Cotswold Eagle

9 hours ago, robbinsca said:

We arrived at Heathrow 3 hours before our flight back to the U.S. The person at the equivalent of TSA told us “good luck” at making it to the terminal on time

Perhaps you could expand on this alarming remark? In my extensive experience, 3 hours is plenty at Heathrow. Did you make your flight?

The UK has no equivalent of the TSA. I imagine you may mean the security check, where the staff are privately contracted, not government employees. If that assumption is correct, you should already have cleared check-in, which can be a source of delay, and reached security, in which case surely you were already in the terminal you needed to be in?

16 hours ago, Sunshine81 said:

We’re looking for information for Dunmoor, Dublin, Lerwick (Shetland Islands) and Inverness. Thanks

45 minutes ago, Sunshine81 said:

Yes, I was quoting the ports not the city nearby. Any help would be appreciated.

Indeed and as VMax1700 was clarifying, the port presumably is Dunmore East, not Dunmoor....

This will help searching this board for previous threads, although Waterford may prove more productive. .

1 hour ago, Thejuggler said:

whether to stay in city centre or at the airport

And, of course, depends on the date. The Easy Jet flight varies from 7-30 am to 6 pm in an apparently random pattern, I think, so on some days it would be convenient to take on the day of disembarkation. 

I should perhaps have said, Belfast International (BFS)  is the airport formerly known as Aldergrove and is outside the city (but not too far).

Belfast City (BHD) is more convenient for the harbour, and is served by British Airways (for Heathrow) and KLM (connect through Amsterdam).

47 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Train would be a pretty simple way. 

From Belfast?? 

Easy Jet (a low cost carrier) fly direct from Belfast International to Charles de Gaulle, or you could connect through (e.g.) Heathrow on other carriers. Flights from Dublin also possible by taking the bus or train down to the Republic, but that seems a bit of a faff, particularly if you have visited Dublin on the cruise. 

Edit to add: I have discounted the Ryanair flights you may see, they go to Beauvais, which is about 50 miles from Paris...

Flying to London and taking the Eurostar train seems to me to be a less desirable option, but is certainly a possibility. 

I too am biased towards Oxford, having spent three years there as a student a lifetime ago! But I'm afraid we can't claim Einstein as a student - he visited and lectured a handful of times in the early '30s. One of the blackboards he used is preserved in one of Oxford's museums, much to his disgust! There are some great museums, which can provide good 'wet cover' activities, as I note you are visiting in the autumn (and in term time, so access to colleges may be restricted).

As exlondoner states, the river is more central in Cambridge, but it's worth a stroll down Christ Church meadow to see the Isis (Thames) in Oxford and the punting is a little more private on the Cherwell. 

If you take the train from Paddington, take care to get one of the fast services, rather than a stopper which can take a lot longer. It's perfectly possible to have dinner in Oxford and head back to town later in the evening, but keep an eye on train times. 

14 hours ago, gretnagirl said:

For taxis, I've read that the company that has rights to the airport isn't well-liked by locals and so a different company would be a better choice, but we'd have to meet them elsewhere in the airport facility and pay an additional fee.

I suspect this is about trying to book a cab that has dropped off a fare at departures, to avoid the firm that has the rights to the rank at arrivals? 

19 minutes ago, John Bull said:

I don't know about the buses - if they're ordinary city buses they'll be a pain with luggage, if they're built for airport transfers they'll be OK

The Edinburgh Airlink bus is a dedicated service and it certainly used to have luggage racks.

43 minutes ago, Capt_BJ said:

I'm SO glad my cruise will leave from Greenwich and NOT Til'.

 

How to transfer from London to Tilbury cruise terminal by train?

 

 

The only way of getting to Tilbury cruise terminal from London in public transport is by train. You can take a C2C train from London Fenchurch Street station direct to Tilbury Town station from just over £10.50 per person if booked in advanced.

I don't where this advice comes from (it appears to be cut and pasted), but usual wisdom on this board is to get off the train a stop earlier at Grays, where there will be taxis, not Tilbury where they are notoriously in short supply. The relevant London terminus is Fenchurch Street (or Liverpool Street at weekends).

