transportation

[aggie76]

Will be staying in London before our cruise What is the best way to get to our hotel in London from Heathrow airport

Also getting from the hotel to the cruise ship

 

3 adults and luggage

[IECalCruiser]

Will be staying in London before our cruise What is the best way to get to our hotel in London from Heathrow airport

 

Also getting from the hotel to the cruise ship

 

 

 

3 adults and luggage

The only two ways I have travelled between Heathrow and London has been by rental car or the train. The train was quite convenient for us, even with some luggage. Edited April 22, 2016 by IECalCruiser

[paul929207]

The train would be best if you can manage your luggage. You may need a cab from the train to the hotel.

[skynight]

There is public transport like Trains and Buses.

You can take a taxi from Heathrow to London.

What we prefer is a private car service, such as Smiths for Airports, and others.They can meet you when you arrive at the airport and drop you at your hotel. They can pick you up at your hotel and drop you at the cruise terminal. Contact then for pricing on their web site. Yes you will pay more, but to us it is worth it.

[TracieABD]

If you opt to book privately--- DO NOT use British Airport Transfer. We booked and paid in advance last year. They did fine getting us from the airport to Southhampton. However, they just opted not to pick us up from Southhampton to the airport at the conclusion of the cruise. When we called and emailed, they gave a weird, lame excuse. and could not conceptualize that we had paid for both fares. That, coupled with my mom (who was in her final days- but we did not know that at the time), led to my complete undoing.

 

I will never use them nor recommend them again. They were awful.

[cynbar]

We have also engaged Smiths for Airports. We haven't used them before but reviews are very good. In our other European trips, we have always booked private car services and found it was money well spent. No way would we try to navigate a train with several pieces of luggage and an overnight flight behind us.

[wheezedr]

Partly this should depend on where in London you are staying as well as your level of mobility and budget. I have done private transfer, easy comfortable, time varies with traffic and costly. Never done a cab. The express train to paddington works best if your hotel is reasonably close but we once had it breakdown and they had to slowly reroute us. Last visit which was for a cruise we were moderately packed ad staying more in town so just used the tube. It is easy from heathrow as well as least expensive. Do be aware that you may need to change lines, pick a station where no change of level is required. Also be aware of the fact that not all tube stations have elevators it that is an issue especially with respect to luggage.

To Southampton we used the national express bus which left from the same station as princesses private transfers. Very comfortable, made one brief interim stop and I caught a rate of 5£ each. Met another couple on the bus and shared a cab/van to the dock. Worked well and saved a fortune. Have never done it but also believe there is a good train from Waterloo to Southampton. Hope this helps.

[johnatsis]

There is public transport like Trains and Buses.

You can take a taxi from Heathrow to London.

What we prefer is a private car service, such as Smiths for Airports, and others.They can meet you when you arrive at the airport and drop you at your hotel. They can pick you up at your hotel and drop you at the cruise terminal. Contact then for pricing on their web site. Yes you will pay more, but to us it is worth it.

 

We just used Smiths last week and they were great - They picked us up at Southampton dock and drove us to our Hotel in (Kensington) London. Price was 112 GBP, remember not to tip like in the US just round up - we paid 120GBP... Last year we used Princess bus from Southampton to Victoria station and it was 50GBP per person, then taxi to hotel - big hassle, car service is the way to go

[emmak8]

After a long tiring fiight, who wants to deal with luggage and train ? Car service is the way to go.

[Putterdude]

There is an express tube line that runs from LHR to Piccadilly Circus and then you could get a cab from there to your hotel. An alternative is a private car service which will cost you in the range of 40 GBP we used Blackerry Cars in August and were extremely pleased with their service.

 

From your hotel to Southampton as mentioned earlier their is Smith's which is apparently very good but expensive. You may care to find out what hotels the Princess transfer will be picking up from and book that. An other alternative is to take a cab from your hotel to the Victoria Coach station, then take the National Express to the Southampton Coach station then from there a cab to the pier .... your cab fare in Southampton is going to run about 10 GBP. We have used the National Express several times and find it excellent.

 

 

http://www.heathrow.com/transport-and-directions/underground

http://www.blackberrycars.com/

http://www.smithsforairports.com/index.html

http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx