Review - Legendary Scottish Isles, Edinburgh & Glasgow
We were on this tour in May 2023 westbound from Edinburgh to Glasgow. I am doing a short review with some pictures and our impressions of this tour. The first part will be opinions of this tour followed by our day to day excursions. When you come across any blue underlined text, they will be links to outside material if you want to explore. My ratings are on a 1 to 5 scale with 5 being best.
The cruise had 154 passengers all of which were Tauck. There were no Ponant passengers as Tauck had the entire ship.
Accommodations
The George Hotel Edinburgh
✮ ✮ ✮ ✮
This was the hotel we stayed at before the cruise. We arrived one day early so we were in this hotel for 3 nights. Our room was nice and functional. Our room was probably one of the basic hotel rooms.
voco Grand Central Glasgow
✮ ✮ ✮
This is an old historic hotel adjacent to the Glasgow Central Station. The room was nice, but I am only giving it 3 stars due to the view from our room as shown below.
The ship Le Dumont-d'Urville
✮ ✮ ✮ ✮
Our room was a Prestige Stateroom which is all that was available when we booked. The majority of cabins on the ship were this category. At 205 square feet it was quite small but functional. My only complaint was that there was only one chair in the cabin. There is a deck with 2 chairs outside the cabin but this did not get used as it was either too cold or too windy or both.
The Staff
✮ ✮ ✮ ✮ ✮
Staff abord the ship were excellent. Five stars for the ship staff.
The Entertainment
✮ ✮
If there is one disappointment for myself and my wife it would be the entertainment on the ship. We would have liked to have more entertainment related to Scotland. There was live music most nights, but it was on the order of music of Beyonce or Ballet Pairs C’Show. Not really my cup of tea. We have been on 2 Tauck river cruises where local talent has been brought on board to perform regional music.
The food
✮ ✮ ✮
The food for the most part was good. Having been on 2 Tauck river cruises however, I felt the food on this Ponant cruise was not as good as we experienced on the river cruises. We talked to a few other people who have been on prior Ponant cruises and everyone said the food was not quite up to the standards of what they experienced before.
I felt the head chef was trying at times to experiment with different recipes that did not work. One night I had a filet of sole with some sort of curry sauce. This was not a good combination. Another night I tried ravioli with garbanzo beans. Also not a good combination.
Toward the end of the cruise I ended up with a case of gastritis which I am blaming on some very undercooked Beef Wellington. I am not 100% sure of this but we found out that several other people had similar symptoms and the commonality amongst us all was the Beef Wellington.
Here is the menu with the offending dish.
Overall tour rating
✮ ✮ ✮ ✮
Covid
On the second day of the cruise there was an announcement that the Captain has some very important information to share at the early evening briefing. Everyone was encouraged to attend. The captain announced that one cabin had tested positive for covid. He said he instructed all the ship staff to wear masks from that point on. He said it would be our decision to wear masks but would not force the guests to wear masks. About half of the passengers started to wear masks. By the end of the cruise less than a quarter of the passengers were wearing masks. At the end of the cruise, we heard through the grapevine that 10 cabins had been infected with covid. There could have been more that weren’t reported. Both my wife and I escaped any infection.
Continued on Part 2 - Day to Day activities.
Comments
Part 2
Our Day to Day Activities
Day 1 Arrive Edinburgh Scotland
This was actually our second day in Edinburgh. The evening was a reception with drinks in the hotel then dinner on our own.
Day 2 Explore Edinburgh and Dinner on the Royal Yacht Britannia
Todays excursion was supposed to include a tour of Palace of Holyroodhouse, but had to be cancelled due to some person of royalty using it. (I hate it when that happens) Instead we were driven to Rosslyn Chapel, which played a big part in Dan Brown’s book The Da Vinci Code. It was a bit underwhelming.
The rest of the day was spent wandering around Edinburgh.
This evening was our dinner aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia.
Day 3 More Edinburgh and ship embarkation
Today’s activities included a tiring hike up to Edinburgh Castle.
