International Friends - PRE CRUISE TRANSPORTATION/TOURS LONDON

[Lanz]

Does anyone have any experience with this Tour Company.  Their prices and itineraries are great but I can’t find reviews.   Thank so much

[ISLABONITA]

2 hours ago, Lanz said:

Does anyone have any experience with this Tour Company.  https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g186338-d1557392-Reviews-International_Friends-London_England.html

 

Edited November 16, 2021 by ISLABONITA

[ISLABONITA]

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g186338-d1557392-Reviews-International_Friends-London_England.html

[John Bull]

They're a well-established & very reputable coach operator, and well-received by Cruise Critic members 🙂

That's perhaps more relevant than general review sites because most of their business is day-tours from and back to central London - though those reviews too are good.

 

They neatly fix cruisers' tour-transfers so that your departure & return days aren't simply travelling, and they're door-to-door.

 

Their pre-cruise tour-transfers have to aim for a 1pm arrival at the cruise terminal for ship registration, so the itineraries are rather limited by that time constraint. 

But their post-cruise tour-transfers are much better value, because they arrive in central London around 6pm, and it's not a big deal if they're a little late. So a wider choice of itineraries.

 

If you book  a tour-transfer which includes Stonehenge, buy your Stonehenge tickets with your tour tickets - capacity is controlled & if you pre-purchase from English Heritage you have to select an arrival time, which is tricky if you miss that slot. If you wait til you arrive at Stonehenge, you will not be able to buy tickets if your arrival time-slot is sold-out. Stonehenge tickets bought through Int Friends (and all other coach tour operators - and Salisbury ho-ho and ships tours) are "enter at any time".

 

JB 🙂

 

[phabric]

I have taken www.internationalfriends.co.uk post cruise from Princess Southampton dock and Princess Dover dock and dropped off at the door of my London hotel.

 

My tour from Southampton was Salisbury, Stonehenge and Windsor.  I had purchased Stonehenge and Windsor tickets through them.  The Coach was waiting dock side.  The guide talked along the way.  He was not allowed to go into the sites with us.

 

At Salisbury, he told us to try to pick up some food at the Cathedral or in town to eat on the Coach on the way to Stonehenge.  I think we had about a hour, not much time to get food.  
 

Stonehenge was not far from Salisbury.  The Coach was parked in the Coach parking lot.  The people who had purchased tickets through them received them from the guide.  We were given a time to be back at the Coach.  A short walk to a bus to take you to the Stones.  You walked at your own pace around the Stones.  Bus back to ticket booth area - gift shop, bathrooms, maybe a place to eat(?).  Walk back to the Coach. I had bought a sandwich from International Cafe in a baggie from the ship and ate while waiting for other people to return.  You could purchase bottled water onboard the Coach.

 

Windsor, Coach parked at Coach parking lot.  A walk to the train station, either walk up stairs or elevator.  Walk through a small shopping area, cross the street to Windsor Castle.  We were given a time to return to the Coach. The guide walked the people who purchased tickets to the Group entrance where we were handed our ticket.  Everyone goes through security like at the airport, empty pockets, bags through machine, can take awhile.  You can get free audio headphone near entrance.  Return the same way to the Coach.

 

Once back at the Coach, we were told our luggage was transferred to a small van for the London hotels dropped off.  People going to LHR (would need a very late flight) or LHR hotels stayed on the Coach.

 

There were 3 groups being dropped off at London hotels.  We were dropped at the door of each of our London hotel around 6pm.

 

I enjoyed both tours from Southampton and Dover.  A great way to see different tourist sites and being dropped at the door of a London hotel.

[Lanz]

You guys are great, as usual.  One of the things we liked , for better or worse, was you could  choose a hotel to go with your tour package.  We’ve been looking for a hotel and I guess the ones we liked were way too expensive.  Anyway we chose the Royal Horseguards Hotel, yep know it’s old but we love old stuff😂.   The price for the tours, transportation to hotel and to port and for two rooms was really good.
 

I did get a quote from Black Cab that’s worth considering as it’s private.

 

Thanks again any additional comments/suggestions most welcome 😊

[stellfamily]

Hi.

Going on British Isles cruise in June 2022. Need 4 hotel rooms near Westminster Abbey,  Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, or other touristy things. Either walking distance or bus ride from hotel. 
We will then go a couple days later to SouthHampton to get on cruise.

