Transportation London/Dover and Dover/Heathrow

[gb88]

My sister and I will be spending a couple of days in London prior to our sailing on the Ocean Princess out of Dover. What's the best way to get to Dover and the cruise terminal? At the end of the cruise, we will also need to work out our transfer from Dover to Heathrow Airport, with a 1 PM flight departure back to the U.S. Any suggestions????? The car services seem to be running over 220 pounds each way!!!!!!

[Toto2Kansas]

The car services, or any transportation that will pick you up, is going to be very high. The best suggestion I can give you is to find a few others willing to split the cost with you, at least for the transfer back to the airport. Your roll call would be a great place to start looking for others that would be willing to share the costs.

Private transfers for two passengers can definitely run you a large sum.

[Crzn-Life]

If you don't have more than 2 pieces of luggage per person, I would suggest checking out the trains. It's a lot cheaper than the private limos and if you purchase your tickets ahead of time online you can find some deals. We've had no problems schlepping our 24"cruise bags (1 each) and a back pack and smaller roll-aboard type bag from Dover to London to Southampton.

[H20 skier]

My sister and I will be spending a couple of days in London prior to our sailing on the Ocean Princess out of Dover. What's the best way to get to Dover and the cruise terminal? At the end of the cruise, we will also need to work out our transfer from Dover to Heathrow Airport, with a 1 PM flight departure back to the U.S. Any suggestions????? The car services seem to be running over 220 pounds each way!!!!!!

 

We used Silver Car and we couldn't have been happier. I found them online.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

If it is only 2 of you ? use Princess transfers

[rbslos18]

My sister and I will be spending a couple of days in London prior to our sailing on the Ocean Princess out of Dover. What's the best way to get to Dover and the cruise terminal? At the end of the cruise, we will also need to work out our transfer from Dover to Heathrow Airport, with a 1 PM flight departure back to the U.S. Any suggestions????? The car services seem to be running over 220 pounds each way!!!!!!

 

I've been dealing with this as well. We are on the 7/20 Ocean and have learned the following:

1) Since you will likely have enough luggage for the cruise, public transportation may be difficult. But should you want to o by bus or train a great resource for how to do it is The London Toolkit, an online resource.

2) If you are at the airport the day the cruise departs, Princess has a fairly inexpensive transfer--I believe for $57.00

3) If you do not want to shlep you luggage, a car service is the best way to go. There are several mentioned on CC. The best price I have found for a transfer from Heathrow to Dover the day before the cruise is: http://www.taxi-airport-transfers.com/ They quote 125 GBP for an Estate car.

 

Happy sailings!

[gb88]

Thank you for all your suggestions. We will be traveling TO Dover from a London hotel, not the airport. That may eliminate the possibility of using Princess transfers. Following the cruise, we will need a transfer directly to Heathrow. I am reluctant to have to deal with public transportation with our luggage and then have to figure out where to go once we arrive in Dover. It certainly is more difficult sailing from a port that is a 2-hour drive from London!

[Talisker92]

Having traveled to the Lake District then to London then to Heathrow with 7 pieces of various size (includes, backpack,purse, carryon) It can be done on the trains. You can get a taxi from the ship to the train station then from the station in London to your hotel. You can take the Heathrow Express from London to the airport.

There are luggage carts available in almost all stations

[DGF]

Thank you for all your suggestions. We will be traveling TO Dover from a London hotel, not the airport. That may eliminate the possibility of using Princess transfers. Following the cruise, we will need a transfer directly to Heathrow. I am reluctant to have to deal with public transportation with our luggage and then have to figure out where to go once we arrive in Dover. It certainly is more difficult sailing from a port that is a 2-hour drive from London!

 

We are doing a layover in London, not arranged by Princess. Our TA arranged for transfer from LHR to Dover by Princess. We just have to get back to the airport at the time and place they are meeting Princess Passengers

[caribill]

We will be traveling TO Dover from a London hotel, not the airport. That may eliminate the possibility of using Princess transfers. Following the cruise, we will need a transfer directly to Heathrow.

 

a) Princess in the past has had a pickup location in downtown London area (not sure where), so you should be able to get a Princess xfer without returning to the airport. Call your travel agent (or Princess if booked directly) to arrange.

