Visiting London June 2018 Royal Princess cruise

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.

We had the same problem with the Ceremony! :( I saw it when I was there in 1988 though!!

When it comes to the London Pass, you need to look at realistically what places you will go to. It does save some money and time if you actually use it. Some complaints are that they didn't feel it was worth it. The one unfortunate thing is that they seemed to have gotten rid of the fast pass option for Tower of London. So without that, you still have to stand in line to get your tickets. We got there about 15-20 minutes after they opened and there were already some decent lines, but we had the fast pass option on our LP. I did calculate what we did and we did save money. We were there for about 4 days (Sunday evening, through Thursday mid-day) and we had the 3 day pass, and went to I think 5, or 6, things on the list. We would have done at least 1 more thing, but we had tickets for Les Miz one night, so we had to be back to our hotel a little early in the afternoon to get ready. Of course, had I known how casual the theater was, we could have skipped getting all fancied up! ;) We also got the Oyster card with it, made using the Tube very easy! And I have to say, the workers were very helpful. We don't use public transportation much here in Chicago, but it's super busy at times in London. The workers helped us navigate things.

We did use the HOHO bus for the 1 day, that comes with the London Pass. But it was a bit of a pain. Traffic is soo... bad in London! So it took us so long to get where we were going. We were using it more for getting from one place to another. We spent one day walking the entire day (did about 10-11 miles that day!), so we only used our Oyster cards for 2 of the 3 days.

As far as the Normandy beaches, I recommend booking your own group tour with Overlord Tours. The cruise ships use them, but then it's a big bus with like 80 people. We did a small group, booked on our own, and saved about $150 and there were 8 of us! Our guide was awesome, he took us to more things, much more in depth. It was definitely the highlight of our cruise! Check in your cruise's roll call for others looking to do it. You can read about our tour in my report/review, it's in my signature.

Love to go to Cornwall but I think that's too far for a day trip.

Sandi

We stayed a night in the Cornwall area after we docked, before coming back to London. My husband wanted to go back again, he was there 30 years ago. We stayed in the Tintagel area, to see the "King Arthur" castle ruins. They're one of like 200 places he was supposed to have lived! LOL! :') And yes, it took quite some time to get back to London that afternoon, although we did take the route past Stonehenge.

Both of us had seen it when we had been to the UK 25 & 30 years ago (separately - I was in high school, he was in the Air Force! LOL!). But we remembered it being a lot easier to get to. Now, the road there is very congested. And it was expensive (IMO) to walk all the way over to the actual stones. we skipped the $75 (somewhere around that) and just drove past. Got a nice picture too... We left Tintagel around 2ish and didn't get to London until almost 7 p.m., just in time to return our rental car.

B&W Stonehenge by Cindy, on Flickr

I'd like to do a day trip to an area of England that lets us see a different type of countryside is I guess the best way to put it. The only English stop we make on the cruise is Liverpool, IIRC.

I've thought about Cotswold, Bath & Stonehenge

I've also thought about going towards Dover.

Love to go to Cornwall but I think that's too far for a day trip.

Believe Lake District is also too far.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks

 

Sandi

Cornwall and Lake District, as spectacular as they are, really are not possible as a day trip from London.

Cotswolds is a good option. I quite like Kent as well - particularly Royal Tunbridge Wells (Dover is in Kent).

Hampshire and Dorset are also quite pretty.

You have to consider how you're going to travel. Lot less restricted if you rent a car than just rely on trains, but then someone has to be the driver. Trains are easy, but restrict where you can go. I've done train to Oxford, and shall go by train to Bath on my next trip; I've also rented cars to visit Scotney Castle and Highclere last summer. All quite enjoyable days out from London.

"You have to consider how you're going to travel. Lot less restricted if you rent a car than just rely on trains, but then someone has to be the driver. Trains are easy, but restrict where you can go. I've done train to Oxford, and shall go by train to Bath on my next trip; I've also rented cars to visit Scotney Castle and Highclere last summer. All quite enjoyable days out from London."

What ever we do has to be a tour of some kind with someone else doing the driving. I'm afraid if we rented a car and tried to drive it, one of us might not survive to take the cruise.

"We stayed a night in the Cornwall area after we docked, before coming back to London. " So you went to Cornwall from Southampton?

" I quite like Kent as well - particularly Royal Tunbridge Wells (Dover is in Kent)."

I think Kent was the area I was trying to think of earlier.

"Stonehenge. Both of us had seen it when we had been to the UK 25 & 30 years ago (separately - I was in high school, he was in the Air Force! LOL!). But we remembered it being a lot easier to get to. Now, the road there is very congested. And it was expensive (IMO) to walk all the way over to the actual stones. we skipped the $75 (somewhere around that) and just drove past."

