1st time visitors to London-Need advise

We are booked on the inaugural sailing of the Bliss on April 21, 2018. We are flying in a couple days early to Gatwick airport, and can use some advise on best place to stay in or around London, or if we should stay at a hotel closer to the port. We would like to see at least a few of the tourist spots in London, so would it be better to stay in London, or in Southampton and take a train/taxi, Uber to London to see the sites?

If we stay in London any recommendations for transport to the port on day of cruise?

Thank you in advance!

You would be better to stay in a hotel in London as it is about 80 miles away from Southampton.

People usually recommend Smiths for Airports and West Quay Cars for private transport to the port on the day of the cruise.

http://www.smithsairportcars.co.uk/Home/Airports

http://westquaycars.com/

Hi, hope you are looking forward to your trip?

This would depend on your preferred method of transport and how confident you are with public transport. If it was me, I would be getting the train and I would spend those first few days staying close to either a tube or train station in or on the outskirts of London. Southampton is a fair distance from London and you don't want to waste limited time travelling?

Since I'm assuming you will have luggage you might consider staying at Gatwick airport? This isn't something I would normally recommend but I believe you can get a direct train to Southampton from there and there are quick trains into central London.

If you are planning on using taxis and budget isn't an issue then this will increase your options, and only you will know if you would rather stay in the centre or the suburbs

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We have just returned from London and a cruise in southhampton. We absolutely loved staying at the Hilton in Terminal 4 at Heathrow what a great Hotel. We also used Smith transportation to get to and from Southhampton and can not say enough good things about them. We also used a car hire from the Hilton Hotel and it was a wonderful way to see a lot more of London! The name of the company was A 2 Z Heathrow Cars the driver was fantastic. We found it much quieter to stay outside the city and use a car hire.

It was wonderful. If you can do the Thames 1 hour cruise it was so informational.

Good Luck have a great time.

Depends how adventurous you are and what sort of hotel budget you want to set - cheap travellodge - small clean rooms ideal for a few days stay no frills £50 a night - expect to eat out for all meals bar breakfast ( cheaper to eat out for that too ) stayed at 3 in london - near waterloo - marlybone and old street tube station. use the tube to get around then a train down to Southampton or a car as above...Hiltons are great (more room for cases) - i have stayed at paddington and metropol both next to tubes - around £150 a night can pay less or more - better rooms and concierge etc. The tube is great to use an either buy a day ticket zone one or an oyster card from newsagents and just tap in and out at contact-less pads on barriers - capped to £7.60 a day so you can just use em all day and not worry. Far cheaper than uber plenty of good maps can be printed out - tube - street etc and if you know what you want to see then it will be easy to work out nearest tube station and lines to use. google maps is pretty good for working it out for you print em before travel or use on phone.... Hope that helps you make your choices.pm me if you have further questions... day trips from southampton to london are not impossible but you will spend far longer on the train than you really want too...

If you want to see the sights of London, I would recommend a hotel in the city. Look on Tripadvisor and Booking.com to help choose your location. I absolutely wouldn’t recommend staying at a hotel near the airport, it will cost you (comparatively) a fortune and take up too much time travelling from there into, and back from the city. Use the Tube in the city to get from place to place if you are confident with that sort of system. It’s extremely efficient and easy to understand (tube maps can easily be picked-up and they are online). It is much, much easier that the New York subway. If you don’t want to do that, taxis from place to place and walking will do the job nicely. Then, when you need to go to Southampton, you can get a train from Central London, or if you look online, there may be other forms of transport to the port. Enjoy!