TouchstoneFeste

5 hours ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

Unsurprisingly, as this topic is about transfers between London and Southampton, not journeys into town from Heathrow 😉

 

Sorry for taking the discussion off topic (but I did my searches on the entire forum; perhaps I should have started an entirely new thread). In any case, I thank you all for your suggestions.

I've searched and gone through this topic, and I'm not finding an answer to the question: best ways to get from Heathrow to our pre-cruise hotel, the Clermont Charing Cross. This would be a Tuesday in early September, wheels down at 12:30pm. We'll have only carry-on luggage.

National Express seems to be telling me that I can get from Heathrow to Waterloo Station, but this is done by changing at Victoria (after a 1 hour trip) and that the trip onward to Waterloo takes an additional hour. It seems like you could walk from Victoria to Waterloo in less :) Would that change involve getting on another National Express coach, or changing modes? In either case we'd probably end up taking a cab to the hotel from the station. Would it make sense just to grab a taxi at Victoria?

Does National Express not "do" the north bank?

In the past we've always taken cabs from LHR to central London, and I'm aware of car service options, and (given the cost of our cruise) don't think those options are unreasonably expensive. But are there other alternatives? 

16 minutes ago, sddsddean said:

Another way to do it from Canada/US, is fly into Dublin and change. I think KLM do this and Aer Lingus.

 

Simon

I can testify to the Aer Lingus connection although when we did it they had only two flights per day, at very inconvenient times. So inconvenient that we decided we might as well spend a few days in Dublin between flights.

On 6/8/2024 at 11:44 AM, adjustman said:

My wife and I are taking a cruise out of Southampton in September 2025. Thinking of staying at the Clermont Charing Cross Hotel for three days before the cruise. I am wondering whether this is a good choice for seeing The Churchill War Rooms and Buckingham Palace. It seems to be centrally located. Has anyone stayed here? Can you provide insight into the good and bad of this hotel. thanks.   

I don't think it's a particularly good location for the War Rooms and Buckingham Palace (the Clermont Victoria seems closer). On the other hand the Tube is very handy and it's also just a 30 minute or so walk through the parks to that area. For the reasons @markeb stated, it's a good location for many other London attractions.

The only negative aspect of this crossing is that you arrive just a few days before Christmas. Not a negative in itself, because New York at Christmas can be fun, but your onward travel can get complicated.

10 hours ago, QueenofEverything said:

What is the best way to get from Southampton to Heathrow post cruise?  Does Cunard offer transportation?  I did a search on this forum but it did not show any information.  Thanks

If you want to get into the nitty-gritty, you might want to check the British Isles/Western Europe Ports forum:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/148-british-isleswestern-europe/

There's a Southampton sticky at the top and many individual threads. But the answers above seem concise and accurate.

I take the very official-looking "Prescription Information" sheets (with the pharmacy contact, drug info, prescribing physician, etc.) that come with every renewal of our meds and stuff them into a letter-sized envelope. I imagine your printout would serve the same purpose, as would the label for drugs in original containers (mine travel in daily pill sorters or daily-dose baggies for space reasons).

I've never had to produce the documentation, including on two trips to Greece. It just satisfies my compulsive nature to be overprepared.

22 minutes ago, DaisyUK said:

Does anyone know whether there is a way to find out which Speakers will be on specific cruises? 

Probably not in the way you mean. I doubt you could find out far enough in advance to make purchasing decisions. (But you could try.)

I've been able to find out who the likely speakers will be on a cruise I've already booked by contacting customer relations. The responses I've gotten have been pretty accurate, but they reserve the right to substitute speakers as needed.

16 minutes ago, John Bull said:

But tickets bought from tour operators (and the Salisbury ho-ho and ships' tours) are "admission anytime"

To really blow your nephew's mind, look into an "inner circle" tour of Stonehenge. Seeing it from the outside is amazing. Seeing it up close is ... beyond amazing.

3 hours ago, richard_london said:

I had to check, Google says we're talking about the same thing. 

Again, this may be a language issue of some sort.

The Wikipedia article on duct tape says that gaff tape is considered a subtype of duct tape, but they're definitely different. The silvery (or now, other-colored) duct tape is better at some things like moisture protection, for example. The matte gaff tape just gets soggy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaffer_tape

"While sometimes confused with duct tape, gaffer tape differs in the composition of both the backing, which is made from fabric as opposed to vinyl or other plastics, and the adhesive, which is more resistant to heat and more easily removed without damaging the surface to which it adhered."

5 hours ago, jennybenny said:

Fast track in European airports is a shorter line for security, think TSA Precheck back in USA.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's my understanding that (unlike TSA Precheck) you don't go through a different security process, you just have a shorter line to the regular security process. In other words, you'll have to remove shoes, take off belts - whatever - either way.

