New to Oceania

We have booked a cruise from London to Rome August of 2016 on Insignia and I was thinking of booking with Oceania for the pre cruise hotel for one day. I am not sure what airport we arrive to, how far to central London and then how far to Dover. I think it is a good deal to take the pre cruise hotel with Oceania. I am guessing they will pick me up at the airport and bring us to the hotel and then pick up hotel and bring us to the port in Dover. I assuming the transfers are included in the hotel cost.

As for at the end of the cruise in Rome we want to stay two days but I think to book with Oceania is quite costly (I know I can do it cheaper on my own). Sorry for rambling on, but if you could help that would be very much appreciated.

Thank you

I believe that you can do better on your own in London as well.

Transfers and hotels with Oceania are charged PER PERSON while on your own it is per transfer and per room.

Transfers from the airport to London and then to Dover are easily arranged and usually less than if booked with cruise line (especially if shared with others on your roll call).

Hotels are ALWAYS cheaper on your own.

The above just requires a bit of research and work on your part but saves you money - the other choice is easier but more expensive.

Your choice

I would look at doing your own hotel & transfer both ends of the cruise

The hotel package from Oceania is PP

You can take the train, Bus or taxi to London central then train bus or private driver to the port

You will probably be flying into LHR maybe LGW

I would pay the deviation fee & choose the flight you want then see if Oceania can get those without an upcharge

Compare prices with the airlines then decide if using O air & the deviation fee $175 pp works better for you or not

JMO

Lyn

I would look at doing your own hotel & transfer both ends of the cruise

The hotel package from Oceania is PP

 

You can take the train, Bus or taxi to London central then train bus or private driver to the port

 

You will probably be flying into LHR maybe LGW

 

 

I would pay the deviation fee & choose the flight you want then see if Oceania can get those without an upcharge

Compare prices with the airlines then decide if using O air & the deviation fee $175 pp works better for you or not

 

JMO

 

Lyn

Good advice Lyn

Thank you for your suggestions and advice, I appreciate the time you took to do this for me.

We have booked a cruise from London to Rome August of 2016 on Insignia and I was thinking of booking with Oceania for the pre cruise hotel for one day. I am not sure what airport we arrive to, how far to central London and then how far to Dover. I think it is a good deal to take the pre cruise hotel with Oceania. I am guessing they will pick me up at the airport and bring us to the hotel and then pick up hotel and bring us to the port in Dover. I assuming the transfers are included in the hotel cost.

As for at the end of the cruise in Rome we want to stay two days but I think to book with Oceania is quite costly (I know I can do it cheaper on my own). Sorry for rambling on, but if you could help that would be very much appreciated.

Thank you

Read this post to get some more comments:)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2180397

Thank you for your suggestions and advice, I appreciate the time you took to do this for me.

You will definitely do better making your own arrangements. Join the RollCall for your cruise. We did a similar itinerary and we shared a mini bus to Dover. They picked up people from 1 or 2 other hotels in the same area(at that time O offered a pkg at The Rubens- we booked there at a fraction of the O price) The transfer from the airport is not too expensive so you can book a private car for much less than the O fare. Also read previous post that did the same or similar itinerary. Remember that popular, private excursions fill up fast so it is not too early to book over 1yr in advance:eek:

Other (cheaper) options are: take the National Express bus from LHR to Dover. This does mean getting your luggage to and from the bus, but when we did this many years ago (2001) the fare for the two of us was 35 GBP. Obviously, it will be more expensive now.

You can also take the tubes from LHR (or Gatwick, I think) into central London. Again, you have to be able to manage your luggage. Once in town you can catch a cab to your hotel.

Usually we take the tubes into London but then meet up with another couple to get to Dover. There are a number of highly recommended car services for a reasonable price. I recommend going in early to Dover because there are a number of things to do there. On one trip we rented a car and spent three days in Dover and environs prior to our cruise.

As I recall the car trip between central London and Dover is about two hours.

Mura

Hi Deus,

If you only have one night in London it may be better to stay at one of the Airport hotels (depending on what time you arrive) and catch the a cruise transfer bus for the next morning.

I just booked our transfer to Southampton through "londontoolkit". They have them to Dover also and usually includes hotel pick up (hotel list is on the site), a site seeing stop along the way (ours is Stonehenge) and they drop you right at the ship - @ 157 pound for 2 people including entry to Stonehenge. A direct shuttle is cheaper.

Bev