Ocean Princess British Isles Cruise Review -Disney Sheep Go Rogue

[MaChere]

Enjoying your review so very much. We were on the Ruby in August for the British Isles. Unforgettable trip.

I took lots of photos of the Elephant House restroom, too, before our evening at the Tattoo. Delightful. We were docked near the Ocean at one of our ports, but can't recall which one.

Edited October 17, 2014 by MaChere

[phabric]

Did you dock or tender in while at Edinburgh? We tender in while on the Caribbean Princess.

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

Little ships dock in Roysth in Fife big ships tender into South Queensferry

 

Yours Shogun

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Forums mobile app

[Kewz1]

The Scott Monument and Arthur's Seat are two of the reasons I didn't gain weight in Edinburgh! Haha! We're a family of climbers too.

 

Can't wait to hear about the tattoo. I'm still debating on whether to take the Princess excursion or book ourselves.

 

Still enjoying your report!

Kristen

[shredie]

Loving the pictures!

[ontheweb]

The Scott Monument and Arthur's Seat are two of the reasons I didn't gain weight in Edinburgh! Haha! We're a family of climbers too.

 

Can't wait to hear about the tattoo. I'm still debating on whether to take the Princess excursion or book ourselves.

 

Still enjoying your report!

Kristen

 

We bought our Tattoo tickets on line. After we left the ship, we bought round trip tickets back for the train. We were advised that it would be too busy at the station to buy the return ticket. We then would have had to pay another 10 pounds (plus a tip) for a cab back.

 

It turned out that we had no chance of catching the train back. The cab ride back was now 40 pounds (+ a larger tip). It was still much less expensive than using one of the Princess excursions. And we could be off all day in Edinburgh, not having to be on ship to catch the excursion.

 

Note the taxi needed cash, would not accept credit cards. (That is not to say that all cabs do not accept credit cards.)

Edited October 17, 2014 by ontheweb
added the last paragraph

[Disney Sheep]

Enjoying your review so very much. We were on the Ruby in August for the British Isles. Unforgettable trip.

I took lots of photos of the Elephant House restroom, too, before our evening at the Tattoo. Delightful. We were docked near the Ocean at one of our ports, but can't recall which one.

 

Glad to have you reading along. I agree completely that this truly was an unforgettable trip. I had not really researched the Elephant House, other than knowing that it was famous as a place where JK Rowling had written some of Harry Potter and that the food was supposed to be good. The bathroom ended up being a real surprise to me - and I am glad that I did not miss it.

 

We considered doing the British Isles cruise on the Ruby, especially since there were probably more kids and more stuff to do for entertainment, but we really needed to be docked at Edinburgh, since I had read reports where ships had to miss Edinburgh since the sea was too rough to tender - and we just couldn't risk missing DD. You were fortunate to get the extra ports that we would have loved to have seen.

[Disney Sheep]

Did you dock or tender in while at Edinburgh? We tender in while on the Caribbean Princess.

 

Hi All

 

Little ships dock in Roysth in Fife big ships tender into South Queensferry

 

Yours Shogun

 

 

 

Hi Phabric,

 

Shogun is correct as usual, the Ocean Princess docked at Rosyth, which is one of the main reasons that we booked this cruise.

 

And many thanks Shogun - work keeps diverting me from my report!

[Disney Sheep]

The Scott Monument and Arthur's Seat are two of the reasons I didn't gain weight in Edinburgh! Haha! We're a family of climbers too.

 

Can't wait to hear about the tattoo. I'm still debating on whether to take the Princess excursion or book ourselves.

 

Still enjoying your report!

Kristen

 

Although I am a little sad that we did not get to climb the Scott monument, I intend to use that fact as leverage to convince DH that we need a trip back to Edinburgh sooner than later :). The Tattoo is up next, and I will try to cover our approach to attending the Tattoo. Since we were docked and staying overnight it made perfect sense to do this port on our own.

[Disney Sheep]

Loving the pictures!

 

Many thanks for your kind words and glad to have you reading along.

[Disney Sheep]

We bought our Tattoo tickets on line. After we left the ship, we bought round trip tickets back for the train. We were advised that it would be too busy at the station to buy the return ticket. We then would have had to pay another 10 pounds (plus a tip) for a cab back.

 

It turned out that we had no chance of catching the train back. The cab ride back was now 40 pounds (+ a larger tip). It was still much less expensive than using one of the Princess excursions. And we could be off all day in Edinburgh, not having to be on ship to catch the excursion.

 

Note the taxi needed cash, would not accept credit cards. (That is not to say that all cabs do not accept credit cards.)

