London on your own excursion

[Travrat]

Does anyone know where the Oceania excursion “London on your own” from Tilbury drops you? It says a central location in London. That could be any where. Has anyone used a reliable car service for the transfer instead of Oceania’s bus?

[Ocean Mouse]

The London Cruise Terminal is served by Tilbury Town train station. The train station is about a mile away from the terminal and only a few minutes by taxi. Trainline or National Rail Enquiries can assist with train timings and bookings.

 

I think there is also a bus to Tilbury Town from the ferry terminal close by.

 

Trains from Tilbury Town go to Fenchurch Street station 

[ToxM]

If you are planning to DIY be very sure of your timings and take into account delays and or rush hour - you need to build very robust safety time for getting back to the ship. 

 

This is from someone who lived and commuted in London for over 20 years - heed the voice of experience!

[pete_coach]

You are correct , drop off could be anywhere but I suspect it would be either Victoria Station or Fenchurch near the Tower of London. There are bus stations there.

First of all, I love London. Been there many times. One of my favourite, if not my favourite city in the world. London DYI is an overwhelming question. There is so much and it is spread out so far, it would be very difficult to get the most out of a port visit there.

As much as I hate to say this but I highly recommend a private escorted tour or even the ship offered excursion. That way you skip some line ups for entry and you get a personal guided tour with explanations and will at least see the major sites. For instance, the Tower of London alone can be a 1 hour line to get in and then to see the place you can easily spend 3 hours.

Edited January 24, 2023 by pete_coach

[Travrat]

I have been to London numerous times and don’t need a guided tour. I would just like to spend the day enjoying what I like to do and wanted to know where the excursion from O drops you so I can plan my day. 

[Rosroz]

As someone who lives in SE London and commuted into town for 39 years , my advise would be to take a train and not a bus/coach as the traffic into town from the suburbs,  is to put it mildly , horrendous !

As long as there are no strikes Public transport in Britain is pretty good and used by all walks of society , unless you are mad no one drives into central London . 
Get the train , plan your day well , use the tube , walk , hire a black cab but ensure you allow time to get your train back to the ship. 
Enjoy

[LaCroisiereS'amuse]

I lived in London for 30 years & to make this worthwhile I would pick one activity/place you want to visit & concentrate on the immediate area - its really not worth you trying to do any more than that as there are way too many variables with traffic & transport.  For example you could do the London Bridge area with Borough Market & the Shard, or maybe the Monument & Tower of London.

[pjsportsmom]

Need some advise…I will be in the Tilbury port overnight and wanted to take the train to Fenchurch station and wanted to know if it was safe to travel on, even at night?

Also this was my itinerary I’m planning would

appreciate any import if I’m crazy ha ha or if doable as I’ve never been to London before, i

want to get the most of my time there………..

tower Bridge

tower of london

Thames riverside walk

borough market

trafalgar square

piccadilly circus

Buckingham Palace

Westminster Abbey

big Ben

 

thanks

[osandomir]

2 hours ago, pjsportsmom said:

Need some advise…I will be in the Tilbury port overnight and wanted to take the train to Fenchurch station and wanted to know if it was safe to travel on, even at night?

Also this was my itinerary I’m planning would

appreciate any import if I’m crazy ha ha or if doable as I’ve never been to London before, i

want to get the most of my time there………..

tower Bridge

tower of london

Thames riverside walk

borough market

trafalgar square

piccadilly circus

Buckingham Palace

Westminster Abbey

big Ben

 

thanks

I can’t answer your question about safety, but I assume it’s safe. I’ve been to London and I’d say that your itinerary looks like an agenda for a week to me. You said that you hadn’t been to London before, may I suggest that you do some research and then decide what is more important for you and how much time you’d need to visit all the sites.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[pete_coach]

19 hours ago, pjsportsmom said:

Need some advise…I will be in the Tilbury port overnight and wanted to take the train to Fenchurch station and wanted to know if it was safe to travel on, even at night?

Also this was my itinerary I’m planning would

appreciate any import if I’m crazy ha ha or if doable as I’ve never been to London before, i

want to get the most of my time there………..

tower Bridge

tower of london

Thames riverside walk

borough market

trafalgar square

piccadilly circus

Buckingham Palace

Westminster Abbey

big Ben

 

thanks

Been to London many times. In my experience,  London is very safe as are it's trains and public transport.

I mys tell you, that is a long list.

Tower of London is 2 to 3 hours minimum. (strongly suggest you get a pre arranged time ticket as there can be long lines)

London Bridge is at least an hour as is Westminister Abby,

You probably cannot get into Buckingham Palace so, a look at the building through the gates is what you get.

Piccadilly and Trafalgar are about  1/2 hr walking between them and how much time you spend looking is up to you.

You will not have time for the Riverside walk and nether the Burrough market (although it is a great place for lunch).

Then there is transport between all the places you wish to see. It is aa big city and lots of traffic.

Plus the 1 hour train ride, if you make the right connections.

In my opinion, you will need to parse your expectations.

[ORV]

6 hours ago, pete_coach said:

You probably cannot get into Buckingham Palace so, a look at the building through the gates is what you get.

It all depends on if the Royal Family is in Residence at the time. We went on a tour through Buckingham Palace. It seemed to be a major tourist attraction with a gift shop and maybe snacks. Might be wrong about the snacks though. 

[BWV]

11 minutes ago, ORV said:

It all depends on if the Royal Family is in Residence at the time. We went on a tour through Buckingham Palace. It seemed to be a major tourist attraction with a gift shop and maybe snacks. Might be wrong about the snacks though. 

Yes, in the mid to late summer - it was wonderful, and they had a tea room set up for snacks at the end (this was pre-COVID)

[pete_coach]

15 hours ago, ORV said:

It all depends on if the Royal Family is in Residence at the time. We went on a tour through Buckingham Palace. It seemed to be a major tourist attraction with a gift shop and maybe snacks. Might be wrong about the snacks though. 

You are correct but, the chances are slim as Buckingham Palace is being prepped for the coronation and is now residence of the new King.

We were fortunate and were able to tour it but, as of late, it has been closed, even when the Queen was not in residence.

[pjsportsmom]

Thank you Pete and everyone else for you input. I appreciate it and will rethink

 My itinerary for London. Pete you were very helpful 

[RetiredandTravel]

Churchill War Rooms is very very cool, highly recommend.  If you are looking for lunch the Club Sandwich at the American Bar in the Stafford Hotel is awesome.

 

https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/churchill-war-rooms

 

https://thestaffordlondon.com/american-bar/