The 2010 Baltic Thread--Cruise Tips and Planning

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Thanks, Andrew - I stand corrected!

Taking the tube will be an even slower option than Heathrow Connect plus a taxi.

OK, we will disagree on that one,

I would say if we are talking Mayfair here:-

• Piccadilly line even with a small taxi ride is fastest.
• HE+ Taxi next.
• HC+taxi Last.

And Piccadilly is every 3 mins from any terminal, if you miss HC its 15 mins to add on already, to wait.

My regular experience of the lines to/from Paddington, mostly on First-Great Western services, is the worst line into/out of London, and often delayed, I avoid Paddington using the Central Line from Ealing Broadway, as the service (with more stops), is far quicker.

 

[NancyIL]

OK, we will disagree on that one,

I would say if we are talking Mayfair here:-

• Piccadilly line even with a small taxi ride is fastest.
• HE+ Taxi next.
• HC+taxi Last.

And Piccadilly is every 3 mins from any terminal, if you miss HC its 15 mins to add on already, to wait.

My regular experiance of the lines to/from Paddington, mostly on First-Great Western services, is the worst line into/out of London, and often delayed, I avoid Paddington using the Central Line from Ealing Broadway, as the service with more stops, is far quicker.

There is NO WAY the tube from Heathrow is faster than Heathrow Express + taxi! It takes ~ 45 minutes by tube!

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

There is NO WAY the tube from Heathrow is faster than Heathrow Express + taxi! It takes ~ 45 minutes by tube!

We will differ, HE without stops still takes a while to get to Paddington, then getting to get a taxi and a longer journey in London traffic, its longer and far more aggro, I am still talking Mayfair here with a direct Tube service to Hyde park corner, for places such as Paddington area HE is indeed quicker.

Anyway lets leave it there.....

 

[NancyIL]

We will differ, HE without stops still takes a while to get to Paddington, then getting to get a taxi and a longer journey in London traffic, its longer and far more aggro, I am still talking Mayfair here with a direct Tube service to Hyde park corner, for places such as Paddington area HE is indeed quicker.

Anyway lets leave it there.....

I will agree with you about the taxis. Twice in September we had unscrupulous taxi drivers who chose the slow and/or meandering route to take us to our hotel from Paddington (past Buckingham Palace following s l o w l y behind the band as they were leaving) and from our hotel to Liverpool Street Station.

 

[mom_rules]

Sometime HE has specials on their site. I was lucky enough to order online at a buy one get companion, friends bought first class at economy prices.
Think they were running a kids travel free but that may have passed.
Worth checking their site though-just printed my tickets online.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Sometime HE has specials on their site. I was lucky enough to order online at a buy one get companion, friends bought first class at economy prices.
Think they were running a kids travel free but that may have passed.
Worth checking their site though-just printed my tickets online.

Yes and also Gatwick Express has online discounts at the moment.

 

[scrapycruiser]

I have been following along with everyone's conversations and have loved all the great information. We are on the July 18th cruise and trying to finalize some plans.
We are flying into Heathrow and staying in Mayfair at the Holiday Inn. How should we get there? Train? Private Vehicle? Can anyone give me some advise. Thanks so much.

WELCOME !!!!!!!!

We are using Eddie Manning www.limo.co.uk

 

[carolmb]

Hi Everyone,
We are enjoying the end of our 3rd day in London. We arrived on Tuesday morning at Heathrow T4. Made our way over to T3 and picked up the kids photo Oyster cards and our Oyster cards. Using Andrew's great advice we took the Piccadilly line to Green Park and switched to the Jubilee line to Canada Water. We are staying at the Hilton Docklands and they have a shuttle service from the hotel to the tube station. The hotel is nice, we are in a family room, and have a lovely view of the Thames and Canary Wharf. DD is happy because there is pool. I will have to say that it was a bit of pain dragging the luggage around but we managed and the kids did help pulling bags. When we got to the hotel DH asked why didn't we hire a car service...I could of punched him but I knew he would say that. Our 1st day here everyone napped and then we went to dinner. 2nd day everyone slept late and we went to the London Eye and dinner at Porters. Today everyone slept late and we went to the Cabinet War Rooms and the British Museum. Tomorrow we were supposed to go to Stonehenge but with 100% rain forecasted I changed the tour to the Friday after the cruise. So now we will go to Westminster Abbey and the National Museum. We are not planning to sleep late and hopefully the rain will not be to bad.
Carol

 

[MrsG]

So glad that those of you that began this wonderful adventure are having a great time in London. Thanks for posting. We're really looking forward to hearing about the ports during the cruise and when you return!

 

[MrsScooby]

I will have to say that it was a bit of pain dragging the luggage around but we managed and the kids did help pulling bags. When we got to the hotel DH asked why didn't we hire a car service...I could of punched him but I knew he would say that.

Carol

Oh Boy! I know what you mean. My Dh pretty much washed his hands of the planning on our PC repo cruise and then decided to critique the plans I made after the fact (while on vacation)...really made me mad
I told him this time he either helps with the planning or keeps his opinions to himself on what we should have done
He is trying to participate more this time, but does admit he is grateful for all the research that I do. I do have to push him sometimes to weigh in on things that I know will affect him.

