Baltic Constellation Dover-Earliest Time to fly out of London HTR

[Live the good life]

Our family will be flying out of London Heathrow in July 2005. Planning to book a 01:30 p.m. flight London HTR to Los Angeles...Our ship (Celebrity Constellation) will be docking at Dover at 07:00 a.m.

 

For those of you who had taken the same trip...What is the earliest/safest time one should book flying out of London HTR? We learned that it takes about 2.5 hours to drive from Dover to London HTR airport, but not sure whether there would be a lot of traffic or how smooth/fast the disembarkation process would be? Also, did you use the ship or private transfer? How much would the transfer cost for trip from Dover to London HTR airport? Thank you in advance for your reply...

 

Kim

[aztex]

Hi Kim,

 

We'll wave to you all as we disembark on July 2nd. You might want to check this site for information and cost of private transfer from Dover to Heathrow

www.centralexectravel.co.uk We are using them for transport to downtown London after the cruise. We checked several and they are cost competitive and responsive to date.

 

As we have not done the trip yet, I can only answer your other question with how we would approach it. I would assume that we would be off with luggage in hand by 9 AM, allow three hours for transport to Heathrow and then three hours for customs, lines and an all purpose bollox or two. This is obviously conservative, but I prefer to travel a little more stress free. Given this approach, a flight after 3 PM would be my choice and if it happened to be closer to 5 PM, well all the more time to unwind and breathe deeply. Of course, if there were no flights after 1:30 PM we would breathe deeply while on the dock and hope for the best.

[Bollinge]

It is a little disingenuous of the cruise lines to call Dover (London) when it is almost eighty miles away. Moreover, London Heathrow airport is on the far west side of London. Dover is connected to LHR by fast 70 mph motorways, although one of these is the notoriously congested M25, also known as the world's biggest car park. Weekends are less busy, but not immune from traffic jams.

 

Microsoft Autoroute says the 105 mile journey should take 1 hour 38 minutes. There is no need to get to the airport three hours before takeoff, only to join a long line to check-in. The check in closes about an hour before the flight and security thereafter is straightforward, but bear in mind the gate can be miles from the check in desk.

 

We are on the same voyage in June, so will let you know how we get on. We are driving to Dover from home, so our trip will be a little less complicated.

 

John, Coventry (London), England.

[Ma Bell]

We had a 1:30 flight last year and were there with more than enough time to spare.:)

[BillC]

We were on the Constellation last June and the published guidance from Celebrity initially said no flights before 1 Pm.They then revised it since there were several flights leaving around 12:45 PM.THe bus ride on Celebrity's shuttle is the only cost effective way to do it,and since you're on a Saturday ther will be little traffic.We made it in less than an hour and a half.I would warn you that LHR will be a zoo since it is a Saturday in the peak travel season and lots of arrivals and departures are in the early afternoon.Clear immigration as fast as you can and enjoy your time shopping in the duty free shops,including Harrods.Additionally there are several good restaurants and raw bars inside the terminal.

 

Tha Baltic cruise is one of the best that we've ever taken,but it can be very draining.I took the 18 hour excursion from St.Petersburg to Moscow ($650) and it was worth every penny,or ruble !

[Live the good life]

Thank you for your replies...We made a reservation but need to book by the end of tomorrow.. . (1:30 p.m. flight out of London HTR)

 

Hoping to hear from more cruisers on their experiences...

 

Kim

[Deb C.]

I took the cruise line transportation about 4 years ago--it was $160.00 PP round trip from the airport to Dover.

 

They loaded my luggage onto a semi truck at the airport and I never saw it until it arrived in my cabin. I rode to Dover in a nice coach. (This was Princess cruise line, but I'm sure Celebrity would be similar). I was traveling solo so I didn't want to bother with lugging my own suitcases or travel by train, etc. It worked great for me--although rather expensive!!

 

Good luck and have a great trip!!:D

[jezzdogg]

LIve the Good Life

We were wondering the samething, as we are on the same cruise. Really looking forward to it.

[uktog]

Bollinge is right the M25 can be a nightmare and when it gets a problem it just comes to a standstill for a very long time- I would be careful about booking for anything before about 1400. July 2nd could be a busy weekend, it is the start of one of the busy Scottish holiday weekends and that can have an impact that far south as people head for south coast ferries - yes in theory they should be going in the opposite direction, but it is not unknown for problems on one carraigeway to impact the whole motorway

 

Good luck!!