Dover to London (Earl's Court)

[rimau]

We have booked a Princess cruise that ends in Dover. We are looking for the best way to get from Dover to London, Earls Court. The hotel says the nearest train station is Victoria, at least I think that is a train station. Cannot get the National Express site that someone on here recommended to cough up a trip from Dover to Victoria.

 

Does any one have info on the best way to get from the cruise to London in August?

[Giantfan13]

We have booked a Princess cruise that ends in Dover. We are looking for the best way to get from Dover to London, Earls Court. The hotel says the nearest train station is Victoria, at least I think that is a train station. Cannot get the National Express site that someone on here recommended to cough up a trip from Dover to Victoria.

 

Does any one have info on the best way to get from the cruise to London in August?

 

Don't know why National Express won't show a route from Dover to Victoria?. Which Victoria did you input. The National Express bus goes to Victoria Coach Station which is near Victoria rail station. We did the National express Bus, London to Dover and then back again, for their fun fare of 5 pounds PP each way, best bargain in town. It is a bit slower than the train, but depending on when you are leaving London, it is the cheapest way to get there.

Either using the train or the bus from Dover, you still have to take a cab from the crusie ship terminal to either the bus depot or the train terminal. You cannot catch either from where the ship docks.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[John Bull]

http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx

National Express's website is abysmal, it must cost them hundreds of thousands of £ in lost business. Which is a shame, cos the coach service is quite good, & good value.

 

Last-nite the website was down, probably overnite maintenance, though it's now up & running again.

 

It will not provide details or accept bookings more than about 12 weeks out. But it will not stop you from asking about later dates & it will not tell you that your chosen date is too far out, it will just say it "could not find any results", same as if you asked to buy tickets to the moon.

 

You also need to know what start point & destination to enter, and again it doesn't help.

 

Your start point is Dover. Plain & simple.

Dover, plain & simple, is not just a header to the options, it is an option in itself, it means the town centre pick-up point, which as Len's post is a 5 min taxi ride from the cruise terminal.

The website also offers "Dover Cruise Terminal" as a start point.

Ignore it - it applies only to specific Fred Olsen cruises. But the website will not tell you this. A half-decent website would offer you an alternative pick-up point such as the town centre, but this website will simply tell you that for your selected date it "could not find any results".

 

Your destination is London (Victoria coach station).

Not London (Victoria rail station), which may be given as an option but will waste your time & end up with the infernal "could not find any results"

Until a recent website change to actually mention Victoria coach station by name, your destination would have been London, plain & simple, on the presumption that everyone in the world knows that it means Victoria coach station, because it is their London hub.

 

You may also find that once you've asked about a given route & date, if you want to change something, eg the date, you can't simply amend your enquiry & hit "search" cos it may just blankly stare at you. Instead, you have to start a completely new search.

 

They don't deserve your business, but once you've negotiated their website minefield they're OK.

 

The coach service is hourly, fares are around £12, but you may be offered a "fun-fare" for as little as £1. Journey time around 2.75 hours.

 

By train:

http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/en/s/planjourney/query

Your start is Dover Priory (or DVP), your destination London Victora (or VIC)

Train is quicker but more expensive. Victoria rail & coach stations are just a few hundred yards apart, then it's about 2 miles (taxi or underground) to Earls Court.

 

 

John Bull

[rimau]

Thank you John, that was very helpful. I was able to find exactly what I needed.

[handfordr]

The National Express coaches typically take just under 3 hours from Dover so with the taxi from the cruise terminal (7 GBP) to the bus station at Dover and the taxi from Victoria to Earls Court (10 GBP?) its going to be early afternoon before you hit your hotel.

 

If you take the train its crudely half the time and double the cost and you can get a full afternoons sightseeing in arriving your hotel before midday. Also the train arrives at the rail station at Victoria where you can get your public transport pass sorted out and get the Underground to Earls Court which in effect will be free with a transport pass you'll use later in the day. The Coach station is an walkward distance walking with luggage to the train/underground station.

If you work out how much your break in London is costing you it might be a false economy taking the slow, cheap bus.

 

The cheaprst/fastest way door to door is to get on your ships roll call and get a group together. A 16 seat bus chartered meeting your crusie will typically cost 330 GBP split between 16 people and hotel drop offs in London will be starting about 10:30 am