 

[NancyIL]

I will have to say that it was a bit of pain dragging the luggage around but we managed and the kids did help pulling bags. When we got to the hotel DH asked why didn't we hire a car service...I could of punched him but I knew he would say that.

Oh Boy! I know what you mean. My Dh pretty much washed his hands of the planning on our PC repo cruise and then decided to critique the plans I made after the fact (while on vacation)...really made me mad
I told him this time he either helps with the planning or keeps his opinions to himself on what we should have done
He is trying to participate more this time, but does admit he is grateful for all the research that I do. I do have to push him sometimes to weigh in on things that I know will affect him.

Comments like that from husbands are grounds for divorce - or getting left home on future vacations!!

 

[denise]

We have never used drivers to be picked up at the airport or dock. I would like to know what you all think a tip should be? Do you tip in France and England? Don't even know...

Also what about a private tour in St. Petersburg? Do we tip them also?

 

[smilis]

Oh Boy! I know what you mean. My Dh pretty much washed his hands of the planning on our PC repo cruise and then decided to critique the plans I made after the fact (while on vacation)...really made me mad
I told him this time he either helps with the planning or keeps his opinions to himself on what we should have done
He is trying to participate more this time, but does admit he is grateful for all the research that I do. I do have to push him sometimes to weigh in on things that I know will affect him.

Ditto !

I know what you mean Laurie.

 

[scrapycruiser]

I just read on cruise critic that St Petersburg has a new pier ( # 6 ) . I wonder where the Magic will be docking ? Does anyone know ?

 

[CarolAnnC]

DH is currently in London and took the tube (I think) from Heathrow direct to Paddington which was only a 15 minute ride. He plans on doing the return trip tomorrow to the airport.

He highly recommends this transportation. That being said, we are using a car service for the cruise.

 

[woody73]

We were on the EBTA (April 10-24) and just returned home. After the cruise, we traveled around Spain and Italy for five weeks, and spent week six in London.

We took the tube (Piccadilly Line) to and from Heathrow. It was inexpensive, and we weren't in a hurry.

We bought our tickets from the ticket windows. I did not compare the travel times with Heathrow Connect or Heathrow Express.

We encountered many stairs in the tube stations (such as when transferring from one line to another). By this point in our travels, we only had carry-on bags, and managed just fine. But we saw some families struggling with their luggage.

When we arrived in London, it was mid-day, and there was ample room and seats. When we left, it was during peak commuter time, and it was difficult finding seats. There were no overhead luggage racks on the tube trains.

YMMV.

Woody

 

[Celestine]

We have never used drivers to be picked up at the airport or dock. I would like to know what you all think a tip should be? Do you tip in France and England? Don't even know...

Also what about a private tour in St. Petersburg? Do we tip them also?

In the UK tips are around 10%. You generally tip a driver and wait staff. A bell hop will be about £1/bag. However plenty do not tip & in the UK it is accepted that a tip reflects the service. In all cases I tend to just round the value if I think a tip is appropriate to the best 'whole number'. Many places will not allow you to add the tip to a credit card payment of a bill though

Celestine

 

[carolmb]

We encountered many stairs in the tube stations (such as when transferring from one line to another). By this point in our travels, we only had carry-on bags, and managed just fine. But we saw some families struggling with their luggage.Woody

That must have been us. We were very lucky though that we did not have to carry our luggage up or down any stairs.

Carol

 

[cindy18]

I just read on cruise critic that St Petersburg has a new pier ( # 6 ) . I wonder where the Magic will be docking ? Does anyone know ?

You know, now that you mention it, I have heard about this. When we were reaching out to different tour guides in St. Petersburg, and trying to craft schedules, one of them emailed that although no one knew for sure yet, the word was that the Magic might be docking at the brand new pier. The reason it was relevant is that we had been trying to schedule a white nights tour that would go quite late, and apparently the location of the pier means you need to be on the pier side when the bridges go up, which limits the white nights tour. When we decided on a different tour guide, I mentioned the issue. She said that it was too early to know where the ship would come in, and she would keep checking before we finalized plans. So who knows?

 

[NancyIL]

I'm already here holed up in the London Hilton Paddington. Grabbed my luggage from terminal one, headed for the Heathrow Express and checked into my hotel all without ever stepping foot outside. Finally headed out around 1pm to see what the weather was like. Took the tube over to Piccadilly Circus, had a drink in St. James Pub, then headed over to the Holborn station to check out the food offerings around the Renaissance Chancery Hotel. Had a meatball sub (more like a wrap) next door to the hotel, then headed back to Paddington.

DH is currently in London and took the tube (I think) from Heathrow direct to Paddington which was only a 15 minute ride. He plans on doing the return trip tomorrow to the airport.

He highly recommends this transportation. That being said, we are using a car service for the cruise.

Sounds like he took the Heathrow Express from Heathrow to Paddington. The tube takes a lot longer than 15 minutes from Heathrow to London. It is a cheap option, but you can encounter stairs when transferring tube stations when the escalators don't work.