Port Excursion from Tilbury

[ItsOnlyUs]

Greetings. I see a fair amount of information about embarking / debarking from Tilbury, but we are on an itinerary that ports there for 12 hours. I know 1/2 day is hardly enough time to experience London, but I'd love any suggestions or advice that anyone may have. My family of 5 (3 boys ages 17, 14, 14) will be sailing on the NCL Pearl in June 2019 so we have plenty of time to figure it out, but I am a compulsive pre-planner! And to add to my pre-trip planning neurosis, NCL doesn't have any excursions listed thus far as it seems to not be a frequent stop for them.

 

Thank you in advance for your ideas!

Steph

[Globaliser]

I think the first question is whether you want to go into town. It shouldn't be difficult, particularly for places like the Tower. (The train from Tilbury goes to Fenchurch Street station and takes something like 40 minutes, IIRC.)

 

But have you been to London before? Are you thinking of deliberately doing something non-London?

[gnome12]

I think the first question is whether you want to go into town. It shouldn't be difficult, particularly for places like the Tower. (The train from Tilbury goes to Fenchurch Street station and takes something like 40 minutes, IIRC.)

 

But have you been to London before? Are you thinking of deliberately doing something non-London?

 

 

 

My understanding was that despite the fact they would only have about a half day in London, that is what the OP was looking for advice on

 

 

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[Globaliser]

My understanding was that despite the fact they would only have about a half day in London, that is what the OP was looking for advice on

I could see that possibility, but "Port Excursion from Tilbury" is wide enough to cover a multitude of other options. London isn't the only option, especially if one acknowledges that one can see next to nothing of London in half a day.

 

Hence the question.

[ItsOnlyUs]

Sorry! I realize my original post was confusing. Yes we are looking to spend the 1/2 day in London touring (even though I realize it's a long drive and there isn't enough time to do it full justice!). Anybody have any experience with porting in Tilbury and touring London?

 

Thank!

Stephanie

[Globaliser]

Yes we are looking to spend the 1/2 day in London touring (even though I realize it's a long drive and there isn't enough time to do it full justice!).

First, it's not a long drive.

 

Second, you'd probably do just as well not to drive anyway, at least on any day when there's a viable train option. Take the shuttle bus from Tilbury Riverside (ie the cruise ship dock) to Tilbury Town station, then take the train from Tilbury Town to Fenchurch Street station. The total journey time should be about 1¼ hours. Fenchurch Street station is about 5 minutes walk to the Tower and 10 minutes walk to either Tower Bridge or St Katharine Docks. There's plenty to do in that area to occupy you for the time that you've got there, including having some lunch, perhaps with a view (there are lots of options in that area).

[aem2682]

Train from Tilbury town is best option. Midweek normally 3 an hour and 2 an hour at weekend. The local line is managed by c2c, grab a 2 for 1 leaflet for discounted entrance in to loads of top attractions. Within walk of fenchurch street you will find tower of london, the shard, London dungeons . if you decide not to do London get the train going on the opposite direction and your within easy reach of Southend on sea, with all the normal English seaside attractions.

[ItsOnlyUs]

Thank you all for your great ideas! I ended up booking a Tours By Locals guide who will pick us up at the port and take us to London to pack in as much as we can!  Happy travels!

[pacosta79]

Hi, ItsOnlyUs

 

We're traveling on the same cruise in June 2019, Can you please share the information of the Tours company you decide to booked. My day in London will be June 23rd and the cruise excursion is pretty expensive. Thank you.

[ItsOnlyUs]

Hi Pacosta79,

Yes we hired a private local guide through ToursByLocals.com. It's about the same price as 5 people on the NCL excursion, but more customization and with fewer people I feel like we can cover more ground. Unfortunately, I booked him already though, so you'd have to find a local guide that can do something similar. PM me if you'd like more info :-).

 

Thanks,

Stephanie

[CruiseGal999]

On 1/17/2019 at 7:55 PM, ItsOnlyUs said:

Thank you all for your great ideas! I ended up booking a Tours By Locals guide who will pick us up at the port and take us to London to pack in as much as we can!  Happy travels!

 

May I ask how much the tour costs?  I did a quick google search and found the website.  But the price I saw was a little high.  

[ItsOnlyUs]

Hi CruiseGal999. Yeah it definitely wasn't cheap. But we are a party of 5 so nothing was really going to be cheap. We chose a custom version of the following tour - as advertised it is 5 hours for $608 but we extended it to 9.5 hours for $950. Alex the guide has been wonderful to work with leading up to the tour, and I can report when we return about how it went - not sure if it will be helpful as i'm not sure when you are traveling.

 

https://www.toursbylocals.com/TBL/WebObjects/ToursByLocals.woa/1/wo/GYKS6Pbk3RPZFcUMtZstDM/11.35.3.12.3

 

Best of luck!
Stephanie

[CruiseGal999]

6 minutes ago, ItsOnlyUs said:

Hi CruiseGal999. Yeah it definitely wasn't cheap. But we are a party of 5 so nothing was really going to be cheap. We chose a custom version of the following tour - as advertised it is 5 hours for $608 but we extended it to 9.5 hours for $950. Alex the guide has been wonderful to work with leading up to the tour, and I can report when we return about how it went - not sure if it will be helpful as i'm not sure when you are traveling.

 

https://www.toursbylocals.com/TBL/WebObjects/ToursByLocals.woa/1/wo/GYKS6Pbk3RPZFcUMtZstDM/11.35.3.12.3

 

Best of luck!
Stephanie

 

Thank you.  My friend and I travel 4/28th and will be in London 5/9th.  Since there is only 2 of us and our dates are in May the price is $805.  Too much for 2 people.  But I appreciate the info. and link. 

