Intercruises Coach Transfer From Southampton

[Sawdan]

Hi there, Just back from Iona cruise that returned Saturday 8th October.

   I will write a review about the cruise soon about all that was good and bad but just wanted to share this separately first. 

   We had booked a Select fare that included return coach travel from  Leeds to Southampton. On the return journey the disembarkation times of the passengers on the coach was shambolic. The coach wasn't full but the passengers had at least 4 different disembarkation times! Meeting times on the ship to disembark included 0730/0830/0930/1010. This meant that the first passengers on the bus 2 elderly ladies were on board for 8am and the last 2 passengers got on board around 1015 and the coach left soon after. This meant a wait time to set off of nearly 2.5 hours Sat on the coach for some passengers. This is not great.

    When we questioned the different meet times at reception they said that we can go to the coaches at anytime and when the coach was full it could set off. This would be OK if the disembarkation times were closer together not over 2.5 hours difference. 

    It really just smacked of getting everyone off the ship as efficiently as possible with no consideration for onward travel. I get that it is a big ship with 5200 passengers but surely they can offload 40 or so passengers at roughly the same time so they can be on their way? 

   Might just be worth taking into consideration for anyone travelling by coach.

  Casbantam

   

   

[my marina bay]

You have my sympathy. We always travel by coach and I always dread the return journey. I think me and Mr Bay should wear a sticker saying 'if you travel with us you will be the last coach to depart'. We have sat on the coach for hours waiting for the last passengers to stroll off the ship. No one ever gets the same time. Our last cruise in September was no different waited for two ladies until 10.30. One couple complained told driver to leave but he said they had to wait regardless. The ladies said their departure time was 10.15. I asked  the coach company a few years ago to get their drivers to make an announcement before passengers disembarked at Southampton to tell everyone to get off the ship by 830 regardless of time stated by PO but it never happened. I asked PO to try to give coach passengers an early departure and they did say they do try however some always slip the net. PO said anyone 

on a coach who gets a late departure can always get it changed however passengers aren't aware of this. I think its up to coach companies to do more by announcing departure procedures on the coach before passengers start their holiday.

[amajaa]

The few times we have caught the coach we have been to reception and asked for a disembarkation time that is good for the required departure time of the coach. I just can't understand why eveybody hasn't got the sense to do that. 

 

Just been on 2 Princess cruises and I noticed although they don't offer free coach travel they do have disembarkation times especially for the coaches departing. Why can't P & O do this

[Josy1953]

1 hour ago, amajaa said:

The few times we have caught the coach we have been to reception and asked for a disembarkation time that is good for the required departure time of the coach. I just can't understand why eveybody hasn't got the sense to do that. 

 

Just been on 2 Princess cruises and I noticed although they don't offer free coach travel they do have disembarkation times especially for the coaches departing. Why can't P & O do this

Princess disembarkation times for the coaches departing times works well in the most part but on our last coach journey everyone was on the coach on time except 2 passengers, a while later a man asked the driver if he would go inside and ask if someone could ask that the missing passengers could be paged, the coach driver said he couldn't do that until the final disembarkation time had passed.  Eventually the missing passengers arrived, they had been making sandwiches and filling a flask in the buffet for the journey home.   They then decided that they couldn't sit in the only 2 seats left because they were facing backwards, no-one would agree to swap seats with them so they refused to sit down until the driver said that either they sat down or they and their luggage would be removed from the coach.  We were bythen almost 2 hours past the scheduled departure time.  It was the last time we used the coach and we have no intentions of using the coach again

 

[my marina bay]

Josy1953 - If it was up to me I would get the coach to Southampton and the train home but Mr.Bay is reluctant.  Your two passengers sound just like the couple we had a few years ago on PO.  Still waiting  long after 11am eventually a search party went to look for them as their cases were still in the baggage area.  Found in the buffet filling a holdall with croissants and anything else they could find.  When asked why they hadnt left the ship they said no one told them. However this couple had form as they had kept everyone waiting on the way down by not returning to coach on time during pickup and lunch breaks. They also refused to sit down before arrival in Southampton even though driver told them to go back to their seats as traffic was bad. Both early 70s he was wearing gold chains around neck.  The driver told us their names because he was so brassed off.  Ironic really I know I cant name them but lets just say Mr and Mrs Top Gun.!

[Sawdan]

3 hours ago, amajaa said:

The few times we have caught the coach we have been to reception and asked for a disembarkation time that is good for the required departure time of the coach. I just can't understand why eveybody hasn't got the sense to do that. 