Later in the afternoon we boarded Le Dumont D’Urville for our cruise around the Scottish Isles.
Day 4 At Sea
Today was spent on the open ocean on our way to the Shetland islands. The highlights today were a lecture on the Prehistory of Scotland by one of the tour directors, Tony and another lecture on the History of the Scottish Monarchy by Moly, another tour director. Nothing today was photo worthy.
This evening was the Captain’s Gala Evening in the Restaurant Le Nautilus.
Day 5 Shetland Islands
Our excursion today was the Jarlshof & Sumburgh Head Reserve. A settlement dating from the Stone Age.
No Puffin sightings on this one.
Day 6 Orkney Islands
We originally signed up for the Taste of Orkney tour but due to some logistical issues this was cancelled, and we went on Orkney’s Ancient Treasures. Here we visited the Ring of Brodgar and the settlement at Skara Brae.
Day 7 The Isle of Lewis
Our tour today was the Panoramic Isle of Lewis. We visited The Standing Stones of Calanais, Dun Carloway Broch, and the Gearrannan Blackhouse Village.
Day 8 The Isle of Skye
Today we opted for the Skye Wildlife Cruise. All we saw were some dolphins and some eagles which are somewhere in this photo.
Day 9 Isle of Mull
Today’s excursion was the Isle of Mull and Duart Castle. We drove through Tobermory, built as a fishing port and now the main
town on Mull, on the way past lochs and hills to Duart Castle.
Day 10 Disembark and tour Glasgow
Off the ship today and touring around Glasgow. Todays tours included Glasgow Cathedral and the Necropolis as well as Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.
Farewell dinner in the hotel including haggis which I couldn’t enjoy due to the gastritis.
(I don’t really think there were many people that enjoyed the haggis. Probably an acquired taste)
Day 11 Off to London for 4 days before flying home
Off to Glasgow airport with 2 other couples who had the same flight to London. The rest is not Tauck so no reviews except to say we did Theatre, ate in some restaurants, and wandered aimlessly around London for a few days.
One thing that does merit mention is our flight home out of Heathrow. Heathrow was busier than normal. People have talked about connection nightmares, difficulty flying into and out or Heathrow and how this is one of the worst airports.
I have been flying for over half a century with a few of these years as a frequent flyer and a couple of years as a very frequent flyer. I have never had a smother more pleasant experience checking into a flight than I had on this trip.
We booked our flights for this trip with Delta Vacations and we got the flight and hotel cheaper than if we did this separately. We went with the business class or as Delta calls it, Delta One. We also booked an airport transfer with Viator so we had a driver to take us to the airport. One of the benefits of Delta One out of Heathrow is that you can use the Virgin Atlantic upper class wing at the airport. When entering the airport it is a separate exit which takes you up to the Virgin Atlantic/Delta check in. Our driver took us to the entrance, and we were the only car there at the time. Before we could get out of the car our bags were removed and taken to the check in counter. Before I could even get my passport out we were at the check in counter where we were welcomed by an enthusiastic agent. After getting us checked in she told us where the Virgin Atlantic lounge was located. We were then off to a somewhat expedited security check in on the upper level. Going through security at LHR is still a hassle. (TSA Pre means nothing over there)
At the lounge when we checked in the agent asked if we were ever there. We said no and she said this will be the best lounge you were ever in. I must admit it was a step above almost every lounge I have been in. The food and ambience in the lounge was top notch. (Enough of my rant on this)
John, would you recommended the tour if you compare it with others you have taken. How was the weather in general?
Since you mentioned a problematic beef Wellington I thought I'd post a picture of a beef Wellington I recently had at Gordon Ramsey's Hells Kitchen restaurant in Las Vegas. It was very good. I'm posting it so you can see the degree of done of the meat. By the way there isn't an option. They are all served the same way. We asked the waiter, they serve over 100,000 beef Wellingtons per year.
With respect to the Heathrow comments, I believe, at least based on my experiences, the problems with Heathrow are transiting through Heathrow, not terminating or starting in Heathrow. When transiting the change of terminal process is a nightmare.
