Southampton - fly into Gatwick or Heathrow?

[CruiseNut7]

Will be cruising the British Isles next August departing from Southampton on the Golden Princess.

 

1) Is it best to fly into Gatwick or Heathrow (from Atlanta)?

 

2) If you buy Princess transfers, are they from the airport? Hope to spend a few days in London pre-cruise.

 

3) Upon our return, is is best to stay an additional day in London or have you left the ship and gone directly to the airport to get home?

 

I have never been abroad, so have no clue and my TA is out for the holidays. Would have posted this question on the "cruise/air" board, but Princess cruisers always have the best anwers and info! ;)

 

We have Delta SkyMiles so hope we can use our miles if it's not too late to get a decent seat/flight -- just don't know which airport to fly to!

 

Sorry for such a lengthy post. Thanks for any help! :)

 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

[cnmiranda]

Here is a print out I've posted on several sights with approx. costs getting into London and then to Southampton:

 

 

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If anyone is looking for info about London to Southampton transfers here are the options.

 

By Rail to and from London: Pick up at Waterloo Station or from Southampton Station. The ride is approx. 1 hour and 18 minutes. Cost is about 24 pounds per person. Trains run every 15 to 30 minutes. This is the quickest way back and fourth. The rail website is http://www.nationalrail.co.uk

 

By Bus: Pick up at Victoria coach station or Southampton coach station. Ride is approx. 2 hours or more depending on traffic and costs about 19 pounds per person. You can check http://www.gobycoach.com for more info.

 

Via taxi/private coach: To and from London will cost approx. 90 pounds and again take 2 hours or more depending on traffic. Heathrow to/from Southampton is about 75 pounds.

 

****these prices are approximate and of course subject to change

 

Princess' transfers are waaayy overpriced. If you don't have any physical limitations I would travel independantly.

 

A taxi from Gatwick to London is about 60 pounds and from Heathrow is about 45 pounds. We take the rail via the Gatwick express to Victoria station and then catch a taxi to the hotel. The rail ticket is 13 pounds per person but if there are 4 traveling together the offer is buy two get two free. http://www.gatwickexpress.com.

 

If you arrive in Heathrow you may also take the Heathrow Express rail servicee for 13 pounds per person. http://www.Heathrowexpress.com. Then you will arrive at Pattington station and again catch a taxi from there.

 

I think you will love London and we try to spend as much time possible there:)

[hillslife]

We did the British Isles on the Royal Princess last year. We also used Delta Skymiles and found it easier to get a seat out of Gatwick. We actually flew into Paris, joined a Princess Cruisetour and spent 4 days in Paris, took the Eurostar to London, 3 days in London then a Princess transfer to the ship in Southhampton - which was a long bus ride - if I remember correctly 2-3 hours. We flew home out of Gatwick and it worked great....

 

Good luck on your Delta flights - we have had our flights booked for next summer since July....the frequent flyer trips are getting harder to get all the time....

[spongerob]

If you want to stay in London for a few days prior to your cruise, I suggest scrapping the Princess transfers and arranging your own transportation to Southampton. We used Woodford Chauffeurs and hired the car for the entire day so we could tour the countryside between London and Southampton. A group of us got together and used one of their large vans for the return to Heathrow. Hiring the car for the day wasn't cheap, but it was lovely to have our own driver and set our own schedule. It all felt very posh.

 

If you use Princess transfers, you will have to get to the hotel they use for their pre-cruise stays, or join them at the airport. I think the Princess hotel fees are outrageously high, and they are per person, something that is sometimes overlooked. With a little research, you can easily make your own plans. There are some great websites, such as londontown.com, that can assist you.

 

I think Heathrow is a better choice for flight arrangements because it is much easier to get to from Southampton. Gatwick is a little out of the way and you cannot plan to fly out as early as you can from Heathrow. You can plan to fly out from Heathrow as early as 12:30 if you leave the day you disembark, you have to choose flights after about 2 PM if you use Gatwick.

[BroncosCruiser]

If you are trying to use miles at this point, I would just try to get seats where you can. If you get seats on Delta, you will have to fly into Gatwick. If you use a partner airline award, you will have to fly into Gatwick if you use Northwest. I think Continential goes into both, as doesAir France. KLM and Virgin (if you can still use DL miles for Virgin awards) go to Heathrow.

