Caribbean Princess British Isles

[heckofagator]

hi everyone,

 

We are considering cruising the British Isles 12 day via the Caribbean Princess this summer.

 

Being from Florida, we've done the majority of our cruises in the Caribbean, so we really ever hadn't had to worry about airfare, which appears to be quite expensive to London. Does Princess offer any good bundle rates with airfare, or are you just as well off to shop the discount air carriers?

 

Is there any reason why you would say the British Isles cruise would not be good for a family of four with a 9 and 12 year old boys?

 

We've almost always done our our excursions, booking a head of time and not through the ship. I've read just a handful of reviews so far on this sailing and I see a lot about the tours, which most are, I'm assuming, offered via the ship. Is there anything different here with the oversees cruises versus our Caribbbean one where we would NOT want to book outside of the ship for activities on port days?

 

thanks in advance. I'm sure I'll have more questions later on.

Edited May 5, 2016 by heckofagator

[MrsScooby]

hi everyone,

 

We are considering cruising the British Isles 12 day via the Caribbean Princess this summer.

 

Being from Florida, we've done the majority of our cruises in the Caribbean, so we really ever hadn't had to worry about airfare, which appears to be quite expensive to London. Does Princess offer any good bundle rates with airfare, or are you just as well off to shop the discount air carriers?

 

Is there any reason why you would say the British Isles cruise would not be good for a family of four with a 9 and 12 year old boys?

 

We've almost always done our our excursions, booking a head of time and not through the ship. I've read just a handful of reviews so far on this sailing and I see a lot about the tours, which most are, I'm assuming, offered via the ship. Is there anything different here with the oversees cruises versus our Caribbbean one where we would NOT want to book outside of the ship for activities on port days?

 

thanks in advance. I'm sure I'll have more questions later on.

 

We are 2 weeks from leaving for our first Princess cruise and we'll be on the British Isles itinerary.

I can tell you we booked our airfare through Princess. Not only were the fares a little cheaper than what we were seeing on various sites, we also had the option to cancel the airfare right up until paid in full date for the cruise. So if we saw a better fare we could cancel and book elsewhere. That also meant we had a big payment at one time but we were prepared for it.

 

For our roll call it seems like quite a few are booking their excursions on their own. That's what we do as well as we prefer smaller groups and more control over the tour.

 

As for your boys ages, that really depends on the individual kid. You will need to take their likes and dislikes into consideration when you plan and so might skip places like the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin in favor of other more kid friendly spots. My brother did take his sons to Ireland last year and they were 10 and 12 and from what I heard they loved it.

 

I'll have more to offer when we get back in June. But don't wait for me as tours and flights will be booking up soon.

 

Good luck!

 

Laurie

[idahospud]

Princess air seems to be a better bargain for international flights than for domestic flights. We booked ours through Princess and found it was a substantial savings over booking on our own. I'd probably be more worried about the expense of excursions than the air expense.

 

One of the biggest differences we noticed between sailing in the Caribbean and Europe is the port intensiveness of the British Isles cruise. In the Caribbean you can alternate between excursions and beach time and hanging by the pool on the ship time, but with the BI cruises it's just go, go, go and if you're doing an excursion at each port it's going to get expensive.

 

Booking tours outside the ship's sponsored tours is common. If you decide on a sailing, keep checking the roll call as quite often members are looking for others to join a tour.

[easyboy]

Does Princess offer any good bundle rates with airfare, or are you just as well off to shop the discount air carriers?

With Princess EZAir, there are times that flexible rates are cheaper than fixed rates.

[Lucky TGO]

My friend from Wales always uses Princess EZAir to Florida.

Tony

Edited May 5, 2016 by Lucky TGO

[heckofagator]

thanks for the thoughts. I suppose it can't hurt to call Princess to see what they can do for airfare and then we can at least compare.

[clueless2]

You can tell what EZAir will charge on the Princess website. You should be able to see it on the cruise you are considering.

[StartrainDD]

Airfare: Princess had better airfare than I could find myself. However, my travel agent found even better airfare through a consolidator they work with and it gave us much better more direct flights than Princess at a lower cost. (Still a lot, but less!)

 

As long as your boys like castles, history, searching for the Loch Ness monster, etc. this sounds like a great trip for them! I could not put a price on the value of taking them to see the Normandy WWII sites and American Cemetery. You can also introduce them to the Beatles. Wish we had done this with our two boys back in the day...

