We have always been interested to see Ireland in addition to northern Scotland and with the addition of a day in Paris, we were excited by this itinerary. It did not disappoint. In fact the only way that anyone could be disappointed would be if they hadn't done any pre cruise research and arrived expecting Caribbean weather. The reality is that 60 - 70 degrees is the normal daytime high and it does rain in the UK! We found the temperatures perfect for walking and sightseeing.

The Crown Princess was enjoyable with very good food and excellent service. The entertainment was only good; I don't think that it is realistic to expect excellent results when the cast must perform 4 separate Broadway type shows over 12 days. All ports were interesting and the Princess staff were forthcoming with local transport information to those of us who were not interested in paying inflated prices for their excursions with the exception of Edinburgh where they tried to convince us not to walk uphill to the local train station. As it turned out there was a private coach service at the end of the dock for 10 pounds return. This was a savings over the $69 US that Princess wanted for a bus ticket.

We were lucky to find Duncan on the dock at Invergordon where he had a few seats left on his 2 coaches/buses for a 7.5 hour tour of Inverness, Loch Ness, Urquart Casltle and Cawdor Castle for 35 pounds. This was the same tour that Princess sold for $269 US. I suspect that we would have paid more if booked in advance but considering that he had seats unsold we got a great deal. His website is http://www.thetaxitourexperience.co.uk/ and don't assume that it is only for taxi tours. The only Princess excursion we took was to Paris and only because we were concerned about getting to and from in the 11 hours that we had. Read more