 

Good luck! :)

[muffydawg]

My hubby and I are on the 08/20/06 cruise. Our preference is since we live in Houston we will be flying Continental to Gatwick. We prefer non stop flights whenever possible (less change to lose checked baggage). Since this is our first Southampton cruise, we are happy to pay for the Princess hotel/ xfer for one night both pre and post cruise. If we had sailed out of this port before, we might attempt the xfer on our own. We would never be able to make a CO flight out of Gatwick same day as disembarkation, so we will stay overnight. We hate to rush and always fly into the port city the day before.

 

So, this is really a matter of convenience/ preference. Since you are in Atlanta, you have found that Delta is the big airline out of Hartsfield. If you are okay with arriving early in the am on the 20th and getting transportation to the port that same day so you arrive at the ship by 4pm, then leave ATL on the 19th. If you're more comfortable with not rushing, leave a day or 2 early. Your TA or even a rep at Princess can help you with info to make your decision.

[cnmiranda]

A heads up about the Princess London accomodations, they are Priceline participating hotels. When we cruised on the Golden last year a couple won the Millennium Mayfair for the same dates on Priceline for $104/nt, while the Princess passengers paid more than double for the same room. You can also get the Princess hotels cheaper through http://www.londontown.com, without bidding. But Priceline will offer the most savings. Just some food for thought. You can learn more about Priceline and hotels won at biddingfortravel.com. We only use Priceline for London now, all it's hotels are centrally located and with the dollar exchange being so low it's by far the best deal. Hope this helps:)

 

If you are looking for a specific area to stay in I'll try to help also. The most popular areas are Mayfair (which includes Piccadilly Circus and the theatre district, walking distance to Leichester Square), first choice, and Bloomsbury, again in walking distance of the theatre and the British Museum.

[karen2cruz]

Ditto on declining Princess transfers. There are many other ways to get there. Check on the London board for suggestions as well.

 

A heads up for those new to going to London -the exchange rate right now is 1.73-1.75 US dollars to 1 British pound. It has been this way for while so unless something dramatic happens, plan on this rate of exhange.

 

London is the third most expensive place to visit in the World. Cant remember the other two. But our visit last summer was extraordinary. Make sure you spend a few days in London to see the sights. Enjoy!!

[Globaliser]

1) Is it best to fly into Gatwick or Heathrow (from Atlanta)?

If you're flying from Atlanta, my advice would be to fly to Gatwick if you can, for one reason above all others: All non-stops from Atlanta go to Gatwick. The ease and convenience of a non-stop flight (and a choice of 3 Delta flights a day, at least during the summer) outweighs the fractionally earlier Heathrow flight that you might be able to catch at the end of your cruise, IMHO.

 

However, if you can't get a non-stop with your miles and you have to connect somewhere, then availability and schedule convenience are likely to be more important than which airport you fly to. spongerob has identified one point in Heathrow's favour. However, Gatwick is an easier airport to navigate around than Heathrow, and there's little practical difference between them for a visitor in terms of the ease of getting into central London.

[Devonian]

One advantage of Gatwick is the mainline rail station at the South Terminal. Apart from 30 minute non-stop trains to London, there are direct trains to many destinations in south-east England including Southampton (roughly every hour; journey time about 2 hours). From Heathrow, the only place you can get to by train is Central London!

[CruiseNut7]

Thank you everyone.

 

I just locked in non-stop flights for us from Atlanta using our Delta SkyMiles into Gatwick.

 

Now, the fun truly begins ..... where to stay two day pre-cruise and one day post-cruise.

 

Y'all have offered great suggestions and I will be checking them out. Particularly, the transportation ..... can you easily board and ride on these trains with cruise luggage (that's about 3 pieces for me)? Perhaps a limo/shuttle service might be best for first-timers.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah !

[Cruiseteach]

I'm not sure you'll have a lot of choice- which airport you use depends a lot on which airline you use. In either case, be prepared- British airports are the pits!! I swear everyone in Great Britain is a chain-smoker and they all converge on the airports to smoke in. Other than that, you will love London. Be sure to leave at least 2 or three days to tour. London is very easy to get around in. I highly recommend a city tour on one of the famous red double-decker buses. The Tube is so easy a child can use it- and they do! Same for BritRail. Taxis are easy to get and, by NYC standards, relatively inexpensive. If you are a theater buff, you will think you died and went to Heaven. The last time I was in London, my friend and I saw three shows- Beauty and the Beast, Les Miz and Phantom of the Opera- all in a day and a half, for a fraction of what we would have paid in NYC. The only downsides to London are the prices- yup, it is pricy- and the food, which is awful! I would recommend you look into a B&B for your stay , as hotel prices are pretty steep.

[Cruiseteach]

Forgot to answer your other questions- If you use Princess transfers, they pick you up at the airport if you are going directly to the ship. If you are staying in London pre-cruise, and are using Princess' pre-cruise package, they will meet you at the airport, take you to your hotel, then pick you up at your hotel to go to the ship. Ditto for post cruise. If you are making your own transfer/hotel arrangements, I would assume you are on your own. (I think, if you are using their transfer, they meet you at the airport, whether you are using their air or not). We used Princess for the transfers and had no problems. My "take" on the price thing is that you are paying for the convenience and for the security that the ship will wait for you. When we went, our bus got caught in a combination of rush-hour traffic and construction, and, had we not been on the Princess bus, we would have probably missed the ship. I figure that alone is worth quite a bit. My feeling has always been, you are paying a big price for this vacation, why nickel-and-dime yourself over the small stuff?

If it is an option for you, I would recommend that you do your London tour post-cruise, esp. if you are making your own arrangements.

[cnmiranda]

Thank you everyone.

 

I just locked in non-stop flights for us from Atlanta using our Delta SkyMiles into Gatwick.

 

Now, the fun truly begins ..... where to stay two day pre-cruise and one day post-cruise.

 

Y'all have offered great suggestions and I will be checking them out. Particularly, the transportation ..... can you easily board and ride on these trains with cruise luggage (that's about 3 pieces for me)? Perhaps a limo/shuttle service might be best for first-timers.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah !

 

 

There are porters that will put your luggage on the train after arrival at the airport. Just flag one down if they don't see you first. We navigated the trains on our own with our 76 year old fil and 70 year old mil last summer, they were fine. The train will be quicker getting you in and out of the city. If you don't mind paying more for a taxi and perhaps having a lot of wait time due to London traffic I'd say go for the splurge. Traveling on the weekends and very early morning/late night will have less traffic, just like at home:) Regarding Southampton, rail will get you there quicker than via the bus. There is no porter at that rail station.

 

The bad thing about the airport shuttles is that you can wait 3 hours to reach your hotel depending what your lodging location is. I can't think of the name of the main shuttle, something-link. Anyways we had this transportation included in a land vacation once, and the operator told us it would indeed take 3 hours to reach our hotel so we skipped it.

 

Hope this helps:)

[Globaliser]

Particularly, the transportation ..... can you easily board and ride on these trains with cruise luggage (that's about 3 pieces for me)? Perhaps a limo/shuttle service might be best for first-timers.

If you get the train, you will need to do the following. First, you have to get from the North Terminal (where DL operates) to the South Terminal. I believe that you're allowed to take luggage trolleys on this train. When you get to the South Terminal, you need to walk to train station area on the same level (only about 50 yards). You have to leave your trolley at this point as they're not allowed onto the station platforms, one level down. So from here you must pick up your bags, walk them to the lift, take them downstairs to the train platform, and then put them onto the train without the aid of a trolley.

 

Can you do that? Between two people, three pieces of luggage should be manageable. There are luggage trolleys on the platform at Victoria, so that end is much easier.

 

The train from Gatwick will be much faster than any form of road transport to central London, if you can do it.

[CruiseNut7]

Thanks again for all the great info. I will probably drive my fellow CC members nuts asking questions by the time I get our arrangements finalized! :confused:

 

Globaliser, we will proabably have 2 pieces of luggage EACH (on rollers) and I'll have something over my shoulder as well. The train sounds like the way to go if we can navigate getting luggage on board.

