Need all London information!!!!!

[lauraleigh9mm]

I need tons of information on London! We are doing the TA on the Constellation on 9/15/07 and are going to have a 3 day pre-cruise stay. I need some budget hotel recomendations and info on the tube (can you get a pass?)Transfers from London to Dover. What to see, what is not to be missed and everything in between. This is our first trip so HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

[12B@C]

You will get lots of answers to this question, but one thing I would recommend is to spend two hours and do a "London Walk". This guided tour is inexpensive and takes you to places you would not think of going on your own. They typically are historically oriented and are very interesting.

We did the "Chales Dicken's London" walk with a quaint lady dressed in a costume of the era.

For details see www.londonwalks.com

and for some pictures of our tour see: http://www.*****.com/london.htm

[12B@C]

Sorry the correct website for London Walks is; http://www.walks.com/

 

By the way, the tube is a good way to get around, a bit crowded, but very "you are here" like. For maps etc. you can go online and all stations have more information.

We found that the Heathrow Express from the airport into London was not worth it. The trip is faster (so what if you are on vacation?), the fare is more, but what is worse is that it takes you only to one station. Then you have to buy a new ticket on the tube or take a taxi. With luggage etc. and if the hotel you select is near a tube station, then by all means go like the locals.

[queenslander]

Hi LauraLeigh,

 

Try this site www.londontown.com

It has everything you need on there -budget hotels, London pass, tours,walks and all the attractions.

 

Enjoy London - it's a great city but expensive!

 

 

Joyce

[cberge]

I need tons of information on London! We are doing the TA on the Constellation on 9/15/07 and are going to have a 3 day pre-cruise stay. I need some budget hotel recomendations and info on the tube (can you get a pass?)Transfers from London to Dover. What to see, what is not to be missed and everything in between. This is our first trip so HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Do some research on the Britian board link to follow..get a good guide book on London and do some reading,but I will bet you will find a lot of answers to your questions on the BR.Board...you can also post any questions you have there as well.London is an easy city to get around in but not cheap to stay in..will add link for hotels as well...check by area and price.

Cruise Critic Message Boards - Britain

 

Hotel reservations - Venere.com

[Globaliser]

I need tons of information on London!

Um, lots of people have asked before. Spend a couple of hours reading the Britain forum, where there are lots of answers. Also try the British Isles forum.

[wwinfl91]

We did a TA cruise last year on the RCL's Jewel that ended in England. We stayed an extra week in London. If you want to check out the links I gathered for our stay check out the Yahoo group web site I set up for the cruise.

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jewel-transatlantic-cruise/

 

Everything is expensive in London but we found a company that rented space in London homes that for us turned out great. We stayed on the second floor of a house which had our bedroom and a big bathroom with a tub. We also had use of a sitting and eating area on the main floor. The house we stayed in was in Knightsbridge and was about a 1/4 mile from Harrod's department store. We got a London card which allowed entry into many of the main attractions as well as transportation on the tube and buses. There is so much to see that we didn't even get to do everything we had listed during our week so you will be busy during your 3 days.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[Past it]

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g186338-i17-London_England.html

 

Everything you will need to know you can find here. Not sure how many of you there are. I am staying at the Luna and Simone hotel,good reviews and good price. Only small though.Have a good trip

[Taf]

Hi

Some must do`s:

 

A hop on hof off bus tour - there are 2 but we do the "origional london bus tour" buy a day pass and travel all over London with a tour guide, getting off at all the major sites - the busses stop at around 11 pm, so make sure you do the whole route again to see London lit up at night. Spectacular - houses of Parliment, Westminster Abbey, Tower Bridge, Tower of London all lit up beautifully at night. This is the Nr 1. MUST DO in London. You see everything!!!!

 

Then the London Eye - spectacular views over the Thames Embankment and London Skyline. Again, try and go just before dusk and see London by day and as you come down the lights will go on across the city and it looks different again.

 

Take in a show - you can get daily tickets, often for sold out dates, at the ticket office in Leicester Square. One of my favourites is Blood Brothers - a musical comedy/tradgedy.

 

Westminster Abbey

 

Tower of London

 

National Gallery just in front of Trafalgar Square.

 

Horse Guards Parade - at around 10 am every day.

 

Changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace - only on Sundays I think (?)

 

If you like museums, the Natural History museum, or Vicoria and Albert museum.

 

Lunch at an outdoor cafe in Covent Garden, watching the free shows & music.