 

Thanks for weighing in, our experience was similar to yours, except that we made the decision in the morning to take a taxi both ways.

 

Tattoo up next.

[Disney Sheep]

It took us about 20 minutes to walk from Calton Hill back to Edinburgh Castle for the Royal Military Tattoo.

 

 

When we reached the 'bottom' of the hill near the castle, there was a security 'gauntlet' that you have to make it through on the way in to the Tattoo. We arrived at the gate to the castle area around 8:40 pm.

 

 

(Note: This is actually DD's photo, and she arrived with her group roughly a full hour ahead of time at 8 pm - when we arrived at 8:40 pm it was much much busier. Back to our regularly scheduled programming. :))

 

There was a line up that was moving relatively smoothly as they had several openings in the gate, but if you had bags or a backpack the security personnel pulled you aside and searched your bags. Unfortunately the gentleman in front of us did not seem to understand that he could not go in until he let the security officer search his bag - which of course meant that those of us in line behind him had to wait several minutes until it all got sorted out. And then of course we got pulled to one side for a bag search since I had a big backpack full of thin layers of clothes for us to put on if we needed them while watching the Tattoo.

 

On our way in we asked a police officer outside of the castle what would be the best place to catch a taxi after the Tattoo and he pointed to a street on the right (as you walk away from the castle) near a hotel - it was actually fairly close, much closer than the train station etc. There was an orderly line of taxis and we just followed the crowd and asked the taxi at the head of the line. We were sitting comfortably in our seats well in advance of the precision start at 9 pm.

 

Our seats for the Tattoo were at the very top of the stadium between sections 15 and 16. If you are planning on this cruise early enough, I believe that tickets for the Tattoo go on sale in November or December, and that people who sign up to be Friends of the Tattoo can get advance booking options. Just something to consider.

 

Given that we booked this trip end May/early June our seat options were limited, however we could have chosen other seats in the nearby area lower down, but the seats we chose had the advantage of having no one in front of us, so more opportunities for photos and the ability to leave without disturbing others. And as I read often beforehand, pretty much all of the seats appear to have good viewing. Realistically, if you want to only have the performers facing you most of the time, then you need to be in sections 4 through 13.

 

 

Given the extensive movement of the performers and the high energy of the performances, we did not feel that we missed out on anything. And yes, we could see all of the light show designs projected on the castle, however we had to look at the castle or look at the performers rather than being able to see both at the same time like those in the more expensive seats.

 

Although it was a clear and dry night, if it had rained, the seats at the very top of the stadium seating had a very small lip or 'roof' over them. The evening actually started out fairly warm, but we found that about every half hour we needed to add a layer of covering to keep warm - partly because we were mostly sitting without moving around a lot.

[Disney Sheep]

Description based on the internet: The 2014 Tattoo celebrated 'Home, Friends and Family'.

 

The 65th Tattoo, was based on the theme “Our Home, Friends and Family”, to reflect the Year of Homecoming 2014.

 

A band of 260 pipers and drummers from around the world crossed the drawbridge through smoke and light, to take to the arena.

 

 

As well as drawing on *musicians from famous regiments, the band will include civilian *pipers from around Scotland recruited to take part in the Tattoo.

 

{Side note: apparently there are more pipers in Canada than in Scotland - we Canadians are very proud of our Scottish heritage - and I am not sure about pipers, but we spotted several drummers in the massed band who were clearly from Canada, at least based on the designs on their drums.}

 

The program then embarked on a “journey” around the world, taking in a number of Commonwealth nations. First up was Malta, with The Band of The Armed Forces of Malta making their debut at the Tattoo, with 58 musicians and dancers on parade.

 

 

 

Next was South Africa, celebrating 20 years of democracy this year, and the iNgobamakhosi Zulu Dance Troupe with some of their *battle songs.

 

 

Other performers included the Nagaland Folkloric Group from north-east India with songs and dances celebrating their rural lives, as well as the New Zealand Kapa Haka Dancers and New Zealand Highland Dancers.

 

 

From the southernmost island of the Caribbean, the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force Steel Orchestra returned for its fifth appearance.

 

 

Followed by a huge band of 40 fiddlers from the Shetlands, clad in distinctive Shetland Island jumpers.

 

And as part of the celebration of the 350th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Marines, they put on an anti terrorist demonstration.

 

The finale, with more than 1150 cast members, included the Erskine Stewart’s Melville Schools Choir, balloons, flares, dance music from across the century and fireworks.

 

Heck yes it was an impressive evening.