Stonehenge is one of those things that I feel like we have to go see, but quite honestly I think I would be perfectly happy just driving by, as long as I could get a reasonably good view. I can just hear DH, you are spending how much, to stand in how long of a line, to see some rocks. Although he is, surprising, an Outlander fan some maybe not.

New Forest (in Hampshire) is a good stop off between London and Southampton.

Thanks, Steve.

Unless we stay an extra night after the cruise, which I really thinking we'll be too exhausted to do and our tickets have gone up over $200pp since i booked them, we have an early afternoon flight after cruise and are taking train down day of cruise to squeeze another day in London.

"We stayed a night in the Cornwall area after we docked, before coming back to London. " So you went to Cornwall from Southampton?

 

"Stonehenge. Both of us had seen it when we had been to the UK 25 & 30 years ago (separately - I was in high school, he was in the Air Force! LOL!). But we remembered it being a lot easier to get to. Now, the road there is very congested. And it was expensive (IMO) to walk all the way over to the actual stones. we skipped the $75 (somewhere around that) and just drove past."

 

Stonehenge is one of those things that I feel like we have to go see, but quite honestly I think I would be perfectly happy just driving by, as long as I could get a reasonably good view. I can just hear DH, you are spending how much, to stand in how long of a line, to see some rocks. Although he is, surprising, an Outlander fan some maybe not.

Yes, we rented a car on Saturday morning when we docked. We drove towards Plymouth first, a little frustrated with that. But, we had been to Plymouth, Mass. 2 years ago, so we felt we owed it to ourselves to see where that journey started. ;) But there isn't really an easy to get to tourist thing. Then we continued on to Tintagel, getting there in the late afternoon (around 4ish). We walked down to the cliffs from our B&B, then we drove in to the actual town for dinner. The next morning we checked out, drove over to Tintagel Castle, spending the morning and mid-day there (in the intermittent rain & fog! LOL!), before grabbing some scones and heading to London. As I said, we did park and intended to go to see Stonehenge up close, but for the money, we didn't feel it was worth it for us, and spending the 2-3 hours doing it. We were there on a Sunday, so not sure if that added to the crowds. My picture, as you can see, has NO people in it even, and that was going a little slower on the highway in front of it. The traffic slows down there, people gawking (like us), so we saw it and that was enough. We were very happy we did it that way, since we made it to the car rental place before they closed at 7, so we didn't have to find a place to park the car overnight.

We drove towards Plymouth first, a little frustrated with that. But, we had been to Plymouth, Mass. 2 years ago, so we felt we owed it to ourselves to see where that journey started. ;) But there isn't really an easy to get to tourist thing. .

That's a shame. There are the Mayflower Museum and the Mayflower Steps commemorating the journey to the New World, as well as other tourist attractions in Plymouth.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Thinking of day trips from London - Leeds Castle and Canterbury (cathedral) would make for a good day out in the countryside.

Thanks Bob. I'm going to have a hard time narrowing things down.

Sandi

Thinking of day trips from London - Leeds Castle and Canterbury (cathedral) would make for a good day out in the countryside.

Just so as to avoid confusion for our overseas guests, Leeds Castle is nowhere near Leeds [Yorkshire] but is near Maidstone in Kent, although you may have guessed this already from Bob's excellent suggestion..

Just so as to avoid confusion for our overseas guests, Leeds Castle is nowhere near Leeds [Yorkshire] but is near Maidstone in Kent, although you may have guessed this already from Bob's excellent suggestion..

Thanks, it never hurts to make sure.

Sandi

That's a shame. There are the Mayflower Museum and the Mayflower Steps commemorating the journey to the New World, as well as other tourist attractions in Plymouth.

We had a hard time getting around. There was a lot of construction going on, with roads/bridges closed. Looking at a map right now, it looks like the steps place was possibly closed, or just hard to get to because of the bridge closure.

We had a hard time getting around. There was a lot of construction going on, with roads/bridges closed. Looking at a map right now, it looks like the steps place was possibly closed, or just hard to get to because of the bridge closure.

As I say that's a shame, but it is slightly different to saying there "isn't an easy to get to tourist thing", which might deter future visitors [emoji846]

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

OP, the Cotswolds are frequently done as a day trip from London. I believe there are coach tours from the city, often combined with Oxford, Blenheim, Stratford, Warwick etc.

Or take the train out to Moreton-in-Marsh (1 hour 40 minutes from Paddington station) and arrange a private tour from there or several small van tours will pick up there.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums