British Isles Cruise

[loril13]

There are so many moving parts to this trip, I am totally overwhelmed. We are flying into Heathrow the day before the cruise and spending the night in London. After the cruise, we are spending four nights in Paris. Our flights and all accommodations are booked. Now I have to figure out how to get to all these places! (I am Googling. Just thought people here might have first hand experience to share.)

1. Heathrow to our hotel in London (Westminster)
2. Hotel in London to port in Dover
3. Dover to Eurostar to go to Paris

4. I am sure our AirBnB host will be able to assist with when to get off and how to get to the houseboat.

 

[tankin]

Here's my 2 cents .... Probably not even worth that...
1. Heatherow Express to Paddington. Cab to Westminster (about 15 min according to google). Train is generally faster and cheaper than a cab going into London.
2. London to Dover is more ummmm... interesting... I'd consider the train ... Here's a website I stumbled on https://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/dover_bus_train_stations.htm
3. The Eurostar stops at Ashford. You should be able to cab there from the port although it will cost a few quid (https://www.eurostar.com/us-en/travel-info/stations/ashford-international)...

 

[Mechelle Walker]

There are so many moving parts to this trip, I am totally overwhelmed. We are flying into Heathrow the day before the cruise and spending the night in London. After the cruise, we are spending four nights in Paris. Our flights and all accommodations are booked. Now I have to figure out how to get to all these places! (I am Googling. Just thought people here might have first hand experience to share.)

1. Heathrow to our hotel in London (Westminster)
2. Hotel in London to port in Dover
3. Dover to Eurostar to go to Paris

4. I am sure our AirBnB host will be able to assist with when to get off and how to get to the houseboat.

1) We just used Uber from LHR to our hotel in Kensington. I think the cost was about $60 USD (if I am remembering correctly?)
2) DCL has a guaranteed transfer program that is at an additional cost...however they guarantee that you will arrive on time for the cruise. Also, there are a handful of pick up locations at local London Hotels.
3) I cannot answer your Dover to Paris...as I have never taken the train. Previous poster did answer it though. ^^^^

 

[ahen]

London to Dover you can do the train or you can hire a car. We took Blackberry cars last year, arranged the whole thing on the internet and it worked great.

 

[Alohagirl73]

We used Coastal Cars to take us from our hotel by Tower Bridge to Dover in 2016. They were awesome. The company is out of Kent and very easy to work with.

 

[Luv2Diz]

Heathrow to hotel: Take the Tube. It’s MUCH cheaper than Heathrow Express. No reason to go to Paddington Station then have to cross central London to Westminster. Tube from Heathrow to Green Park Station, change to Jubilee line to Westminster Station.

London to Dover: We are also doing the British Isles cruise and taking the train. You could also do private car or Disney transfer.

Paris: No advice as we haven’t done this.

 

[CarolynU]

Just be aware that if you are taking the train from London to Dover there is very limited storage facilities for luggage close by your seats. The tube via Green Park is a solution. Just avoid trying to travel at rush hour.Green Park is quite a large tube station so expect quite a bit of walking to get from line to line. The Eurostar goes out of Ashford as another poster said. It's a straightforward train ride out of Dover Priory Station. DCL runs shuttles to the station. When I debarked at Dover last year it was very chaotic though and DCL ending up having to refund everyone their fee to use this. However, The Magic has used this port a lot over the last few years so not sure of this was a one off. You just don't want to be stressed about missing your train to Paris and the process isn't quite as straightforward as just jumping from one train to another. You are effectively transferring from a domestic train service onto an international one so there is a change of departure area and security to negotiate. It doesn't take long but you certainly don't want to leave yourself short of time.

 

[oufpat]

From Heathrow to our hotel, we booked a ride with BlackberryCars, 44L for 2 of us with luggage.For hotel to Dover, we are using Disney transportation. We booked an oceanview room, rather than a verandah, so that we could splurge on these other things to make the trip a little easier.

 

[pjacobi]

Heathrow to hotel: Take the Tube. It’s MUCH cheaper than Heathrow Express.

The Tube is cheaper, but take 3X as long.

Heathrow to London by Tube is about 1 hour.

Heathrow to London by Heathrow Express is about 20 minutes. This works especially well if hotel is near Paddington Station. (Be sure to see the bear statue.)


-Paul

 

[DisneyHelen]

Heathrow to London via Heathrow express is easy and convenient.Last year we took train from London Waterloo east to Dover and it was very easy. The train was quiet on Sunday morning, prebook tickets at national rail.Try to travel light.

 

[keighttf]

We took the tube from Heathrow to London and would not recommend it. Very crowded even on a weekend not during rush hour and absolutely no room for luggage. Not a great start to vacation and a horrible introduction to London for my husband (I previously lived outside of London so didn’t bother me quite as much.)
We took the train from London to Dover and found this much better. Luggage racks were available. Our hotel was right at the station so that did help though.

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

Is there a reason why you are travelling from London to Dover then Paris? You could get a direct train from Kings Cross St Pancras (London) to Paris.

 

[Eeyore daily]

I assume the OP is saying they’re going straight to Paris after disembarking in Dover after their cruise, which if that’s the case then it wouldn’t make sense to go back into London just to pass Dover to get to Paris.