Never been overseas—USA  here.

Is it possible to find hotels for under $200/night US dollars? And where should I be looking?

[phabric]

I have stayed at Premier Inn Waterloo (Westminster Bridge) 3x.  The hotel has a restaurant, bar, A/C, near Big Ben, Thames river, Westminster Abbey,  Hop On Hop Off buses, regular bus, 2 tube stations, Waterloo train station, restaurants, pubs, staff friendly and helpful giving out directions.

 

I have stayed at Premier Inn West Quay in Southampton (only 1 h in Southampton) and will again stay in May 2022.  The hotel has a restaurant and bar, A/C.  A short taxi from National Express Coach station or train station to the Premier Inn West Quay and a short taxi to the port.  There is a shopping mall near by for any items for your cruise.  Restaurants and pubs in the area.

 

I have already booked my hotel stay for May with no payment.  I watch the price after booking, if the price goes down, I cancel and rebook.

 

Look into booking your air if Cruising with Princess book flights through EzAir under Travel on your Personalizer

 

Flexible- No payment until final payment.
- Can cancel or modify up to 45 days of cruise with no $ penalty.  

- Modify - under Travel - your flights will show- GREEN SECTION - Add/Modify- change flights- choose your flights you want - will show present price and new price- if price is higher exist - if price is cheaper - book.  Will get new airline booking # and Princess air booking #, will have to redo seats, airline passenger number with each Modification.

 

- can book flights up to 30 days pre cruise and 30 days post cruise, if you want to go earlier or stay after.

- can choose different airlines for either flights

- check your price often and modify 

- if Princess cancels you will get your money back, maybe a voucher if booked direct with airline

- if you cancel your cruise, EzAir flights are cancelled

- you can book yourself or your agent

 

For day trips from Southampton by National Express Coach or train -

Portsmouth for Historical Naval Dockyard

Salisbury

Winchester 

🇨🇦

Edited November 18, 2021 by phabric

[Cotswold Eagle]

7 hours ago, Lanz said:

Anyway we chose the Royal Horseguards Hotel, yep know it’s old but we love old stuff

It’s not particularly old.  The rather splendid building is Victorian, but the hotel was extensively refurbished about 10 years ago. A good combination of traditional looks and modern comfort 😀 A great choice, but out of the price ranges we are often asked about here. 

[Post Captain]

On 11/17/2021 at 10:26 PM, stellfamily said:

Hi.

Going on British Isles cruise in June 2022. Need 4 hotel rooms near Westminster Abbey,  Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, or other touristy things. Either walking distance or bus ride from hotel. 
We will then go a couple days later to SouthHampton to get on cruise.

Never been overseas—USA  here.

Is it possible to find hotels for under $200/night US dollars? And where should I be looking?

 @stellfamily You will receive more responses if you start a separate thread re. you hotel question.  Your question gets lost here as this thread is on an unrelated topic.

 

That said:  I agree with phabric (post #8 above) and many others in recommending a Premier Inn hotel as an excellent budget choice for the first-time visitor.  Although a bit on the spartan side, in my experience their rooms are modern, spotlessly clean, and comfortable.  I did a quick search on the Premier Inn website, looking at random dates in June, and just about all of their London hotels come in at under $200 per night.  (Note: Prices on the PI website are in pounds sterling, currently valued at around $1.35.  So, $200 per night is about £150.)

 

The major tourist sites are scattered across London, which covers quite a wide area.  You can't be "near" Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London at the same time.  However...   You as long as you choose a hotel in central London, you don't really need to be "near" a particular landmark; it's very east to get around using London's very comprehensive bus and Undergound (subway) system.

 

On the Premier Inn website (easy to find by searching "Premier Inn"😉), put "London" into the search bar, and all of PI's London hotels will appear.  For a good location in central London, I'd start by considering (in no particular order) any of the following PI hotels:  County Hall (a favorite of many Cruise Critics), Waterloo, Euston, and St Pancras.  Several of the others would be fine as well, but perhaps not quite as conveniently located for the first-time tourist.  Do not choose a "hub" hotel unless you want to stay in a room that's smaller than the lowest-grade cabin on a cruise ship!

 

Hope this helps.

 

But start a separate thread if you want more responses.

 

 

     

Edited November 19, 2021 by Post Captain

[Magiemae41]

I'm really appreciating all this good information.  I was wondering if anyone knows of a tour to Stonehenge that would leave from London Airport when we arrive and end up at Southampton?

