langleyfld
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Posts posted by langleyfld
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The cruise tour-transfers promoted on London Toolkit are the ones run by International Friends.
Both organisations are long-established and reputable, I cannot believe there is any corporate fraud.
Couldn't find anything on the 'web either.
Perhaps there has been some sort of outsider-hacking or employee fraud at Friends International which has resulted in your card issuer blocking transactions until it's resolved.
Or, I have heard of folk with non-UK cards having their payments declined by other UK merchants including major organisations like National Express (buses) and Premier Inns. Such is the way when machines take over from people. So possibly the rep from your card issuer got their wires crossed and it's the card that you're using - in those cases folk used other cards and they worked fine.
But importantly you mention International Friends, so can I presume your problem was with a direct booking with them?
If so, no worries.
Book via https://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/southampton_london_transfers.htm
At £84 including Stonehenge admission it's actually £5 cheaper than booking direct with International Friends :)
JB :)
Yes, I tried booking them on London Toolkit.
Yes, I argued with my major credit card company, that it was a well established company, etc. And they said that company was flagged in their system with fraud.
And I so want that tour booked for next May!
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Hi Sandi,
You sail on a wednesday, so you'll be travelling to Southampton on a tuesday or a wednesday.
Most cruisers who spend pre-cruise time in London, and Londoners and Brits from further afield, travel down on sailing day - it's not a problem and of course gives you an extra day in London.
Travel time by road is something over 2 hours, by train it's about 90 minutes.
By train
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/
Yes, trains depart from London Waterloo and are direct to Southampton central. .
A few trains are less than half the fare that you're quoting. For example on the current timetable for trains at 9.39am, 10.39, 11.39 and 12.39 it's anywhere between £9.10 and £17, depending how far out you book. You might not feel comfortable with the 12.39 (arrives 2.12pm) but excluding problems even that one is in good time for registration on your ship. If you plan to travel the day before, those promos apply to some later trains too.
But you do have to pre-book, and the price depends how far out you book. For instance those promo fares won't show until about seven weeks out but increase closer to the date. The tickets are only good for the time that you booked.
There are also direct trains from London Victoria, promo fares from as little as £5 per person.
Same pre-purchase terms.
Altho the train is direct it's over a much longer route, effectively two side of a triangle, and the journey time is around 2.5 hours.
Might suit if your London hotel is in the Victoria area.
If your hotel is near London Paddington station it's not too difficult to take the train from there, it involves one simple change of train. But no promo fares, expect to pay £40+ per person
No requirement to pre-book for trains, but walk-up fares are much steeper.
By scheduled bus
You've not mentioned the direct scheduled bus service provided by
https://beta.nationalexpress.com/
Fares £5 to £8, hourly service, travel time about 2hrs 20.
The service is from London Victoria coach station (just down the road from Victoria train station), your destination is Southampton coach station.
No requirement to pre-book for buses, but it's very strongly advised because they do book-out and it's only an hourly service.
Southampton central station and coach station are close together. Princess use two cruise terminals, Ocean and Mayflower. Both are vaguely walkable but better to take a taxi, about £8.
Tour-transfer bus (via London Toolkit)
This is a door-to-door service serving hotels throughout central London. Not every hotel, but almost-certainly from one just a few yards away. Usually pick-up is in vans, then a switch to the tour coach. Drivers handle your luggage.
Has a good reputation. If you choose it, buy your Stonehenge tickets with your coach tickets for guaranteed admission on arrival - tickets available at the gate are subject to availability & you don't want to find they're sold-out.
Their tour-transfers in the opposite direction (Southampton to London) are better value because they include several places of interest - the time constraint of cruise check-in time means just the one stop en-route to Southampton.
Ship's transfer buses
Most cruise ships offer a transfer from central London, usually from Victoria coach station. Always over-priced, but Princess are cheaper (no, make that "less expensive") than most.
Private transfer
You already know your stuff, but around £110 to £130 is closer to the mark :)
JB :)
John Bull, are you familiar with International Friends? I just tried to book a tour/transfer London via Stonehenge to Southampton and my credit card company won't allow the charge. They told me they had fraud cases against them. I'm confused! I've googled them a lot and haven't seen anything negative.
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Chatt Tenn,
Glad it was solved! We booked our flight yesterday on British Air and chose them mainly for price and departure time from LHR. Our flight leaves at 5:20 pm, so a lot of wiggle after disembark in Southampton. We might even tour something before arrival at airport. Sorry, chatty...Just excited!
