Our ship will dock at Invergordon and I was wondering about transportation to Inverness and Loch Ness.

travelnut - your cruise is stopping at so many UK ports - I am sure there are shore excursions in all the places you have listed in all your previous threads. It is possible to get to any/all of them on your own - but you will often be spending a lot of time fiddling w/ less than convenient public transport.

There is bus service from Invergordon to Inverness - but once you are there you would have to catch other buses to Loch Ness. The same for your stops in Cornwall, Wales, and so on.

This may be a case where the cruise company will be a better resource. Using short port calls for major sightseeing can be problematic when many of the ports are in sort of remote areas.

Schedules on www.internet.xephos.com suggest there is at least one bus an hour from Invergordon to Inverness with journey times from 45 mins to 1 hour 15 mins; there are also less frequent trains.
I've never been on a cruise but I gather shore excursions are generally overpriced. It seems much more interesting to me to try to learn more about the places you're visiting by using local transport where you may get a chance to talk to local people. I went to Invergordon once in 1985 to catch a ship and had lunch in a local pub; people were friendly but surprised to find a visitor - it's not a tourist town, unlike Inverness.

I agree w/ GeoffHamer about shore excursions sometimes being overpriced or underwhelming. But as he said just getting the bus into Inverness will take you a couple of hours or more (unless you are lucky enought to land just as a bus is leaving).

Then an hour back to Invergordon - so 3+ hours are taken out of you free time and you still are not near Loch Ness. How long is the stop in Invergordon?

I'm not suggesting you should take a commercial shore excursion everyplace the ship docks - several of them like Dublin and Falmouth are wonderful places to explore and easy to get around. But for some of your stops a group tour would be the best way to actually see something.

Again, thank you both for the help. We are doing some ship tours, but I do like trying to get out and about in some of the places if I feel there is enough time and transport available. You waste so much time being hurded around with a large bus of people on ship tours; they are expensive, and it is fun talking to local guides and residents. Again, thanks for taking the time to advise! One week till we leave!!!

11 years later.....any additional thoughts, changes????

>>11 years later.....any additional thoughts, changes????<<

You are joking - right? The OP hasn't posted on fodors in 10 years. If you have questions about a trip to Scotland, you should start a new thread of your own.

WOw, not joking, just wanted to have references and current info...

Which is why I suggested you start a new thread of your own . . .