 

Just been on 2 Princess cruises and I noticed although they don't offer free coach travel they do have disembarkation times especially for the coaches departing. Why can't P & O do this

TBF I would expect it to be organised better and not have to check with reception that someone has organised the process efficiently and that I was disembarking at a convenient time for the coach leaving. Obs if I get the coach again it would defo be a good idea to check the coach departure time and try arrange accordingly. When I spoke to reception they said that there was 2 coaches for Leeds. They would fill one which would leave and then the rest would go on coach 2. This wasn't the case as the drivers stuck to their manifests which is fair enough really. Oh well its all to know for next time!!

[happy v]

You are supposed to have early check out for coaches. You should have been told when you arrived

 If anyone is missed you get it changed at reception 

[Cruisemeister2002]

Going back a few years and I expect others remember it well P&O decided to go the route of selected times for embarkation. We travelled down by coach which always stops at South Mims for about an hour we made our way down to Southampton but due to being early we had another stop at a service station just outside Southampton. By the time we had checked in and got to our cabin they were calling for passengers to go to Muster Stations. Suffice to say we didn't go. Surely despite the huge numbers of passengers they can organise things a bit better than they do. They have had years to put together something that means coach passengers all arrive at their coach within a half hour timescale.

[amajaa]

4 hours ago, Josy1953 said:

Princess disembarkation times for the coaches departing times works well in the most part but on our last coach journey everyone was on the coach on time except 2 passengers, a while later a man asked the driver if he would go inside and ask if someone could ask that the missing passengers could be paged, the coach driver said he couldn't do that until the final disembarkation time had passed.  Eventually the missing passengers arrived, they had been making sandwiches and filling a flask in the buffet for the journey home.   They then decided that they couldn't sit in the only 2 seats left because they were facing backwards, no-one would agree to swap seats with them so they refused to sit down until the driver said that either they sat down or they and their luggage would be removed from the coach.  We were bythen almost 2 hours past the scheduled departure time.  It was the last time we used the coach and we have no intentions of using the coach again

 

 

3 hours ago, my marina bay said:

Josy1953 - If it was up to me I would get the coach to Southampton and the train home but Mr.Bay is reluctant.  Your two passengers sound just like the couple we had a few years ago on PO.  Still waiting  long after 11am eventually a search party went to look for them as their cases were still in the baggage area.  Found in the buffet filling a holdall with croissants and anything else they could find.  When asked why they hadnt left the ship they said no one told them. However this couple had form as they had kept everyone waiting on the way down by not returning to coach on time during pickup and lunch breaks. They also refused to sit down before arrival in Southampton even though driver told them to go back to their seats as traffic was bad. Both early 70s he was wearing gold chains around neck.  The driver told us their names because he was so brassed off.  Ironic really I know I cant name them but lets just say Mr and Mrs Top Gun.!

 

What is wrong with some people, they must think they are better than anyone else. What's the bet they are also the ones being rude to the crew and complaining about anything and everything. 

 

 

[Cruisemeister2002]

14 minutes ago, amajaa said:

 

 

What is wrong with some people, they must think they are better than anyone else. What's the bet they are also the ones being rude to the crew and complaining about anything and everything. 

 

 

Obviously a couple of Mavericks ?

[emam]

On 10/11/2022 at 3:19 PM, happy v said:

You are supposed to have early check out for coaches. You should have been told when you arrived

 If anyone is missed you get it changed at reception 

 

No one said anything to us, or at least I didn't hear anything. Were you given a time?

[Red Ray]

On 10/11/2022 at 3:54 PM, Cruisemeister2002 said:

Obviously a couple of Mavericks ?

Or Geese, Merlins, Charlies, Vipers, Jesters, Cougars......

[Steer]

The 2 cruises we went on, the coach driver told everyone on the way down to ignore the disembark time given and either request an early one or just get off early. Also someone from P&O got onto the coach when we arrived at the terminal and told us to ask for early disembarkation times. 

 

Of course, what happened both times is similar to OP's story, with us waiting nearly 2 hours for the stragglers to arrive from the buffet, with our coach being the last one out of the car park. It is pretty much the only thing that I could find fault with on either holiday. 

 

I don't see how difficult it is for P&O booking system to have a tick box for all on coach transfers and then ensure that those passengers are all given a similar leaving slot. 

[terrierjohn]

22 minutes ago, Steer said:

The 2 cruises we went on, the coach driver told everyone on the way down to ignore the disembark time given and either request an early one or just get off early. Also someone from P&O got onto the coach when we arrived at the terminal and told us to ask for early disembarkation times. 

 

Of course, what happened both times is similar to OP's story, with us waiting nearly 2 hours for the stragglers to arrive from the buffet, with our coach being the last one out of the car park. It is pretty much the only thing that I could find fault with on either holiday. 

 

I don't see how difficult it is for P&O booking system to have a tick box for all on coach transfers and then ensure that those passengers are all given a similar leaving slot. 

