Carnival Pride Europe Cruise Review: Day 17 – Debarkation + Londonfeatured

I’ve made my peace with debarkation days.

There is a lot to dislike about them, that’s undeniable: the packing, the logistics, the fact that we have to be up at some ungodly hour to end a trip we’d anticipated so much. But we’ve gotten to the point where they’re less of a bummer and more of an inconvenience. We had so much to look forward to once we got off the ship: for years, we’ve traveled through London but never to London. And finally, we’d have the opportunity to experience the UK beyond Heathrow airport. In fact, it was just a precursor for me: after our time in London, I’d be home for exactly six days and then fly back to London for work. When it rains, it pours, right? So there was a lot to look forward to to get through the melancholy of our cruise ending.

What I didn’t look forward to was having to be out of our cabin by 6:15 AM. I can only think of two things that make me look forward to being up and out that early and they’re limited to international flights in business class and Black Friday shopping. This was neither of those things and I was cranky until I got some breakfast and coffee in me!

We took our bags with us and left our cabin (never looking back!) for a quick breakfast up on the Lido deck before heading to the theater to meet our tour. The ship docks in Southampton, about two hours away from London. You can take a train or hire a private car but for us, to simplify things, we booked a tour that ended at the airport, where we had booked a hotel for the remainder of our stay. I wouldn’t ordinarily recommend booking an airport hotel for a city trip, but logistically it worked best for us (Heathrow has easy transit access into London and staying at the airport would give us a little more time to sleep in before we flew home and eliminate another expensive taxi ride).

Our tour group was called quickly and we were off the ship just after 7:00 AM. Passing through customs and immigration was a cinch — I don’t even think we talked to any of the officers, we just passed on through — and then we grabbed our luggage and made our way out.

Our tour bus was the only one missing of the ship-arranged transfers and tours (because of course it was) and it didn’t pull up until nearly 45 minutes later. On the plus, though, it was a shiny and new Mercedes bus with chargers, a washroom and enough seats for everyone to not need to share a row!

Because we didn’t have a flight to catch, we booked a tour that ended at the airport instead of a straight up transfer. Carnival offered a few options and we chose (you’ll be shocked here) a Harrods shopping experience. I’ve been to the Heathrow Harrods more times than I could count and I could not wait to experience the real deal!

Our guide for the day was a woman named Christiane and she was cheeky, knowledgeable and prepared for everything (including the bus wi-fi not working — she turned her phone into a hotspot for everyone!). We rolled out of the port and through the countryside. It was cold, rainy and foggy so we only caught brief glimpses of the Cliffs of Dover, but the gray skies turned blue as we approached the city of London.

London is such a distinctive city and as we rolled in, seeing the London Eye, the Tower Bridge, Big Ben, all of those iconic sites — it was just so exciting. I can’t explain just how much we had anticipated this!

We arrived just after 10:00 AM and had around three hours of free time to shop, eat and explore. We wandered through as many corners of Harrods as we could from the teddy bears in the basement to the chic displays of handbags and the decadent displays in the food halls and confectionary. Harrods is such an iconic store with a rich history. For a shopper like me, I live for these experiences. Harrods, Galleries Lafayette, Marshall Fields — there are certain stores that live in lore and the experience of shopping in them brings me more joy than the things I buy. What can I say? Mom and grandma took me to Lord and Taylor every weekend when I was little (…I’m not exaggerating) so we can blame them for the fact that I’m now an adult who waxes poetic on the internet about shopping at international department stores.

I would have loved to have done a tea service but the schedule didn’t permit so we did the next best thing — we grabbed a quick lunch at McDonald’s next door. Okay, maybe not the next best thing but we were hungry, we didn’t want to spend too much time on a meal and International McDonald’s always hits the spot.

By 1:00 PM, it was back on the bus, bound for Heathrow. The ride wasn’t too long but I wasn’t paying attention. I was enthralled by everything we passed on the ride. I love the facades of the British pubs and the flower displays everywhere as spring transitioned to summer in the UK.

We bid farewell to Christiane at Heathrow, where we were dropped off at Terminal 3 Departures. From there, it was a quick walk through a covered garage over to the Hilton Garden Inn. We’d previously stayed at the Hilton in Terminal 4 and the Sofitel in Terminal 5, both perhaps a little more luxurious, but we found the Hilton Garden Inn clean, well-appointed and comfortable. And with the connection to the airport (which has multiple train lines into the city of London), it was easy to get from the hotel into the city. Perfect for us. We booked two rooms since we had so much luggage and the hotel was kind enough to give us rooms right next to each other. It all worked out perfectly.

And that was it. We spent the rest of our time in London doing what we do — getting into everything! We went to Buckingham Palace and saw the changing of the guard, we spent an evening at the Tate Museum exploring a Yayoi Kusama exhibit (my fave!), we snapped a million pictures, saw all of the sites and, of course, had to have a meal at a Big Mamma restaurant. It was everything we hoped for and more.

Our flight home was uneventful, on time and smooth. And then we celebrated Stephanie’s birthday, got back to our regular lives and before I could get over my jet lag, I was on a plane back to London for a week with my International team at work. Couldn’t end this one on a more fitting note, am I right?