Cruise ship transfers from Southampton to Heathrow?

[CHK]

We will be traveling from Ft Lauderdale on the Sky Princess--ending up at the port of Southampton. Does anyone know if the cruise lines generally offer transport between the ship and airport? We want to spend 8 days in Rome after the cruise on the Sky and then board another Princess ship in Civitavecchia. Looking for the easiest way for us to get to the airport with the least amount of effort on our part.

 

Edited May 3, 2023 by CHK

[John Bull]

3 minutes ago, CHK said:

We will be traveling from Ft Lauderdale on the Sky Princess--ending up at the port of Southampton. Does anyone know if the cruise lines generally offer transport between the ship and airport? We want to spend 8 days in Rome after the cruise on the Sky and then board another Princess ship in Civitavecchia. Looking for the easiest way for us to get to the airport with the least amount of effort on our part.

 

 

 

Yes, all mid-to-major cruise-lines offer payable transfers between Southampton & London Heathrow (LHR) and London Gatwick (LGW), sometimes also transfers to St Pancras station for those continuing by Eurostar.

Rates vary between cruise-lines, but Princess's rate is one of the most reasonable - about €65 pp last time I heard

 

JB 🙂 

[ontheweb]

In 2020 when we had a Princess cruise from Southampton (which unfortunately was a Covid cancellation) we had booked excursions back to Heathrow which included a stop in Stonehenge. Assuming they still have this option, they will give you a time that is the earliest your flight can be for you to take this excursion.

 

In 2014, we did something similar with Princess from Dover going to Heathrow with a walking of Dover plus a stop in Canterbury.  It really makes it seem like you are still on your cruise vacation instead of just heading back to the airport. It was well worth the extra cost.

[John Bull]

10 hours ago, ontheweb said:

In 2020 when we had a Princess cruise from Southampton (which unfortunately was a Covid cancellation) we had booked excursions back to Heathrow which included a stop in Stonehenge. Assuming they still have this option, they will give you a time that is the earliest your flight can be for you to take this excursion.

 

In 2014, we did something similar with Princess from Dover going to Heathrow with a walking of Dover plus a stop in Canterbury.  It really makes it seem like you are still on your cruise vacation instead of just heading back to the airport. It was well worth the extra cost.

 

Which reminds me - for a simple ship-to-airport transfer, they (and other cruise lines) recommend that you use it only for flights scheduled after 12.30 or 1 pm. You can risk a slightly earlier flight time  on a saturday or sunday, when traffic is much lighter.

 

BTW, I said the cost for a simple ship-to-airport with Princess is about €65

Yes, I'm aware that the USA isn't part of the European Union, and that it should have read  "about $65" .

Altho my brain is  operating beautifully, unfortunately my typing finger is dyslexic 😏 

 

JB 🙂

[ontheweb]

The earliest flight time allowed will be later of course if you take an excursion to the airport instead of directly to Heathrow. But we did find this option well worth the extra cost.

[CHK]

Thank you for all of your replies. We will be flying out of Heathrow to Rome FCO airport. Maybe we should spend the night at an airport hotel (I'm assuming they have some right at the airport itself) and  then take an early morning flight the next day. That way we won't risk arriving at a Rome hotel late in the day.

 

[GAAmum]

1 hour ago, CHK said:

Thank you for all of your replies. We will be flying out of Heathrow to Rome FCO airport. Maybe we should spend the night at an airport hotel (I'm assuming they have some right at the airport itself) and  then take an early morning flight the next day. That way we won't risk arriving at a Rome hotel late in the day.

 

There are loads of hotels at Heathrow. We are flying back to Ireland after our cruise. We are staying over at Heathrow or in Central London on night before flying home. That way there is no rushing. 

 

We aren’t planning to do an excursion in Southampton or on the way back to because we have been to England several times. It is good you have that option. 

[gumshoe958]

9 hours ago, CHK said:

Thank you for all of your replies. We will be flying out of Heathrow to Rome FCO airport. Maybe we should spend the night at an airport hotel (I'm assuming they have some right at the airport itself) and  then take an early morning flight the next day. That way we won't risk arriving at a Rome hotel late in the day.

 

Make sure you know which terminal at Heathrow your flight leaves from and pick a hotel accordingly. 2 & 3 are right next to each other but 4 & 5 are some distance apart and completely separate.

 

There are only a handful of hotels within walking distance of the terminals, most require a cab or (not free) bus ride to get to. Heathrow does not allow free hotel shuttles.

