Disembarkation in Southampton - QM2

[chuckaroney]

We will be taking the QM2 to Southampton from NYC in September. Based on the itinerary, the ship will dock at 6:30 am. We plan to carry our luggage off ourselves, grab a taxi and head to the train station, where there are frequent trains to Gatwick. Based on your experience, could we plan on catching a train between 9:30 and 10 am?

 

Thank you so much!!~

[Calliope]

I've caught London bound trains before as early as 8 AM in Southampton, so 9:30 should be no problem. I'm not sure about train times to Gatwick from Southampton. I'm also not sure if there is direct train service to the airport; you might have to change trains somewhere.

[chuckaroney]

This is wonderful - thank you! It looks as though there are frequent trains from Southampton and although one must change (on a Sunday), it looks as though there are several we could get and make flight connections. Whew!!!

[david,Mississauga]

I've caught London bound trains before as early as 8 AM in Southampton, so 9:30 should be no problem. I'm not sure about train times to Gatwick from Southampton. I'm also not sure if there is direct train service to the airport; you might have to change trains somewhere.

 

There are direct trains to Gatwick. On a weekday, departures from Southampton are every hour at 8:10, 9:13, then 13 minutes after every hour. There is very little luggage space on these trains, which are essentially commuter trains. When I last took one of those trains a friendly station attendant on the platform put our two cases on empty seats. The train makes many stops and eventually got crowded but was never full, so there was no problem with the luggage.

[david,Mississauga]

This is wonderful - thank you! It looks as though there are frequent trains from Southampton and although one must change (on a Sunday), it looks as though there are several we could get and make flight connections. Whew!!!

 

This posting wasn't on when I made my reply above so I didn't know it was a Sunday. As someone who has used the rail network extensively I recommend you choose the station for changing carefully. One of the connections shown on Nationalrail.co.uk is Clapham Junction. This is not convenient if you have luggage, although I did hear that improvements were being made.

 

It would take a bit longer to get to Gatwick, but a convenient station to change would be Brighton. The railway doesn't show this as a connecting point, so to check times you would have to check Southampton-Brighton then Brighton-Gatwick. Changing trains in Brighton is easy because there is no need to use lifts or stairs to change platforms. You may have to tell the ticket clerk in Southampton that you wish to change there as it is not the usual place.

[Pennbank]

We will be taking the QM2 to Southampton from NYC in September. Based on the itinerary, the ship will dock at 6:30 am. We plan to carry our luggage off ourselves, grab a taxi and head to the train station, where there are frequent trains to Gatwick. Based on your experience, could we plan on catching a train between 9:30 and 10 am?

 

Thank you so much!!~

 

 

Use the link

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

It looks like, Due to Planned Maintenance,

Use the Green Trains (Southern Railway) From Southampton Central to Havant and Change at Havant to Gatwick Airport. Journey Time around 2hours 10mins.

Both Trains should depart from the same platform at Havant.

Departures look like, 0730, 0831, 0925, 0955 . (times shown for Sep 16th)

 

However use the National Rail website for your journey which will give all the information you will need. Do check as sometimes engineering work is scheduled over week end but this is usually shown in the link with replacement bus services.

 

Also check the link below on the Train operators website.

https://www.southernrailway.com/

Edited June 27, 2018 by Pennbank

[Shuffleboard Dude]

We will be taking the QM2 to Southampton from NYC in September. Based on the itinerary, the ship will dock at 6:30 am. We plan to carry our luggage off ourselves, grab a taxi and head to the train station, where there are frequent trains to Gatwick. Based on your experience, could we plan on catching a train between 9:30 and 10 am?

 

Thank you so much!!~

 

Usually, we're able to catch the 1000 train, no matter whether we arrive at the Ocean or the Mayflower Terminal.

But there is always a chance for a slight delay of 1-2 hours. I wouldn't book a flight that leaves before 1400.

[Canuker]

There's good and detailed advice here, OP.

But it would be helpful to know the exact date you are travelling, please.

There are timetable and/or engineering work issues that may affect your travel.

Go to http://nationalrail.co.uk to get details.

 

Stick with the Change-at-Havant route if you can but if you find out there will be issues on your route along the South coast, there is help:

Take a (quite frequent, fast) train to Clapham Junction (in SW London) then change there to a Gatwick Train.

It means a change but on Sundays, as mentioned, there are no direct trains from Southampton to Gatwick and a change is needed anyway.

 

Essentially it means instead of going East then North, you go North then East. The time may even be a little quicker than via Havant.

 

Hope this makes sense.

[tacticalbanjo]

As previous posters have mentioned changing at Clapham Junction is a lot more hassle than changing at Havant. Havant would be a same platform change. Clapham Junction is a huge and buys station which from experience is a pain to navigate with luggage.

[Bedruthen]

We self disembarked recently on a Sunday in Southampton and we were at the station by 7.20am. And that included a delay due to a bike event closing off some of the roads!