Heathrow -> London -> Southampton plan

[Bxc53]

We're on the Monday November 23 09 T/A on the Indy. Well be arriving Heathrow on the red-eye from New York on Friday morning Nov. 20.

 

I've been reading many threads on London transportation and with that and other information I've come up with a plan for the ground transportation. I'm hoping for a 'Reality Check' from experienced cruisers and locals.'

 

My Plan:

A door-to-door shuttle from Heathrow to our hotel near Trafalgar Square. The Dot to Dot looks promising.

 

Explore London on foot/ buses/taxis/and the Tube.

 

Take the train from London Waterloo to Southampton on Monday to meet our ship. Taxi from the hotel to the train station and also to the ship.

 

 

Any comments or suggestions?

 

 

Thanks

[sddsddean]

Come over and join our roll call http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=739151&page=72

where you will find a ton of info.

 

Heathrow to London. Choices boil down to taxi (very expensive), private transfer, Heathrow Express to Paddington (£15) then taxi to hotel, or tube all the way (about £5). The choice is yours.

 

London to Soton. Staying in Traf Sq, best bet is taxi to Waterloo, train to Southampton. No need to book ahead, its about £25 and takes about 90 minutes. However, if you go to www.megatrain.com you can get it for about £3. Its the same train, megatrain just 'hire' one of the carriages.

 

Southampton station to ship. £5/5 minute taxi ride, or you could walk it towing your bags in about 15-20 minutes if its a nice day.

 

Simon

[Twickenham]

We're on the Monday November 23 09 T/A on the Indy. Well be arriving Heathrow on the red-eye from New York on Friday morning Nov. 20.

 

I've been reading many threads on London transportation and with that and other information I've come up with a plan for the ground transportation. I'm hoping for a 'Reality Check' from experienced cruisers and locals.'

 

My Plan:

A door-to-door shuttle from Heathrow to our hotel near Trafalgar Square. The Dot to Dot looks promising.

 

Explore London on foot/ buses/taxis/and the Tube.

 

Take the train from London Waterloo to Southampton on Monday to meet our ship. Taxi from the hotel to the train station and also to the ship.

 

 

Any comments or suggestions?

 

 

Thanks

 

AFAIK, the dot-to-dot bus only goes to LHR area hotels. A taxi will probably run you around 60 pounds. You could also take the Heathrow Express or Heathrow Connect to Paddington, then a taxi to your hotel.

The rest of your plan sounds fine.

[handfordr]

AFAIK, the dot-to-dot bus only goes to LHR area hotels. A taxi will probably run you around 60 pounds. You could also take the Heathrow Express or Heathrow Connect to Paddington, then a taxi to your hotel.

 

The rest of your plan sounds fine.

 

Twickenham, I think you're confusing Dot 2 Dot with Hoppa Bus. Dot 2 Dot is the only shared hotel shuttle from Heathrow to Central London hotels. Hoppa Bus is the Heathrow hotels bus.

 

Having said that Dot 2 Dot is expensive for what it is, (as is the Heathrow Express). Although a black cab from Heathrow may cost you 60 GBP, a prebooked taxi with someone like Simply Airports will be half that, around the same price as the Dot 2 Dot shuttle for 2 and cheaper if there are more in your party,

[Bxc53]

Twickenham, I think you're confusing Dot 2 Dot with Hoppa Bus. Dot 2 Dot is the only shared hotel shuttle from Heathrow to Central London hotels. Hoppa Bus is the Heathrow hotels bus.

 

Having said that Dot 2 Dot is expensive for what it is, (as is the Heathrow Express). Although a black cab from Heathrow may cost you 60 GBP, a prebooked taxi with someone like Simply Airports will be half that, around the same price as the Dot 2 Dot shuttle for 2 and cheaper if there are more in your party,

 

 

 

Thanks for the responses!. The Heathrow to London portion seems the most challenging- planning wise- too many choices!

Let me clarify a bit. It's just the wife and I, plus baggage ( 3-4 bags plus hand carry- three weeks away after all). First trip to London, so we are not familiar at all. I picked the Dot 2 Dot as it seemed the simplest. After 18 hrs on two flights including the red-eye, simple seems good ;). Cost is a factor, but we don't mind paying a bit more to help assure our vacation starts smoothly. Still, if I'm missing a better way, I'd appreciate any guidance.

[handfordr]

Thanks for the responses!. The Heathrow to London portion seems the most challenging- planning wise- too many choices!

Let me clarify a bit. It's just the wife and I, plus baggage ( 3-4 bags plus hand carry- three weeks away after all). First trip to London, so we are not familiar at all. I picked the Dot 2 Dot as it seemed the simplest. After 18 hrs on two flights including the red-eye, simple seems good ;). Cost is a factor, but we don't mind paying a bit more to help assure our vacation starts smoothly. Still, if I'm missing a better way, I'd appreciate any guidance.

 

Nothing wrong with Dot 2 Dot at all, but its arguably not very good value. Shared airport hotel buses aren't really done in the UK because of the strict licencing laws here and much of the trade of Dot 2 Dot is from North Americans who assume UK is similar to the US regards the economics of airport transfers

The Dot 2 Dot shuttle is 38 GBP for 2 people. As you have more than the luggage allowance of one bag per person, for 4 bags you'll pay another 6 GBP making a total of 44 GBP.

 

Taking Simply Airports as a benchmark, they charge 35 GBP for this journey in a private car and unlike Dot 2 Dot its a private car, door to door with the driver greeting you as you exit customs.