 

b) From ship to LHR, for sure you can use a Princess xfer.

[Bob++]

With petrol hitting $10 per gallon over here and diesel more than that, travelling by car is expensive.

 

The train service between London (St Pancras Station is a building worth visiting in its own right) and Dover Priory is excellent.

 

You need to shop around a bit and book your tickets well in advance to get the best deals but it should be well under 40GBP each.

 

Even with a taxi from your hotel to St Pancras and from Dover Priory to the ship you should save over 100GBP

 

If you really want to travel by car then consider taking a diversion off the (boring) motorway en route and visit Canterbury at least.

[phabric]

We took the Ocean Princess out of Dover in 2010. We stayed at a hotel in the Victoria area of London. We walked with our luggage to the National Express Coach station (http://www.nationalexpress.com). The coach ride was about 2 1/2 hours on a comfortable bus (like a tour bus) with a bathroom onboard with seatbelts. We paid 5 GBP/pp + 1 GBP for using a credit card. If you go to their website a couple of months in advance of your cruise, you might be able to get a Funfare price (look under Specials). You print off your tickets and show it to the driver. The only thing with the Funfare tickets if you get to the station early you can not exchange your ticket for an earlier bus. Their site says a limit for the suitcase, I didn't see anybody be turned away with too much suitcases. The driver put them under the coach and removes them at the end. We have used the National Express coach to go to Southampton and Dover.

 

The coach stopped a couple of times for passengers. It stops in Dover and the ferry terminal. Our driver once at the ferry terminal told us, he was off duty then but if anyone wanted the cruise terminal (we went the day before our cruise, and there were Disney cruisers on the bus), he would take us there (wanting a tip). I told him, we had a hotel and he said he passed that hotel on his way out and he would drop us off as close to it. He then drove to the cruise terminal. Ask the driver, if he is going to the cruise terminal and he might drive you there, if not get off at the ferry terminal and take a taxi, it is not far from each other.

 

We used Princess transfer to return to Heathrow.

 

The Dover terminal used to be a train station and is small.

 

If you have a chance while in Dover, visit the Dover castle with the war tunnels.

 

While on the Ocean, we used to enjoy deck 5 with the padded wooden deck chairs.

 

Enquire from Princess by yourself or your agent, I believe others have mentioned Princess having bus transfer from Victoria station and Heathrow, if you do not want to take the National Express Coach.

[John Bull]

Don't know which car services you've checked, but £220+ ????? :eek:

Dover/Heathrow should be in the order of £100, central London around £150.

Local companies are generally much cheaper than those which are London or airport-based :)

Try http://www.dovertaxis.com/ frequently used by folk on these boards, or http://www.taxisfolkestone.co.uk/Default.aspx

Or google "Taxi Dover" or "Taxi Folkestone" - don't include London or Heathrow in your key-words or the listings will be dominated by London/Heathrow companies.

 

But there's good advice on this thread, for

 

London/Dover

- the National Express bus from London Victoria is seriously good value. Theoretically max 2 x 44lb cases plus hand-luggage per person but tends not to be an issue unless you're way over - and a sympathetic smile & some folding stuff works wonders :). Taxi from Dover town bus stand to the cruise terminal is only about £5, but as posted the driver will invariably drop folk at the cruise terminal.

(nb don't try to book to the Cruise Terminal on the Nat Express website, it won't accept cos it's an official stop only for Fred Olsen cruises)

- by train from St Pancras in an hour & twenty, then a £5 taxi to the Cruise Terminal.

 

Dover/Heathrow.

Public transport is awful - whether by train or bus you have to go via central London.

By car is an option, but this is one journey where the ship's transfer bus (no luggage restriction) makes a great deal of financial sense

 

John Bull :)

[rebeccalouiseagain]

The coaches are cheaper than the trains and better for people with mobility issues. The driver deals with the luggage.

[MATHA531]

This comes up all the time....if you can handle your luggage (I don't know why people bring so much luggage on cruises anyway..I can manage with one piece of luggage on wheels and have more than enough clothing for the cruise) you can get a taxi from your hotel to Victoria coach station for the National Express bus as noted above...posted fare is £13 London/Dover (or was last year might have gone up somewhat), 1/2 prices for seniors (60 and above) and as noted, they run what are called fun fare specials during the year if you book in advance, easy to do. There is a coach at 0830 that arrive in Dover at 1100, fine for most any cruise. I got a fun fare for £2 but as noted was charged £1 to book with my credit card.

