London Hotel Advice

[EndlessSea]

Looking for comments about The Millennium Bailey's Hotel Kensington in London offered through the cruise line.  We are considering it for a pre cruise stay.  Also open to other suggestions.  Thanks.

[CruiserBruce]

Have you looked at TripAdvisor?

[EndlessSea]

Yes, I did check Trip Advisor and also Yelp.  The reviews are all over the board.  Personally I have found that not all reviews on there are reliable.  I was hoping to gain insight from someone here on CC.  Thanks for your suggestion though.

[adstz]

We stayed at Park Plaza Victoria. There are 5 or so Park Plazas very close to each other so be careful which one you book. 

We were very pleased with this hotel. Super modern rooms. Go to bed and hit a button to close the curtains or turn off and on lights. Buffet breakfast can be included in your price when you check in. Very clean. It is very walkable. We walked to Buckingham Palace and Churchill's War Room. A good number of restaurants within a few blocks.  Very close to Victoria bus and train station. There is also a theater about 2 blocks away that had Wicked while we were there.

[princeton123211]

16 hours ago, EndlessSea said:

Looking for comments about The Millennium Bailey's Hotel Kensington in London offered through the cruise line.  We are considering it for a pre cruise stay.  Also open to other suggestions.  Thanks.

I'm in London often but haven't stayed at this particular hotel. I don't love the area-- you are just off the main road that you take into central London from Heathrow. You are a bit outside of the main walkable area to a lot of the major sights most tourists want to go see and would either need to use the tube or taxi/Uber to get to them-- 25 minute walk to Harrods, 45 minute walk to Buckingham Palace etc. 

 

I can't speak for the quality of the hotel itself, but I would tell you that there are much better located places to stay of the same caliber that will cost you as much or possibly less than what a cruise line charges (which generally is a huge ripoff vs booking directly with the hotel). 

[geoherb]

My suggestion is to book your hotel near the attractions you want to see the most. We stayed at a hotel in Kensington three years ago when we wanted to go to Kensington Palace and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Two years ago we stayed in Waterloo when we wanted to go to the Tate Modern and Shakespeare's Globe. Last year we stayed near Trafalgar Square when we wanted to go to more shows in that area.

[EndlessSea]

Thank you everyone for all the useful nformation.  Much appreciate you taking the time to reply.

[chismrules]

On 1/24/2020 at 1:54 PM, adstz said:

We stayed at Park Plaza Victoria. There are 5 or so Park Plazas very close to each other so be careful which one you book. 

We were very pleased with this hotel. Super modern rooms. Go to bed and hit a button to close the curtains or turn off and on lights. Buffet breakfast can be included in your price when you check in. Very clean. It is very walkable. We walked to Buckingham Palace and Churchill's War Room. A good number of restaurants within a few blocks.  Very close to Victoria bus and train station. There is also a theater about 2 blocks away that had Wicked while we were there.

Hello, I am looking also, only have a couple of days so want to be closer but reasonable priced. When I look at the map it seems far to me to walk to say Buckingham. Can you tell me about how long it took. And did you get on any subs to get to anywhere?

Thanks Debbie

[Cotswold Eagle]

13 hours ago, chismrules said:

When I look at the map it seems far to me to walk to say Buckingham. Can you tell me about how long it took. And did you get on any subs to get to anywhere?

Thanks Debbie

If you mean Park Plaza Victoria to Buckingham Palace, that’s no more than a 15 minute walk. 
 

If you mean to the town of Buckingham, then that’s about 60 miles and will take you considerably longer. 😀
 

Missing out the second part of place names, although a regular habit in the United States, can cause confusion!
 

And by “subs”, I guess you mean subway, hence the underground or tube? In the UK, a subway is a pedestrian passage under a road...or increasingly a chain of sandwich shops. But to your question, wherever you stay in London, it is more than likely you’ll need to use the tube or bus (or Uber/taxi) at some point. The Park Plaza Victoria is well situated for all these. 

Edited January 26, 2020 by Cotswold Eagle

[ducklite]

I happen to very much like the Gloucester Road area.  That said, I would probably not choose this hotel.  It is on an incredibly busy road that doesn't stop 24 hours a day.  While it is quite convenient to a Tube stop with lines that will get you about anywhere you could want to go (including directly to/from LHR) it is surrounded by businesses that will get getting deliveries from lorries 24/7 and traffic that never stops.  If your room overlooks Gloucester Road the noise will never end.  

 

There are many much preferable properties in that area, and I'd suggest looking at one of them instead.  Around the corner is the Kensington Queensgate, which is lovely.  Queensgate is quite busy during the day due to some small private schools and embassies, but very much quiets down at night due to few businesses being located on it.  It's primarily a residential street.

 

Either way, the Hereford Arms which is half a block to the Harrington is owned by Fullers and has good food at a reasonable (for London) cost.  If you want to go a bit further, the Greyhound Pub is also quote good and a few blocks walk on Young Street headed towards Kensington High St.

[cruiserking]

The Hyatt Regency Churchill is in the Marylebone district of London. Beautiful hotel, great service, lovely residential neighborhood close to Marble Arch, Oxford Street, Bond Street, Baker Street. Tube station nearby. The hotel was recently renovated and looks terrific. 

 

Jonathan

[adstz]

17 hours ago, chismrules said:

Hello, I am looking also, only have a couple of days so want to be closer but reasonable priced. When I look at the map it seems far to me to walk to say Buckingham. Can you tell me about how long it took. And did you get on any subs to get to anywhere?

Thanks Debbie

 

Buckingham Palace was about a 15 to 20 minute walk. The hardest part is making sure you are on the correct road as they are all at strange angles to each other.

We took the tube from Victoria Station to the Tower of London, about 9 stops to get there. Naturally, I screwed up and got the wrong tickets (day pass) for the trip. Be sure to buy a Oyster Card as it is MUCH cheaper.

Also consider taking the HOHO bus. Hits a lot of the places you may want to see anyway. There are a couple - we took the Big Bus.

[dickinson]

In 2015 we stayed at the Park Plaza Victoria.  It was very convenient.  HoHo bus (I think it was City Sightseeing) had a stop right out front.  Very easy to walk to Buckingham Palace.  We will stay there again this summer.

[Mom2kmo]

On 1/24/2020 at 12:54 PM, adstz said:

We stayed at Park Plaza Victoria. There are 5 or so Park Plazas very close to each other so be careful which one you book. 

We were very pleased with this hotel. Super modern rooms. Go to bed and hit a button to close the curtains or turn off and on lights. Buffet breakfast can be included in your price when you check in. Very clean. It is very walkable. We walked to Buckingham Palace and Churchill's War Room. A good number of restaurants within a few blocks.  Very close to Victoria bus and train station. There is also a theater about 2 blocks away that had Wicked while we were there.

Was this the Park Plaza by Radisson on Vauxhall?   We just booked a 2 bedroom apartment there.  

[adstz]

9 hours ago, Mom2kmo said:

Was this the Park Plaza by Radisson on Vauxhall?   We just booked a 2 bedroom apartment there.  

 

Yes that is the one.