Travel Day 1 continues - July 7, 2017
Sofitel London Heathrow Hotel (2nt. stay)
We've arrived at the Sofitel, having just come down the elevator (between the 2 escalators) and are checking in at the front desk. (straight ahead)
It is a beautiful modern upscale hotel with a nice casual feel to it. Perfect.
lots of places to eat, drink, sit & relax
Before we get to the room, here are a few key points worth noting about the official
Disney Cruise Line sponsored hotels for Dover, England:
There were 4 options for 2017: (Check with
DCL for 2018)
1 at each Airport
Sofitel London Heathrow -
http://www.sofitel.com/gb/hotel-6214-sofitel-london-heathrow/index.shtml
Terminal 5
Hilton London Gatwick -
http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/united-kingdom/hilton-london-gatwick-airport-GATHITW/index.html
South Terminal (#6 blue on the map)
And 2 within the London Marble Arch District
(This map is just a quick overview - not to scale. Notice the symbols for the Underground station. You'll also see Trafalgar Square and the Victoria Station mentioned by
@JenTen1585)
The Disney London hotels were:
A. Grosvenor House, A JW Marriott Hotel (London)
https://www.marriott.co.uk/hotels/travel/longh-grosvenor-house-a-jw-marriott-hotel/
B. Hyatt Regency London - The Churchill
https://londonchurchill.regency.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html
(Both are located very close to one another - as seen on this google map more to scale & in proximity to several popular London attractions)
FYI: The Airport hotels were the cheapest.
DCL rate for The Sofitel = $267.00/nt. for a standard room with 2 adults. (US $)
Also, there were pros & cons with booking thru DCL:
Pros
- No room deposit requirement. (the price is added to the cruise balance, due by the pay in full date)
- The DCL booking and cancellation policies will apply, not the hotel's. (cancel up to 14 days prior to arrival for a full refund, without penalty)
- Guests are automatically granted the option to purchase transfers to the port, with complimentary transportation from the airport to the London hotels included in the price.
Cost in 2017 = $67.50 each way.
Cons
- You can only reserve the standard room category.
- You could be limited to 2 adults per room (not sure about children)
- DCL may limit to only booking 1 night - the night before or after the cruise.
And there were DCL transfer guidelines as well
The Disney transfers were easy and convenient, but they came with their own set of rules:
(Note: this was for 2017. Check for future cruises out of Dover)
Any guest could add them on with no problem for same day travel between both airports and the Port of Dover. (we did this from Dover to Gatwick /
@85glht shared their experience from Heathrow to Dover)
Any guest could add them on (subject to availability) when staying at either of the 2 airport hotels – Sofitel Heathrow or Hilton Gatwick - and without having to book the hotel portion thru Disney.
But, you could only add them on condition when staying at either of the 2 London hotels - the Grosvenor House or Hyatt Regency - The Churchill.
These guests, had to book their 1 nt. pre-cruise stay directly thru DCL in order to purchase Disney transfers to the port with a pickup from either of these 2 hotels.
All private London hotel reservations could only add transfers from the DCL central London pickup point at the DoubleTree at Hilton London Victoria hotel. But, you were required to get to this pickup destination on your own. (Cost $60.00 for 2018)
website:
http://doubletree3.hilton.com/en/ho...lton-hotel-london-victoria-LONVCDI/index.html
So why the Sofitel and why not thru Disney?
The answer was simple: convenience, quality and price. (Disney was inflexible and charging too much so we dropped them)
But at first, we booked everything thru DCL – a 1 nt. pre-cruise for 2 + transfers to/fr the port. The initial plan was to arrive early the day before the cruise, stay right at the Heathrow airport, ride the transit system back and forth to visit a few London attractions, and take Disney transfers to the port. Very easy and neatly packaged.
Everything was set……….. or so we thought………then a couple of things changed:
1. Iron Man decides to jump in on the cruise in Jan.
No problem. He’s paying his way. We add him in.
2. Airfare to fly on Fri had gone way up and was too high, which meant we now had to fly in on Thurs. 7/7/17 & add a 2nd night to our stay. (again in Jan)
3. We book a Stonehenge Inner Circle Access at sunrise tour for Sat 7/8 – day before the cruise so we can walk among the stones. Their bus pickup is 5:30 am – way too early for a redeye arrival that morning. (this happened in March)
London Touring Tip #1: Finalize your itinerary before booking any airfare & hotel.
Disney emailed a revised confirmation to include Iron Man: (this was for a cat 9B Deck 2 - priced in Jan 2017)
3rd guest fare: $1740.00
Addt’l trip Ins: $ 139.20
Roundtrip transfer increase: from $270.00 (for JQ and I) to $405.
(all this was to be expected)
Then we notice the pre/post land charges are double & for only 1 night: from $267 to $534.
We call DCL and quickly learn they will only reserve the one night & we have to book 2 standard rooms for the 3 adults.
So I start to add it up. That’s right. It would now cost $ 939.00 thru Disney for just a 1 nt. pre-cruise stay at the Sofitel with transfers for 3. And we’ll still have to add the cost of a 2nd night ourselves.
To me, $939 was a lot of money. Especially when compared to the $537 initially billed when there were only 2 of us. Pretty hard to justify wasting $267 for a 2nd room for just Iron Man, vs putting it toward that 2nd night we now needed at the hotel.
We decide to hold everything with Disney (hotel & transfers) while we go back and re-work this entire logistical quandary all over again.
What a mess. It’s January 2. The PIF date is March 11 and we’re right in the middle of booking airfare and reserving private excursions.
To have to go back now and research area hotels is a ton of work. You’re talking: location / price / quality / room configuration / deposit & cancellation policies; etc; etc. Plus figuring out how it all impacts our 1 day touring plan and getting to the port if we venture outside the DCL.
As I said: booking this cruise was the easy part.
To be continued........