Calling All Brits - Your Help with a London hotel please

[SanFranBayCruiser]

We are booked on Constellation for a Baltic cruise departing out of Dover in 2006. We plan on arriving early and sightseeing in London. Kindly give your recommendations for luxury or deluxe hotels. We have the option of booking Thistle Royal Horseguards through Celebrity but, aren't sure of the location.

We'd like to do the real touristy things - Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, etc...like I said the real tourist spots. Any recommendations are welcomed - thank you so much in advance.

[greeneg]

We have always enjoyed the Cadogen near Sloane Square ( right down the street from Harrod's in Knightsbridge). Victorian Hotel, beautifully maintain with very high standards of service. It is not cheap, but they do have a website and it is an easy walk from Harrod's, other shopping, resturants, and two tube lines.

 

Link: http://www.cadogan.com/

 

Hope that helps, I'm sure you will get any number of recommendations, that's just our favorite.

[seattlelover]

Hi,

 

I live 30 minutes outside the centre of London.

 

All the Thistle hotels are pretty good and I think you would find this hotel more than acceptable. They tend to have character as well (Royal Horseguards is a grade 1 listed building). The hotel is right near the Houses of Parliament and Westminster. You are only 200 yards or so from Charing Cross tube station. The London Underground is simply your best way to travel. You can buy a day pass that allows you to get on and off as many times as you want. This allows you to easily visit any of the tourist attractions that take your fancy.

 

Plan your day carefully as it can be tiring. I don't know how much time you have but hopefully you have more than a day? Also, depending on the time of year you are visiting you may like to consider one of the open top bus tours. These are great and take you past lots of London landmarks.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Bev

[dkjretired]

We are booked on Constellation for a Baltic cruise departing out of Dover in 2006. We plan on arriving early and sightseeing in London. Kindly give your recommendations for luxury or deluxe hotels. We have the option of booking Thistle Royal Horseguards through Celebrity but, aren't sure of the location.

 

lots of good info on hotels.

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=146

[NanaNancy]

Londontown.com has a really good hotel guide. We will be in London for 4 nights at the end of April and are looking for moderate price hotels with some character and especially convenience to sights. Is the bus leaving from Harrods one of the best sightseeing buses? Hope you have a good stay.

[gizmodog]

We stayed at the Royal Horseguards last year for two nights pre cruise and absolutely loved it, the location could not be better. We walked to everything.

Buckingham Palace, Trafalger square, big ben, the parliment, Westminster Abby, all within walking distance. The hotel is right across the street from the London Eye, and right on the Thammes it was a wonderful location and if ever I return to London, I will stay there again. Hope this helps.

[londonlad35]

Horseguards is good, also CityInn (www.cityinn.co.uk) and Premier Travel Inn County Hall is excellent. Good deals normally via www.lastminute.com where you should also book theatre , days out and meals for very significant savings!

Enjoy!

[wbrumel]

Just was in London recently and stayed at the Hotel Russell. Booked it thru the British Airways site wwww.ba.com and got a great rate. It is historic yet recently refurbished, and has a GREAT location, convenient to everything, esp the "tube" (subway) which can take you everywhere. Enjoy.

PS: brings lots of money as your dollar is worth 56 cents there.

[signman]

I was at the Thistle Charing Cross last year. Wonderful location and very comfortable room. Got a terrific price thru Priceline. Check in at http://www.biddingfortravel.com for list of hotels that come up frequently, with extensive reviews. Also posts from recent winners with prices and dates. Priceline would absolutely be the place to book for London. Lots of 4 and 5 star properties at bargain prices.

[Bev]

Hi

 

DH and I, and many other Cruise Critic cruisers, stayed at the 4-star Rubens Hotel on Buckingham Palace Road prior to our Fall Transatlantic cruise on the Constellation.

 

The location can't be beat: it's just yards from the Victoria train/tube station, just down the street from Buckingham Palace, the Queen's Gallery and the Royal Mews, and there are lots of shops and restaurants nearby. In fact, there's a pretty good pub, the Rusty Nail, right across the street.