 

Excursions! As others have said, make sure you budget for them! I have arranged three private tours (figure $100/pp/per day - $150 for Normandy). Other ports can be done with HOHO buses and independent sightseeing but do your homework! There are some excellent detailed reviews of past year's similar cruises. Look at the ports of call boards too!

 

Have fun!

[moki'smommy]

You know your kids and how they will respond on this sort of trip.

 

In my 20s, I did the backpack bit thru Europe. In Paris on a boat on the Seine there was a family with 2 kids somewhere around age 10. All we heard the entire ride was the kids whining that they wanted to go back to the hotel to play pinball. My thought was that this family had probably saved for a fantastic vacation and the kids would have been happier at home.

 

In contrast, my daughter traveled the world, her first trip outside the US being at age 4 and loved it. Sure, there were excursions that weren't the greatest, but there are others that are lifetime memories.

 

You can best decide how life will be with your crew!

[Saltwater1974]

Mrs Scooby / et'al,

Has anyone returned from a Princess British Isles Cruise in May 2016 yet?

 

Question - Has anyone ever done a spreadsheet with total all inclusive costs of a Princess Ship Tour vs Private excursions vs public bus / taxi, etc...for British Isles Ports?

 

Reason for asking - Most all of the Princess

Tours INCLUDE ENTRY into various sites (e.g. Castle entrance fees, etc.) plus you get off the ship first (especially good at TENDER ports and go straight away to sites, etc. and guaranteed return, etc. You pay $Dollars on Ship Card, etc...can cancel anytime, etc.

 

When doing private excursions or taxi, etc private tour - you have to pay for all ENTRY FEES in addition to tours most of the time....i know that you have 2/4/6/8 people in van, taxi and that is convenient for sure...

 

When you add it all in....is it about the same price?

just have not seen anyone to that comparison on any of our cruises and thought that maybe somebody has already looked at that angle for British Isles Itinerary.

Edited May 20, 2016 by Saltwater1974

[sunsetbeachgal]

The emails from Princess with the sales have some excellent prices for the British Isles sailings. We are planning to do one next summer with extended family including two children ages 7 and 13, and hope we see prices like the ones this year!

[BratDet]

I've booked some non-Princess tours for my British Isles cruise. Definitely cheaper, or longer time frames. I bought all my advance entrance tix already, using a credit card that doesn't have foreign transaction fees. A few ports we are doing on our own. Another thing is non- Princess tours often have added stops which adds value!

[sbflcruiser]

We are going in August this year. I have booked easy air, we have used it in past when traveling to Europe. It can be very flexible once you figure or out. Changing your times of travel will really cut down on multiple long layovers, kinda play the game. Same thing for the airfare, until you are happy, but than can always shop other places and cancel air prior to final payment. Another tip, once paid if you want to upgrade seats, you can request purchase via fax, once ticket is bought, you can upgrade seats directly with airline.

 

I have planned and booked many private excursions, way cheaper than Princess. Going to the Military Tattoo is one of them, outrageous what Princess charges by comparing to a private tour. Yes I bought my own tickets, best part I chose the seats I wanted not what they gave me. A couple of years ago, did Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento, and Capri all on our own, in the course of one day savings $369.00

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

If flying to UK,

 

look at flying in avoiding direct London flight,

 

fly to Paris and take train to UK best way to see Paris,

 

fly via Iceland have a free over night stay in an amazing stop over,

 

look at flights vis Amesterdam, Dublin or Scotland, either fly into London for a few days or straight into Southampton

 

Try and do in August and go to Edinburgh tattoo

 

yours Shogun

[hansi]

My friend from Wales always uses Princess EZAir to Florida.

Tony

 

Yes, thanks Tony. I would definitely recommend you book your flights with Princess. may be a little more expensive, but if there are any weather delays etc, Princess guarantee you will get to the ship.

[BratDet]

It's always worth checking Princess Air.....and more than once for quotes. One day, I snagged my RT airfare non stop Heathrow for about 350$ less....for 2tix. Been higher ever since! For domestic US, airfares were much higher and included a stop. My non-stop to FLL was 40$ less per person and a non- stop! Princess was 40$ more per person AND had a stop. Blech!

I just used Princess Air for Europe for the third time.