British Isles stops: Excursions vs DIY

[dana r.]

Which stops/ports for a British Isles cruise can you DIY and which ones do you need to use an excursion?

 

For other cruises, Rick Steves had useful tables for which ports to DIY and which ones you needed an excursion as well as which ports were docked vs tendered but I can't find anything similar to that for a British Isles cruise.

 

How far away are the ports from the cities?

 

It looks like the cruise ships only dock directly at Belfast and Dublin so those should be close. I know Le Havre will be really far from Paris, but I don't know about what it'd be like for the other stops.

[LHT28]

If you post the ports you are cruising to people can give you more informed answers

[Bob++]

Yes, cruise lines have an unfortunate habit of conflating ports with cities that are some distance away. London, Southampton is one, where there is an 80 mile journey between them. I have also seen Greenock and Edinburgh linked, when they are on opposite sides of the country.

[Alaskanb]

I can only address the Princess British Isles with Kirkwall cruise. We will tender in Guernsey and South Queensferry (our port for Edinburgh). DIY is possible in many ports --all depends on what you want to see. Tom's port guides are helpful http://www.tomsportguides.com/port-guides.html

Paris is a long way from LeHavre and many folks choose to do tours of Normandy that include the D-Day beaches, visit Monet's gardens, Honfleur, etc.

We will be doing a combination of coach and small group tours. Great value coach tours are ecoach in Cobh and Overlord tour 9B in LeHavre.

Have a look at cruise reviews to see what is possible.

[dana r.]

If you post the ports you are cruising to people can give you more informed answers

 

The destinations are on the left, and where it docks are in paranthes

 

Glasgow (Greenock)

Invenress/Lockness (Invergordon)

Kirkwall

Edinburg (South Queensferry)

Belfast

Dublin

Cork(Corb)

Guersney (St Peters Port)

Paris/Normandy (Le Havre)

[PhilbeachTraveller]

The destinations are on the left, and where it docks are in paranthes

 

Glasgow (Greenock)

Invenress/Lockness (Invergordon)

Kirkwall

Edinburg (South Queensferry)

Belfast

Dublin

Cork(Corb)

Guersney (St Peters Port)

Paris/Normandy (Le Havre)

 

As previous posters say, depends what you want to do. I live in the UK and did a similar cruise so explored places I hadn't heard of/been to instead of the usual excursion destinations. However, most of them you can do DIY if you don't want to do excursions. You can get a train from South Queensferry to Edinburgh, although the station is up a steep hill so you might want to get a taxi there. For Cobh, there is a train that goes into Cork which runs very frequently and only takes about 25 minutes. If you wanted to go to Blarney Castle, there is a bus from Cork that goes there, again only takes 25 minutes. Paris is really far from Le Havre so wouldn't attempt that as you'll spend most of your day on a coach. What others suggest (Monet's garden, Normandy etc) would be way better. If you look up public transport connections for each of the ports, it'll give you an idea of what you can DIY if you want. Obviously, Guernsey is a tender port so you're right in St Peter Port and you can get the public bus for about £1 which goes right round the island.

[itsanita]

The destinations are on the left, and where it docks are in paranthes

 

Glasgow (Greenock)

Invenress/Lockness (Invergordon)

Kirkwall

Edinburg (South Queensferry)

Belfast

Dublin

Cork(Corb)

Guersney (St Peters Port)

Paris/Normandy (Le Havre)

 

 

 

Thanks for the info, do you remember how far the ports are from the cities?

[tartanexile81]

Queensferry is about 10 miles from Edinburgh and as well as the train and taxi mentioned in an earlier post, there is also a shuttle bus, from the top of the pier to Charlotte Square in the city centre. Many people DIY in Edinburgh as it is quite compact

[Alaskanb]

Thanks for the info, do you remember how far the ports are from the cities?

I like visuals --if you search for "Greenock cruise terminal to Glasgow" you can see it's relationship to Glasgow and distance + times to get there using different forms of travel.

[tartanexile81]

You might find these websites helpful too. There are volunteer groups at the three ports in Scotland. The volunteers are all local people with a wealth of information about their area. They will be there to welcome you on the pier and these sites might help you with your planning

 

http://www.visitinvergordon.com For Invergordon

 

 

http://www.cruiseforth.com For Edinburgh

 

 

https://www.inverclydetouristgroup.co.uk For Greenock