NEWHAVEN HARBOUR (EDINBURGH), SCOTLAND

Didn’t make it there. The ship couldn’t dock because of the weather

Visited: Sep 17, 2018

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Don't miss the Edinburgh castle. Choose the tour wisely, we tried to see too many sights and ended up not seeing any of them long enough (so much so that we returned here on a later port to catch up on the castle)

Visited: Sep 15, 2019

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WELL...we tried. We booked an excursion to Lock Lomond, Stirling Castle and the Kelpies through Viator with the Tour Operator Timberbush, and we should have done our homework a bit better. This tour was not arranged around the ship, which created 2 problems. First, it was another tender day (a hassle in itself), but when we arrived on shore through very rough waters, we found we had to take a taxi to Old Edinburgh to meet up with the group. Upon arrival at 8:30 on a Sunday morning, we learned that the group would not be back until 6:00. Impossible since the last tender back was 5:00 for a 6:00 ship departure. We had become complacent in booking our tours, thinking that all of them would adjust to the ship schedule. Oops. We tried to be booked on another tour through the company, but all were completely full. We then tried to get a refund, but it was our mistake. A $250 mistake. After wandering the streets around the Royal Mile for an hour in the drizzle trying to find an open coffee shop, we finally settled on the Hop On/Hop Off Bus to at least salvage the day somewhat. Honestly, we all felt this would have been the better option anyway. We had a leisurely day riding up and down the Royal Mile, seeing the sights, learning a bit about the history from the audio commentary, and hopping off to shop for souvenirs, try haggis, and tour the Holyrood Castle (very interesting since I am descended from Mary, Queen of Scots!). We, unfortunately, were unable to tour Edinburgh Castle since there were no more tickets available that fit in our time frame. After taking a taxi back to the port, we joined the hundreds in line to get on a tender, queuing for over an hour before finally getting on board. We thought we'd be beating the rush since we were there an hour before the last one, but I guess everyone else thought that too. In retrospect, my recommendation in Edinburgh is to book a Royal Mile excursion through the ship. There is PLENTY to do on your own, and the shore excursion team helps get you to and from without the hassles of waiting in line for tenders and hiring taxis to get you there.

Tender port with NCL. We walked into the city but it took about an hour and is not for everyone. Did amazing hop on and off bus. There is a bus near port

We visited the Royal Mile and had lunch at a famous restaurant - really enjoyable.

Visited: Sep 15, 2019

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