Viking Star on the Prime Meridian

One of the unique ports for the Viking Star is London (Greenwich). The big ships stopping at ‘London’ mostly dock at the English Channel ports (Southampton, Portsmouth, Dover), or at the London Cruise Terminal in Tilbury at the mouth of the Thames.

I’m sailing on the Apr 17, 2016 sailing of the Star out of Barcelona, which stops at London/Greenwich en route to Bergen. The Viking documents indicate this is an ‘anchor’ port. I got curious about where a cruise ship could anchor on the Thames (almost in the middle of London) so I asked Ms. Google. Her research indicates that the Star moors at the Greenwich Ship Tier.

Not to be confused with the the Greenwich Pier, the Ship Tier is a large pontoon moored in the Thames, just up-river from the Pier, and near the mouth of Deptford Creek. This marine facility, named “Welcome”, is operated by the London Port Authority. LPA claims the Tier is the only floating cruise terminal in the world. Passengers tender to/from shore.

The Star first docked at Greenwich last season. At the time, she was the biggest cruise ship to have ever sailed that far up-river, navigating through the Thames Barrier. That transit can be quite tricky depending on tides and winds. The event got lots of news coverage.

The Tier is about 2000' west of the Prime Meridian (i.e., longitude = 0.00000) which was established in 1851 as the basis for navigation around the world. It runs through the Royal Greenwich Observatory nearby. The Observatory is a short walk from the pier, and may be of interest to historians, sailors, and others interested in navigation or timekeeping. It's the nexus for worldwide navigation (latitude, longitude), time keeping (GMT), defence (GPS satellites), and much more.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Meridian_(Greenwich)

The Greenwich Ship Tier is located at [51.483925, -0.015543]. If you’re interested to see what it looks like, you can paste those coordinates in to Google Earth or Google Maps. Since a picture's worth a thousand words, see the attached picture. If you look closely, you'll see six buoys near the Tier, three just upstream, and three downstream. Ships attach their mooring lines to these buoys when 'docked' against the Tier.

Greenwich Ship Tier.pdf

Hope you have better luck than we did April last year. We were supposed to dock at 7:30, and our tour to Canteberry was supposed to leave at 8:30 (had to be in Torshavn Lounge at 8:15). We sat in Torshavn until almost 11:00. According to Viking, it was either trouble with British Immigration (despite the fact that British Immigration had boarded and gone through our passports in person the afternoon before we even entered the Thames) or it was trouble docking at the Tier. We got both stories officially from Viking.

We were supposed to be back from our Canteberry tour at 2:00 in plenty of time to walk around Grennwich itself before leaving at 6:30 for the London Eye. We didn't get back until after 5:00 so never got to see Greenwich.

For getting from ship to land - -

Once you get off the ship onto the Tier pontoon (quite small really), you get onto a shuttle boat which takes you to the Greenwich Pier. From there it's a short walk to the bus parking lot for various tours. For us, shuttle boats were supposed to run every half hour which was not nearly often enough. But sometimes they seemed to actually run more often.

Sail in and out was quite interesting and it was fabulous to be docked where we were right in Greenwich. Just hope they have the logistics better organized.

For getting from ship to land - -

Once you get off the ship onto the Tier pontoon (quite small really), you get onto a shuttle boat which takes you to the Greenwich Pier. From there it's a short walk to the bus parking lot for various tours. For us, shuttle boats were supposed to run every half hour which was not nearly often enough. But sometimes they seemed to actually run more often.

Thanks for the update about ship-to-shore shuttle, and the warning about delays getting off the Star.

For those curious about local transport options, once you're on the Pier, you can:

• take the Thames Clipper into the City on Boat RB1 (runs every 20 minutes).
  
• walk 5 minutes to the Cutty Sark DLR (Docklands Railway) station. DLR trains run under the Thames and connect with the London Underground.
  
• walk under the Thames through the Greenwich Foot Tunnel to Isle of Dogs.
  

Hi, we are fortunate enough to have a home in Greenwich. We saw the Viking Star last year. To be honest it seemed that Viking got many things wrong - and they have hopefully learned from the experience.

The best way into central London is undoubtedly the Thames Clipper - it is a very scenic ride and is certainly quicker than any coach or bus option. The road route into London does not go through a particularly scenic route and takes longer.

However please remember that Greenwich itself is a World Heritage Site. Do not miss the wonderful Old Royal Naval College including the Chapel and the Painted Hall - which is seen in many films e.g. Pirates of the Caribbean:On Stranger Tides, Les Miserables and more recently Cinderella. This is just a few steps from where you will land. Also the Queens House, the first Palladian House in England, and of course the Observatory.

The best way into central London is undoubtedly the Thames Clipper - it is a very scenic ride and is certainly quicker than any coach or bus option.

Would you recommend taking the DLR from Cutty Sark and connect to the Underground to get into Central London? The TFL Journey Planner proposes various connections, depending on time-of-day. Less scenic, of course, but perhaps quicker than waiting for the next Clipper.

(thanks for the tips on what to see in Greenwich!)

I believe it would be best to get the clipper into London since it is a great ride, past Canary Wharf, under Tower Bridge, and past The Tower of London. Remember it is the Clipper service you want and not the tourist boats which go from the same pier. You will not have a long wait. However I would certainly return by tube and DLR. For example from Westminster to Canary Wharf on the Jubilee then change onto the DLR to Cutty Sark. Of course you could get onto the tube from wherever you end up during your sightseeing day. London is wonderful. How long will you be in Greenwich? I know on the previous occasion it was originally scheduled for two days.

The tender boat is only a couple of hundred yards to the dock. I can't imagine what the original problem was, but I know there were severe delays. Must have been very frustrating. Hopefully Viking will have got it sorted.

Incidentally other cruise ships do occasionally visit Greenwich. We have seen The World and a German Cruise line (can't recall the name).