pier in Harwich

[csk]

I just booked a transatlantic cruise on the Jewel of Seas for May of 2005, and just beginning my plans. Can anyone give me information on transportation from the Harwich pier to Harwich-London airport. Thinking of maybe spending the night before departing. Any information will be appreciated.

[sandydownunder]

If you are thinking of spending a night in London when you disembark, Harwich International station is along side the pier. The train goes to Liverpool Street in London which is also an Underground stop. From there you have the underground network for where ever you may wish to go. Only problem is that many of the Underground stations do not have elevators, so you may have to negotiate steps with your cases. It can be done. We went by train from Liverpool Street to the ship at Harwich. Journey was a little over an hour and cost around 14 pounds if I remember correctly.

[Navy_Chief]

We actualy booked Bus passage from the pier to Heathrow when we booked our tickets. Dragging Luggage through the underground didn't seem to promising. Besides, we're flying out that day and are meeting some UK friends at Heathrow. It costs a little more but I don't mind that.- Bob

[Globaliser]

The train company that operates services to Harwich usually puts on special trains on cruise ship days. The 2004 services can be seen on this page and this page from the port's website. These trains are the most convenient way of getting to central London from the pier by public transport.

 

If you are going to spend a night in London, you can easily get a taxi from Liverpool Street station to wherever your hotel is, if you don't fancy taking your luggage through the Underground. Taxis are usually plentiful at all mainline railway stations. (Remember that it's "Liverpool Street station", not "Liverpool station" which is several hundred miles away.)

 

If you are going directly from the pier to the airport, then a cruise line coach transfer may well be the most convenient way of doing it, even though you will pay dearly for the convenience. To get to either Heathrow or Gatwick from Liverpool Street station involves changing trains at least twice, once at Liverpool Street and once at either Paddington or Victoria respectively.

[Mike Andrews]

As above take the train right into London Liverpool Street Station,then take a Black cab the inexpensive short journey to London Paddington Station where you get the Heathrow Express direct into London Heathrow Airport. http://WWW.heathrowexpress.co.uk

[csk]

tjhank you everybody for your information, not sure yet what we are going to do, what about renting a car near the peir, is that possible, and then return it at the airport, have a lot of research to do before this trip, thanks again

[Globaliser]

I think that one problem may be a lack of car rental places at the pier. I haven't done the search now but from memory there aren't any major agencies in Harwich. This would make it difficult to rent one-way, at least at any affordable rate.

 

Also, if you are thinking of spending a night in central London, then having a car may be expensive and cumbersome. Parking is not cheap. Moreover, you may find returning the car at Heathrow (if that's where you're flying from) to be an aggravating process, because the car rental places are mostly quite a long way from the terminals by shuttle.

[sue.young]

csk We are on the Jewel crossing in 2 weeks and also on the May 05 crossing. Here is a link for the CC roll call for May 05 come join us.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=51547&page=1&pp=25&highlight=jewel+transatlantic

 

Our CC group has a bus taking us from London to the port for the 9-04 trip we have 23 people on the bus. Will let you know how things go after we get back.

[csk]

tjhanks everyone, checking the roll call, would love to share a van or bus with anyone, we are flying out of the Harwich Airport

[Francine]

How easy or difficult would it be to get to Paris from the ship in Harwich?

 

Fran

[Globaliser]

we are flying out of the Harwich Airport

This I have to see! :D

 

Seriously, I think you may mean that you're flying from Gatwick airport, which at least is close to London. Harwich is miles away and I always think that it's a bit misleading of cruise lines to advertise ports like Harwich, Dover or Southampton as "London" when they are nowhere near London.

How easy or difficult would it be to get to Paris from the ship in Harwich?

Basically, you have to get yourself either to central London, and then take the train, or else to one of the London airports and then fly.

 

The more creative route would be to take the ferry from Harwich to the Hook of Holland, and then get a train from there to Paris. Although this avoids you having to transfer from Harwich to London, I suspect that overall it would take so long that it's not really worth it.

[Joyfredsblondecruiser]

Is there a place near the Pier in Le Havre to purchase Wine. Thank you. Happy Sailing, Joy

[sue.young]

There is a small tourist info. building at the port that has several vendors selling wine. Not sure of the quality but very handy. You could also take a taxi to town for a wine shop. We took a tour to Normandy and just had the driver stop so we could get a few bottles. Wish we had gotten more, some of the nicest wine we have had!

[Joyfredsblondecruiser]

Dear Sue: Thank you so much for the information. I appreciate it very much. Happy Sailing, Joy

[Joyfredsblondecruiser]

Is there a place in Harwich to purchase wine near the Pier? Happy Sailing, Joy

[roysmith99]

Hi folks,

 

I was amused by the comment that

 

Harwich is miles away and I always think that it's a bit misleading of cruise lines to advertise ports like Harwich, Dover or Southampton as "London" when they are nowhere near London.

