One of the many bridges over the River Windrush in the village of Bourton on the Water in the Cotswolds.| If you enjoy checking in and out of a different hotel every day, then click away – this tour’s not for you! But if you love the ability to settle in to a hotel for a full one week stay, to unpack your suitcases, and to properly get to know the region you’re staying in, please keep reading. We’ve two wonderful ways for you to do exactly this, in June 2019. |
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Following on from our first ever “Land Cruise” in France, in December 2018, we’re repeating the concept, twice more, in Britain next June (2019). We call these “land cruises” because, just like a regular cruise, you unpack your bag once, and then enjoy an entire seven nights in the same hotel.
Also, just like a regular cruise, you’ve a full-time “cruise manager” who is devoted to helping you with everything and anything you might need (me!).
Again, just like a regular cruise, you’ve got touring arranged almost every day – but unlike a regular cruise, we include the touring at no extra cost.
There are some other things unlike a regular cruise, too. You’re not part of a crowd of several thousand people who all crush into small towns at the same time. You’re not restricted only to coastal ports. You’re not limited to the ship’s schedule, making for a series of rushed port stops, because you’ll never miss its sailing.
And, hopefully, your “cabin” (ie hotel room) will never move about in a rough sea!
We include breakfasts and a couple of other meals (a welcome and a farewell dinner), and we allow you the flexibility to pick and choose where you eat your other meals. Maybe you’ll want to enjoy some pub grub, or some fish and chips. Maybe you’ll want to treat yourself to some fine dining. Whatever, whenever, wherever – you’re free to choose, exactly as it suits you. You’re not stuck to meal schedules and menus on board the ship.
We’ve selected two of our favorite parts of England to base our land cruises in – the Cotswolds, and Yorkshire. We’ve chosen these areas because in each case there is a huge variety of lovely places to go, see, and do, all conveniently close, so our coach touring each day is short, and our quality time at the places we’re visiting is extended. They are also two very different regions, giving you very contrasting glimpses of scenery, architecture, and history.
The two cruises are timed so you can take either of them, or combine them both, together with optional pre and post touring options. To make it easy to see how the two different tour/cruises fit together, and the dates, we’ve prepared a special chart and summary here.
Cruise Dates
The old mill (on the left) and houses in Lower Slaughter, on the River Eye.Cruise 1 – The Cotswolds
Our main “Cotswolds Cruise” starts on Thursday, 6 June. We’ll collect you from the Oxford Railway Station in the afternoon, and/or meet you at our “ship” (hotel) in the lovely Cotswolds town of Burford.
If you prefer of course, enjoy our pre-cruise extension first – allowing you to arrive into the easy uncongested airports of Edinburgh or Glasgow, and enjoy two nights in the beautiful Lake District before joining the main tour on Thursday.
The main tour ends on Thursday 13 June. If you’d like, we’ll return you to the Oxford Railway Station that morning, or we could also drop you in Coventry.
Alternatively, stay on for the post-cruise extension, and continue on to the second Land Cruise too.
The post-cruise extension starts from the end of the main cruise of course and takes us via Oxford and Coventry to Buxton in the Peak District for two nights, and then continues on to Leeds and York on Saturday 15 June, where it joins the second cruise. If you’re not continuing to the second cruise, you could leave in Buxton, Leeds, or York.
Full daily itinerary information is here.
This building in York dates to 1606.Cruise 2 – Yorkshire
Our main “Yorkshire Cruise” starts on Saturday, 15 June, at our “ship” (hotel) in York. You can arrive at any time during the day, or if easier, join us in Leeds and we’ll transfer you from there.
You might also wish to take the pre-cruise extension, starting in either Oxford, Coventry or Buxton, or indeed, join the first Land Cruise and do that too.
The main Yorkshire tour ends on Saturday, 22 June, in York (of course). You can leave at any time you wish, either in York or travel with us up to Newcastle if that is helpful. Of course, please also stay for the post-cruise extension.
The post-cruise extension starts from the end of the main cruise of course and takes us up to Newcastle upon Tyne for a night, to the amazing New Lanark World Heritage Site for a night in a former mill and now lovely hotel, then via Rosslyn Chapel to Edinburgh and back to Glasgow, with an optional night in our favorite castle, ending on either 24 or 25 June.
Please see our daily cruise calendar for a clearer understanding of the dates and places and how the tours and options fit together, and our day by day detailed itinerary for information on how you’d enjoy every day of the cruises and extensions.
Full daily itinerary information is here.
Tour Pricing
As we generally do with our British tours, we’ve created variable pricing depending on how many people come on the tour. With the small-sized groups we offer, but with full-sized coaches, the cost per person is quite sensitive depending on the people traveling, so rather than set a price that is unfairly high or unrealistically low, we set it fairly for all sized groups.
The last three tours to Britain have all had around 25 people, and we try to close the tour at that point too, so we’re hopeful we should see 20+ on these tours next year too. As the number in the group increases, we of course reduce the cost per person for everyone in the tour, including all people who have already joined.
Both Land Cruises are priced the same.
- $2195 if the group is 12 – 13 people
- $2095 if the group is 14 – 15 people
- $2045 if the group is 16 – 17 people
- $1995 if the group is 18 – 20 people
- $1945 if the group is 21 – 23 people
- $1895 if the group is 24 – 25 people
A single supplement of $595 applies.
Pre and Post Tour Option Pricing
We’ll confirm this pricing when we’ve a sense of the numbers, but as a rule of thumb, plan on about $250/day.
Shorter Tour Adjustments
If you’re not doing a complete “cruise” then you get a reduction for each day not taken. This will be between $200 – $250/day not taken.
Multi-Tour Discount
If you are doing both tours and the connecting tour between the first and second tours, we’ll allow you a 50% discount on either or both the pre-tour before the start of the Cotswolds “cruise” or the post-tour after the Yorkshire “cruise”.
Application to Join |
Terms and Conditions
Our standard terms and conditions apply to this tour.
In addition, please note these extra terms :
1. Your confirming deposit of $500 per person is required within seven days of your participation being confirmed. Full payment is due on or before Friday 1 March, 2019. Please note that pricing includes a 3% cash/check discount, if you’d prefer to pay by credit card, we ask you to accept the passed on extra 3% cost for us to process your credit card charge.
2. US, Canadian, and many other citizens require a current passport that will not expire until after the date of their planned return from the UK in order to be admitted to the UK, but do not require a visa. Citizens of other countries should check with the airline that will transport them to the UK to determine what passport and visa requirements may apply.
3. There’s plenty of room in the coach’s luggage bays for as much luggage as you choose to bring, but few hotels provide porterage. Note that airlines charge massively for extra luggage and without porterage always available, we recommend you limit your luggage to one major suitcase and a carry on per person.
4. Tour price is based on a wholesale UK/US exchange rate in the range of 1.25 – 1.31 (as shown, eg, in Yahoo Finance/Money – on 24 Oct 2018 the rate was 1.28 and if it stays above the stated range there would be a price adjustment when we ask for final payments). If the exchange rate moves outside this range, and prior to full payment having been received by you, we will adjust the price up or down to reflect the change in underlying tour costs. If the tour price increases by more than 10%, you may cancel without penalty and receive a full refund of your deposit. Tour price is locked in place once full payment has been received.
Travel Insurance
We recommend you should consider travel insurance as prudent protection. Rather than attempt to sell you some policy ourselves that may or may not suit your needs, we recommend you go to this insurance shopping site, which offers comparisons between something like 100 different policies offered by 18 different insurers, giving you all the options you need.
For more information about travel insurance than you probably ever thought you’d want to know, please click the link to read our three-part series on the subject.
