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

[jwlane]

On 7/19/2019 at 4:40 PM, wendyp247 said:

We will plan to take National  Express from London Victoria at 9 am on a Sunday, is that adequate time to get to Southampton , and then take a taxi to pier?  I’m reading about congested roads and that 2 1/2 is not realistic  for travel time. For those from the area,  do you think 9 am coach allow enough time to get to ship or should we take the 8 am coach  ? Thanks for your advice. I live in Orlando and understand congested roads and highways . 

We'll be joining that bus at 9:20 when it does a pick-up at Hammersmith.  We did the same thing, same time, last year---it could not have worked out better.

 

See 'ya on board!

[JanineM]

We're taking National Express from Southampton to London after a cruise. The expected arrival is 6 am, and we've cruised enough to know that could change.

 

Could we expect to be off the ship and at the train station in time for a 10 am train? Earlier or later? I don't want to hang around the train station all morning, but then we don't want to ruin the last morning of the trip feeling like we're really rushed. 

[chk-gnt]

After the cruise I'm taking a the ship transfer back to London. It ends at Victoria Station, from there I need to get to Heathrow, looking for suggestions on the best way to do that.

[Twickenham]

17 minutes ago, chk-gnt said:

After the cruise I'm taking a the ship transfer back to London. It ends at Victoria Station, from there I need to get to Heathrow, looking for suggestions on the best way to do that.

 

Does your cruise line not offer transfers directly to Heathrow? I would be very surprised if they don't.

[chk-gnt]

2 minutes ago, Twickenham said:

 

Does your cruise line not offer transfers directly to Heathrow? I would be very surprised if they don't.

It does but this transfer goes to Stonehenge and Salisbury before ending at Victoria Station.

[mrgoalie]

On 3/25/2019 at 2:36 PM, sddsddean said:

'Best' is a matter of opinion and your views on money and time! Better to say 'options'.

 

Car service such as Smiths (mentioned above) or West Quay cars. Both reputable and recommended by CCer's. About £100-£150 each way.

 

National Express coach. Depends a bit on where your hotel is, but if you are anywhere near Victoria, the main coach station is there. About 2 1/2 hrs to Southampton, often around £5, but can be as much as £20. You will need a cab from Southampton coach station to the ship...£7. These are comfortable coaches and used by many CCer's. https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

 

Train. Basically 2 routes. More direct is Waterloo - Southampton Central. About 1hr 15mins. Can be as low as £9 or as high as £45! You have to use the website to choose your service. There is a route from Victoria to Southampton, but its about 2 1/2 hrs and around £43. If I was in the Victoria area, I'd use the National Express coach every time. Again, you would need a cab from the station to the ship.  http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/

 

Those are your basic options and as I say, a lot depends on where you are in London (its a big place!) and how much humping of luggage you are willing to do.

 

Simon

 

PS I will now be shot down in flames by dastardly JB!!

 

What about going the other way.....from Southampton port into London for the day and back. Should we attempt this on our own?

[John Bull]

43 minutes ago, mrgoalie said:

What about going the other way.....from Southampton port into London for the day and back. Should we attempt this on our own?

 

 

Not by Nat Express bus - frequency is poor and the journey time is too long for a day return.

 

By train it's possible, but you'd have very limited time in London.

You'd comfortably make the 08.30 train from Southampton -and that's the first train available on a pre-booked cheap fare (about £17 one-way). It gets you to London Waterloo just before 10am.

 

If you're on a port-of-call visit with a back-on-board time of let's say 5pm you'd need to catch the 3.05pm (pre-booked £12) arriving Southampton central 4.22pm (with the 3.20pm and 3.35pm trains at full fare £44 as back-up if you  fouled-up and missed the 3.05)

That gives you abiout 5 hrs in central London. Totally inadequate but you could do a ho-ho tour (about 2hrs 20 mins) and mebbe a stop at the Tower of London & short cruise to Westminster Bridge close to Waterloo station or a walk around Parliament Square (Big Ben, Westminster Abbey etc).

London needs several days - if you've been before or if you expect to make a proper visit some time in the future it's a waste.

But if it's your only chance to visit I guess a whistle-stop tour is better than no visit.

 

If this is between back-to-back cruises   you have no chance. You have luggage issues and registration if you're switching ships, or at least the potential of having an early back-on-board time if it's b2b on the same ship.

https://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/personal/home/search

 

I've driven port-of-call cruise excursions Southampton-London-Southampton. 

There are just two or three brief stops (usually Albert Memorial, St Paul's, Tower of London) and a brief tour past some of the major sights. Usually a blue-badge guide on the bus.

