Timing of Transfer from Southampton to London (Marylebone district)

[pappy1022]

We will be disembarking our British Isle cruise on a Sunday in Southampton and using the Regent provided transfer and hotel included package. The hotel is the Landmark in the Marylebone district.  I am trying to plan for the day in London as far as touring and dinner and was wondering what my expectations should be as far as the time we will get off the ship and when we will get to the hotel. I assume we won’t be able to check in right away and will have to store our luggage at the hotel. I also assume that the hotel process will take some time just to get the bags checked and later on to get our room. 

[Techno123]

Normal check in is 3pm but they do have luggage storage. Never stayed there but pre covid, every time we went to London, we went for Sunday brunch in their v

beautiful multi-floor atrium - they don't seem to do it anymore though 😢. 

 

The tube station is right behind the hotel so you could drop your bags off then go straight into central London on the Bakerloo line to do your touristy stuff. 

[pappy1022]

My question has more to do with the time one gets off the ship then gets on the Regent bus and makes it to the hotel. Any sense of how long that might be? 

[Techno123]

Haven't done the Regent transfer but I would reckon a couple of hours but at least it's Sunday so road traffic will be much quieter. I will bow out and let others who may have done this specific journey answer your question 😁

[loriva]

On 4/25/2023 at 7:40 AM, pappy1022 said:

We will be disembarking our British Isle cruise on a Sunday in Southampton and using the Regent provided transfer and hotel included package. The hotel is the Landmark in the Marylebone district.  I am trying to plan for the day in London as far as touring and dinner and was wondering what my expectations should be as far as the time we will get off the ship and when we will get to the hotel. I assume we won’t be able to check in right away and will have to store our luggage at the hotel. I also assume that the hotel process will take some time just to get the bags checked and later on to get our room. 

 

We did the Regent transfer from Southampton to the Landmark in September 2022 after our British Isles cruise.  I recall needing to be on the bus by 0830 hours and we were in London around 1100 hours (on a weekday).

 

As @Techno123 noted, the Marylebone tube station is right behind the hotel (that is actually the side where the bus parks).  You are a short walk from Baker Street, the Regent's Park, and the Marylebone high street.  Lots of trendy restaurants in Marylebone as well.  For more-casual fare, there is an Indian restarant, Mumtaz, we used to go to frequently when we lived in the neighborhood on Park Road just north of Baker Street, and an Egyptian restaurant, Shake Shuka, on Marylebone Road.  There is a nice neighborhood pub two blocks away from the Landmark on Gloucester Place, the Alsop Arms, and another on Baker Street across from the southwest entrance to Regent's Park, the Volunteer. 

 

If you are in the mood for a walk, you can go through Regent's Park to the London Zoo and Primrose Hill for a view of London (also nice restaurants and pubs in that neighborhood).  I'm not a fan of the Sherlock Holmes museum on Baker Street (he was fictional--no such thing as 221B Baker) nor Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, but they are also close by.  (If you watched the Sherlock Holmes series with Benedict Cumberbatch, the restaurant in the Landmark was a filming location.  They also used to serve a lovely high tea.) 

 

Finally, if you are a fan of The Beatles, there are a ton of relevant places in the neighborhood or close by.  Abbey Road Studios is about a mile away (ride the upper deck of the bus on Abbey Road northbound for the iconic shot), Macca's house is at 9 Cavendish Avenue around the corner (you can reach both by walking or from the St. John's Woods tube station), The Beatles Apple store was at 94 Baker Street (there's a plaque on the building), and Paul and Linda were married at the old Marylebone Town Hall across Marylebone Road from the Landmark.  If you are interested in the Beatles in London, Richard Porter has been guiding tours for over 30 years (https://beatlesinlondon.com/).  We had a great time on a couple of his walks, one of which starts from the Marylebone tube station.

 

[pappy1022]

Thank you so much for all of the info. We were thinking of going to Buckingham Palace for our afternoon touring and then at pub and dinner somewhere. I will check out your recommendations. I was asking about timing because we will need to buy our tickets beforehand. We spent 2 weeks in London this past summer but only saw Buckingham Palace from afar as it was not open to the public at that time. 

[pappy1022]

P.S., how was the British Isle cruise and what can’t miss excursions did you choose? How was the weather?

[loriva]

24 minutes ago, pappy1022 said:

P.S., how was the British Isle cruise and what can’t miss excursions did you choose? How was the weather?

 

We had a wonderful time overall.  The weather largely cooperated--chilly sometimes, but only rained a few times (Waterford had lots of rain and we had one port call cancelled due to high winds).

 

We missed our scheduled initial port of Edinburgh as that was the day of the Queen's funeral.  Went to Le Havre, France, instead--which was largely a bust since it was Sunday and most everything was closed.  In Invergordon, we did Lochness and Urquhart Castle--the latter was interesting and also had a nice little cafe and gift shop.  In Kirkwall, we did the Archeological Wonders--the Ring of Brodgar and the Standing Stones of Stenness--plus some nice scenery looking out over the sea.  In Ullapool, we did the West Highlands Drive and wandered around the town--they have a gin distillery (Seven Crofts) and went into the factory shop.  There was also a very well-known fish and chips place there where the lines were insane.  My favorite shorex was in Killybegs--the sheepdog demonstration with a stop at a pub for tea afterwards.  The scenery en route looks like the Ireland of your imagination.  I also walked around the town--there was a nice store selling items from local artisans on Main Street.  Killybegs also had the huge wind turbine blades in port waiting shipment--they are amazing.  In Belfast we used the Hop On-Hop Off bus in the morning to visit the Titanic Museum and then circle around the city.  Regent had a shuttle bus at City Hall, so we used it to go back to the ship after our lunch at the St. George's Market to be ready for the pub tour.  (We did the regular versus the small group--and sat right next to the small group in the pubs.  Not worth the extra cost, IMO.)  We definitely want to go back to Belfast.  In Dublin, we took the first departure of the Guiness tour, then walked from there to Temple Bar and along the River Liffey where we took a bost cruise (booked independently).  Finally, we had a drink in a historic pub and then caught the commuter train from Pearse to Dun Laoghaire, where the ship was docked--an easy trip.  Our port call at Holyhead was cancelled due to high winds.  I took the walking tour in Waterford; DH did the Countryside Drive and Irish Pub--both were enjoyable.  In Portland, we cancelled our booked Corfe Castle and Scenic Drive excursion and took the shuttle from port into town and just walked around.

 

We learned a valuable lesson on that cruise--use Google Maps to see how far the site to be visited is from the port.  Since we just picked from a list rather than planning excursions ourselves, it was easy to overlook this.  Too many of our excursions ended up being more time sitting on a bus getting there than being there.  There was beautiful scenery en route on many, but some ended up being the guide saying "if it was clear, you could see X on the left."  That was why we ended up cancelling the shorex in Portland--couldn't take another long bus ride.