Nice Day at Blarney - Our driver Kevin was so pleasant and humorous! The Paddywagon bus was waiting for us at a revised port as well. The Blarney Castle was nice although crowded as it probably always is. Kinsale was a nice area, we enjoyed wandering there. Timely return to our ship. Same tour as offered by the cruise line, but less expensive.

Blarney Castle - Ger, our tour guide’s short for Gerry and the driver from Cobh/Cork took us right to Blarney Castle. Ger made a beeline for the entrance and got us in quickly (apparently with connections) onto the grounds ahead of a large tourist crowd. Just outside the grounds, we walked to an Irish woolen outlet, buying one beautiful zip-up sweater. Drives through the countryside led us to Kinsale, a town for lunch and a pint! Or as in my wife’s case, a glass of wine. It was a walkable place. And a great experience.

Thumbs upTruly enjoyed it - Had a great time, my wife was not able to climb to the top of the castle, but I was, fantastic few and a time to visit with you and talk about your experiences My problem was on a different tour, the ship could not allow tenders in the port in Dngle and I missed a tour there, because I did not cancel 24 hours in advance because I only had two hours notice from the ship that it was dangerous for us to disembark, as suchI lost out on $195 on that tour. I will probably not be using Viator in the future

Great tour for cruisers! - We LOVE this tour! The guide met us at Cobh pier right next to the cruise ship and brought us back to the ship with plenty of time to explore the town afterwards. Unlike other tour experiences, we were given 3 hours to explore the extensive Blarney estate and impressive gardens! Then we spent 2 hours in Kinsale...it was a charming little fishing village with colorful stores and restaurants. The coach took us through green & lush Irish country towns. We highly recommend this tour for all cruisers.

Great tour! - We really enjoyed our tour and Richard was great! He got us to the Blarney Castle quickly and we only had a 25 minute wait to "kiss the stone!" The grounds were breathtaking and then in Kinsale, we had time to do a little shopping in the quaint town and get a bite to eat before heading back to the ship.

Not enough time - Pros: our guide was great. Was very friendly. Cons: 1) the meet-up point at the cruise terminal was not very clear. It took us about 20 min to find the tour bus. 2) The time at Blarney Castle was limited. Upon arrival, we found out there was a 2 hr wait to go up to the blarney stone. We were only given about 2 hrs to explore the entire site. The gardens around the castle really would take at least 4 hrs minimum to explore. So a 2 hr timeframe is not really realistic. 3) our tour bus broke down on our way to Kinsley. Fortunately, the company sent over a replacement bus after about 30 min so we didn't get stranded for too long 4) due to the bus breaking down, our time at Kinsley was limited to like an hour. Summary: this tour should be broken into 2 tours since Blarney Castle can easily take a whole day to explore.

Bus no show - Initial bus was a no show. Would have liked to stop in Cork rather than other short stops. The stops in Blarney and Kinsale were nice.

Tour operator not informative. - The Blarney Castle and gardens beautiful and enjoyable. Tour operator/guide Paul gave very little information or details about Cork, Blarney Castle and Kinsale. Music was played.

the only bad tour of our trip - not recommended, Did not give clear instructions and could not keep track of the group. Wish we booked a private taxi tour instead. As we got off the ship there were many taxi drivers with sign for a private tour

Buyer Beware! - A word of caution if you are booking this as a shore excursion. The posting clearly states that 24 hour notice is needed for a refund. It also states that if your ship is late the tour will start 1/2 hour after docking. We read these disclosures however when traveling to Cork our ship encountered an unexpected storm and the ship was 8 hours delayed and we were not informed in enough time to cancel. To our dismay, we were charged the full amount of an 11 hour tour for 3 hours which included a bus ride to Blarney castle and back and 1/2 hour to run through the grounds and castle. How is that for customer service?