Tours from Southampton Cruise Port Ending at Heathrow Airport

[Ladybug18]

Hello!

 

My husband, 8 year old son and I will be coming off a cruise in Southampton. Our flight out of Heathrow does not leave until 8:30pm so I am looking for a company that would pick us up at the Southampton Port and take us on a tour for the day and then drop us off at Heathrow the same day. Any recommendations on a reliable tour company that can do something like this?

 

We will be staying in London Central 2 days prior to the cruise and will be doing the HOHO bus one day and walking/taking the tube the second day so we will have hopefully seen a lot of London in those 2 days. I was thinking maybe Stonehenge but am open to other suggestions. 

[trosebery]

Are you looking for a shared tour or a private tour? In addition to Stonehenge, many tours stop at Salisbury and/or Windsor.

[markeb]

You probably have enough time for a visit to Stonehenge, Salisbury, and Windsor. Some combination of that is fairly common, just not always easy to search for on the forum. The question is whether you can work that on a existing tour or if you're better off going with a private tour.

[gnome12]

59 minutes ago, Ladybug18 said:

We will be staying in London Central 2 days prior to the cruise and will be doing the HOHO bus one day and walking/taking the tube the second day so we will have hopefully seen a lot of London in those 2 days. I was thinking maybe Stonehenge but am open to other suggestions. 

I'm not suggesting that you change your plans to tour on the way from Southampton to Heathrow. However, if you think that you will have seen a lot of London in 2 days you are really deluding yourself. You won't have scratched the surface. Hopefully, it will have given you the impetus to go back. 😀

[Ladybug18]

5 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

I'm not suggesting that you change your plans to tour on the way from Southampton to Heathrow. However, if you think that you will have seen a lot of London in 2 days you are really deluding yourself. You won't have scratched the surface. Hopefully, it will have given you the impetus to go back. 😀

Lol 😂 ya we definitely won’t see and do all that London has to offer in those two days. The cruise ship has a 7 hr tour that takes you around London on a bus which is pretty much what we will do one day on the HOPO bus. I was hoping to see something/do something different. 

[Ladybug18]

32 minutes ago, markeb said:

You probably have enough time for a visit to Stonehenge, Salisbury, and Windsor. Some combination of that is fairly common, just not always easy to search for on the forum. The question is whether you can work that on a existing tour or if you're better off going with a private tour.

Thank you. I’ll have to do some research to see if any companies offer this sort of tour with pickup at the Southampton port and drop off at Heathrow. 

[Ladybug18]

48 minutes ago, trosebery said:

Are you looking for a shared tour or a private tour? In addition to Stonehenge, many tours stop at Salisbury and/or Windsor.

I’m not really sure. I guess either would work. We just need some sort of tour to pass the 12 or so hours so we aren’t sitting at the airport all day long. 

[markeb]

3 minutes ago, Ladybug18 said:

Thank you. I’ll have to do some research to see if any companies offer this sort of tour with pickup at the Southampton port and drop off at Heathrow. 

 

Try the London Toolkit  https://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/southampton_london_transfers.htm

 

There are other options. Some private drivers will do this as part of the airport transfer. Depends on time and budget.

[trosebery]

This is another common option:

https://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/southampton-cruise-tour-transfer-to-london.html

Although with 3 people, the cost arrange for private drivers to take you where you choose may be competitive. And there are a lot of places to choose! One time I was traveling with my teenage daughter, we visited the Harry Potter Studio Tour -- not exactly on the way, but she was a fan and loved it and we spent almost 4 hours there. To each their own!

[Marseydotes]

I just finished arranging a Cotswolds tour prior to drop off at Heathrow. A bit pricey but the van they have can take at least two more people. See if others on your roll call are interested.

 

[Ladybug18]

53 minutes ago, Marseydotes said:

I just finished arranging a Cotswolds tour prior to drop off at Heathrow. A bit pricey but the van they have can take at least two more people. See if others on your roll call are interested.

 

Thanks. Do you happen to have a link to the company you used?

[Marseydotes]

I do not have a link, but the company is International Friends. I sent an e-mail message outlining our interests and the times we require. There was immediate feedback. This company is reputable according to my research and offers many tours from various places. They also will be our car service to get from London to the port.

remember, I have not yet gone on this cruise, so I cannot give a specific recommendation!

 

[markeb]

International Friends (see the link in torosebery's reply) is mentioned frequently here for this type of activity. I've not used them personally. Some of our UK members have mentioned that you can sometimes find International Friends on the London Toolkit for a better price than direct, so checking both sites is best.

 

For the OP, with three of you, and a fair amount of time, it's probably worth looking into the cost of a private transfer, including international friends and others, that can take you where you want to visit and not be tied to a bus. If you do that, and are going to Stonehenge, you want to be sure they have tickets included (and probably Windsor Castle as well if you add Windsor) so you don't lose a bunch of time waiting to enter. I've only visited those locations on my own, so I don't know how they usually do that.