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vacationdreaming

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    Excursion advice - Nova Scotia

    in Canada/New England

    Posted

    Hello,  My husband and I are booked on an RCL cruise departing Quebec September 16.  While we have cruised many times to Caribbean, Alaska, etc., this will be our first New England Cruise.  We would love to see some of the beautiful New England scenery away from the cities at one or two of the ports.  We don't typically book ship excursions but that is certainly an option.  On other cruises there are usually an abundance of tour operators greeting you when disembarking at the port, so it is easy to grab an excursion that was not booked in advance.  Would appreciate advice on which port or two would be the best to book a scenic excursion and if it is highly advised to book in advance.  Our ports are Charlotte Town, Halifax, St John and Sydney.  Thanks for any advice you are willing to share.

    Trying to decide - hotel in Southampton or London

    in UK Cruisers

    Posted

    23 hours ago, John Bull said:

    I'd always encourage a first-time visitor to England to spend a few days in London, there are so many iconic sights.

    But yes, there's a lot more to England than the Big Bad City :classic_wink:

     

    Southampton isn't a tourist city - it's very much a port city but its city walls and its few historic buildings and museums are enough to amuse a visitor for a day.

    More importantly, Southampton is a railway junction, which makes it a good base for exploring much of southern England including direct trains to Portsmouth (40+ minutes), Brighton, (90+ mins), central London (80+ mins), Winchester (15+ mins), Oxford (80+ mins), Salisbury (35mins) (then ho-ho to Stonehenge), Bath (90+ mins) and Weymouth (80+ mins)

    https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/static/documents/content/routemaps/nationalrailoperatorsmapzoom5811December.pdf

    and

    http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/

     

    There are also ferries across to the Isle of Wight (for instance, for Osborne House), and the little Hythe ferry across Southampton Water and then a taxi ride across a corner of the New Forest to  https://www.beaulieu.co.uk/

     

    Google those places

    Also dial them into the search facility on this forum  - type the name of a place in the little search box top right of this page, click on the drop-down to select "this forum", then click on the spyglass at the search box to bring up all posts which mention the place.

     

    Depending on your flight arrival time, your transfer arrangements (broadly National Express coach or private transfer or car rental) and your reaction to jet-lag, it's possible to incorporate somewhere into your arrival day. If by National Express coach or direct private transfer you can drop your bags at the hotel ahead of registration time & go explore.

    No need to pre-book anything other than transfer & hotel. Any small discounts for pre-booking any of those train journeys isn't worth the commitment and you can make it up as you go along depending on time, weather and mood. Even the advised pre-booking of entry to Stonehenge isn't necessary in October except mebbe for a saturday or sunday.

     

    Mention of October brings me to the weather.

    Late October is a very iffy time to visit England, it's when I get itchy feet to go find somewhere with better weather.

    And sunday 27th October is when we switch from British Summer Time to GMT and it gets dark an hour earlier, around 5.30pm. 

    You might be lucky & arrive during an "Indian Summer", you might be unlucky & arrive during stormy weather, or it might be more-typical October weather - not too cold  but a little chilly in the evenings, grey skies but not much rain.

    So it's good to be flexible. And most of the places I've mentioned have plenty of inside visits, though Stonehenge is particularly exposed. 

     

    All of the hotels on this web-page

    https://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/southampton_accommodation.htm

    are in central Southampton and walkable to the coach station & Southampton Central rail station, but Ibis, Ibis Budget & Novotel are just across the road from the rail station and most of the others are a walk of 20 minutes or less (see the map at the bottom of that page)

     

    JB :classic_smile:

     

     

    Thanks so much for this great information.  It is very helpful.  We really appreciate your taking the time to share your knowledge.

    Trying to decide - hotel in Southampton or London

    in UK Cruisers

    Posted

    My husband and I just booked the October 26 transatlantic cruise on the Independence. This will be our 3rd cruise departing from Southampton. On our prior 2 trips we flew to Heathrow from DFW and spent a couple of nights in a central London hotel and toured London on the Hop on Hop Off bus before traveling to Southampton. Trying to decide if we should try something different this time....maybe visiting Bath and Salisbury. If we traveled from LHR to Southampton the day we arrive, and stay in a hotel in Southampton, are their any good tour options out of Southampton.  Looking for suggestions.  Thanks.

    Help with Transportation from Heathrow to Sheraton Park Lane London

    in British Isles/Western Europe

    Posted

    We are flying from the US to Heathrow the end of October -- arriving at 6:55 AM on a Thursday morning. We are staying at the Sheraton Park Lane (close to Green Park). From my research it appears that taking the Piccadilly Line from Heathrow to Green Park would be a good option. We will be dealing with 2 fairly heavy rolling suitcases plus a couple of carry-ons. My husband is concerned about taking the train with luggage and then having to deal with unknown navigation from Green Station on to our hotel. I would welcome suggestions. If the train/tube is not the best option what are other suggestions. Thanks for your help.

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