Shore Excursion: Giants Causeway Tour From Belfast Port (Extra Leg Room Bus)

Patrick our guide and driver was great. Lots of history, information and stories. The giants causeway and country side was amazing.

Decent excursion, our driver kept trying to make us feel bad that we were two hours late, but we were not our ship was not due in until 10 AM. He kept saying he got there at seven for us to be on board at eight. Well that was never the plan and Witte knew this why the transportation company told their driver to be there two hours early. No one ever knew but he mentioned it several times throughout the day how we were late because of our being late and how lucky we were that we got our entire excursion in well we were important until 830 at night our tour was from 10 until 530. The bus was very bumpy whether you sat in the front or the back it was extremely uncomfortable. There was heat pouring out out of the floor vents and air coming out of the top so in one instant, you were way hot and in the other, you were way cold there was no happy medium. We visited giant Causeway that was nice. We were supposed to be able to walk on the suspension bridge but that area is no longer open to anything but a private automobile no TOUR bus no matter what the size can go down and walk on the suspension bridge we were very disappointed we toured all around Belfast in the countryside and then we had a bit of city TOUR with comments at the end on our way back to the ship all in all a nice day, but extremely uncomfortable temperature wise comfort level on the bus and being made to feel like we were running late all day because of a problem with the time our ship arrived again. Our ship was scheduled to arrive at 10 AM that is how we booked the tour to be picked up at the port at 10 AM.

Though it was a rainy and cloudy day, Steve made it very special. The causeway was still quite amazing. Steve was prompt and provided plenty of time to explore each stop. Very nice coach to ride in!

It was true to the description. It was in fact a small bus and our tour had 20 people, although it could have taken a few more. It was very comfortable on the bus. The tour guide was great, knowledgeable and had a good balance of info and relax time. Loved the 1.5 hrs at Giants Causeway. It allowed enough time to do either walk. The lunch was fantastic. I was thinking the food wouldn’t be great because the view was so nice, but it was. We skipped the Belfest drive around and honestly I preferred that after seeing so many things. All around great tour.

This was a disappointing day. To be fair, some of the problems were not the fault of the operator or driver but other things could have been handled better. To start with the pros: it was an extra legroom bus and we did get to see the Giants Causeway and we had about 1.5 hours there so plenty of time. It’s an amazing place and I truly recommend going there. Now for the cons: Communication from the tour operator could have been much better. I informed them of our ship arrival time as instructed and was told the tour would start shortly after arrival but when we got off the ship at 7 am we waited 45 minutes for our driver to show up. They said the ship was early but the arrival time per our ship information had not changed. Then the bus broke before we left the parking lot so waiting for the new bus put us another 35-40 minutes later. There was a festival in Belfast and we understood that it would affect our tour of the city. What we did not expect is that the driver would tell us that we had to skip the coastal drive along the Antrim coast road. Driver said it was because of the festival but with a little research I found no delays or backups on the coast road due to the festival. It is possible that our all aboard time may have made the timing too tight but why not just tell us that? Better yet, communicate in advance that we might not get to do the coast road. I felt like I was being lied to. Then there was lunch. The description clearly stated that we would be taken to Ballycastle where would would have about an hour on our own to walk the town, visit a pub, get lunch or whatever. Instead, we were driven through town, taken up on a hill to a remote hotel and spa and ushered inside for lunch at the restaurant at our own expense (not cheap). We did have two nice short stops for pictures along the coast near Giants Causeway (a castle ruins and a bridge). Upon return to Belfast (via the same inland freeway route we took out) the driver did his best to give us a city tour going to places that were not closed due to the festival and that was nice. We returned to the port earlier than expected but with plenty of time before all aboard. Overall the tour was not as expected.