Edinburgh, Scotland

Tuesday July 29, 2025 - Edinburgh Scotland

Today is our last port in Scotland. I'm going to be honest with you. We're tired! 😀 We were not prepared for what to do in Edinburgh, so just decided to wing it.

First I'll show you a few photos Steve took as we sailed into the port.

In Edinburgh you anchor out in South Queensferry, then you need to tender in to shore and then take a bus into Edinburgh. This slows down your access to the city... but it is still worth the effort!

We had read that a few of the previous cruises on our ship didn't visit Edinburgh because the water was too rough for anchoring and tendering, so we were pleasantly surprised to see the water so calm on our day in this port! We have been VERY lucky this cruise... not one incident where the motion sickness tablets were needed!

We headed down to get our tender ticket at the time they started handing them out. I'm not lying to you when I say the line snaked through multiple rooms (piazza, bar, casino, bar) just to pick up a tender ticket. Once you get your ticket you sit in a common area and wait for them to call your number. We were number 44 (thats not people, thats GROUPS of people). We couldn't find any place to sit, so sat on the floor outside the main dining room and waited patiently. Finally, they called our number. The tender in was smooth and there was a bus waiting outside the tender area. This one was not free, but there were people with card machines waiting to sell you tickets for the day. It was 12.50 pounds return each. The bus ride was about 30 minutes and finally we were dropped off in the centre of Edinburgh. We estimated that it was about 2 hours from the time we got in line to get our tickets to the time we got off the bus. If you are visiting Edinburgh this way, make sure you budget that extra time in your schedule!

The tender goes under this bridge, which I'm guessing is part of the reason big ships can't dock here!

We weren't really sure what to do when we got off the bus (unprepared!) but started walking towards old stuff that looked interesting! This is the first thing we came across which is a monument to a famous Scottish author Sir Walter Scott. This is the second biggest monument to an author in the world. (Doesn't this leave you wondering who the biggest one was for? Don't bother guessing, I don't think you'll get it. I didn't! The biggest monument is in Havana and it is for author Jose Marti!)

Next we saw this intriguing building up at the top of a very big hill! Turns out it is Edinburgh Castle. This is a historic fortress located on Castle Rock. It has been around since the 11th century and is historically one of the most important strongholds in Scotland.

Now you need to book tickets ahead of time to visit (and we didn't... because we were unprepared!) but we figured we'd walk up there and have a look around outside. To be honest you can't see much from the outside, so if you go, book a ticket. When we return to Edinburgh on another trip, I'll be better prepared!

This is what you can see from the outside!

Side note/small rant: I'm not the kind of traveller who enjoys booking timed tickets ahead of time (I like the freedom to wander), particularly when you aren't really sure how your day will play out (tender time, bus time, will the boat actually call on this port because of weather, waiting, walking up a big hill, etc!)... but it seems on this type of trip you really need to book timed tickets ahead of time and hope it all works out!

Anyway, as usual we were happy to just wander and see stuff. We walked down the Royal Mile. The Royal Mile is a series of streets between Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace. It got its name because of the distance between the two palaces (a Scots mile!) and the fact that it was often used for royal processions. So we royally proceeded down the street looking at shops, restaurants, historical buildings, tourist attractions and interesting people! As you can see the city is beautiful!

We stopped in at a little cafe for a refreshment. I don't appear to have a photo inside, but here is a view out the window!

Next we came across another Cathedral. Now Steve and I have both said we are "churched out"... but couldn't resist this beautiful looking one. You don't need to pay to go in, but can do a donation (cash or card). We always do a small donation as a thank you. I prefer this much more than the churches that are charging crazy prices to get inside.

This particular cathedral is called St. Gile's Cathedral. This church was founded in 1124 and has been a working church for over 900 years!

After this we continued to enjoy our walk in this beautiful city. Here are a few things that caught our interest.

There were many little alleyways off the main street that looked like this.

Surprise, surprise! We found the Irish pub! The quest continues!

This just made us laugh. Truth!

After a lovely day of walking in Edinburgh we caught the bus back to the ship. It was easy to find and had no long line as we planned to go back a little before the required time to avoid the hordes of people! It was so beautiful and smooth we were able to sit up on top of the lifeboat (there are seats up there!) It was nice to see the bridge as we sailed under it.

 When we got back to the ship we had a lovely time eating and relaxing. The show tonight was a guy named Nik Page. He was a singer who had performed in the West End in London. He had at least one pretty famous part playing Jean Valjean in Les Miserables. It did get me to thinking about what these musical performers do after they have finished their time on Broadway or in the West End. I guess one option is cruise ships. Then it made me wonder how much money they get paid compared to what they would get paid on land. There is a range for both at sea and on land. "The Google" tells me that guest entertainers on cruise ships can make between $2500 and $5000 per week depending on the ship, your act and your experience.

Whereas on land, a leading role in a theatre could range from $2500 to $5400 per week depending on your fame, theatre capacity, experience, etc.

I was surprised that the price ranges were somewhat similar. I assumed the cruise ships would be significantly less.

Keep in mind these amounts are just from a quick internet search, so if someone in the know has more information I am curious to hear it!

Wednesday July 30, 2025 - Sea Day

Nothing much to report on this sea day.  We did the regular eating and relaxing. We did watch the cooking show by the head chef and head restaurant guy in the theatre during the day. They showed us how to prepare some dishes (yep, I've already forgot how!) It was interesting and funny as they had worked in some good jokes and physical comedy. After they let us walk through the kitchen, but it was not really a tour, and I didn't get all my burning questions answered.

Showtime tonight was another production show from the Princess singers and dancers called "Born to Dance". I enjoyed it quite a bit as I liked the focus on the dancing!