Princess Southampton to LHR transfer times.

[macmax]

For those that used Princess' Southampton to LHR transfer,  what was the approximate pick-time?

Does Princess offer different times?

We have a late afternoon flight and don't want to spend any more time at the airport than necessary and the 

Princess agents can't provide the answer.

[Lady Arwen]

We also have a late flight back to Toronto from LHR at 4pm.  The last time we used a Princess transfer from Southampton we took the last bus, which was at about 9am ish, with a slight delay for waiting for two passengers.  This coming September we’ll do the Princess transfer because we have OBC to use up.  LHR is so huge you can spend hours there just browsing.  You could always book the Princess excursion that takes you on a tour and then drops you at the airport.  Regardless of your mode of transportation, you will need to disembark the ship by about 9am as it’s turn around day and they want passengers gone.

[Coral]

There are excursions that you can book that will bring you to the airport at a later time. Stonehenge is one of them.

[macmax]

Thank you. I am aware of the excursions offered and in fact we did the Stonehenge one last Sept.

I'm trying to decide on using Princess' service or the much less expensive National Express at 9:45.

[SCX22]

I was on the Sky Princess 04/01/23 sailing.  We arrived into Southampton on 04/15/23.  This was a full sailing (to the brims at 3950 passengers) and there were so many groups.  The transfers to LHR all left at 09:50.  

 

Below is the disembarkation group schedule from that sailing.  Hopefully it's legible.

[macmax]

1 hour ago, SCX22 said:

I was on the Sky Princess 04/01/23 sailing.  We arrived into Southampton on 04/15/23.  This was a full sailing (to the brims at 3950 passengers) and there were so many groups.  The transfers to LHR all left at 09:50.  

 

Below is the disembarkation group schedule from that sailing.  Hopefully it's legible.

Very helpful, thanks.

Interesting that you are asked to meet at 7:45 but the bus didn't leave until 9:50. It seems

like the usual "hurry up & wait".

[beach bunnie]

1 hour ago, macmax said:

Very helpful, thanks.

Interesting that you are asked to meet at 7:45 but the bus didn't leave until 9:50. It seems

like the usual "hurry up & wait".

That's not how I read this schedule.  4 groups left at 7:45 and 4 groups left at 9:50.

[SCX22]

1 hour ago, beach bunnie said:

That's not how I read this schedule.  4 groups left at 7:45 and 4 groups left at 9:50.

 

There was accident on the freeway getting and the coaches arrived into Southampton late that morning.  All the LHR groups left at 09:50.  There was a scramble to get the groups with flights at the Princess recommended 14:00 to their flights.  Luckily it was a Saturday and the coaches made it LHR at a little past noon.  Not sure if everyone made their flights.

[azbirdmom]

3 hours ago, SCX22 said:

I was on the Sky Princess 04/01/23 sailing.  We arrived into Southampton on 04/15/23.  This was a full sailing (to the brims at 3950 passengers) and there were so many groups.  The transfers to LHR all left at 09:50.  

 

Below is the disembarkation group schedule from that sailing.  Hopefully it's legible.

 

Thank you for sharing this.  We will book the early transfer when we are onboard in June.

[beach bunnie]

7 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

 

There was accident on the freeway getting and the coaches arrived into Southampton late that morning.  All the LHR groups left at 09:50.  There was a scramble to get the groups with flights at the Princess recommended 14:00 to their flights.  Luckily it was a Saturday and the coaches made it LHR at a little past noon.  Not sure if everyone made their flights.

So the 7:45 people had to wait.  Thanks for posting this.  We're planning to use Princess' transfer to Heathrow.  Our flight is at 3pm. Hopefully no repeat problems.

[SomewhereGirl]

My experience is they assign the time based on your flight time but if you don't like your assigned time you can go to Passenger Services and request a different time.  I wanted to ensure plenty of time to get to LHR and through security before flying back to the States so I exchanged my luggage tags for an earlier time to add a bit more cushion.

[Tedferg]

4 hours ago, macmax said:

I'm trying to decide on using Princess' service or the much less expensive National Express at 9:45.

How does Princess handle luggage for Transfers? Do you collect luggage, clear customs and go to coach. Or do they automatically transfer luggage to the coach? How would you get to National Express? Seems Princess transfer is a lot more convenient. We will overnight at Heathrow, so time is not important to us.

[SCX22]

5 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

How does Princess handle luggage for Transfers? Do you collect luggage, clear customs and go to coach. Or do they automatically transfer luggage to the coach? How would you get to National Express? Seems Princess transfer is a lot more convenient. We will overnight at Heathrow, so time is not important to us.

 

For Princess Transfers:

You clear immigration (if there are officers there, none when I was there!), pick-up your luggage, and some one from Shore Excursions will be waiting for you when exit the terminal to direct you to the coach for the transfer.  Best to take the coach to assigned to Terminal 3 because airport hotels with shuttles pick up from this terminal.  Terminal 3 also has easy access to further transportation should you need it.  Shore Excursions will ask you to fill out a form with your preferred Terminal drop off prior to disembarkation, so they can sort out coach assignments before hand.

 

For National Express:

You take a taxi to the Southampton Coach Terminal and catch the National Express coach to Heathrow.  The taxi is £10 max.  Cheaper but you have to find a way to the coach terminal from the pier.  National Express coaches drop off at the Heathrow Central Bus Terminal, between Terminals 2 and 3.

 

[Waynetor]

We are doing this in July.  When we booked the transfer we were assured the bus could take someone confined to a wheelchair.  Has anyone seen someone still in their wheelchair on a transfer bus?

