Southhampton cruising

[Maelstrom Troll]

Hello all,
This August we are taking our first “big trip” since Covid; 3-4 days in London then taking the Disney Dream to Norway. We are very psyched for the cruise but a little lost trying to figure out London. If anyone can give any advice on a safe neighborhood and reasonable hotel? How easy is it to get from Heathrow to the city/hotel? We plan on doing a bus tour, Harry Potter, and Harrods depending on time.

What is the best way to get to Southhampton and where have you stayed? How easy is it to transfer back to Heathrow?

Any Norway advice while we’re at it? We are hoping to get close to a glacier and possibly the ferrata in Alesund.
Thanks in advance!
Matt

 

[King Panda 77]

Hello all,
This August we are taking our first “big trip” since Covid; 3-4 days in London then taking the Disney Dream to Norway. We are very psyched for the cruise but a little lost trying to figure out London. If anyone can give any advice on a safe neighborhood and reasonable hotel? How easy is it to get from Heathrow to the city/hotel? We plan on doing a bus tour, Harry Potter, and Harrods depending on time.

What is the best way to get to Southhampton and where have you stayed? How easy is it to transfer back to Heathrow?

Any Norway advice while we’re at it? We are hoping to get close to a glacier and possibly the ferrata in Alesund.
Thanks in advance!
Matt

What ports are you visiting ?

 

[Maelstrom Troll]

What ports are you visiting ?

Stavanger, Alesund, Olden, & Haugesund

 

[King Panda 77]

we have done the first two on previous dcl Norway sailings. do you have any excursions booked ?

 

[ChuckElias]

We had a very short day in Stavanger and did a fjord cruise. I enjoyed it, but wished that I'd had more time to explore the town itself. It was lovely, but we only saw a few shops right near the dock. And those tiny shops were swamped with people from the ship.

 

[nickys]

We are very psyched for the cruise but a little lost trying to figure out London. If anyone can give any advice on a safe neighborhood and reasonable hotel? How easy is it to get from Heathrow to the city/hotel? We plan on doing a bus tour, Harry Potter, and Harrods depending on time.

Heathrow to London is easy.

You can either use the District Line or the Elizabeth line on the Tube. Which one depends on where you’re staying.

I suggest staying centrally. Westminster, the West End, Covent Garden, Kensington etc. There are hotels of the major hotel groups everywhere and a myriad of smaller independent hotels.
Where would you normally stay? Start there, find out what hotels are part of that group and then work out the equivalent level.

The HP experience needs to be booked ahead. You can get there using a train. A private car service will be astronomical, a coach tour will still cost considerably more than the entry ticket with train. Start with the website, it will give suggestions.

There are several different hop-on, hop-off bus tours with different routes. Afaik Westminster Bridge (south) is the official starting point but you’ll be able to catch them at any central location like Trafalgar Square. Usually you can get a 24 or 48 hr ticket covering multiple routes.

A boat trip is a good way to see a different view of the city.

If you intend to go inside attractions then plan according to your interests. And then filter, don’t try to do too much.

I would take the train to Southampton. I think they go from Waterloo station.

 

[Disone]

Heathrow to London is easy.

You can either use the District Line or the Elizabeth line on the Tube. Which one depends on where you’re staying.

I suggest staying centrally. Westminster, the West End, Covent Garden, Kensington etc. There are hotels of the major hotel groups everywhere and a myriad of smaller independent hotels.
Where would you normally stay? Start there, find out what hotels are part of that group and then work out the equivalent level.

The HP experience needs to be booked ahead. You can get there using a train. A private car service will be astronomical, a coach tour will still cost considerably more than the entry ticket with train. Start with the website, it will give suggestions.

There are several different hop-on, hop-off bus tours with different routes. Afaik Westminster Bridge (south) is the official starting point but you’ll be able to catch them at any central location like Trafalgar Square. Usually you can get a 24 or 48 hr ticket covering multiple routes.

A boat trip is a good way to see a different view of the city.

If you intend to go inside attractions then plan according to your interests. And then filter, don’t try to do too much.

I would take the train to Southampton. I think they go from Waterloo station.

I'm also taking the dream but on July 24th. Norway and Iceland. I'm arriving the day before the cruise and from what I have googled you are correct, the tube goes to Southampton from the Waterloo station. So do I do a day in London and then just take the train to Waterloo from there another train to Southampton, do I stay in the Waterloo area, is that a good area? What do I just go directly to Southampton and stay there? There's no right or wrong answer but I'm just curious what your recommendation is?

