We are taking our second cruise to Europe and have decided to book air on our own. We got a pretty good deal on a non stop flilght from San Francisco to Heathrow. This is where I need your help.
1. We are flying into Heathrow and staying at the City Inn (Westminister, London) for a couple of days.
A. How do we get from the airport to the hotel?
B. On the day of the cruise, how do we get from the hotel to the port in Harwich?
We're looking for something that is reasonable in price and we are able to walk.
The more explicit the detail, the better. (can you tell that this is the first time we are traveling to London ).
Any assistance is greatly appreciated. Our cruise is 8/27/08 and we will be celebrating our 37th wedding anniversary. We are flying in three days early and have booked the City Inn Westminster.
Any "must see or do" in London would also be appreciated.
London is a wonderful city! It's my second favorite in the whole world (NYC has to be first with me).
For pre-trip research, check out some travel sites Londontown.com is one I've been to and also visitlondon.com. I hope I got them right. Google the names if typing what I just did doesn't work. Also google British Tourist Authority and see if there's an office in San Francisco (I'm assuming you're in the Bay Area?). The BTA office in NYC is a fabulous source of info. They have all kinds of practical and fun brochures, even a map of movie locations! (I dragged the DH to a bunch of Bridget Jones locations)
On the London sites, look for a link about getting from one place to another. They have an amazing search engine that will give you routes from one place to another in London, and you can choose bus, underground (subway to us), or walking.
For getting from Heathrow into the city, you can take the underground, which is cheapest but slowest. Not a great idea if you have a lot of luggage, since you'd probably have to change trains. There's also a non-subway train into the city, which is more expensive but faster. Then you'd have to get from the staton to your hotel. There are buses from the airport, too, but I've never tried a bus.
Check the london transport website. You'll be able to see your options there. There are several different kinds of transit passes, some of which I think you might have to buy before you leave the US.
If you haven't done so already, get a London guidebook. I like the DK book, but any good guidebook will have links to all the museums, and you can see what they're like.
Personally, I love the British Museum (rooms and rooms and rooms of mummies!), and the Victoria & Albert, which is sort of like our Smithsonian history museum.
And the theater! Do try to see a play. Goggle London theatre and see if you get a hit on some theater sites. Sorry to be vague about sites, but they're bookmarked on my desktop and I'm on the notebook at the moment.
If you like to walk, walk along the Thames. The south bank (I think I know your hotel, it's near the Eye?) is fun to walk. you'll pass Shakespeare's Globe (you'll be there in summer, think about a performance there), Tate Modern (I don't care for modern art but the building is cool), the Millenium pedestrian bridge.
We've been to London ten times and still find fun things to do. We've done the biggies (except M. Tussaud's), so now we look for small offbeat museums, and go back to our favorite biggies.
One important thing: first day (if you're not tired from a long-haul flight) take one of the touristy double-decker tours. It's a great way to get a sense of the city.
And for getting to Harwich, I have no idea. There's probably a train. Can you buy a transfer from your cruise line?
You have a whole year to plan! I enjoy the planning/anticipation almost as much fun as the trip itself. Enjoy!!!
Kathy
There are some folks here who have recently come home from a transatlantic that started in Southampton. A number of them had pre-cruise days in London. I'll alert them and have them come over here to give you some more good info.
Jackie,
We just got back from a Celebrity TA and spent several days pre-cruise in London. Be prepared to spend a fortune- there is no way to avoid it with the horrible exchange rate.
One way to save money is to take the tube. The London subway is clean, very easy to use, and goes everywhere. There is a stop right down from the tower of London, a stop two blocks away from the British Museum, and a stop two blocks away from the British Library. Oh yes, the tube was a block from our hotel in Notting Hill and three blocks away form the theater.
Definitley see a play if you get a chance. We saw Spamalot and loved it. Others with us saw Mary Poppins and thought it was fantastic. Ditto for the Classic Mousetrap.
