Prepay Hotel in Southampton?

[cindep]

We are cruising from Southampton July 2008 and I am looking to go ahead and book and prepay for our pre-cruise hotel. Is this a good idea since the dollar is so weak against the pound? For those of you living in the UK, is it best to get a hotel package that includes breakfast? We will be flying in the day before the cruise and I'm sure will not be terribly interested in dinner that evening as sleep will probably be the #1 priority.

 

Right now I'm leaning toward booking the Novotel since it is close to the train station (we're flying into Gatwick) and cruise port. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[MAKEM]

We are cruising from Southampton July 2008 and I am looking to go ahead and book and prepay for our pre-cruise hotel. Is this a good idea since the dollar is so weak against the pound? For those of you living in the UK, is it best to get a hotel package that includes breakfast? We will be flying in the day before the cruise and I'm sure will not be terribly interested in dinner that evening as sleep will probably be the #1 priority.

 

Right now I'm leaning toward booking the Novotel since it is close to the train station (we're flying into Gatwick) and cruise port. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

it is several months of a weak dollar,but wait another year to book,then hotel cost rise in line with inflation,prices go up on demand.

Breakfast with a deal is always worth it.

[cindep]

Hmmmm ... so your recommendation would be to go ahead and book and prepay? From what I can tell, RCI will have their latest huge ship in port the same day and I'm concerned that hotels will be gone, let alone at a decent price.

 

Also, is the Novotel a fairly decent place to stay? We usually stay at La Quintas or Hampton Inns here in the States.

[pcur]

Novotel is your basic and inexpensive hotel chain. I wouldn't expect anything too fancy.

 

Breakfast can be expensive, and absolutely get it included in your hotel price.

 

Are you just staying for one night before the cruise? If you can allow any more budget for longer, we stayed in London before our cruise out of Southampton this past April. I got the Luna and Simone for $160 per night (that's US dollars equivalent), and it included breakfast and free internet. I've posted all over this board about it in more detail if you're interested.

 

National Express is about 4 blocks from the hotel, and we bussed to Southampton on a "funfare" for $4 for two (not a typo; it was that cheap). The cab from the bus station to the cruise terminal was $10.

 

Just a suggestion, because we really enjoyed our pre-cruise in London.

 

To answer your question, I would book early in Southampton if that's where you are staying. You have every reason to believe there would be an availability issue with a glut of pax in town that night.

[juliecat]

Take a look at the Holiday Inn on Herbert Walker as well. It was fine for a one night stay and quite convenient for walking to shopping and restaurants. It will fill up if there are ships in port, so I recommend booking in advance (and prepaying if you can get a decent price).

 

Good luck,

Julia

[Len3]

I booked and pre-paid for a 2 night stay in October pre cruise and got a rate of $150 (US) with taxes and breakfast included. It's the Holiday Inn on Herbert Walker Avenue, Southampton. I understand that Stonehenge is about 40 miles away and the British Maritime Museum is in Southampton. As we've been to London several times, we don't feel the need to do it again.

[cindep]

Thank you everyone. I'd already looked at the Holiday Inn and the Novotel had slightly better ratings on Trip Advisor and about $50 cheaper. They also have an earlier check-in (noon) which may be nice.

 

We only have the one day pre-cruise so will probably just be sleeping off our jet lag. I'd also prefer to be in the same town as the port -- that way we don't stress over missing the ship due to transportation problems.

 

We are planning to spend a couple of days post-cruise with some friends who live in the SW of the UK. This is our first trip across the Atlantic and if all goes well there will be a longer one the following year.

[Globaliser]

For those of you living in the UK, is it best to get a hotel package that includes breakfast?

Advantages: You don't have to go outside to look for breakfast. And if you are leaving your hotel at an ungodly hour (unlikely if you're about to get on a cruise), it may be the only option at that time of the day.

 

Disadvantages: Hotel breakfasts tend to be expensive (even if part of a package - make sure you know how much extra your breakfast is costing you). They also tend to be uninteresting or even downright unappetising, when compared to what you might find if you ventured out - even the big homogenised chains of coffee shops often do food that's better (and infinitely better value) than hotel breakfasts.