Healthrow to Southampton

[svsw]

Looking for recommendation - transport from airport to Southampton, 4 adults plus luggage. Thanks.

[cole]

Looking for recommendation - transport from airport to Southampton, 4 adults plus luggage. Thanks.

 

Not sure when you will need one, but we have booked round trip with Eddie Manning (limo.co.uk) if you are interested in a private company.

Cole

[sddsddean]

2 basic options.

 

National Express coaches http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx pick up at all LHR terminals. Cost about £15 per person, journey about 2hrs 15mins, coaches at least every 2 hrs. Drops you at the coach station in Southampton (10min walk from City Cruise terminal or £7 (5min) cab ride to all terminals).

 

Private transfer

 

Smiths for Airports http://www.smithsforairports.com/index.html and West Quay Cars http://westquaycars.com/ are widely used by CCers and always have good reports. Probably cost about £120 - £150 for a car, but you may struggle with a normal car for 4 people plus bags, so you may need a minibus. (this is one reason the NE coach might be a better bet).

 

Simon

Edited July 24, 2014 by sddsddean

[Crown Vic]

Looking for recommendation - transport from airport to Southampton, 4 adults plus luggage. Thanks.

 

Hiya! Have used aquacars.co.uk both ways. Cost GBP75 one way. Drivers were on time, courteous and very pleasant. Worth a look. Good luck...

Edited July 24, 2014 by Crown Vic

[Globaliser]

We should have had a moratorium on these threads while John Bull's away. How many identical questions will he have to catch up with after 10 days away?

[Calgon1]

Here are some options for getting from London's Heathrow Airport or Victoria Coach Station (downtown London) to the ship . . .

 

1) Princess Transfer ($59.00 each). Your cruise line will offer a similar package. Baggage: I couldn't find anything; so, I'll assume it's the same as with the airlines.

 

2) National Express Coach (£31/$51.90 each).

http://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/...al_express.htm

The main alternative to train by scheduled public transport are coach services by National Express. There are separate services between Southampton and Central London, Heathrow Airport and Gatwick Airport. The National Express Coaches are much slower and much cheaper than the train services. They are modern air-conditioned buses with washrooms. Unlike the trains there are true e-tickets on-line. Significant for people on cruises is the luggage allowance, 2 cases neither of which should weigh more than 20kg (44lbs) before steep surcharges kick in. One extra bag - £8/$13.40 or three extra - £16/$26.78). The bus station at Southampton is by the train station so you still need the local taxi cabs to and from the cruise terminals.

 

3) Southampton Cruise Bus (£59/$98.78 each)

http://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/...e_shuttles.htm

Not public transport, but a useful option offering prices approaching public transport with the convenience of door to door transfers between your cruise terminal at Southampton and your hotel in Central London or Heathrow Airport. Southbound (London to Southampton), the bus picks up from hotels in all of the major hotel districts of Central London. The bus then goes onto Heathrow Airport where it will pick-up from a selection of Heathrow Airport hotels (but not passenger terminals) before going onto Southampton,arriving around 1 p.m. There is the added bonus that the coach stops for one hour in either direction at Stonehenge, plenty of time to visit this world famous monument if you wish. The vehicles used are normally full size 50 seat luxury, air-conditioned, touring busses.

 

4) The MegaTrain and MegaBus at (£2/$3.35 each)

http://uk.megabus.com/

One worthwhile option to look into if you are traveling between London Waterloo and Southampton is the Megatrain/Megabus web site, an on-line only source of bargain advance purchase train tickets.

 

The Megatrain/Megabus web site is run by the parent company of the train company that runs the trains between London Waterloo and Southampton. If they know a train is going to run half empty they use this site to make available clearance price tickets. You travel in the same trains as if you bought a standard ticket but you have to ride on a specific schedule. The price is volatile, basically if the computer calculates there is going to be a lot of empty seats the prices go down, if there is a run on a particular schedule the prices will go up. There is a fixed allocation of tickets for each train, when the allocation has been sold that's it, only the full price tickets are then available. Only a small subset of the schedules are made available through Megatrain, those schedules off peak. However, this can be just the times you want for a cruise, so its worth checking availability.