 

For getting around, of course there is the tube, but we prefer using a day bus pass - you are above ground and see much more, and the busses run very frequently. They cost a couple of pounds per day.

 

 

I would suggest doing the London Bus tour trip on the first day, as it will help you get your bearings to find you way around over the next days.

 

I love London, and take a trip every year - there is so much to see that you can never get bored - but being British myself I may be bias!!

 

Have a great trip:D

[Taf]

Here are some websites with the info I´ve mentioned.

 

www.theoriginaltour.com

 

www.ba-londoneye.com

 

:)

Good places to stay are Kensington, (nr Harrods) Marble Arch (starts off Oxford street & shopping), Picadilly - right in the centre of London. If you are not too far in advance, try booking at laterooms.com - they also have good deals. Otherwise, there are quite a few Holiday Inns that have offers running for B&B stays and are very reasonalble. As a general rule, London hotels have special offers to fill their rooms over the weekends, as there is less business travel then.

[lauraleigh9mm]

I am so excited to go! All this information has been great!

[DonLou]

British Air (as do other airlines) usually has special rates for hotel and flight packages.

[Post Captain]

I need tons of information on London! We are doing the TA on the Constellation on 9/15/07 and are going to have a 3 day pre-cruise stay. I need some budget hotel recomendations and info on the tube (can you get a pass?)Transfers from London to Dover. What to see, what is not to be missed and everything in between. This is our first trip so HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Lauraleigh9mm,

 

The other posters have given some excellent advice. However, I would add that, in some ways, this question is almost impossible to answer, simply because London contains a wealth of historic & cultural sights & numerous delights, and because we (the readers of your question) don't know what your own personal interests are. I've spent a fair number of months in London in the course of my lifetime, yet each time I go there I always discover something (a place, an experience) I haven't encountered before. And as many times as I've been, I always do some research before every visit.

 

You have more than a year to go before your visit, so the first thing I'd suggest is that you buy a good guidebook (one that includes plenty of maps), such as Frommers and/or Lonely Planet, and really familiarise yourself with its contents over the next few months. That way, you'll begin to get a good feel for what you should see, where you might/should stay, and how to get around the city.

 

Once you've done that and narrowed down the possibilities a bit (though I know that's hard to do--so much to see, so little time!), you can post more specific questions, & we can give you more specific answers and suggestions--advice that will be more helpful to you personally and help you to make the most of your limited time there, based on your personal preferences and tastes.

 

(For example, after you read up on London neighborhoods and hotels, you will probably have a few ideas about where you might possibly like to stay. For instance, after reading the guidebook you might decide that you like the sound of both South Kensington and Bloomsbury but don't know which neighborhood is "better" to stay in; readers here can then chime in with suggestions based on their own experiences.)

 

My wife & I are booked on the Connie's 9/15/07 transatlantic voyage as well. Looking forward to seeing you on board.

 

Cheers,

 

John

[cberge]

I need some budget hotel recomendations

!!!!

 

That would be the Earl's Court area.

[a-tx-brit]

Take the water taxi from Thames Embankment to Greenwich, home of the Prime Meridian of the world. The crew will give you info on points of interest.

We are English, but were amazed at how little we knew!( Crew hope to get tips....so are VERY entertaining!

Will give your legs a rest!!!!

[pcur]

Our first trip to London was last October. We stayed two nights before flying to Barcelona for our cruise.

 

Some of the stuff that we did:

 

We used the Big Bus (hop on/off) 24-hour pass as our transportation around town. We just got on and off near where we wanted to go, and walked the rest of the way. You can buy your tickets online before you go and save some money. First time you get one of the buses, it starts your 24 hours. 18 GBP for all your transpo.

 

I've been researching hotels for our trip next April, and found two hotels that got good reviews on tripadvisor.com. Please check them for their reviews before booking any hotel. They are a very good resource. I found Huttons and The Victor for $104 to $125 a night, two people, including breakfast. This is in the Victoria Station area. I found the best price after comparing from a lot of sites. See below regarding emailing me if you're interested.

 

I found some great bus and train prices, too, but I won't fill up this post with all of it. Feel free to email me at pcurri at the yahoo place if you want the additional info I found. I don't know if you want to take the bus or the train to/from London, or a private car.

 

We got our transfers last year through londontown.com. I was very pleased with both the web site's customer service, and the transportation we got with Krest.

