June 5, 2016 - Magic Goes to England, Ireland, Scotland and France

[BadPinkTink]

I did mean hotel....which area is the best? This is our first time to London not familiar with the systems.

ok, well first London is divided into circular zones, starting in the center and working out. Zone 1 the center zone is the main tourist area and thats where you should find a hotel.

I have stayed in a few different hotels and areas, depending on my budget at the time.

There are a few mid price chains which I would recommend
Travel Lodge
Comfort Inn
Premier Inn
Holiday Inn

I have stayed at this one https://www.travelodge.co.uk/hotels/318/London-Central-Covent-Garden-hotel which is the best location wise. There are other hotels in that area, so that would be one area you should look at.

Another one I have stayed at is https://www.travelodge.co.uk/hotels/312/London-Central-Marylebone-hotel This is the same chain but a different area. Again there are many hotels in this area, so you should research this area too.

If you want something a bit more than mid price, I have also stayed at http://sanctuaryhousehotel.co.uk/ This area is right beside Big Ben and The Houses of Parliament. This area also has alot of hotels but be careful in your research. Many of the hotels in the Victoria area are 1 or 2 stars, budget hotels and Bed and Breakfasts.

 

[DizC1288]

ok, well first London is divided into circular zones, starting in the center and working out. Zone 1 the center zone is the main tourist area and thats where you should find a hotel.

I have stayed in a few different hotels and areas, depending on my budget at the time.

There are a few mid price chains which I would recommend
Travel Lodge
Comfort Inn
Premier Inn
Holiday Inn

I have stayed at this one https://www.travelodge.co.uk/hotels/318/London-Central-Covent-Garden-hotel which is the best location wise. There are other hotels in that area, so that would be one area you should look at.

Another one I have stayed at is https://www.travelodge.co.uk/hotels/312/London-Central-Marylebone-hotel This is the same chain but a different area. Again there are many hotels in this area, so you should research this area too.

If you want something a bit more than mid price, I have also stayed at http://sanctuaryhousehotel.co.uk/ This area is right beside Big Ben and The Houses of Parliament. This area also has alot of hotels but be careful in your research. Many of the hotels in the Victoria area are 1 or 2 stars, budget hotels and Bed and Breakfasts.

This has been very helpful. It looks like I need to wait another month before I can book a room (11 months)
Thanks so much for you help

 

[nzdisneymom]

So how are y'all doing? I realized yesterday that in a year's time, we'll be home... yikes! I can't think about our trip being over yet!

We have a mini-vacay coming up in July and once we're back from that, we'll be getting serious about planning for this one - we'll be within the 11 month window for booking flights, hotels, etc. which will make it easier to put details together. We have a loose plan but once we can actually make some reservations, we'll feel better about it.

 

[DizC1288]

I did get a couple hotels booked since it is cheaper to book right when they open up. We will cancel the ones we don't want.
~ there is 4 of us traveling together so we all need to decide
Once we have airfare then I will look at tours in London. We will be spending 3 nights there.

Is anyone else planning a few days in London pre cruise"?

 

[Leslie Hand]

I did get a couple hotels booked since it is cheaper to book right when they open up. We will cancel the ones we don't want.
~ there is 4 of us traveling together so we all need to decide
Once we have airfare then I will look at tours in London. We will be spending 3 nights there.

Is anyone else planning a few days in London pre cruise"?

I am planning to stay 2 night in London before the cruise. Still a bit confused on where to stay in London. Do you know what would be the best spot? I will be travelling with 4 adults and one child. From what I looked at I think I will need two rooms? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[DizC1288]

I am planning to stay 2 night in London before the cruise. Still a bit confused on where to stay in London. Do you know what would be the best spot? I will be travelling with 4 adults and one child. From what I looked at I think I will need two rooms? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Yes, we are doing 2 rooms too. That is where the problem lays for us. WE all would like our own bed and not every hotel offers twin beds. So I have booked 2 different Premier Inns (King beds) and a Hampton Inn with Twin beds. All the hotels are in the same area....Zone 1 ~ Waterloo area. I will let the ladies decide which place. We wanted a hotel that offers breakfasts free and the Hampton Inn does that but at the Premier Inns we can also include dinner if we want.........for the same price that the Hampton Inn will be for just the breakfast. One of the Premier Inns just opened in January............decisions decisions ))))

At the Premier Inns they do have a family room with a King bed and a pull out couch....so that might be an option for you??

Also, even though I know the weather will probley be in the 70-80 degree range and should be cool.......I still wanted a hotel that had
air conditioning just to give air movement and not all hotels offered that.

I didn't prepay any of the hotels (which would be cheaper) but until airfare is made. I don't want to prepay anything incase one of that gals I am traveling with changes their minds. Then we could probley get by with only 1 room somewhere.

So much to think about.........but I need/want to start planning

 

[BadPinkTink]

I am planning to stay 2 night in London before the cruise. Still a bit confused on where to stay in London. Do you know what would be the best spot?

Scroll back a few pages, I posted about hotels and the best areas to stay in London

I will be travelling with 4 adults and one child. From what I looked at I think I will need two rooms? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Generally hotels in Europe just have 1 queen or king bed or 2 single beds. These are usually called Double or Twin rooms. Depending on the hotel, they will also have a limited number of Family rooms. This hotel https://www.travelodge.co.uk/hotels/318/London-Central-Covent-Garden-hotel has family rooms. Check out the other hotel chains I listed in a previous post to see if they also have family rooms and the amount of people they can sleep.

