Transportation from ship to Edinburg and Inverness

[jtb123]

We wanted to take the ships schuttle bus from the ship to the these towns.

When I reviewed the list of shore excursions they are charging $69 to go to Edinburgh and $72 to go to Inverness. Anyone know of a cheaper way to get to these towns from the ship???

[Kevbirch]

We wanted to take the ships schuttle bus from the ship to the these towns.

When I reviewed the list of shore excursions they are charging $69 to go to Edinburgh and $72 to go to Inverness. Anyone know of a cheaper way to get to these towns from the ship???

 

Which port are you sailing into?

[jtb123]

We are sailing into invergordon for inverness and Hawes pier at South Queensferry for Edinburgh

[meycreat]

JTB123,

 

What date and what ship are you cruising on?? We are sailing on ncl jade july 13 and we have a taxi hired. We have hired a taxi at each port to take into town and it is much less expensive than the ship.

 

pam

[Hootsie]

JTB123,

 

What date and what ship are you cruising on?? We are sailing on ncl jade july 13 and we have a taxi hired. We have hired a taxi at each port to take into town and it is much less expensive than the ship.

 

pam

 

Did you set that up already? That would be cool if we could book one now. We have a family of 5.

[JackieT]

I'm a little new at this, how do you arrange to have a taxi pick you up and take you in to town at different ports? I don't even know where to begin looking for something like that.

[meycreat]

In Invergordon the taxi company is taxit@tiscali.co.uk. His name is Duncan and he is very helpful.

 

In Edinburgh the taxi company is info@call-us-cabs.com

 

Both companys were easy to deal with.

 

Pam

[travelbig]

jtb123,

If you decide you want a tour in Invergordon rather than going to Inverness, look at www.shorexcursions.co.uk

go to "if disembarking in Invergordon" and look what they have to offer. Yes, it's not cheap ($94) but the price does include entrance fees and goes to multiple locations whereas the ship tours only go to 1 or 2 locations. I feel this tour really shows the area.

[uktog]

$69 from South Queensferry to Edinburgh is very high indeed. You can walk up the stairs from the tender point to Dalmeny station and get the train straight to Edinburgh, trains every 20-30 mins, journey time 20 min cost £5 ($10)

[2theship]

You can take the bus from Invergordon to Inverness - the bus stop is right at the end of the dock. You can find info on bus times at:

 

http://www.stagecoachbus.com/

 

Once you get to Inverness, stop in the Tourist Info center to book tours to Loch Ness or whatever you'd like to do.

 

As someone already mentioned, the train to Edinburgh is easy to do. Once there you can use the hop-on, hop-off buses to tour the city.

[rsquare]

The OP never responded when queried about which ship s/he is on. If either of the Century Scotland/Ireland cruises this month, be advised that Century will tender in to Leith instead of to South Queensferry as originally planned. There is another thread on this forum with more details. If on the May 29 trip, also be advised that Century calls at Invergordon on a Sunday when public transportation is quite limited

[JackieT]

great, thank you for the taxi info.

[DMRick]

In spite of what I read on these boards, you could take a pblic bus from the little town near the ship. Many people walked to it. Get off the ship (if at Queensferry) and go right. The city bus is about 3 pounds each way. We shared a cab to Edinburgh for $10 each with tip with another couple(arranged ahead of time..there weren't many cabs at the dock, although there was a guy on the dock that was calling cabs for people) and took the train back..not knowing before hand about the city bus and the ease of taking it.

 

In Inverness we went in with three other couples (put together on our roll call) and shared a tour..$100 each (our ship tour was $160 each). Very, very good tour, and we were met at the dock:

http://www.invernesstours.com/tours-from-invergordon-cruise-ships.html

 

We gave them the ships tour, and they added many other stops.

 

We wanted to take the ships schuttle bus from the ship to the these towns.

When I reviewed the list of shore excursions they are charging $69 to go to Edinburgh and $72 to go to Inverness. Anyone know of a cheaper way to get to these towns from the ship???

[Fblack]

We just did Edinburgh on the Constellation. They had a private shuttle service also that charged 5 pounds per person. It only held 15 passengers so get their early. The shuttle dropped you off about a mile from the Castle near Princes Street.

 

Instead of taking the shuttle back to South Queensferry (this is a tender port) we took the #43 city bus for 2.10 pounds. The bus stop is less than 10 minutes from the tender pier right in town.

[ocngypz]

The OP never responded when queried about which ship s/he is on. If either of the Century Scotland/Ireland cruises this month, be advised that Century will tender in to Leith instead of to South Queensferry as originally planned. There is another thread on this forum with more details. If on the May 29 trip, also be advised that Century calls at Invergordon on a Sunday when public transportation is quite limited

 

 

Actually, the 5/17 sailing was ORIGINALLY calling at Leith, then changed to S Queensferry. That's why the HMS Britannia/Royal Mile combo tour was not available on the 17th, but available for the 5/29 sailing. I called Celebrity today.. and of course, received both answers!

[uktog]

Just a word of caution to all of you considering the Lothian Bus from Edinburgh back to South Queensferry

 

1. If you are visiting on a Monday be careful it is not one of our random local holidays that pepper May, June and early July. On that day, you will notice NO difference in terms of shops and attractions open BUT the bus company is one that takes on this holiday still. The impact of this is that buses revert to the less frequent Sunday Service

 

This is a useful site - I would check it just before you go on holiday as things are changing with our tram roadworks and route diversions

 

http://www.lothianbuses.com/index2.php

 

2. Be very careful to allow time for delays (and also frequent passenger stops) on the return journey if you are doing it from about 1545 to 1845. This is THE peak commuter road out of Edinburgh - enough said!!!!

 

I would suggest a train back as it avoids the risk of traffic delays and also. when you get off at Dalmeny station, you get some really neat pictures looking down onto the track of the Forth Bridge - perhaps with your litle train disappearing into the distance

(Google Images Dalmeny Station and you will see some examples of what I mean)

 

A

[DMRick]

We just did Edinburgh on the Constellation. They had a private shuttle service also that charged 5 pounds per person. It only held 15 passengers so get their early.

You were lucky..on the April 24th Constellation, all they had was a $60 or so Edinburgh on your own shuttle (tour). That was way overpriced.

[Fblack]

DM rick:

 

I was on your April 24 cruise. Didn't you see that extra flyer with all the shuttle services? They had a free shuttle in Belfast, $18 in Dublin, nothing in Inverness, and they suggested the train or #43 bus in Edinburgh or that private van shuttle for 5 pounds. They used a small 15 passenger white Mercedes van. It was parked right across the street from the front of the tender drop of area.