Constellation for the Northern European itinerary

[Queen of Adventure]

I just booked our first 14 nighter on the Constellation sailing out of Dover, England on August 27th, 2005:D This is also our first cruise out of England, and I'd appreciate any and all tips on getting from airport to pier and where to stay the night before:o

 

I am VERY excited - both by the itinerary AND the Cirque du Soleil contract (I need a bouncing up and down icon:p )

Thanks,

Ahnalira

[Queen of Adventure]

bump

[joramrose]

I took this cruise in June of this year.

 

It was great -- but too many ports. You can wear out quickly with only two sea days!

 

My best advice: Don't try to take a ship's tour every day. In a couple of places, plan to do something on your own, just wandering around soaking up the atmosphere.

 

In St. Petersburg, take a private tour, with either Denrus or Red October. Cheper, more convenient and you will see more. We opted to go with Denrus for full two days, in a van for six, and it was great.

 

Go to the port boards. There is loads of information available! Best bets for do it yourself: Le Havre (unless you have not seen the battlefields), Copenhagen, Oslo and Tailinn. (Not sure if your itinerary is identical to mine.) Some fellow passengers enjoye3d tooling around on their own in Helsinki.

 

Feel free to ask me about anything else.

 

BTW: Warning. Be sure you go a day or two early to Britain. We had a terrible time with weather delays,etc., and my friend missed the first two days of the cruise.

 

There are a couple of good hotels in ?Dover -- the pier is right in town. Or stay around the airport in London and let Celebrity whisk you away.

 

love

joan

[Queen of Adventure]

Great tips, Joan! Thanks:D Do have a web site url for the independent tours in St Petersburg?

[jezzdogg]

Joan

We are doing this cruise in July 2005, what hotels would you rec. in Dover and had many days should be spent there, what to see???? Many thanks

[Gr8Cruisin']

We are taking this same cruise in June '05. We have reservations for one night pre-cruise at the Churchill Hotel and Health Club Dover Waterfront. It is a Best Western International at 1-800-528-1234.

 

Hope this will help.

[aztex]

We are sailing out of Dover next year as well and have two nights booked at the East Lee Guest House in Dover. You might want to look at this web site for a full review of the accomodations there. www.whitecliffscountry.org.uk

 

The least expensive way from the airport to Dover, that we could find, is by bus via National Express Coach. There is also a connect by train which is slightly more. Either way you can connect to bus or train at Victoria Station in London. You can find National Express at www.nationalexpress.com

 

We are going to use a small tour service out of Dover for the trip from Gatwick so we can spend the day getting to Dover by doing a little country viewing.

 

Hope this helps. Do take a look at the B&Bs. They are highly recommended and a good deal compared to the international chains.

[msiowa]

We stayed at the East Lee Guest House last August for the night before our cruise. It was delightful. The Knights are very accomodating (we got there at 10am direct from Heathrow and they let us settle in - VERY early for England) and let us leave our big (and I mean BIG bags in their diningroom until we left for the cruise the nect morning). They introduced us to another couple who were also on our cruise at breakfast and they ended up being our best cruise buddies.

 

We toured around Dover the day before the cruise - nice town - did the hop on/hop off bus and toured the castle including the tunnels. Terrific! We were well rested the next day when we boarded the ship - ready to have fun.

 

Have a great cruise!

Joanie

[aztex]

Joanie,

 

Thanks for the feedback on East Lee. We have heard many excellent reports and are really looking forward to spending some time there. Our goal is to get rested for the cruise but there are so many interesting sites in that part of England that we will have to be "extremely disciplined" - and I have never been able to apply that principle to anything. :o

 

Again, thanks for the feedback.

[aqua]

We were on the ship with joramrose and also had a great time. (Hi Joann!) I agree that you really need to go to London early. There were other passengers who also missed the ship, and were very disappointed not to see Paris. We went 2 days early and stayed at the Holiday Inn London-Bloomsbury. It was a nice hotel, reasonably priced, and well located (steps from the Russel Square tube stop and the British Museum.) The day of the sailing, we took the National Express bus from Victoria Coach Station to Dover. It was inexpensive (11.75 Pounds per person, half-price for seniors) and easy. There were several other Constellation passengers on the bus with us. It's a great ship.

[TourDeCruise]

We just returned a couple days ago from the Constellation Baltic cruise. We stayed one night pre-cruise in the Churchill Hotel and Health Club Dover Waterfront. It is a nice hotel; very convenient to restaurants, sights, and dock; has a restaurant (didn't eat there); and has a nice gym. Also, it is on the waterfront and you will be able to see the Constellation from the hotel room window. The rooms are very small (or at least ours was), but my husband and I agreed that we would stay there again the next time we are in Dover. The nice thing about the hotel room being so small is that it made the cabin look bigger!

 

We went to Leed's Castle on the way from Gatwick to Dover and then visited some of the Dover sights the next morning. Something for everyone there including Roman Ruins, a bronze age boat in a museum, Norman and Saxon churches, Dover Castle, tunnels, the white cliffs, restaurants, and shopping.