[Disney Sheep]

Overall, we really enjoyed the Tattoo for the entertainment spectacle that it was. And we giggled at the joyful atmosphere created by the large group of Northern Irish visitors in the section we found ourselves in. After I jumped at the pyrotechnical explosions that were part of the Royal Marines military demonstration the lady beside me put her hand on my arm and told me "not to worry about the 'little pop bangs' dearie" since as she stated she was from Northern Ireland and they didn't bother her since she was used to them! And instead, she and the rest of the section just Oooohed and Aaaaahed over them as if rating them! This crowd in our section was pure fun and high spirits.

 

 

Massed band before the finale

 

 

Finale Fireworks

 

 

As the evenings performance drew to a close they played Auld Lang Syne - I am not being facetious when I tell you that it felt like it was almost a religious experience in Scotland. It is sung with such a passion and it included the entire audience crossing their arms across their bodies and holding hands and moving together in an almost frenzied kind of unison. Auld Lang Syne was followed up by the National Anthem.

 

We left our seats immediately as the National anthem finished - that would be just before they announced that no one was allowed to leave at that point. Since we were already in motion we kept going, sort of a damned if you do damned if you don't situation, but since DH has a bum ankle that becomes painful after a lot of use and especially in cold damp situations, there was no way we were climbing back up to our seats. They did hold us at the gate, but we were well ahead of the crowd, even with DH having to limp a little until his ankle warmed up. So, if you plan a quick exit, try to make it out directly after Auld Lang Syne rather than waiting respectfully for the National Anthem!

 

As we walked out past the Esplanade and down the Royal Mile (but were still on the pedestrian section of the street), we giggled at the police officer commenting (to the crowd at large via megaphone): if you are looking for a bus turn here, if you are looking for a train turn there, if you are looking for a taxi - good luck!

 

Since we listened to the first police officer that we spoke to on our way in to the Tattoo, we found a taxi almost immediately - DS however was very amused when the taxi driver and I had a long discussion, me in 'Canadian' and him with his -as stated in the Princess Patter - 'strong regional accent' (I.e. Scottish :) as we debated whether I wanted to go to Ros-yth or Ro-syth :).

 

When we drove from Rosyth to Edinburgh in the morning we were simply intrigued by the fact that our taxi was being driven on the 'other' side of the road than we are used to in North America. However, after a full and busy day of sight seeing I was definitely tired and it was very dark outside (it being night time and all:) and it was a completely different experience driving on the 'wrong' side of the road from my perspective. And to add to the challenge of that experience, our driver must have been channeling Mario Andretti. On the positive side, we reached our ship at Rosyth and were actually in our cabin before 11:30 pm!

 

We were among the very first back to the ship after the Tattoo. We headed straight for the Panorama buffet after we dropped our bags in the cabin, and we had a fantastic late night snack. Princess truly got that part of the evening right and it was wonderful customer service! In the big picture, booking our own Tattoo tickets online and taking the taxi was definitely a good decision on our part.

 

We were so tired by the time we crawled into bed around midnight that we fell into a deep well deserved sleep very quickly. My Fitbit registered over 30,000 steps for the day which equated to over 20km (I.e. over 12 miles) walked, and at least 2 of those kilometres were almost straight up hill. Actually with all of the 'up hill' walking all day long, my Fitbit registered that I had climbed 135 sets of stairs!

 

A very well deserved sleep indeed.

[Disney Sheep]

Booking the Royal Edinburgh Tattoo on our own vice booking a Princess Excursion.

 

 

 

When we booked this cruise, the first thing we did was book through Princess for the three of us to go to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo - the quoted cost was $229 US each, which for the three of us came to just under $700 US. That seemed a 'little' steep to me. And so I researched the heck out of the subject - thank you Cruise Critic.

 

In the end we realized that because we were on the Ocean Princess and docked and overnighting in Edinburgh we did not have to be concerned about getting back to the ship by a specific time. Instead, we cancelled with Princess and purchased 3 tickets through the official Tattoo website for £35 each, plus a £5 admin fee, for a total of £110 (or $207 CDN with the exchange rate at the time). We picked our tickets up at the official office in Edinburgh while sight seeing during the day.

 

Since we were docked and off the ship so early and we took a taxi in to Edinburgh in the morning for £36 and then much much later, we took a taxi home after the Tattoo for £40 (the difference in cost may have been due to the 'language issue' over me saying Ros-yth vice the cruise terminal at Ro-syth, but even if it wasn't, the convenience and efficiency of taking this taxi after our long busy day was so worth the cost:).