 

[Surfin' Tuna]

I'm also taking the dream but on July 24th.

We are also booked here but trying to decide for sure if we want to do it before final payment. Great thread. Trying to figure out if we can do the highlights in London in three days and then get down for the cruise.

 

[nickys]

I'm also taking the dream but on July 24th. Norway and Iceland. I'm arriving the day before the cruise and from what I have googled you are correct, the tube goes to Southampton from the Waterloo station. So do I do a day in London and then just take the train to Waterloo from there another train to Southampton, do I stay in the Waterloo area, is that a good area? What do I just go directly to Southampton and stay there? There's no right or wrong answer but I'm just curious what your recommendation is?

That’s a difficult one. What time do you have to be in Southampton?

If it was me, I’d go to Southampton on your arrival day. That way you’re there! Rather than risking something going wrong on the day.

But if you only have one day in London then you could do a bus tour, have afternoon tea &/or dinner, see a show. I know some people get a car service to take them to Southampton.

Something like a rail strike would be known 2 weeks ahead. And if you don’t need to be at Southampton until the afternoon there would be some leeway should something stop the trains.

Waterloo is a tube and rail station just south of the Thames, close to the London Eye. Not hard to get to.

 

[nickys]

We are also booked here but trying to decide for sure if we want to do it before final payment. Great thread. Trying to figure out if we can do the highlights in London in three days and then get down for the cruise.

Three days would be great.

You can see the sights from a bus tour. And visit a few places you’d like to see.

I can give you some suggestions if you like. There are areas which are walkable and take in several places of interest.

Just one example. Westminster Squate (for Houses of Parliament and the Abbey), through St James Park to the Mall and Buckingham Palace, along the Mall to Trafalgar Squate. Easily walkable. You can also take in Horse Guards Parade and visit the Churchill War Rooms.

You need to narrow down anything you’d like to visit - cathedrals etc, museums, Tower of London etc. so you can book those ahead.

 

[Maelstrom Troll]

Thank you @nickys for the detailed response! We ended up getting a hotel near the Tower of London. It’s a little farther away but the deal was too good to pass on.

@Disone if you see a tall guy, a really short woman, and an angsty 14 year old when you disembark that’ll be us

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

We did the Norway Fjords cruise out of Southampton last year, it was incredible.

We took an Uber from Heathrow to Southampton but we took the train back to London and it was pretty easy, it was only a couple blocks from the cruise terminal to the station and we just bought our tickets at the station, the one downside is it’s just a normal commuter train and we had a lot of luggage, we just took it with us into our row. It worked but made for an uncomfortable trip. I was expecting more of a TGV style train with luggage racks but we didn’t see any.

We’ve been to London a few times and find there’s tons to see just walking around being a tourist. Walking around the Westminster, parliament, palace area is always fun, so much to see and it’s free. The Tower of London, London Eye, a river cruise, you really can’t go wrong. The Harry Potter studio tour is also a ton of fun, the train will get you close and then the studio runs buses from the station, it’s fairly easy to get to and we found it well worth half a day. We did afternoon tea at Harrods and that was fun too. The Marble Arch area is also a fun area to walk around and explore with all the high end shops.

My biggest piece of advice is to go to Southampton the night before your cruise and spend the night there. We stayed at the Holiday Inn and it was so nice to just walk to the cruise ship in the morning. No stress about oversleeping, no stress about missing the train… just a relaxing morning and a short walk. Southampton was also a fun city to explore the night before, lots of history to see there also.

We had mostly different ports in Norway than your cruise but we did Pulpit rock on our Stavanger day, it was a moderately difficult hike but the payoff was stunning. The downside is we didn’t see any of the city. Our other Norway port days (Nordfjordeid and Skjolden) we didn’t bother with excursions, we just got off the ship and wandered around the cities and did a couple hiking trails. Norway is so beautiful that walking around, taking pictures, and exploring the little cities was enough to keep us busy on port days. If you have the time I’d also recommend adding a couple days in Oslo after your trip, that’s what we did and Oslo is a beautiful city.

I don’t think you can go wrong no matter what you choose to do, both London and the Norway cruise will be fun regardless… so I guess my main piece of advice is go to Southampton the night before your cruise to take any unknowns out of the mix, the biggest thing that can ruin such an incredible trip is missing the boat.