[Bxc53]

Nothing wrong with Dot 2 Dot at all, but its arguably not very good value. Shared airport hotel buses aren't really done in the UK because of the strict licencing laws here and much of the trade of Dot 2 Dot is from North Americans who assume UK is similar to the US regards the economics of airport transfers

The Dot 2 Dot shuttle is 38 GBP for 2 people. As you have more than the luggage allowance of one bag per person, for 4 bags you'll pay another 6 GBP making a total of 44 GBP.

 

Taking Simply Airports as a benchmark, they charge 35 GBP for this journey in a private car and unlike Dot 2 Dot its a private car, door to door with the driver greeting you as you exit customs.

 

Thanks once more. I was making the assumption from my North American experiences. On this side of the pond, a private car is usually the most expensive option and charges can vary trip to trip.. The 35 GBP rate would be fixed then? Any other options I should consider?

[handfordr]

The 35 GBP rate would be fixed then? Any other options I should consider?

 

That was the price that came up on the Simply Airports web site for a Heathrow - Trafalgar Square (Postcode / Zip code WC2) cab transfer which you order online.

 

I guess then you're into the, do you tip like an American or a local which is another thread entirely.

 

Your other main options are to take the Heathrow Express (16.50 GBP) or Heathrow Connect trains (6.90 GBP) to Paddington then a black taxi.

Trains are faster than road vehicles into London but the Heathrow Express is no cheaper than the private cab option. The Heathrow Connect train would probably be about 30 GBP in total and take a similar time to Dot 2 Dot. If you're flying into Terminal 5, Heathrow Connect can be tedious to get to.

 

I guess most locals would first evaluate using the London Underground at a cost of 8 GBP for 2 people. A lot here really comes down to the amount of luggage you're lugging around and your attitude towards navigating a strange, crowded Underground system after a long flight. Still faster than Dot 2 Dot though.

[Twickenham]

Twickenham, I think you're confusing Dot 2 Dot with Hoppa Bus.

 

LOL yes! That's what happens when you're posting and watching 'Dancing with the Stars' at the same time...:rolleyes:

 

I guess most locals would first evaluate using the London Underground at a cost of 8 GBP for 2 people. A lot here really comes down to the amount of luggage you're lugging around and your attitude towards navigating a strange, crowded Underground system after a long flight. Still faster than Dot 2 Dot though.

 

If you don't have that much luggage, or you can lug it up and down stairs, the underground is really quite a good, straightforward option. The trains on the Picadilly line all have plenty of space for people with luggage.

[Genessa]

Thanks once more. I was making the assumption from my North American experiences. On this side of the pond, a private car is usually the most expensive option and charges can vary trip to trip.. The 35 GBP rate would be fixed then? Any other options I should consider?

 

we flew the red eye (from NY) and had decided to do the Heathrow Express. I had pre-paid on-line (there was a slight discount it ended up being 29 pounds for 2, on my American Express) and had pre-printed out our boarding pass. We picked it not for the price but for the speed. I had looked into the Dot 2 Dot, but it wasn't available for our hotel.

 

From our baggage pick up, we walked pulloing our luggage - maybe a 5 minute walk, following clearly marked signs, to the Express "station".

 

The Heathrow Express was a great experience - unlike any train we had ever been on. We weren't even waiting on the platform more than 2 minutes when a train pulled in. As you already have your boarding pass in hand, all you do is walk on - a conductor scans it once you are moving. There is a place for your luggage, roomy seats. Almost no one on it.

This train flew!

 

Also, getting off at Paddington Station was a thrill, too! We then had to take a taxi to our hotel.

 

Cons - a little pricey, not door to door, no personalized service

Pros - an adventure and very easy

[scouter]

Just returned from London.

We took a taxi from LHR to an hotel in Kensington - £45.

The return journey with Hyde Park Cars - £40.

 

This made economic sense as there were four of us.

The Express train is £16 booked @ airport or £19 bought on train.

We didn't concider the tube - too much hastle up and down stairs and not guaranted a seat especially with cases.

Hope this helps.

[Bxc53]

we flew the red eye (from NY) and had decided to do the Heathrow Express. I had pre-paid on-line (there was a slight discount it ended up being 29 pounds for 2, on my American Express) and had pre-printed out our boarding pass. We picked it not for the price but for the speed. I had looked into the Dot 2 Dot, but it wasn't available for our hotel.

 

From our baggage pick up, we walked pulloing our luggage - maybe a 5 minute walk, following clearly marked signs, to the Express "station".

 

The Heathrow Express was a great experience - unlike any train we had ever been on. We weren't even waiting on the platform more than 2 minutes when a train pulled in. As you already have your boarding pass in hand, all you do is walk on - a conductor scans it once you are moving. There is a place for your luggage, roomy seats. Almost no one on it.

This train flew!

 

Also, getting off at Paddington Station was a thrill, too! We then had to take a taxi to our hotel.

 

Cons - a little pricey, not door to door, no personalized service

Pros - an adventure and very easy

 

Thanks! This is looking like our new choice, except perhaps to use the Heathrow Connect instead. Can someone describe the difference ( besides the cost and slightly longer trip time)?

[Twickenham]

Thanks! This is looking like our new choice, except perhaps to use the Heathrow Connect instead. Can someone describe the difference ( besides the cost and slightly longer trip time)?

 

The Heathrow Express is a direct train, whereas the Heathrow Connect stops at several local stations along the way, thus the longer journey time. Same departure and arrival points.

[handfordr]

Thanks! This is looking like our new choice, except perhaps to use the Heathrow Connect instead. Can someone describe the difference ( besides the cost and slightly longer trip time)?

 

Heathrow Express goes to Terminals 1,2,3 , then 5

Heathrow Connect goes to Terminals 1,2,3 , then 4

 

Heathrow Express runs every 15 minutes

Heathrow Connect runs every 30 minutes (60 minutes on Sunday)