Anyone use the shuttle from London to Harwich?

[cibumcupio]

So my parents will be on Celebrity for the first time and are taking the Infinity Iceland and Fjords cruise from Harwich this summer (lucky them). They're trying to figure out the best way to get from Cambridge to Harwich; they'll be in Cambridge for a wedding the day before the cruise. So first of all, does anyone know a good way to get from Cambridge to Harwich? They could possibly get friends to drop them off in London again that night, and it seems like there are more options from London in the morning, including this shuttle bus that picks up passengers from London hotels around 9am straight to the ship at around 12:30pm. This sounds good for the peace of mind, but is there a better way? This will also be their first time in the UK.

[woozlebear]

So my parents will be on Celebrity for the first time and are taking the Infinity Iceland and Fjords cruise from Harwich this summer (lucky them). They're trying to figure out the best way to get from Cambridge to Harwich; they'll be in Cambridge for a wedding the day before the cruise. So first of all, does anyone know a good way to get from Cambridge to Harwich? They could possibly get friends to drop them off in London again that night, and it seems like there are more options from London in the morning, including this shuttle bus that picks up passengers from London hotels around 9am straight to the ship at around 12:30pm. This sounds good for the peace of mind, but is there a better way? This will also be their first time in the UK.

 

Stay in Cambridge for the night and get a taxi to Harwich in the morning. It's not that far away.

 

Regards

Susan

[cibumcupio]

Stay in Cambridge for the night and get a taxi to Harwich in the morning. It's not that far away.

 

Regards

Susan

 

Do you have an idea of how much the taxi would be? On google it looks like about a 1.5 hr drive.

[Tiggertastic]

Cambridge to Harwich is 83 miles and about 1.5 hours journey - so if going for a cab I suggest you pre book one who is willing to go the distance and back and get a price in advance

 

Cambridge to London is 65 miles and about the same time for travel if not further - unless your friends are from London, would it not be better to ask for a lift to Harwich instead and stay at one of the hotels there

 

Avoid the train from cambridge to harwich as it is 2 hours and 2 changes - a pain with luggage

 

If you can get a list to London and get the shuttle, that is a good option providing you stay at the right hotels that they pick up from and Londin Hotels will cost a lot more

[stazerd]

We also travelled from London to Harwich a couple of years ago. We found a family company based in Harwich and they were great. On time, nice car, friendly. They also picked us up in Harwich at the end of the cruise and drove us directly to heathrow.

 

I would recommend this company, A2B cabs. The email address is marcaida@btinternet.com. The owner's name is Tony.

 

Any questions feel free to ask.

 

Diane

[Johnny Heedless]

Here's what I would suggest...

 

There's a direct train from Cambridge station to Harwich International. It leaves Cambridge daily at 7:44 PM. There are other trains leaving at different times, but they all require transfers. The 7:44 train is direct.

 

This will put them in Harwich at 9:30 PM.

 

You can book the tickets through: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

 

Then, they can stay the night at a hotel near the port. Premier Inn Harwich is within walking distance of the train station and port (about half a mile though -- so a taxi may be needed if there's significantly luggage).

[Turtles06]

I suggest emailing the folks at Harwich Taxi and getting a quote for the Cambridge transfer. We used them to go from Heathrow to Harwich last fall and they were great to deal with. It seems crazy to go back to London in order to get to Harwich. You may also want to post your question on the Britain board.

[cibumcupio]

Here's what I would suggest...

 

There's a direct train from Cambridge station to Harwich International. It leaves Cambridge daily at 7:44 PM. There are other trains leaving at different times, but they all require transfers. The 7:44 train is direct.

 

This will put them in Harwich at 9:30 PM.

 

You can book the tickets through: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

 

Then, they can stay the night at a hotel near the port. Premier Inn Harwich is within walking distance of the train station and port (about half a mile though -- so a taxi may be needed if there's significantly luggage).

 

These are all great suggestions. Very thankful to everyone for the responses.

 

This particular option looks really good! I did a couple of searches, and noticed that this train did not run on all of the Sundays, one of them being March 9th. So do you know if this train is a regular thing?

[upwarduk]

The new Summer train timetable will start in May.

Why search for March, when Infinity won't be doing Iceland and the Fjords until the summer?

