BIE Cruise Questions - Ports, London extension

[longterm]

On 8/29/2023 at 12:56 PM, formernuke said:

Interesting; as I search now, I don't see any non-stops from Bergen to NY area (searching for next May). Perhaps they discontinued this route?

We're headed on the BIE next July; I found a return from Bergen that goes from Bergen to Frankfurt, then from Frankfurt to Dallas. It was the best route I could find for us.

[formernuke]

 

 

3 hours ago, Newdaytrippers said:

We are wrapping up the Churchill extension in two days.  The days are full.  It takes about a couple of hours each way in traffic to get to Chartwell, Blenheim, and Bletchley.  We have theater tickets for two of the five nights.  We can make the 7:30 shows but it makes for a very long day.  We’ve been leaving the Strand Palace Hotel around 7:30 or 8:00am and returning around 5:00 pm.  We’ve had an included sit-down lunch most days around 1:30 or 2:00.  The champagne private dinner in the War Rooms the first night was fabulous.  We were the only ones there.  Had a fascinating lecture and tour and time to peruse the empty(!) museum before a lovely catered dinner.  Highly recommend this extension if you like history and Churchill.  Two days to go with no free afternoons yet.  I had to forfeit tickets today to a special exhibit at a gallery thinking we had free afternoons.  We tour Bletchley Park tomorrow and it will be a highlight of this trip for us. There are 28 of us on this extension.

 

Thanks for this! This is the most information I've seen about this extension. Very few write about the details. We're scheduled to do this in April and was working on planning the days. This is very helpful! I may do a 'live from' in April just so future travelers have some more detailed info.

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, formernuke said:

This is very helpful! I may do a 'live from' in April just so future travelers have some more detailed info.

 

YES, PLEASE!!!!! 🎉

 

 

 

[Peregrina651]

4 hours ago, Newdaytrippers said:

We are wrapping up the Churchill extension in two days.  The days are full.

 

Do you have any sort of schedule or "dailies" that you could photography and post here? If not immediately, then perhaps when you get on board or even when you get home??

[ericosmith]

5 hours ago, longterm said:

We're headed on the BIE next July; I found a return from Bergen that goes from Bergen to Frankfurt, then from Frankfurt to Dallas. It was the best route I could find for us.

Did that Bergen through Frankfurt a month ago.  Allow plenty of time.  Bus from the plane was in a traffic jam on the tarmac.  Then waited in line at the drop off.  The airport itself was pretty much chaos.

[Newdaytrippers]

2 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Do you have any sort of schedule or "dailies" that you could photography and post here? If not immediately, then perhaps when you get on board or even when you get home??

Yes.  A two page itinerary.  I will when we get home.

[WanderingBrit]

8 hours ago, ericosmith said:

Did that Bergen through Frankfurt a month ago.  Allow plenty of time.  Bus from the plane was in a traffic jam on the tarmac.  Then waited in line at the drop off.  The airport itself was pretty much chaos.

By comparison Copenhagen was a breeze. We did Bergen - Copenhagen - Reykjavik - O'Hare with 1hr40m as our connection time and found ourselves waiting around and reading between flights.

[Nanagranny]

14 hours ago, Newdaytrippers said:

We are wrapping up the Churchill extension in two days.  The days are full.  It takes about a couple of hours each way in traffic to get to Chartwell, Blenheim, and Bletchley.  We have theater tickets for two of the five nights.  We can make the 7:30 shows but it makes for a very long day.  We’ve been leaving the Strand Palace Hotel around 7:30 or 8:00am and returning around 5:00 pm.  We’ve had an included sit-down lunch most days around 1:30 or 2:00.  The champagne private dinner in the War Rooms the first night was fabulous.  We were the only ones there.  Had a fascinating lecture and tour and time to peruse the empty(!) museum before a lovely catered dinner.  Highly recommend this extension if you like history and Churchill.  Two days to go with no free afternoons yet.  I had to forfeit tickets today to a special exhibit at a gallery thinking we had free afternoons.  We tour Bletchley Park tomorrow and it will be a highlight of this trip for us. There are 28 of us on this extension.

 

 

[Nanagranny]

Thanks so much!  You answered my question for sure.  So, we’ll not be making any other plans.  I don’t think we’ll even be able to make an evening show at this pace.  We have really slowed in the last couple of years.  And this our 8th Viking cruise.  Cheers!

[longterm]

10 hours ago, ericosmith said:

Did that Bergen through Frankfurt a month ago.  Allow plenty of time.  Bus from the plane was in a traffic jam on the tarmac.  Then waited in line at the drop off.  The airport itself was pretty much chaos.

We went through Frankfurt this past May, coming home from Florence; it was really easy, got through without any trouble--hopefully this next trip will be the same. 🙂

[SantaFe1]

20 minutes ago, longterm said:

We went through Frankfurt this past May, coming home from Florence; it was really easy, got through without any trouble--hopefully this next trip will be the same. 🙂

We went through Frankfurt in March coming from Barcelona.  Although I worried about it, everything went like clockwork.  That said, however, high summer months are undoubtedly busier.

