British Isles Cruise With the Kiddos?

[ChicosWife]

Hello all, my DH has always dreamed of visiting Scotland. What better way to see Scotland than on a Disney Cruise?!?! At least, that is my thinking! We have 2 kids 13 and 9 and our previous and upcoming cruises have been to the Caribbean with lots of water activities. The British Isles cruise seems like it would be totally different experience (when on land). Here is my question. Have you taken your kids on this itinerary and how did they like it? Are there things for teens/pre-teens to do that would make it fun for them, given it's more of a historical attraction than a water sports attraction? Okay, that's more than one question. LOL

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Honestly, having been to Scotland I do not really think a cruise would be the "best" way. For instance, to see Edinburgh is a 2 hour bus ride each way.

There will be a lot of seeing a bus.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

Honestly, having been to Scotland I do not really think a cruise would be the "best" way. For instance, to see Edinburgh is a 2 hour bus ride each way.

There will be a lot of seeing a bus.

Queensferry is only 30 minutes from Edinburgh. If you come from Glasgow it's 2 hours.

 

[dcassetta]

Hello all, my DH has always dreamed of visiting Scotland. What better way to see Scotland than on a Disney Cruise?!?! At least, that is my thinking! We have 2 kids 13 and 9 and our previous and upcoming cruises have been to the Caribbean with lots of water activities. The British Isles cruise seems like it would be totally different experience (when on land). Here is my question. Have you taken your kids on this itinerary and how did they like it? Are there things for teens/pre-teens to do that would make it fun for them, given it's more of a historical attraction than a water sports attraction? Okay, that's more than one question. LOL

I agree with aurora. If you just want sail on Disney in Europe and see a little of the British Isles, the cruise is fine. To really see Scotland, you need a land trip. Perhaps a cruise, followed by a driving tour?

If you want something more guided, ABD has a tour in Scotland - https://www.adventuresbydisney.com/europe/scotland-vacations/

 

[Footnotegirl]

I would say that a cruise is a nice relaxing way to get a very small taste of an area, but I would probably not do a cruise of the British Isles as a way to experience Scotland.
With a family, I would much more suggest either a) take the Disney Adventures trip if you prefer the excursion-style touring with someone there to help keep you organized and provide experiences or (my preferred) b ) plan out a route, get a good book of Bed and Breakfasts on that route (make reservations for ones in larger cities like Glasgow and Edinburgh) , and then rent a car and drive your route. Spend a couple of days in Edinburgh to really allow for exploring both the old and new parts of the city and the beautiful environment just out of the city. It really is breathtaking and not something you can do in a full day, let alone the few hours a cruise would give you.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Queensferry is only 30 minutes from Edinburgh. If you come from Glasgow it's 2 hours.

I was pulling the 2 hours estimate from one of Disney's shore excursions to visit Edinburgh. I have to agree with @Footnotegirl that Edinburgh is worth more than a 3 hour tour, though. Glasgow is also pretty incredible.

 

[Intr3pid]

Most of the Scottish Highlands and Loch Ness are accessed from the Invergordon port. You can visit Edinburgh and Glasgow from Greenrock, but that's probably not the Scotland your husband has dreamed of.

 

[Marc D]

To come back to the original question, the interest your kids will exhibit will depend mainly on how engaged they are in the stories and places you will encounter. We took our then 7yo son on the 12-days BI cruise last year. Before every excursion, we talked to him about what we were going to see, stories related to those places, music (before our Beatles visits in Liverpool), etc. He loved every second of it, including eating in pubs, visiting churches and everything else.

While there are some active excursions, they are not the highlights of the BI ports.

 

[aggiedog]

I know this isn't exactly what you asked, but a Baltic cruise would be a better way to "taste the culture" than a BI cruise. Like folks have said, England/Scotland is easy done on your own and you'll see so much more. An area like the Baltic, however, is more complicated to do on your own and hit all those different countries. Land tours will always give you a better immersion in a place, but a Baltic cruise makes it easy to hit all those different countries. My kids loved the Baltic.

That said, my kids love going anywhere. They wouldn't care what country we picked.

 

[lorimay]

My 2 older grandkids are 10 & 8 and when we cruise with them, they hate getting off the boat. All they do is complain about getting back to go to the clubs or pool, it drives us nuts.
We have only done Caribbean with them.
They have no idea all that is out there to explore in this world.

Good Luck let us know what you decide.

 

[tcufrog]

This summer we did a one-month road trip through England and Scotland. Two weeks were spent in Scotland and all four of us are eager to return. I love cruises but it really would be hard to see what we saw from a cruise ship.

 

[FSU Girl]

I definitely didn't appreciate traveling to Europe when I was a teenager and I actually love history. I'm doing a British Isles cruise now and very excited. I think it'll depend on how your kids are with history and everything if they will like it or not. But being on a Disney ship if they aren't interested in history would probably help them keep entertained. I know a lot of people like land trips, but I find cruising to be a lot easier to plan.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

My youngest made his first trip to Europe when he was 4. We are planning trip number 7 and he is now 16. He loves history, museums, new foods and learning phrases to help us get by. We have only cruised the Mediterranean once but tacked on a 10 day land trip too. Cruising will give you a short introduction to each port. It won't be immersive. It could be a nice way to introduce more historical content into your travels.

I have loved our land trips but I have not done the UK beyond London/Cotswolds. I probably will never do a land trip because I am too afraid to drive there. I would consider a cruise but would go with Princess as they have the definitive itinerary with long port times for British isles.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I can’t answer specifically regarding that itinerary but we did do DCL Magic to Norway/Iceland/Scotland when DS was 7 and it was extraordinary. It was a great way to see some of Europe with a younger child in that we could tour in the morning/early afternoon and then he could decompress with all the fun DCL stuff in the evenings. That being said, your kids are a little older and if you want a more in-depth experience in Scotland, I would look into a land tour with ABD or even Tauck Bridges. We did ABD in Central Europe and it was great. You could also do Scotland on your own if you like to plan.

