Visiting London June 2018 Royal Princess cruise

After reading reviews, travel books and "what to see in London" lists I'm more confused than ever. I hope to visit the usual places and hope to be able to travel around London using tube or buses. We aren't opposed to HoHo buses but would rather not for whole time.

Will be sailing from Southampton so will need to get there either the day of or day before (still not sure right way to go there) but I have no idea what area to stay in.

Cost is a factor but so is convenience getting around, I'd prefer not spending any more time than I have to lost. :)

Any advice or suggestions will be very much appreciated.

If you look at a London Underground map, then anywhere within the Circle Line is a good place to stay.

London is a huge city, so wherever you are you will need to travel to see the sites.

I suggest you start reading the the London Forum on Tripadvisor.

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It is overwhelming to try to research where to stay, and everyone has an opinion about it, too! My husband and I spent a few days in London recently before our cruise. For what it's worth, we stayed at the Conrad St. James. We enjoyed the hotel and the location. It was .20 mile to Westminster Abbey and .25 mile to Buckingham Palace, the Churchill War Rooms and other "must sees". I spent a lot of time with a map of attractions and hotels before we settled on this one. For sure it is not a budget hotel, but I was able to get a pretty good deal through Hilton Honors. It would be worth checking out.

Embarkation day we used Smiths for Airports to take us from the Conrad to the ship. The price for their private transfer was about the same as we would have paid for the two of us to take the Princess bus from Victoria Coach Station -- and much easier.

Let me know if I can help with anything else.

From the look of it, you will only have one day to "see the sights". June is good because the kids are still in school in England so queues for the popular places will be reasonable.

The big advantage of staying in either the Victoria area or Waterloo is that it simplifies the trip to Southampton on sailing day. Either place is good as a base but you will need to prune your must-sees right down. Getting around is pretty easy - buy some Oyster cards for zone 1&2 (they work like pre-paid credit cards for transport) and hop on and off buses, trains and water taxis as much as you like as there is a £6.60 cap. Get your deposit and any unused credit back on sailing day.

If you want to visit (as opposed to look at) The Tower of London, you should plan on going there first. You also get to see Tower Bridge and you can take a boat ride up river to Westminster for The Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. Of course, there are hundreds of other places to see and where you go will be determined by your own interests.

Frankly - I would be more in favour of planning over HOHO, but that's me. It's just a shame that you can't spend more time in our capital city.

Thank you everyone who has responded.

Bob

We are "scheduled" to arrive on May 31st and leave Southampton on the 6th so we will have a few days (not nearly as many as I wanted but my trip of a lifetime money isn't going to go as far as I thought.) If we do do a HoHo if would most likely be the first day as much to get acclimated as anything else.

Kim

Thank you, I didn't know there even was a Princess bus from Victoria, I thought since I wouldn't be going from Heathrow we'd be on our own. I had heard about Smiths for Airports but haven't gotten that far yet. Did you do Stonehenge or Windsor on the way to the ship?

LondonTowner

I'm so uninformed I didn't know there was a Circle Line to look at.

Getting around is pretty easy - buy some Oyster cards for zone 1&2 (they work like pre-paid credit cards for transport) and hop on and off buses, trains and water taxis as much as you like as there is a £6.60 cap. Get your deposit and any unused credit back on sailing day.

 

 

Just to be clear, Bob here is referring to hopping on and off regular London bus services, not any of the tourist HO-HO services, which charge separately.

And you can pay for river boat services using credit on an Oyster Card, but they are NOT included in the daily cap.

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Just to be clear, Bob here is referring to hopping on and off regular London bus services, not any of the tourist HO-HO services, which charge separately.

 

And you can pay for river boat services using credit on an Oyster Card, but they are NOT included in the daily cap.

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Cotswold Eagle

I think I understood Bob, saying we should use an Oyster Card for regular bus travel and he would rather use an Oyster Card and plan what to see rather than use the tourist HoHo bus which would not use an Oyster Card and would be a separate transaction not included in an Oyster Card.

Do I have that right?

If I understand you correctly, I can use an Oyster Card for river cruises and that would not be included in the maximum I can use the Oyster Card for in any one day but would use the amount I put on the Oyster Card.

I'm going to have to do some studying of Oyster Cards to make sure I know how to use them and get the most benefit.

The first thing to do is to decide on a hotel. Tripadvisor is very useful, but there are a few that pop up on these boards regularly. If you have any points with a chain like Hilton, it may be a good time to cash them in. As I said above, Victoria and Waterloo are a good place to start. Ona advantage of Victoria is that you can catch a direct coach from Heathrow, and take the Nationa Express coach (a lot cheaper than Princess) direct to Southampton.

. Getting around is pretty easy - buy some Oyster cards for zone 1&2 (they work like pre-paid credit cards for transport) and hop on and off buses, trains and water taxis as much as you like as there is a £6.60 cap. Get your deposit and any unused credit back on sailing day.