 

Let's just guesstimate transport for Edinburgh for Day 1 at $150 CDN (with exchange and any extra tip etc) and that makes our total cost for the Tattoo roughly $360 CDN. Definitely a huge savings compared to the $690US (or more realistically $760 CDN after exchange that Princess would have charged us). So even adding in our very nice evening meal at The Worlds End Tavern (roughly $70 CDN for the three of us) we came out ahead AND we had more time to explore and enjoy Edinburgh.

 

Side note: our table mates did take the Princess excursion. I believe their seats were indeed in one of the better/ more expensive sections, and yes they enjoyed themselves. That said, I believe they were not completely convinced that the cost that they paid was worth it given the ease with which so many other passengers did this excursion from the Ocean Princess on their own. I also know that they cancelled all other Princess excursions for the rest of the cruise and did the ports on their own - and they had a fabulous time, at least based on the details they shared with us at dinner.

 

As an added bonus, since our taxi driver was very 'efficient' we arrived back at the ship by 11:30 pm, well ahead of any others who attended the Tattoo.

Edited October 18, 2014 by Disney Sheep

[Kewz1]

I'm glad I popped back in! Thank you for your intensive postings about the Tattoo. I would prefer to do this on our own - the cost being higher than I really want to pay when you look at the actual cost of the tickets.

 

Our problem is that we want to go to the Saturday night viewing. As of right now, the Ocean Princess leaves at 12:30. With the show starting at 7pm can we make it back in time? I'm assuming we have to be back at least an hour before that. If we don't make it out until after the National Anthem will there be any taxis left?

 

I'm sorry to hijack your thread but I'd love to hear your opinion.

 

Kristen

[Disney Sheep]

I'm glad I popped back in! Thank you for your intensive postings about the Tattoo. I would prefer to do this on our own - the cost being higher than I really want to pay when you look at the actual cost of the tickets.

 

Our problem is that we want to go to the Saturday night viewing. As of right now, the Ocean Princess leaves at 12:30. With the show starting at 7pm can we make it back in time? I'm assuming we have to be back at least an hour before that. If we don't make it out until after the National Anthem will there be any taxis left?

 

I'm sorry to hijack your thread but I'd love to hear your opinion.

 

Kristen

 

Hi there again.

 

First, I truly hope that other people come on and try to answer your question since my experience is limited to one cruise that stayed overnight this past August.

 

That being said, I think you should be able to do this on your own. First, the Tattoo seemed to go off like clockwork. We all commented at dinner the next night how they started precisely on time. And, they finished on time an hour and a half later. Which if it starts at 7 pm means that it should be over by 8:30 pm.

Especially if they have a 10:30 pm show on (given that it is a Saturday night).

 

You should be able to find a taxi if you are quick off the mark. Even if you have to head for the train and catch say the 9:30 pm train, that should still put you back at the ship by about 10:30 pm I am guessing. Although from my perspective the taxi was well worth the money.

 

As I said, hopefully others with more experience will help you out, but also consider starting your own thread on the subject. I have seen so many helpful responses, especially from Scottish Cruise Critic members on this subject.

[Shogun]

Hi Kirsten,

While it is do able l would not go for it reason being you will not enjoy the show instead of being relaxed you will be thinking about traffic, time etc. You need to cross the Forth Bridge which can be an issue. Can you start your vacation by flying into Scotland going to the tattoo before joining the ship.

 

Yours Shogun

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Forums mobile app

[Shogun]

Hi Disney Sheep

Nice to hear that you had a good day in Edinburgh, however you will need to come back to check out Stirling Castle and Uni, St Andrews and its Uni or you get the idea ,

Next to where l live we have the Kelpies

 

Leaving for my own cruise in a few hours will catch up with your great posts once l am back

 

Yours Shogun

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Forums mobile app

[ontheweb]

Thanks for weighing in, our experience was similar to yours, except that we made the decision in the morning to take a taxi both ways.

 

Tattoo up next.

 

Thanks for the Tattoo pictures (that we were not able to get because of the dropped camera). I'll have to show them later to DW who is away, and will be most of today. I believe you can watch the entire Tattoo on YouTube.

 

There are real similarities in our experiences. We originally booked the least expensive Princess Tattoo excursion. We had not yet found airfare at a somewhat acceptable price, so we wanted to make sure we had tickets, but not the online ones that would not have been refundable. I think it was March, or possibly April, when we bought our online tickets and cancelled out Princess excursion.

 

Our seats were very near where yours were. We were in section 14 a very few rows from the top.

 

Instead of telling the cab driver Rosyth, we told him we needed to go to the cruise ship. He knew where to go, so no difference in communication due to different accents.