[cibumcupio]

The new Summer train timetable will start in May.

Why search for March, when Infinity won't be doing Iceland and the Fjords until the summer?

 

Because the dates right now on the website don't go past April. So do you think the summer train timetable will still have the direct train on Sunday night?

[Johnny Heedless]

Because the dates right now on the website don't go past April. So do you think the summer train timetable will still have the direct train on Sunday night?

 

Try calling the train company -- they may know:

 

http://www.greateranglia.co.uk/contact-us/contact-directory

[neilrr]

We used National Express Bus Service from Victoria Station London to Dover (55 miles away) for our cruise. They were wonderful and we bought the tickets and printed them out here in the states.

 

We looked into using private care service and they wanted $400.00. :eek:

 

We booked the National Express and it was $40.00 :) for the two of us and they took us right to the ship. We highly recommend them. We took a cab from our hotel to Victoria Station. It was certainly worth the price. The busses were clean and nice and it was great ride through the countryside.

 

Happy Travels....

[BCguy100]

We took the train from Liverpool station (London) to Harwich last September. Cheap and direct. I think it (or one of them stops in Cambridge). I can't find how much we paid, but it was quite cheap.

 

BC

[Turtles06]

If your parents will be spending the night in Harwich, I recommend The Pier Hotel. Charming, with nice views alongside the Quay. Book early!

[Denny01]

We are on the Infinity in August and were looking at various options. Looks like the van would work for us. We are a group of 5, and taking a van using the recommended email for A2B and we have a quote...working it now.

 

we'd used the National Express from Heathrow down to Southampton and that was very nice, but the van looks a bit better with 5 of us this time.

 

The National Express was comfortable, quick, had free wifi and worked nicely for those interested. I think it goes to Ipswich and you could stay in a Hotel there, or taxi to Harwich.

 

Den

[harz99]

So my parents will be on Celebrity for the first time and are taking the Infinity Iceland and Fjords cruise from Harwich this summer (lucky them). They're trying to figure out the best way to get from Cambridge to Harwich; they'll be in Cambridge for a wedding the day before the cruise. So first of all, does anyone know a good way to get from Cambridge to Harwich? They could possibly get friends to drop them off in London again that night, and it seems like there are more options from London in the morning, including this shuttle bus that picks up passengers from London hotels around 9am straight to the ship at around 12:30pm. This sounds good for the peace of mind, but is there a better way? This will also be their first time in the UK.

 

No need to go back to London at all, nor to look for a Harwich hotel.

 

A simple google search of "transfer Cambridge to Harwich Port" will give you various options. This one http://www.british-airporttransfers.co.uk will give a quote between £90-100 depending on car size (the UK cities are below all the airports and postcodes/zipcodes in the scroll down menu).

 

HTH.

[upwarduk]

Because the dates right now on the website don't go past April. So do you think the summer train timetable will still have the direct train on Sunday night?

 

The 'Train Line' is showing timetables up to Sunday 11th May '14.

A direct train leaves Cambridge Town for Harwich International at 19.12 and takes 1hr 53 mins.

Single fare £19.40

 

http://www.thetrainline.com/buytickets/combinedmatrix.aspx?Command=TimeTable#Journey/CBG/HPQ/11/05/14/10/30/Dep//////Dep/1/0//0;0;0

Edited January 11, 2014 by upwarduk

[Biker19]

You might want to post this also in the Roll Call thread for this sailing. There might be quite a few locals on that thread that will have suggestions.

[Wiltonian]

I would recommend not relying on a single train on a Sunday. That's the main day for engineering work. Even if that service were not expected to be affected, engineering works sometime over-run. At worst, I guess you'd have an expensive taxi ride.

 

Stuart

[harz99]

I would recommend not relying on a single train on a Sunday. That's the main day for engineering work. Even if that service were not expected to be affected, engineering works sometime over-run. At worst, I guess you'd have an expensive taxi ride.

 

Stuart

 

Quite! You would still need to find a hotel at Harwich, which may then need taxi transfers to it on arrival, and from it to the ship the next day. Which is why, in the OP's parents situation of attending a wedding in Cambridge, I would stay in Cambridge and get a prebooked transfer the next day.

 

Much, much easier all round.