Be prepared for at least a day of jetlag and don't expect to see even a fraction of the city. There is just way too much. Oh yes, take a double decker hop off/hop on bus to see the city. There are few better ways to get a good flavor to the city.
How many stars is your hotel? The rating for US hotels is totally different. We discovered that a 2 star hotel is lacking in basic (?) amenities like elevators, a three star hotel usually does not have air conditioning and no matter how many stars, the rooms are tiny! I mean really small, don't expect more than a narrow path around the bed and that is most of your floor space. Oh yes, washclothes are not available in anything less than a 4 star hotel.
Boots is your friend. That is a drug store similar to CVS or Walgreens in the states. We got washcloths, toothpaste, deodorant, bottled water, Cokes, and Dr. Pepper at Boots.
Getting into London is very expensive unless you can handle your luggage on a train. The Heathrow Express is fast and relatively (for London) inexpensive. No matter what you do (Express, regular train or tube), you will end up changing from the train to the tube or a taxi in Central London to get to your hotel. Expect to pay at least $80 for a taxi from the airport. If you can find someone on your roll call arriving with you, try to arrange sharing a van.
As Neal says, you can get almost anywhere you want to go on the tube and it is the best way. Faster than any bus/taxi and not too expensive if you buy the day pass.
Must sees for me for a first-time visit are the London Eye and the Tower of London.
Getting to Harwich is also very expensive. Once again, there are train options, but you don't check luggage like you do in the states and are frequently multi-levels. Again, try to hook up with people on your roll call and see about a large car for 4 or a van/mini-bus for 6-8. I would look into buying the cruiseline transfer (I think they offer transfers only on most cruises). You would have to go to Victoria Coach Station (that's usually where it is) and this past year they wanted about $80 per person.
I had a web page for our Constellation TA this past September and had several Links for London on it. I have not taken it down and will leave it up for a little while (maybe another couple of weeks). Click on the link in my signature for the Connie T/A 07 Website, then Useful Links and then London. There are resources there from a variety of people that may help with information. We used Exclusive Airports to get from Gatwick to our hotel. They were great to work with and did a fine job. Eddie Manning has had good reviews for Airport and Cruise terminal transfers as has Woodford Chauffer Cars.
You are in for a treat. London is a wonderful city to visit. Sinfully expensive, but worth it at least once in your life and maybe even 2 or 3 times..
Bob is definitely right about getting into a van sharing arrangement. For the price you can't beat splitting the cost and you get to meet some of your shipmates before the cruise.
Bob's Bus made things a lot easier for a great number of us.
One thing about sharing a van, you have to remember to tell the company that you are going on a cruise. They never seem to have as much space for luggage as you need.
Neal is correct about the luggage situation. This year we went directly to Dover from Heathrow two days before our cruise. We share a van with three other couples and the transfer company attached a trailer to the van for all of our luggage. There were eight of us in a sixteen passenger van and it was a very comfortable ride. Because of the strength of the pound vs the US dollar expect to pay at least double for everything while you are in England, so anyway you can save money is an advantage. Many of the touristy things like the London Eye and the Hop on Hop off bus can be booked in advance online at a discounted price. Discount tickets for shows at the various theaters in London are available in Leicester Square, and if I remember correctly, our HOHO bus tickets included a discount off a lunch of Fish and Chips at a pub along the route.
We will be going on our 4th TA next September and even though we have visited London twice in the past, there are still any number of things left to see and do. Enjoy your trip and if you have other questions, I am sure that Neal, Bob, or I will happily try to answer them for you.
even though we have visited London twice in the past, there are still any number of things left to see and do.
I lived in and around London for about two and a half years. I was working in the tourism sector and made a point of sightseeing at least one day a week. In that two and a half years I only saw a small fraction of what London can offer! Don't let the fact that you haven't seen everything in London put you off seeing the rest of the country - there are many, many spots that are far more interesting and are a lot less touristy
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Don't let the fact that you haven't seen everything in London put you off seeing the rest of the country - there are many, many spots that are far more interesting and are a lot less touristy
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