Should I depart from Dublin or Southamton, London on Princess cruise?

[styme123]

Trosebery is right, matter of personal preference. I sail solo, inside cabins most of the time. My TV is turned to the web cam even when I sleep. In the a.m., screen gets lighter, time to get up! :) Works for me, because I'm an early riser. When I'm in the cabin, TV is on, one channel always has time of day, weather, ship position, etc., and bridge cam is on another channel.

Yeah that's what I did too when we went to Alaska and did interior. I guess I always hear from others how great they are. I love reading all the reviews and comments as I'm researching ports/sites/cruises, but I think sometimes I can get caught up in the FOMO. :D When I'm reading about everything I tend to second guess myself. Like am I really missing out on something great. I guess that's kind of what I'm thinking about the Tattoo also.

[trosebery]

For the July 27th date, they are supposed to be in Edinburgh Fri Aug 2 for the 7am-2am late night. I looked at the dates for next years Tattoo and they said it starts on Aug 2. Just didn't know if it's an option since I usually see it out of the Glasgow port.

 

Opening night, fun!

 

I think Princess does both -- excursions from Greenock and from Edinburgh -- depending on ship/port schedules/etc.

 

As far as FOMO, I'm sure a balcony can be nice. . . . It's just not $2000 nice to me, especially on a port-intensive and cool-weather British Islands cruise.

 

The Tattoo is something that I'm happy I saw (especially since we had lovely weather the night that we went), but if I'd gone on a different cruise and since something else, I'm sure I would have been happy too. Not being able to see it wouldn't have been a deal-breaker for me. They do a show every year, after all. I'm sure I would have had another chance sometime.

[styme123]

Opening night, fun!

 

I think Princess does both -- excursions from Greenock and from Edinburgh -- depending on ship/port schedules/etc.

 

As far as FOMO, I'm sure a balcony can be nice. . . . It's just not $2000 nice to me, especially on a port-intensive and cool-weather British Islands cruise.

 

The Tattoo is something that I'm happy I saw (especially since we had lovely weather the night that we went), but if I'd gone on a different cruise and since something else, I'm sure I would have been happy too. Not being able to see it wouldn't have been a deal-breaker for me. They do a show every year, after all. I'm sure I would have had another chance sometime.

 

Those are some good points :D Where did you sit for the Tattoo?

[trosebery]

Those are some good points :D Where did you sit for the Tattoo?

 

We sat in the centre of Section 12 (marked in light blue):

https://www.edintattoo.co.uk/tickets/2018-seating-plan-and-prices

 

which I thought a good compromise, price-wise vs. position-wise.

 

If you sit more central (near/below the Royal Gallery), the performance is nicely framed by the projections on the castle -- you can see both without having to turn your head at an angle or glance between the two. But note that most of the "action" actually occurs in the centre of the area, in front of Sections 3, 4, 13, and 14.

[styme123]

We sat in the centre of Section 12 (marked in light blue):

https://www.edintattoo.co.uk/tickets/2018-seating-plan-and-prices

 

which I thought a good compromise, price-wise vs. position-wise.

 

If you sit more central (near/below the Royal Gallery), the performance is nicely framed by the projections on the castle -- you can see both without having to turn your head at an angle or glance between the two. But note that most of the "action" actually occurs in the centre of the area, in front of Sections 3, 4, 13, and 14.

Did you do the 7:30 or 10:30 showing? Thinking about how much time it takes to get back to the ship. It always makes me a little concerned when you book private transportation instead of the cruise excursions, but the price differences are usually significant.

[trosebery]

Did you do the 7:30 or 10:30 showing? Thinking about how much time it takes to get back to the ship. It always makes me a little concerned when you book private transportation instead of the cruise excursions, but the price differences are usually significant.

 

We went on a weeknight, so there was only a 9:00 showing. The show is about 100 minutes, so it ended around 10:40 pm. It takes some time to exit the castle and we met our guide at 11:00 pm, following which we had to walk to where our transportation was parked and negotiate traffic on the way back to the port. I'd be reluctant to try to visit a 10:30 showing, myself.