[Nebr.cruiser]

21 hours ago, CruiseGal999 said:

 

Thank you.  My friend and I travel 4/28th and will be in London 5/9th.  Since there is only 2 of us and our dates are in May the price is $805.  Too much for 2 people.  But I appreciate the info. and link. 

We may be on the same cruise as you--Norwegian Pearl?  We plan on taking the train to London and using HO-Ho buses.  We'd share the tour above with you, but it still is too pricey for us at about $200 pp.  But, it would really be easier and probably would see more than what we are planning.

 

I don't know how many people can fit in their vehicle, but if it was 8 or so we would be interested.

[CruiseGal999]

1 hour ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

We may be on the same cruise as you--Norwegian Pearl?  We plan on taking the train to London and using HO-Ho buses.  We'd share the tour above with you, but it still is too pricey for us at about $200 pp.  But, it would really be easier and probably would see more than what we are planning.

 

I don't know how many people can fit in their vehicle, but if it was 8 or so we would be interested.

 yes it is the pearl.  we are on the same cruise.  yes, WAY too expensive.  heres my email.  i want to talk to you about the train & hoho bus.  marielw824@gmail.com

[Nebr.cruiser]

Well, I don't know too much about the train and bus either--just what I've gleaned from these boards and other research on the internet.  We will be bumbling our way through; haven't been to London before except for transfers from a port to airport.

 

Plus, being from the country, big cities are always a challenge.  But I will be glad to share with you what I know.

[CruiseGal999]

14 hours ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

Well, I don't know too much about the train and bus either--just what I've gleaned from these boards and other research on the internet.  We will be bumbling our way through; haven't been to London before except for transfers from a port to airport.

 

Plus, being from the country, big cities are always a challenge.  But I will be glad to share with you what I know.

 

I'm bumbling also.  I was looking at purchasing the $79 shuttle through NCL to get to London and back to the ship.  But THEN I have to pay to get to the 'sights' I want to see.  I only want to do the London Eye and then go to Harrods and spend a LOT of time there.  I have been to London before for several days and did a lot of exploring and saw a great show in the West End.  But I hate how expensive the NCL shuttle is. 

[gnome12]

3 minutes ago, CruiseGal999 said:

 

I'm bumbling also.  I was looking at purchasing the $79 shuttle through NCL to get to London and back to the ship.  But THEN I have to pay to get to the 'sights' I want to see.  I only want to do the London Eye and then go to Harrods and spend a LOT of time there.  I have been to London before for several days and did a lot of exploring and saw a great show in the West End.  But I hate how expensive the NCL shuttle is. 

The train goes from Tilbury Town to London Fenchurch, which is very close to Tower Hill tube station. The train takes less than 45 minutes. Tower Hill is on the district and circle lines, so you can get most places fairly quickly.

It is slightly cheaper if you take a train after 9:30 am, but for less that 1 pound differenceit doesn't make much difference. Take a look at loco2.com. Put in Tilbury (any station) and London (any station) and your times and you will get a list of trains. (That's how I know it is Tilbury Town to Fenchurch.) If you click on the train, and then the red down arrow button, you can see the fare options. The fares I am seeing for early April are 12.40 pounds return before 9:30 and 11.60 after. (I assumed a return time of 6 pm)

 

Then look at Rome2Rio.com for options on getting from the pier to the train station (and their costs).

[CruiseGal999]

6 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

The train goes from Tilbury Town to London Fenchurch, which is very close to Tower Hill tube station. The train takes less than 45 minutes. Tower Hill is on the district and circle lines, so you can get most places fairly quickly.

It is slightly cheaper if you take a train after 9:30 am, but for less that 1 pound differenceit doesn't make much difference. Take a look at loco2.com. Put in Tilbury (any station) and London (any station) and your times and you will get a list of trains. (That's how I know it is Tilbury Town to Fenchurch.) If you click on the train, and then the red down arrow button, you can see the fare options. The fares I am seeing for early April are 12.40 pounds return before 9:30 and 11.60 after. (I assumed a return time of 6 pm)

 

Then look at Rome2Rio.com for options on getting from the pier to the train station (and their costs).

 

Thank you.  I appreciate the info.  

[fabnfortysomething]

the London eye takes about an hour to do full circle and that's after time spent queing to get on

 

that will eat into your free time 

[CruiseGal999]

9 minutes ago, fabnfortysomething said:

the London eye takes about an hour to do full circle and that's after time spent queing to get on

 

that will eat into your free time 

 

I'm going to buy the fast track ticket which 'says' you bypass the line.  And since there are only 2 things I want to do ... hopefully that should be ok.  

[Cotswold Eagle]

18 hours ago, fabnfortysomething said:

the London eye takes about an hour to do full circle and that's after time spent queing to get on

 

that will eat into your free time 

A full rotation of the Eye is 30 minutes, not an hour. 

[Globaliser]

On 3/26/2019 at 6:53 PM, gnome12 said:

London Fenchurch

 

London Fenchurch Street. If you say "London Fenchurch" to a Londoner, you'll probably get a blank look for several seconds.

 

On 3/27/2019 at 3:01 PM, Cotswold Eagle said:

A full rotation of the Eye is 30 minutes, not an hour.

 

Of course, you can always hope for lots of subsequent visitors in wheelchairs who need to be loaded while you're up somewhere near the top! 

[gnome12]

8 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

London Fenchurch Street. If you say "London Fenchurch" to a Londoner, you'll probably get a blank look for several seconds.

 

Sorry, I didn't put down everything that loco2.com showed me.

 

However, when I compare it to the national rail journey planner, loco2.com says Tilbury Town, but the planner says East Tilbury. (In each I just put in the name without specifying the station.) It looks like the train goes to East Tilbury before it arrives in Tilbury Town.