Twickenham

I would probably leave it at the left luggage facility at LHR.

When we took our TA on the QM2 in 2015, there were people on the ship that were cruising round-trip from Southampton - they had done Southampton-New York, then down to the Caribbean and back to NY, then back across. We embarked the ship on January 3rd, so they would have gotten on sometime mid or late December. I believe the QM2 has a similar sailing schedule this year.

3 hours ago, shay1 said:

I know if we take the train we will have to go to Victoria and take the Southern Train and it starts running I believe at 7:30 am.

That would be a no on both accounts. For train journeys from Victoria to LGW you have a choice of either Southern trains or the Gatwick Express; looking at the schedule on the National Rail site, the first Southern train is at 4:30, while the first Gatwick Express is at 5:14.

But starting your journey from Sussex Gardens means you have other options. Depending on where exactly on Sussex Gardens you're staying and how close you are to Paddington, you could take the Elizabeth Line from there to Farringdon and connect to the Thameslink train which will also get you to LGW, or take a bus or taxi to St. Pancras to catch the Thameslink train from there.

You put Civitavecchia Port as the arrival station. Put just Civitavecchia and you'll get results.

23 hours ago, FrozenCruisers said:

Our goal was to arrive to the port around 10 AM when the ship is there. We would give the luggage to a porter and check in. Then instead of walking onto the ship, we would go and do some site seeing. Sorry, I don't follow why this would risk the luggage being loaded on the wrong ship. 

Turning around a cruise ship is an enormous operation, with a very precise sequence of events. Disembark passengers and luggage, resupply, embarkation of new passengers and luggage. My worry is to enter the process out of sequence, as it were - if you drop off your luggage before disembarkation is over, or before embarkation usually starts (I would think there is usually a space of time in between the 2). They could end up lost somewhere in the system, either with disembarking luggage or with luggage going to another ship. 

The closest example from my experience that I can come up with is a flight we had to WAW on LOT, connecting via YYZ. There were 2 LOT flights that day from YYZ to WAW, and we were on the later one, but our connection arrived at YYZ before the first one left. When our luggage wasn't on the conveyor belt at arrival, I correctly guessed that it had been put on the 1st flight and was sitting in the back office with the rest of the unclaimed bags from that flight.  Humans are used to certain sequences and routines, and have a hard time adapting to exceptions.

Sightsee?

Where are you staying, Southampton, London or somewhere else?

48 minutes ago, latebuyer said:

My parents want to go on a pacific coastal or canada new england on princess or holland america. It looks like you need a suite on both to get the pull out couch.

I've slept on a sofa bed on Holland America in a balcony cabin. I've also slept twice (RCI and Princess) in cabins where the 3rd berth was an upper berth - but both times, I removed the mattress and lay it on the floor. Very comfortable, actually.  

2 hours ago, graphicguy said:

Can't really get to Quebec City (flights from my city are slim to none), but can get to Montreal.  I would need transport from Montreal (YUL) to my hotel in Quebec City (Hotel Port Royal).  I know it's a 3 hour trip.  Any suggestions?

Your hotel is a 3-minute car ride or a 12-minute walk (flat with sidewalks) from the Gare du Palais, the combined train and bus station. If you're spending some time in Montreal, I would suggest train, but directly from YUL I believe they're is a direct bus.

The one time we flew out of FCO was BA, and they were quite strict about the 3-hour check-in.

In your situation I would ditch the cruise line transfer to FCO, take the train to Termini, and leave my bags at the left luggage office there. Then you have some free time to spend in Rome before retrieving your luggage and taking the train to FCO for your flight.

1 hour ago, daydreamer62 said:

I'm not sure the inconvenience of doing one night in London and one out at the airport, or getting to the airport for our flight at 10am before 7am from central London, assuming we need 3 hours too check in, is a better option than the time lost getting to and from the airport on those 2 days . Im always open to alternative solutions though. 

Yes it is. By a country mile, or several country miles in the case of LGW.

I'm with Globaliser - stay both nights in London, near Victoria station or any other rail station with direct service to LGW. A 10 am flight really isn't that early - I've travelled to LGW from the Wandsworth area (by bus and rail) for a similarly-timed flight and had time for breakfast in the lounge beforehand.

2 hours ago, grammawmoses said:

I booked hotel near Paddington Station so I could spend a couple of days in London before taking British Isles cruise. I purchased 48 hour Hop On Hop Off tickets only to discover I did not purchase from Hop On Hop Off directly but from Golden Tours. I'm sure I can't cancel and get a refund. Also I find that there are no Hop On Hop Off stations anywhere near Paddington Station. I haven't been able to figure out where the nearest one is or how to get to it. I am really dreading this trip and making bad decisions. ☹️

If this is the tour you purchased: https://www.goldentours.com/london-hop-on-hop-off-bus-tours/hop-on-hop-off-london-bus-tour-24-hr-ticket, a couple of points:

-The website states that you can cancel, up to the night before departure;

-There is a stop at Norfolk Place, just around the corner from your hotel.

Paddington is an area that I've stayed in several times (and enjoyed). It's well-connected transport wise to the more touristy areas of London, so if you do decide to cancel you have plenty of regular bus options, as well as the tube.