Just a suggestion, don't expect the same Heathrow experience you had for a flight starting in Heathrow, if you ever have to transit through Heathrow, especially when headed on to the continent or beyond.
British – To answer your questions:
Yes I would recommend this tour. I can only compare this to 2 Tauck river cruises we have taken. This one is a bit different that a river cruise. My only complaints on this cruise would be the entertainment and maybe the food. I think we had better food on our river cruises. Some other people who have been on Ponant before commented that the food was not quite up to standards.
We did more of the archaeological type excursions on this tour. I think if I were to do it again, I would mix it up more and do some other tours.
The weather on this tour was good. We only had one day with some rain and it was just off and on sprinkles. Another thing to consider is the wind. On Shetland, Orkney, Lewis and Mull the wind was a factor. At times it was relentless. One thing I wish I brought was a ski cap. I just had a baseball cap and if I kept it on it would now be residing in some field on Orkney Island. I ended up buying a ski cap in one of the gift shops on the tour.
We also brought puffy down jackets and I am glad we did. They are very light and pack easily. They were worn frequently on the Islands.
My wife may add some more comments as she may have some recommendations as well.
One other recommendation…avoid the Beef Wellington.
Smiling Sam, the Beef Wellington picture you posted is well done compared to what we were served. I am not 100% certain that Beef Wellington caused issues but since other people with similar symptoms ate Beef Wellington that is suspect.
I know that transiting through Heathrow can be a nightmare but I posted my experience since it was the easiest ever check in bar none.
John - Sounds like, overall you had a good tour experience (including Heathrow
), and excluding your gastritis.
Am I correct in that you’ve done three Tauck tours - two riverboat tours and one small ship tour? What’s up next?
Thank you for your answers John. It was certainly windy when I went to The Orkneys but I loved it. Did your wife get tempted by the Sheila Fleet jewelry?
Sam, My Gordon Ramsay recipe book has the mushroom paste and Parma ham around the beef, which is how we have made it a couple of times? Did your beef have that? We will be in Vegas in a few weeks at the end of our Bridges tour and staying on for a couple of days, we have to book a couple of dinners. I do wish there were more vegetables in restaurant meals, it’s a problem for us on tours, missing vegetables when we don’t want salads all the time.
Smiling Sam, this was actually our 10th Tauck tour. Three on a boat and 7 on a bus. So far we have one Tauck tour booked for next year which is Budapest to the Black Sea.
I thought you had done more than 3. I just misinterpreted your post thinking the three on the boat was the extent. I’ll be interested to read your review of the Budapest to the Black Sea tour since we are considering that tour in 2025.
Hi British - Believe it or not, I wasn't tempted to buy the jewelry. I am not one to shop much when on vacation. I was happy with a couple of tea towels as mementos.
Thank you so much for posting. We are going on the eastbound cruise in Sept. John you mentioned one cabin tested positive for Covid? Is there a mandatory testing requirement for the cruise? Just want to be prepared with our own test kits and face masks packed . Again many thanks for sharing your experiences and photos.
Ellen, there was no testing requirement on the cruise. On the second day of the cruise, the captain announced that one cabin tested positive for covid. My understanding is that the positive folks in this cabin departed the cruise at the next port. At the end of the cruise, we heard that 10 cabins had positive covid tests. I am assuming these people got tested at the medical center on the ship. There could have been more that weren’t reported. We don’t know for sure. My wife and I decided to mask up after the covid announcement when we were in crowded places. Toward the end we didn’t wear masks very often since not that many people were.
We do carry some home test kits when we travel just in case. I did test myself after my gastritis symptoms and it was negative.
On our Ponant ship tour in January, the Captain’s policy was all the crew would wear masks for the first three days and then if there was no Covid reported, they would take them off which seemed sensible.
JohnS...Virgin lounge at LHR is indeed lots of fun, but full disclosure: When I was there on Coronation Day, I noticed a few changes/deletions; e.g., the famed smoked salmon "bar" was gone; I missed the beautiful pink beetroot lox. Sorry I deleted my old pic while cleaning house.