[LindaS272]

We are transiting through Frankfurt in early October. Sea-Tac to Naples. We have a 6 1/2 hour layover and have booked four hours at MyCloud  Hotel in the airport because the lounges are closed to us (no ability to pay to use right now) due to worker shortages/slow downs/strikes. 🤞

[SantaFe1]

7 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

We are transiting through Frankfurt in early October. Sea-Tac to Naples. We have a 6 1/2 hour layover and have booked four hours at MyCloud  Hotel in the airport because the lounges are closed to us (no ability to pay to use right now) due to worker shortages/slow downs/strikes. 🤞

Well, I just learned something new!  Thanks Linda.  Had no idea one could do this.

[Peregrina651]

3 hours ago, WanderingBrit said:

By comparison Copenhagen was a breeze. We did Bergen - Copenhagen - Reykjavik - O'Hare with 1hr40m as our connection time and found ourselves waiting around and reading between flights.

 

Why not Bergen to Reykjavik to O'Hare? Why the extra stop when Icelandair has a direct flight from BGO to KEF?

[WanderingBrit]

7 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Why not Bergen to Reykjavik to O'Hare? Why the extra stop when Icelandair has a direct flight from BGO to KEF?

Easy - they didn't when I booked the flights 🙂

[Newdaytrippers]

On 9/1/2023 at 12:56 AM, Newdaytrippers said:

Yes.  A two page itinerary.  I will when we get home.

@Peregrina651As promised, here is the itinerary for the five day Churchill extension.  For us, it was the highlight of the trip.  Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and made himself available to us at the hotel early each day and stayed later each day in case we had questions or concerns not just about the itinerary, but hotel transfers, luggage, theater, restaurants, etc.  He was great.  The bus was huge and very clean, but we were only 28 so we could spread out.  We had the same driver each day, too.  Full days.  Bletchley Park and Chartwell and the private tour/dinner in the War Rooms were outstanding tours and experiences.  DH has some mobility issues and had no problem.  Several other people used canes as well.  Most stairs had handrails and our slower pace did not see to be an issue.  During free time to explore, everyone was able to go at his/her own pace.  We would do it again.

[formernuke]

1 hour ago, Newdaytrippers said:

@Peregrina651As promised, here is the itinerary for the five day Churchill extension.  For us, it was the highlight of the trip.  Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and made himself available to us at the hotel early each day and stayed later each day in case we had questions or concerns not just about the itinerary, but hotel transfers, luggage, theater, restaurants, etc.  He was great.  The bus was huge and very clean, but we were only 28 so we could spread out.  We had the same driver each day, too.  Full days.  Bletchley Park and Chartwell and the private tour/dinner in the War Rooms were outstanding tours and experiences.  DH has some mobility issues and had no problem.  Several other people used canes as well.  Most stairs had handrails and our slower pace did not see to be an issue.  During free time to explore, everyone was able to go at his/her own pace.  We would do it again.

Thank you so much for this! Very helpful for planning purposes.

[Jim Avery]

How was your room at the Strand Palace?  A very good location and it must have been re done since we stayed there in the '90s.  Back then our room looked like the one Chevy Chase had at the Royal Imperial Windsor Arms.....

[Newdaytrippers]

The location was great. Two short blocks to Covent Garden. The hotel was ok.   We had enough room except the bathroom was a tight squeeze.  No complaints but we liked Bergen Bors a lot better.  At the Strand Palace it was easy to catch a black cab which we did to go to see Hamilton one night and to Harrod’s for pricey souvenirs on our last day.  We originally were told we would be at the Marriott Country Hall near the London Eye but then it was switched. 

[Jim Avery]

42 minutes ago, Newdaytrippers said:

The location was great. Two short blocks to Covent Garden. The hotel was ok.   We had enough room except the bathroom was a tight squeeze.  No complaints but we liked Bergen Bors a lot better.  At the Strand Palace it was easy to catch a black cab which we did to go to see Hamilton one night and to Harrod’s for pricey souvenirs on our last day.  We originally were told we would be at the Marriott Country Hall near the London Eye but then it was switched. 

We have stayed at the Marriott County Hall this century and right, much better.  Also convenient to other important stuff.  

[Peregrina651]

5 hours ago, Newdaytrippers said:

@Peregrina651As promised, here is the itinerary for the five day Churchill extension.

 

THANK YOU!  Great information for those who want to know more about the "Churchill's Britain" cruise extension.

[allyg]

We are on the May 1-15 cruise. We depart from Bergen to Reykjavik to Dulles. This route is not always available but, when we booked, it was an option. Their Saga class is nice and we have access to the Air France lounge ( at least we did last May when we began our cruise in Iceland.) Hopefully, it doesn’t change before we board. 

[Peregrina651]

 

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