2 hours ago, dpm321 said:

I wonder if Summit will stay another day in Quebec or try to ride it out on the St Lawrence?

According to the port schedule, they will be staying an extra day in Quebec, although they'll be moving berths to make way for the Hamburg at Wharf 22: https://www.portquebec.ca/en/cruises/vessel-schedules/cruise-ships-schedule

I'm pretty sure the shuttle buses drop you off at the bus stop at the ferry dock - however I have never cruised from here (live here), so this is just from past observation not actual first-hand experience. Map here: https://goo.gl/maps/TpXHcTYZSXXdqcjB7

On 8/26/2023 at 4:49 PM, craig01020 said:

Here are our current plans:

• Flying into Heathrow on the morning of the 12th.
• Booked National Express bus from LHR to Southampton (3 hours after scheduled arrival).
• Staying at the Leonardo Hotel (formerly Jurys Inn) for 2 nights.

If, as your thread title states, this is your first time in the UK, why not spend those 2 nights in London? Much more interesting for a tourist, and It's quite easy to get to Southampton the morning of your cruise. 

Chioggia to Florence: looking at the Trenitalia site, looks like the simplest way to do this would be a Regionale train to Rovigo, then connect to the Frecciarossa to Florence (Firenze when searching on the website).

Florence to Lake Geneva: if using the city of Geneva as an arrival point, again pretty straightforward, train (Frecciarossa or Intercity) from Florence to Milan, then a Eurocity train to Geneva.

Geneva to Paris: the easiest of the bunch, there's a direct TGV from Geneva to Paris.

There are of course more creative (and potentially picturesque) possibilities, check them out at The Man in Seat 61: https://www.seat61.com/Italy.htm 

Elizabeth Line to Liverpool Street station, then depending on the exact location of your hotel walk/bus/tube/taxi the rest of the way.

I'm confused by the whole premise of this thread. If your middle name is on your birth certificate, it's your legal name as much as your first name. My father had four names on his birth certificate, and went by the last 2 his whole life, including for several cruises. He never, ever used his actual first name for anything.

Why would you not continue to use the name that you have always used?

I actually stayed at the Millenium Gloucester about a million years ago (25, to be precise). At the time it was quite a nice hotel, and from the online pictures it seems to be well maintained over the years. A quiet location and right beside Gloucester Road underground station, so very convenient for the tube.

I have no personal experience with The Resident Covent Garden, but I love the location - in the heart of the action. I think you would probably be good with either choice.

Italy, France, Spain and Portugal are all within the Schengen area, so if that is your itinerary, you're good to go.

This thread piqued my curiosity about what to do with luggage when visiting Salisbury, and a quick Google search came up with this site for luggage storage: Caboose. It appears to be a B&B that also offers luggage storage for visitors to the area.

3 hours ago, envy4u said:

If there is an accident the cruise ship buses will be in the same boat as us. Pun intended 😂
 

 

No they won't, because they will have arrived way before then.

There's zero possibility I would ever cut my arrival at the port that fine. This wouldn't even be a possibility for me.

5 hours ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

Why would you take the Elizabeth Line to Paddington to catch a cab? 
 

You seem to be recommending the Elizabeth Line on several threads where it is hard to follow the reasoning, in my opinion. 

I can't talk regarding the Elizabeth Line, as I have not been to London since it opened, but I have taken - and would recommend - the Heathrow Express to taxi combo, and here's why: it offered the best combination of time, comfort and convenience for our circumstances. At the LHR end, the HEX was, at least the times I have taken it, a much closer walk than the underground station, and you can get much closer to the trains with your luggage cart than the tube - and believe me, when you have bad knees, any walking distance saved is huge! At the London end, unless your hotel is right beside a tube station - like the Millennium Gloucester and Gloucester Road tube station, actually - you'll want transport to your final destination, and a taxi is a heck of a lot easier to get at Paddington than any tube station. There is method to my madness... 😁

As it appears from your posting history that you're doing a Copenhagen to Southampton cruise, you don't need a one-way ticket. You need either an open-jaw ticket (ORD-CPH and LON-ORD), or a round-trip ticket to either CPH or LON then a one-way ticket between the 2. Check out the various combinations to see what works best for you both price and schedule-wise.

4 hours ago, ontheweb said:

We also figure for transfers it is easier to be by an airport terminal.

It isn't. I cannot emphasize how easy the Heathrow Express option is. When we last used it (albeit from Terminal 5) we were able to wheel our luggage cart to within 10 feet of the train, and there were carts (requiring a £1 coin to unlock) waiting on the platform. And if you stay at the Hilton, there's direct access to the hotel from the station, so in theory you could wheel your cart right into the lobby. Compared to this, transport to one of the LHR hotels not connected to a terminal seems daftly complicated.

3 hours ago, bookbabe said:

Am I overthinking it?  Is transit that much better in London than in Toronto, and we aren’t going to get stuck on a train/bus/subway for an hour due to “unexpected delays” like seems to happen here so often?

Yes, to both questions. And as gumshoe958 pointed out there are enough alternatives that you get stuck. And transport to/from an airport hotel to LHR certainly won't be significantly faster. And as the HEX isn't a commuter train, you won't be affected by rush hour (and you would be travelling the opposite direction to commuters anyways).