Pre- and Post-Cruise Questions

[subtchr]

Hello, All!

 

My husband and I are cruising from Southampton at the end of May to Norway. We arrive to Heathrow on a Saturday morning, and the cruise departs Monday. We disembark on the following Monday, and fly home Thursday morning from Heathrow.

 

Here are our tentative plans. Please let me know if anything seems unreasonable or if you have any tips. A little background -- almost 30 years ago, we were stationed in the UK, as my husband had an exchange tour with the RAF. We had 2 months in Devon, 2 months in Yorkshire, and 2 and a half years in Scotland. We originally planned a longer stay for this trip, to revisit our favorite Scottish sites, but for several reasons had to shorten the trip.

 

Saturday - Best way from Heathrow to downtown London? Right now we are looking at staying nearing Euston, for easy access to the train the next morning. We can easily handle the luggage we will have and enjoy using public transport.

 

After arrival at whichever hotel we decide, we will do a little touring, specifically the London Eye and areas around there. Having visited London many times during our stay decades ago, we do not need a comprehensive touring plan; we mostly want to hit sites that are new since our previous stay.

 

Sunday - Train to Warner Brothers Studio for the tour. Planning to leave our luggage with our hotel bell desk, then pick it up in the afternoon after our return.

 

Sunday late afternoon - best transport to Southampton? Will stay at a hotel near the port.

 

After the cruise, we plan to rent a car from Hertz near the port, and do some exploring, definitely Devon and Cornwall, possibly the Dover area the second day.

 

Any suggestions for where we should return the car to Hertz and stay the night before the flight? Are there extra charges to return it to Heathrow? Our flight departs at 11:00 am.

 

Thanks for any help and insights!

[Twickenham]

Don't have time to go into detail re: your plans, but 2 thoughts:

 

-Easy 1.5 hour train journey to Southampton, so no real reason to stay there Sunday night;

-If you're going to Cornwall and Devon, you're NOT getting to Dover the next day! I recommend some quality time with a map to judge the distances you're dealing with...:D

[subtchr]

Don't have time to go into detail re: your plans, but 2 thoughts:

 

-Easy 1.5 hour train journey to Southampton, so no real reason to stay there Sunday night;

-If you're going to Cornwall and Devon, you're NOT getting to Dover the next day! I recommend some quality time with a map to judge the distances you're dealing with...:D

 

Thanks for the inputs!

 

I'm seeing about a 5 hour drive from Barnstaple to Dover, is that not correct? We are familiar with the area, having lived there, although it was decades ago!

 

Will consider the night before the cruise, although we do enjoy a leisurely pre-boarding morning in the port area, and we have not seen Southampton, so might do the SeaCity Museum that day.

 

Thanks again!

Edited January 17, 2016 by subtchr

[kerryincork]

Don't forget about road conditions and amount of traffic you have to deal with. A five hour road trip is not a stress free drive, it seems waste of when you have limited time in the UK

[Bob++]

You will likely get a more comprehensive answer from JB, but here is my two pennyworth:

 

Saturday - Best way from Heathrow to downtown London? Right now we are looking at staying nearing Euston, for easy access to the train the next morning. We can easily handle the luggage we will have and enjoy using public transport.

 

The Heathrow Express goes to Paddington and is the easiest (and pre-booked) reasonably priced route to Central London. It's not clear why you want to be near Euston, as trains for Southampton leave from London Waterloo.

 

After arrival at whichever hotel we decide, we will do a little touring, specifically the London Eye and areas around there. Having visited London many times during our stay decades ago, we do not need a comprehensive touring plan; we mostly want to hit sites that are new since our previous stay.

 

Don't forget that you can use the river as a route.

 

Sunday - Train to Warner Brothers Studio for the tour. Planning to leave our luggage with our hotel bell desk, then pick it up in the afternoon after our return.

 

Ah - Now I see why you thought Euston. Better to be near Waterloo as you will have luggage for that trip. You can catch a direct tube connection on the Northern Line from Waterloo to Euston. Takes abot 11 minutes.

 

Sunday late afternoon - best transport to Southampton? Will stay at a hotel near the port.

 

Lot's of comprehensive posts here showing the choices. Train is probably best for you.

 

After the cruise, we plan to rent a car from Hertz near the port, and do some exploring, definitely Devon and Cornwall, possibly the Dover area the second day.

 

Any suggestions for where we should return the car to Hertz and stay the night before the flight? Are there extra charges to return it to Heathrow? Our flight departs at 11:00 am.

 

Hertz appear to charge £50 if you want to collect Southampton and return Heathrow. This may be different for members.You don't say why you want to visit Dover, but you would do well to make it in the 5 hours Google quotes - those are some of the most congested roads in Europe. You should also factor in a fuel cost of 15p per mile.

 

Thanks for any help and insights!

[John Bull]

Pre-cruise.

I'd query your choice of hotel location.

Yes, around Euston / Kings Cross makes sense for the train to the film studio (and British Museum).

But when you need that convenience is when you're hauling luggage. So I'd be more inclined to consider either Waterloo (County Hall, London Eye, etc) which is handy to the train to Southampton. or Victoria which is handy to the bus from Heathrow and the bus to Southampton.

Waterloo/County Hall/London Eye area is also more convenient than Euston for London's sights, and Victoria is equally convenient as Euston.

And both are on the main ho-ho routes whereas Euston is on a feeder ho-ho route.

And there are direct tube trains from both Waterloo and Victoria to Euston - very easy without luggage.

 

From Heathrow to any of those three.

Easiest is a private transfer, about £40.

 

Or for Victoria by National Express bus from Heathrow, or by tube with one simple change.

