Are shore excursion necessary for British Isles and Western Europe cruise???
 

Hi there,
we have cruised before and often just done our own thing at the ports and gotten around by ourselves.
We haven't been to any of these ports before and are wondering whether the following ports are within walking distance from the pier area or is it necessary to take the ship's shore excursion.

Dover
Le Havre
Cork
Dublin
Belfast
Holyhead
St Peter Port
Thanks in advance
Donna

Any thoughts ????

If I recall correctly, there were hop on, hop off buses not far from the ship in Dublin. In Belfast we took a tour of the the communities involved in "The Troubles". Very interesting. The tour was organized by one of the people we met on CruiseCritic. I think he actually contacted the same people that the ship used. It was great, a small group of 14. It cost a whole lot less.

Le Havre..pretty port to walk around and you can get the local bus to the nearby fishing ports. Don't think about Paris..too little time and I would not recommend on your own because of the distances.
Dublin: We got a cab to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells..got there early so no queues. Walked around and visited a pub etc.. My mother went to the Guiness factory and was totally unimpressed..expensive and saw very little.
Actually Londenderry was the most interesting but I don't see that port on your list.
Dover: Easy to do by yourselves.
Holyhead: Haven't been there but have been to Conway which is probably too far but fabulous. Local buses in Wales are great but don't run overly frequently. Just google Holyhead and you will see the closer sights.
Have fun!

I have only done a short cruise before with royal caribbean to st peter port and whilst we were there I hired a car from the portside and took ourselves round the island and this was great as the island is very small and it was nice to do our own thing because like you I prefer to do it on our own rather than crowds of people of shore excursions!

I would look into doing it on your own really. It doesn't seem to me these ports would be much different than most European ports which are pretty much self doable.

Hi everyone,
have been away for a couple of days and have just checked in.
Thank you for all of your suggestions.
Donna

Our stop in Cork was actually the town of Cobh (cute little Irish village) with a train station walking distance from the dock, and about a 20 min train ride into Cork. Cobh was the last stop Titanic made before heading for the US.