It does make you wonder if P&O are deliberately making the coach journey so uncomfortable that passenger will eventually not want to use the coach?

[Adawn47]

We always travel down by coach, but not Intercruises. We use Eavesway and have the extra OBC instead. We've used them for 11 years and have never had a issue either embarking or disembarking.

Avril

[Sawdan]

Might be the way to go from now on. We don't often sail from Soton as mainly flycruise but this has really put us off Intercruises. That said I think P&O are probably to blame for the lack of organisation in this instance.

    A friend of mine just returned from Oceania cruise and they had a letter 2 days before listing all the coaches and their departure times. It used to be this simple and so still should be. 

   Yes Eavesway have been great when we have used them. In fact one of the 2 coaches that were leaving for Leeds was an Eavesway but through Intercruises. I expect they may have had the same problem!!

[Josy1953]

14 hours ago, Adawn47 said:

We always travel down by coach, but not Intercruises. We use Eavesway and have the extra OBC instead. We've used them for 11 years and have never had a issue either embarking or disembarking.

Avril

We have travelled  with Eavesway and Intercruises and agree that both are excellent coach companies. 

Our problem was not with the coach or cruise companies, it was just 2 inconsiderate passengers who held up a full coach for almost 2 hours in total.  I think that after disembarkation most people just want to get on their way home.

[FangedRose]

The longest delay I've had was caused by an extra passenger!

 

After an hour of phone calls and to and fro by despatch staff, we set off with one extra body. Reached outskirts of Southampton when a passenger approached the driver, and we pulled into the next lay bye. His neighbour had asked how long it would be before they reached the airport! We had to turn round and take him back to the port.

 

Matters weren't helped by a vociferous family, who because they had a long journey (Glasgow, Edinburgh then a two hour train) had disembarked themselves early (7am) ignoring their instructions,  and then complaining loudly because everybody else had disembarked at times given.

[my marina bay]

I had a lot of sympathy on one occasion for three couples travelling to Scotland. They had got on coach around 8.15 am and been told by PO that coach would leave 8.30. By 10.30 with last stragglers arriving one lady was visibly upset. She said they had onward connections in Scotland and if they missed them it would be the following day before the next train. Fast forward two hours or so and all three couples left the coach at the service station where they had a mini bus waiting for them to take to railway station. The lady who was upset said to everyone as she left coach that their holiday had been wonderful however they would never travel by coach again. I don't blame her.

[JeanieC,Aston]

This morning getting off Britannia on disembarkation form all passengers travelling on Eavesway,Intercruises and other cruise companies were instructed to wait in Meridian restaurant for 08:30 debark.

This started at 08:30 by a section of the restaurant at a time,,,it still took an hour for our Eavesway coach to fill up.

[smj777]

14 hours ago, JeanieC,Aston said:

This morning getting off Britannia on disembarkation form all passengers travelling on Eavesway,Intercruises and other cruise companies were instructed to wait in Meridian restaurant for 08:30 debark.

This started at 08:30 by a section of the restaurant at a time,,,it still took an hour for our Eavesway coach to fill up.

 

[smj777]

We wereat the section of the Meridian that was held back till last. 9.40 before we got on the coach which didn't stop until Nottingham, by which time some people, including us, had been waiting/sitting for over 4 and 1/2 hours. No wonder there was a rush for the loos!

 

[JeanieC,Aston]

2 minutes ago, smj777 said:

We wereat the section of the Meridian that was held back till last. 9.40 before we got on the coach which didn't stop until Nottingham, by which time some people, including us, had been waiting/sitting for over 4 and 1/2 hours. No wonder there was a rush for the loos!

 

There was a toilet on our coach problem was when you went in for a pee you were fit and healthy but came out bruised to heck.😀

[Littlebigman]

Hi .we used intercruise coach connect November 2022 to get back to hull. We know from experience to get off the ship fairly quickly. [ ventura]. Our driver arrived as per instructions at 0730am to take his legal break before loading.  We was the first off at around  0830am . Passengers came off in dribs and drabs until about  0930am. Then they stopped.  We were missing  3 Passengers.  After a short while the driver did a head count and 2 Passengers mysteriously appeared.  ( they sneaked on whilst he was talking to the rep and didn't tell him. ). We are now 1 person missing.  The rep would still not let us leave.  The time got to 1045am and they eventually let us leave.  There was only 1 other coach left who was going to Scotland.  It turns out that the passenger missing was one of the first off the ship and went home by taxi and train.  Talk about selfish bad manners. This woman didn't think that she had to tell anyone and that the driver would just leave. It doesn't work that way.  Sadly a passenger passed away on the cruise and they had to make sure it wasn't this person that was missing.  I Don't blame the coach company or driver or even  intercruise.  But I do blame the utterly selfish,  stupid person for not telling anyone about her intentions.