First TA to Southampton with 4 days stay in London after cruise. Need help planning.

[Odesitka70]

2 hours ago, Bob++ said:

Most of Central London is "close to transport". The part to consider is the connection to and from the hotel when you have all your cruise luggage. For a pre-cruise stay, it makes sense to stay somewhere near Victoria (for a coach) or Waterloo for a train. Post cruise you need to think about the journey to whichever airport you are using.

This weekend we booked our return air tickets. We are flying on Norwegian air from gatwick airport. What would be your suggestion for where we should a

stay. We would be staying 4 nights and don't want to spend more than $1000. 

[Odesitka70]

On 10/16/2018 at 3:48 PM, phabric said:

This is www.internationalfriends.co.uk that I mentioned in the above threads.

 

Yes we looked at it and after we book our stay, most likely we will book them for this tour. It would be a great way to start our England vacation. Thank you

[phabric]

31 minutes ago, Odesitka70 said:

 

Yes we looked at it and after we book our stay, most likely we will book them for this tour. It would be a great way to start our England vacation. Thank you

 

If you book through www.londontoolkit.com it is cheaper that going direct with International Friends.

 

I have stayed at Premier Inn Westminster 3x.  It is close to the London Eye, HOHO, regular bus, tube, Waterloo train station, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Thamas river, restaurants, pubs.

Edited October 19, 2018 by phabric

[Odesitka70]

On 10/6/2018 at 10:35 PM, phabric said:

 

I do not remember what I paid for International Friends for July 2018.

 

I purchased through www.LondonToolkit.com, (under cruise ports - Southampton Cruise Ship Shuttles and tour transfers) the tickets were cheaper than going direct through International Friends.

 

If I use the same dates for 2019

International Friends wants £94/pp

London Toolkit wants £89/pp

 

If you plan on going to see Stonehenge and Windsor purchase your tickets through them so you do not waste time purchasing tickets yourself. Both Stonehenge and Windsor had long lines.

 

What happens-

Southampton - met outside after you have picked up your luggage to be checked in.

They walked us to the Coach.

Salisbury - walked to the Cathedral and given a time to return to the coach.

Were advised to buy sandwich/lunch to eat on the Coach.

Stonehenge - given a time to return to the Coach.

We ate our lunch while waiting for others to return to the Coach. The driver sold water.

Windsor Castle - walked to group entrance and given time to return to the Coach. Just inside can pick up free audio set.

People going to LHR or LHR hotels stayed on that Coach.

People going to London hotels switched to another Coach.

People were dropped off at different London Hotels.

 

I have taken International Friends from Dover and Southampton, a great way to another part of Britain.

 

For our date, they advised that London was having a bike event that day and they might not be able to drop off at certain hotels. They replied to my inquiry fast.

 

International Friends might be more expensive than the cruise line transfer ( drop off at LHR or London Victoria Coach station) or National Express Coach (drop off at London Victoria Coach station) or train (Waterloo train station or London Victoria train station) and we are dropped off at our London hotel.

 

For your London stay, I would try to pre purchase your attraction tickets sometimes you save £ and time. Seniors are 60+ in Britain. Buss are cashless.

 

Thank you for great information. Most likely we will use Londontoolkit and book our transfer through them, with stops at Salisbury, Stonehenge and Windsor. In your opinion should we book additional tickets to go inside or it's enough just to look from outside?  

[Bob++]

7 hours ago, Odesitka70 said:

This weekend we booked our return air tickets. We are flying on Norwegian air from gatwick airport. What would be your suggestion for where we should a

stay. We would be staying 4 nights and don't want to spend more than $1000. 

Somewhere in the Victoria area; The Premier Inn.   https://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/hotels/england/greater-london/london/london-victoria.html has been popular with contributors to this forum.

 

Trains from Victoria to Gatwick are fast and frequent. The fare is between £16 and £20, depending on the time, and that can be reduced by booking in advance.

Edited October 19, 2018 by Bob++

[phabric]

13 hours ago, Odesitka70 said:

 

Thank you for great information. Most likely we will use Londontoolkit and book our transfer through them, with stops at Salisbury, Stonehenge and Windsor. In your opinion should we book additional tickets to go inside or it's enough just to look from outside?  

My cruise was the end of July 2018, so you can see the crowds.

 

I would purchase the tickets through them to save time there, the price is the same if you purchased them at the different websites.

