Disembarking in Southampton

[NauticalNelle]

Does anyone happen to know approximately what time the first Princess shuttle bus would arrive at Heathrow? The ship supposedly docks at 7am. If taking a Princess shuttle, are you able to pick perhaps either the very first one of the morning, or the last one for the day? Thanks to anyone who might have done this and knows. :)

[caribill]

Check your personizer to see what is recommended as the earliest time to take a flight out of LHR. If you do not see it there, call Princess for that answer. If your flight is before that time, forget about a Princess Xfer.

 

On board you will fill out a form which will list your flight time. That will determine which transfer bus you are assigned to. Princess will pick the bus based on your flight time.

[luxurysailer]

I just stumbled across the following while reviewing information for our British Isles cruise on the Ruby Princess in August 2014. I'd think the guidelines would apply to all disembarkations in Southampton.

 

Sign in > click on Cruise Personalizer > Click TRAVEL SUMMARY which will appear in the sidebar on the right > Click IMPORTANT NOTICES which will appear near the top of the sidebar > on the ensuing page scroll down to AIR FLIGHT SCHEDULES to see very specific guidelines for both embarkation arrival flights and disembarkation departure flights from both Heathrow and Gatwick.

 

Hope this helps.

[DrivesLikeMario]

They leave very early and usually have a lot of buses lined up. As soon as one gets mostly full, it takes off, then the next one and so on. The earliest I've seen the buses leaving is about 2-3 hrs. after the ship arrives in port, usually closer to the 3 hr. mark. The drive is about 75 mins. depending on traffic, rain and what terminal you need to go to. Sometimes they organize the buses by the terminal you're going to so it may take a little longer for them to fill up.

 

You can't choose when you leave the ship. You can request when you'd like to leave and then Princess will tell you if that's acceptable. OTOH, you can always do walk-off disembarkation and be in one of the very first groups off the ship as long as you can drag all your own luggage off the ship without any assistance. This is what has worked the best for me for getting off ASAP.

[san diego sue]

We took Princess transportation to Heathrow from Southampton.Ship was in at 5:am/ This was last year.

We had a 6:30am departure ,the first bus to leave for terminal 3. They load the buses based on which terminal and flight time. We had a 12:15PM flight home so it was the first bus to leave. Arrived at Heathrow by 8:30am. No traffic even though it was a Saturday morning.Stress free.

[caribill]

They leave very early and usually have a lot of buses lined up. As soon as one gets mostly full, it takes off, then the next one and so on. The earliest I've seen the buses leaving is about 2-3 hrs. after the ship arrives in port, usually closer to the 3 hr. mark.

 

Is the above based on a 5 AM arrival as described below or a 7 AM arrival as the OP has. I tend to doubt that a 7 AM arrival means the first bus leaves for the airport around 10 AM.

 

We took Princess transportation to Heathrow from Southampton.Ship was in at 5:am/ This was last year.

We had a 6:30am departure ,the first bus to leave for terminal 3. They load the buses based on which terminal and flight time. We had a 12:15PM flight home so it was the first bus to leave. Arrived at Heathrow by 8:30am. No traffic even though it was a Saturday morning.Stress free.

 

So your departure was about 1.5 hours after the ship arrived.