A Question For You Guys.

[Nickwolf]

I have been posting on this board for a while now and I notice that people, almost without exception, do their pre/post cruise stays in London or occasionally at the port.

 

I fully understand why you wish to visit London but I wonder if you have ever considered stopping elsewhere in the UK.

 

I sometimes think that tourists have the idea that Britain is all like London and yet when I visit London it feels like an alien environment to me (one that I love to visit but would hate to live in)

 

Perhaps you feel the excursions Etc. from the ship are enough and yet on my cruise to Hawaii last year I felt I had hardly had a taster of the islands, I then stopped at Waikiki which I doubt anyone would consider a true reflection of that beautiful state.

 

Anyway it was just a question that sprang to mind. I would be interested in anyones opinion.

 

Nick.

[Globaliser]

"Where's 'England', honey? Is it in London?"

[Nickwolf]

"Where's 'England', honey? Is it in London?"

 

:D :D

[Host CJSKIDS]

It's the same thing when people go to New York, they visit New York City and think the rest of New York is exactly the same thing! If you were coming over here to cruise out of New York, where would you spend a night or two, upstate in the country, Westchester, Long Island, or in New York City?

 

I guess when we're only there for a night or two, London is the best place to go because we can see a lot of sites very quickly. In order to really enjoy the rest of your wonderful country we would need more time and a lot more knowledge to get around, including renting a car possibly.

[Sandel]

Nickwolf/Globaliser:

 

I think you tend to visit the "most heard about" cities. Since we haven't visited England or anywhere else in London :D we want to see the changing of the guard, the Tower of London, etc. We really wanted to get to Bath and Stonehenge but I don't think in 3 days we will be able to do that.

 

Please give us some tips for our visit. We arrive on May 15 and leave on May 18. Would love to hear from you.

[captbill]

I fully understand why you wish to visit London but I wonder if you have ever considered stopping elsewhere in the UK.

 

I agree that "visiting London and then believing one has 'seen' England" parallels "visiting NYC and thinking you've 'seen' the USA." I would love to hear some suggestions for alternatives to London, hopefully logistically close to Southampton and/or Harwich. (Yes, I know ... my life revolves around my cruises!)

[babylene]

We are spending 2 nights,precruise, in Dover. Where would you suggest we spend 3 nights,postcruise,if not London? Thanks. You are giving me food for thought!

[Nickwolf]

Cjskids you make a very fair point that in London you can "do" a lot of famous sites in a very short time and if your time is limited that is probably sensible.

 

Sandel I don't know if you would be up for driving over here but Bath and Stonehenge could be done in a day from Central London. I have stated before though that you need nerves of steel to drive in London if you are not used to it.

I also think (and I know this is a bit controversial) that Stonehenge is overrated and I personally would only go there if it was on my way to somewhere else. I would like to say it is not the circle itself that is overrated but the presentation of it by the normally excellent ENGLISH HERITAGE that leaves something to be desired.

Whilst I am upsetting folk I would also say that Salisbury (which is very close to Stonehenge) is a better city to visit than Bath.

 

Captbill I can't say that I know the Harwich area all that well so I have no real suggestions there but the Southampton area itself is worth a couple of days to explore and provides excellent links to Bath/Salisbury/Stonehenge and also to Oxford. Oxford is another place I love to go.

 

Babylene it would depend somewhat on your interests but I could do far worse than suggest where I am from, Shrewsbury. If I draw a circle of 20 miles from where I sit typing this message you could go to:

 

1) A major Roman city (Wroxeter/ Uriconium)

2) The birthplace and school of Charles Darwin.

3) The first ever iron bridge (at the aptly named Ironbridge) and the birthplace of the industrial revolution which has a superb network of museums covering all aspects of the subject.

4) The home of Rowland Hill (Inventor of the modern postage system)

5) Many Abbeys and other important religous historical sites (none of which were lived in by the fictional monk/detective Cadfael who also "comes" from Shrewsbury.

6) The town of Shrewsbury itself which is a beautiful example of an English medieval market town. The castle in the town is also an excellent military museum.

 

Anyway I think I have rambled on enough. As Babylene says I hope it has given someone food for thought.

