From Amsterdam's canals to Scotland's wild coasts, a maritime odyssey.
Twelve- and thirteen-night circuits from Amsterdam, calling at Ireland's southern coast, Dublin, Liverpool, Belfast, the Scottish Highlands and the Shetlands. These are the itineraries for Anglophiles, historians and whisky drinkers. The route covers Cork and the Ring of Kerry, Belfast's Titanic Quarter, Edinburgh from the Firth of Forth via Greenock, and Scotland's most remote outposts at Lerwick and Inverness. Book a ship with a sheltered open-air deck: the long northern twilights are the best hours of the day and the weather rarely cooperates without cover.
The embarkation port. Canal-laced, museum-rich, and café-cultured. The Rijksmuseum, the Jordaan neighborhood, and a brown café for a final evening beer before boarding.
Canal boat ride through the Jordaan before boarding
The last port of call for the Titanic. The colorful row houses climbing the hill above the harbor. The English Market in Cork city, where the queen herself once shopped, is a food lover's paradise.
English Market food tour followed by Jameson Distillery in Midleton
Literary, lively, and layered. Trinity College's Long Room library. Temple Bar at night. The Guinness Storehouse. A city that rewards walking and conversation in equal measure.
Book of Kells at Trinity College, then a literary pub crawl through Temple Bar
A city transformed. The Titanic Quarter is world-class. The murals of Falls Road and Shankill Road tell a complicated story with extraordinary art. The food scene has exploded.
Titanic Belfast museum followed by a black cab mural tour
Gateway to Edinburgh, the Highlands, and Loch Lomond. Glasgow itself has reinvented itself: Charles Rennie Mackintosh architecture, the Kelvingrove Museum, and a music scene that punches well above its weight.
Day trip to Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile, or Loch Lomond by coach
Closer to Norway than to Edinburgh. Viking heritage runs deep: the Up Helly Aa fire festival celebrates it annually. The landscape is raw, wind-swept, and starkly beautiful. Shetland ponies roam freely.
Shetland pony encounters and a visit to Jarlshof prehistoric site
Send your dates. We will come back with the sailings worth taking, the cabin to ask for, and what we would arrange ashore.