 

[ChuckElias]

We took an Uber from Heathrow to Southampton

Yikes!! How much did that cost you???

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Yikes!! How much did that cost you???

About $200, we had planned on taking the bus but the next available one was 2 hours later. We decided it was worth the money to get to our hotel, settle in, and have some fun in the city.

The other option was take a train to London and then take a train back to Southampton but that was going to involve moving our luggage several times, we just decided the car would be easier.

 

[Robbiem]

Thank you @nickys for the detailed response! We ended up getting a hotel near the Tower of London. It’s a little farther away but the deal was too good to pass on.

@Disone if you see a tall guy, a really short woman, and an angsty 14 year old when you disembark that’ll be us

Heathrow to the Tower of London is quite easy. Take the Piccadilly underground line to Barons Court and cross the platform and take a District line train to Tower Hill (this is a bigger train). The whole journey is step free (Barons court has a shorter step than other stations to change trains) so OK with luggage.

To get to Waterloo for the Southampton train take the District line to Westminster and then change to the Jubilee line one stop to Waterloo (via the lift).

From Southampton to Heathrow I would take a national express coach which is direct and takes about two hours.

I’d book your train and coach before you go as advance tickets are often cheaper

You can save money on tourist buses by using the tfl routes, some of which are good for tourists https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/visiting-london/experience-london/bus-leisure-routes
You can also take the Uber boat on the Thames for a cheaper trip with the same view and it stops near the tower. I’d recommend an Oyster card for the tube/buses as the fares are cheaper. You can also use a contactless credit card but may have to pay an exchange free as you will be billed in pounds.

tourist spots range from very expensive to free depending on what you want to see. The sky garden observation deck is free and as good as the paid high points but you need to book in advance https://skygarden.london/ a lot of the museums and galleries are free - if you want any recommendations let me know your interests.

Its also fun just to walk around the city and see things like tower bridge and big ben

I hope you have a great time and enjoy my home city, if you’d like any more help just let me know

 

[Maelstrom Troll]

Heathrow to the Tower of London is quite easy. Take the Piccadilly underground line to Barons Court and cross the platform and take a District line train to Tower Hill (this is a bigger train). The whole journey is step free (Barons court has a shorter step than other stations to change trains) so OK with luggage.

To get to Waterloo for the Southampton train take the District line to Westminster and then change to the Jubilee line one stop to Waterloo (via the lift).

From Southampton to Heathrow I would take a national express coach which is direct and takes about two hours.

I’d book your train and coach before you go as advance tickets are often cheaper

You can save money on tourist buses by using the tfl routes, some of which are good for tourists https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/visiting-london/experience-london/bus-leisure-routes
You can also take the Uber boat on the Thames for a cheaper trip with the same view and it stops near the tower. I’d recommend an Oyster card for the tube/buses as the fares are cheaper. You can also use a contactless credit card but may have to pay an exchange free as you will be billed in pounds.

tourist spots range from very expensive to free depending on what you want to see. The sky garden observation deck is free and as good as the paid high points but you need to book in advance https://skygarden.london/ a lot of the museums and galleries are free - if you want any recommendations let me know your interests.

Its also fun just to walk around the city and see things like tower bridge and big ben

I hope you have a great time and enjoy my home city, if you’d like any more help just let me know

Thank you so much for the info!

 

[Maelstrom Troll]

To update, we booked the HP tour and plan on hitting Harrods the day we arrive if we aren't too gassed. The remaining two days we will be doing a bus tour and getting in as many sites as possible without feeling overwhelmed.

Our port excursion window opened but disappointingly only about half the excursions listed on the site are available. We had to do some quick thinking and basically we do a fjord boat cruise in Alesund and a glacier excursion in Olden. We plan on walking a lot of Stavanger and museum hopping. In Haugesund we plan on relaxing as it will be our 5th day and by then I imagine we’ll need some time to chill. Haugesund seems like a newish port for DCL so not a ton to do.

The excursions we really wanted were the hike to Pulpit rock & the funicular to Mt Stranda. I know we could book on our own, but these excursions are longer and I hate to be worried the whole day at port about missing our sailing. We had this ALMOST happen in Skagway and made it back with 15 minutes to spare. It was a scene trying to fight the winds to make it back on the ship!

 

[King Panda 77]

@Maelstrom Troll
Stavanger is a very walkable port.