 

Nick

[Jules1]

I agree that there are many beautiful places to see in England. The last time there we spent 4 days in London and then rented a car for 3 weeks and toured. It seemed like every place we went there was a wealth of things to see - cathedrals, castles, museums, beautiful scenery, quaint towns, etc. It was an amazing visit. I wished that we had had even more time!

[Bruin Steve]

Well, for us, it is typically a matter of time and logistics...

For our next European cruise, we're only spending two nights pre-cruise and one night post-cruise in England, so it will all be in London...

 

Adjunct to our 2001 Baltic cruise, we had about a week and took a far more aggressive attitude...Our cruise actually ended in Copenhagen, so we flew to Heathrow immediately following the cruise, picked up a rental car and immediately drove to Stonehenge and then continued on to Bath...We spent one night in Bath and toured Bath the next day, then drove up through Wales and spent the next night in Mold, in the north of Wales...Got up early the next morning and visited Conwy and then headed up toward Scotland, stopping at Hadrian's Wall and other sites along the way...and then spending two nights at Airth Castle in Sterlingshire...The first day, we took a drive clear up to Inverness and back, stopping at Loch Ness and touring Urquhart Castle and driving through Ben Nevis...The next day, we visited Edinborough including a tour of the Castle...Then, we headed south to York...After Yourk, we continued on to Stratford-Upon-Avon, staying in Warwick...The followingday, we toured Oxford, then continued on to London for two nights before flying home...

 

Frankly, I PREFER the smaller towns and the countryside to big cities most of the time...People tend to be friendlier, everyone, including me, is more relaxed...You see more of "the real thing" than in the big cities where you find yourself running from tourist site to tourist site with all the other tourists...

 

And when you get home and compare experiences, it is far more fulfilling to say you've visited a small town somewhere or a farm or some ancient little known Roman ruins than it is to say "Yes, I've been to Britain...I went to Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey and took a picture of Big Ben"...Yes, those are nice, but everyone already knows what they look like...Now, IF you were INSIDE Buckingham Palace rather than with the masses pressed up to the iron gate...

[captbill]

the Southampton area itself is worth a couple of days to explore and provides excellent links to Bath/Salisbury/Stonehenge and also to Oxford. Oxford is another place I love to go.

 

Nick, thank you for that insight. I'm already committed to London for our August visit, but will definitely consider seeing Oxford on future visits.

[English Rose]

If you are staying in the Southampton area then you should really consider a visit to the New Forest. It is only a 15 minute drive away, but the contrast to Southampton is considerable. This is a large area of natural unspoilt countryside with some beautiful villages and small towns. The famous New Forest ponies and cattle roam freely through the streets and the countryside is beautiful. It extends to coastal areas as well and the resorts of Bournemouth and Christchurch are within very easy reach. Ringwood is the capital of the area and is a lovely market town. There are many 'thatched' cottages and the architecture is very old. A favourite place of mine is Bucklers Hard which is near the coast of Lymington. It is an old small river harbour leading to the sea which has been preserved and turned into a museum. Well worth a visit and only a 20 to 30 minute drive from Southampton. There are some lovely old English pubs around for lunch breaks as well.

 

I am of course very biased because I do live here!! We are renevating an old thatched cottage and we love it.

[NancyIL]

Well, Nick, we originally planned to spend several days in Edinburgh, then take the train to London via York (possibly) before the cruise. After making the decision to leave the kids home and shorten the trip for financial reasons, we now plan to spend the night before the cruise at a Heathrow hotel, and 2 days post-cruise in London.

[captbill]

If you are staying in the Southampton area then you should really consider a visit to the New Forest.

 

Good information, Cheryl. Thank you for posting it.

[Andym]

Are we talking about the England at the bottom of the M1 here

[spongerob]

What a great topic for discussion! We have no firm plans yet for our pre-cruise, and we definitely like to get off the beaten path. There are some great ideas here.

[Nickwolf]

Spongerob, if you tell us the sort of things you like to do I am sure the UK posters can recommend places off the beaten track to set you in the right direction.

 

Nick.

