London to Paris tour

[konalee]

I am planning a Baltic cruise for June and would like a pre-cruise tour from London to Paris. Any suggestions?

[SteveH2508]

www.eurostar.com is the only sensible way. 3 hours centre of London to centre of Paris (incl. check-in).

 

HOHO buses are a good, quick way to see the sights from the outside, otherwise you will need to be much more specific about what you want to get out of it if you want more suggestions/advice.

[KirkNC]

Yes Eurostar to get between them or are you asking something else?

[hubofhockey]

Walking tour is a great way to see Paris. Paris Along the Seine with http://www.sightseekersdelight.com is still our favorite tour/excursion we have done anywhere.

[Globaliser]

I am planning a Baltic cruise for June and would like a pre-cruise tour from London to Paris. Any suggestions?

Lots of issues here: No Baltics cruise departs from either London or Paris, so the actual departure point of your cruise may have a bearing on what it's sensible to do. How many days do you want this pre-cruise tour to last? When you say "tour", do you mean you want to see things between London and Paris, or do you actually only want to see London and Paris (or perhaps actually only one of them)? Where are you flying to/from? And do you have any airline preferences?

 

Without a few more clues, you're only going to get guesses rather than focused advice.

[hubofhockey]

Lots of issues here: No Baltics cruise departs from either London or Paris, so the actual departure point of your cruise may have a bearing on what it's sensible to do. How many days do you want this pre-cruise tour to last? When you say "tour", do you mean you want to see things between London and Paris, or do you actually only want to see London and Paris (or perhaps actually only one of them)? Where are you flying to/from? And do you have any airline preferences?

 

Without a few more clues, you're only going to get guesses rather than focused advice.

 

Princess has two different (one small ship and one large ship) Baltics cruises that start in Southampton (London) and we did a pre-cruise Paris vacation with a cruise that started in Southampton.

 

On Saturday, we took an afternoon Eurostar to London, checked into our hotel room, grabbed dinner, saw a show, and the next morning took a transfer right to the cruise ship. It's doable.

[konalee]

I am planning a Baltic cruise for June and would like a pre-cruise tour from London to Paris. Any suggestions?

We will be departing Southampton and want to spend a couple of days in Paris before or after the cruise. Our traveling companion walks with a cane so we were looking more for a guided tour.

[Globaliser]

... Baltics cruises that start in Southampton (London) ...

This is precisely the point.

 

Southampton is not London - just as Boston is not New York City.

 

So someone who wants to plan a tour before a cruise that starts in Southampton might do well to plan on the basis that they need to end up in Southampton, not London.

 

I should, however, retract the hyperbole: there will be a handful of cruises that start in London - mostly of the Silversea and Seabourn size of ship.

[hubofhockey]

This is precisely the point.

 

Southampton is not London - just as Boston is not New York City.

 

So someone who wants to plan a tour before a cruise that starts in Southampton might do well to plan on the basis that they need to end up in Southampton, not London.

 

I should, however, retract the hyperbole: there will be a handful of cruises that start in London - mostly of the Silversea and Seabourn size of ship.

 

London to Southampton is not that big of a deal and many people combine Paris with cruises starting I Southampton. You could also fly to Paris and take a train direct to Amsterdam where Celebrity begins Baltic cruises.

[Globaliser]

London to Southampton is not that big of a deal ...

Nor is Boston to New York City.

 

But you would still want to make sure that if your cruise was starting in Boston and you wanted to do a New York City to Washington pre-cruise tour, you understood exactly what you're letting yourself in for.

[hubofhockey]

London is much closer to Southampton than Boston is to NYC. Its more like Boston to Hyannis. I think it took us about 75 minutes on a weekend morning. Unless you're doing a river cruise, including Paris takes a small effort. But I would do it again without a second thought. Getting to Gare du Nord train station in Paris is easy and the Eurostar is a nice relaxing and inexpensive ride. You could transfer right from there to Southampton using Smiths or spend the night in London and take a bus or shuttle to the port.

[John Bull]

We will be departing Southampton and want to spend a couple of days in Paris before or after the cruise. Our traveling companion walks with a cane so we were looking more for a guided tour.

 

You have two basic options, plus one outside-the-box.

With all options, if you need a Paris guide you need to source one that will meet you in Paris.

 

Several direct flights daily (but only one suitable if you fly same-day as your cruise departs) between Paris Orly Ouest airport & Southampton airport, operated by www.flybe.com

This is a budget airline, prices rise steeply if you don't book early. And you need to run a dummy booking including luggage in order to get a true total cost.

I don't know the time or cost from Orly to central Paris, but a 20 minute taxi ride from Southampton airport to ship is about £20.

Flight 90 minutes, total journey time central Paris to ship, including check-in at airport, is about 4 hours.

 

Eurostar runs from central Paris to central London, journey time about 2hrs 15 mins.

http://www.eurostar.com/dynamic/index.jsp

Again, prices can rise steeply unless you book early.

