Transfer: Southampton—London (incl. LHR/LGW) train, car, other?

[fstuff1]

22 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

I think I can guarantee that your ship will not be at South Hampton. But you've been told this before.

what???

[d9704011]

20 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

what???

Southampton.

[John Bull]

11 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

what???

 

Southampton, not South Hampton

Common mistake, a bit mean of Gloibaliser to give you a fright.

 

Yes, it's a bit late to book - advance prices are dynamic, advance tickets still available on the random early May dates that I tried, but now around £20.

Get straight onto it now

 

JB 🙂

[fstuff1]

4 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

Southampton, not South Hampton

Common mistake, a bit mean of Gloibaliser to give you a fright.

 

Yes, it's a bit late to book - advance prices are dynamic, advance tickets still available on the random early May dates that I tried, but now around £20.

Get straight onto it now

 

JB 🙂

Ive blocked him

 

May4th early; can't find on national rail app. :(

 

Edited April 27, 2023 by fstuff1

[d9704011]

8 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

Ive blocked him

 

May4th early; can't find on national rail app. 😞

 

Try southernrailway.com

 

 

[John Bull]

34 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

 

May4th early; can't find on national rail app. 😞

 

 

 My mention of advance fares was in response to a question about London Waterloo to Southampton.

That's the route for which I quoted the current advance fares at £22.10.

 

Are you asking about Southampton to Gatwick?

Advance fares still available on the Nat Rail website for 4th May on that route too. 

£19 for the direct 8.09 am train (the earliest you should contemplate for a ship arriving that day), then £13.50 for the direct hourly (13 mins past the hour) trains.

 

If you're struggling to get onto the Nat Rail website, try the website of the train operator, Southern, using the link provided by d704011

 

JB 🙂

[Cotswold Eagle]

44 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

May4th early; can't find on national rail app. 😞

 

What can’t you find on the app? May 4th? South Hampton? (You know about this time at second time of asking, right?)  Gatwick? A particular fare?
 

The app and the various web portals pull the same data. It’s much easier to help folk when they are clear. 

[Globaliser]

1 hour ago, John Bull said:

Southampton, not South Hampton

Common mistake, a bit mean of Gloibaliser to give you a fright.

 

49 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

Ive blocked him

 

May4th early; can't find on national rail app. 😞

 

But I bet that this time fstuff1 will actually listen.

 

The Southern Railway website doesn't seem to have an easy way of filtering out the non-direct trains. If fstuff1 is going to Gatwick, my guess is that they will have luggage, so direct trains would be preferable. The National Rail website does allow filtering for direct trains only, and it's clearly showing those £13.50 Advance fares from 0913, together with some £9.50 Advance fares from 1413 onwards. (Though we probably need to translate the times for them too.)

[susan0623]

On 4/26/2023 at 5:19 AM, John Bull said:

 

 

North American visitors do tend to fret unnecessarily about their luggage on trains. And as an admittedly-infrequent user of the Tube I rate luggage on trains very much easier.

Cumbersome perhaps at commuter time, but you'll be travelling in the opposite direction to the lemmings and starting from the terminus. And in the unlikely event that you do have to stash your luggage at the end of the carriage there are only a few stops between London Waterloo and central Southampton, so if you want you can go stand by it as you approach a station.

 

I reckon taxi about £20 for the 3 miles to London Waterloo, £9 pp to £14.50* pp for the train to Southampton, and no more than £10 for a taxi from Southampton Central to any cruise terminal or city centre hotel. That's about £50 to £60 versus £230+ for a door-to-door private transfer.

* Walk-up train fares are well over £50 pp. But advance tickets (buy them up to about 12 weeks before travel) are a fraction of that walk-up fare. You have to specify what time train, and your ticket is only good for that train - if you miss it your tickets are trash and you'll be paying the full walk-up fare.

https://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/timesandfares/WAT/SOU/210623/0900/dep#outwardJump

 

Your money & your convenience, I'm just pointing out the pros & cons

 

JB 🙂

Thanks JB!

 

[susan0623]

On 4/25/2023 at 10:43 PM, Globaliser said:

 

If you don't need a private car all the way, then it sounds like the public transport option would work too: taxi to Southampton Central station, train to London Waterloo, taxi to the JW Marriott Grosvenor House. It would be rather less pricey.

 

 

This is true, but I don't understand why it's such a big deal for anyone who can handle their own luggage. There is almost no step up into the train, and many thousands of people take suitcases on these trains every day even though there's no dedicated luggage storage. It's no worse than taking the Tube with suitcases, which is also done by many thousands of people every day. You just improvise, and everyone else improvises around you.

Thanks!

[fstuff1]

19 hours ago, d9704011 said:

Try southernrailway.com

 

 

thx. their app sucks.  searching.... but never gives me results.

 

website much better.

8:09am $17.50

9:13am $13.50

 

Edited April 28, 2023 by fstuff1

[Globaliser]

3 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

website much better.

8:09am $17.50

9:13am $13.50

 

You might want to check that it's giving you prices like £17.50 and £13.50. The money in question is the pound; we don't use dollars here.

 

So if you really are seeing dollar signs on the website you're looking at, something is very wrong. You may be being scammed.

[d9704011]

4 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

thx. their app sucks.  searching.... but never gives me results.

 

website much better.