 

JB  

Edited August 3, 2019 by John Bull

[sddsddean]

Agree with JB...too much time is wasted getting to and from London to make it a worhwhile day.  You would do much better going to Portsmouth (lots of naval history inc HMS Victory, Mary Rose, D Day museum), Salisbury (tallest cathedral in the UK inc original of the Magna Carta, oldest mechanical clock in the world) and do a side trip to Stonehenge if you like looking at a pile of stones!, or even the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu (is it feasible to get there by public transport JB?). Just a few ideas where you won't be travelling for half the day.

 

Simon

[John Bull]

6 hours ago, sddsddean said:

National Motor Museum at Beaulieu (is it feasible to get there by public transport JB?).

 

Simon

 

From Southampton Town Quay (between City & Ocean Cruise Terminal) the diminutive little Hythe Ferry

 https://hytheferry.co.uk/  across Southampton Water to Hythe, then taxi from the rank at the pier about 6 miles across a corner of the New Forest to https://www.beaulieu.co.uk/

 

No taxi rank at Beaulieu, so arrange with the taxi driver to come back for you.

 

JB 

 

[picsa]

On 8/3/2019 at 2:19 PM, John Bull said:

If you're on a port-of-call visit with a back-on-board time of let's say 5pm you'd need to catch the 3.05pm (pre-booked £12) arriving Southampton central 4.22pm (with the 3.20pm and 3.35pm trains at full fare £44 as back-up if you  fouled-up and missed the 3.05)

 

And that is assuming the trains are running to schedule and there isn't a problem somewhere on the route. It is not unusual for trains to be cancelled or severely delayed; a nuisance if you are trying to get home from work, rather more of an issue if you need to be on a ship 70 miles away.

[Host Bonjour]

 

[fabnfortysomething]

We used Blackberry cars for pre and post cruise transfer last month

 

London Kings Cross station to Southampton for 2 of us in saloon with luggage £110 for 2 hour journey

 

return 6 of us in minivan with luggage and Heathrow and Central London drop offs £175

 

well recommended for door to door service and particularly with shared van worked out cheaper than ships transfer bus

 

 

[dickinson]

I'll be traveling end of June 2020.  On a Tuesday.  From London to Southampton on the day before my cruise.  How far in advance should I be purchasing my coach ticket for a National Express bus?  

[John Bull]

34 minutes ago, dickinson said:

I'll be traveling end of June 2020.  On a Tuesday.  From London to Southampton on the day before my cruise.  How far in advance should I be purchasing my coach ticket for a National Express bus?  

 

You can book now. 

But if you book at least a week out I'm sure you'll have no problem.

BTW Nat Express now offer assigned seating for a few seats - it only costs a few pounds extra. I don't know what the take-up is, but to take advantage you might want  to book a couple of months out.

 

BTW, don't be too quick to book Nat Express - choose & book your hotel first, then depending on the location of your hotel the train (from London Waterloo station) may be more convenient & the total cost competetive.

 

JB 

[dickinson]

Thank you John.  Our hotel is near Victoria Station.  Park Plaza Victoria.  

[sddsddean]

So you know, the back entrance of the Park Plaza, is 150 yds from the side entrance to Victoria Station, so you could walk it. Trains from Victoria to Southampton take a more circuitous route ( via Gatwick and nearly into Brighton) and it takes around        2 1/2 hours (about the same as the Nat Ex coach). Sometimes the train fare is comparable to the coach fare, but you can only book 12 weeks out. Not saying don't use the coach, just giving you options. To get to Victoria Coach station, you could walk it (about 1/2 mile), but cab might be preferable with luggage, though the pavements (thats a sidewalk to you!) are good.

 

Simon

[dickinson]

Simon, thanks for the info.  We will probably take a coach and just walk to the station.  If raining we will take a cab.  We stayed at this hotel in 2015 while in London and walked to the train station a few times to eat breakfast 😉

[gnome12]

34 minutes ago, dickinson said:

Simon, thanks for the info.  We will probably take a coach and just walk to the station.  If raining we will take a cab.  We stayed at this hotel in 2015 while in London and walked to the train station a few times to eat breakfast 😉

Victoria train station is not the same as the Victoria Coach station where you will get the coach. That is what Simon was getting at; the walk to Victoria train station is very short; the walk to the coach station is farther.

[dickinson]

15 hours ago, gnome12 said:

Victoria train station is not the same as the Victoria Coach station where you will get the coach. That is what Simon was getting at; the walk to Victoria train station is very short; the walk to the coach station is farther.

