Dublin, Ireland Shore Excursions - Trinity College, Whiskey Tour, Wicklow & Powerscourt

Cruise ships dock at Dublin Port on the north bank of the River Liffey, approximately 3 kilometers east of Dublin city center. The terminal is a working port - there are no significant facilities for walk-off passengers at the pier. Your private guide and vehicle will meet you at the pier exit with a name sign and drive you directly into the city. Dublin city center is approximately 10 to 15 minutes from the cruise terminal by private vehicle. Trinity College is approximately 15 minutes from the pier.

The Highlights of Dublin private shore excursion is the strongest half-day choice - Trinity College and the Book of Kells, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and a driving tour of Georgian Dublin in 4 hours. For guests who want a full day in the city, the Best of Dublin tour extends to 6 hours and adds Kilmainham Gaol - where the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were executed - and the Guinness Storehouse. For guests who want to see the Irish countryside, the Powerscourt Estate and Dublin tour combines the formal gardens and Wicklow views with city highlights in a full day.

The Book of Kells is a set of four illuminated gospel manuscripts produced by Celtic monks around 800 AD, most likely on the island of Iona off the Scottish coast before being brought to Kells in County Meath for safekeeping from Viking raids. The four volumes - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - are written in Latin on vellum, each page decorated with intricate interlaced knotwork, animal imagery, and inhabited initials that represent the pinnacle of Insular manuscript art. Two volumes are displayed at a time in Trinity College's Long Room Library. The Long Room itself - 64 meters long, lined with marble busts of philosophers and thinkers, and housing 200,000 of Trinity's oldest books - is one of the most magnificent library interiors in the world.

Glendalough - meaning Valley of the Two Lakes in Irish - is a 6th-century monastic settlement founded by St. Kevin in a glacial valley in the Wicklow Mountains, approximately 45 kilometers south of Dublin cruise port - about 1 hour by private vehicle. The settlement became one of Ireland's most important centres of early Christian learning, attracting pilgrims and scholars from across Europe. The site includes a 33-meter round tower built as a bell tower and place of refuge, the roofless cathedral, St. Kevin's Kitchen with its distinctive stone roof, and a graveyard spread along the valley floor between the two glacial lakes.

Our back-to-ship guarantee means that if an unforeseen delay during your private Dublin shore excursion prevents you from returning to Dublin cruise port before your ship departs, we will arrange and cover the cost of transportation to your next port of call. This guarantee applies to all Dublin cruise excursions and Dublin shore excursions booked through us. Your tour must be scheduled to return 1.5 hours before the ship departs.