But regardless, the OP asked about car services.

And " Til' "? Seriously?! 🤣

35 minutes ago, John Bull said:

And who's been quoting you about £329 ??

Sounds like a quote for a fare they don’t want! Literally cheaper to take a cab from town to the airport and book a transfer from there 🤣

They do hold a private hire license issued by Transport for London, so legitimate in that sense, although their T&Cs highlighted by JB refer to the PCO (Public Carriage Office) which was abolished over 15 years ago, rather than TfL. Looks like a boilerplate website for a small operation engaging self-employed drivers, as JB says, which cleverly jumped on a few relevant web domains and 'trading as' styles. To that extent, the experience will depend more on the driver than the firm. 

I am curious why you thought it might be too good to be true? These firms come and go.

6 hours ago, d9704011 said:

@Vicki'sMom  Search and ye shall find!  I have made a reservation for four nights at this hotel.  One thing I have read about is having to 'cross the road' to reach the breakfast location.  Seems strange... is the restaurant inside the hotel proper or is there some unusual access procedure?

If it's the hotel I think it is. there is a kind of road tunnel going through it. See the external images on their website. 

10 hours ago, Island2Dweller said:

Getting to Waterloo from London Bridge?  The Jubilee line works, but it is a bit of a schlep from the national rail platforms down to the underground.  It's easier (and most of the times quicker) to just change platform within the national rail station (there are lifts and escalators, so it's no problem with bags) to a train heading to Charing Cross.  This stops at Waterloo East, which is alongside the main Waterloo station.

Good shout, but it does rather depend what is meant by "our hotel is near Waterloo station" - it may be the the poster does not need to go to Waterloo Station at all...

2 hours ago, WeLuvPugs said:

able to just train our way into Amsterdam that first day and then of course train our way to meet my daughter.

Well, if you stayed at your original hotel you could catch a train from Hoofddorp to Amsterdam Centraal (which would stop at Schiphol). I don't quite understand the point about meeting your daughter at a halfway point, but it really does seem to make so much more sense for you to stay in Amsterdam, close to the station and the PTA.

Do you mean Victoria Station (the railway terminus - but the most convenient trains for Southampton are from Waterloo Station)) or Victoria Coach Station (for National Express services to Southampton)? They are close to each other, but not in the same place.

In any case, this hotel is a couple of miles from either, so you would need a taxi or the tube (District Line from Earl's Court, I should think). I don't know if this is what you mean by 'close', but many other hotels would be equally convenient and some more so - for example, The Clermont Hotel is literally attached to the railway station.

By the way, there is a long pinned thread about London Hotels on this board, which may be helpful (and this question may get merged in there by the mods).

Actually, I have now done some dummy bookings and UberX is offering €41 to the HIE at Schiphol and about €75 to the Holiday Inn Express at Amsterdam City Hall. 

40 minutes ago, Sudoku said:

Looked at the VOCO Holiday Inn, but chose the Moxy as the reward night points were as low as 20,000. Holiday Inn was much higher in point value and cash price. 

IHG styles the brand voco (all lower case) and it is one of their Premium brands, as opposed to Holiday Inn being one of their Essentials. I wonder if loyal Holiday Inn cruisers will find the new voco property significantly more expensive - someone has to pay for the major refurbishment!

Yes, why not stay in Amsterdam itself rather than out at Schiphol, especially as you are sailing from the PTA in the centre of Amsterdam?

€30 - €60 Euro does sound more like the prices people say Uber costs to do the city centre journey - I wonder where are you finding this for the 7km journey to your hotel. The HIE Schiphol website says a taxi from Schipol to the hotel is around €30, which is line with the calculation on the Government website taxi rates page.