A few years ago, I purchased an Oyster card with £ added from Visit London site, that was mailed to me. Since I purchased through Visit London, I could not get the £5 deposit back so kept it with about £10 left on it for my next visit. I will be in London for 4 days and will use up the leftover amount. With the cap of £6.60/day it might be used up in day or so.

What happens, if I swipe the card going on the bus and there is no £ left?

How or where can can you find out how much is left on the card?

Where do I go top up the Oyster card?

Would it be better after the old Oyster card is used up to top it up or get a new card with £5 deposit plus a new amount so I would be able to get the left over amount back.

International Friends go on embarkment days from Victoria coach station stopping at Stonehenge before getting to Southampton.

On disembarkment days, they go from Southampton dock to certain London hotels, LHR and LHR hotels with stops to Salisbury, Stonehenge, Windsor.

Going through www.londontoolkit.com is cheaper than www.internationalfriends.co.uk. They only go on embarkment and disembarkment days.

National Express coach www.nationalexpress.com goes from their Victoria Coach station to Southampton Coach station a few times a day, plus short taxi ride (about £10) to the dock. This is cheaper than Princess transfer from Victoria Coach station only difference is they take you direct to the dock, no taxi needed.

I have stayed in the Waterloo area at Premier Inn Waterloo and have walked to the train station for the train to Southampton train station with a short taxi ride (about £10) to the dock.

Waterloo area has Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Thamas River, London Eye, regular bus, tube, Waterloo train station,HOHO, restaurants, pubs.

I have taken the HOHO bus, without getting off on one of the routes, then switched buses, took that bus the whole route and the end day the 3rd route. It gave us a overview and could go back to the ones we wanted to see.

One visit, I purchased the London Pass and found we did not get our money worth as you can visit so many places in one day, on my next visit I paid for the places I wanted to see.

phabric

Thanks, great info, starting to be really overwhelmed trying to figure everything out. Premier Inn looks like a pretty good deal, was trying to get close to Waterloo or Victoria. Looking at our plane reservations I think I'll either have to change them or skip stopping somewhere on way to Heathrow from ship, currently scheduled to leave at 12:55 pm, not sure that would give us enough time.

The Premier Inn hotels are not fancy, like a Holiday Inn. They have everything I need as we only sleep there. I take their breakfast meal deal. Some of their hotels do not have A/C, Premier Inn Waterloo does.

Premier Inn County Hall (no A/C) is about a block away from Premier Inn Waterloo (newer of the 2).

Once you leave Premier Inn Waterloo, it is a short walk to Westminster Bridge Rd, regular bus, HOHO, passing the London Eye, over the Thamas River, you are at Big Ben, Parliament.

I don't think you would have time to stop anywhere along the way to LHR with a 12:55pm flight, usually you have to be at the airport 3 hours before. Southampton is about 90 minutes away from LHR.

Check out National Express Coach times from Southampton to LHR, private car service at £120 (I think) if you can do self disembarkment or ship's transfer.

I check Premier Inn daily cancellable daily rate as sometimes the rate changes. I cancel and rebook at the new rate. When it gets close to sail date, I switch to the Saver rate and save some £.

I check Premier Inn daily cancellable daily rate as sometimes the rate changes. I cancel and rebook at the new rate. When it gets close to sail date, I switch to the Saver rate and save some £.

I never would have thought of rebooking at saver rate, thank you.

A few years ago, I purchased an Oyster card with £ added from Visit London site, that was mailed to me. Since I purchased through Visit London, I could not get the £5 deposit back so kept it with about £10 left on it for my next visit. I will be in London for 4 days and will use up the leftover amount. With the cap of £6.60/day it might be used up in day or so.

 

What happens, if I swipe the card going on the bus and there is no £ left?

 

How or where can can you find out how much is left on the card?

 

Where do I go top up the Oyster card?

 

Would it be better after the old Oyster card is used up to top it up or get a new card with £5 deposit plus a new amount so I would be able to get the left over amount back.

We enjoyed going to Southampton the day before our cruise last month. We had time to go to the Tudor House and Gardens and the SeaCity Museum, which has a great exhibit about the Titanic.

We spent three nights in London before our cruise. Since I had lived there for seven months and DH had visited (both over 30 years ago), we did not have to try to cram in all of the tourist sights. We went to Westminster Abbey for an evensong service on the Sunday afternoon we arrived. We stayed in Kensington and used the buses to get around more than the Tube.

The second day we went to Kensington Palace, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Harrods. DH took a bus back to our hotel, while I walked back through Hyde Park, stopping at shops along Kensington High Street.

The third day we went to the National Gallery and Buckingham Palace. I don't think the palace will be open in early June, but you could go to the Queen's Gallery, which is always interesting. We followed that with tea at Fortnum and Mason's (over-priced and not as special as it used to be--just like Harrods). We went to see "Half a Sixpence" that night, having purchased tickets at the TKTS booth in Leicester Square.

