Dohmacc

Thank you everyone for the clarification! For the flexibility of my travel schedule, I'll probably hold off on buying tickets until day-of if it's all the same pricing and ease of getting seats. Would this require a complicated navigation from Waterloo East to Waterloo main station, even though they're linked? Would it be easier to take Jubilee from London Bridge underground to Waterloo underground, and then navigate to the Waterloo main station? I guess I'm wondering which is more straightforward.. navigating from Waterloo East to Waterloo train station, or from Waterloo underground to Waterloo train station. I don't know how labyrinth-like these stations are..

Thanks! I noticed this when mapping out via Google Maps and see that direct from Waterloo is only to W&E Riverside. I'm staying near London Bridge, so I'm thinking that Riverside with the uphill walk is still easier than a transfer at Slough to W&E Central (but I don't know how steep the hill is!) That's what I was assuming (Saturday being off peak all day), but I just found it odd that they would list the Anytime Day Single option for Saturday tickets. Yes, this is LNER's website. I had trouble with GWR making an account without UK address and LNER lets me check out as a guest and use Paypal. So my best option would be to try Avanti West Coast and purchase a GroupSave (3 Adults and 1 Child) for 42.10 and this ticket would be roundtrip direct from Waterloo to W&C Riverside on Saturday with open ticket times (any train both ways)... is this right? Is there any savings from buying these tickets now, or would I be able to purchase GroupSave open ticket time tickets on the day of? I'd prefer to have the flexibility of not buying ahead of time, and I'm thinking maybe Saturday off-peak would have plenty of seating.. so just wondering if there's a price savings? Thanks to everyone for their help!

Sorry, it seems there's no direct Waterloo to Windsor/Eton Central... However, I'm a little confused about the ticket pricing. For example, here's what I see when I price out a journey on the planned day for 2 Adults, 2 Children: It shows the "Off-Peak Day" pricing for every train time.. does this mean the entire Saturday is "Off-Peak" pricing, but for 25.50 I can only ride on that specific train at that specific time and for 37.20, I can ride any train on that day? I'm confused because all of the times are listed under "Flexible tickets", but there's the 'Off-Peak Day" and "Anytime Day"... Also, if I purchase the "Off-Peak Day Return" for 51.00 in the Outward Journey section, is this an open ticket for return anytime? Sorry if these questions make me seem oblivious (I am!) and I really appreciate everyone's guidance and clarification!

Since our arrival in Southampton is on Wednesday, International Friends isn't running a tour to Windsor as it's not open Wednesday. Instead, planning on just going on our own for a daytrip. Do you think the Southwestern Railway from Waterloo to Windsor & Eton Central is the most cost-efficient way to get there from London? Thanks!

Hi, we're planning on visiting in a couple of weeks so I'm following this thread for people's responses! One thing I did notice is that the Go City London Pass (all-inclusive tourist pass) that includes Windsor specifically says "Afternoon" (after 1pm) entry ONLY.. so I'm guessing that the crowds are considerably heavier in the morning.

Yikes! Good to know! I'm leaning toward booking a later train than I think necessary just to be safe (in event of random delays due to debarkation or my kids).

Good to know about the immigration/customs! If we were to miss our train, are we able to apply the cost of our advanced purchase tickets to walk-up tickets?

If we do not do the express debarkation (ie walk off with luggage), the posted debarkation time is 8am with expectations all passengers are off by 9am. Considering luggage pickup, customs, the cab ride to the train station, navigating the station /platforms with two slow walking kids.. do you think the 10am train departure is pretty makeable, doable but kind of hectic rushed, or cutting it too close? Alternatively, it sounds like the 930 has fewer commuters, but is the 0900 train still pretty crowded with commuters? I just want to make sure I have space for the two large luggage! Thanks!

Thank you for the clarification! Yes, it appears to be the same ticket. The LNER schedule indicates it's from SouthWestern Railway (attached image) so I'll purchase them there. FYI in case anyone in the future comes across this thread, the SWR website allows me to input my US address and even select United States, but then when trying to confirm the account creation, it says that I need a UK address.