 

[MPS516]

I am planning to stay 2 night in London before the cruise. Still a bit confused on where to stay in London. Do you know what would be the best spot? I will be travelling with 4 adults and one child. From what I looked at I think I will need two rooms? Any help is greatly appreciated.

We are staying in London for 3 days this July during our Baltic Cruise. Next year for the British Isl's we are going to spend the week before the cruise visiting relatives in Ireland. Our plan thus far is to travel from Dublin to Dover the morning of the cruise but may rethink that and come over the night before.

 

[gydell]

I am planning to stay 2 night in London before the cruise. Still a bit confused on where to stay in London. Do you know what would be the best spot? I will be travelling with 4 adults and one child. From what I looked at I think I will need two rooms? Any help is greatly appreciated.

There seem to be several families staying at the Novetel London Tower. Seem to have good prices if you book at one of the discount sites. Underground is very close.

 

[DizC1288]

We are staying in London for 3 days this July during our Baltic Cruise. Next year for the British Isl's we are going to spend the week before the cruise visiting relatives in Ireland. Our plan thus far is to travel from Dublin to Dover the morning of the cruise but may rethink that and come over the night before.

Where are you planning on staying in London?

 

[UMDaisy]

Hi Cindy! See, I told you I check in here once in awhile
We have 2 cruises before this one, so it's hard for me to concentrate on this one yet.
The biggest question is whether to do London before or after the cruise - it sounds like some people are doing each option. I might let the airfare drive that bus. Waiting for British Air to open the dates we need ....
Rita

------------
Fantasy Eastern Caribbean 2012
Dream Bahamas 2014
Magic Western Caribbean 2015
Wonder Alaska 2015
Wonder Southern Caribbean 2016
British Isles 2016

 

[MelissaIsalene]

I have a quick question. This will be our first time to London so bear with me. For this trip, do we only need a valid US passport? I figured we need a visa, so I just wanted to double check! Thanks for all the great info so far!

 

[MPS516]

Where are you planning on staying in London?

We are staying at Hilton Hyde Park, mostly because we are staying on Hilton points. It seemed most of the hotels we were looking at were in the general area (large area) so when this popped up and was discounted points we jumped on it.

 

[MPS516]

I have a quick question. This will be our first time to London so bear with me. For this trip, do we only need a valid US passport? I figured we need a visa, so I just wanted to double check! Thanks for all the great info so far!

I don't see any ports requiring a tourist visa. The caution I would have is to be sure all passports for your party do not expire within 3 months of the end of the cruise.

 

[kris24]

Hi everyone,
I am hoping to be on this cruise. If all goes as planned this will be Disney cruise #9 for my family. It will be myself (Kristan), my husband (Dewayne) and my son (Kaleb). My son will be turning 9 during the cruise. I guess you can say his birthday is the reason for this trip. I have been wanting to go to Europe for many years now. Somehow a couple of years ago my son started saying we could go to Paris when he was 9. Well it so happens that the day we dock in Le Havre (Paris), France is his 9th birthday. I took that as a sign and started saving. I am looking forward to the planning and getting to know all of you.
Kristan

 

[nzdisneymom]

Hi everyone,
I am hoping to be on this cruise. If all goes as planned this will be Disney cruise #9 for my family. It will be myself (Kristan), my husband (Dewayne) and my son (Kaleb). My son will be turning 9 during the cruise. I guess you can say his birthday is the reason for this trip. I have been wanting to go to Europe for many years now. Somehow a couple of years ago my son started saying we could go to Paris when he was 9. Well it so happens that the day we dock in Le Havre (Paris), France is his 9th birthday. I took that as a sign and started saving. I am looking forward to the planning and getting to know all of you.
Kristan

Welcome Kristan! One of my boys will be having his birthday on the trip, too - but he'll be turning 20

 

[nzdisneymom]

I have a quick question. This will be our first time to London so bear with me. For this trip, do we only need a valid US passport? I figured we need a visa, so I just wanted to double check! Thanks for all the great info so far!

This might be helpful: http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country.html - you can pick the countries that you're traveling to and it will tell you specific requirements. For Great Britain, no need for a visa if you're staying under 90 days. For France it says:

• PASSPORT VALIDITY:
  Must be valid for a minimum of six months at entry, and valid for an additional three months beyond your planned date of departure from the Schengen area. Please note that “emergency passports” issued by U.S. Embassies and Consulates overseas may not be accepted for entry into France.
  

So you may want to double check with DCL to see what their requirements will be as we will be in France but I don't know how they check passports of cruise ship passengers. For us, we have just renewed so we are ok, but if we weren't going to have a full six months post-travel, we would take care of it so in case something happened while overseas, we had the required amount of time left. But that's just us.

Hope this helps. When we renewed our passports in April, it only took about 3 weeks to get them returned.

 

[Alohagirl73]

Just wanted to say 49 weeks until we set sail from Dover!!!

 

[nzdisneymom]

British Airways is available for booking flights for anyone who is planning to fly with them.

We made our pre-flight hotel reservation today at a DVC resort (Saratoga Springs).

 

[nzdisneymom]

I found an article with information about when to buy international flights - looks like sooner is better.
We were wondering because we are fare-watching and noticed that prices jump for Delta from May 16th to May 17th so that must be when their "season" changes for flights - prices are $350-$400 more per seat for the same route just days apart (even when factoring in the same length of stay, etc.). Even flexible dates pricing showed the jump.

http://www.cheapair.com/blog/travel-tips/how-far-in-advance-should-you-book-an-international-flight/