(Small Group) Shore Tour from Cork: Blarney Castle & Jameson Distillery
Description
This small-group shore excursion from Cobh Cruise Terminal accommodates no more than 24 passengers on a luxury small van and allows for a particularly intimate day on shore. The tour begins with a pick-up from the cruise liner terminal in Cobh, Cork Harbour, where your driver will be waiting for you to drive you to Blarney Castle and Castles, where the admission is included. Take a panoramic drive through Cork City, where your guide will point out the highlights of the southern capital. In the afternoon visit Jameson @ Midleton and enjoy a tour of this famous whiskey distillery. GUEST ADVICE: During peak- season (May 1st - September 30th) multiple cruise ships are expected at the major ports on a daily basis. This small group tour tends to sell- out well ahead of departure for most dates within this period. Accordingly, we recommend advance reservation where possible, to avoid disappointment.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Cobh (Cork) Cruise Ship Terminal - We collect passengers from the cruise ship at 07:30 for departure @ 08:00. Where your ship docks later than 07:30 the tour will begin 30 minutes after disembarkation commences.
Our first stop of the day is Blarney. Visit the most famous Castle in all of Ireland!! Lie back and kiss the magical Blarney Stone and get the gift of the gab! Your admission is included saving you 12 euro. WE ARE HAPPY TO INCLUDE ADMISSION TO BLARNEY CASTLE: others will make you join a queue and pay at the gate!
You will also have time to visit the world famous Blarney Woolen Mills. Famed as the largest Irish Store in the world, many take advantage of its tax free shopping offers on quality Irish products.
Our next stop is the beautiful town of Midleton, famed as being the home of Jameson distillery since 1825. Today it is home to many Irish whiskeys such as Jameson, Powers, Paddy, Redbreast, Green Spot, previously produced in separate distilleries. In 1992, the Old Midleton Distillery reopened as a visitor's centre, known as the Jameson Experience.
Our last stop before boarding the ship, Cobh is famed as the final departure point for the Titanic. Built on a side of the hill, time permitting, we visit the St. Coleman's Cathedral one of the most magnificent Cathedrals in the country. Time permitting, those on ships with late departures will have time to visit the Titanic experience 100m from where the ships dock.
We structure each tour to make sure you are back on board at lease 1 hr before time for departure. The service ends back at the dockside after approximately 8 hours on tour. If the boat is leaving earlier we will amend the itinerary as necessary.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- At time of booking, Cruise ship passengers must provide the following information: ship name, docking time, disembarkation time and re-boarding time
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
Reviews(84)
Our tour with Al as our guide and driver was absolutely incredible! He’s a greatly driver, kind, highly knowledgeable and fun to be with! We went to the Blarney Castle and one our main goals was to kiss the Blarney Stone. Al gave us advice on how to accomplish that. We succeeded and saw lots of inside the castle too. The gardens were just breathtaking! After the castle we ventured to the old Jameson Distillery for a fantastic tour of that. We also had tastings! I discovered I quite enjoy “good”whiskey! We appreciated everything your company did to make our time really enjoyable! And a very special thanks to our guide and driver Al!
It was a bit chaotic at first as people didn't know which tour bus to go to. Some got in the wrong bus, so we started late on our tour. Our driver/ tour guide was Paude?, didn't even check our tickets or count the number of people in our mini bus. He just said this tour will go to Blarney and Distillery, and that's how other people realized they were on the wrong bus. Blarney Castle has a long line to get inside the castle or kiss the stone. My group skipped that part and opted to just walk around and go to the gardens which was beautiful. Then we stopped at Woolen Mills to eat and shop. Unfortunately, my family almost got left behind as Paude started to pull out of parking space earlier than the appointed time. My daughter and I, literally have to run and tapped the coach door which startled the driver and when he opened the door for us, he said " I guess I should have done a headcount."We were seated literally behind him, during our drive to Blarney but I guess he didn't notice that the seats were still empty as he was leaving. It was a good thing he could not drive fast out of the parking lot as there' s plenty of tour buses and people walking. Next stop was at the Midleton Distillery. The tour was a bit long, but at the end is the most awaited moment for whiskey tasting. Then back to the port with just enough time for embarkation.
The driver was great. We were at the Blarney Castle when it opened so everyone had time to go up the steps. Time to walk about the grounds and stop at the stores. Rode around Cork and plenty time to enjoy the tour of Jamison. The driver talked about Cork and made the tour intertesting.
Small bus of 14 passengers was wonderful. Freddie was an excellent guide that took us places the bigger buses couldn’t get to.
Great tour. Very informative. Long wait at the castle but worth it to say we were there to see the stone and grounds. Excellent tour guide.
Best tour ever in Cork! We were taken to Blarney Castle and got there before the lines and then had a wonderful tour of the Jameson Distillery and enjoyed every part of the day!
Nice comfy transport and guide was amazing! So friendly and knowledgeable about the area and sites. We had enough time at each place we went to. We thoroughly enjoyed it!
Great tour, though we did arrive to the Blarney Castle a little later than what was described and thus we had to wait in line for about an hour to “kiss the blarney.” The wait wasn’t a big deal but didn’t allow us a much time to explore the grounds. The tour of the Jameson distillery was great, especially the taste test at the end. Convinced me to buy a couple bottles of “redbreast.” Our guide was great, though regrettably I forget his name. Very personable, lots of knowledge to share along the way. Would definitely recommend this tour just keep in mind that you may not be first in line to kiss the stone.
This was an outstanding tour with Ryan as our guide. It was fast paced enough to enjoy the island, with slow enough to be able to observe and have a leisure morning.
Great tour! They picked us up at the port. We went to the Blarney Castle but didn’t want to wait 1.5 hours to kiss the stone. The Blarney Gardens are very beautiful. The Jameson tour was informative with a little sampler afterwards. Our driver was fun and we made it back to our cruise ship in plenty of time