[SCX22]

ShoreEx tried their best with the situation here.  They moved everyone on the 07:45 transfer to Princess Theatre and used that as their departure lounge.  Really tense situation as the people were antsy and complaining.  Great job by ShoreEx because they got the last bus boarded for those on the actual 09:50 transfer by 10:25 and it was on its way by 10:30.  

[SCX22]

11 minutes ago, Waynetor said:

We are doing this in July.  When we booked the transfer we were assured the bus could take someone confined to a wheelchair.  Has anyone seen someone still in their wheelchair on a transfer bus?

 

The coach we used did not have a wheelchair lift and the aisle was not wide enough to fit a wheelchair.  We did have a wheelchair user on our coach and they ascended/descended the bus stairs on their own and the driver stored their wheelchair in the hold compartment for the drive.  

 

Not sure if Princess will organize an accessible coach if alerted beforehand, like they do for accessible marked shore excursions.

 

[Tedferg]

1 hour ago, SCX22 said:

 

Best to take the coach to assigned to Terminal 3 because airport hotels with shuttles pick up from this terminal. 

 

Thank you for a complete answer. I read a post that said you need to take the Hotel Hopper because no hotels have shuttles. Because of this we thought to stay at the Hilton T2, more expensive than other Heathrow hotels but easy walking to or from the Terminal.

[SCX22]

4 hours ago, Tedferg said:

Thank you for a complete answer. I read a post that said you need to take the Hotel Hopper because no hotels have shuttles. Because of this we thought to stay at the Hilton T2, more expensive than other Heathrow hotels but easy walking to or from the Terminal.

 

I meant the Hotel Hoppa when I said hotel shuttle.  Hotels at around Heathrow stopped offering direct shuttles to/from the airport because of the traffic.  Also, Heathrow began charging a fee to vehicles entering the airport compound.

[david63]

15 hours ago, SCX22 said:

if there are officers there, none when I was there!

Just because you did not see any does not mean that they are not there - they are always there.

 

I would suggest that you check with your airline/terminal what the requested check in time is as I have recently noticed that some airlines/flights out of the UK are now requesting a minimum of three hours and in some cases four hours.

[Tedferg]

12 hours ago, SCX22 said:

 

I meant the Hotel Hoppa when I said hotel shuttle.  Hotels at around Heathrow stopped offering direct shuttles to/from the airport because of the traffic.  Also, Heathrow began charging a fee to vehicles entering the airport compound.

Got it, we land at 8:30 pm so I think the ease of getting to Hilton Garden at T2 tips the scale.

[greatestvalue]

On 4/30/2023 at 3:45 PM, SCX22 said:

For National Express:

You take a taxi to the Southampton Coach Terminal and catch the National Express coach to Heathrow.  The taxi is £10 max.  Cheaper but you have to find a way to the coach terminal from the pier.  National Express coaches drop off at the Heathrow Central Bus Terminal, between Terminals 2 and 3.

Then you need to still get a transfer from the Heathrow Central Bus Terminal, between Terminals 2 and 3 to the Heathrow Airport?  Or between Terminals 2 and 3 is the airport. 
Thank you trying to figure out transfers for May 2024. 

[Rick&Jeannie]

Ww have done this transfer several times. We always do self-disembark so we get one of the first transfer buses.

[SCX22]

37 minutes ago, greatestvalue said:

Then you need to still get a transfer from the Heathrow Central Bus Terminal, between Terminals 2 and 3 to the Heathrow Airport?

 

Heathrow Central Bus Terminal is between Terminal 2 and 3.  You can walk to both Terminals 2 and 3.  If your terminus is any other Heathrow Terminal, you have to walk to Terminal 3 and take the free Heathrow Express ride to Terminals 4 and 5.

[tdtanc]

Hey. Thank you so much for this thread. Have a few questions and thanks in advance for the answers.

 

Arriving June 8th to Southhampton on Regal Princess. Would like to book princess transfer to Heathrow. Flight at 3:45pm.

 

1. Was gonna call princess agent and book this pre cruise. Sounds like it is $59 per person. I have onboard credit but it sounds like they can not use that pre cruise. Should I just wait to get on the ship to book to use this credit or do I run the risk of it being full?

 

2. Someone mentioned the times for meet up for departures. If you self disembark can you just get an early transfer that easy?

 

3. Sounds like I would need to deal with excursion desk on the ship which I usually try to avoid for true logistial answers. 

 

4. Anyone know of a private transfer that is $150-$200?

 

Todd

[colville2002]

9 minutes ago, tdtanc said:

Hey. Thank you so much for this thread. Have a few questions and thanks in advance for the answers.

 

Arriving June 8th to Southhampton on Regal Princess. Would like to book princess transfer to Heathrow. Flight at 3:45pm.

 

1. Was gonna call princess agent and book this pre cruise. Sounds like it is $59 per person. I have onboard credit but it sounds like they can not use that pre cruise. Should I just wait to get on the ship to book to use this credit or do I run the risk of it being full?

 

2. Someone mentioned the times for meet up for departures. If you self disembark can you just get an early transfer that easy?

 

3. Sounds like I would need to deal with excursion desk on the ship which I usually try to avoid for true logistial answers. 

 

4. Anyone know of a private transfer that is $150-$200?

 

Todd

We used West Quay Cars last time and will likely use them again this year. They're £130 to drop off at Heathrow from Southampton, that's for a sedan at least. Local taxi service and responsive to emails