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

I assume the OP is saying they’re going straight to Paris after disembarking in Dover after their cruise, which if that’s the case then it wouldn’t make sense to go back into London just to pass Dover to get to Paris.

Yes, that makes more sense.

 

[Happy99]

I am not a fan of the Heathrow Express or Tube with luggage. It also depends on your mobility, if you are able to pick up your luggage and put them on the train, etc. and rolling / carrying it between where you arrive in London and your hotel then go for it. If you are more than two people sometimes a car service is less expensive than the Express train and will drop you off at your hotel door. There are some suggestions on this website, my TA shared with me. https://www.londontoolkit.com/

Info on Dover to Paris https://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/dover_ferry_terminal.htm

 

[Intr3pid]

To go from Dover to Paris, there are a few options (and nuances) to keep in mind.

1. Take the EuroStar from St Pancras station in London to Paris. The direct EuroStar takes just over 2 hours to reach Paris. To get to London St Pancras first, take the high-speed Southeastern train from Dover Priory. This train uses the EuroStar tracks and is the fastest way (~1 hour) to reach London from Dover.

Instead of London St Pancras, you could take the EuroStar in Ashford (25-minute train ride from Dover) - though only one or two trains operate this route on a given day.

Summary: Dover Cruise Terminal >>> Taxi to Dover Priory Station >>> Southeastern train to London St Pancras station >>> EuroStar train to Paris Gare du Nord (or Disneyland Paris)

2. Take the ferry from Dover to Calais (or Dunkirk) in France. It's a 90-minute crossing, and there's a sailing pretty much every hour. From Calais port, you can take a cab to the Calais-Frethun station for a high-speed TGV train (1.5 hours) to Paris Gare du Nord. Alternatively, you can take the Eurolines bus straight from Calais port to Paris - though the travel time will be roughly 4 hours.

Summary: Dover Cruise Terminal >>> Taxi to Dover Ferry Terminal >>> P&O Ferry to Calais >>> Taxi to Calais-Frethun station >>> TGV train to Paris Gare du Nord (>>> RER train to Disneyland Paris)

3. Drive. For rental cars, bear in mind that not all companies allow driving outside of the UK. Plus, you will be driving on the other side of the road. If you do drive, you will take the Eurotunnel shuttle at Folkestone (near Dover). You basically drive your car on to the shuttle train in Folkestone (UK) and drive off it 35 minutes later in Calais (France).

Alternatively, you can take the ferry to Calais from Dover and then rent a car in Calais. A caveat: the Magic typically is in port in Dover on Sundays, and hardly any car rental office is open on Sundays in either Dover or Calais.

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My recommendation? If you want the fastest option (outside of flying), go with #1. For the cheapest, do #2 with the Eurolines bus. For the most flexible, rent a car somewhere as in #3.

 

[gilsan]

There are so many moving parts to this trip, I am totally overwhelmed. We are flying into Heathrow the day before the cruise and spending the night in London. After the cruise, we are spending four nights in Paris. Our flights and all accommodations are booked. Now I have to figure out how to get to all these places! (I am Googling. Just thought people here might have first hand experience to share.)

1. Heathrow to our hotel in London (Westminster)
2. Hotel in London to port in Dover
3. Dover to Eurostar to go to Paris

4. I am sure our AirBnB host will be able to assist with when to get off and how to get to the houseboat.

For London to Dover I would look at doing transfers with DCL. We used them last year and it was super simple. The pick-up spot is the Doubletree Hilton at Victoria Station. They are not the cheapest way to get to Dover, but definitely the simplest. I am doing a trip report and have a section about the transfers to Dover if you want to read about our experience https://www.disboards.com/threads/w...updated-april18-dcl-transport-london.3731605/

 

[KDG]

There are so many moving parts to this trip, I am totally overwhelmed. We are flying into Heathrow the day before the cruise and spending the night in London. After the cruise, we are spending four nights in Paris. Our flights and all accommodations are booked. Now I have to figure out how to get to all these places! (I am Googling. Just thought people here might have first hand experience to share.)

1. Heathrow to our hotel in London (Westminster)
2. Hotel in London to port in Dover
3. Dover to Eurostar to go to Paris

4. I am sure our AirBnB host will be able to assist with when to get off and how to get to the houseboat.

You might want to explore raileurope.com. It is a US based site that answers all questions about train travel in Europe and sells the right tickets for your needs. They have a question/answer section if you need to ask them about specific travel issues.

We have found tons of train travel information on seat61.com as well.

 

[loril13]

Yes, that makes more sense.

Hi. Sorry. I've been offline. In between London and Paris is the British Isles cruise. After the cruise we need to get to the Eurostar to go to Paris.

 

[loril13]

To go from Dover to Paris, there are a few options (and nuances) to keep in mind.

1. Take the EuroStar from St Pancras station in London to Paris. The direct EuroStar takes just over 2 hours to reach Paris. To get to London St Pancras first, take the high-speed Southeastern train from Dover Priory. This train uses the EuroStar tracks and is the fastest way (~1 hour) to reach London from Dover.
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Thank you! I think this is the option we will want. I assume we would take a taxi to the high-speed Southeastern train from Dover Priory? Needing an hour to get to the Eurostar, I am guessing the 11:31 or 12:00 is the earlist I should book? I am nervous we would not get there in time for the 10:24.