Pre and Post Cruise London Hotel

We cruising out of Southampton and need suggestions for a pre and post hotel in London. We can't spend $$$$$ as the airfare and cruise are costing us plenty. Any thoughts or ideas are appreciated.

Not that cheap, just something resonable and well located for sightseeing.

London is EXTREMELY expensive. However, that being said, DH and I found that the Copthorne Tara is moderately priced (for London) and well placed for sightseeing. It is a block from the TUBE and is in the Kensington Palace area.

If you haven't been to Europe before, please keep in mind that the room are very small by US standards.

The Copthorne is part of the Millennium hotel chain. See review on TripAdvisor.com.

Hope this helps!

The Thistle Hotels are usually reasonably priced and the Royal Horseguards is in a good location. It is very nice.

We have found that RCI's hotels for pre and post stay are worth considering and we will be using one of their hotels (Grosvenor House) on our next transatlantic.

This hotel is modern, convenient and fairly well located. It is $180 which although sounding expensive isn't by London standards. It is highly recommended:

file://www.premiertravelinn.com/pti/hotelInformation.do?hotelId=23884

This one is similarly priced and worth a look:

file://www.choicehotels.com/ires/en-US/html/Availability?sid=FbMLi.$KJY0glq1g.6

Try the Jury's hotel chain. They are located throughout the city and are primarily business hotels so the prices drop a lot on weekends. I booked their hotel at Heathrow for 52 GBP on a Friday night.

Julia

This hotel is modern, convenient and fairly well located. It is $180 which although sounding expensive isn't by London standards. It is highly recommended:

 

file://www.premiertravelinn.com/pti/hotelInformation.do?hotelId=23884

 

This one is similarly priced and worth a look:

Would you mind re-posting that first link as it did not work for me. OR, please tell the name of the hotel so I can locate it myself. Thank you.:)

Have stayed in this hotel many times. Great location..near Green park tube stop and across from the Ritz. Walking distance to many sights...

Across from sTarbucks and a great grocery store with an unbeleivable deli.(Tesco.)

Great deals on the internet if you pay in advance...:)

Would you mind re-posting that first link as it did not work for me. OR, please tell the name of the hotel so I can locate it myself. Thank you.:)

It's the Premier Travel Inn Tower Bridge Road. Close to Tower Bridge, Tower of London, South Bank and London Bridge main line and subway station.

I booked the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum last night on Priceline for mid September. I got it for 135$.

Try the Heathrow Crown Plaza. Its a taxi to the tube station and a tube ride into london, but you will come farrrr ahead in terms of $$$$$$$$

I've stayed at that hotel and it is very nice. Much bigger than European standards.

I got a 4 star hotel in Islington for $!06 US tax incl. for Sept 9 on Hotwire. It turns out to be a Hilton full service hotel. That is a terrific price for London. After the 11+ hour flight from Los Angeles it will be nice to have that level of amenities. Quaint I can do another time, and have. From what I can map out it appears to be a short taxi ride to Liverpool Street Station where one gets the train to Harwich. Have a great trip.

I just posted this a few minutes ago on a thread about using the National Express bus Heathrow - London - Southampton. Our hotel info is in it:

We used National Express several times on our recent cruise. I sincerely hope you are doing a stopover in London the night before, because you are going to be one pooped pup doing an international flight, then the bus to Southampton all at one time.

"Here's what we did, and it worked very, very well for us:

Heathrow to London on National Express goes to Victoria. This bus terminal is about 1.5 blocks from the Tube/train Victoria station.

We stayed about 4 blocks down Belgrave Road at the Luna and Simone hotel. Look it up on tripadvisor.com; it has RAVE reviews (including mine!!). Very reasonably priced, too. Lovely people own/run it.

Anyway, then you can use the Tube to do a little sighteeing if you aren't too jet lagged (we spent 2 nights in London).

Then, the day of the cruise we walked back to National Express, and got on the bus for Southampton.

In Southampton, catch a taxi right outside the bus station to the cruise terminal. About 5 - 10 minutes; cost is about 5 GBP.

The cost for all of this was $374 for two people, two nights, not including food. This includes ALL our transpo Heathrow - London - Southampton, AND the hotel for two nights.

Check for funfares on the National Express web site. We went Heathrow - London - Southampton for $18 US total for two of us!!!!"

I've stayed at at least a dozen hotels in London and like the Rubens at the Palace the best (part of the Red Carnation hotel chain). It's a 4-star but was much better for us than several 5-stars that we've stayed at in London. The Rubens is well located and well worth the price (good specials on their web site).

Have a great trip,

Donna

I've stayed at at least a dozen hotels in London and like the Rubens at the Palace the best (part of the Red Carnation hotel chain). It's a 4-star but was much better for us than several 5-stars that we've stayed at in London. The Rubens is well located and well worth the price (good specials on their web site).

Have a great trip,

Donna

We also stayed at Rubens our last trip to London. Yes, check their specials. We booked one and the Mews View we booked was gone when we arrived, but we were then put in a much nicer room with not much view. I was impressed when I arrived at Harwich and realized that I had left my sport coat in the hotel room before checking out. I phoned and asked that they send the coat back to my U. S. home using my credit card. When I returned home I found the coat delivered at no cost to me. That was real service. The doorman also arranged two taxis at reasonable prices for us and friends to the rail station we needed for transport to Harwich.

We also have enjoyed hotels at the Gloucester Street area. The underground there is very convenient for the theatre district and environs. If you like theatre, go to the half price ticket office at Leicester Square. (Don't go to the ones on the street before the square.) Also, there seem to be many reasonable priced Italian restaurants in London. You can probably find one near whatever hotel you are in.

