Disembark in Dover

[royal65]

We're looking at a Norwegian cruise aboard the Ryndam in June. The ship is scheduled to arrive Dover at 06:00 and I need to be at Heathrow by 09:30 or so. The train schedule says I can do this if we can disemabark by 0600 or shortly thereafter. For those with experience with this ship and this port, will I be able to disembark, clear authorities and make a 06:44 train? Are there adequate number of taxis available at Dover port and how long does it take to get to Dover Priory station? thanx

[Spinner2]

We disembarked in Dover (Eurodam) in June 2011 after a Baltic/North Seas cruise. No one left the ship at 6 am; it was closer to 8 am, I'd say. I'm assuming you plan to self-disembark (taking your luggage all with you as you leave and after you've pre-arranged to be in the self-disembark group) but I still think the 6 am plan for departure is risky.

 

The Priory station isn't far but the line for cabs to there was long and there was about a 15 minute wait. The line moved quickly and it was an orderly process, but there sure was a line. You could eliminate that by planning ahead with a local cab company to pick you up; we used Dover Heritage Taxi to take us to/from Dover to the Port Lympe Animal Park when we had a port stop at Dover and found them to be reliable about meeting the commitment and you can work with them via e-mail to set it up. But that won't help if you can't leave the ship early enough.

 

 

Sorry to be so discouraging, but it is what it is. You might want to look into private transportation to the airport from Dover or a later flight.

[RuthC]

...I still think the 6 am plan for departure is risky.

Spinner2 has a talent for understatement. I would substitute the word "impossible" for "risky".

Either plan to take a later flight, or the same flight the next day.

The cruise, however, is worth it!

[royal65]

Thanks for the replies. I'm not surprised, but was hoping I might be able to do it. There are no later flights that day on the same airline necessitating a change in carrier and considerable extra cost. So, I'll stay over until the next day and enjoy an evening in the West End. thanx

[madera1]

You will enjoy the day in Dover. We spent one night last summer prior to our Baltic cruise and enjoyed walking about the town, having dinner and spending hours at the Dover Castle. We found a great BB on line and there were several others from our ship also staying. Our experience returning to London was that there was LOTS of traffic and I agree with the other posters that you would need a later flight.

[Spinner2]

We loved the Wild Animal Park in Port Lympe; it's what we did on the changeover day of our back to back. It's not for those with any ambulatory problems; the trucks to take you out to the plains are pretty primitive and at least when we were there required walking about a quarter of a mile to get to them but it's a great opportunity to see African wildlife out on the open plains. It's a lot like the San Diego Zoological Society's Safari Park (aka Wild Animal Park) with it wide open spaces for the animals. Except that in England everything's a beautiful green and the view are just lovely! We used the taxi service to come and go to the ship; no problems at all. It's a great way to spend a connection day between 2 cruises and the taxi driver was very obliging about taking a longer route back (at our request) so we could see more of the area.

 

I'd definitely plan to do something in the Dover area, or head back to the London area for an evening rather than stressing over trying to make an early plane.