London Airport Left Luggage Dilemma

[CruisinD]

We're flying into Heathrow and have a few days before our cruise that leaves from Barcelona. Before going on to Barcelona, we want to spend those intervening days in the UK. We arrive at Terminal 3 at Heathrow. If we then go on to Barcelona from Heathrow a few days later (which would be Terminal 1) we'd like to leave our big luggage in left luggage storage rather than taking it into London or other UK area.

 

Does anyone know how difficult it would be to retrieve our luggage at the arrivals area at Terminal 3 and then get it to Left Luggage facilities at Terminal 1? We'll have a large piece each as well as a rolling carryon, and possibly a garment bag. If it's too much of a hassle, we'll then just take all the luggage into London and then do our Barcelona flights from Gatwick, as that is where we need to be after the cruise.

 

I'd rather be free of the larger pieces of luggage until we need to take them to Barcelona. I want to get the London/Barcelona return tickets taken care of soon and need to figure out if we book from Heathrow or Gatwick.

 

Does this make sense to anyone???

 

Is anyone familiar enough with Heathrow to give me some advice?

 

We usually fly from Gatwick and will be doing something similar to this there in April, but it's all in the same terminal so not as difficult to work out the logistics.

[awms]

Hi there:-

 

If you don't get an answer directly from anyone. Try contacting the company directly via http://www.excess-baggage.com/airport or Email: heathrow@excess-baggage.com

 

As I have been doing some research on this same subject for our cruise in May/07.

 

Myron

[Globaliser]

Does anyone know how difficult it would be to retrieve our luggage at the arrivals area at Terminal 3 and then get it to Left Luggage facilities at Terminal 1?

It's not difficult at all. You just need to get the luggage out, put it on a trolley, exit Customs, wheel it down the ramp into the underground tunnel system and then walk it over to Terminal 1.

 

Personally, what I would do is to move the luggage over to Terminal 1 and put it in the left luggage there as soon as I arrive, as you're suggesting. It gets that part of the job out of the way straight away, when you have no particular time pressure having just arrived. Also, you can grab a trolley in the baggage reclaim area so there's no difficulty trying to find one.

 

Although there is also a left luggage facility at T3 as well (in fact, at every terminal at Heathrow), what you'd avoid is a situation where you're delayed getting back to the airport, yet you still have to go to the "wrong" terminal first, and then haul everything to the "right" terminal and try to do all that before the check-in deadline.

[Globaliser]

As I have been doing some research on this same subject for our cruise in May/07.

Let me know if I can help.

[whogo]

Left luggage is not cheap. The last I checked it was £6 per bag per 24 hours or part thereof (roughly $12 per bag per day). I wouldn't leave anything small on a whim at that price.

[paws10]

Have you thought about shipping your luggage directly to the port where you will board the ship? I've read about Virtual Bellhop and FedEx on other threads. That way, you won't have to deal with your oversized bags at all!

[Globaliser]

Have you thought about shipping your luggage directly to the port where you will board the ship? I've read about Virtual Bellhop and FedEx on other threads. That way, you won't have to deal with your oversized bags at all!

If the OP's spending 3 days in London before the cruise, £20 per bag (actually, slightly less) is probably a lot less than it would cost to ship each bag from Florida to Europe.

[awms]

Hi Globaliser:-

 

I will take you up on your offer of help.I have read some of the helpful comments you have imparted to others on the Cruise Critic's website and you seem very knowledgeable.

 

My wife and I are new cruisers and have been trying to decide on what option would be best for us to get to London following our ships disembarkation from the Port of Harwich at the end of May/07.

 

We will be staying at a Hotel in the Kensington area of London for three days post cruise, and have been considering a number of options.

 

Option#1 Cruiseship Transfers to Airport & Leave Luggage there and catch the tube;

 

Option #2 Train from Harwich to Liverpool Station and then taxi to Hotel;

Option #3 Cruiseship Transfer to Airport and then Hotelink to Hotel;

Option #4 Cruiseship Transfer to Airport and Heathrow Express to Paddington Station and then taxi;

Option #5 Cruiseship Transfer to Airport and Hotel Private Car Service 55GBP;

Option #6 Private Car Service. Cheapest Quote 130 GBP.

