Pre cruise night in London

Hi All! We are taking a cruise with RCCL out of Southampton next summer. RCCL offers pre night hotel stays near Westminster, London. Can anyone tell me how long the trip is from London Heathrow to Westminster? Also, what is the best way to get there from the airport? RCCL does not offer those transfers. Their package only includes the transfers from the airport to the ship in Southampton. Thank You!

It depends how much you want to spend! The cheapest way is to get the tube. You can get all the way from Heathrow to Westminster - you'll just need to change from the Piccadilly Line to the District Line at Hammersmith. It'll take just under an hour and cost £5.

Alternatively you can get the Heathrow Express train to Paddington and then get the tube. It only takes 15 minutes to get to Paddington, but it costs £21 and then you'd still need to get a tube for another 15 minutes to Westminster. (Or a taxi for the last bit, but that would probably take longer).

If you're not keen on public transport you could get a taxi the whole way - it'll cost £50+, and given traffic it could well be the longest of the lot - over an hour.

Personally I'd get the tube unless it was rush hour, in which case I'd get the Heathrow Express to avoid the worst of the crowds.

I have used http://www.justairports.com (private car service) to/from LHR to our London hotel. To get a quote use the hotel's postal code. My Westminster hotel's postal code is SE1 and cost is 31-41GBP cash depending on the car size and number of luggage. Cost is per car NOT per person. It is about 1/2- 1 hour depending on traffic.

It was nice to be met after a long flight.

You might look into booking your own London hotel as the cruise lines charges per person for the hotel.

You can take a train from Waterloo train station to Southampton and take a taxi from the Southampton train station to the dock under 10GBP.

You can take a taxi to Victoria COACH Station http://www.nationalexpress.com to Southampton COACH station (make sure it is the COACH station) and a taxi to the dock under 10GBP. National Express sometimes has cheap fares a few months in advance of your cruise. It takes 2-2 1/2 hours from London to Southampton. Many cruise lines use Victoria Coach Station for their transfer point in London other than the airports.

As Phabric's post, if you're not yet committed, you might want to check whether you can get better hotel value independently via one of the web booking sites like http://www.booking.com

We can help with suggestions, or comment on your prospective choices.

Westminster is a big borough, covering much of west central London, but any hotel in Westminster and parts of other London boroughs will be convenient for sight-seeing.

For travelling to a Westminster hotel by public transport we really need to know a more precise location, though lucyliz has summarised the tube & the Heathrow Express.

The tube is a great way to travel in London, and one of the cheapest ways from Heathrow but it's not luggage-friendly, so whether to take the tube depends on your mobility & willingness to haul bags. And whether/where you need to change tube trains - which depends on your precise hotel location.

The National Express bus is the other cheap transport from Heathrow. The buses go to Victoria coach station - Victoria is the borough adjacent to Westminster, so the bus then taxi might be a good option - again depending on your hotel's location.

Likewise, the Heathrow Express goes to Paddington station, which is also close to one corner of Westminster - so may be convenient depending on the hotel address. As LL's post it's expensive at £21+ pp but it's luggage-friendly and possibly more convenient than LL thinks.

Or a pre-booked private transfer. That's a competitive market so good value at around £40 - £45 per car. Actual journey time usually around 40 minutes, but that's door-to-door & removes all the hassle & worry.

As well as airport transfers, RCI usually offer a sailing-day transfer from Victoria coach station - but as Phabric's post the National Express bus costs £16pp maximum from the same place. Even after paying for the £6 to £8 taxi hop in Southampton you'd save a wallet-full.

Trains from London Waterloo station to Southampton take about 90 minutes. Fare about £37pp, but can be pre-purchased with limitations for £10 or less. Details if you want.

JB :)

As Phabric's post, if you're not yet committed, you might want to check whether you can get better hotel value independently via one of the web booking sites like http://www.booking.com

We can help with suggestions, or comment on your prospective choices.

Westminster is a big borough, covering much of west central London, but any hotel in Westminster and parts of other London boroughs will be convenient for sight-seeing.

 

For travelling to a Westminster hotel by public transport we really need to know a more precise location, though lucyliz has summarised the tube & the Heathrow Express.