[Globaliser]

14 hours ago, CHK said:

We will be flying out of Heathrow to Rome FCO airport. Maybe we should spend the night at an airport hotel (I'm assuming they have some right at the airport itself) and  then take an early morning flight the next day. That way we won't risk arriving at a Rome hotel late in the day.

 

You should be able to take a lunchtime or early afternoon flight from Heathrow to Rome with little stress. If this is for 25 March 2024, then there's a BA at 1245 (arriving at 1620) that is well within the usual timeframe for post-cruise flights from Heathrow. If you're not comfortable with that, there's another one at 1420 (arriving at 1755). With those options, it would seem to be a waste of a day to hole up at an airport hotel.

[John Bull]

2 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

You should be able to take a lunchtime or early afternoon flight from Heathrow to Rome with little stress. If this is for 25 March 2024, then there's a BA at 1245 (arriving at 1620) that is well within the usual timeframe for post-cruise flights from Heathrow. If you're not comfortable with that, there's another one at 1420 (arriving at 1755). With those options, it would seem to be a waste of a day to hole up at an airport hotel.

 

Thanks, G., for saving me some calculations.

Central Rome is about 30 - 45 minutes from FCO - add 45 mins for the airport formalities and the OP can expect to be at a hotel by about 6pm (or about 7.30pm on the later flight)

Italy & most of mainland Europe is one hour ahead of the UK - so you lose an hour, but that's taken into account in the flight arrival times.

 

JB 🙂 

[CHK]

I hadn't thought at all about the time zone differences, thanks for reminding me. Brit Air says the flight is 2-1/2 hours to FCO. I'll have to look at that again. As for wasting a day at the airport hotel, we were thinking of booking a club room at the Sofitel and leaving early a.m. for FCO from terminal 5. We'll be in Rome for 7 full days and we've spent 3 weeks there a few years ago. So mostly want to check out anything we missed the first time plus do a tour of the newly opened areas of the Colliseum. 

[Globaliser]

On 5/5/2023 at 9:50 AM, Globaliser said:

If this is for 25 March 2024, then there's a BA at 1245 (arriving at 1620) that is well within the usual timeframe for post-cruise flights from Heathrow. If you're not comfortable with that, there's another one at 1420 (arriving at 1755).

 

1 hour ago, CHK said:

I hadn't thought at all about the time zone differences, thanks for reminding me. British Airways says the flight is 2-1/2 hours to FCO. I'll have to look at that again.

 

That's exactly what those flight times show: 1245-1620 and 1420-1755 are both 2:35 with the one-hour time difference.

[nini]

Go to the Princess board and learn about how to book your flights from LHR to Rome. Princess offers a bus from Southampton to LHR which is $59.00 per person and very worthwhile.

Look at your cruises on the Princess website and go to the Flights tab.

[CHK]

I've actually got a second question: when Princess ships disembark passengers in Ft Lauderdale, FL passengers are given the option to include transferring of their luggage from the ship directly to the airport--complete with flight tags to their destination. In other words, you don't have to find your luggage and drag it though Customs to a waiting bus. Instead you leave your tagged bags outside your door the night before disembarkation and you don't see them again until you pick them up at the airport of your final destination. BIG time/energy saver.

Is this unique to Ft Lauderdale or U.S. ports or is this something that would be available at the port of Southampton?

[CHK]

On 5/8/2023 at 1:58 AM, nini said:

Go to the Princess board and learn about how to book your flights from LHR to Rome. Princess offers a bus from Southampton to LHR which is $59.00 per person and very worthwhile.

Look at your cruises on the Princess website and go to the Flights tab.

Under the Flights tab it says to contact your travel agent for transfers. Since we are flying from Tampa to Ft Lauderdale but not returning to that port, Princess EZ air wouldn't let us set up flights from LHR to FCO. Is there a way around this??

[nini]

You may call Princess and ask to talk with the EZAir department. People often do not return to their starting point. For example, we may depart from SEA and return to PDX.

Princess offers transfers the "day of" embarkation and disembarkation. If you booked with a TA, then you will need to call your TA to make reservations for the transfer.

Edited May 9, 2023 by nini
additional words

[John Bull]

5 hours ago, CHK said:

. ///////.... you leave your tagged bags outside your door the night before disembarkation and you don't see them again until you pick them up at the airport of your final destination. BIG time/energy saver.

Is this unique to Ft Lauderdale or U.S. ports or is this something that would be available at the port of Southampton?

No, there's no such service between Southampton terminals and Heathrow.