 

At Salisbury - the guide walks you to the church and told us time to be back on the coach..  Once you enter the building, there is the entrance to the church and other room further in the building.  If you want to go into the church there is a small fee (donation, I only had a 5 GBP) and there is another room that is free.  We did not have time to see the town.  Some purchased sandwiches from the cafe at the church to eat on the coach.

 

At Stonehenge - the guide told us the time to be back to the coach and gave us our ticket and told us where the line was for the bus (which was long, moved once the bus was full) to take you to the stones. If you had to purchase, I think (?) they are timed tickets, you would have to line up to purchase then the line for the bus to the stones.  At the ticket area, there is a gift store, some huts and other things to see, bathrooms. The stones are now roped off so you are not up close to them to touch them.  If you did not purchase a ticket, you can walk up the road but you are not as close to the stones and have to see from the road.

 

This is where we eat our sandwiches (I had brought some from the International Cafe) on the coach while waiting for others to return to the coach. The driver sold water (I think .50/1 GBP).

 

At Windsor - the coach is parked in the coach parking area.  The guide walked us through the train station, up stairs, there is one elevator, pass some outside shopping mall with some stores, crossed the street up to the castle to the group entrance.  He purchased the tickets and we waited in line to go through security baggage check, (long slow line) and told us time to be back to the coach.  There is a stand for free audio guide  ear phone machine near the entrance.  There was a HUGE line to purchase the tickets when we went in and when we left.  Depending on how long you spend at the Castle, if you can see some stores going back to the coach.  If you don't purchase any tickets you can walk the streets and see the outside of the Castle.  To return to the coach have to do the same as going to the Castle.  There are bathrooms before going to the stairs up to the train station.

 

At Windsor Coach parking, this is where they separated the passengers going to London hotels and LHR and LHR hotels.  We went on another coach with our luggage.  The driver stopped at varies London hotels.

 

Do not plan on doing anything in the evening as you do not know the time of arrival at your hotel. You have to meet them around 8 am and I think we arrived at our hotel around 6 pm, a long day.

 

If you doing all these places on your own, you would spend more time at each. The coaches have a time limit so you only get a feel for each place, like any excursion. 

 

What I did, instead of doing self disembarking (where you carry all your luggage yourself off the ship), I when to the Pursers desk and got the first colour luggage tags (which was first tags after self disembarking) and put our luggage out the cabin the last night.  The next morning, after an early breakfast, walked off and picked up our luggage. and met the check in person before exiting the building.

 

 

[phabric]

On 10/5/2018 at 7:47 PM, Odesitka70 said:

This is our first TA to Southampton from NY. We would like to stay in London and explore as much as possible in 4 days after the cruise. This will be our first time in London as well. Any help would be greatly appreciated. We will be coming to London mid may if it's makes a difference.

You did not say when you are going.  Buckingham Palace staterooms may be open during your time.

 

www.royalcollection.org.uk

[Odesitka70]

6 hours ago, phabric said:

You did not say when you are going.  Buckingham Palace staterooms may be open during your time.

 

www.royalcollection.org.uk

 

We are leaving NY on April 27 and arriving at Southampton on may 9. Can you please explain what you mean by "buckingham palace staterooms may be open"?  

[Odesitka70]

8 hours ago, phabric said:

My cruise was the end of July 2018, so you can see the crowds.

 

I would purchase the tickets through them to save time there, the price is the same if you purchased them at the different websites.

 

At Salisbury - the guide walks you to the church and told us time to be back on the coach..  Once you enter the building, there is the entrance to the church and other room further in the building.  If you want to go into the church there is a small fee (donation, I only had a 5 GBP) and there is another room that is free.  We did not have time to see the town.  Some purchased sandwiches from the cafe at the church to eat on the coach.

 

At Stonehenge - the guide told us the time to be back to the coach and gave us our ticket and told us where the line was for the bus (which was long, moved once the bus was full) to take you to the stones. If you had to purchase, I think (?) they are timed tickets, you would have to line up to purchase then the line for the bus to the stones.  At the ticket area, there is a gift store, some huts and other things to see, bathrooms. The stones are now roped off so you are not up close to them to touch them.  If you did not purchase a ticket, you can walk up the road but you are not as close to the stones and have to see from the road.

 

This is where we eat our sandwiches (I had brought some from the International Cafe) on the coach while waiting for others to return to the coach. The driver sold water (I think .50/1 GBP).

