Princess transport of Southampton

[Princess18]

I know Princess offers transport to London pre-cruise, wondering, do they also offer transport directly to Southampton? We will be arriving in Southmpton one day before our cruise, booked the hotel in Southampton directly ourselves. If Princess does not offer transport, we will hire a car service. Thank you.

[HRPro]

Bus service is offered by Princess from Victoria Bus Station to Southampton.

[LHT28]

The cruise lines usually only offer the transfers on the day of departure

 

You can also take the National express bus from LHR or LGW to Southampton if you are arriving early for the cruise

[phabric]

If you are going to Southampton from Heathrow (LHR), you can take the National Express Coach wwwnationalexpress to Southampton Coach Station (this is the station you want not the others) and take a taxi to your hotel. Ask the hotel to order a taxi for the day of your cruise.

 

If you are going to Southampton from London, you can take the National Express Coach from their London Victoria Coach Station.

 

Princess uses the London Victoria Coach station for their London transfer pickup and Heathrow's different terminals on cruise day only.

[scottbee]

From London to Southampton (other than the cruise transportation)

1. South West Rail/Megatrain (fr. Waterloo Station), 3x/hour, takes 1h30 appx
   
2. National Express Coach (fr. Victoria Coach Station) appx 1x/hr
   
3. Southern Rail (fr. Victoria Station) 1x/hr
   
4. Great Western/Virgin Trains (fr. Paddington Station) 1x/hr (change at Reading)
   

 

These will drop you a short taxi ride to your cruise port, and generally farely inexpensively. The South West Rail (booked in advance on Megabus/Megatrain) can be had for as little as £2 sometimes.

 

I wouldn't hesitate to take any of them, the biggest question would be where in London you're staying.

[John Bull]

As other posts, Princess transfers on cruise day only.

 

From Heathrow, three choices:

Nat Express coach. (bus)

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

Takes 2 hrs, costs about £18 pp. Limited frequency, pre-booking strongly advised (it does book-out) but you need to know your Heathrow terminal in order to book.

Pick-up is at Heathrow bus station for T1,2,3, or separate pick-ups at T4 & T5. Book to Southampton coach station - not to cruise terminal (even for those heading for a ship - the Nat Express to cruise terminal is only for Fred Olsen cruises, causes no end of confusion).

 

Train

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

Takes 2 hrs, costs about £38 pp.

Although your train ticket is good for Heathrow to Southampton, your journey actually starts with a shuttlebus journey of 30+ minutes from Heathrow to a mainline station (Woking or Reading, depending on time), where you transfer to a direct train to Southampton central station. So although train is normally quicker & more comfortable than coach, the shuttlebus means the total journey's no quicker & you'll have to haul your luggage from shuttlebus to station platform. Not a popular choice, but since there are 2 - 3 trains per hour & no need to pre-book, its an excellent Plan B if other arrangements go belly-up.

No bucket-price megatrain tickets on this route.

 

There are taxi ranks at the coach & train stations, to any city centre hotel will cost no more than £10, but half a dozen of the hotels are an easy walk from the coach and train stations.

 

Private transfer.

Takes about 90 minutes, cost of a pre-booked sedan is from about £85.

Don't simply take a cab from the rank at the airport. A metered ride of this distance (about 60 miles) will cost you hundreds.

Three companies feature regularly amongst very satisfied CC members :

http://www.smithsforairports.com

http://www.westquaycars.com

http://www.aquacars.co.uk

All three are based at the Southampton end, all are well-established & well-respected

 

Useful info about transfers, hotels, logistics for both Southampton and London on various pages of this site:

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

 

 

JB :)

[cavcmy]

We are on the 8/25 Royal Princess cruise out of Southampton arriving back at Southampton 9/6 at 5:00 A.M. Princess's website says not to book flight out of Heathrow before 12:00 p.m. But in reading the boards, people caution that early afternoon flights may be risky even if Princess implies a flight leaving LHR at 12:01 pm would be fine.

 

Do you think a 1:40 p.m. flight out of London Heathrow to US is reasonably safe timewise? Use a Princess transfer or private?

 

Thanks for your help.

[John Bull]

We are on the 8/25 Royal Princess cruise out of Southampton arriving back at Southampton 9/6 at 5:00 A.M. Princess's website says not to book flight out of Heathrow before 12:00 p.m. But in reading the boards, people caution that early afternoon flights may be risky even if Princess implies a flight leaving LHR at 12:01 pm would be fine.