[bubblesqueaker]

If you are flying from/to the US... in Dublin you can do US Preclearance on the way home so you can land as a domestic. Dublin Airport is much smaller than heathrow 2 v 5 terminals. But a lovely airport. Just booked flights to Seattle tonight from Dublin.

 

 

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[bubblesqueaker]

Ps for flights watch Aer Lingus directly. I got our flights £600/$1000cheaper booking directly on the airlines website over Princess

 

 

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[styme123]

Ps for flights watch Aer Lingus directly. I got our flights £600/$1000cheaper booking directly on the airlines website over Princess

 

 

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:o wow that's a big difference in price! I was wondering about using the Princess EZ Air. I heard some good reviews about it and some no so good things.

[styme123]

Opening night, fun!

 

I think Princess does both -- excursions from Greenock and from Edinburgh -- depending on ship/port schedules/etc.

 

As far as FOMO, I'm sure a balcony can be nice. . . . It's just not $2000 nice to me, especially on a port-intensive and cool-weather British Islands cruise.

 

The Tattoo is something that I'm happy I saw (especially since we had lovely weather the night that we went), but if I'd gone on a different cruise and since something else, I'm sure I would have been happy too. Not being able to see it wouldn't have been a deal-breaker for me. They do a show every year, after all. I'm sure I would have had another chance sometime.

 

On the July 27 2019 date the late night is out of Edinburgh which I noticed is a tendered port vs the Aug 5 sailing which you could see the Tattoo out of Glasgow which isn't tendered. Any pro/con to that? I was wondering with Edinburgh being tendered could it have a higher chance of being missed and therefore missing the Tattoo? Is it just as easy to get to the Tattoo travel time and ease of access wise from either port?

[trosebery]

On the July 27 2019 date the late night is out of Edinburgh which I noticed is a tendered port vs the Aug 5 sailing which you could see the Tattoo out of Glasgow which isn't tendered. Any pro/con to that? I was wondering with Edinburgh being tendered could it have a higher chance of being missed and therefore missing the Tattoo? Is it just as easy to get to the Tattoo travel time and ease of access wise from either port?

 

I haven't heard of Edinburgh being missed due to tenders. Kirkwall and Guernsey, yes, but not Edinburgh?

 

I think it's just as easy from either port. Greenock may be further away but you don't have to deal with tenders. (Though I suppose the ideal situation would be to be docked at Leith.)

[styme123]

Southampton is about 56 miles / 90 to 120 minutes from LHR - that's much further than Dublin / airport.

And LHR to central London is about 16 urban miles / 15 to 60 minutes in the opposite direction.

So no contest for convenience of airport / city / cruise port.

 

London is so much more worth the extra days, but esp with LHR & Southampton being comparatively inconvenient and you not having extra days available that's mebbe irrelevant. To be worth visiting London you'd need at the very least one full day between your flight day and your sailing day.

 

I'm surprised that flights to Dublin & are similarly-priced, London Gatwick is usually cheaper than London Heathrow.

Or Icelandair have cheap flight to Dublin - it's via Rekjavik but that means for no extra cost you can have a stop-over there of, say, 24 hours.

 

JB :)

 

I started looking at an Monday, Aug 5 2019 sail date leaving out of SH. We could fly from NY and be in London on Fri morning. Do you think that would be enough days to see a good amount of the London sites before the cruise? The other option was the July 27 R/T Dublin where we get to fly in/out easier and see more of Dublin, but we only port in SH 5:00 am-5:00 pm, not really sure if I could see much of London then considering your not getting of the ship at 5:00 anyway and it takes 1-1/2 hours to get to London from the port?

[styme123]

I haven't heard of Edinburgh being missed due to tenders. Kirkwall and Guernsey, yes, but not Edinburgh?

 

I think it's just as easy from either port. Greenock may be further away but you don't have to deal with tenders. (Though I suppose the ideal situation would be to be docked at Leith.)

Are there certain times of the month/year when Kirkwall has a higher chance of being missed?