[kernow]

It's interesting to hear all the places you like to visit in the UK. No one has mentioned the area of Cornwall where I live. Cornwall and the neighbouring county of Devon are one of the most popular areas in the country for UK holidaymakers. We have beautiful beaches, a rugged coastline, lots of open countryside and lots of Tourist attractions like Lands End and Tintagel. It's a complete contrast to big cities like London.

 

I appreciate it's about a four and a half hour drive from Heathrow but there are several flights daily from both Gatwick and Stansted taking less than an hour to Newquay airport.

 

If anyone has two or three days to spare it might be worth considering.

 

Julie

[English Rose]

Julie

 

I totally agree with you, I love Devon and Cornwall and especially the Tintagel area. It's really beautiful. The coastline is one of the best in the world for scenery. You are very lucky to live in such a lovely place.

[Nickwolf]

It's interesting to hear all the places you like to visit in the UK. No one has mentioned the area of Cornwall where I live. Cornwall and the neighbouring county of Devon are one of the most popular areas in the country for UK holidaymakers. We have beautiful beaches, a rugged coastline, lots of open countryside and lots of Tourist attractions like Lands End and Tintagel. It's a complete contrast to big cities like London.

 

I appreciate it's about a four and a half hour drive from Heathrow but there are several flights daily from both Gatwick and Stansted taking less than an hour to Newquay airport.

 

If anyone has two or three days to spare it might be worth considering.

 

Julie

 

I couldn't agree more Julie it's a lovely part of the world.

 

Nick.

[kinghw]

Nice thread, folks.

 

We too have enjoyed much of the English countryside and many cities and towns with a dozen or so trips over the last 25 years. Our honeymoon was in Bath and the Cotswolds.

 

In addition to those mentioned the Lake District, Yorkshire, Chester, Cambridge, and Cheltenham come to mind as past favorites.

 

We enjoyed Stonehenge in the days before one had to be an avowed Druid to be one with the stones.

 

This May the two nights prior to our cruise will be spent at a B&B near Sissinghurst gardens, and we're looking forward to a couple of relaxing days in the Kentish countryside.

 

Haven't made it to Cornwall yet, but its at the top of our list for the next time we pay the UK an extended visit, along with more time in Wales!

 

And the capital city is always well worth a visit if you are in the area

[burtshell]

we have been to London many times and really love the city. there is a chance that we will go on a trans-atlantic cruise in Sept,2005 from Copenhagen to Ft. Lauderdale.

There is a one day stopover in Dover from 7 am to 7 pm.

We will not go into London this time and would like to know what our options would be if we decided to spend the day in Dover.

thanks

burt and shelley

[Nickwolf]

Burtshell, Dover Castle without a doubt!!

 

The castle is superb, I am a bit of a history nut and it took 2 days to "do" Dover castle, which was manned as a military establishment for some 900 years and was in fact used by the Romans(evidence of which is provided by the spectacular light house) around 1000 years before that. If you go nowhere else during your short time in Britain go here.

 

It is my opinion that if your time is short miss the tunnel tour as I felt rushed and the "story" was poorly presented (this is purely my own feeling which I know many will argue against). Instead go around the battlements and down into the medieval tunnels in which I found much more fascinating.

 

If after this you still have time then Canterbury Cathedral and/or Leeds Castle are options.

 

DOVER CASTLE LINK

 

LEEDS CASTLE LINK

 

CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL LINK .

 

I hope that is of interest to you.

Nick.

[Live the good life]

Nickwolf, thanks for sharing...We find above infos very helpful. We definitely would visit the above-mentioned places in our next visit to England. We also enjoy your post/map on restaurants in China Town. Very interesting map!!!

 

We also plan to stay 1 day pre-cruise in Dover (in addition to 2 days in London). Our plan is to visit Dover castle first. Wondering how much a cab ride would be from Dover castle to Leeds, and from Leeds castle to the Canterbury cathedral? All these infos and links to the sites are making us looking forward to visiting Dover as well!!!

 

Kim

[Gawga Girl]

We will be in S"hampton for 3 days before sailing on 22 May. We have been to London several times but think we will spend one day going in by train for a refresher. Salisbury is on our list, Isle of Wight has been suggested to us, Winchester is a maybe. Do you have any other sights to suggest or should we forget any of the above? We will be traveling by train or bus, too old to try driving on the left!! Thanks for any help, love reading your comments to others