Train from Gatwick to Harwich

[nan&glen]

We are arriving at Gatwick early AM on August 31st to catch the Jewel at Harwich leaving at 5:30 PM. I have checked the national rail site and it appears easy to catch departing trains about every hour. The price is ok at around 26 GBP per person, but the website refers me to one of several vendors to purchase the tickets. Every vendor I checked wants to send the tickets by "post" 3-5 days before travel or overnight delivery, but it appears that they all think in am in Britain (not the USA as is the case). Questions: 1. do I need to prebuy tickets or can I just purcase a ticket before boarding or on the train? 2. One delivery option for the tickets appears to be to pick them up from a vending machine a the train station. Is that a reasonable thing to do, and if so, why not just buy the ticket there? Is there some advantage to prepurchasing, such as a guaranteed seat? 3. Do these vendors (virgin trains, thetrain, etc.) that sell you the tickets charge an additional fee for their service of selling you the tickets?

[Nickwolf]

1) You do not need to pre purchase your ticket, but it would save some messing around at the ticket office.

 

2) It is perfectly reasonable to get your ticket from the machine at the station. I don't think you would be guaranteed a seat on any of these routes.

 

3) The tickets sold through these vendors (I personally use Q Jump but they are all pretty much the same) are sold at the same rate as if you bought the ticket at the ticket office.

 

One point to make clear is that part of your journey involves crossing from Victoria station to Liverpool Street via the underground system in London, this may be no fun with a cruise worth of luggage. Globaliser or one of the other London based posters will advise you better on how easy or difficult this may be.

 

Nick.

[Globaliser]

Sometimes there is an advantage to buying the ticket in advance because you can get access to advance purchase fares that are not available if you buy for immediate travel. You'll have to have a look at the conditions for each price level to see whether or not that applies to you.

 

The online websites will not post tickets overseas, but they will allow you to nominate a different UK address if there's someone in the UK who can forward them on for you, or you can pick up the tickets at a machine. I looked at the Trainline's list, which includes Gatwick Airport, so you should be fine - the company that runs that site is the same as the company that runs QJump, as the two sites merged a short while ago.

 

It's possible that you may get a seat reservation for the Liverpool Street to Harwich part of the trip if you book in advance. I think you're unlikely to get one if you buy on the day, although it's possible. I don't think that the Gatwick Express has seat reservations.

 

Nick is right about the Victoria to Liverpool Street change. With luggage, I would frankly be tempted to avoid the Tube altogether. Get off the Gatwick Express, go to the taxi queue, and get a cab to Liverpool Street station. Much less hassle, even if it costs you £10 or so. My usual advice about using the Tube is this: Do it only if you can lift and carry all your luggage in one go (no shuttling backwards and forwards), and you can carry it several tens of yards and carry it up stairs equivalent to about one storey. Otherwise, look for some other means of getting around London.

 

One final point: I believe that the station for the cruise ships is Harwich International, not Harwich Town. But you might want to check this.

[heatherb1958]

correct- the name of the station for the cruise terminal is Harwich International. We have used trainline to purchase tickets but will not have the problem of going through London, thank goodness.

We are also on this cruise, travelling from the north west.After many hours of researching coach companies, cost of flying to Stansted, train services, we decided the easiest way was one way car rental. For future reference for UK passengers 1) the only car hire firm near to the port was Budget, but they only do one way rentals between major aiports.This was from a guy on phone at the company. 2) we booked through holidayautos.com and got an economy car for 36pounds , this will be dropped off at Ipswich. Then it is a train ride for 2.80 from Ipswich to Harwich international, via Manningtree (?)

we will see how well it worked out after 31st ! :D

[lord of the seas]

We are arriving at Gatwick early AM on August 31st to catch the Jewel at Harwich leaving at 5:30 PM. I have checked the national rail site and it appears easy to catch departing trains about every hour. The price is ok at around 26 GBP per person, but the website refers me to one of several vendors to purchase the tickets. Every vendor I checked wants to send the tickets by "post" 3-5 days before travel or overnight delivery, but it appears that they all think in am in Britain (not the USA as is the case). Questions: 1. do I need to prebuy tickets or can I just purcase a ticket before boarding or on the train? 2. One delivery option for the tickets appears to be to pick them up from a vending machine a the train station. Is that a reasonable thing to do, and if so, why not just buy the ticket there? Is there some advantage to prepurchasing, such as a guaranteed seat? 3. Do these vendors (virgin trains, thetrain, etc.) that sell you the tickets charge an additional fee for their service of selling you the tickets?

nan&glen,

What a nightmare!

This journey is not great especially with luggage.if you can afford it why not have a car and driver pick you up at Gatwick and relax as it should only take two and a quarter hours.After all you are on vacation

 

John

[Ladylouwho]

Why don't you just take the RCCL shuttle bus to Harwich? We took their coach when we cruised the Jewel on June 20th. Our shuttle ticket was included with our airfare because we went through RCCL, but I am pretty sure you can buy a separate coach ticket if you purchased air on your own.

[nan&glen]

Thanks for all the help with the train tickets. We belive that we will enjoy the trip on the train. We travel very light and should have no trouble moving on and off the subway. We would probably have taken the RCCL bus but didn't even think about it until long after we booked our cruise. Also it costs about twice the train tickets and we think we will enjoy the train more than a 2 1/2 hour bus ride. We probably should have booked air with RCCL since their ticket from Boston looks like it was cheaper than anything we could find, but we had already purchased others when we found out. We certainly do appreciate all the great information and help available on this web site.:)