2 hours ago, richard_london said:

the duct tape protects the LED and doesn't leave any stick residue

This may be one of those "two nations separated by a common language" things, but the duct tape we have in the U.S. very definitely leaves a residue. Instead I use gaff (or "gaffer's") tape. It's used by theatrical and film companies specifically because it doesn't leave a residue. (And it's pretty strong and has a matte finish you can write on. On the other hand, it's more expensive.)

14 hours ago, lynncarol said:

Livia (related or wife of an emperor,

Wife of Augustus.

3 hours ago, mrmac said:

I have spent hours on this thread so thank you to all info providers. I am trying to book the train from London Waterloo to Southampton Central on Monday, Aug. 19. The National Rail system keeps changing the date to Sunday, Aug. 18. Any clues to this mystery? Cheers!

 

Terry Mac

Could this be a time zone problem?

5 hours ago, NE John said:

No waiters dancing on tables etc… 

Not even on the Christmas voyages?!

2 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Why do you think that the Dublin to Southampton service is questionable?

Sorry if that wasn't clear. I don't doubt that Dublin to Southampton service will continue.

TMLAalum and I were lamenting the short duration of international flight service out of Cleveland (Ohio, USA). A couple of airlines have set up direct international flights, then dropped the service quickly. Aer Lingus appears to be in it for the long haul, though.

2 hours ago, TMLAalum said:

We are hoping to do this from CLE next year crossing our fingers that Aer Lingus will still have direct flights to DUB.

 

Our fingers are crossed, too, that the service continues. We've done it twice (have two more planned), and avoiding those ghastly East Coast layovers is very nice. Dublin has reasonably good service to the rest of the Old World, 

Like @TMLAalum we're in the Cleveland area with direct flights to Dublin, and we did take a puddle jumper to Southampton after spending a few days in Ireland. The flight is quick and ours arrived very early in the morning. Since Southampton airport is tiny and well served by taxis you shouldn't have any trouble navigating from the airport to the cruise terminals if .... there's always The Big If ... your flight isn't cancelled, or otherwise waylaid. We arrived a day early in Southampton, took a tour to Salisbury, enjoyed the town for the evening.

On 5/4/2024 at 7:00 AM, TouchstoneFeste said:

I can answer a few of these. We'll be taking a Ponant/Smithsonian tour from Malta to Livorno (that is, up the western coast of Italy) in September with daily port calls. Our tour options were announced in early April; they're not yet available for sign-up.

 

To finish off the pre-cruise portion of the discussion: We just received a notification that the excursions are now available for booking. In Ponant's generic booking instructions, I think they say 60 days before departure would be normal for excursion booking, but we're over 100 days out at this point. This may vary depending on your Cruise Specialist.

1 hour ago, Twickenham said:

 

 

This, although you probably put it more politely than I would.

 

Save yourself a world of hurt, and go down the night before... by train. Seriously.

Decision made. We'll go down the night before. Thanks, everyone, for the advice.

2 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

If so, another option might be to change the flight to Friday afternoon (or even Saturday afternoon), assuming that the timetable is the same in the week that you're flying.

 

Well, if we have to drop something, it would be the evening in London (which we visit often) rather than Malta.

1 hour ago, Globaliser said:

 

Who are you flying, and to where? From where is the cruise departing, and to where? How difficult would it be to catch up to the ship if you were to miss departure day?

[snip]

But to be frank, the only thing that actually makes sense is staying at Gatwick.

BA to Malta, arriving three days before our cruise starts, so no problem (other than a tour we wanted to take on arrival) if we totally miss the flight. But I'm starting to think the overnight at Gatwick is inevitable.

We have a 7am flight out of Gatwick on Thursday, September 5 (yes, I know; but all the other alternatives for our destination are immeasurably worse) to connect to a cruise departure. We'll be staying at the Clermont Charing Cross.

I booked our departure from London for 4am, but asked the car service what their recommended pick up time would be. The response was

"Upon checking, the journey from The Clermont London to Gatwick airport can take up to 2hrs depending on traffic. Gatwick recommends passengers to be at the airport at least 2-3hrs before flight departure. Please let us know what pickup time would be more comfortable for you and we will update your booking."

Does that make sense? or could we stick to our original estimate ("at that time of the morning allow an hour or so to get there, a couple hours to process through Gatwick")?

(I know that one option would be to transfer to a Gatwick-adjacent hotel the night before, but we'd like to avoid that because it would mess up our last night in London.)

1 hour ago, wncretired said:

Where do you purchase the “fast track”?

https://www.romeairports.com/fiumicino_en/fast-track.html

9 minutes ago, Rotherham_Cruiser said:

I'm booked into a cabin directly below the Commodore Club at the front of the ship, so following on from the original post, is there late music in this lounge, and might we just stay up late joining the party upstairs, instead of lying in bed, moaning about it 😁

Usually just a piano player or harpist. Nothing rowdy.