Mae

[John Bull]

2 hours ago, Magiemae41 said:

I'm really appreciating all this good information.  I was wondering if anyone knows of a tour to Stonehenge that would leave from London Airport when we arrive and end up at Southampton?

Mae

 

Interrnational Friends - the subject of this thread - offer their coach tour/transfers from  LHR to ships in  Southampton via Southampton. 🙂

 

But note that they pick up from Heathrow hotels, not airport terminals.

I've driven transfer coaches for cruise lines - coach pick-ups are strictly controlled at the terminals, they have to wait in the airport coach park until called forward. This works fine for ships' direct transfers because there's usually up to a dozen coaches for ship transfers and their departures from coach park to terminals throughout the morning are co-ordinated by the cruise lines' shore agents at the terrminals. And with plenty of coaches and such a flexible system, late flight arrivals aren't a problem.

But that doesn't work when there are just a couple of coaches, few passengers, four terminals, a tight schedule and of course no tour reps at the terminals. Also the operator can't delay a coach for a couple of passengers held up by a delayed flight or delays at arrival formalities. So altho you can take airport transport to an airport hotel, it's risky booking a tou/transfer unless youi have a  wide window for delays.

  https://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/london-heathrow-to-southampton-via-stonehenge.html

and note on the FAQ tab on that page arrangements for joining a tour/transfer from a same-day flight arrival.

You'd need an early flight arrival time (I guess about 7.30am latest), but you'd still be taking a risk.

Most pick-ups from Heathrow hotels are folk who arrived the previous day.

 

I don't know of any other organisations which offer anything similar, so you'd need a private transfer. A private airport-to-ship transfer would cost in the order of £90 to £100 for a car - going via a stop at Stonehenge would add about 30 miles and 2 hours - off the top of my head that's about an extra £50. And you'd have to buy Stonehenge admissions at about £20 - £25 pp. 

Suggested transfer operators in the sticky at the top of this forum, but oft-mentioned Smiths for Airports have ceased trading.

 

Can you build Stonehenge into your post-cruise?

 

JB 🙂

 

 

 

[Magiemae41]

20 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

Interrnational Friends - the subject of this thread - offer their coach tour/transfers from  LHR to ships in  Southampton via Southampton. 🙂

 

But note that they pick up from Heathrow hotels, not airport terminals.

I've driven transfer coaches for cruise lines - coach pick-ups are strictly controlled at the terminals, they have to wait in the airport coach park until called forward. This works fine for ships' direct transfers because there's usually up to a dozen coaches for ship transfers and their departures from coach park to terminals throughout the morning are co-ordinated by the cruise lines' shore agents at the terrminals. And with plenty of coaches and such a flexible system, late flight arrivals aren't a problem.

But that doesn't work when there are just a couple of coaches, few passengers, four terminals, a tight schedule and of course no tour reps at the terminals. Also the operator can't delay a coach for a couple of passengers held up by a delayed flight or delays at arrival formalities. So altho you can take airport transport to an airport hotel, it's risky booking a tou/transfer unless youi have a  wide window for delays.

  https://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/london-heathrow-to-southampton-via-stonehenge.html

and note on the FAQ tab on that page arrangements for joining a tour/transfer from a same-day flight arrival.

You'd need an early flight arrival time (I guess about 7.30am latest), but you'd still be taking a risk.

Most pick-ups from Heathrow hotels are folk who arrived the previous day.

 

I don't know of any other organisations which offer anything similar, so you'd need a private transfer. A private airport-to-ship transfer would cost in the order of £90 to £100 for a car - going via a stop at Stonehenge would add about 30 miles and 2 hours - off the top of my head that's about an extra £50. And you'd have to buy Stonehenge admissions at about £20 - £25 pp. 

Suggested transfer operators in the sticky at the top of this forum, but oft-mentioned Smiths for Airports have ceased trading.

 

Can you build Stonehenge into your post-cruise?

 

JB 🙂

 

 

 

Thanks JB  - Unfortunately the cruise doesn't end in Southampton, we end in Amsterdam.  This does gives me suggestions though.  Our flights are through cruiseline so if they end up being later maybe we will stay near the airport or in London and go from there.   I was trying to figure out a way to combine transfer and tour on the same trip and save some $ 🙂 

 

Thank you so much for the information.