Need advice on two British Isle cruise itineraries

Trip #2 would be my choice.

Have you explored the ports to see what your options may be for excursions or on your own?

Without knowing your interests and length of time in port it is hard to advise.

Portland is know for the Jurassic coast. You might also have an opportunity to visit Stonehenge from there.

However, trip 1 will have some nice sights/excursions with the stops in Aberdeen and Stornoway. From Greenock you could visit Glasgow or maybe a tour to Loch Lomond and the Trossachs for a taste of the Highlands.

However, trip 1 will have some nice sights/excursions with the stops in Aberdeen and Stornoway. From Greenock you could visit Glasgow or maybe a tour to Loch Lomond and the Trossachs for a taste of the Highlands.

I'm with Jean on this one. I really enjoyed Glasgow (especially over Inverness) and I loved Stornoway! The itinerary has some nice options there, and yes, you could have some fun excursions from Aberdeen and definitely Stornoway.

That said, trip 2 does have Portree on the Isle of Skye which is a plus but given that it's a cruise ship, I'm not sure how much time you would have to really get out and see the beauty of Skye. It would be interesting to know what excursions they have from there.

Hello jeanm and Mardee, NCL hasn't posted the excursions for each port yet since both trips are still about 6 months away. So for now, I'm basing my decision on the itineraries, themselves, and hoping that NCL provides a nice variety of excursions at each stop (which they usually do). Each port is one day long, no overnights. And my interests are pretty basic! I've never been to Scotland or Ireland, so I'm just hoping to see standard touristy things.

As lovely as the Isle of Skye is, arriving in Portree by cruise ship for a day with 2000 other passengers plus other cruise ships would be a nightmare to me.

Itinerary 1 gives a bit more breathing room to explore the countryside.

Cruise 1 for me any day of the week- 8 days of back to back port days is not my idea of a fun cruise at all, but a better itinerary for me.
In truth neither itinerary really grabs me.

On #2 Invergordon is no more Inverness than Southampton is London. Both are an hour or more away from their erstwhile cities.
I would way prefer Greenock (for Glasgow) to Invergordon. In my view far better ship or DIY excursion opportunities from Greenock.

Also Ringaskiddy is the way poorer option for Cork than Cobh. Ringaskiddy is just a ferry port and small uninteresting town. Cobh you land in the town centre for all the visitor attractions, and the railway station for Cork is straight in front of you. No contest there, Cobh every time for me.

On both South Queensferry is a tender port (which means it can be cancelled when the Firth of Forth whips up, as it quite often does) and a 30 to 45 minute bus ride into the city centre.
On both it is Dun Laoghaire for Dublin- another dratted tender port (which I know is due to lack of berth capacity at Dublin). Getting ashore and into the City on packed trains detracts 3 to 4 hours from your tourist day in the city. Personally I would rather ships pass by Dublin than do that (and add Waterford or Derry/Londonderry instead). Just not helpful.
Also on #2 Portree is another tender port, so your time ashore will be limited (if you even get ashore) and pretty restricted to the cruise excursions which can't begin to do justice to the island in a few hours. On an island permanently at capacity I wish the cruise ships would clear off somewhere else.

The one winner on #2 is Portland- a great port with lots of opportunity west or east on the Jurassic Coast, plus the Isle of Portland itself. That to me is the absolute jewel of that itinerary.

At least on #1 cruise ships can now berth at Stornoway- used to be a tender port.

For Aberdeen I would want to know if NCL are being cheap and tendering in, or berthing at the new South Harbour. It makes a significant difference.

From NCL-

Portland Excursions- https://www.ncl.com/uk/en/shore-excursions/search?destination=Northern+Europe+Cruises&port=IPO

Portree Excursions-https://www.ncl.com/uk/en/shore-excursions/search?destination=Northern+Europe+Cruises&port=PTR

Stornoway Excursions-https://www.ncl.com/uk/en/shore-excursions/search?destination=Northern+Europe+Cruises&port=STW

Aberdeen Excursions-https://www.ncl.com/uk/en/shore-excursions/search?destination=Northern+Europe+Cruises&port=ABZ

Inverness Excursions-https://www.ncl.com/uk/en/shore-excursions/search?destination=Northern+Europe+Cruises&port=IVG

As lovely as the Isle of Skye is, arriving in Portree by cruise ship for a day with 2000 other passengers plus other cruise ships would be a nightmare to me.

I didn't think about that but Jean is right. Portree will be crowded just about any late spring and summer day. Add a cruise ship in there and it would just be unbelievable. I think I would go with option one.

I'm wondering if I am missing something, but itinerary #1 doesn't quite make sense- why would the ship go all the way up to Belfast only to head back down to Cobh and then back up again towards Dublin and Greenock? Is that common for these types of cruises? If it were me I might pick #1 just because it includes the Western Isles.

Looking at the berth availability at Belfast the reason for Belfast, Cork and Dublin in that order looks to be berthing capacity at Belfast if it was done in a more logical manner.
Having brought up the NCL website I see that at Stornoway they are NOT using the new deep water windfarm berth, but are tendering in as of old. And that is a short 8am to 2.30pm call. So little or no time for independent exploration, but they need to do that, it is a long and fast overnight passage to Aberdeen.
Greenock is an early departure as well at 3.30pm. If you go into Glasgow independently you need to be turning back at about 1pm or soon after.
On the plus side Aberdeen is showing as berthing in South Harbour (a positive).

In general, I'd usually opt for the cruise with fewer "sea days," since being at sea isn't my primary reason for going on a cruise. But both itineraries look interesting.

In addition to the NCL excursions, you should look at shoreexcursionsgroup.com. Probably cheaper altho if you have NCL’s $50 excursion credit, the difference might be minimal.