Trains are a much more cost effective mode of transport, but note that your chosen hotel is a few minutes walk from Hoofddorp station. That train fare is less than €3, to the city centre less than €6. Easiest is rarely cheapest 😀

7 hours ago, cntrydncr1 said:

My friend and I will be disembarking at Southampton on Saturday, August 30.  We want to head to our hotel in London, the St. Giles, which I believe is closest to Tottenham station.  We plan to take the train from Southampton, but both are age 70ish and will be traveling with a large piece of luggage and most likely a small carry on piece as well.  Can you recommend which train station to head to and then how to most easily get to our hotel, considering the luggage problem. Thanks in advance!

We often see a weird American habit of shortening street and station names, which can cause confusion. I imagine you mean the St Giles London Hotel on Bedford Avenue, in which case your nearest station (for the Underground and Elizabeth Line) is Tottenham Court Road, not Tottenham. There is an area of London called Tottenham, which is about six miles away.

From Southampton with luggage I would suggest you take the train to London Waterloo, which is a terminus, and a cab from there to your hotel. 

6 hours ago, Gwendy said:

Private tours for same are coming in at around $1000 AUD

Yeah, it's going to be a 12-14 hour day for a driver, so I can understand the cost. 

You could take a direct train to Oxford from Southampton and work from there, but luggage is a bit of a problem - I can't picture a luggage store at Oxford station, but there will probably be places nearby. Let me know if that appeals before I think about it anymore! Heathrow is relatively easy from Oxford, with a few options.

The other alternative would be to look into a one-way car rental from Southampton to a LHR drop-off and drive yourself to the Cotswolds - naysayers here will say that the one-way fee will be extortionate, but this is not always the case (I find it occasionally most cost effective to take a one way rental to the airport). But you indicated upthread that driving might not be an option for your party. 

39 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

But the Cotswolds are miles and miles in the wrong direction for Heathrow.

I was curious about this myself, so looked up what I think is the tour mentioned. It really only touches the edge of the Cotswolds with the obligatory photo stop at Bibury for Arlington Row (which could be up over 2 hours travel on the bus), then lunch in Burford, before heading down the A40 for a tour of Oxford, which allows them to reset timings not too far from LHR in case of delays, for a 5-30 pm arrival at the airport.

As a local, it's easy to think it's not much of a tour and a long day, but as a way of passing the day before an overnight flight I can see the attraction, particularly for folk like the OP who have done the usual sights on a more direct route from Southampton. Unfortunately, I can't think of an alternative other than a private tour, which as the OP has discovered will be expensive.

1 hour ago, Globaliser said:

I see that Majestic quotes 10 am to 5 pm for both Sundays and public holidays. It should be free to choose those hours for public holidays (other than Christmas Day), but (if the quoted Sunday hours are accurate) I don't know the legal basis on which it can open for longer than 6 hours.

Shops selling wholly, or mainly, alcohol are exempt from the Sunday trading restriction on large shops (Schedule 1, para 3(1), Sunday Trading Act 1994). I don't know why they are not on the list on the HMG page you linked to (where "include" is doing some heavy lifting), but it's clear from the Act, and they are listed on local government advice, such as this page (although there they still say "intoxicating liquor", which was amended to "alcohol" by the 2003 Licensing Act...).

Given the balance of days, I think I'd get the laundry done towards the end of the stay in London, rather than worry about it your one day in Southampton. Specifics depend on where you are staying, but as JB says there will be options even in the centre of London - 'service wash' is the magic phrase as noted above.

If your hotel doesn't offer a laundry service (which would be significantly more expensive) they may have local recommendations too, and it may be possible to arrange drop off. 

My regular pedantic correction that Portland Port is not a Royal Naval base - that closed in 1995 and the harbour was sold in 1996. It is a commercial port, which operates a high level of maritime security, not least because it is frequently used by British and foreign naval vessels. 

The port website has useful information for cruisers, including information for private tour operators, who have to jump through some advance notice hoops, but can pick up quayside. 

4 hours ago, Sudoku said:

I suggest you book as soon as possible. We are currently booked at the Moxy using Marriott points for Sept 27, 2025. This hotel, Premium Inn, and Voco are now all sold out for that date. 

Sound advice anyway, but just to say that your date is the last weekend of the Southampton International Boat Show, so above normal demand I expect.