Family Travelcard - Rail Discount

[rockcheetah]

Traveling on Golden Princess Jul 1.

 

Flying in/out of Gatwick and spending short visits in London pre/post cruise.

 

Was planning on getting a Family Travelcard (special railcard) for 20 pounds and then book roundtrip Gatwick Express-Victoria and Southwest Line Waterloo-Southampton tickets.

 

Since we live in Texas, it looks like we will need to buy the Family Travelcard upon arrival at Gatwick, then (because we are using the railcard) buy the Gatwick Express Tickets at the airport. Would I also be able to buy the Waterloo/Southampton tickets at Gatwick?

 

I am a bit wary of the logistics, but it looks like I save 30% on the adult fares and 60% on the kids fares, so it may be well worth my time.

 

Anyone know of any pitfalls I may encounter with this plan?

 

Trying to avoid a :eek: scenario upon arrival in the UK...

 

Thanks,

 

Robert

[Globaliser]

First, I'd suggest that you don't get confused with the terminology. What you're looking for is the Family Railcard. All the information that you'll need abou that is here at the official site.

 

When you get to London, you'll find that there's also a thing called the Family Travelcard, which is a ticket for a family to use London Transport services (Tube, bus, DLR, tram, etc. - and also train services within the zones for which it's valid). AFAIK, you can't use the Family Railcard to get discounts on London Transport tickets or Travelcards, except that the Family Railcard site suggests that you may be able to get All Zones Off Peak Day Travelcards with a discount using the Family Railcard. You'll have to ask about this, and you'll have to consider whether it's worthwhile because most visitors to London don't need more than Zones 1 and 2.

 

Also, it looks like you can't use the Family Railcard for peak time trips on weekdays. If you're arriving at Gatwick on a trans-Atlantic flight, you may find that you have to hang around at the airport waiting until you can use the Family Railcard. The same applies to your London-Southampton-London trip.

 

You should be able to buy your London-Southampton-London tickets at the Gatwick airport ticket office at the same time as you buy your tickets into London, but make sure that you're specific about which dates you need to travel, and at what times. You don't want to be sold a ticket for the same day by default if you're not in fact travelling to Southampton until a few days later.

[rockcheetah]

Thanks Globalizer - Exactly the information I was looking for.

 

We have a late flight arriving at 1000 in to Gatwick, so no problem with peak travel there.

 

Will need to figure out the best return time to book from Southampton.

 

Here's a long-shot... Does anyone have any idea what the disembarkation timeframe is for the Golden Princess - reportedly docking at 0500. Any idea when the Emerald deck might be released and what would be a time to beook the return train?

 

Robert