 

The cruise was fantastic. You will really enjoy it.

[joramrose]

Don't be turned off by the small size of hotel rooms thorughout

England.

 

You should see the one we had for three nights in Stockholm post-cruise! Not much bigger than a closet -- and I don't mean a walk-in closet. But the hotel (the Lady Hamilton) was delightful and so well located we didn't mind being packed in.

 

We have stayed several times in London at the Radisson Edwardian on Greater Russell Street, just down from the British Museum. Not only are rooms small, but there is no drawer space. They told us that drawers are "high maintenance" items!

 

But again, this hotel is so well located it is worth it.

 

I didn't stay overnight in Dover, but I lucked out. My travelling companion was one of those who missed two days of the cruise, and had a trying time even getting in at all. It has made a believer out of me. However, I have been to Dover before, and there is some lovely sight-seeing there.

 

love

joan

 

We qre planning a South American cruise in late March, and we plan to go THREE days early to Rio!

[TourDeCruise]

Thanks, Joan, Aqua, and Aztec for your information on hotels near the British Museum, other hotels in Dover, and about the National Express. We want to visit the British Museum, so this information will come in handy. I was wondering what hotels might be near the British Museum.

[mare s.]

Hey Queen of Adventure....we're gonna be on the same cruise!!! I had started a roll call, but the one other couple who responded later decided to go on a Med cruise instead. I think I recognize your screen name from the HAL Board???? We're going to fly over early too and are looking for a place near Dover to stay the night before the cruise (after the cruise we're going to stay in England for a few days...I have family there) Just think...we have a full year to be excited and drive ourselves and everyone around us crazy!!!!

[mare s.]

Tour de Cruise....whoops, forgot in my last post to tell you...a few years ago we stayed at a lovely little hotel right around the corner from the British Museum...the Montague.

[Queen of Adventure]

Hey Queen of Adventure....we're gonna be on the same cruise!!! I had started a roll call, but the one other couple who responded later decided to go on a Med cruise instead. I think I recognize your screen name from the HAL Board???? We're going to fly over early too and are looking for a place near Dover to stay the night before the cruise (after the cruise we're going to stay in England for a few days...I have family there) Just think...we have a full year to be excited and drive ourselves and everyone around us crazy!!!!

Yep, Mare, I've cruised HAL and played on the HAL forums lots:D

 

I am SO excited about this cruise!

Ahnalira

[Mike M]

Hi TourDeCruise,

My wife and I would also like to go to Leed's Castle on the way

to Dover. Did you use a taxi company that you could recommend? Did the taxi wait for you at Leed's? Any guidance about this would be much appreciated.

Mike M

[Mike M]

Hi Mare S,

We will be on your Baltic cruise. I replied to you on your roll call thread.

Mike M.

[TourDeCruise]

MikeM: We used a company called Central Taxis that provided a small bus and driver (no tour guide). They transported us from Gatwick Airport to Dover. Leeds Castle is on the way. There were 6 of us in our group and it cost us $75.00 each for the taxi time, which included the transfer and 4 hours tour time. We had 3 hours at Leeds. We would have had 4 hours but our plane had an hour delay, so we lost an hour. You can see Leeds pretty much in 3 hours although 4 hours would be nice if you want to have lunch there and go at a leisurely pace and see everything. The gentleman at Central's name was Phil. His e-mail address is PHull4321@aol.com . If you use them, make sure to have them check to see if the flight is on schedule that morning and see if you can make arrangements not to lose time/money due to flight delays.

[Mike M]

TourDeCruise,

Thank you very much for that information.

Mike M

[mare s.]

Mike...didn't see your post on roll call. I think I'd better get over to that Board and bump it up. Looks like we may have the beginnings of a party!! BTW, it's early yet, but has anyone contacted Red October or Denrus? I was planning to email both companies in October. Any interest in sharing and lowering the price? We have one other couple going with us on the cruise.

[Queen of Adventure]

Mike...didn't see your post on roll call. I think I'd better get over to that Board and bump it up. Looks like we may have the beginnings of a party!! BTW, it's early yet, but has anyone contacted Red October or Denrus? I was planning to email both companies in October. Any interest in sharing and lowering the price? We have one other couple going with us on the cruise.

We might be interested, Mare. I have to check with everyone in my group, but I like the idea:D

Ahnalira

[frenchrga]

We are taking this cruise in May 2006. How much was the tour of St. Petersburg with Denrus or Red October? Also, we fly out of Gatwick the next day after the cruise. I guess I need to look for a hotel somewhere near Gatwick for ease of getting to airport early next day. Any suggestions as to how to get from Dover after cruise to a nearby Gatwick hotel?

[sandyruth]

it looks like we will be joining you on this baltic cruise ,as we live in the uk we dont need a hotel but i can do some research if you would like. we are really looking forward to this but going on HAL zuiderdam on 28 jan first! stay in touch fellow cruisers