Bob :cool:

We also stayed at Rubens our last trip to London. Yes, check their specials. We booked one and the Mews View we booked was gone when we arrived, but we were then put in a much nicer room with not much view. I was impressed when I arrived at Harwich and realized that I had left my sport coat in the hotel room before checking out. I phoned and asked that they send the coat back to my U. S. home using my credit card. When I returned home I found the coat delivered at no cost to me. That was real service. The doorman also arranged two taxis at reasonable prices for us and friends to the rail station we needed for transport to Harwich.

Bob :cool:

By the way, I see you are from Fayetteville. We are in Little Rock and hope to meet you in our future travels. In the meantime, happy travels.

Donna

Hi:

Just booked 6 days for 3 people on aug 25, 2007 at the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum thru Hotwire.com. GREAT deal. Way cheaper than anything decent. even 10 lbs cheaper than Luna & Simone. click the 3 1/5 star. good Luck

Hi:

Just booked 6 days for 3 people on aug 25, 2007 at the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum thru Hotwire.com. GREAT deal. Way cheaper than anything decent. even 10 lbs cheaper than Luna & Simone. click the 3 1/5 star. US 200/night good Luck

I'm not surprised to hear this story because we've stayed at other Red Carnation hotels in addition to the Rubens and found that the whole chain has excellent service.

By the way, I see you are from Fayetteville. We are in Little Rock and hope to meet you in our future travels. In the meantime, happy travels.

Donna

Donna, sorry to not respond. I guess I wrote my bit of wisdom, and then forgot about this thread. We have now lived in Fayetteville for more than 35 years. As would be expected, I was a prof at the University, but have now been retired for several years. The University has been a great place to be. Due to the University, we have lived in Europe almost a year while teaching there.

Although this area now has over a third of a million people, we think of Tulsa as our primary "big city", not Little Rock. We used to shop fairly frequently in Tulsa, but now our Tulsa trips are usually limited to three nights a year for The Tulsa Opera. (OK, you Yankees out there who might be reading this, it is not "Grand Old Opry". The Tulsa Opera presents great operas by Verdi, Puccini, and the like.)

Our next cruise is on the Brilliance, December 2 from Barcelona to Miami. There are still cabins available.

Bob :cool:

The Thistle Hotels are usually reasonably priced and the Royal Horseguards is in a good location. It is very nice.

 

We have found that RCI's hotels for pre and post stay are worth considering and we will be using one of their hotels (Grosvenor House) on our next transatlantic.

I have been to the Thistle Hotels website but couldn't find out about rates & availability because I keep getting the message that " this property is restricted." By, to or from whom ????????????????????? Can someone explain???:eek: :eek: :eek:

No, I can't explain. I googled Thistle Hotels, picked Royal Horseguards and got information--such as a room that includes VAT + breakfast (a biggie) from

£140. Try again.

I have been to the Thistle Hotels website but couldn't find out about rates & availability because I keep getting the message that " this property is restricted." By, to or from whom ????????????????????? Can someone explain???:eek: :eek: :eek:

I get the same message. I have also phoned them and I was told the rates for the dates I need (April 26-28) have not been loaded yet. They said to try again in September. That said, I really believe I was able to see rates when I first started checking in May. I wonder if they have taken those rates down?? This really puzzles me. I check often just to see if they have loaded the rates into the system. I almost always stay at Royal Horseguards but I'm seriously thinking about making reservations elsewhere.

No, I can't explain. I googled Thistle Hotels, picked Royal Horseguards and got information--such as a room that includes VAT + breakfast (a biggie) from

£140. Try again.

Did you get rates for the end of April? If so, could you tell me exactly the link you used OR tell me the prices you are getting for April 26-28. I am really confused as to why some people can get through and others cannot. I can get rates for time periods through the end of February, I think...but not for April.

No, I didn't use April. When I recently tried for April, I got a message that said "please use valid dates":rolleyes:

Be sure to research the amenities at any hotel you consider, because it's expensive in London, as mentioned above.

If the lower priced hotels include location near transpo, breakfast, and internet (important to me, but maybe not to everyone), then I consider that a deal. If your hotel is not near a Tube or Hop on/off bus stop, then you have the extra expense of transportation. Breakfast can be expensive, too.

Donna, sorry to not respond. I guess I wrote my bit of wisdom, and then forgot about this thread. We have now lived in Fayetteville for more than 35 years. As would be expected, I was a prof at the University, but have now been retired for several years. The University has been a great place to be. Due to the University, we have lived in Europe almost a year while teaching there.

 

Although this area now has over a third of a million people, we think of Tulsa as our primary "big city", not Little Rock. We used to shop fairly frequently in Tulsa, but now our Tulsa trips are usually limited to three nights a year for The Tulsa Opera. (OK, you Yankees out there who might be reading this, it is not "Grand Old Opry". The Tulsa Opera presents great operas by Verdi, Puccini, and the like.)

 

Our next cruise is on the Brilliance, December 2 from Barcelona to Miami. There are still cabins available.

 

Bob :cool:

I wish we could book the Brilliance, but we have already used a lot of our vacation time this year (May 25th Millennium Med with precruise on Amalfi Coast and Lake Como, which was wonderful) and will use the remainder for family visits and events. We're in our mid-40s so still have the work scheduling issues. :) I hope we can do a Transatlantic one year and send our best wishes to you for a great trip in December.

It was nice to hear back from you, so I'll keep an eye out on the boards for your messages and will hope to meet you in the future.

Donna