From London's St Pancras station to Southampton (75 to 80 miles) you have a choice of private transfer (pre-booked about £150 takes about 2 hours), or cross central London (in your case, taxi is best) to Victoria coach station or Waterloo train station.

Pre-booked coach to Southampton about £6 per person, takes 2.5hrs.

Pre-booked train (choice of about 8 per day, none sundays, no amendments, no refunds) can be as cheap as £1 pp via http://uk.megabus.com/megatrain.aspx

or buy tickets at the station (three trains per hour every day) about £34 pp. Journey time about 90 mins.

Add £5 to £8 for Southampton taxi from coach or rail station to ship.

Total time central Paris to ship 5 to 6 hours.

 

French time is 1hr ahead of UK time, so for instance a 90 minute flight is timed to arrive in Southampton 30 minutes after departure from Paris.

Despite that bonus hour, with both options there are risks in travelling Paris-Southampton same-day, so post-cruise may be safer.

 

If your cruise's final port of call is Zeebrugge/Bruges or Amsterdam or Rotterdam, you can jump ship there (with advance approval from the cruiseline, usually given) & take local train + Eurostar from there to Paris. Cost about £30 to £45pp, journey time 4 to 5 hrs.

A great deal cheaper, simpler & quicker than Southampton / Paris.

 

JB :)

[Globaliser]

We will be departing Southampton and want to spend a couple of days in Paris before or after the cruise.

What I would do is to fly from home to Paris, tour Paris (there will be no end of local guided tours that you can book), fly from Paris to Southampton as John Bull suggests, and then fly home from London.

 

You could also do this in reverse: fly from home to London, then at the end of the cruise fly from Southampton to Paris, then tour Paris and fly home from Paris.

[Cotswold Eagle]

And just to reiterate the point we made on another recent thread, you should be able to do home-Paris, London-home as an open-jaw return, DO NOT buy two single tickets :) Unless using miles/points, of course.

[John Bull]

What I would do is to fly from home to Paris, tour Paris (there will be no end of local guided tours that you can book), fly from Paris to Southampton as John Bull suggests, and then fly home from London.

 

You could also do this in reverse: fly from home to London, then at the end of the cruise fly from Southampton to Paris, then tour Paris and fly home from Paris.

 

Yes, it'd be a big waste of time & money to go from the UK to Paris & back again

 

In fact my post (and perhaps others' posts) didn't make that too clear, it was more of an assumption that the OP should fly trans-Atlantic into Paris & out of London (LHR or LGW) or vice-versa.

And, as the Eagle's post, an open-jaw return (also known as multi-city) is as cheap as a simple return ticket to one or the other. Both flights need to be with the same airline or airline-alliance.

 

JB :)

[ell52]

Yes, it'd be a big waste of time & money to go from the UK to Paris & back again

 

In fact my post (and perhaps others' posts) didn't make that too clear, it was more of an assumption that the OP should fly trans-Atlantic into Paris & out of London (LHR or LGW) or vice-versa.

And, as the Eagle's post, an open-jaw return (also known as multi-city) is as cheap as a simple return ticket to one or the other. Both flights need to be with the same airline or airline-alliance.

 

JB :)

Exactly. We are doing a TA out of Southampton, but wanted to see both Paris and London pre-cruise. After much research, we decided it's far more economical and a better use of time to fly directly to Paris, then to London via Eurostar.

[konalee]

We will be departing Southampton and want to spend a couple of days in Paris before or after the cruise. Our traveling companion walks with a cane so we were looking more for a guided tour.

I am aware that Southampton is not London. We have vacationed three times in London. I do believe that the flight is into London and then to Southampton by bus. Am I missing something?

[Cotswold Eagle]

I am aware that Southampton is not London. We have vacationed three times in London. I do believe that the flight is into London and then to Southampton by bus. Am I missing something?

 

It's very hard to say :) Unfortunately you are a bit minimal in your postings, so we are having to speculate somewhat.

 

You say "I do believe that the flight is into London and then to Southampton by bus". Flight from where? When? Have you already booked your flight and transfer arrangements?

 

What we have tried to explain, I think, is that if you want to spend some time in Paris before cruising from Southampton, it generally doesn't make much sense to fly to London first, but rather go straight to Paris. There are then a variety of ways to get from Paris to Southampton for the cruise, some, but not all, of which involve travelling through London.

[John Bull]

I am aware that Southampton is not London. We have vacationed three times in London. I do believe that the flight is into London and then to Southampton by bus. Am I missing something?

 

 

Now you've got me confused, too. :D

If you want to visit Paris pre-cruise, and you are already booked to fly into London from Calif, you certainly don't want to take the bus from the airport to Southampton.

There are plenty of flights from both LHR & LGW to Paris, or go from the airport into London & take the Eurostar.

 

But, as the advice on this thread, it makes more sense to fly California to Paris, then Paris to Southampton for your cruise, then fly home from London.

Or vice-versa at the end of your cruise.