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Thanks everyone for the responses.
The schedule change did stress us out but it will be fine at the end. We might reconsider to change for a later flight later on.
John Bull thank you for taking time out to help all us on this board.
ernieb thanks and hello.
ChattTenn
Good luck! We travel in May 2018 as well, but on NCL Jade. I'm booking flights this week, after watching the fares drop to a comfortable amount. Just deciding Delta versus Virgin versus British Air! We had considered that 12:50pm flight from LHR, but it stressed me out:( I feel more comfortable with a 5:30pm departure, even with sitting around the airport a long time. We'll just people watch :-)
Safe travels!!
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Luckynana- I'm from the states so not an expert on London but based on my research the first question to ask is what airport do you fly from? Heathrow is very easy for paddington and Victoria. The next question is what are the train costs from Southampton? We looked at Waterloo, but the train to Waterloo was $59 and the train to Victoria was only $5. Since Victoria is also in a great location and easier to get to heathrow we elected Victoria. There is a best western and comfort inn near Victoria station. We ended up at premier inn for $125 per night. Hope that helps :)
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So, you'd recommend the best western in Victoria. I'm anxious to book a hotel, I love being ahead in organizing! Been looking at areas that are walkable to some of main sites.
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Hi Langley- Rodnefjord tour left at 10 am or 2pm. We elected the 10 am departure. Location Right smack in the middle of the fish market, can't miss it. Easily walkable from the ship even if you dock at the far port like we did. We were in Bergen from 8 am until 7 pm so PLEanTY of time to visit mt Floyen. Catamaran sold snacks and had free wifi. Totally go for it! At $65 I consider it an excellent value :)
As far as the weather goes, it was another glorious day with the sun attempting to peek through. I wore one long sleeve t and athletic pants with my marmot precip at the top of the mountain. By the time we biked to flam I ditched the precip. For the first time this trip I wore my super soft Sherpa pjs on the balcony for the sail out of the fjords. For those packing- layer is the key. Our weather has been warm enough to shed right down to a t-shirt, but Norway weather is notoriously unpredictable. Our guide in Alesund said it snowed on the troll excursion last year on august 15th, so being prepared for anything is key.
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Thank you ever so much!!! If I was onboard I'd buy you a drink or 2 :-) You are a very giving person to take your time while on vacation, to answer everyone's question, to make our experience easier when we get there!
I applaud you!!!! You rock!!!!
Vickie
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Oliver- no Jumari tonight- must be his day off. Works for me because I have the alarm set very for our sail into flam.
Blocks- ty for the clarification. I hate giving wrong info.
Crazy- I've been posting the dailies. The spa specials are listed at the top. They have some very nice spa packages. Too bad this is such a port intensive itinerary- other than dinner and listening to Jumari in the evenings I have done very little on-board the ship.
Ty lucky- all were taken with an iPhone 7 plus.
Langley- go ahead and book the rodne fjord tour. There is nothing about it that was negative. Do you have any specific questions? At $65, we feel it was an excellent way to spend the morning in Bergen.
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Where was your Rodne tour departure at the port ? Was it difficult to find? What time did you return to port? We'd really like to have time to go to Mt. Floyen.
Thank you so much for ALL your time in posting answers.
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So interested in the Rodne Fjord tour!! It's on my list to book after I read your review :-)
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I posted the dailies in small format. Are they legible?
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Yes, you're doing an awesome job!!
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In Bergen, the Fjord tour you took, did the tour company pick you up at the port?
I'm following with much anticipation of our cruise May 25, 2018 !!
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I reckon 8.30.
Should get you to Heathrow by 10.30. That's 2.5 hours before your flight, so an hour for unforeseen delays.
Or play safe and book for 8am, though travel is always slower between 7am & 9am so you'd not open your one hour window by more than 15 to 20 minutes.
But I suggest you ask your transfer operator - they'll have vehicles doing the journey every day so they're a better source than me.
It also means that if the timing turns out to be tight you can take it out on the driver instead of me :D
JB :)
You Rock John Bull!!
Isn't it strange how on Cruise Critic, we trust unknown people with basically, our bank accounts, lol!
Thank you so much for your advise, I wouldn't travel without Cruise Critic ! :-)
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Chipping in from somewhere quite remote in British Columbia, all fingers n thumbs on my I-pad.