 

The megabus.com service, which was first launched in the UK in 2003, offers fares from just £1/€1 (plus 50p/50c booking fee) across the UK and now Europe including Paris, Boulogne, Amsterdam and Brussels. Linking around 60 locations, offering high-quality, low-cost travel in some of the country's most modern coaches and carrying more than 2 million passengers a year.

 

London Victoria Coach Station is situated on Buckingham Palace Rd at the junction with Elizabeth St. megabus services depart from Stands 15-20, located in the departures area of North West terminal

 

Your per person baggage is limited. " We don’t mind what your luggage is packed in, we only ask that it’s no bigger than a standard ‘large’ suitcase and weighs no more than 25kg. Alternatively you can take two medium cases with a combined weight of 25kg or three small bags with a combined weight of 25kg. You can also take a piece of small hand luggage on board with you and it must either fit on your lap or under the seat in front of you. Please be advised that passengers wishing to travel with more luggage than one standard sized suitcase and one small piece of luggage that can fit on your lap or under the seat in front of you, you may have items refused. "

Edited July 29, 2014 by Calgon1

[John Bull]

Here are some options for getting from London's Heathrow Airport or Victoria Coach Station (downtown London) to the ship . . .

 

1) Princess Transfer ($59.00 each). Your cruise line will offer a similar package. Baggage: I couldn't find anything; so, I'll assume it's the same as with the airlines.

 

2) National Express Coach (£31/$51.90 each).

http://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/...al_express.htm

The main alternative to train by scheduled public transport are coach services by National Express. There are separate services between Southampton and Central London, Heathrow Airport and Gatwick Airport. The National Express Coaches are much slower and much cheaper than the train services. They are modern air-conditioned buses with washrooms. Unlike the trains there are true e-tickets on-line. Significant for people on cruises is the luggage allowance, 2 cases neither of which should weigh more than 20kg (44lbs) before steep surcharges kick in. One extra bag - £8/$13.40 or three extra - £16/$26.78). The bus station at Southampton is by the train station so you still need the local taxi cabs to and from the cruise terminals.

 

3) Southampton Cruise Bus (£59/$98.78 each)

http://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/...e_shuttles.htm

Not public transport, but a useful option offering prices approaching public transport with the convenience of door to door transfers between your cruise terminal at Southampton and your hotel in Central London or Heathrow Airport. Southbound (London to Southampton), the bus picks up from hotels in all of the major hotel districts of Central London. The bus then goes onto Heathrow Airport where it will pick-up from a selection of Heathrow Airport hotels (but not passenger terminals) before going onto Southampton,arriving around 1 p.m. There is the added bonus that the coach stops for one hour in either direction at Stonehenge, plenty of time to visit this world famous monument if you wish. The vehicles used are normally full size 50 seat luxury, air-conditioned, touring busses.

 

4) The MegaTrain and MegaBus at (£2/$3.35 each)

http://uk.megabus.com/

One worthwhile option to look into if you are traveling between London Waterloo and Southampton is the Megatrain/Megabus web site, an on-line only source of bargain advance purchase train tickets.

 

The Megatrain/Megabus web site is run by the parent company of the train company that runs the trains between London Waterloo and Southampton. If they know a train is going to run half empty they use this site to make available clearance price tickets. You travel in the same trains as if you bought a standard ticket but you have to ride on a specific schedule. The price is volatile, basically if the computer calculates there is going to be a lot of empty seats the prices go down, if there is a run on a particular schedule the prices will go up. There is a fixed allocation of tickets for each train, when the allocation has been sold that's it, only the full price tickets are then available. Only a small subset of the schedules are made available through Megatrain, those schedules off peak. However, this can be just the times you want for a cruise, so its worth checking availability.