 

Trains are somewhat more expensive and you have to shlep your luggage onto the carriage and off and there is no provision to get to the cruise terminal. You need a taxi there even though the new high speed train is somewhat faster than the bus.

 

As noted above, while officially the bus ends in downtown Dover, a 10 minute cab ride from the cruise terminal, it is sort of an unwritten rule that for say a fiver the bus driver will drop you at the cruise terminal. I know on the HAL cruise I took last June, there were about 10 of us going to the cruise terminal and after the stop at the ferry terminal, the driver did indeed drop us at the cruise terminal (most people here report it is usually done but no guarantees of course; it seems National Express does not discourage this on the part of their drivers)....if you can handle your luggage, the big if in anything, it is the cheapest but certain far from the worst way to get there. The coach does have a rest room.

[Giantfan13]

Depending on how you value the cost, over a bit of traveling more, as my fellow posters have already said, the National Express bus is the way to go from London to Dover. With one of their fun fares, you can probably do it for 5 pounds PP. Yes, you need to get to Victoria coach station (probably a taxi) but once there, the driver stows your luggage,and unloads it. Seems like many have had the same experience as we did, upon arriving at Dover, the driver will ask if those left on the bus (usually many) want him to take them all the way to the crusie terminal. Of course, all say yes and for a nice tip, you are delivered right to the terminal. If this fails to happen, you grab a taxi for a 10 minute ride, at a cost of maybe 7 pounds.

If you want personal, door to door service, do the limo, but this is just as good for a LOT less money.

As for returning and getting to Heathrow for a 1 PM flight, I would not try the bus. You might make it on time, but you might want to opt for a quicker way back to London and Heathrow.

 

 

Cheers

 

Len

[coronadogal]

I am looking at taking the coach back from Dover to London after our ship docks. The price is the same for 10:10 and 11:10 in the morning. Which one would you choose? We are going up to London for 7 days and am not under a time constraint. The 11:10 is the safest bet but we don't want to sit around for an hour if we can make the 10:10 within reason. There are 4 of us. Do you go through any type of customs in Dover? We will have been in Denmark, Norway, and Scotland. Thanks.

[MATHA531]

I am looking at taking the coach back from Dover to London after our ship docks. The price is the same for 10:10 and 11:10 in the morning. Which one would you choose? We are going up to London for 7 days and am not under a time constraint. The 11:10 is the safest bet but we don't want to sit around for an hour if we can make the 10:10 within reason. There are 4 of us. Do you go through any type of customs in Dover? We will have been in Denmark, Norway, and Scotland. Thanks.

 

Go for the 1010.....get the earliest disembarkment possible. I don't know what line you're on. Last June I did a HAL Baltic cruise, got off the ship at 0800, found my baggage immediately, there was a bit of a queue for a cab, found some nice people to share the cab with right behind me and I was at the Dover coach terminal by 0900....the early bus had no room so I still had to wait an hour...no big deal.

[coronadogal]

Go for the 1010.....get the earliest disembarkment possible. I don't know what line you're on. Last June I did a HAL Baltic cruise, got off the ship at 0800, found my baggage immediately, there was a bit of a queue for a cab, found some nice people to share the cab with right behind me and I was at the Dover coach terminal by 0900....the early bus had no room so I still had to wait an hour...no big deal.

 

Thanks. We are on HAL's Eurodam. In the past, we have taken our own luggage off if available. Sometimes we like to take our time disembarking but don't want to have to sit around unnecessarily.

[joll]

I am looking at taking the coach back from Dover to London after our ship docks. .... The 11:10 is the safest bet but we don't want to sit around for an hour if we can make the 10:10 within reason.

 

We disembark in Dover on Sunday, 17 July and decided to book online, the 9:30 Coach from the Dover FERRY Terminal in lieu of the bus stop in the town. We plan to self disembark and catch a taxi from the Cruise Terminal to the departure point which is less than a mile away. Apparently there are better facilities at the Ferry Terminal if we get there early and have to wait for our coach. It also gives us the option of being able to walk there if taxis are not available due to the area hosting a big golf event that weekend.