 

Thanks.  I was aware of it .  I guess my post was vague.  The coach station is near the train station which is where we had breakfast a couple of days in 2015.  If the coach station is near the train station then I know it is not far.  Good weather we can walk... bad weather a cab.

 

Thanks for making sure I knew about the differences.  Some people don't.

[scottbee]

On 7/28/2019 at 5:52 AM, JanineM said:

We're taking National Express from Southampton to London after a cruise. The expected arrival is 6 am, and we've cruised enough to know that could change.

 

Could we expect to be off the ship and at the train station in time for a 10 am train? Earlier or later? I don't want to hang around the train station all morning, but then we don't want to ruin the last morning of the trip feeling like we're really rushed. 

 

Janine,  National Express is a coach service; not a train service. 

 

Either way, it should be straightforward to be at the coach station for a 10a departure; it's about a mile from the cruise port (but that's somewhat dependent on where you dock)

[John Bull]

On 8/2/2019 at 10:37 PM, Twickenham said:

 

Does your cruise line not offer transfers directly to Heathrow? I would be very surprised if they don't.

 

On 8/2/2019 at 10:41 PM, chk-gnt said:

It does but this transfer goes to Stonehenge and Salisbury before ending at Victoria Station.

 

Which cruise line?

All the major cruise lines offer direct airport transfers to Heathrow and Gatwick.

 

If they don't (perhaps a minnow cruise line?), via central London is not the way to go.

Your main choices are direct National Express coach (think "Greyhound") at about £20 per person, or a private transfer  at about £80 for a sedan.

 

JB 

[adstz]

On 7/8/2019 at 8:01 AM, wendyp247 said:

Can  anyone who has taken International Friends with a stop at Stonehenge personally  recommend it or say don't take it and why. Trying to decide to  take International Friends or just take National Express to Southampton

, it will be on a Sunday in August. 

 

We took this tour just 2 weeks ago. The trip was very well done.

The bus was waiting when we disembarked. Left the pier by 8:15 am.

Salisbury Cathedral - had about 45 minutes to walk around. 7.50GBP to enter cathedral. We didn't go in. There was a street fair in the town so we walked around and took pictures.

Stonehenge - (we prepaid tickets) long lines for the shuttle when we got there but worth the wait. Spent about 30-40 minutes waiting for the shuttle. That left us around 45 minutes to walk completely around the stones. Plenty of time. Took the shuttle back down and visited the gift shop.

Windsor Castle - (prepaid tickets) warning, quite a hike up stairs and then a hill to get to the castle. Had about 2 hours to walk around.

At this point the group was split up based on where in London your hotel was. Ours was in Victoria. We were in our room by 6 pm.

It's not cheap but a great way to see a few more things on the way into London.

[susierailroad]

One more request for transport information.  My husband and I will be departing St. Ermins  Hotel, 2 Caxton Street on a Saturday, in May, traveling to Southampton to board a Celebrity ship.  I have read this entire post (and my head is spinning), however, not knowing which train station or bus station is nearest my hotel, I'm at a loss.  Could you aid me with a suggested itinerary to the port?    

 

It seems a crime to take advantage of your largess.  The  knowledge and generosity you experts display is amazing!!  

[sddsddean]

I'm afraid this might not be very helpful!! You are midway between Waterloo and Victoria railway stations (slightly closer to Victoria) and its only another 300 yds to Victoria Coach station. You would need a cab whichever one you go to, so thats not really an issue. It basically comes down to what you want to spend and how fast you want to get to Southampton. Fastest, but most expensive will be SouthWest trains from Waterloo. Actually, I've just looked on http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/planjourney/search  and on the Saturday I picked, the general fare was £44, but there were a couple of trains that were only £18 (travel time just over 2hrs with 5 stops), so check about 12 weeks before your travel date. Personally I wouldn't bother with the train from Victoria, but the coach is £8.70 on the same Saturday in October that I picked...travel time about 2hr 20mins https://www.nationalexpress.com/en . As you're on holiday, I'd pay the extra £10 and take the train from Waterloo. You could walk to City cruise terminal if you are on RCI, Celeb or NCL (about 15mins) or a cab to any cruise terminal is £7 from the station. Hope this helps!

 

Simon

[susierailroad]

Actually, very helpful info.  At least I have an idea where my hotel is in relationship to the train stations. Your suggestion re the SouthWest trains from Waterloo appears to be the better option for us.  I did read somewhere, however, that your coaches are far superior to the US buses.  For viewing the countryside enroute to Southampton, is the train the better idea?  Thanks so much.