 

The megabus.com service, which was first launched in the UK in 2003, offers fares from just £1/€1 (plus 50p/50c booking fee) across the UK and now Europe including Paris, Boulogne, Amsterdam and Brussels. Linking around 60 locations, offering high-quality, low-cost travel in some of the country's most modern coaches and carrying more than 2 million passengers a year.

 

London Victoria Coach Station is situated on Buckingham Palace Rd at the junction with Elizabeth St. megabus services depart from Stands 15-20, located in the departures area of North West terminal

 

Your per person baggage is limited. " We don’t mind what your luggage is packed in, we only ask that it’s no bigger than a standard ‘large’ suitcase and weighs no more than 25kg. Alternatively you can take two medium cases with a combined weight of 25kg or three small bags with a combined weight of 25kg. You can also take a piece of small hand luggage on board with you and it must either fit on your lap or under the seat in front of you. Please be advised that passengers wishing to travel with more luggage than one standard sized suitcase and one small piece of luggage that can fit on your lap or under the seat in front of you, you may have items refused. "

 

The lad is back.:)

And Calgon has kindly saved his typing finger from a lot of words.

Just a few comments on Calgon's post.

 

Ship's transfer coaches. Cruise line or port agent staff meet passengers at all terminals. Coaches collect from all Heathrow terminals, at any one time during the morning there's a couple of them circling the 5 terminals - when one is full it goes & another is called forward. Very efficient. No stops en-route, that means it's impossible to buy wines & sodas at sensible prices. No luggage restriction, they expect to fill only about 36 seats on a 50-seater coach because of the volume of luggage - apart from a couple of cruise lines which run luggage vans in tandem. For the return from ship to airport, each coach apart from the last one is allocated a specific terminal, no luggage vans used. Excellent service, but usually rather over-priced - RCI were quoting $100pp e/w, compared to Princess' $59 !!!

Journey time something over 90 mins excl delays.

 

National Express coach is the cruisers' choice for economy.

http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx

About £17 pp e/w.

You do need to pre-book.

Check their luggage terms - you may have to pay (not much) for excess luggage, and if the coach is fully-booked & everyone has luggage you may be refused luggage space if you are taking excessive luggage though I've not heard of that happening.

NB - book to/from Southampton coach station, the cruise terminal option doesn't apply to your ship.

Journey time about 2 hours. Taxi from coach station to ship about £5 to £8.

 

http://www.smithsforairports.com is the most widely-recommended Southampton private transfer operator on Cruise Critic, though others are also frequently recommended. For four, a lot cheaper than ships' transfers.

Journey time about 75 minutes excl delays.

 

Cruise Bus.

http://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/southampton_london_via_stonehenge_shared_bus.html

Not suitable for that day's flights because of the risk of missing the bus due to flight or formality delays. Hence pick-ups only from hotels. Travel to the ship includes a stop at Stonehenge.

Travel from ship to Heathrow (terminals & hotels) and to central London hotels offers much more ambitious (and better value) options because there isn't an urgency to arrive before a mid-afternoon ship check-in.

 

Megabus / Megatrain.

Unfortunately there's no megabus services to Southampton, & no megatrain tickets from Heathrow. There's a regular train service between Heathrow & Southampton but because Heathrow isn't on the main line, the journey begins with an approx. 30 minute shuttlebus to either Woking or Reading rail stations & a direct train onward from there. At around £44 pp it's double the price of the Nat Express coach but because of the shuttlebus the total journey time is about the same at around 2 hours & not so easy with hauling luggage.

Not a popular service for those reasons, but service is frequent & no need to pre-book so it's a useful Plan B if other travel plans go belly-up.

 

JB :)

[scottbee]

As is hasn't really been mentioned; London has FIVE major airports.

 

Three of them (LCY,STN,LTN) aren't likely to be your destination

LHR/Heathrow has already been mentioned.

 

But LGW/Gatwick hasn't been mentioned, and is popular for inexpensive holiday flights. From there, hourly train service direct to Southampton Central train station.