 

The fastest and least expensive mode would be Option#2 and I just not sure about Liverpool Station is it easy to get around with luggage after getting off the train and what will a taxi cost approximately from there to the Kensington area?

 

Appreciate any suggestions?

 

Thanks

 

Myron

Canada

[Globaliser]

Frankly, the most important factor is how much luggage you're going to have, and how easily you can manage it. If you can carry and wheel your own luggage around without much difficulty (eg one wheelie suitcase and one backpack, which is what I travel with), then train + taxi is likely to be the most efficient and cost-effective way of doing it, as you say.

 

But if you're thinking of leaving some luggage at the airport while you stay in London for three days, it may be that you have rather more than that. In that case, there is certainly an argument for going to the airport to drop some of it off first.

 

If you do that, the question of how to get back into town still depends on how much you're going to bring back with you and how easily you can carry it around (including up and down stairs if necessary), and exactly where your hotel is.

 

But that's got to be balanced against the time taken to do that and what the cruise line would charge you for taking you to the airport, as well as what it will cost you to get from the hotel to the airport if you have all your luggage with you. If it's only going to be about £65 per person to get a car directly from the ship to the hotel, and about £20 per person to get a taxi from the hotel to the airport, you need to see how much you'd save by buying the cruise line transfer from ship to airport, and whether that's worth the extra time you're going to spend doing that.

 

You might want to note that you are not going to "Liverpool Station" (which is likely to be interpreted as being in a city couple of hundred miles to the northwest of London) but to "Liverpool Street Station". The habit of dropping the latter half of the street name is very dangerous in London and indeed the UK.

 

A taxi from Liverpool Street to Kensington would probably be in the £15-20 bracket.

[awms]

Hi Globaliser:-

 

Thanks for the information.

 

Myron

[CruisinD]

Globaliser, thanks for the information on the trolley, etc. at Heathrow. We've only been at that airport once in the last few years and all I remember is how long it takes to get anywhere! Tunnels galore. Luckily I saw someone using a trolley and decided to follow his example. Good thing; we must have gone a good half mile or better with our stuff! It's good to know that we can get from one terminal to the other with a trolley. I was all set to book until I checked the fares using Gatwick both ways (Lon-BCN, FCO-Lon) and found a big difference for our dates in November. So good in fact that I upped us to Club Europe on BA. Well, I save a little and spend a little :) I try to rationalize it a bit by telling myself that at least we'll get fed on the plane and I'll save airport meal costs - and won't have to juggle the luggage weight around to fit the otherwise more restrictive parameters. (although we don't have a lot) We'll just stay in London rather than going elsewhere so taking the luggage with us won't be so bad. Thanks again....

 

Denise

[Globaliser]

I was all set to book until I checked the fares using Gatwick both ways (Lon-BCN, FCO-Lon) and found a big difference for our dates in November. So good in fact that I upped us to Club Europe on BA.

Good - you'll enjoy CE. Don't forget to make good use of the lounge at Gatwick - it's one of the best on the network, and pretty high up the list of good airline lounges worldwide. And, of course, as you're on holiday, a glass of champagne on board is de rigeur. :D

[pcur]

A little off-topic, but I want to thank everyone for this thread! Especially Globaliser, who I consider to be our personal cruisecritic live encyclopedia of everything UK!! :D

 

DH and I are flying into Stansted from BCN after a cruise, and he was asking about not taking both our rolling duffels with us for the post-cruise portion of the trip. We are packing exceptionally light for this trip, but he'd like us to be down to just one bag, plus carry-on for this portion of the trip (we've rented a SmartCar, and space is at a premium!).

 

So, this thread got me researching Stansted, and they have a left luggage vendor, also, for 4.5 GBP per day. We will use that.

 

By the way, I checked the shipping options for our luggage and the prices ARE huge! Not a good option if you're on a budget.

 

Anyway, thanks for helping me along.

[Bramcruiser]

Left luggage is not cheap. The last I checked it was £6 per bag per 24 hours or part thereof (roughly $12 per bag per day). I wouldn't leave anything small on a whim at that price.

 

Its all relative. Compared to the excess baggage charges on flights and the costs of using couriers to ship luggage $12/day is actually cheap. I'd go for it and am thinking of using it too for my upcoming trip.

 

David