Hampshire: Tours & Tickets

On Saturday, 13th July 2019 we visited Portsmouth Historical Dockyards and whilst waiting for our Harbour Tour decided to look online and enquire about visiting the Spinnaker Tour. Using my mobile we saw that there was availability that afternoon and that ticket prices were very reasonable at only £11.50 per adult. When we arrived there was long queues if you had not pre booked, but as we had we went straight on through after being greated by very friendly staff. We then waited a few minutes for the lift up which did not take long at all. The view on such a clear day was amazing and walking across the glass floor was breathtakingly fantastic. We were lucky as although busy, it was not overcrowded. Unfortunately the second level cafe was closed for an event, but the sky garden was beautiful and we cannot recommend this enough. If you have issues with stairs be mindful that going to the sky garden may be challenging.

We visited the museum soon after it first opened and it was fantastic then but since the recent changes it is even more amazing. The only negative is the entry process. We pre booked tickets on line so didn't think we needed to follow the signs saying "Mary Rose tickets" so had to be redirected by the main Historic Dockyard staff. We then had to queue behind two groups of people at the ticket desk to then give details I had already completed on line. The rest of the museum is brilliantly thought out so the entry process stood out as poor.

While we couldn’t fault the whole experience of the dockyard, we were rather frustrated by the entry system. We had pre booked our tickets before going, & were confused as to why we then had to queue up again to get another ticket to go in. It was very busy & very hot so was not a good start to the day. It would be much better if there was a separate queue for people who had pre booked to speed things up a bit. Other than that we really couldn’t fault the facilities on offer. We particularly enjoyed the self guided tour on the Victory.

So much more than expected. When I saw the wreck raised at the time I did wonder if the effort and expense was justified. It is more than that, the exhibition and the extraordinary visual accompaniments were breathtaking. It was such view into Tudor times, not merely the history of the ship itself, so much information gained from the artefacts themselves and especially the forensic analysis of the recovered ship's personnel. Again breathtaking. Thank you for such a world-beating museum.

Great place to visit and absorb some history. Quite amazing just what has been done and how detailed everything is. Only area that needs some attention is the online ticket recognition. My on phone voucher was not acceptable, but the website encourages this system.