July 30, 2010 Mickey's Adventures England to Espana Cruise

[ScubaMickey]

Flip Flop season is in full swing in Florida Now if the Atlantic Ocean would just warm up

ScubaMickey

 

[Melcatfish]

I have been sorting out some layouts for my online gallery and thought i would share this scrapbook page I made with a photo taken on the Magic last August, just looking at my cruise pages is getting me in the mood for the trip

Anyone else care to share some past cruise photos?
Mel
x

 

[zencrew]

What is the best way for a family of 4 to travel from London to Dover? Does anyone recommend using the DCL transfer that is offered?

 

[mkmommy]

What is the best way for a family of 4 to travel from London to Dover? Does anyone recommend using the DCL transfer that is offered?

There is the National Express Bus, that I gather is slow but not very expensive.

Trains from Victoria Station, Kings Cross or St Pancars. (spelling?).

One way car rentals.

Private car service.

DCL Transfers.

It really depends where you are coming from and how much luggage you have. There is a Baltic Trip planning thread and this question has lots of answers, for this and other Dover questions.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/bargains/index_breakdown.cfm?itinerary=115


I think I am going with the train from Victoria Station on Thursday morning.

If I was arriving at the airport on Friday morning I would take DCL transfers, but that is just me.

Lisa

 

[mkmommy]

I have been sorting out some layouts for my online gallery and thought i would share this scrapbook page I made with a photo taken on the Magic last August, just looking at my cruise pages is getting me in the mood for the trip

Anyone else care to share some past cruise photos?
Mel
x

Your kids are lovely, they look like they are having so much fun.

 

[mkmommy]

Flip Flop season is in full swing in Florida Now if the Atlantic Ocean would just warm up

ScubaMickey

Glad to hear it has warmed up, when we were there last month we had a couple of nice days, but also a couple of really windy cool days. Even my girls did not go in the ocean so it may take some time to warm up, as the water was cold.

We still had fun. The more I go to Florida the more I like it.

Lisa

 

[jdybnsn]

What is the best way for a family of 4 to travel from London to Dover? Does anyone recommend using the DCL transfer that is offered?

You could try a one way car rental .....but make sure that there are no "hidden" one way charges !
We are using this company for an estate car (extra large trunk) ;
http://www.car-rental-hire.co.uk/

They guarentee no hidden charges which are often charged on collection.

 

[jdybnsn]

Had flip flops on all day yesterday too Mel .. even ventured out into the garden!!

My little guinea pigs went out for the first time this year and could be heard wheeking very loudly from my lounge!! They had a field day but it's not so warm here today so they can stay indoors for now!

That made me chuckle...we are between guinea pigs at the moment (our last ones died of old age in the Autumn).

........we always used to judge the weather by our "guinea pig-ometres"...ie whether they were out... or indoors !!

 

[jdybnsn]

I have been sorting out some layouts for my online gallery and thought i would share this scrapbook page I made with a photo taken on the Magic last August, just looking at my cruise pages is getting me in the mood for the trip

Anyone else care to share some past cruise photos?
Mel
x

Aww that's a lovely picture !!!!!

 

[jdybnsn]

I am off to Spain within 8 days to go now...

with 17 ladies - will be wild parties..........


Scottishwee35

Go girl !!!!

 

[BelleLvsBooks]

What is the best way for a family of 4 to travel from London to Dover? Does anyone recommend using the DCL transfer that is offered?

There are just 2 of us ... but we fly in on Friday morning and have never been to Europe, so we booked the DCL Transfer from Heathrow to Dover. I want the start of the vacation to be as stress free as possible!

 

[zencrew]

The link that was given to the Baltic board recommended Silverline service as an option for travel to the port. Anyone have any experience or comments on this company? I have emailed them for a quote on transfer cost from London to Dover for a family of 4.

 

[zencrew]

Has anyone used pay as you go mobile broadband while on vacation in Europe (for those of you that are from the US)? I am looking at cost effective options to have phone and netbook access for the two weeks we will be traveling abroad and our current phones will not work.

 

[ScubaMickey]

There are just 2 of us ... but we fly in on Friday morning and have never been to Europe, so we booked the DCL Transfer from Heathrow to Dover. I want the start of the vacation to be as stress free as possible!

There are also just two of us traveling from London to Dover on Thursday. We are traveling by train to enjoy the experience. Just using the different train stations is an exciting experience.