 

So, there are no escalators or elevators to this train? Are there a lot of stairs from the terminal to the train station platform? I'm in decent health, but not in "great physical shape" by any means! We're both in our 50s (middle-aged, of course). :D

 

If cnmiranda's 70 year old in-laws can do it, I should think we could!Perhaps now is the time to get to the gym and build up some muscle - and get into shape!

 

We're scheduled to use Princess transfers, but not Princess air or hotel. Wonder where they would pick us up .... guess it would be back at the airport? Maybe we should go to Southampton the night before and stay there ... I hear that some cruisers do that.

 

We arrive at Gawick 6:30 Monday morning and our sailing is on Wednesday. We're staying one day post-cruise as well.

 

Appreciate everything .... hope everyone is enjoying their holidays!

[Cruiseteach]

Diane- If you have purchased Princess transfers, I am guessing they will transport you from your hotel. You just need to tell them where it is. Why don't you just call Princess, hope that you get a rep with more than one digit in her IQ (:) ) and ask. It seems kind of silly to go to Southampton when you have already paid for transfers.

[cnmiranda]

In our case this last time at Gatwick the porter took our luggage down the escalator and we followed him. I'm not sure if you'll be able to catch a porter where you take the escalator (lots of people were being serviced and it was busy) but there will definitely be a porter down the stairs before you get on the train to put your luggage onboard. That is the most harrowing part of getting into London - the schelpping of the luggage. But once you're on the train it's quite relaxing and you get to see what the homes are like on the outskirts of the city. Of course you get to see that on a taxi too, but for some reason it's really calming to me via train! Sometimes we wimp out and do take a taxi to the airport for luggage reasons (ie, somehow your luggage weighs A LOT! more on the way home), but for the most part it's the train.

 

One part about the rail to Southampton, you will have to cross the train tracks by walking over them, thus taking steps, no elevator. You will have to do that twice, once up and of course once down. The train back to London departs within a few steps of walking into the train terminal, no steps and a very short walk. Our taxi cab driver told us once you add on the second taxi after arriving at Waterloo station it ends up being only about a 10 pound difference, but of course you can really lose a lot of time with London traffic. Just a little bit more info whatever you decide. :)

[Globaliser]

Globaliser, we will proabably have 2 pieces of luggage EACH (on rollers) and I'll have something over my shoulder as well. The train sounds like the way to go if we can navigate getting luggage on board.

 

So, there are no escalators or elevators to this train? Are there a lot of stairs from the terminal to the train station platform? I'm in decent health, but not in "great physical shape" by any means! We're both in our 50s (middle-aged, of course). :D

There are elevators, only we call them lifts. I normally put "(elevators)" after the correct ;) word but I'm sorry I forgot to do that in my post. So, yes, there are elevators from the upper level to the platforms.

 

Two rolling suitcases plus something over your shoulder ought to be very manageable for anyone who's in anything like reasonable shape. It's when you get to three suitcases per person that public transport become rather unwieldy. Special rules apply to the Tube, but that's not on your radar screen for this trip.

 

If you're having difficulty, get a porter as cnmiranda mentions - you ought to be able to find them in the baggage hall where the baggage carousels are, and the same porter should be able to look after you right through to the platform. They have a fixed fee, which I believe includes their tip.

One part about the rail to Southampton, you will have to cross the train tracks by walking over them, thus taking steps, no elevator. You will have to do that twice, once up and of course once down. The train back to London departs within a few steps of walking into the train terminal, no steps and a very short walk.

I'm sorry that you didn't find the lifts at Southampton Central, because they are definitely there at both ends of the footbridge. But in any case, there are drop-off areas at both sides of the station. Funnily enough, I've only ever used the taxi rank on the side of the station that serves trains coming from London - you should be able to get off the train from London, walk straight out through the exit on that side of the station, turn left and get to the taxi rank.

 

On the way back to London, if you ask the taxi driver to drop you off on the side of the station for trains heading in that direction, you should be able to avoid having to cross over the footbridge completely. But even if not, look out for (or ask about) the lifts - it makes life a lot easier. Earlier this year, we got dropped off on the wrong side of the station (reasons too complex to explain) and used the lifts, so they're definitely there!