London Report

[azcaptainbob]

After a Baltic Cruise we spent 6 days in London. Our goal was to have everything arranged prior to leaving and paying with Dollars. To achieve this we utilized Luxury Link.com and got a superior king room with breakfast and a champagne high tea for 3 nights for $700.00. The remaining 2 nights were booked in pounds sterling with the website which was also for a king room with a a carvary dinner and daily breakfast at the Rubens by the Palace. We were upgraded to a suite upon check in. The location was terrific...within walking distance to transportation and many sights.

 

A Paris Day trip with Golden Tours was booked with TERCmele@aol.com. Had tour vouchers and dates arranged and everything was perfect. Picked up at the hotel by taxi and taken to Waterloo Station where at guest services the vouchers were collected and train tickets were handed out. At the Paris train station the tour guide met us and we were off on the bus to see the sights...took a river cruise, toured the Eiffel Tower, and toured Versailles. Train back to London ...met by taxi and back to the hotel. Great Tour

 

For all the tours in London we used Kiethprowse.com including the theatre. Theatremonkey.com was a great help in checking out all the shows and the seating arrangements in all the venues. While I was on the phone with Keith Prowse I had the seating in front of me for the theatre I was requesting tickets for. We saw Wicked...excellent.

 

We used Keith Prowse for: Summer Tour of the Palace, Summer Tour of Parliament, Tower of London admittance, St. Paul's Cathedral admittance, and the full day tour by Premium Tours of Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Oxford. Buckingham Palace tour had headphones to use but the Houses of Parliament had small groups with a tour guide. To our surprise it was one of our most interesting tours and very informative.

 

Based on our tour with Premium I would not recommend this tour company. Upon confirming this tour the prior day they provided the wrong gate number. The Premium guides were rude when we questioned if we were at the right gate. Finally someone gave us the right gate number and our guide was the rudest of them all...Hitler reincarnated. At our fisrt stop he told everyone the time to meet back at the bus as we were on our own to tour the Castle. At 5 minutes past the time he had the driver leave 4 people at Windsor!! As we are driving down the road our guide takes roll and announces that 4 people were left behind. Since Windsor is not in London we were amazed that a tour guide would leave people stranded after being late only a few minutes.

 

Golden Tours also offer this tour and I would definitely try them based on our day trip to Paris.

 

Since we always take trip insurance we just add the cost of our excursions so if something happens we are not out any money. Having all the vouchers in hand also eliminates wasting time standing in lines besides having everything organized. Outside of the Premium Tour Guide everything was well worth seeing and very enjoyable.

 

Hope this helps anyone traveling to London.

[MavisMarie]

Thank you very much for posting all of the information. I am going to use a few of your links.

[momof2ky]

How long were you actually in Paris?

[JSR]

Thank you. This is very helpful. We are considering a land tour to London. I love the idea of spending a day in Paris.