6/08 Transportation/Hotels London to Southhampton/Southhampton to Heathrow

[campsup]

Any suggestions for hotel (3 adults) in London. Also transportation from London to Southhampton. After the cruise, does Princess offer any transportation from Southhampton to London Heathrow with any touring of sites involved. If so, how long does the tour last and what time should I book a flight home from Heathrow?

[RickT]

For transportation from London to Southampton, check out http://www.nationalexpress.com/. We used them this summer and found their rates good and the service quick. They drop you off about a 5 minute cab ride from the ship (you could walk the distance too).

 

You may also want to check out http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ as the trains are excellent too. Just be sure to try and pick a route that doesn't require you to change trains. It can be a pain if you need to go to a different platform with your luggage.

 

Sorry, no info on hotels or post cruise tours however I believe on our cruise this summer, Princess did offer some post cruise tours (probably to stonehenge) the ultimately took you to heathrow. The Princess web site should list them.

[BlueVinney]

As a 'Brit' living not too far from Southampton I would recommend using National Express coaches between Southampton and London Heathrow Airport and train between Southampton and London Gatwick Airport.

 

Coaches travel directly between Southampton and Heathrow, every hour taking two hours. Trains may be faster but you need to tranfer to a coach for the final 30 minutes journey. RickT has the web site in his post.

 

Trains travel directly between Southampton but coaches do not.

[Spikesgirl]

Campsup - we just did this cruise in July/August '07. We were also three (2 adults, one teen) and we stayed at the Renaissance Chancellory (sp?). It was nice, but muy expensive. We booked it with Princess though. We had a transfer from the airpot to the hotel, from the hotel to Southhampton. At the end of the cruise, there were two transfers that also offered various sites, like Stonehenge on the way back to the airport (one to Heathrow, one to Gatwick) - the stipulation was that it was for people whose planes were leaving after 3 p.m. There were also transfer directly to the airports for those whose planes left before, as well as transfers back to hotels.

 

Any other questions, I'll be glad to help.

 

Charlie

[campsup]

Thx. for the help. Booking separate hotel and transfers would save me $500 but looks like booking with Princess for hotels and transfers seems to be the easiest way to go.

 

Any tips on shore excursions? Thinking of doing Princess excursion into Paris. Do you know if they stop and get off the bus or do they just do a quick drive by? In Belfast -- Giant Causeway -- 3.5 hour drive and only 1 hour at Causeway -- worth the drive time??

 

DId you do any pre cruise in London; thinking of doing the London Walk - Jack the Ripper tour.

[blackwing]

We're staying two nights prior and one night post-cruise in London, so we'll be going directly to and from Southampton from central London, not Heathrow.

 

I'd much prefer taking a train over a bus. If you get the train from central London, do you still have to transfer to a bus for the last 30 minutes, or is that just for Heathrow? Where do you get the train? Does it stop at all the major stations (Victoria, Paddington, etc)? And where do you get the bus in central London? Thanks.

[BlueVinney]

Hi blackwing,

 

Almost all the railway stations in London are terminus stations and trains for a particular destination only arrive and depart from one of them. Southampton trains arrive and leave from Waterloo Station. There are, currently, 3 trains each hour between Waterloo and Southampton of which 2 are fast and one slow, stopping at more stations. The fast ones take about 1 hour and 15 minutes, the slow train about 20 minutes more.

 

Times and frequencies are likely to be similar next August. Ask on the forum nearer your travel time for help with times and fares.

 

Southampton Railway station is within 2 miles of all the cruise terminals. You should budget GBP5.00 to 10.00 for a taxi between ship and train.

 

At the London end most people use Tube (London Underground, i.e. subway) or taxi to and from their hotel.

 

There is no bus involved at the Southampton end. Using buses to and from your hotel in London is NOT advisable because they would be busy and give problems handling suitcases with the other passengers.

[pcur]

I've done two pre-cruise stays in London, and I was just talking to DH about a THIRD trip without a cruise, because I haven't seen enough!!

 

I can recommend a hotel very close to Victioria Station in London (also known as London Central), but it's not 5-star. It's the Luna and Simone and we were very, very happy with it. However, there is no a/c, so it's not going to be good in hot weather.

 

Anyway, I suggest the hop on/off bus for a great overview of the city. You can buy tickets online from bigbus.com.

 

All of the following can be reached from the hoho:

 

Tower of London was fascinating, and you can catch the river cruise from this stop

 

Westminster and Houses of Parliment

 

British Museum: better study up and select what you want to see; you could spend a week there!

 

Victoria and Albert museum: they have a great collection of historical clothing and artifacts (fascinates me, but maybe not your interest).

 

Then, right at the coach station in Victoria you can catch the half day trip to Windsor Castle.

 

There's tons more, but these are my recommendations.