The tube is a great way to travel in London, and one of the cheapest ways from Heathrow but it's not luggage-friendly, so whether to take the tube depends on your mobility & willingness to haul bags. And whether/where you need to change tube trains - which depends on your precise hotel location.

The National Express bus is the other cheap transport from Heathrow. The buses go to Victoria coach station - Victoria is the borough adjacent to Westminster, so the bus then taxi might be a good option - again depending on your hotel's location.

Likewise, the Heathrow Express goes to Paddington station, which is also close to one corner of Westminster - so may be convenient depending on the hotel address. As LL's post it's expensive at £21+ pp but it's luggage-friendly and possibly more convenient than LL thinks.

 

Or a pre-booked private transfer. That's a competitive market so good value at around £40 - £45 per car. Actual journey time usually around 40 minutes, but that's door-to-door & removes all the hassle & worry.

 

As well as airport transfers, RCI usually offer a sailing-day transfer from Victoria coach station - but as Phabric's post the National Express bus costs £16pp maximum from the same place. Even after paying for the £6 to £8 taxi hop in Southampton you'd save a wallet-full.

Trains from London Waterloo station to Southampton take about 90 minutes. Fare about £37pp, but can be pre-purchased with limitations for £10 or less. Details if you want.

 

JB :)

Hi John Bull,

Thanks for all the valuable info you are supplying. We are also taking a cruise out of Southampton next June and I would love to get the scoop on how to get those 10 BP tickets. Would rather spend our money on seeing the sights than wasting it on transportation to the cruise port :) We travel light!

Regards

Petra

Hi John Bull,

Thanks for all the valuable info you are supplying. We are also taking a cruise out of Southampton next June and I would love to get the scoop on how to get those 10 BP tickets. Would rather spend our money on seeing the sights than wasting it on transportation to the cruise port :) We travel light!

Regards

Petra

I can't help you find the train tickets for £10, but how about if I could get you the same tickets for just a single quid (£1).

Megabus is owned by the same parent company as Southwest Trains which runs the route between London and Southampton.

If you go to http://uk.megabus.com/ you can search for tickets between London and Southampton and select 'travel by train'. This will effectively allow you to buy a train ticket at a very reduced price.

I just did a search for the furthest date in the future available for purchase (January 7th), and all the options coming back are for just £1 (plus a 50p booking fee). The same tickets booked through NationalRail are currently £38.50.

You'll even see in the search results that it lists the carrier was SWT (Southwest Trains).

You just need to check back every so often until your required dates are available. There is no set schedule on when they release new dates though.

Hope that helps

Duane-O

Hi John Bull,

Thanks for all the valuable info you are supplying. We are also taking a cruise out of Southampton next June and I would love to get the scoop on how to get those 10 BP tickets. Would rather spend our money on seeing the sights than wasting it on transportation to the cruise port :) We travel light!

Regards

Petra

Hi Petra,

Those £10 (or thereabouts) tickets via the megatrain website linked in Duane's post.

The website is run by a consortium of travel operators, including South-West Trains who operate the Waterloo to Southampton route, & sells bucket-price tickets to help sell space on under-subscribed trains.

They're offered from about 6 to 7 weeks out.

Although several dozen trains per day operate on that route, megatrain tickets are restricted to about half a dozen of them, but you will find that two or three fit in with a cruise sailing out of Southampton.

Must be pre-booked on that website and you must select a date and time, no cancellation or amendment. So if you foul-up & miss your booked train those tickets are useless, you'll have to pay full price at the station for the next train.

You are supposed to use those train carriages which have "megatrain" labels on the windows (if they bother to put the labels on :rolleyes:) but those carriages are identical to the others.

No megatrain tix on sundays.

Nor on morning trains in the Southampton to London direction - that's a busy direction in the mornings, no need to sell cheap tickets.

Prices are fluid, sometimes as low as £1 when released, more typically £6 to £10, and as high as £15 close to the date.

Run dummy bookings for a date or two in the next few weeks, then put the website in your diary to book 6 weeks before your cruise..

JB :)