British Isles Cruise-Private driver for group of 8

[MTV43]

Hi,

We will on Celebrity Reflection sailing to British Isles in August.  It is our first time to these destinations and we prefer to find a private driver for group of 8 for most of the ports.  Greatly appreciate your recommendation for a reliable driver. Are there independent tours available outside of cruise terminal?

 

We are also looking for suggestion what not to be missed at each port.  We are couples at 60's, enjoy nature and photography, not much of museum, like visit quaint town. We see a picture of an English alley with full of flowers hanging outside the window, can we find this at any of the port below?

Day1	Amsterdam
Day2	Dover	7:00am	7:00pm
Day3	Sea
Day4	Inverness	10:00am	7:00pm
Day5	Sea
Day6	Glasgow	7:00am	11:59pm
Day7	Belfast	7:00am	8:00pm
Day8	Liverpool	6:00am	5:00pm
Day9	Dublin	5:30am	6:00pm
Day10	Cork	11:00am
Day11	Cork	4:00pm
Day12	Sea
Day13	Amsterdam

 

Thanks in advance for your replies!

[John Bull]

Unlike the Caribbean & other places in the world, in the UK and Europe there are rarely ad-hoc van tours available at the ports. There will be taxis but altho they're fine for a short A to B hop into town they'll be super-expensive for a tour - and pot-luck whether you get a knowledgeable and customer-friendly driver.

 

So I'm afraid you really need to research, plan out, and if you want a van or car tour book at a fixed price in advance.

Have you checked your RollCall for tour-share offers?

 

Dover.

The town itself certainly isn't "quaint", it's a busy ferry-port with an almost-continuous stream of trucks passing through. 

Lots of options spring to mind, notably.....

1. If you've not been to London, won't have another opportunity & want a fleeting visit, off-peak train tickets to London's Charing Cross or Victoria at around £38 return & journey time about 2 hours, all direct trains (no changes). Depart Dover Priory station between 8 & 9am, back in Dover around 5.30pm would give you about  6 hours in central London.

2. The ancient cathedral city of Canterbury. Very much more quaint, lots of cobbled alleys and history. About half-an hour by train, half-hourly service, about £10 return.

3. Dover Castle. Perched on the White Cliffs above the town, it has a continuous thousand-year history from the Norman conquest (altho the incorporated Roman lighthouse & medieval tunnels are even older) right thro to WW2, when the town was known as "Hellfire Corner". Views of France most days from the castle - and from under it, through a window cut into the chalk cliff in what was a ladies toilet in the WW2 tunnels  . Takes most of a relaxing day to explore. This is the sort of short journey to do by taxi from the line at the cruise terminal -  a 10 minute drive. Have only visited in our own car, I don't know whether it's walkable back down to town (it sure isn't when going up) or whether there's a bus service, or whether you need to fix with your driver a time for him to return to you.

http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/ for all train journeys. Be aware of more-limited services on sundays.

 

Inverness

Your port is almost-certanly Invergordon. Inverness is very plesant but not iconic. I suggest you research for a private van tour. Possibly to Loch Ness (beware of sea-creatures but do include Urquhart Castle)) or the Spey Valley (whisky distilleries).

Browse these search results for operators and other info

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=Inverness&type=forums_topic&nodes=148

Probably worth also searching this forum using Invergordon as your search word. 

And use the same search facility for your other ports

 

Glasgow

Not my favourite city, but an excellent base for tours of places like Loch Lomond.

 

Liverpool

Another that's not one of my favourites, but that's because I'm a native of the rival port of Southampton, and because Liverpool FC keep poaching Southampton FC's players - their team-sheet looks like Southampton Old Boys 

Rant over 

You port right in the city centre, and there are lots of city tours, many themed on the Beatles. But I'll leave more-knowledgeable scousers to give you better info.

Or there's a very popular van excursion geared to most cruise ships (you can just book 2 seats) to North Wales - castles, coastline, & places of interest. No personal experience but seen them praised many times on Cruise Critic

https://www.busybus.co.uk/wales-from-liverpool-cruise-terminal

 

Dublin

Haven't visited by cruise ship, so I don't know those logistics (the DART train??)