 

[GrantFam]

We did the September 2018 British Isles cruise with our 5 and 7 year olds and both of them loved it. Since our kids are younger than yours, I’m not able to comment about activities for pre-teens/teens specifically, but here are some of the activities we did off the ship that both our kids enjoyed:

Cobh - Non-DCL tour of Blarney Castle
Dublin - Trinity College/Book of Kells & the National Museum on our own (lots of Viking items and bog mummies that the kids thought were interesting)
Greenock - train to Glasgow and explored on our own (We skipped Edinburgh due to the long drive time and we had spent 9 days driving around Scotland the previous fall which was AMAZING and I highly recommend if you’re interested in seeing Scotland. )
Liverpool - North Wales tour including Snowdownia National Park with a non-DCL company

 

[Disneyfriend]

We also went on the September 2018 British Isles cruise and loved it. This was our major international trip as a family (my kids were 11 and almost 13 at the time). I think it's a great "first" trip, since there is obviously no language barrier.

We flew into London a week before the cruise and had a fantastic time hitting all the regular London sites. We even did a one-day trip via Eurostar to Paris.

We did private tours and went to:

Cobh - Kinsale plus Jameson Distillery plus a quick stop in Cork

Dublin - the main highlights of Dublin, including Trinity College and the Book of Kells

Greenock - quick drive through Glasgow, Sterling Castle, sheepherding demonstration, and Loch Lomond

Liverpool - introduction to North Wales - one historical castle plus jaw dropping scenery and small villages

We tend to really like museums and historical sight-seeing, and I prepped my kids fairly extensively so that they would get more out of the trip (with age-appropriate historical fiction, etc.) When we were back on board the ship, they got a LOT of freedom to go in and out of the kids' clubs. For us, it was a nice balance - and basically our favorite vacation EVER. But I think it depends on how much your kids would appreciate a trip like this. Kids like my little grandson who wants to spend his entire vacation in the hotel swimming pool? Maybe not so much.

I'll be happy to answer more questions if it will help.

 

[ChicosWife]

We did the September 2018 British Isles cruise with our 5 and 7 year olds and both of them loved it. Since our kids are younger than yours, I’m not able to comment about activities for pre-teens/teens specifically, but here are some of the activities we did off the ship that both our kids enjoyed:

Cobh - Non-DCL tour of Blarney Castle
Dublin - Trinity College/Book of Kells & the National Museum on our own (lots of Viking items and bog mummies that the kids thought were interesting)
Greenock - train to Glasgow and explored on our own (We skipped Edinburgh due to the long drive time and we had spent 9 days driving around Scotland the previous fall which was AMAZING and I highly recommend if you’re interested in seeing Scotland. )
Liverpool - North Wales tour including Snowdownia National Park with a non-DCL company

This gives me hope. I was starting to think from other posters, that the cruise wasn't the way to go! LOL

We flew into London a week before the cruise and had a fantastic time hitting all the regular London sites.

That brings up another good point that I hadn't thought of. Where do you fly into? How long is that flight? We live in California.

 

[Marc D]

That brings up another good point that I hadn't thought of. Where do you fly into? How long is that flight? We live in California.

You can fly either into London Heathrow (most likely flying in from CA) or Gatwick. LHR is better served by mass transit. Direct flights from LAX last 11 hours.

We’ve had great luck renting through AirBnB in London, selecting Superhost rentals. We spent a week before our Norwegian Fjords cruise two years ago in an apartment near the V&A. It was a perfect location.

 

[tcufrog]

I definitely didn't appreciate traveling to Europe when I was a teenager and I actually love history. I'm doing a British Isles cruise now and very excited. I think it'll depend on how your kids are with history and everything if they will like it or not. But being on a Disney ship if they aren't interested in history would probably help them keep entertained. I know a lot of people like land trips, but I find cruising to be a lot easier to plan.

My kids are 7 and 11 and they both loved Scotland. They loved Edinburgh Castle and visiting the really cool Harry Potter shops in the city. They enjoyed attending a local Highland Games and crossing a loch on a ferry that was as wide as our rental car where they spied a pod of dolphins and saw how the ferry was piloted. They had fun checking out local groceries and trying UK breakfast cereals. They explored mysterious cairns and rode on a speed boat in the Loch Ness. They stayed overnight in a real castle and visited Neolithic settlements. They visited an island that is only open when the tide uncovers the road leading to it and saw where Christianity came to Scotland.

These are just some of their highlights from the Scotland trip and they are thing you can’t do on a cruise. In fact, they loved the trip so much they are eager to return.

 

[Disneyfriend]

This gives me hope. I was starting to think from other posters, that the cruise wasn't the way to go! LOL



That brings up another good point that I hadn't thought of. Where do you fly into? How long is that flight? We live in California.

We came all the way from Arizona, a very similar distance. I'm not going to lie; the long plane trip and jet lag are no joke!

BUT . . . it was a magnificent trip. Like a previous poster, there was no way on earth I was going to drive in the UK. Taking the cruise was like a sampler platter of Ireland and the U.K.; it helped us get a lovely taste of the area and figure out where we wanted to return. (We loved Scotland and Wales, in particular. And London was fabulous!)

For our family, having a solid week in London (also in an apartment rental located one block from the Victoria & Albert Museum, coincidentally) -PLUS- the week long cruise was a fantastic combo. If I could redo the entire experience (well, 99% of it anyway), I would in a heartbeat!