad en utilisant Forums

I know on a RCI cruise we had to skip Cayman Islands because seas were too rough for tendering. We just had a sea day instead. Still arrived on time for our next scheduled port the following day.

Thanks a lot, I suppose they do the same for Guernsey. A few years ago, we were supposed to tender in Sorrento, but, because of high winds, finally docked in Naples, but I think there's not such alternative for Guernsey.

Envoyé de mon iPad en utilisant Forums