 

The Rubens offers an advance booking rate. At first glance, and when compared to North American hotel rates, it may seem high; but for London, it's actually very reasonable. The rate does include a full English buffet breakfast which was very tasty.

 

But, what really stands out, is the GREAT customer service you will receive from everyone you come in contact with at this hotel. It's been a long time since we experienced such warm, welcoming service anywhere. I made our arrangements directly through Corlia Waldeck, the Reservations Supervisor. You can reach her at cwaldeck@rchmail.com and you can check out the hotel at its web site http://www.rubenshotel.com

 

Bev

[greyblueseas]

The Thistle is perfect for sightseeing and is in a nice location by the river (but not right on top of the traffic). You'll be able to walk to everything you want to see; actually, getting to the tube to go to Leicester Square (for example) will take you miles out of your way and take a lot longer! (see here )

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=529826&y=180695&z=1&sv=leicester+square&st=1&tl=Leicester+Square,+WC2&searchp=newsearch.srf&mapp=newmap.srf

 

The entrance to the hotel is at the bottom right in Whitehall Place. This is a much quieter location than the hotels on Buckingham Palace Road, which is a major traffic artery and not nearly as nice as the name implies.

[wv4891]

Hello, I second Bev's opinion about the Ruben. It is right across the street from Buckingham Palace. And you can walk to all the sights, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, Big Ben, Victoria Station (about 1/4 mile away)., etc. The rooms are on the smaller side, but you said you were looking for a suite. We stayed in the Monarch Suite (they have smaller executive suites). The suite overlooked the Royal Mews and had two rooms, the seating room was very large, with a dining table for four and plenty of room to entertain. And the service was outstanding here. As Bev says, there is a very nice restaurant at the hotel that serves a very good breakfast. You can take the train from Victoria to Dover or just hire a private driver.

Then again there is always the Dorchester Hotel, we had High Tea there with friends from London, and the place was in a league by itself.

[hoover5000]

Hi

 

DH and I, and many other Cruise Critic cruisers, stayed at the 4-star Rubens Hotel on Buckingham Palace Road prior to our Fall Transatlantic cruise on the Constellation.

 

The location can't be beat: it's just yards from the Victoria train/tube station, just down the street from Buckingham Palace, the Queen's Gallery and the Royal Mews, and there are lots of shops and restaurants nearby. In fact, there's a pretty good pub, the Rusty Nail, right across the street.

 

The Rubens offers an advance booking rate. At first glance, and when compared to North American hotel rates, it may seem high; but for London, it's actually very reasonable. The rate does include a full English buffet breakfast which was very tasty.

 

But, what really stands out, is the GREAT customer service you will receive from everyone you come in contact with at this hotel. It's been a long time since we experienced such warm, welcoming service anywhere. I made our arrangements directly through Corlia Waldeck, the Reservations Supervisor. You can reach her at cwaldeck@rchmail.com and you can check out the hotel at its web site http://www.rubenshotel.com

 

Bev

 

Bev is right on the money. We stayed there as prelude to the Constellation TA 9/05 as well with many of our sailing companions who learned of it on our CC roll call and secured a very good rate dealing with Corlia Waldeck. Rubens was convenent, good value for London and the included breakfast made it even more economical.

[negc]

We are booked on Constellation for a Baltic cruise departing out of Dover in 2006. We plan on arriving early and sightseeing in London. Kindly give your recommendations for luxury or deluxe hotels. We have the option of booking Thistle Royal Horseguards through Celebrity but, aren't sure of the location

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=146

As others have mentioned the location is quite good and London is very pricey. You may be able to book a hotel on your own (even the Thistle Royal Horseguards) for considerably less than the cruiseline is charging. However, if Celebrity's price includes transfers between the airport and hotel and hotel and the ship, be sure to factor in those costs when comparing prices. Last summer, we used Marriott Rewards points for three nights of our pre-cruise stay but transferred to another hotel for the final night. We booked that hotel through the cruise line so that we could take advantage of RCI's transfers to the Jewel of the Seas.