Pre-cruise Tour From London To Dover Port Via Dover Castle

This was the worst Viator tour I have ever been on. It was supposed to include admission to the Dover Castle and Battle of Britain memorial. Even though we showed the driver our tickets which clearly showed the Dover Castle entrance fee was included, they made my husband and I pay their company an extra $60 ($30 each) to get into the castle. The driver call his boss who said we had to pay again if we wanted to see it and sent me a link to pay the extra amount. (Even after I emailed her screenshot of my tickets saying tickets were included). While driving to the Dover castle, I message chatted with a representative from Viator who said she was opening a claim against them. I just hope that when Viator finishes investigating , I am reimbursed. Before going to the castle, and with no restroom stops, we got to The Battle of Britain Memorial and had to pay another 6 pounds each to get into the memorial in order to use the restroom. The driver was nice, but seemed unfamiliar with the excursion and provided no narration.

It was great to walk around the castle grounds and see the view out to the sea/channel. We did this tour in combination with a ride to the cruise ship from London. We were picked up promptly for the driver and started the tour. He really enjoyed talking about his country. We stopped at the world war 2 memorial and it was really cold due to the wind coming off the water. The views from the castle are breathtaking. It was cold by the castle also but still a worthy visit. Transportation from London to the port is expensive so we opted to include this tour with the ride to the port. Worth the money.

We were picked up at our hotel in London to be driven to Dover Cruise Port for a two week European Cruise. The stress was lifted from our shoulders of how to get to our ship in time. As a bonus, we opted to stop at the Dover Castle. We had plenty of time to spare.

The bus got stuck in Ferry Traffic we did not have tickets to get admission to Dover Castle so he dropped us off early at the cruise terminal, very disappointed in not being able to go and view the castle.

Viator should be ashamed of itself with its “Pre-cruise Tour from London to Dover Port via Dover Castle”. After paying $543.67 for 2 adults and 1 child, we absolutely felt had due to Viator’s DELIBERATE, false advertising and deceptive language of “via” the Dover Castle. We realize the Castle ticket was not included, but there was absolutely nothing “via” about this tour. Yes, we could look up (WAY UP) in the distance to vaguely see the Castle, but Viator is straight misleading people with this offering. I urge you, do not waste your money on this. We could’ve paid less for a private transfer and been happier.

U still need to pay ticket to enter Dove casltle. The term tour is misleading! Should be label as transportation only

Unfortunately, our experience with this transfer was not the best and not what we had expected, especially the optional Dover Castle visit portion. We had been notified by the company two days earlier, after contacting them for a hotel pick-up time, that we would be collected between 8.45 - 9.15am. The morning of the actual transfer we were sent a message from the driver that he'd be arriving at 7.20am...we didn't even see this message until 7.10am but by some miracle we were actually fully packed and about to come downstairs for a relaxed breakfast before our transfer to Dover! The driver had no idea why we'd been told this later collection time. The vehicle was clean and well maintained and easily stored our luggage and that of the other couple who was using this service also. The driver drove very professionally on the entire two hour journey and arrived at the Dover Castle well before opening time. This is where our other issue arises. We were under the impression from the details of the service on the website, that we would have approximately 2 hours at the castle before being dropped at the cruise terminal. Maybe the trip from London was extra quick because it was a Saturday morning and traffic was lighter than expected, but we were dropped in the castle carpark 40 minutes before the opening time to the castle at 10am and was told he'd be back at 11am to collect us where we had been dropped off. This then gave us a maximum of one hour to explore the castle (included in this time is the actual walk up the quite substantial hill and then back down again because the ticket office is in the carpark not up at the castle). This was nowhere near enough time and very disappointing to say the least especially as there was no rush to be at the cruise terminal because the transfer company knew the ship's departure time was not until late in the afternoon. To us, it seemed like the driver was needing a quick return to London for some reason. In fact, we had previously also booked a return transfer from the port back to London after our cruise but this had been cancelled a few weeks before our departure date due to, we were told, a shortage of drivers. Perhaps this issue had some impact on the driver's apparent rush to need to return to collect us from the castle. If this is at all usual for this optional extra, I would not recommend it as value for money. We saw very little of the castle, and could easily see that the extra hour that we expected to have had would have made a big difference to the entire experience. Overall, I think we should have just used the car service to transfer to the port and then make our own way up to the castle after checking in for our cruise.

Great experience. Our driver/guide was friendly and informative. The stop for the British memorial was good and the castle in Dover was fun

Driver was great. Very informative, helpful, friendly and efficient. He’s very good at his job. Also very punctual

Loved this Tour. Pick up from the Hotel was great, took a tour from Victoria Station and this was was much better. There was a 2 hour delay in the pick-up due to protests and street closures but we were keep informed of what was going on. Bus was very clean and confortable.

They sent a full size bus that was too big to fit on the streets of hotel pickups. If they have pickups at those hotels, they need to send smaller van. As a result, we were on the bus for 4 hours , and the bus driver had to take a mandatory half hour rest. The result was being 3 hours late to Dover Castle and having to race around, not seeing everything at this great attraction. While nice to be picked up at your hotel, it resulted in sitting far too long on the bus. This company needs to understand the vehicles required to fit into the roads hotels are on.