 

Speaking of different accents, when DW made a purchase in Dublin, they took off the VAT and gave us a form to fill out. I asked if they needed proof that we were not from a European Union country. The salesclerk laughed, and said she could tell from our accents that we were not European. And soon, it will be cold enough for DW to wear her new sweater.

[Shogun]

Hi All

If you log into the official tattoo site you can order a DVD of your show.

 

Yours Shogun

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Forums mobile app

[Disney Sheep]

Hi Disney Sheep

Nice to hear that you had a good day in Edinburgh, however you will need to come back to check out Stirling Castle and Uni, St Andrews and its Uni or you get the idea ,

Next to where l live we have the Kelpies

 

Leaving for my own cruise in a few hours will catch up with your great posts once l am back

 

Yours Shogun

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Forums mobile app

 

Hope you have a great cruise Shogun! I agree that we need to make it back to Scotland to check out Stirling and St Andrews as well as lots of other choice spots :). Just spent today at a local university's open house with DD and one of the first things she wanted to check out was the Study Abroad program. She is very determined :).

 

And as for kelpies, I am sure they need checking out as well during another visit to Scotland. To paraphrase 'Outlander', there is no place on earth with more magic and superstition woven into daily life than the Scottish Highlands - or Scotland period! DD loved Stirling by the way, and the Unicorns.

[Disney Sheep]

Thanks for the Tattoo pictures (that we were not able to get because of the dropped camera). I'll have to show them later to DW who is away, and will be most of today. I believe you can watch the entire Tattoo on YouTube.

 

There are real similarities in our experiences. We originally booked the least expensive Princess Tattoo excursion. We had not yet found airfare at a somewhat acceptable price, so we wanted to make sure we had tickets, but not the online ones that would not have been refundable. I think it was March, or possibly April, when we bought our online tickets and cancelled out Princess excursion.

 

Our seats were very near where yours were. We were in section 14 a very few rows from the top.

 

Instead of telling the cab driver Rosyth, we told him we needed to go to the cruise ship. He knew where to go, so no difference in communication due to different accents.

 

Speaking of different accents, when DW made a purchase in Dublin, they took off the VAT and gave us a form to fill out. I asked if they needed proof that we were not from a European Union country. The salesclerk laughed, and said she could tell from our accents that we were not European. And soon, it will be cold enough for DW to wear her new sweater.

 

Hi again Ontheweb. Taking photos at night is definitely challenging at the best of times, and with my camera battery dying i am glad that I had at least a few photos that were representative of our experience at the Tattoo, even if they were a little soft from a focus perspective. I just did not have the option of trying again and again for a better shot!

 

In the interests of trying to help Kristen/Kewz1 who posted up thread, I hope you can answer a few questions. Just wondering what time you left the Tattoo - was it after the National Anthem? Did you get caught up in the crowd since our location was closer to the castle and therefore behind the crowd heading back to the Royal Mile? Where did you catch your taxi? And about what time did you catch it? And, as a result what time did you get back to the ship?

 

Technically she should have 4 hours after the Tattoo next summer to get back to the ship (or 3 anyway if she reasonably wants to be back at the ship by 11:30 pm, an hour before Sailaway).

 

Looking forward to your experience in this situation.

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your review and great photo's.

[ontheweb]

Hi again Ontheweb. Taking photos at night is definitely challenging at the best of times, and with my camera battery dying i am glad that I had at least a few photos that were representative of our experience at the Tattoo, even if they were a little soft from a focus perspective. I just did not have the option of trying again and again for a better shot!

 

In the interests of trying to help Kristen/Kewz1 who posted up thread, I hope you can answer a few questions. Just wondering what time you left the Tattoo - was it after the National Anthem? Did you get caught up in the crowd since our location was closer to the castle and therefore behind the crowd heading back to the Royal Mile? Where did you catch your taxi? And about what time did you catch it? And, as a result what time did you get back to the ship?

 

Technically she should have 4 hours after the Tattoo next summer to get back to the ship (or 3 anyway if she reasonably wants to be back at the ship by 11:30 pm, an hour before Sailaway).

 

Looking forward to your experience in this situation.

 

We left after it was all over. And with the way they let everyone out row after row with us being near the top, it tool quite a while to get out. And then there was a crowd to fight our way through. We then went to the train station, and tried to find out which platform our train was leaving from. After being in the station what seemed like quite a while, we discovered that the last train for our station had already departed. This was despite the fact that it was still earlier than we had thought we had seen on the schedule.

 

I do not remember the time exactly, but it was definitely past 11. I think we found a taxi somewhere around the corner from the train station. It must have been around midnight when we got back.