Help with Edinburgh itinerary

[texbecca]

We'll be in Edinburgh on May 13 (HAL). It is one of the ports that we are going to do on our own. I've already booked our Edinburgh castle tix. (9:30-10:00 entry). Now I'm trying to prioritize to make the most of our short time. Our HAL itinerary says we'll depart Queensferry at 5pm so I assume that means "back on board" will be at 4:00?

 

In a perfect world, our itinerary would look like this:

Edinburgh Castle

Lunch/Royal Mile

Mary King's Close

Holyrood Palace 

Royal Yacht Britannia

 

Obviously, we will not have enough time for all this. What would you prioritize?

 

Also, I know about the Cruiselink x99, but I think we will be willing to spend the extra money and take a taxi or Uber to get to/from Edinburgh more quickly. Will taxi's be plentiful? (Or, is Cruiselink x99 so efficient that it would be ridiculous to take a taxi?)

 

FYI- We have Club Orange so we will be able to be some of the first to tender.

 

Thanks!

Rebecca

 

 

Edited March 16 by texbecca

[fruitmachine]

From the data that I can see, the ship is due in at 0745 and leaves at 1700, so I think you'll be right with 1600 "back on board" (or at least onboard the tenders).

 

If you're fast off your mark in the morning, you're biggest question will be what to do until your castle entry time, so that may influence you on whether to get the X99 or a taxi.  There's probably very little open, but you can walk around the Royal Mile area and get a 'sense of place' and look at the views from the Castle Esplanade.  Taxis at South Queensferry have been 'feast or famine' but, if there are any there, then you will undoubtedly be faster than the X99, and it can take you to exactly where you want, saving another bit of time.  They seat either 5 or 6 passengers (depending on model) so you may want to share with others.  Doing that both ways would make them about the same price or less per person than the X99.

 

Regrettably, I'd probably drop The Royal Yacht Britannia.  Although it's an excellent attraction, it needs 90 minutes to do it any justice, and you can probably add another 60 for the return trip from town, even in a taxi.  The rest of your schedule is doable, and you probably have time to visit St Giles Cathedral and/or have a quick visit to the National Museum of Scotland.  St Giles is on the Royal Mile, opposite Mary King's Close, and the museum a 5 minute walk away.  Both are free entry.

[edinburgher]

15 hours ago, texbecca said:

n a perfect world, our itinerary would look like this:

Edinburgh Castle

Lunch/Royal Mile

Mary King's Close

Holyrood Palace 

Royal Yacht Britannia

I would also suggest dropping the Royal Yacht due to time constraints as its location  is not a good fit with your other plans.

 

Should you have time to spare (and you may not have) you could instead stroll the gardens on Princes St, and/or if the weather is fine, go up Calton Hill for the 360 degree views across the city.  Or you could visit any of the several museums on or close to the Royal Mile, with the best being the National Museum of Scotland on Chambers St. a 3 or 4 minute walk from the Royal Mile. there will be much info about it online. Should you prefer art, the National Galleries of Scotland are to be found at the foot of The Mound dividing two sections of Princes St Gardens, or the National Portrait Gallery on Queen St just off St Andrew Square. All of these would tie in well with your other plans, and again, info on all these galleries can be found online and entry to all  is free unless visiting a special visiting exhibition.

 

Do book your castle timed entry tickets ahead of time to save standing in a long line on the day, and also pre-book Mary Kings Close.

[karatemom2]

We paid a bit extra to book the early excursion through Princess to Edinburgh castle. It ensured we were first off the ship and walking in right at opening. Thanks to this, we were ahead of the crowds and didn’t have to deal with long lines. We spent a couple hours there and had midmorning tea and scones in the cafe.
 

We then spent about an hour on the Royal Mile but unfortunately did not have a reservation for Mary Kings Close. We viewed Holyrood Palace from the exterior but did not tour as Royal Yacht Britannia was a priority for us. We took an Uber from the Royal Mile to the yacht and spent a couple hours there including a brief lunch in the tea room. It was a highlight of our day. We then Ubered back to the ship. 

[edinburgher]

5 hours ago, karatemom2 said:

We paid a bit extra to book the early excursion through Princess to Edinburgh castle.

Pre-booking timed entry tickets on the castle website does the same thing without paying the extra for the shorex. Pleased to read that you appear to have enjoyed your day in the city, might you perhaps return in the future for a few extra days which would allow you to fill in the gaps?

[Thejuggler]

Britannia can be done quickly, but if you want to enjoy it it is half a day, but you need to get there for opening as its not large and you will feel crowded out as the day goes on.

Edited March 18 by Thejuggler

[karatemom2]

5 hours ago, edinburgher said:

Pre-booking timed entry tickets on the castle website does the same thing without paying the extra for the shorex. Pleased to read that you appear to have enjoyed your day in the city, might you perhaps return in the future for a few extra days which would allow you to fill in the gaps?

For us, choosing the Princess tour wasn’t as much about the entrance to the castle, although it was helpful. I knew we could reserve tickets on our own in advance. 
 

it was more about guaranteeing we were on one of the first tenders off the ship and had ready and waiting transportation that did not require us to try to scramble for a taxi or Uber when we were new to this area and uncertain how quick and convenient it would be. Given our limited hours with everything we wanted to see, every minute counted and the Princess tour to the castle seemed to be our quickest and most expedient way. 
 

Fellow passengers without a tour were stuck waiting in long tender lines to get off the ship which really slowed them down, some for hours. We were fortunate to be on the very first shuttle to head to shore. 
 

I definitely look forward to coming back again to see sites we missed including Mary Kings Close and an inside tour of Holyrood Palace as well as just soaking up more local culture and history. It’s an amazing city. I loved all of our Scotland ports. 

[edinburgher]

1 hour ago, karatemom2 said:

I definitely look forward to coming back again to see sites we missed including Mary Kings Close and an inside tour of Holyrood Palace as well as just soaking up more local culture and history. It’s an amazing city. I loved all of our Scotland ports. 

Nice to read that.  There is of course much more to the city outside of the Old Town and more than enough for several days.  Unfortunately cruise port calls rarely offer enough time to "see it all", but they do give ideas as to which places might merit a return land trip and you could consider Edinburgh maybe combined with places such as York, Bath and others, also with the option of visiting further north to the Scottish Highlands or islands.

 

We only ever cruised smaller ships, in part due to long tender waits on the bigger ships and reading what you wrote, so pleased we did that.

[phabric]

When I went to the Edinburgh Castle, I purchased my own tickets in advance.  I was told for the Castle, go to the top and work your way down, you are going against the traffic.  We walked to the top, saw the jewels with no crowds.