Pre Cruise Hotels in London England. August 18/18 Celebrity Silhouette cruise

Hi fellow cruisers. Have any of you planned to stay in London, England for a few days before the cruise? If so, can you make a recommendation for a hotel that would be in a good location to navigate from? Thank you.

Tom and Rosemary

Hi fellow cruisers. Have any of you planned to stay in London, England for a few days before the cruise? If so, can you make a recommendation for a hotel that would be in a good location to navigate from? Thank you.

Tom and Rosemary

We have cruised from British ports three times in the last four years. I did a review for two of the three cruises and included all of our pre and post cruise hotel info in those reviews. I am including a link to those reviews if you would like to take a look.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2554018

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2095403

I hope they can help :)

I really like The Royal Horseguards, right on the Thames and easy to walk to Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, London Eye, etc. also right near a train station.

Joe

Consult the Europe boards for non-cruise questions or try TripAdvisor or Yelp

I really like The Royal Horseguards, right on the Thames and easy to walk to Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, London Eye, etc. also right near a train station.

 

Joe

We stayed at the Royal Horseguards last year. It is a beautiful historic hotel with a great location.

Have stayed at the Marriott County Hall - near a lot of tourist spots and had a great stay. Also the renaissance St. Pancras- great hotel.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

It depends what you want to do. When I pick a hotel, I list the places that I want to see first. Then I look for a hotel. In London, there is lots of things to see. As long as you stay close to a tube stop, you can go most places. Be aware that London is a huge city. Pick a convenient location. You don't want to spend hours traveling to get to an attraction. Last time I stayed in Mayfair at the Hyatt Churchill. It was excellent. It was pricey. If you want a less expensive hotel, there are many in that area. Read the reviews. I use tripadvisor. I book by calling the hotel directly. Have fun.

I always use www.booking.com but there are other sites which compare/price check hotels (Trivago comes to mind)

Careful reading of the details, reviews, and then looking on the map can pay dividends. There can be some great deals too. The best I ever got was for The Cumberland Hotel which is right by Marble Arch and at the end of Oxford st (shopping) and across from Hyde park. There is also a stop where all the HOHO buses pull up. The Cumberland was marvellous but alas these days it seems very pricey as I have never got a similar deal. Another hotel in the Guoman chain is the Tower Hotel right by London bridge - again a very comfortable hotel but you need to find a deal to keep cost down. Is a fabulous view from most rooms though of the Bridge even more so should it rise to allow a ship to pass :)

Thank you for your advice and your suggestions.

Much appreciated.

Rosemary and Tom

Thank you for your advice and your suggestions.

Much appreciated.

Rosemary and Tom

You might check out the Imperial London Hotels group. Their flagship hotel, the Imperial, is at Russell Square, and current rate is 100 GBP, breakfast included. Other hotels in the group are in the same area, and rates are even less.

Premier Inns is a popular chain in England, my parents like it...good if you are on a budget

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Hilton London Paddington, adjacent to the train station, is very convenient if you are taking the express train in from Heathrow. Drop your luggage of at the hotel and take the tube anywhere.

We were fortunate to do a 5 day stay pre cruise and a 2 day stay afterwards in London. Pre- cruise, we stared at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge in a studio room. It was convenient to everything we needed for a great sightseeing adventure. The Ho Ho buses in each direction were steps from the door, and we could walk over the Westminster Bridge to many of the great sights in London. We had a pillow view of both the London Eye and Big Ben from our bed. There were always taxis waiting in the circle outside hotel.there was also easy access to the Water uses up and down the Thames from either the EYE station down the block or thé Westminster Station just across the Bridge.

When we returned from our cruise we stayed at the Rubens at the Palace Hotel adjacent to Buckingham Palace. It was also very convenient to everything in that area of London. ho Ho buses stopped nearby to Paddington, Mayfair and Piccadilly. Ircle. taxis were always available. The hotel is iconic and their restaurant and bar is the epitome of London Dtyle. We enjoyed high Tea, a Fathers Day Brunch, and a wonderful dinner right in the hotel. We also walked around the Buckingham Palace wall to pick up the requisite T-shirt’s for the kiddos at the Hard Rock Hôtel. You can’t go wrong with either or both of these hotels. The service at each was attentive. We booked both through their websites and got great deals.

We’ve stayed in lots of places over the years...

We absolutely LOVED the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge...Had a two room suite with great views... Walkable to virtually everywhere.

For a totally different, more “British” experience, we also like the Rubens...But make sure you get a big room...We’ve had both big and tiny there...the rooms vary.

But, really, it all depends on what you like in a hotel...Everyone has different criteria and standards...and we all have different “acceptable price ranges”...

Thank you for your advice and your suggestions.

Much appreciated.

Rosemary and Tom

Remember you will actually be cruising from Southampton.....In addition to touring London you could also spend a little time in the New Forest area, even if only an overnight. There are lots of country house hotels which offer packages....

Southampton is 80 miles from London so you also need to think about transport from your hotel on sailing day. There is plenty of relevant discussion on the British Isles/Western Europe board - here is a long and interesting one with some up-to-date information at the end.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1542779

I would highly recommend the Luna Simone; we stayed there last fall. Its a 20 minute walk from Buckingham Palace, near both the Victoria and Pimlico tube stations and Bus 24 stops right outside. It is a straight forward hotel with no bells and whistles, the cost includes breakfast and the place is incredibly clean. The front desk was amazing and incredibly helpful.

https://www.lunasimonehotel.com/

I have stayed at Premier Inn Waterloo (Westminster Bridge) www.premierinn.com. The hotel has a restaurant, bar, close to HOHO, regular bus, tube, Waterloo train station, London Eye, Thamas river, Big Ben. Parliament, Westminster Abbey, pubs, restaurants.

I took Just Airports www.justairports.com a private car service from/to LHR to/from London Hotel.

I have walked from the Premier Inn Waterloo to the Waterloo train station and taken the train to Southampton train station and a short taxi ride to the dock.

I have used National Express Coach www.nationalexpress.com from London

Victoria Coach station to Southampton Coach station (this is the station you want) and a short taxi to the dock.

Internationalfriends www.internationalfriends.co.uk goes from London Victoria Coach station, LHR hotels and certain London hotels on embankment and disembarkment days.

Cruise line has transfers from LHR and London Victoria Coach Station.

Buckingham Palace staterooms are open during your stay www.royalcollection.co.uk

Check out Cruise Critic - Port of Call - Britain and great way to ask questions.

Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions.

A lot of great info, thanks. 😊