 

At Windsor - the coach is parked in the coach parking area.  The guide walked us through the train station, up stairs, there is one elevator, pass some outside shopping mall with some stores, crossed the street up to the castle to the group entrance.  He purchased the tickets and we waited in line to go through security baggage check, (long slow line) and told us time to be back to the coach.  There is a stand for free audio guide  ear phone machine near the entrance.  There was a HUGE line to purchase the tickets when we went in and when we left.  Depending on how long you spend at the Castle, if you can see some stores going back to the coach.  If you don't purchase any tickets you can walk the streets and see the outside of the Castle.  To return to the coach have to do the same as going to the Castle.  There are bathrooms before going to the stairs up to the train station.

 

At Windsor Coach parking, this is where they separated the passengers going to London hotels and LHR and LHR hotels.  We went on another coach with our luggage.  The driver stopped at varies London hotels.

 

Do not plan on doing anything in the evening as you do not know the time of arrival at your hotel. You have to meet them around 8 am and I think we arrived at our hotel around 6 pm, a long day.

 

If you doing all these places on your own, you would spend more time at each. The coaches have a time limit so you only get a feel for each place, like any excursion. 

 

What I did, instead of doing self disembarking (where you carry all your luggage yourself off the ship), I when to the Pursers desk and got the first colour luggage tags (which was first tags after self disembarking) and put our luggage out the cabin the last night.  The next morning, after an early breakfast, walked off and picked up our luggage. and met the check in person before exiting the building.

 

 

 

We will have priority dissembarkation,  so we can leave the ship anytime we want. 

[phabric]

51 minutes ago, Odesitka70 said:

 

We are leaving NY on April 27 and arriving at Southampton on may 9. Can you please explain what you mean by "buckingham palace staterooms may be open"?  

 

In the summer time about 6-8 weeks (I think) when the Queen is away at her other castle in Scotland, Buckingham Palace is open to the public to view certain state rooms in the Palace.  This tour is very popular.  Other times of the year, you only see the outside of Palace through the metal fence.

[phabric]

I don't know how busy London is during your time, you might what ti purchase your attraction tickets in advance.

 

London Eye

Westminster Abbey

Kensington Palace

Parliament

 

We went to a few plays while in London.  We saw Fawlty Towers Dining Experience (dinner & show)

www.torquatsuitetheatre.com

[Globaliser]

8 hours ago, phabric said:

 

In the summer time about 6-8 weeks (I think) when the Queen is away at her other castle in Scotland, Buckingham Palace is open to the public to view certain state rooms in the Palace.

 

It's usually something like late July to the end of September. The State Rooms are the big formal rooms for big functions, like those normally used for State banquets and investitures.

 

While it is popular, there is quite a lot of capacity for these visits. It seems to be unusual not to be able to get a ticket at a couple of days' notice. We were looking at trying to do this during the summer this year, but we would only have been able to go at short notice, hence the interest in that question. If we had found a time for a visit, it seems that getting tickets would not have been a problem.

 

For similar reasons, we saw that booking for the London Eye was something that could easily be done the day before (although IIRC you may have to book one day earlier to get the online discount).

[Odesitka70]

On 10/19/2018 at 9:14 PM, phabric said:

I don't know how busy London is during your time, you might what ti purchase your attraction tickets in advance.

 

London Eye

Westminster Abbey

Kensington Palace

Parliament

 

We went to a few plays while in London.  We saw Fawlty Towers Dining Experience (dinner & show)

www.torquatsuitetheatre.com

 

The more information I read on londontoolkit, the more I think buying a 3 days city pass might be a good idea. We are getting of the ship on Thursday and will do transfer with stops at Salisbury, Stonehenge and Windsor. So one day will be fool. And with city pass we will get access to some of the attractions we interested in. Plus it includes one day of hoho bus. I don't think we will have time to see any shows. On Monday we will only have till mid afternoon before we had to airport. How does my plan sound to you? Now if only we can decide on the hotel. 

[phabric]

HOHO is a great way to see the city.  They have 3 routes. We have stayed on the bus to see the whole route., switched routes and the next the 3 route, when we only had a couple of days.

 

Price the attractions tickets you want to see and compare to the London pass.  First time in London, we took London Pass and found we did not get our monies worth, as you can only see so much in a day.  After, that visit, I just bought tihe tickets to the place I wanted to see.

