What to do in Southampton, England?

[VintageCCG]

On 9/21/2018 at 12:15 PM, gnome12 said:

  John Bull said:

Mr Columbus did discover America.

Only a few hundred years after the Vikings

 

JB 🙂

 

Careful. The only North American spot that has been verified as a Viking settlement is at L'Anse aux Meadows which is at the north tip of the island of Newfoundland in Canada.

 

Let's speak in facts, shall we?
Christopher Columbus (in Spanish Cristóbal Colón) landed in the Bahamas, then later visited Cuba and Hispaniola (a.k.a. Haiti / Dominican Republic), several other Caribbean islands, and landed on the coasts of South America and Central America.
He never set foot on what is now the continental United States.

This occurred centuries after Vikings made voyages to what is now Canada, and likely many years after Basque and Portuguese fishermen had begun frequenting western shores (although there is little or no documentation of those activities.

 

And of course, the Indigenous Peoples had already been inhabiting North American continent for thousands of years.

[kctwinmommy]

On 11/2/2018 at 5:40 PM, jagsfan said:

I’ve visited Mary Rose twice. They’ve made progress over the years. It’s a most remarkable thought to realize how long she was on the bottom and how miraculous it was that she was found and brought up for us to marvel at. 

Winchester would be new to me, and I’m the navigator, so that’s where we’ll go. 

 

I know! I saw it as a child, probably about a year or so after they had brought it up. To be honest, I never though I'd be back again to see it as an adult. So it was really cool to see again. And they did a fabulous job with the museum to house it.

[paumarier]

We're only staying one night prior to ship embarkation. Any suggestions for a hotel in a walking around/restaurant/pub area? We don't mind taking a taxi to the terminal the next day.

[LHT28]

46 minutes ago, paumarier said:

We're only staying one night prior to ship embarkation. Any suggestions for a hotel in a walking around/restaurant/pub area? We don't mind taking a taxi to the terminal the next day.

popular  hotels  are the Holiday Inn

Premier Inn West Quay

Novatel

have a look on trip advisor  for options  that suit your budget

[John Bull]

23 hours ago, paumarier said:

We're only staying one night prior to ship embarkation. Any suggestions for a hotel in a walking around/restaurant/pub area? We don't mind taking a taxi to the terminal the next day.

 

 

The hotels on this website

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

are all in the city centre & tolerably handy to cruise terminals (see the useful thumbnail map at the bottom of that page) - from the least-convenient hotels (12 & 13 & 14 on the map) to the least-convenient cruise terminal is no worse than a £10 taxi ride.

 

Most are modern cloned chain hotels.

Ibis Budge usually cheapest. Very basic but perfectly satisfactory.

The adjacent Novotel is a typical modern 3+* hotel.

Premier Inn is the UKs most popular budget chain - there are three in the city centre, by far the most convenient is Premier Inn West Quay - it's between the city centre shops & sights and the cruise terminals.

Holiday Inn hotel is particularly popular with those cruising from City Cruise Terminal - its right by the cruise terminal gate, rooms at the front look down Southampton Water, rooms at the back overlook ship & cruise terminal.

(NB there are two HI Expresses in the city - both are on the city limits & not convenient for your purpose. Same applies to the city's two Hiltons)

Pig-in-the-Wall and Ennio's are boutiques.

The Dolphin is an historic coaching inn. Quirky. History & character of course have their problems - do read reviews to figure if thats a problem for you.

Southampton Harbour Hotel is 5* at 5* prices.

Grand Harbour Hotel is in the process of being sold, so bear that in mind when checking both good & poor reviews.

 

Be aware that few hotels have air-con. (and I don't know which have or haven't).

We don't need aircon in our homes in the UK - but very very very very occasionally it's no fun to be in a hotel room with a large fixed window & no aircon.

 

If you don't know your cruise terminal, post your ship's name and we can give you a good idea of its likely cruise terminal

 

JB 

 

 

 

Edited November 20, 2018 by John Bull

[paumarier]

Thank you for all the great info. We will be on the Oceania Marina departing Southampton on the 19th. 

[John Bull]

10 hours ago, paumarier said:

Thank you for all the great info. We will be on the Oceania Marina departing Southampton on the 19th. 

 

Oceania normally berth at City cruise terminal (berth 101 on the linked port website) but their listings for next year aren't yet in the schedule so bookmark the page & refer to it in a month or two's time

http://www.southamptonvts.co.uk/Live_Information/Shipping_Movements_and_Cruise_Ship_Schedule/Cruise_Ship_Schedule/

 

On the very very few occasions during the year that the port has more ships than cruise terminals, it's tiddlers like Marina  that get shunted to the adjacent berth (103/4). That's normally used for fruit imports but the facilities are perfectly adequate for small ships. And great if you like bananas .

 

Holiday Inn (Herbert Walker Avenue), Premier Inn West Quay, Grand Harbour, Travelodge Southampton central, Pig-in-the-Wall and Ennio's are all close to the city's old-town sights (between Town Quay & the Bargate), the shopping (centred on Above Bar Street & the West Quay Mall) and City Cruise Terminal. Other hotels are a little less convenient, but still walkable other than to the cruise terminals..

Huge range of modern eateries (very broad range of tastes, mainly chain restaurants) adjacent West Quay Mall, some good pubs serving food in old-town, a range of restaurants in Oxford Street. Various other pubs & eateries in the city centre.

 

JB 

 

Edited November 20, 2018 by John Bull