 

Or for Waterloo that same Nat Express bus to Victoria, then a short taxi hop to Waterloo. Or by tube from Heathrow with a choice of three stations to switch to a Waterloo-bound tube train.

 

Or for Euston by direct tube from Heathrow.

Transfer to Southampton

You have the choice of bus from Victoria or train from Waterloo.

 

Bus is cheap, £10 or less, & takes about 2.5 hrs. Strong recommendation that you pre-book.

 

Train takes about 90 minutes from Waterloo, about 3 trains per hour, walk-up tix cost about £40.

You can take the train for as little as £10 by pre-booking via the megatrain website - this is an established & trustworthy bucket-price website run by a consortium of travel operators (including South West Trains, which operates this route), to encourage folk to use under-utilised trains. Only a choice of about a dozen of those trains per day, but there'll be at least two conveniently-timed for cruisers. You must pre-book, & the tix are only good for the train that you book - no amendments or refunds.

There are no megatrain tix for sundays. But as Twickenham's post, there's no problem with staying in London on the sunday & catching a Monday morning train - there are plenty of options if you or the transportation system foul-up that morning.

 

There are some Southampton hotels very easily walkable from bus or train stations, or a taxi to any cruise terminal or city centre hotel will cost no more than £10.

 

SeaCity museum is OK, though I wouldn't put it better than that. But Southampton has enough other places to see in a lazy pre-cruise morning.

 

http://content.tfl.gov.uk/standard-tube-map.pdf

http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

https://uk.megabus.com/megatrain.aspx

 

Post-cruise.

You effectively have about 9am on monday to late Wednesday evening to get from Southampton to Heathrow.

 

Devon & Cornwall (about 150 miles / 3 hours west of Southampton) and Dover (about 150 miles, 2.5 hrs east of Southampton) really don't make a lot of sense in that time-scale.

You also have to add 100miles / 2.75 hours Dover to Heathrow.

And those timings are mainly by fast but boring motorways - a good way to see a long strip of tarmac but a truly lousy way to see the English countryside.

 

I very strongly suggest you choose one or the other.

 

Even Devon is more than enough for two days.

You mention Barnstaple - a special reason?

If so, Barnstaple itself has little to offer but you could choose a cross-country route from Southampton calling in at places like Salisbury, Shaftesbury, Sherborne, then if time permits Dunster, Minehead & Lynton / Lynmouth. That's 150 miles / 4.5 hrs of mainly pleasant & sometimes scenic roads with places of interest rather than a boring 3 hr bee-line.

Next day to Heathrow via Exmoor, Glastonbury or Cheddar Gorge, Wells, Bath, Avebury Ring, Marlborough, Hungerford & Newbury before jumping onto the M4 super-slab for the last 45 minutes to Heathrow. Or if time or mood are against you, jump on that fast M4 anywhere from Bath onward.

 

Southampton to Dover is less scenic.

But you could take the slow south coast road & consider time in Portsmouth (historic dockyard & ships), Chichester (cathedral), Arundel (castle & cathedral), Brighton (Bohemian kiss-me-quick seaside resort), the Seven Sisters & Beachy Head, & Rye. Over 4 hrs driving compared to 2.5 hrs via the boring motorway loop.

Next day, choose from Dover Castle, Canterbury, Leeds Castle, Tunbridge Wells, Hever Castle or a dozen other places up to Windsor Castle just 8 miles from Heathrow. But the scenery disappears once you reach the M25 & from then on best to stick to the super-slab because other roads are complicated, slow & urban.

 

There'll be a one-way charge to return a rental car to anywhere other than Southampton, but I don't know whether Heathrow would be more expensive than some other west London depot.

Hertz have a depot convenient to the cruise terminals, and of course at Heathrow. And Heathrow is on the motorway network, which you'd strongly be advised to use near London - it's very easy to get lost looking for other depots in that urban jungle and then making your way to Heathrow by taxi or public transport, the cost of which is likely to match any airport surcharge. So I suggest you return the car to Heathrow.

 

JB :)

 

Edit: just read thro Bob's post.

All makes sense to me :)

As he says, a Paddington hotel is convenient from Heathrow, not so convenient to Southampton.

As I says, Waterloo or Victoria are convenient to Southampton, not so convenient from Heathrow.

And Euston isn't convenient for either, unless you're happy to carry luggage on the tube.

 

Another edit.

Yes, I know - I fouled-up. :rolleyes:

You have three days, not two.

But I'd still not consider both Devon/Cornwall and Dover.

Edited January 17, 2016 by John Bull

[subtchr]

A quick response of thanks to you both! Will consider all your inputs and be back with any further questions.

 

I do remember the motorways being a bit boring, so will reconsider our routes and timing.

 

Yes, I mentioned Barnstaple because our oldest son was born there. We were staying at a holiday flat in Croyde.

 

Thanks again, much to think about, but it seems I have come to the right place for advice!

Edited January 17, 2016 by subtchr

[Bob++]

For day one, I would book a car to a hotel in the Waterloo area. The train would be cheaper, but hard work after a long flight, and you still have to get to the kotel from the station.

[Cotswold Eagle]

M'learned friends have pretty comprehensively covered the bases :)

 

Two things I guarantee you'll notice after a 30 year absence:

 

- the traffic. Seriously, the TRAFFIC!! Particularly anywhere near London.

- the London skyline. Not just the Eye, but many new, often dramatic buildings, especially in the City (financial district)

 

The Eye is good for views, but also consider this free option - the Sky Garden, a new public space at the top of a building in the City. You have to book, but a lot cheaper than the Eye or our latest tallest building, the Shard at London Bridge.

 

http://skygarden.london/sky-garden