[BarbinMich]

You've certainly received a lot of good advice from previous posters.  We spent a week in London some years ago and enjoyed several tours with London Walks (http://www.walks.com/).  They offer small group walking tours; each itinerary has a theme and visits various iconic sites.  Highly recommended on Trip Advisor.  Although we didn't use HOHO, we have used it in other European capitals and think it's a good way to get around AND visit the more important sights.  There is so much to see and do in London, that doing research beforehand and picking out what you want to see in advance is highly recommended.  Have a great cruise and a great time in London!

[Markanddonna]

I agree with using National Express and staying at Premier Inn. We stayed at the Blackfriars' Premier Inn which was also nice. You can find a lot of suggestions on my website http://www.DonnaGawell.com   Go to the menu "Travel to Europe and Australia."

[Odesitka70]

On 10/17/2018 at 1:22 PM, Cruise Junky said:

We just got back on Saturday from two days in London. We've been there a few times previously. We really loved the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel.  A highlight for us this trip was the Borough Market if you're a foodie at all.   So much to see and do in London.

We really like reviews of this hotel and will probably book it for our stay. Can you please tell me a bit more from your experience. How convenient was it? 

[Cruise Junky]

1 minute ago, Odesitka70 said:

We really like reviews of this hotel and will probably book it for our stay. Can you please tell me a bit more from your experience. How convenient was it? 

For what we wanted to do it was very convenient. The tube isn’t great from that side though so we did have to connect, but no biggy. It was a great hotel. And really liked the bar. The management were fantastic. There was a giant gala happening one night and it was packed. He took care of us and got us seats.  We’ll be back in London in April and I’ll definitely be booking it again. For London, it’s a steal. 

 

For a cheap breakfast there’s a MacDonalds right by the Eye. We walked the Thames to Borough Market which was fabulous and then took the tube to the British Museum.   

[Globaliser]

4 hours ago, Cruise Junky said:

The tube isn’t great from that side though so we did have to connect, but no biggy.

 

Did you try just walking over the bridge to Westminster Tube? For many journeys, I reckon that would be the easiest way to get somewhere.

[Cruise Junky]

6 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

Did you try just walking over the bridge to Westminster Tube? For many journeys, I reckon that would be the easiest way to get somewhere.

No. When we needed the tube we were at Borough Market. But we definitely would next time. 

[phabric]

I have stayed 1x at the Park Plaza Westminster and 1 block behind Park Plaza Westminster 3x at the Premier Inn Westminster.

 

 It is a great location, near the London Eye, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben,Thamas river, pubs, restaurants, HOHO, Waterloo train station, tube - Westminster and Waterloo, regular bus and taxi.

 

We would ask at the front desk for help for bus and tube directions.  They told us to go to the Waterloo tube station under 10 minute walk. 

 

 

[Odesitka70]

16 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

Did you try just walking over the bridge to Westminster Tube? For many journeys, I reckon that would be the easiest way to get somewhere.

Can we take a tube from Westminster to go to gatwik airport?

[Odesitka70]

7 hours ago, phabric said:

I have stayed 1x at the Park Plaza Westminster and 1 block behind Park Plaza Westminster 3x at the Premier Inn Westminster.

 

 It is a great location, near the London Eye, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben,Thamas river, pubs, restaurants, HOHO, Waterloo train station, tube - Westminster and Waterloo, regular bus and taxi.

 

We would ask at the front desk for help for bus and tube directions.  They told us to go to the Waterloo tube station under 10 minute walk. 

 

 

Yes we like the location also, and pictures and reviews are great too. 

[Twickenham]

6 minutes ago, Odesitka70 said:

Can we take a tube from Westminster to go to gatwik airport?

 

The tube doesn't go to Gatwick. You can however take the tube to Victoria from where you can catch a train to Gatwick.

[phabric]

1 hour ago, Odesitka70 said:

Can we take a tube from Westminster to go to gatwik airport?

We took a car service from Premier Inn Westminster (Waterloo area) to LHR for £35.

 

Why not take a car service to Gatwick?

 

The car service picks you up at the hotel and drops you off at the airport. I have used www.justairports.com many times from/to LHR/London hotel. From their site, Waterloo area to Gatwick is £60-87 depending on the car size/passengers.

 

I found it was worth the money and comfort to get to/from the airport.

Edited November 10, 2018 by phabric