The city centre is very pleasant, and from there to the very-visitable Guinness brewery is a short bus or taxi ride.

The only disadvantage of the Guinness tour is that it includes a pint of the evil stuff at the end. But there's salvation in the option of a more-palateable drink which doesn't need a knife and fork 

 

Sorry, never been to Cork. Mebbe Cruise Critic's resident VMax will chip in.

 

JB   

 

Edited July 4, 2019 by John Bull

[dogs4fun]

1 hour ago, John Bull said:

The only disadvantage of the Guinness tour is that it includes a pint of the evil stuff at the end. But there's salvation in the option of a more-palateable drink which doesn't need a knife and fork 

"knife and fork" cracked me up 😂

Edited July 4, 2019 by dogs4fun

[toseaornottosea]

6 hours ago, MTV43 said:

We will on Celebrity Reflection sailing to British Isles in August.  It is our first time to these destinations and we prefer to find a private driver for group of 8 for most of the ports.  Greatly appreciate your recommendation for a reliable driver. Are there independent tours available outside of cruise terminal?

 

Just Google "private tour guide/driver" and include the town or city and you will find many choices, including from tripadvisor, as well as from Tours By Locals, which we have found to be a very reliable source of private guides.  Be sure you read reviews.  Going to your roll call has been mentioned to look for "tour share" opportunities is another option but fitting a party of 8 into a shared tour will be hard to find unless the tour is on a big bus/coach and it doesn't sound like that's what you're looking for.  If you find a guide that seems right for you and it turns out they're not available ask if they might suggest another guide.  They often know other guides.  Good luck and enjoy the cruise.

[VMax1700]

Most private tour guide vehicles will only carry 6 or 7 passengers max, so you may have a problem with 8 persons!

Look at Tours by Locals.

Some private tours are organised by coach/bus companies such as https://www.butlers-buses.com/ who are highly recommended on cruise critic.

Suggestions as where to go - West Cork!  Kinsale, Clonakilty, Skibbereen, Bantry, Gougane Barra/St Finbarr's Oratory.  All outstanding quaint towns/villages with wonderful photo ops.

[MTV43]

Thanks everyone for your replies!

[aqua]

We had an excellent private tour from Cork with http://www.butlerstours.com/. 

 

We also went to North Wales from Liverpool on a group tour from http://www.busybus.co.uk/wales-from-liverpool-cruise-terminal.  My husband generally dislikes group tours but he had a great time on Busy Bus.  Beautiful scenery!

 

We used this guide in Edinburgh and St Andrews: but the website says he can travel to other areas: http://www.edinburghcabtours.com/about/. Andy was the best guide we have ever had. He is very personable and knowledgeable.  

 

 

 

 

[cherylakers]

On 7/7/2019 at 10:10 PM, aqua said:

We had an excellent private tour from Cork with http://www.butlerstours.com/. 

 

We also went to North Wales from Liverpool on a group tour from http://www.busybus.co.uk/wales-from-liverpool-cruise-terminal.  My husband generally dislikes group tours but he had a great time on Busy Bus.  Beautiful scenery!

 

We used this guide in Edinburgh and St Andrews: but the website says he can travel to other areas: http://www.edinburghcabtours.com/about/. Andy was the best guide we have ever had. He is very personable and knowledgeable.  

 

 

 

 

We are booked for August in Cobh/Cork with Butlers.  They have an extra leg room bus that holds 16.  There are only 12 of us going to it worked out perfectly.  You could book this and see if you can get a few extra people in your roll call to split the cost of the tour.  

 

There are lots of private tour guides in all ports.  We are going for 12 days with 9 ports and have private tours booked in every port.  All but one tour is for just the 6 of us, but most larger companies had different size vehicles available.  You shouldn't have a problem finding some one.  The only thing is you are only a month away and a lot of tours are booked up already so I wouldn't wait to contact some.  There are always the Sandeman's free walking tours of the bigger cities.  I have them booked for Edinburg and Dublin. 

In Edinburg I booked our Tattoo tickets when they went on sale in December or January and booked our tour guide to take us from the port in Glasgow to the Tattoo almost a year ago.

 

Good Luck in your research and happy sailing!!