I've decided to book the 10am train from Southampton to Waterloo, but when I go to the Southwestern Railway website to buy tickets, it asks me to make an account but requires a UK address to make the account. I selected the e-ticket delivery method. I found that I'm able to check out as a Guest on the LNER website for what seems to be the seem train? Are these lines Southwestern Rail and LNER the same operator so buying the LNER tickets should be fine? Thank you for the help and sorry if this question is obvious..

Thanks!

Thanks!

Great advice about the Windsor tickets! It seems like these are readily accessible to purchase walk-up at the Castle (ie no timed entries or limited tickets per day)?

Thank you for the detailed report of your experience with International Friends! It sounds like for the 3 sites, once you arrive, you're on your own (ie audio walking tour, not live guided tour), and just told to meet back at the bus at a designated time?

Thank you! I didn't consider the rain (again, from Southern California), but I realize now I should have. For the 2 facing 2 seats, it sounds like there will be plenty of seating at the start so I can put the luggage beside me, but will that become an issue as passengers get on and look for seating? Or would this route during non-commuter hours be generally empty the entire trip? The conductors on the commuter trains here sometimes enforce their no luggage on seats policy as the cars fill up with passengers.. Thank you! Good to know regular taxis are readily available at the cruise terminals. And thank you for the info for International Friends. They do service our ship (Disney), but looking at their packages, I notice that two of their tours have the same cost: A) Southampton to London via Stonehenge (112.5 Best Rate Adult) B) Salisbury, Stonehenge, Windsor to London (112.5 Best Rate Adult) From what I can tell, the B tour does NOT include admission price to Stonehenge, but the A does... So I guess that explains why A and B cost the same, despite B going to 2 more sites? It seems like A stops longer in Stonehenge also (2 hours vs. 90 minutes)... Just from a value perspective, I'd lean toward B... but do you think the longer Stonehenge time is worth it and/or the additional stops in Salisbury and Windsor would be to short/rushed, not to be worth it? Thank you for the info about the taxi situation! Here, we rarely see actual cabs anymore, but it sounds like finding an official (black cab) taxi seems easy enough throughout London? Is the pricing competitive/similar to Uber rates? Thank you all for prompt and detailed responses!

Hi! So glad I came across this thread and I appreciate all of the info provided. Like many of the previous posters, I'm trying to figure out the best option for getting from Southampton (post-cruise) to London (specifically Novotel London Bridge hotel). We are a family of 4 with two kids under 10. We will have two 30" roller luggage and we rarely ride commuter trains (we are from Southern California). After reading this thread, I'm leaning toward: train (advanced purchase South Western railway to Waterloo) then Uber to hotel but I had a couple of quick questions: - I've checked the Southampton Port schedule, and it looks like we'll be disembarking at the Horizon Cruise terminal. That looks to be a 15 minute walk to the Southampton Central train station, but is this an easy walk with kids/luggage (not uphill, paved sidewalks, etc.) How much would an Uber cost from Horizon to the train station? - The disembark time is scheduled for 8am, and we do not plan to get off the ship early. Factoring in the disembark process, travel time to train station, random delays b/c of kids, general ignorance of the train station/system.. what time train departure would you recommend we target? - If we don't do advanced purchase for tickets and walk-up instead, are seats generally available (we're arriving on a Wednesday)? Since it's a terminus, I'm guessing it should be pretty easy to secure tickets and seats together, but just wanted to make sure. - Is luggage stored in areas in the train cars, or underneath the cars, somewhere else? I'm guessing many passengers boarding in Southampton will have luggage from their cruises, so I'm wondering how convenient/accessible luggage storage will be on the train. Also, after coming across this read and learning about International Friends post-cruise tour, we're also looking into this as well! Thank you for mentioning it! Quick questions about: - Do they pick up from all of the cruise terminals, or would we need to go from the Horizon terminal to whichever one they are located at? - Is the drive from Southampton to Stonehenge and then Stonehenge to London very windy (frequent turns, not atmospheric wind), mountainy, etc? I often get carsick on large coaches (the tour coach looks like a standard large bus) with those road conditions. Thanks for all of your help!