I strongly recommend early unassisted disembarkation, ie haul your own bags from the cabin, this wil be about 6.30 to 7am, with a car booked for 7.15 from smithsforairports or westquaycars or aquacars. Theoretically this is over-kill for a SUNDAY! But there.s always the chance of the motorway being closed after a fatal Saturday late-nite crash, which will delay even Sunday traffic.
But in theory this would get you to Heathrow by 9am excluding such problems.
Airlines recommend arrival 3 hrs before flight time, that's over-cautious n allows for folk getting delayed enroute, going to the wrong terminal n such, and eases the pressure on check-in staff. 90 minutes out is plenty, even with delay at security which is the usual bottleneck.
But that's just my limited experience, be guided by others on that.
A noon transatlantic is doable on a weekday, on a Sunday it should be no worries to Heathrow :)
JB :)
So John Bull, best time to book transfer from Southampton for a flight that leaves Heathrow in June, on a Friday, at 1pm ?
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Using google can pull up lots of information. Or, go to the airline's webpage.
This is for a 14 day cruise, departing 25 May? If you are looking IAD-LHR, have you looked at the nonstop on Virgin Atlantic, RT $846?
I checked with Virgin like you suggested and rate was $1120. Still not bad, but curious, where did you find that rate?
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Thank you all for working hard on my question while I was asleep!!
You guys are the best :-)
I always rely on advise from Cruise critic!!!
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KLM are a very good airline and their base hub in Schiphol in Amsterdam. This is a good location to change planes if you do not have direct flights as the airport has just one massive terminal with few stairs as the Netherlands is a flat country. Air France are based in Paris but Paris has a few different airports and changing planes is far less convenient there.
If you can swing it without it costing too much, I should go KLM and try to arrive in London after changing planes at Schiphol, at London City Airport LCY and bag a sightseeing tour of the major tourist interest spots as you land. London City airport is tiny and queues to get out of the airport are short or non-existent in comparison with Heathrow.
Regards John
Thanks John, I will definitely look into that! We plan to precruise a few days before transferring to Southampton!
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Using google can pull up lots of information. Or, go to the airline's webpage.
This is for a 14 day cruise, departing 25 May? If you are looking IAD-LHR, have you looked at the nonstop on Virgin Atlantic, RT $846?
Wow, thank you, I'll check Virgin!!
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Has anyone flown with KLM from the East Coast to London? Need help with flight ideas to LHR for a cruise next May 2018. I know nothing about this airline :-)
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Has anyone disembarked at Port of Miami and taken transport to the Miami Amtrak station? My daughter and her husband are thinking of traveling home to VA by train after their cruise. What cheap transportation from POM to Amtrak is avaiable? I thought I had read a post once that there was a shuttle bus from these 2 points. Never used Uber or Lyft, any comments?
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We will be taking the NCL Jade out of Southampton and will be staying in London pre-cruise. We wanted a reasonably priced hotel near attractions and near transportation to be able to get to Southampton by train. I have narrowed it down to the Doubletree Tower of London, Hampton Inn Waterloo or Park Plaza Riverbank. I really have no idea what the best area to stay in is. Thoughts or other suggestions?
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Great question! We are doing the same but not until May 2018!
Keep us posted or a review :-)
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WOW, huge valuable information!!
We travel to London pre cruise May 2018.
Thank you John Bull for such precise info :-)
And thanks to ChatTenn for asking questions:-)
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If you do decide to spend time in London. don't stay at a Heathrow hotel. You will waste far too much time travelling, whereas you could be right in the middle of things.
What's a good area without breaking the bank? Would be doing a all day tour of Tower of London, Westminster, Changing of Guards, etc.
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No, actually they are prices I've found on my own searches for May of 2017, because May of 2018 are not out yet. I just wanted to get an idea of how they are running and what my possible options were. I have a year to plan, which is great.
Good job, I'm doing the same searches! I'm on the Jade - May 25, 2018 and we are also from VA. We are undecided which airport to fly into, but taking notes from this thread and others. But, if we fly into Heathrow, we'll probably pre cruise a few days in London (or stay near Heathrow and do 1 full day tour in London).
Love Cruise Critic; wouldn't travel without them!!
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London to Southampton
in British Isles/Western Europe
Posted
Thank you John Bull, you rock!!
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