Heathrow to Dover on a Saturday. Train, shuttle or car service?

[John Bull]

38 minutes ago, Hatch54 said:

I thought I would just add on to this thread instead of making a new one since my question is basically the same as the OP (hope you had a great cruise by the way) just in reverse.  We are planning for July of 2024 and would really like to fly back home the same day the cruise disembarks.  However flights late that evening are much more expensive as of now. The best flight coming up for us leaves Heathrow at 12:50. Is it even feasible to disembark in Dover in the morning and make that flight? I'm assuming a private transfer would be the way to go and it is a Sunday if that makes a difference in traffic. The ship is listed as arriving in dover at 5:00 that morning. If there are transfer buses running as early as 6:00 or so I guess that would make it much easier, just don't know if they do. Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

 

The reply from @gumshoe958  pretty-well covers it.

 

The only risk I can think of is if the motorway is closed due to a late-night / early morning kamikase drunk wiping out (a popular saturday-night sport which closes the motorway for hours for police evidence-taking) or an 18-wheeler rolling over & spilling its load.

Halve that small risk by booking with a transfer operator located in the Dover area rather  than one which has to come from Heathrow. You'll also get a more-personal service from a local operator.

These have been recommended by Cruise Critic members........

 https://doverroyaltaxis.com/

https://www.premiertaxisfolkestone.co.uk/

https://www.centraltaxidover.co.uk/

 

JB 🙂

  

[Island2Dweller]

The ship may be due to dock at 0500 but will immigration staff be available for that hour?  I don't know the specifics of your arrival, but it's often not until 0700 that immigration is in place to enable you to get off.  A private transfer is the only option that I would be comfortable with to get to you to Heathrow in time to check in for a 1250 flight.

You haven't said which airline.  British Airways is notorious for changing their schedule quite regularly, so you also need to think about your back up plan if the flight gets retimed after you have booked it.

[cruisinqt]

10 hours ago, Hatch54 said:

I thought I would just add on to this thread instead of making a new one since my question is basically the same as the OP (hope you had a great cruise by the way) just in reverse.  We are planning for July of 2024 and would really like to fly back home the same day the cruise disembarks.  However flights late that evening are much more expensive as of now. The best flight coming up for us leaves Heathrow at 12:50. Is it even feasible to disembark in Dover in the morning and make that flight? I'm assuming a private transfer would be the way to go and it is a Sunday if that makes a difference in traffic. The ship is listed as arriving in dover at 5:00 that morning. If there are transfer buses running as early as 6:00 or so I guess that would make it much easier, just don't know if they do. Any suggestions are appreciated.

The cruise was absolutely amazing! As far as debarkation goes, this is the earliest and quickest I’ve ever seen (and I’ve been cruising over 20 years). But I’d heard from cruisers on the previous trip that embarkation and debarkation is very quick and smooth and to expect to be off very early on debarkation day so I was prepared. We docked at 5:00 am, self assist started at 5:30, and by 6:30 the many of the regular non self assist cruisers had already gotten off of the ship. We left our cabin at 6:30 and by 6:45 we were off of the ship. We literally just walked right off, there were almost no crowds inside the ship (they were all outside waiting for their rides.) I heard the ship was cleared by 8:00 am. We had blackberry car service booked for 7:00 am and we were on the road at 7:05 am. The drive time from the port to Heathrow is 1 hour 45 minutes but traffic can have a big effect on that time. We arrived at Heathrow at 9:15 and this was with extremely heavy traffic due to a train strike. Everyone that had booked the train was scrambling to get a ride and the traffic was crazy bad. Our flight was at 2:05 so even though there was tons of traffic we still had tons of time to chill in the airport. A 12:50 flight is very doable. Of course there’s always the possibility of bad weather or some other problems delaying the ship’s arrival but that’s a rare occurrence so I wouldn’t worry about it. If you have any other questions just ask away.