8:09am $17.50

9:13am $13.50

 

OK... use the website, that's usually my preference for this sort of thing.  I'm sure you meant £, not $ for the currency.  Don't know when you need to arrive at LGW, your schedule seems to be rather elastic.

Edited April 28, 2023 by d9704011

[susan0623]

On 4/25/2023 at 10:43 PM, Globaliser said:

Globaliser and John Bull - We will taxi to Southampton Central, train to London Waterloo, and taxi to JW Marriott as you advised.  Thank you both!  Our ship is supposed to get to Southampton at 6:00 am.  Which train should I book?  I was thinking 9:00 or 9:30 in case we are late and since it can take a while to get off the ship and retrieve bags.  Appreciate your help on this! 

 

[fstuff1]

On 4/27/2023 at 8:04 AM, Cotswold Eagle said:

What can’t you find on the app? May 4th? South Hampton? (You know about this time at second time of asking, right?)  Gatwick?

interestingly, when i type in South, it can't find the station.

but when i type in 'Southa' it finds it 😮

Edited April 29, 2023 by fstuff1

[fstuff1]

On 4/28/2023 at 2:28 AM, fstuff1 said:

thx. their app sucks.  searching.... but never gives me results.

 

website much better.

8:09am $17.50

9:13am $13.50

 

for may 4th, i got this warning when trying to buy tix:

• Engineering work may affect your journey, please check this website www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/currentAndFuture.aspx before buying tickets. If you don't see your usual ticket, please enquire at your local station.

😞

 

which rail line goes from sou to gatwick? gatwick express?

Edited April 29, 2023 by fstuff1

[Globaliser]

 

1 hour ago, fstuff1 said:

which rail line goes from sou to gatwick? gatwick express?

 

It's this one:

 

On 4/27/2023 at 12:25 PM, d9704011 said:

southernrailway.com

 

[John Bull]

2 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

for may 4th, i got this warning when trying to buy tix:

• Engineering work may affect your journey, please check this website www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/currentAndFuture.aspx before buying tickets. If you don't see your usual ticket, please enquire at your local station.

😞

 

 

It can be difficult for those not familiar with UK trains, to figure from that website when, & particularly where, engineering work is taking place. But those are overnight engineering works, scheduled to finish at 4 am (long before your journey) and affect a different line (Brighton to Gatwick).

Your journey isn't affected.

 

JB

[fstuff1]

8 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

It can be difficult for those not familiar with UK trains, to figure from that website when, & particularly where, engineering work is taking place. But those are overnight engineering works, scheduled to finish at 4 am (long before your journey) and affect a different line (Brighton to Gatwick).

Your journey isn't affected.

 

JB

thx JB!

 

On 4/28/2023 at 2:28 AM, fstuff1 said:

thx. their app sucks.  searching.... but never gives me results.

 

website much better.

8:09am $17.50

9:13am $13.50

and the 13.50 fare is sold out.

now the cheapest is 15.50 (advanced, direct, non-flexible)

Edited April 29, 2023 by fstuff1

[John Bull]

35 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

thx JB!

 

and the 13.50 fare is sold out.

now the cheapest is 15.50 (advanced, direct, non-flexible)

 

 

Dynamic pricing.

It's now less that a week away and the closer to the date, the higher the price. 

If you've not bought yet, get straight onto it.

 

JB 🙂

[cc cruiser]

We are flying to LHR on stand by tickets, so we don’t know which flight we will arrive on.  Our plan is to take the National Express non stop to SOU.   
 

My questions are:

1) Do we have to buy the tickets online?

2) where do we go once we have our luggage? Is it well marked? 
 

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge!

[gumshoe958]

2 minutes ago, cc cruiser said:

We are flying to LHR on stand by tickets, so we don’t know which flight we will arrive on.  Our plan is to take the National Express non stop to SOU.   
 

My questions are:

1) Do we have to buy the tickets online?

2) where do we go once we have our luggage? Is it well marked? 
 

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge!

1) No, there are ticket vending machines at the  Heathrow coach stops. But it’s cheaper and easier to do it online in advance. For an extra £5 you can buy a “Change & Go” upgrade which allows you to travel on any coach 12 hours either side of the one you book, as long as there’s space. 

2) That will depend on which terminal you arrive at. Assuming it’s Terminal 2 or 3 (for all US/Canadian airlines) you just follow the signs to the central bus station. It’s a 5-10 minute walk via underground tunnels with moving walkways.

[John Bull]

56 minutes ago, gumshoe958 said:

For an extra £5 you can buy a “Change & Go” upgrade which allows you to travel on any coach 12 hours either side of the one you book, as long as there’s space. 

 

 

Yes, since you're on standby, "change & go" is essential.

 

JB 🙂

[fstuff1]

2 hours ago, John Bull said:

Dynamic pricing.

It's now less that a week away and the closer to the date, the higher the price. 

If you've not bought yet, get straight onto it.

 

JB 🙂

southern railway's website keeps timing out when i pay by credit card. 😞

 

edit:

used paypal and it worked.

my flight is at 2pm so getting there at 11am should be ok

 

Out 09:13 Thu 04 May 2023

• Depart09:13 Southampton Central
• Arrive11:09 Gatwick Airport
• Duration1hr 56m

 

Edited April 29, 2023 by fstuff1

[fstuff1]

there's another app for England railways: Trainline

 

but it seems to have a service fee. 

same train ticket is $5 more on Trainline 😮