Assistance Wanted

[ftl principal]

Hi everyone... This past year we travelled on a Med cruise and the information we got here was most useful. This year, we are sailing on the July 2 voyage of the Celebrity Constellation from Dover to Scandanavia and Russia. I am hoping to gather some useful information regarding this itinerary on CC, too...

 

Anyway, neither my partner nor I have ever been to England, so we are, at this point, planning on doing 3 nights pre-cruise in London and then heading to Dover on the morning of the cruise. Is this advisable? Can anyone recommend a few good places to stay in London that are near metro lines?

 

Also, what is the best way (without spending a fortune - want to save money for use on tours, etc.) to get from London to Dover?

 

Additionally, after the cruise, we have a 1 pm flight back to Florida from Gatwick. How do you suggest getting from the ship to the airport in a very timely fashion? Does Celebrity offer good transfers?

 

If anyone has any information or advice to make our trip more pleasurable, please let me know. Thanks so much!

 

Mark

[Morgans]

We did this cruise this year and had a marvellous time - Constellation was beautiful and we met some lovely people. If you wish to spend a few days in London prior to the cruise, one hotel we would recommend is Dolphin Square Hotel. It is situated very near Pimlico tube station and not very far from Victoria train station from where you can take a train to Dover Priory station to start the cruise. This worked well for us and is not expensive. There are several other options such as private hire and also coach from Victoria Coach station but we found the train to do us just fine. It took about 1hr 50 mins.

Enjoy your planning!

 

Marge M.

[nny92825100]

We stayed at the London Marriott Kensington and just loved the hotel. It is 5 minutes from Earl's court and Glouchester tube stations. It is a short walk to the Victoria and Albert Museum and not too far a walk to Harrod's. The executive level rooms include breakfast, free non alcoholic beverages and afternoon canapes along with snacks 24 hours, newspapers, magazines and games. The rooms are huge, even by American standards, with a walk in shower and a separate tub, double sinks, king size bed with down comforter and a sofa. If you go to Marriott.com they promise the best prices. I kept checking and finally got the room for 124 pounds per night. There is a grocery across the street and a laundry about a block away. The restaurants in the area are ethnic and very good. Considering other areas of London we stayed in, we felt very safe walking here at night. Notting Hill with Portabello Market is only one or two tube stops away. For transportation, we chose londontown.com as we did not wish to go from Gatwick to the hotel using the Gatwick express and tubes or London's very expensive taxi's. We were met at Gatick and given a mini tour to our hotel. On the day of the cruise, once again they came and met us, and took us to the port. We also used them for our trip back to the hotel, and then the next day to the airport. One thing we didn't have time to do in London is londonwalks.com. They have pub crawls, Jack the Ripper walks, queens grocer walks to mention a few. Also, avoid London on a bankers holiday. All the sights are packed and the tube can be miserable. We were there on our Memorial day which is a bankers holiday weekend in the UK. Needless to say, we missed the Tower, Eye and many other sites. Luckily we have been to London many times and have seen most everything.

 

I do recommend doing the vacation before the cruise so you can make sure your luggage makes it. On the three cruises we have now done in Europe, we always run into people who did not get luggage. We opted to stay both before and after, which allowed us to get good touring ideas from the people on the cruise. Unfortunately it was the bankers holiday.

 

Another idea is to check tripadvisor.com on any hotels you might be interested in. The reviews can be quite frank!

 

If you need any other info, we would be happy to help. Just ask. Like I said, we have been to the UK many times and are more than willing to share our finds.

[ftl principal]

Thank you for the hotel and London information. It is definitely helpful in planning - and greatly appreciated. I look forward to other "tips" that would be useful.

 

Mark

[nny92825100]

There is a thread in Baltic ports called Stockholm pictures. The people showing the pictures also do tours. They put a link on it for me, so I suggest looking and see what they have to offer. I know I sure would have liked a private tour of Stockholm as it was the most beautiful historic place. Everyone puts so much effort into St. Petersburg when all the cities have so much to see.

 

Another tip, pack and then remove half. haha