That way you cross between England & France just the once, halving that cost.

(and if it fits, there's that "outside the box" option of jumping ship at your last port-of-call which means you don't have to cross between England & France at all, so at no extra cost & a bonus extra day in Paris)

And, as the Eagle's post, by booking those two trans-Atlantic flights on one "open-jaw" return ticket they'll cost you no more than a standard return ticket.

 

JB :)

[Globaliser]

If you want to visit Paris pre-cruise, and you are already booked to fly into London from Calif, you certainly don't want to take the bus from the airport to Southampton.

 

There are plenty of flights from both LHR & LGW to Paris, or go from the airport into London & take the Eurostar.

If the OP has already booked to fly from home to London and from London to home after the cruise, and this can't now be changed, then I agree with the thrust of this. The most sensible thing would be to book to change planes at Heathrow so as to fly straight from London to Paris for the pre-cruise stay without actually going into London, and then fly from Paris to Southampton to join the ship.

 

However, there are now no flights from Gatwick to Paris. For a Gatwick arrival, taking the First Capital Connect service from Gatwick direct to St Pancras International and changing there for the Eurostar will be the best option.

[hubofhockey]

Looks like we are not hearing from the OP on this one again.

 

Doing a pre-cruise stay in Paris for cruises beginning in Southampton can be a great option.

 

Flying from the US direct to Paris can often be less expensive than flying to London because of taxes and fees associated with flying to London. The major downside to flying direct to Paris is airport traffic. If you arrive after an overnight flight, be prepared for traffic and a 70 euro or more taxi ride to the city of Paris.

 

As others have pointed out, there are several ways to get from Paris to Southampton. If you fly, the option is Flybe Airlines. If your cruise begins on a Sunday, this may not be a good option. The Sunday flight is an evenining flight and won't get you there in time for your cruise. There is a Saturday morning flight. Of course, that will kill a day of your vacation unless you don't mind spending a full day and night in Southampton. The flight can also be expensive since Flybe can charge as much for baggage as it does for the actual flight. If the cruise is on a Saturday, this is not a bad option as you would arrive around 11 am and just take a taxi to the cruise docks from the airport.

 

The other option is Eurostar from Paris to London (St Pancras Station). This is the option we took. The Eurostar is a two hour fifteen ride from Gare du Nord (Paris train station, conveniently located to Paris hotels near the attractions) and a nice ride. You make up on a hour on the time difference as well. If you book in advance, it's around $65 per person. We left around 2:15 and were in London by 3:30 pm. This gave us time to take a taxi to our London hotel, get dinner, and see a show. We took a transfer the next day to Southampton. But we easily could have taken the Princess shuttle. There were six of us and it made it price effective to use Smiths for Airports. If our cruise would have started on a Saturday, we would have taken the Flybe option. With a Sunday cruise and a Saturday flight, we would have lost a half of day in Paris and a show in London and basically just relaxed with a half day in Southampton. Some might prefer that option.

 

If flights are already set to London, the best thing to do is look at the difference between the price of a flight between London and Paris and the cost of change fees from the existing airline and flying direct to Paris instead of London. I would pay the change fees if not too prohibitive since there would be no luggage hassle.

 

As for tours in Paris with people with mobility issues, the best bet is looking through TripAdvisor. I have seen many on those segway tours and they get high ratings. Not sure if that's what OP is looking for. But a walking tour appears to be out of the question. The good one we took was over five hours with a stop for lunch. The walk wasn't brisk. But there was a lot of walking. The problem with a van tour is the traffic in Paris. It's the reason we took the Metro and avoided taxis. Paris can be a great pre or post cruise option. But it does require some planning and connections.

[Globaliser]

Flying from the US direct to Paris can often be less expensive than flying to London because of taxes and fees associated with flying to London.

I think a bit of myth has grown up around this.

 

As a matter of generality, there's no structural reason why flying to London should be any more expensive than flying to Paris. Obviously, you may get differences in fares simply because they're different cities and supply and demand to each may be different. But there's no specific magic in flying to London that makes it necessarily more expensive.

 

What can be (structurally and unavoidably) more expensive is flying from London compared to flying from Paris, because of the high departure tax charged by the UK government on people starting their journeys in the UK.

[hubofhockey]

I think a bit of myth has grown up around this.

 

As a matter of generality, there's no structural reason why flying to London should be any more expensive than flying to Paris. Obviously, you may get differences in fares simply because they're different cities and supply and demand to each may be different. But there's no specific magic in flying to London that makes it necessarily more expensive.

 

What can be (structurally and unavoidably) more expensive is flying from London compared to flying from Paris, because of the high departure tax charged by the UK government on people starting their journeys in the UK.

 

I think that must be the reason (departure tax) my flight from Paris to Boston was so much more than my flight from Boston to Paris. I structured the flight as multi-city. It was a good rate. I suppose that I assumed those taxes were linked to all flights involving London. Thanks.

 

I hope OP figures out what to do here.