 

The Crown Jewels are fabulous! Definitely go to the Tower of London and walk all around the grounds, and see them.

[Casshew]

We just came back from a week in London, some of the things we enjoyed were the double decker bus tours, these are either 'The Original' or 'The Big Bus Company'

 

The tour guides on board are great and loads of fun, you go around all of London and they point out the highlights. You can leave and rejoin when every you like. Your tickets are good for 24 hours, so if you buy one at 1pm - you can use them until 1pm the next day.

 

Other things we enjoyed were walking around Hyde Park, Kensington, Knotting hill, Covent Garden, doing the london eye & a river cruise & Tower of London.

 

We also went inside BuckinghamPalace and toured the state apartments & viewed the Queen's 80 gowns & some jewelry on display, it was wonderful.

 

We did lots of other things too - but we had a full week, you have to remember you only have the 3 days and everything takes longer than you think it will.

 

We stayed at the Savoy which is a little pricey so I don't have any hotel advice for you. Also it is cheaper to take the tube everywhere, but if you are limited on time just grab a black cab, I think the most expensive trip we had in one was like 12 pounds, usually it was around 7 - 9 pounds for anywhere and this saves tons of time.

[Casshew]

Oh, and we enjoyed the Natural History museum (Dinosaurs etc) but mostly because I was travelling with my 12 year old - I am not sure adults would be into it too much. (but I enjoyed it)

[bookdoctor]

We were in London 4 yrs ago for 3 days before a cruise. The ceremony was the highlight of our trip. It is at the Tower Of London at nite and you must get tickets before you leave home.They are free. We also enjoyed the Cabinet Rooms, and the hop on hop off buses. Also had a great lunch at the Cafe in the Crypt. Have fun. We go back next May for 2 days and are really looking forward to it.

[ruthandjohn]

We are in England for a month every year on business, and usually a week in London. Here is a link for the London Travel Card. You can buy 1 day to 3 day passes & it's good for all tube zones as well as buses. You get a voucher & take it to the tube station & get your card.

Ruth & John

 

http://www.londonnet.co.uk/travelcards/

 

Oh! You can get that combined with a sightseeing pass that's jumps the queues as well at:

http://www.londonpass.com/index2.asp

[Globaliser]

Here is a link for the London Travel Card. You can buy 1 day to 3 day passes & it's good for all tube zones as well as buses. You get a voucher & take it to the tube station & get your card.

 

http://www.londonnet.co.uk/travelcards/

If this is all that a visitor wants, there is no longer any advantage to buying it in advance. IIRC, it used to be cheaper for visitors, but I think that the price is now exactly the same as you'd pay after arrival.

 

Consequently, buying in advance may take some flexibility away, because you can otherwise just decide what you want to do here each day. A pre-pay Oyster card may be better for some visitors, because you only pay for what you use, yet price capping means that you will never pay more than 50p less than the applicable One Day Travelcard rate.

 

The London Pass is, of course, different because the packaging may work for some people.

[ruthandjohn]

Hi. Frommer

s travel publications web site is advertising the London Travel Cards at the moment at:

http://frommers.raileurope.com/us/rail/passes/london_travel_card.htm

 

as well in US funds.

Ruth

[Globaliser]

Hi. Frommers travel publications web site is advertising the London Travel Cards at the moment at:

http://frommers.raileurope.com/us/rail/passes/london_travel_card.htm

as well in US funds.

Again (like most things at Rail Europe) it's a bit of a ripoff.

 

The Frommers prices (Zone numbers are for the Tube, all are for all buses):-

1 Day Zones 1-2 $13.00

3 Days Zones 1-2 $30.00

7 Days Zones 1-6 $80.00

7 Days Zones 1-2 $44.00

 

Price buying in London:-

1 Day Zones 1-2 £6.20 = $11.70

3 Days Zones 1-2 £15.40 = $29.00

7 Days Zones 1-6 £41.00 = $77.25

7 Days Zones 1-2 £22.20 = $41.80

 

Moreover, all of these are peak rate Travelcards. Many tourists buying a 1 Day Zones 1-2 will actually only need an off-peak Travelcard (valid after 0930 Mon-Fri, all day Sat/Sun/holiday). That's only £4.90 = $9.20.

 

The other thing, of course, is that as soon as you've bought in US dollars, you're locked in. No flexibility. If you come to London and buy what you need, you can tailor it to the travel you're actually going to take.