Edinburgh Castle, Royal Mile and Holyrood Palace Shore Excursion

The walk along the Royal Mile is really enjoyable, a great opportunity to discover the architecture of Edinburgh and breathe in the atmosphere of the city. The Castle is impressive and interesting, with a lot of story to tell, even if the audio guide is a bit too long and sometimes boring. I enjoyed the visit to Holyrood Palace even more: apart from the beauty of the interiors and gardens, the Historic Mood is truly fascinating and tells a more vivid side of Scottish royal life, with stories of kings and queens making the visit more engaging than the Castle. I recommend both stops, but if I had to choose, Holyrood Palace is the one that left me the best memory.

This excursion would have been good except that the local vendor from Shoretime that picked us up from the port in Queensferry to take us to Edinburgh was a disappointment. He was basically a diver in a minivan, he did not tell us anything about the port or Edinburgh. He dropped our group of 5 off at the Holyrood Palace and said he’d pick us up in 7 hours. He did not know how to get around Edinburgh and had no commentary of the area. The other people with me booked directly through Shoretime and felt ripped off because their ticket didn’t include the entrance ticket to that palace like mine from Vistor. Do not book with Shoretime and I would not have done this excursion again. Vistor should have a different local vendor to partner with.

David did an excellent job. He make sure my friend and me know where to meet him . Also get us back to cruise ship on time.

Dear Customer Support, I am requesting a full refund for Booking Reference 1409820189 due to misleading advertising, poor communication, and the failure to provide the experience that was sold. I booked this excursion because I wanted to visit Edinburgh Castle and experience what was advertised on the TripAdvisor booking page as "Edinburgh Castle, Royal Mile and Holyrood Palace Shore Excursion." As a customer, I reasonably understood this to mean that the excursion would provide a guided experience of these attractions, particularly Edinburgh Castle, which was the primary reason I booked the tour. I selected Heriot-Watt University as both my pickup and drop-off location during the booking process because that is where I am staying. It was only after payment and receipt of the booking confirmation that I became aware that entry to Edinburgh Castle was not included. This important limitation was not sufficiently clear during the booking process and materially affected the value and nature of the experience I believed I was purchasing. On the morning of the excursion, no driver contacted me. I reached out via WhatsApp and was informed that a driver named Mark would call me. He never did. After receiving no assistance and being unable to obtain clear instructions, I travelled from Heriot-Watt University to Princes Street at a cost of £4.80 in an effort to join the tour. When I contacted the office again, I was informed that the meeting point was South Queensferry Dock. As nobody was actively assisting me and I was trying to avoid missing the excursion altogether, I paid a further £17.94 to travel to South Queensferry. I am particularly confused as to why the booking process required me to provide both a pickup and drop-off location, which I completed by entering Heriot-Watt University, if the tour was always intended to start exclusively from South Queensferry Dock. Had this been made clear from the outset, I would have planned accordingly. Instead, I was left trying to determine where I was supposed to be, with little guidance from the tour operator. Furthermore, if South Queensferry was always the only valid meeting location, then requesting pickup and drop-off details during the booking process served no apparent purpose and created the reasonable expectation that those details would be used to coordinate the start and end of the excursion. When I contacted the office again for assistance, I was told that Mark was busy and that I was "not their only customer." I found this response dismissive and unhelpful given the confusion surrounding the booking and the lack of communication. After eventually locating Mark by chance, I joined the vehicle expecting to begin the guided excursion that I had booked. However, once we arrived back in Edinburgh, I realized that Mark was acting solely as a driver and not as the licensed guide that had been advertised as part of the experience. I specifically asked Mark about this, and he confirmed that he was the driver. At that point, it became clear that I was not receiving the guided excursion I had paid for, and I chose to leave the vehicle to be more productive. Please note that I know my way around Edinburgh. The booking confirmation describes the experience as a "Guided Full Day Edinburgh Highlights Shore Excursion" and includes the services of a licensed qualified guide. Instead, I was provided with transportation only and expected to pay separately for attraction entry tickets. This was materially different from the experience I believed I had purchased. By the time I left the vehicle, I had spent approximately five hours of my day dealing with the confusion, waiting for communication that never came, making multiple calls and messages, travelling between locations, and attempting to understand how the excursion was supposed to operate. This represented a significant loss of valuable holiday time in addition to the financial costs incurred. I paid £104.90 for what was advertised as a guided excursion. Instead, I experienced poor communication, unclear arrangements, additional transportation costs, and a service that did not match the expectations created by the listing. Had the true nature of the excursion been made clear from the outset, I would not have made the booking. Overall, the experience did not match the expectations created by the listing and booking process. I therefore request a full refund of the £104.90 paid for this excursion and consideration of the additional transportation costs incurred as a direct result of the issues described above. I still look forward to your response and a fair resolution to this matter. Kind regards, Booking Reference: 1409820189

Unfortunately Viator did not have a local guide and then sent someone who was not from Edinburgh and didn't know his way around or anything to share with us. We had trouble reconnecting after the castle (which I couldn't get tickets to due to communication issues before the tour!) We didn't have working phones in a foreign country and this was a REAL problem. In general this was the worst tour of our entire trip.