Disembarking times Northern Lights

[dx052]

We are doing a Northern lights cruise which starts in Bergen & ends in London. Never been on Viking before so we are trying to figure out the earliest time we can leave the ship when it docks in Tilbury, we generally like to walk of with our own luggage, how does Viking operate there disembarking as we need to book our own transport home in advance?

[mseldga]

I was on this cruise in late January/early February 2022. My memory is that we were docked in Tilbury very early, at least by the time we woke up that morning around 6:00 a.m. I had air transport through Viking and used one of their bus transports to Heathrow, so I can't help with the self-disembarking information, but I would think you'd be able get off by 8:00 a.m. as that was the time we were able to leave on our scheduled bus transfer. Our cruise was about 1/3rd full due to Covid, so our experience might have been different than yours will be, but Viking seemed to run disembarkation much more smoothly and much more quickly than other cruise lines I've experienced.

 

Hope you have a wonderful cruise and are able to see the northern lights! We had fantastic light shows twice on our trip, with the best lights we saw being in Alta. 

Edited January 5 by mseldga
Wrong date

[dx052]

Thank You

[gynyphurr]

On 1/5/2024 at 3:35 AM, dx052 said:

We are doing a Northern lights cruise which starts in Bergen & ends in London. Never been on Viking before so we are trying to figure out the earliest time we can leave the ship when it docks in Tilbury, we generally like to walk of with our own luggage, how does Viking operate there disembarking as we need to book our own transport home in advance?

Hello! Wondering how the disembarkation process went for you. We are trying to set up transportation from the dock to London, not using Viking travel, and can't find too much information on disembarkation times, process etc. Any tips and tricks are appreciated.

[Peregrina651]

If you are not using Viking Air and are headed to the airport, there are two bits of information that may help you.

1.   On your Viking Guest Statement, it should tell you the earliest time that you should book a flight.

2.   If you are going from the ship to the airport for a flight, you can purchase Viking transfers.

 

Private transfer or Viking transfers are best for getting to the airports. Public transit to the Heathrow from the Tilbury Town train station is minimum 90 -120 minutes, even more on Sundays, not including disembarkation and getting to the station. Public transit is multiple transfers and there is no step-free route available. Using elevators adds to trip time

 

If you are just heading into London to spend a few days, there are basically two choice: public transit or private transfer, including Uber.

 

For public transit help in London, there are two different apps that you can use: CityMapper or TFL (Transportation for London). If your are dragging luggage, make sure to ask for step-free/handicapped routing.

 

Arrival time in Tilbury is on your Viking Guest Statement. Allow at least an hour for disembarkation to actually begin. Figure 15 minutes from leaving ship to meeting your transportation.

 

Plan to arrive at the airport at least 3 hours ahead of departure.

 

You will be asked to vacate your cabin early; 8 am is the latest time I have heard reported lately but expect it to be even earlier than that. Disembarking guests are usually all off the ship by 10 am -- sometimes earlier than that.

[Island2Dweller]

10 hours ago, gynyphurr said:

leave the ship when it docks in Tilbury, we generally like to walk of with our own luggage

This is not a great option in Tilbury.  It's about a mile from the cruise terminal to the railway station.  There is a public bus to the station six days a week - that does not run on Sundays.

We can give more detailed advice if we know exact date and whether you are headed to central London or an airport (London has six airports)

[gynyphurr]

Thank you, @Peregrina651 and @Island2Dweller for your responses.

 

We will be staying in Central London for a few days post cruise, and I think have decided on a private car. I did fine Addison Lee, which seems reasonable and convenient but still trying to figure out the timing of things.

 

We'll be disembarking on Sunday, March 23rd. Since we initially had Viking Air, our guest statement has disembarkation listed as 6am, but no port arrival time. So I am assuming we will arrive sometime before that. I'll have to reach out to our travel agent to see if we can get an updated statement. 

[Peregrina651]

Getting an updated invoice is a good idea. My TA does it automatically each time there is a change to the invoice. 

 

On itineraries, the time shown is usually the arrival time, not disembarkation time. I have no idea why they do it that way. In the ports of call it is also the arrival time not when we can actually start leaving the ship.

[Island2Dweller]

I haven't been able to find any official notice on this.  But my instinct is that UK Border staff will not be on duty at 6am at the terminal on a Sunday.  Earliest I would expect is 7am, but might be as late as 9am.

[haydn12]

We were staying in London a couple extra days after our cruise.   We used Addison Lee which was quite reasonable.  We picked up our luggage from the cruise terminal and found our driver just around the corner.

[gynyphurr]

17 hours ago, haydn12 said:

We were staying in London a couple extra days after our cruise.   We used Addison Lee which was quite reasonable.  We picked up our luggage from the cruise terminal and found our driver just around the corner.

How long did it take you to disembark? And did you go through full passport control? I agree that Addison Lee seems reasonable and probably what we will use. But I'm unsure on the timing of when to book them. 

[Peregrina651]

Give Addison Lee your specifics and ask them their advice for pick up time. They are familiar with Tilbury and their operations and with traffic patterns.

 

BTW and entirely off topic. If you are musical theater goers, check out Operation Mincemeat. We saw it and loved it. BUT, do not sit in the Balcony, no legroom. Read the book before you go; it will help you keep the characters straight.

[gynyphurr]

14 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

Give Addison Lee your specifics and ask them their advice for pick up time. They are familiar with Tilbury and their operations and with traffic patterns.

 

BTW and entirely off topic. If you are musical theater goers, check out Operation Mincemeat. We saw it and loved it. BUT, do not sit in the Balcony, no legroom. Read the book before you go; it will help you keep the characters straight.

Thank you for the suggestions! I'll look into Operation Mincemeat for sure. We just booked Les Misérables, but always up for another show.

[Peregrina651]

6 hours ago, gynyphurr said:

Thank you for the suggestions! I'll look into Operation Mincemeat for sure. We just booked Les Misérables, but always up for another show.

 

Just be warned that OM is not anything like the grand production of a LesMiz or LionKing.OM is a small cast, small stage -- and lots of fun.