 

Of course this is true and for us Brits this is a ral pain, but no more so than getting from JFK or Newark into Manhattan, or from LAX to San pedro or Long Beach, Livorno to Florence or Rome Campino Airport or Civitavecchia to the Eternal city. All about the same in time, if not distance.

 

Just a thought.

[Globaliser]

Of course this is true and for us Brits this is a ral pain, but no more so than getting from JFK or Newark into Manhattan, or from LAX to San pedro or Long Beach, Livorno to Florence or Rome Campino Airport or Civitavecchia to the Eternal city. All about the same in time, if not distance.

I'm afraid I don't agree. You can get from JFK to Manhattan in about half an hour when traffic is flowing well. There's no way that you can reach any of the London airports from Harwich in anything like that sort of time, even at 3 am.

 

I think that "Livorno for Florence" is equally misleading. If you're flying, Pisa airport is much closer to Livorno than Florence - so that's how my parents got to Hong Kong from Livorno earlier this year.

[Joyfredsblondecruiser]

Since we have never been to London before I think we will enjoy the scenery! Happy Sailing, Joy

[cruise'n]

Is it possible to get a bus from Heathrow to Harwich? Do you need to make a reservation? What is the approx. cost?

[Globaliser]

Is it possible to get a bus from Heathrow to Harwich? Do you need to make a reservation? What is the approx. cost?

I don't think there is an easy way to get to Harwich by bus from any London origin.

 

Off the top of my head' date=' I think the reasonable alternatives would be:-[list']Private car transfer all the way[*]Train to Paddington, Tube or taxi to Liverpool Street, train to Harwich[*]Tube to Liverpool Street, train to Harwich

Another possibility is taking the bus to Ipswich (at least one change) and then a taxi to Harwich.

[cruise'n]

Globaliser: Thanks for the info!

 

I have heard that if you try to use a train, you will need to take your luggage up or down stairs to change trains. I'm wondering if we try your second choice: "Train to Paddington, Tube or taxi to Liverpool Street, train to Harwich" and use the taxi from Paddington to Liverpool St., would that eliminate the stair problem?

Do you need to make a reservation for the train or can you just buy a ticket when you arrive at the train station?

 

How far is it from Paddington to Liverpool St.?

 

Thanks for your help,

[Globaliser]

If you do train-taxi-train, you won't need to manage stairs. However, at Heathrow you will need to be able to carry your luggage a few yards to the train as baggage trolleys aren't allowed on the platforms themselves. Other than that, there is step-free access by lifts (elevators) at Heathrow and at Liverpool Street; there are no vertical changes at Paddington.

 

If you are thinking of taking the Tube, you really need to be able to carry all of your luggage in one go (no shuttling backwards and forwards), and to carry it up or down stairs for the equivalent of one storey.

 

You won't need to make a reservation for either of the trains, but if you are able to buy a ticket in advance for the Liverpool Street-Harwich journey it may be cheaper than the walk-up fares. You will want to check about ticket delivery options, because I don't think that there are any UK-based websites that will post rail tickets overseas. There may, however, be options for picking up tickets at Liverpool Street. If you can't, though, then you'll just need to buy a ticket when you get to Liverpool Street. Theoretically, you may be able to get a through-ticket from Heathrow to Harwich, but ticket delivery problems may make it completely impracticable to try this.

 

Go to the Heathrow Express website for that part of the journey - there's a small discount for booking in advance online. However, you may think that it's so small that it's not worth the effort of making the booking and paying for it and keeping track of the reference number etc. when you can just pitch up, stick a credit card in the machine and have a ticket issued within 30 seconds anyway (in fact, about 15 seconds once you get used to the machines).

 

The newly-revamped National Rail website will give you access to times and fare information for the Liverpool Street to Harwich trains and also has links to booking sites. If you want to go directly to a booking site, I normally use the Trainline and qjump, which are now two different portals for the same company (but sometimes one works when the servers on the other are down).

 

Paddington to Liverpool Street is about 5 miles, but it does not take only 8 minutes (as Mapquest was busily trying to tell me earlier!). In a taxi, I would expect it to cost somewhere between £10 and £15, depending on traffic and time of day.

 

One final thing: If you are staying at the Pier hotel, I think you will need Harwich Town station, not Harwich International (which is where the ferries and cruise ships depart from).

[cruise'n]

Globaliser: I can't thank you enough! This is just the information I have been trying to find out. We have made a reservation for the Hotel Continental for one night before our cruise and will be staying in London for 2 days after the cruise.

 

Thank you again!