Cruise Train

[David&Heather]

A bit difficult making this request for info as I am not allowed to name travel agents on here! As to my knolwedge only one TA is operating a luxury dining train connecting to sailings from Southampton it should be easy for those who know about them to guess the name of the TA.

 

Has anybody on here used these trains? and if so what was the service like?

 

Looking at booking with them for a Grand Princess sailing in October - reason for asking here is that most trains so far have connected with Cunard sailings, the October train is the first, and so far only, train connecting with a Princess sailing.

 

Thanks in advance for any info on these trains.

[Bigmike911]

Venice Simplon Orient Express occasionally operates their British Pullman Luncheon trains from London Victoria to Southampton. In years past the came directly into the Queen Elizabeth Terminal in Southampton.

 

I used them twice and they were excellent though quite expensive over US$450 per.

 

Cunard used to offer this as an excursion, but have not in many years, and now the Cunard ships rarely operate from the QE2 terminal.

 

Cunard may have more information. I hope this helps.

 

Mike

[rafinmd]

David&Heather, I think the service you'e looking at may have been described in this thread:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1401248

 

I don't know anything about the service but the impression I got from reading there was it may have been a bit iffy.

 

Roy

[Cruachan]

David&Heather, I think the service you'e looking at may have been described in this thread:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1401248

 

I don't know anything about the service but the impression I got from reading there was it may have been a bit iffy.

 

Roy

 

Yes, I'm pretty sure that's the right one. Specifically, there is a useful link at this post:

 

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=28836509&postcount=2

 

On our recent QE cruise a significant number of passengers had used this service and the ones we spoke to were all impressed by the food and general service. However, I would have to say that the sailing was delayed by 30 minutes due to the late arrival of the train in Soton - but that, no doubt, was the fault of NetworkRail rather than the train operating company.

 

J

[David&Heather]

David&Heather, I think the service you'e looking at may have been described in this thread:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1401248

 

I don't know anything about the service but the impression I got from reading there was it may have been a bit iffy.

 

Roy

 

Thanks for the info, interesting thread until it went off topic into politics:mad:

 

Got some more info via a train buff friend, it appears that they are hiring in a diffrent set of coaches to the ones used previously, these are apparently very nice and it's called the Great Briton set.

 

Looking at booking now.

[berpat]

Used this service last year for a QM2 cruise. Could not fault it; food & service excellent and drink prices very reasonable. For us returning to Manchester it was especially good as without it we would have had to suffer Southampton airport for 6 hours.

[Desertfox1]

D&H, I have contributed to the previous thread relating to this choo-choo and have promised to provide a full and impartial review of the 2011 service once we return from our first ever cruise in July. We're travelling Glasgow - Soton and return and, apart from the silly o'clock departure from GLA, have neither seen nor heard any evidence that the service is anything other than first class. If you re-read the original thread, I provided a link to a video outlining the service. Hope this helps with your decision. :) And no, I didn't understand the obscure political ramblings on the thread either.

[David&Heather]

Hope you enjoy your first class trip, we have now booked for 21st October sailing on Grand Princess, very much looking forwards to it now we have been reassured that it is a good product.