Did not pick us up at Hotel, bus couldn't get there so we walked 3 blocks with suit cases. I am in my 80's and have RA. Should of picked up with car. The walk up hill to castle is very steep. 30 minutes isn't enought time to do. Would take 3 hours or more. Just use if you are very fit and need to get to cruise

Convenient pickup from our airport hotel in London Heathrow. The bus was very clean and maintained, and had a functional, accessible, clean bathroom. Our tour guide, Michael, was excellent. Viator obtained our Dover Castle tickets for us which was also very nice. They got us to our cruise ship in good timing. No worries of being late. Thank you very much. 😊

The emphasis was certainly on arriving at our destination in Dover on time so we could embark on cruise ships. Picking us up at our London hotel and the handling of our luggage was exceptional and appreciated. The sightseeing service felt like a throw in. Again can’t complain too much as getting us to our ship for embarkation was much more important!

The trip was well organized with good communication regarding pick up times. There was no guiding in Dover castle and that would have been helpful. More time in the memorial also needed .

Exceptional! I would highly recommend for anyone looking for a transportation option to Dover. They were kind and courteous to all passengers including those who were late. They waited for them to make sure nobody was left behind.

We were misinformed of the pick up time which led to a very stressful morning not knowing if we were going to be picked up at all. Didn’t have very much time at the castle because of so many other pick ups. Horrible communication between customer service and us.

We got picked up at our hotel at 7:15 am, got to Heathrow at 9:15 after picking ip others, hit traffic on our way to Dover, bus driver needed two breaks. Just tooooo long! We were exhausted from the length of the ride! Had no stops for the battlefield. Would not recommend for the cost! Bus driver and guide were bery nice and professional, but I didn’t care for it. I should have hired a private car for less money!!!

We booked the hotel to Dover cruise port transfer with a side-excursion to Dover Castle. Sharon was our guide and Paul our bus driver. They collect you from your hotel in smaller vehicle and pool you at a larger location to get on a large motor coach (which for us was near the Tower of London). First driver was actually early and was great as he pointed out a lot of things during that short trip (unfortunately I didn't grab his name). The only hiccup of the day was that there was some mistake done with the bookings and several tour participants were scheduled on this bus but they shouldn't have been given where their hotel was located. So we sat on the bus and waited probably a good hour+ trying to track these people down and then eventually to wait for them to grab a cab to where we were. I felt bad for Sharon and Paul as they made the best of it and I know it was a very stressful situation for them. Clearly International Friends bakes extra time into their schedules as we still got to the castle on time (I would assume this is typically to account for for traffic delays and not administrative mistakes like this one though). Please note that you should have your cruise luggage tags affixed to your luggage by the time you are picked up at your hotel. Once they drop off the people that purchased the Dover Castle excursion, they take the other people plus all of the luggage to the porters at the port, then come back and pick up the side-excursion people and take them to the port. If you choose to carry on your own luggage (vs using the porters) and are doing the castle excursion they said that they will leave any untagged luggage on the bus when they initially go to the port so that you can take it yourself later, but clearly this isn't the norm. On our bus, one person had had luggage that wasn't tagged (intentionally) so they did not give it over to the porters, but this clearly threw off the guide/driver (they were worried it was a mistake). Overall, I wouldn't hesitate to use International Friends again and appreciated the ease of the hotel-to-port transfer.

The driver was an hour late, but it wasn’t their fault. The air museum was nice. The castle was pretty, but if you’re someone with mobility issues it’s definitely a hike to go see it.

Only issue, not enough time at Dover Castle. We only had 2 hours there but you need 3 hours. It's super interesting.

Bus driver very helpful..guide cancelled ..long walk and 122 steep steps to get into castle but beautiful views..not a good tour for elderly.

Only disappointed I didn't purchase this for both before and after cruise! Guide and driver were excellent.

<p>Very excellent. On time considering London traffic</p>

<p>Very good but there was a ferry struck which caused a traffic nightmare and reduced the tour. Only had a chance to view the Dover castle from a parking lot to take pictures. No time to go to the grounds</p>

<p>Picked us up at small hotel, did spend an hour or so driving around picking up from different hotels as driver pointed out various buildings/gave history on different areas of London, dover castle was well worth the visit, got us to ship after the crowds had died down</p>

<p>This excursion was great. It made it so easy getting to our ship and we loved spending time in Dover Castle/</p>

<p>This was absolutely perfect. If you need a transfer from London to Dover, this worked out perfect for us. Other than spending about 2 hrs on the bus picking up people from hotels, it was well worth it. For us, it appeared the 3 of us were the only ones going to Dover Castle. So after a short stop at the pier to drop off luggage and passengers, the driver took the 3 of us to Dover Castle for our "excursion". I'd say the only negative was there was not enough time. It's a huge place and you need lots of time to explore. We didn't get thru the tunnels, but made the hospital, which is similar. Also have to make the Tower. It was well worth it, becuz we got to do something other than wait on the ship for 5 hrs before departing.</p>

<p>The driver and tour guide were very professional and timely. We thoroughly enjoyed this tour and would recommend it as a post cruise tour.</p>

<p>Trip to Dover was smooth. They arrived at our hotel earlier than we had been told. Fortunately, we were ready early.</p>