New Portsmouth England Port.

[Kjudge]

We are cruising out of Portsmouth May 2024 on NCL. I’ve read a little about the progress and proposed setup….wondering what the hotel situation will be near there? Any recommendations?

[gumshoe958]

Apart from a fairly grim Travelodge there’s nothing really close to the terminal.

 

Best to stay in the city centre or Gunwharf Quays area and get a cab to the port.

 

There’s a Holiday Inn Express at Gunwharf Quays (which is an outlet shopping mall with lots of restaurants) which is easily walkable from Portsmouth Harbour station if you’re getting there by train. Also a Premier Inn and a cluster of independent hotels near the station.

[John Bull]

As @gumshoe958 has posted the area near the international port / cruise terminal is pretty nondescript

 

Consider somewhere near The Hard / Travel Interchange

The Holiday Inn Express, Gunwharf Quays is a H.I.Express is in an excellent setting and with all conveniences to hand. As it's name suggests, Gunwharf Quays was built as a navy ordnance yard and where guns were loaded onto ships in Nelson's time. It last served a mine warfare establishment before it was de-commissioned. It was developed as  a leisure complex about 30 years ago - shops, restaurants, bars, marina etc, with the Spinnaker Tower as its cornerstone. . https://www.ihg.com/holidayinnexpress/hotels/gb/en/portsmouth/pmegq/hoteldetail

Or for something different, just around the corner from Gunwharf Quays, The Royal Maritime Club. Formerly a home for naval officers between ships - now a mainstream hotel with a naval twist, and still with a sprinkling of naval clientele. https://www.royalmaritimehotel.co.uk/

Both are a short walk from Portsmouth Harbour Station (direct trains or National Express buses from central London)  and a ten-minute taxi hop from the cruise terminal

 

Or Portsmouth's conjoined vacation city of Southsea, which has a wide selection of hotels about a 10to 15 minute taxi ride from the cruise terminal.

(But whereas Premier Inns is a great no-frills hotel group, I'd advise against Premier Inn Southsea - it's adjacent the funfair). 

 

Portsmouth has a great deal to offer to the visitor, you could spend a week there and not see everything.

 

JB 🙂

[Crown Vic]

10 hours ago, John Bull said:

Portsmouth has a great deal to offer to the visitor, you could spend a week there and not see everything.

 

JB 🙂

JB, an interesting fact just published:-

The south coast city of Portsmouth, birthplace of Charles Dickens and home of the Royal Navy, has claimed the top spot on a list showing the number of pubs. It’s got a whopping 12 pubs per square mile – almost double that of London. In second place was Liverpool with 11 pubs per square mile and then Bristol with 10.

Cheers...CV...

[Kjudge]

Thank you all for the great info on both the Quay and Portsmouth. We are coming in 2 days early so we can experience Portsmouth's finest pubs and history ☺️

[John Bull]

4 hours ago, Kjudge said:

Thank you all for the great info on both the Quay and Portsmouth. We are coming in 2 days early so we can experience Portsmouth's finest pubs and history ☺️

 

Good move 🙂

 

Main attraction is the Historic Dockyard & Ships. Worth a very full day but best to spread it over two half-days. Concentrate on the ships.

The nearby Spinnaker Tower is only worth visiting if the weather is clear.

 

Southsea seafront, a short bus or taxi ride away, has its D-Day museum, and the adjacent Southsea Castle. From Southsea Castle Henry V111 watched his flagship the Mary Rose heel over and sink as she set out to face the French fleet (overloaded with cannon and infantrymen). It's a tiny castle, but admission is by donation.

From the seafront esplanade you can clearly see a couple of man-made forts built in the Solent as part of a ring of forts around Portsmouth in the Napoleon 111 era. No gun from any fort was ever fired in anger, leading to their nickname "Palmerston's Follies" (Lord Palmerston was the Prime Minister of the time) .

 

If the weather's fine and you're feeling fit, it's a vey pleasant waterside walk from Southsea castle to the entrance of Portsmouth Harbour and two pubs (the Spice Island Inn and The Still & West) with outdoor harbour-entrance seating for a well-earned pint while you watch the port traffic, before continuing thro' Old Portsmouth to Gunwharf Quays. Total distance about 2 miles.

 

Gunwharf Quays has plenty of bars, but the only surviving original building in the complex is the Old Customs House pub. Two "proper" pubs, the Ship Anson and the Ship & Castle, are between Gunwharf & the Historic Dockyard entrance.

 

https://historicdockyard.co.uk/

https://www.portsmouth-guide.co.uk/local/gwhfquys.htm

https://theddaystory.com/

https://southseacastle.co.uk/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palmerston_Forts_at_Portsmouth

https://maps.app.goo.gl/QfwvMr9htqf4mXFR6

 

JB 🙂

 

[Crown Vic]

3 hours ago, John Bull said:

Gunwharf Quays has plenty of bars, but the only surviving original building in the complex is the Old Customs House pub. Two "proper" pubs, the Ship Anson and the Ship & Castle, are between Gunwharf & the Historic Dockyard entrance.

JB 🙂

 

JB, don’t forget the Lady Hamilton on The Hard.

Cheers…CV…

[John Bull]

17 hours ago, Crown Vic said:

JB, don’t forget the Lady Hamilton on The Hard.

Cheers…CV…

 

 

She was no Lady 😏

 

That pub is only a few doors from Ship Anson and the Ship & Castle.

I've never tried it, it looks a bit run-down and more like a B&B.

 

 I remember the days when those pubs were packed at the end of the working day -  3.000 dock workers cycling out of the dock gate, seemingly 100 abreast. Woe betide any pedestrian (or bus 🤣) that got in their way 😮. 

 

JB 🙂

[Crown Vic]

1 hour ago, John Bull said:

She was no Lady 😏

JB 🙂

Spot on, JB. Recently changed hands and re-opened with some accommodation. The pub grub was excellent when Rosie was in charge. 
Cheers…CV…