Cruises leaving Dover: Does everyone fly into London?

[bibbidibobbidibecky]

I am playing with the idea of a few days in Italy before our Northern Europe cruise next summer. I found really cheap flights from Naples to Lille (which looks like a fun place to see) and then taking the ferry from Calais to Dover. Has anyone ever done this? Is it advisable? Is it easy?

Or is it best to just fly into London and stay a night near Dover?

Thanks!

 

[cruiser21]

I am playing with the idea of a few days in Italy before our Northern Europe cruise next summer. I found really cheap flights from Naples to Lille (which looks like a fun place to see) and then taking the ferry from Calais to Dover. Has anyone ever done this? Is it advisable? Is it easy?

Or is it best to just fly into London and stay a night near Dover?

Thanks!

I'm sure most people fly into London. Honestly getting to Dover isn't that simple from London either. Especially if you want to spend time in London before cruise. Dover is about 2 hours from London. We took a cab from hotel to train station, train to Dover and then a cab from train station to port. Taking a ferry doesn't sound much worse. None of bad it's just not as simple as jumping in a cab to get to port like you can when you cruise out of Barcelona or Copenhagen.

 

[awaghorn]

As a brit I would say the ferry part is very easy - there are loads daily and you could easily then stay overnight in the premier inn on the front before cruising the next day. Most people who travel on the ferry from the UK however do so with a car (myself included) when travelling to mainland Europe on holiday so not sure how easy the foot passenger part would be with luggage etc.

 

[janiebubble]

I'd say you best bet in that scenario would be the Eurostar from Lille to Ashford. You are then a 20 minute train journey to Dover. I'd second staying at the premier inn - we had great views of the Magic when we stayed there before our Dover to Barcelona cruise in 2015

 

[owensamo]

I'd say you best bet in that scenario would be the Eurostar from Lille to Ashford. You are then a 20 minute train journey to Dover. I'd second staying at the premier inn - we had great views of the Magic when we stayed there before our Dover to Barcelona cruise in 2015

This is what we did in 2015 - though we took the Eurostar from DLP, not Lille. We transfered at Ashford to a local train that went to Dover, and then found probably the only minivan cab in Dover to take the 5 of us to the Premiere Inn. We spent 2 nights in Dover prior to the cruise, in order to have time to enjoy Dover Castle and meet some other cruisemates.

 

[bibbidibobbidibecky]

Thanks everyone! The Eurostar seemed weird to me because you have to pass Dover and backtrack, but you all make it sound like no biggie. Maybe we will just do that!