Enough time?

[vacay77]

My family and I are taking a cruise out of Dover. It also returns to Dover once the cruise ends. The itinerary says the cruise will dock at 7 am. We plan on taking the cruise line's shuttle back to the airport. There is a perfect flight for the price leaving at 12:50 pm. For those with experience, do you think that will give us enough time? It looks like Dover is about an hour and a half away from London.

[aquilegia]

Which airport are you flying from?

[Bob++]

Dover to Heathrow is a little over an hour and a half by road on a Saturday, provided that there are no problems with traffic on the M25. If the coach leaves at 8:30, you should be in good time for a 12:50 flight. Airlines usually say three hours before, but in most cases two hours is sufficient.

 

I would take an unassisted disembarkation and book a car. Your driver would be well informed about potential holdups and take a different route if necessary. It may well be cheaper for two anyway.

 

You need to tell us what day, what airport and what airline (and where to).

[vacay77]

It would be to Heathrow and it would be a Sunday. There will be 5 of us total and it's Disney Cruise.

[LHT28]

You could hire a private car service & if you are off the ship by 8 ish it should l not be a problem

Remember the shuttle is PP pricing & you have to wait for it to fill before they leave

[John Bull]

It would be to Heathrow and it would be a Sunday. There will be 5 of us total and it's Disney Cruise.

 

 

Bliss :)

Traffic will almost certainly be a dream.

90 minutes

But unassisted disembarkation, if possible, would get you ahead of the herd & any lines at the cruise terminal, and give you stax of time in hand.

Bob reckons it may be cheaper to book a private transfer.

He's right - even though he was probably thinking there'd be two of you!!

Five of you?

No contest.

Try http://www.folkestonetaxi.com/ or http://www.premiertaxisfolkestone.co.uk/fares.php or http://www.dovertaxis.com/

 

Do mention how much luggage you'll have - a 5-6 seat vehicle won't cope.

 

JB :)

[MNfamilycruiser]

Bliss :)

Traffic will almost certainly be a dream.

90 minutes

But unassisted disembarkation, if possible, would get you ahead of the herd & any lines at the cruise terminal, and give you stax of time in hand.

Bob reckons it may be cheaper to book a private transfer.

He's right - even though he was probably thinking there'd be two of you!!

Five of you?

No contest.

Try http://www.folkestonetaxi.com/ or http://www.premiertaxisfolkestone.co.uk/fares.php or http://www.dovertaxis.com/

 

Do mention how much luggage you'll have - a 5-6 seat vehicle won't cope.

 

JB :)

 

This is reassuring! I booked a 12:55 flight from Heathrow on a Sunday thinking it would be no problem, then started worrying again when I read about traffic problems. We will have either 6 or 8 people so I already knew we would need a private transport, and realized we would probably need to do self-disembarkation. We are on the Pacific Princess. I used tripadvisor to come up with some options and found twelvetransfers.co.uk to be the cheapest so far for a MPV8 - but that was pricing London to Dover. I will check out these other options as well. Thank all of you on this board for the wonderful information you give!

[Bob++]

Yes - I would certainly want to use a company based near Dover. That way you are not stranded if the driver oversleeps or the car blows a tyre. Be sure that you have a way to contact them. If you don't have a cellphone you can use, there will be public phones in the terminal.

[MNfamilycruiser]

Yes - I would certainly want to use a company based near Dover. That way you are not stranded if the driver oversleeps or the car blows a tyre. Be sure that you have a way to contact them. If you don't have a cellphone you can use, there will be public phones in the terminal.

 

Thank you, I was thinking of using the same company for all transport, but I will see what I can find from around Dover. I didn't think about being stranded :o