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Old 09-28-2009, 04:14 PM   #1
Emma1
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7/6/10 Baltics

Are you still going? WE are a family of five and are getting concerned about the total cost. Wanted to spend 3 nights in London first and hotels are expensive, let a lone the flights. Website called Central-London apartments seem reasonable. - has anyone used them? Also plan to take National Express from London to Dover the morning of the cruise - does this make sense? Any insight to all this would be most helpfuly
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Old 09-29-2009, 01:56 AM   #2
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Taking National Express does make sense - they're usually reasonably priced. Just in case though, I'd go down to Dover the night before, as I always worry about something going wrong when you travel on the day of a cruise. You could always book a hotel in Dover for the night. That would probably be cheaper than another night in London.

Some cheap, but good, hotel chains in the UK are Premier Inn and Travelodge. They're both well regarded over here and are reasonably priced.

As for the flights, where are you flying from? One of the cheapest routes is New York to London, as there's a lot of competition on that route, so it might be worth seeing if it's cheaper getting an internal flight there and then flying from New York.

with eveything and I hope it all works out for you.
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Old 09-29-2009, 11:23 AM   #3
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We cancelled our 6/12/2010 Baltics Cruise on Disney and have changed to the 6/11/2010 Baltics cruise on Princess. We could get a mini-suite for less than what we are paying for an inside cabin. We also liked the itinerary better. Only negative is that we have to fly to Copenhagen instead of London which adds some $$$ to the final cost which will still be a lot less than Disney.
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Old 09-29-2009, 01:25 PM   #4
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We are still booked on the June 12 voyage. My husband is really excited now since I realized that we will be in London at the end of the cruise during the 2nd and 3rd rounds of Wimbeldon. He is a big tennis fan. I have put him in charge of figuring out how to obtain tickets for that event.
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Old 09-29-2009, 01:40 PM   #5
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thank you for the info. Are there certain areas we should focus on staying in London ( or avoiding!). We will look into going down to Dover the night before.
We are flying from NY - flights are over $1000 each. We haven't even looked into the excursions yet!
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Old 09-29-2009, 03:07 PM   #6
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thank you for the info. Are there certain areas we should focus on staying in London ( or avoiding!). We will look into going down to Dover the night before.
We are flying from NY - flights are over $1000 each. We haven't even looked into the excursions yet!
I would avoid Kings Cross if you can - home to some unsavoury activities, shall we say...

If you get something in Kensington, Knightsbridge, that sort of area, that's very nice.
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Old 09-29-2009, 03:09 PM   #7
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We are still booked on the June 12 voyage. My husband is really excited now since I realized that we will be in London at the end of the cruise during the 2nd and 3rd rounds of Wimbeldon. He is a big tennis fan. I have put him in charge of figuring out how to obtain tickets for that event.
I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm, but apart from purchasing a tour package, I'm not sure how you'd get tickets. Brits can apply for tickets through the ballot - we've been lucky twice in the last seven or eight years, so even that is tough or you can turn up and queue on the day. with that though, especially if a certain Andy Murray is in action - the crowds will easily double or triple on those days! To get Centre or Number One courts from queuing for tickets, you'll probably have to camp overnight.
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Old 09-30-2009, 09:52 AM   #8
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Thank you for the information on the tennis. We may take a bus ride there just to see the grounds and maybe queue up for tickets or buy from a ticket scalper. It depends on how much Tony really wants to see a match in person. There is a lot to see in London so I won't be disappointed if we can't do Wimbledon.
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Old 10-01-2009, 10:29 AM   #9
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DH and I are also concerned about airfares. Honestly the cheapest I've found is to go from our regional airport (Bloomington IL) to Orlando and then to either Gatewich or Heathrow. WDW brings in a lot of flights internationally. It's not very easy for us to get to NY without lots of stops or driving at least 3 hours to a bigger airport and paying for parking for what might be 3 weeks! Ouch

In regards to hotels, the disney cruise site is now listing a few recommended hotels. We are looking at Park Plaza County Hall. It seems to be in an area that we'd like visit and I'm hoping it's one that we can do our cruise check in at and that offers transportation to Dover. Anyone have info on this place? Or, are there any recommended places close to this hotel that might be less expensive but within walking distance so we could do cruise check-in and inquire on transportation to Dover???

Sure wish I'd win the lottery so I didn't have to worry about these kinds of things. Oh wait, I think I'd actually have to purchase lottery tickets to win, right?? LOL
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Old 10-01-2009, 11:35 AM   #10
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I will let you know what my travel agent recommends regarding hotels. She is also working on Wimbledon tickets for us too.
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Old 10-02-2009, 01:56 AM   #11
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DH and I are also concerned about airfares. Honestly the cheapest I've found is to go from our regional airport (Bloomington IL) to Orlando and then to either Gatewich or Heathrow. WDW brings in a lot of flights internationally. It's not very easy for us to get to NY without lots of stops or driving at least 3 hours to a bigger airport and paying for parking for what might be 3 weeks! Ouch

In regards to hotels, the disney cruise site is now listing a few recommended hotels. We are looking at Park Plaza County Hall. It seems to be in an area that we'd like visit and I'm hoping it's one that we can do our cruise check in at and that offers transportation to Dover. Anyone have info on this place? Or, are there any recommended places close to this hotel that might be less expensive but within walking distance so we could do cruise check-in and inquire on transportation to Dover???

Sure wish I'd win the lottery so I didn't have to worry about these kinds of things. Oh wait, I think I'd actually have to purchase lottery tickets to win, right?? LOL
I know where the Park Plaza County Hall is located and it's in a nice area - close to the London Eye from memory and about five minutes walk from Westminster tube station. We've driven past it a few times before. As for places within walking distance from the Park Plaza, I'm not sure. There aren't many hotels around that area. What other hotels are Disney offering? If they are offering any in the Kensington / Knightsbridge area, then you can probably easily find something cheaper near to one of those.

By the way, if you have a choice about which airport you fly into, I'd probably go for Gatwick, as it's a smaller airport (only two terminals, as opposed to five, so it's easier to find your way around). Both have high speed rail services into London, but if you are looking at the County Hall area, Gatwick's rail service would take you straight to Victoria and then it would be a fairly short taxi ride to County Hall or two stops on the Circle/District line to Westminster. Personally, I'd go for the cab from Victoria though, as Westminster would be about a five minute walk and it won't be fun lugging your luggage around. :
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