 

Do you think a 1:40 p.m. flight out of London Heathrow to US is reasonably safe timewise? Use a Princess transfer or private?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

I used to drive Southampton transfers for all the cruise lines.

First coaches leave about 8am, and although Heathrow check-in desks normally close about 45 - 60 minutes before flight time you need to be at the airport around noon in case of delays at security etc. That give you four hours plus for the journey.

The normal journey time on a weekday morning is around 2 to 2.5 hrs, giving you wiggle-time of 1.5 hrs plus, as long as you ask Princess for an early disembarkation slot - ideally 7.30am

On a saturday or sunday that wiggle-time goes out to 2.5 hours.

 

Some cruise lines have excessively high transfer charges, I know RCI were looking for over $100 per person a year or two ago. But Princess I think charge around the $60 mark per person.

 

I don't believe you need the extra time that a private transfer would give you, but you may feel more comfortable.

 

The train will cost two people only a little less than a private transfer and involves a taxi to the rail station and a shuttle-bus for the last leg. Plus hauling your luggage.

 

The National Express bus is cheapest of all, at about £18 pp. plus a £5 to £10 taxi from ship to Southampton coach station (the cruise terminal option only applies to Fred Olsen ships). But the choices are likely to be at

- 07.45, which means unassisted 7am disembarkation

or

- 09.45, scheduled to arrive Heathrow 11.55am

Both are possible, neither is ideal

 

Any arrangements can be screwed up by a major event, such as a motorway closure due to a major accident. But that's rare.

 

JB :)

[cavcmy]

I used to drive Southampton transfers for all the cruise lines.

First coaches leave about 8am, and although Heathrow check-in desks normally close about 45 - 60 minutes before flight time you need to be at the airport around noon in case of delays at security etc. That give you four hours plus for the journey.

The normal journey time on a weekday morning is around 2 to 2.5 hrs, giving you wiggle-time of 1.5 hrs plus, as long as you ask Princess for an early disembarkation slot - ideally 7.30am

On a saturday or sunday that wiggle-time goes out to 2.5 hours.

 

Some cruise lines have excessively high transfer charges, I know RCI were looking for over $100 per person a year or two ago. But Princess I think charge around the $60 mark per person.

 

I don't believe you need the extra time that a private transfer would give you, but you may feel more comfortable.

 

The train will cost two people only a little less than a private transfer and involves a taxi to the rail station and a shuttle-bus for the last leg. Plus hauling your luggage.

 

The National Express bus is cheapest of all, at about £18 pp. plus a £5 to £10 taxi from ship to Southampton coach station (the cruise terminal option only applies to Fred Olsen ships). But the choices are likely to be at

- 07.45, which means unassisted 7am disembarkation

or

- 09.45, scheduled to arrive Heathrow 11.55am

Both are possible, neither is ideal

 

Any arrangements can be screwed up by a major event, such as a motorway closure due to a major accident. But that's rare.

 

JB :)

 

JB, thank you so much for replying and I apologize for being so dense if I am misunderstanding your post. We should be ok then for the 1:40pm flight using Princess transfer and doing unassisted 7am-7:30a.m. disembarkation, right?

[John Bull]

JB, thank you so much for replying and I apologize for being so dense if I am misunderstanding your post. We should be ok then for the 1:40pm flight using Princess transfer and doing unassisted 7am-7:30a.m. disembarkation, right?

 

Yes, you'll be fine using a Princess transfer coach for your 1.40pm flight.

But no, you don't need unassisted disembarkation - just ask for the earliest regular disembarkation slot, which will probably be 7.30 or 7.45.

 

(the earlier unassisted time is only if you want to take the 7.45 scheduled Nat Express coach, cos you have to get to the coach station for that coach, and it won't wait if you're late)

 

JB :)

Edited January 26, 2015 by John Bull

[cavcmy]

Yes, you'll be fine using a Princess transfer coach for your 1.40pm flight.

But no, you don't need unassisted disembarkation - just ask for the earliest regular disembarkation slot, which will probably be 7.30 or 7.45.

 

(the earlier unassisted time is only if you want to take the 7.45 scheduled Nat Express coach, cos you have to get to the coach station for that coach, and it won't wait if you're late)

 

JB :)

 

JB, thanks so much for your help and your patience!