I wish we had spent more nights in London before our cruise--to give us time to see more shows, especially.

Kim

Thank you, I didn't know there even was a Princess bus from Victoria, I thought since I wouldn't be going from Heathrow we'd be on our own. I had heard about Smiths for Airports but haven't gotten that far yet. Did you do Stonehenge or Windsor on the way to the ship?

We transferred directly from our hotel to the ship. We did consider a transfer/tour of Stonehenge that is offered by International Friends. It is also priced in the same range as the Princess bus and the Smiths for Airports transfer. Definitely worth checking out since it's an easy way to squeeze in more sightseeing.

A few years ago, I purchased an Oyster card with £ added from Visit London site, that was mailed to me. Since I purchased through Visit London, I could not get the £5 deposit back so kept it with about £10 left on it for my next visit. I will be in London for 4 days and will use up the leftover amount. With the cap of £6.60/day it might be used up in day or so.

 

What happens, if I swipe the card going on the bus and there is no £ left?

 

How or where can can you find out how much is left on the card?

 

Where do I go top up the Oyster card?

 

Would it be better after the old Oyster card is used up to top it up or get a new card with £5 deposit plus a new amount so I would be able to get the left over amount back.

To answer your specific question - you can get one bus journey if you do not have £1.50 credit on your card. You then need to top-up.

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/oyster/using-your-oyster-card

The Underground will not let you through if you do not have sufficient credit for at least a single Zone journey.

It can be quite hard to see the balance on many Oyster readers especially on the buses - the display flashes by quite quickly. All underground stations have machines to top-up and view your balance however.

Keep the old card and just top it up. Why pay another £5 deposit? Probably worth keeping about £5 credit on it so if you ever fly into Heathrow, you have the tube fare to Central London ready.

You can top up Oyster cards in many newsagents and many are located beside bus stops. The ones that sell Oysters will have a sign in the window. You can also go into any of the shops and ask them to show your balance.

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To answer your specific question - you can get one bus journey if you do not have £1.50 credit on your card. You then need to top-up.

 

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/oyster/using-your-oyster-card

 

The Underground will not let you through if you do not have sufficient credit for at least a single Zone journey.

 

It can be quite hard to see the balance on many Oyster readers especially on the buses - the display flashes by quite quickly. All underground stations have machines to top-up and view your balance however.

 

Keep the old card and just top it up. Why pay another £5 deposit? Probably worth keeping about £5 credit on it so if you ever fly into Heathrow, you have the tube fare to Central London ready.

Thanks, this was the information I was looking for.

We did a 3 1/2 day stay in London pre cruise a couple yrs ago. Stayed in the Waterloo area and it worked out very well. We did purchase the Oyster Card and the London Pass. We got the London Pass online before we went for a discounted price. I added up the prices of the things we wanted to see, then compared them to what we were paying for the Pass and it was pretty close in price. We choose the Pass due to the 'fast entry' that went with most of the places we were going to visit. We walked right pass many lines which saved us precious time. The HOHO bus was great for one day..we were able to get an overview and a history lesson all in one! Then we just used the Oyster Card...lots of traffic in London which slows down the HOHO buses...you can move a lot faster underground!

If you are interested in the London Tower, there is something called the Ceremony of the Keys. This happens every night and is available to just few folks who were able to snag FREE tickets. The below website is worth looking into to see if tickets are available on any of the nights you are there. It does not take the place of the tour...as you are very limited as to where you can go during the Ceremony, but it was amazing and well worth going back to the Tower at night to witness it in person.

https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/explore/ceremony-of-the-keys/#gs.kxGu6SU

Ceremony of the Keys would have been cool to see, however they are booked through September 2018 and we'll be there in June.

As much as possible I would like to pre-purchase. I think the London Pass is a good idea if we will use it enough, being able to jump lines (although that will probably make me feel guilty) will help in seeing everything we (really, me) want to see. The only 2 things DH has really expressed specific interest in are St. Andrews and Normandy beaches. I'm going to do my best to work that out for him.

I think the London Pass is a good idea if we will use it enough, being able to jump lines (although that will probably make me feel guilty) ....

Is a 12:55pm flight from Heathrow reasonable or should I rebook for a later time? Princess says 5am dock time in Southampton, we will carry luggage off.

Is a 12:55pm flight from Heathrow reasonable or should I rebook for a later time? Princess says 5am dock time in Southampton, we will carry luggage off.

Yes 12:55 is doable, especially if you carry your own luggage. Book a private hire car from http://www.smithsairportcars.co.uk/Home/Services or http://www.aquacars.co.uk/ or http://westquaycars.com/ and give them your flight number etc. The drive from Southampton should take around 1½ hours and you should check in no later than 11:00.