Transport from London to Southhampton

[cathyquin2002]

Hi, we have a cruise scheduled to leave from Southhampton on June 2nd.  We arrive in London on May 29th and will be sightseeing before the cruise. I am trying to set up transportation from our AirB&B to the port on the morning of the cruise.  There are 5 of us in our party, and I just found out it’s the Queen’s Jubilee, so am thinking transportation could be difficult.  Any suggestions would be very welcome! 

[katisdale]

We use "Silver Fleet" for transport when in London and have always been well pleased.

[dides]

As it's a public holiday, the main roads and motorways will be very busy so make sure you leave plenty of contingency time if you come down on the day by road (it's already started for this Easter long weekend!)

[kiwimum]

Use the Princess transfer from Victoria Coach Station.  Very convenient and reliable.

[Spudd]

38 minutes ago, cathyquin2002 said:

Hi, we have a cruise scheduled to leave from Southhampton on June 2nd.  We arrive in London on May 29th and will be sightseeing before the cruise. I am trying to set up transportation from our AirB&B to the port on the morning of the cruise.  There are 5 of us in our party, and I just found out it’s the Queen’s Jubilee, so am thinking transportation could be difficult.  Any suggestions would be very welcome! 

If you don't have too much luggage, there's a train that goes every half hour or so from Waterloo Station to Southampton Central Station. It takes just over an hour. 

 

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/London,+United+Kingdom/Southampton,+United+Kingdom/@51.216329,-1.0442523,10z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x47d8a00baf21de75:0x52963a5addd52a99!2m2!1d-0.1275862!2d51.5072178!1m5!1m1!1s0x48738957be152909:0xa78c5a6a4cda71f0!2m2!1d-1.4049018!2d50.9105468!3e3

[Lady Arwen]

We’ve booked Majestic Taxis and Chauffeur Cars.  Very highly rated and priced well for a private Mercedes van.  They will guarantee to get you to Southampton terminal in time.

[suzyed]

We use Smith's for Airports and have been happy with them every time.

 

[Cotswold Eagle]

1 hour ago, suzyed said:

We use Smith's for Airports and have been happy with them every time.

 

As mentioned in other threads on this board, sadly that firm ceased trading at the end of 2021. 

[tony s]

16 hours ago, kiwimum said:

Use the Princess transfer from Victoria Coach Station.  Very convenient and reliable.

We used it and it works If any delays the ship waits for you.

[phabric]

On embarkment day, you can use -

www.internationalfriends.co.uk 

 

They pick up at certain London hotels with a stop at Stonehenge before being  dropped off at your ship’s Southampton dock.

 

They have an email address where you can ask closest hotel they put up.

 

You can take National Express Coach www.nationalexpress.com  from London Victoria Coach station to Southampton Harbour Parade Coach station and a short taxi ride to your ship’s dock.

[John Bull]

Best choice of transportation depends on your London hotel location & the depth of your pockets.

 

Any travel London to Southampton by road on June 2nd  is likely to be fraught because it's the first day of a four-day national holiday, so Londoners will be flocking from the big bad city to the coasts & countryside. The main M3 motorway to Southampton gets pretty clogged on summer friday evenings and saturday mornings for that reason. And if there's been a major accident, everyone on the road is in deep do-do's

 

Private car services should know that, and should know alternative routes - routes which take as much as an hour longer but very much less-likely to be log-jammed.

 

Ship's transfer coaches tend to be poor value (not too bad for Princess), though like National Express buses they only pick up in Victoria. It's a matter of luck whether the driver knows or will be prepared to switch route, but as per Tony's post if it's late that's the cruise line's problem, not the cruiser's. Southampton has a unique double-tide and ships can leave hours late.

 

The National Express direct bus service from Victoria coach station is the cheapest option by far - even for 5 of you - at £7.70 pp, but it has to keep to its planned route. But by booking an early one, you allow for a super-slow journey - and if the traffic's nowhere near as bad as we all think it will be, you'll be on-board for the pick of the buffet and a few beers before the others arrive.

https://book.nationalexpress.com/

 

If your hotel is tolerably convenient to Waterloo station, direct trains (usually 2 or 3 per hour) take about 90 minutes & no traffic jams.

If near Paddington station, frequent trains to Reading and a change of train to Southampton doesn't take much longer. 

But walk-up fares on both of those routes are around £40 - £50 pp, and no cheap advance-purchase tickets available that day.

If near Victoria station, there are hourly direct trains for £34, but they follow a rather circuitous route which takes 2.5 hours.

https://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/

 

Altho long weekends are used for planned track maintenance, none of those routes are affected on 2nd June.  https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/currentAndFuture.aspx?TravelDate=02%2F06%2F2022&TOC=gw

 

A taxi from Southampton coach or train station to any cruise terminal should cost under £10, though 5 plus cruise luggage probably means a pair of taxis,

 

So on that date, rather than choosing the best option, sadly it's more a question of choosing the least-worst. 😟

 

JB 🙂

[suzyed]

21 hours ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

As mentioned in other threads on this board, sadly that firm ceased trading at the end of 2021. 

Oh really?  They were great....what a shame.

 

[cathyquin2002]

Thank you all SO very much!  We solved the problem yesterday, by changing our AirB&B stay to end in the 1st and found a place in Southhampton for the night of the 1st, so getting to the cruise ship on time will be easy.  I will check into your various suggestions for ways to get to Southampton though, and very much appreciate all of the advice and information!  

[John Bull]

3 hours ago, cathyquin2002 said:

Thank you all SO very much!  We solved the problem yesterday, by changing our AirB&B stay to end in the 1st and found a place in Southhampton for the night of the 1st, so getting to the cruise ship on time will be easy.  I will check into your various suggestions for ways to get to Southampton though, and very much appreciate all of the advice and information!  

 

Good move 🙂

 

On that day your best compromise  between convenience & cost is probably by train. Cheap advance tickets are available now for travel on1st June from London Waterloo, direct hourly (1 hour 14) £9.20, or from London Paddington hourly with one change of train (1hr 50) from £12.20, or from London Victoria (2 hrs, 28) £5.50. But advance tickets are only good for the train time that you've selected - miss it and your tickets are trash & you'll have to pay the full walk-up fare for the next one.

 

Or because the road to Southampton won't be clogged in the morning (and it wouldn't matter anyway), the National Express bus from Victoria coach station costs only £7.70 or you could consider a private transfer.

 

It's best that you fix up your transportation by the end of this month - advance train fares go up closer to the date, and Nat Express buses do book-out. 

 

JB 🙂