We have found it helpful to exchange some money before we arrive, both pounds and Euros. I also make sure I have coins for the public restrooms. After an all night flight, I always need a snack and bottle of water when we land and having the local currency makes it easier.

ScubaMickey

 

[mkmommy]

There are also just two of us traveling from London to Dover on Thursday. We are traveling by train to enjoy the experience. Just using the different train stations is an exciting experience.

We have found it helpful to exchange some money before we arrive, both pounds and Euros. I also make sure I have coins for the public restrooms. After an all night flight, I always need a snack and bottle of water when we land and having the local currency makes it easier.

ScubaMickey

That is why we are taking the train, where are you planning on taking the train from? I would like to buy tickets while the Canadian dollar is so strong, but right now it does not look like they have released the non stops from Victoria Station yet, I can only buy the ones with a change of trains..

Here in Canada train travel is very expensive, and does not go many places.

Lisa

 

[ScubaMickey]

That is why we are taking the train, where are you planning on taking the train from? I would like to buy tickets while the Canadian dollar is so strong, but right now it does not look like they have released the non stops from Victoria Station yet, I can only buy the ones with a change of trains..

Here in Canada train travel is very expensive, and does not go many places.

Lisa

Hi Lisa,

We are flying into Gatwick and will take the Gatwick Express to Victoria Station and then on to Dover. We have not purchased our tickets yet, but I have been watching the Rail Europe web site. Planes and Trains all in one day

Linda, ScubaMickey

 

[RJAYL]

Hi Lisa,

We are flying into Gatwick and will take the Gatwick Express to Victoria Station and then on to Dover. We have not purchased our tickets yet, but I have been watching the Rail Europe web site. Planes and Trains all in one day

Linda, ScubaMickey

Check this out http://www.limo.co.uk/ I do not know how you can beat the convenience & the price's are pretty good, we are using them for airport transfer to our London Hotel then taking the Ballyhoo Bus 7/18 cruise transport! If we wernt traveling with the Ballyhoo'ers we would use them to the port as well! 195 punds for a luxury van direct to the port!

 

[mkmommy]

Hi Lisa,

We are flying into Gatwick and will take the Gatwick Express to Victoria Station and then on to Dover. We have not purchased our tickets yet, but I have been watching the Rail Europe web site. Planes and Trains all in one day

Linda, ScubaMickey

Wow, all in one day, my kids would not be impressed. If I remember correctly you are travelling with your mom , so I am sure you will not get the "are we there yet". We are flying Tuesday night and then spending Wednesday in London and the train Thursday. I think we will aim for mid morning so we have the afternoon to head to Dover Castle.

I went and checked the National Express website and I do see direct trains from Victoria station now, so I will aim to book soon. When I first started looking at this cruise, 1 pound was almost $2 CAD, and today the rate was 1 pound is 1.57 CAD, so that should allow for more shopping

 

[Melcatfish]

16 WEEKS TO GO

UNTIL THE ENGLAND TO ESPANA CRUISE

DCL HERE WE COME!!!

​

The weeks are going down fast now! The time is sure to fly past. Those of us in the UK have had \ are having the school Easter break and after that the summer term flies by so in no time at all we will all be heading to Dover to board the Magic!

for those looking to get to Dover i would also go with the trains. A car or bus transfer would be ok (and we are going by car) but if you are flying in to Gatwick it is so easy to hop on the Gatwich Express into London and then Victoria to Dover. It doesn't happen too often but when the French go on strike and the lorries can't get through the tunnel or over on the ferries they block some of the routes in to Dover with "Operation Stack" which turns some of themotorway into a lorry car park which might be a bit alarming if you were going by yourselves in a hire car!!!!

Got to go, we are hosting our scrapbooking retreat weekend and it starts TODAY, my delegates arrive at lunch time and although we are on top of things I mustn't get side tracked here, just wanted to post todays countdown of the weeks as I won't have time later!

Mel
x

 

[scottishwee35]

About trains - in Scotland three months advance to book to get good prices/cheaper to book it early...

I will give you the name of website later and I ask my husband to give me the name of it, as I am off to work soon..

Lisa I will email you later maybe after this weekend okay as I have another hen's party at Aberdeen for my brother's partner... busy busy...

Have a good weekend

Scottishwee35