Simplest is ship's airport transfer. You do have to schlepp your bags between cruise terminal & bus ((driver loads and unloads) and between your airport terminal's bus stop & baggage drop or check-in, but no real effort needed

Altho not cheap, Princess has certainly always been (one of ?) the cheapest cruise airport transfer services between Southampton and London or its two main airports.

 

One reason why our Caribbean cruises have always been on British ships (beg pardon, one on MSC) is because they provide fly-cruises on cruise-chartered aircraft - check in luggage at UK airport & next see it outside your cabin, then at the end of your cruise leave it outside your cabin & next see it on the luggage carousel at the UK airport.

 

Yes, it makes life a lot easier.

And for Europeans so much easier than cruising out of the USA.

 

Flights back to Europe from the USA are almost all early evening, leaving cruisers in FLA stuck with their luggage all day, or with expensive and/or awkward arrangements to store it.

Do you know if there's a limit on the latest flight time for which the Ft Lauderdale service is available? 

And whether other US cruise lines and ports offer the same ?

 

JB 🙂

[CHK]

52 minutes ago, John Bull said:

No, there's no such service between Southampton terminals and Heathrow.

Simplest is ship's airport transfer. You do have to schlepp your bags between cruise terminal & bus ((driver loads and unloads) and between your airport terminal's bus stop & baggage drop or check-in, but no real effort needed

Altho not cheap, Princess has certainly always been (one of ?) the cheapest cruise airport transfer services between Southampton and London or its two main airports.

 

One reason why our Caribbean cruises have always been on British ships (beg pardon, one on MSC) is because they provide fly-cruises on cruise-chartered aircraft - check in luggage at UK airport & next see it outside your cabin, then at the end of your cruise leave it outside your cabin & next see it on the luggage carousel at the UK airport.

 

Yes, it makes life a lot easier.

And for Europeans so much easier than cruising out of the USA.

 

Flights back to Europe from the USA are almost all early evening, leaving cruisers in FLA stuck with their luggage all day, or with expensive and/or awkward arrangements to store it.

Do you know if there's a limit on the latest flight time for which the Ft Lauderdale service is available? 

And whether other US cruise lines and ports offer the same ?

 

JB 🙂

I don't think there's a time limit--at least not that I'm aware of. I have some Canadian friends who fly back to Toronto but not sure how late the flights are. What I am wondering is if all airlines are available as part of this. I'll ask and see if they know.

 

That's a sweet deal you have flying to and from the Caribbean. I would do that as well if we could.

We actually hate those flights back and forth from Europe (or anywhere else for that matter) which is why we're taking a cruise from Ft Lauderdale to Southampton, flying via British Air to Rome and staying 8 days before boarding the Island Princess back to Florida on the final segment of the world cruise. When we originally booked the trip in 2021 there was a Princess ship that sailed from Port Everglades to Italy and arrived just 2 days before the world cruise segment back. Would have been much easier but oh well...8 days in Rome will be great too.

 

PS: We live in Florida so going to the Caribbean is pretty much like walking outside our front door.

 

[Twickenham]

2 hours ago, CHK said:

We actually hate those flights back and forth from Europe (or anywhere else for that matter)

 

Well, technically you don't have to fly anywhere - you can take the train if so inspired. London to Rome would require an overnight somewhere, but you've got 8 days to play with, so no reason why a couple of those days can't be spent in Paris or Milan. If you're interested in the train option, check out The Man in Seat 61 website's Italy page.

[CHK]

17 hours ago, CHK said:

I don't think there's a time limit--at least not that I'm aware of. I have some Canadian friends who fly back to Toronto but not sure how late the flights are. What I am wondering is if all airlines are available as part of this. I'll ask and see if they know.

 

That's a sweet deal you have flying to and from the Caribbean. I would do that as well if we could.

We actually hate those flights back and forth from Europe (or anywhere else for that matter) which is why we're taking a cruise from Ft Lauderdale to Southampton, flying via British Air to Rome and staying 8 days before boarding the Island Princess back to Florida on the final segment of the world cruise. When we originally booked the trip in 2021 there was a Princess ship that sailed from Port Everglades to Italy and arrived just 2 days before the world cruise segment back. Would have been much easier but oh well...8 days in Rome will be great too.

 

PS: We live in Florida so going to the Caribbean is pretty much like walking outside our front door.

 

I checked with my Canadian friends and they said that "no" they can't do the airline luggage check in when disembarking in Ft Lauderdale. They have to fetch and drag their luggage through Customs and to the Princess airport transfer bus. The on board air line luggage check in is only available to U.S. citizens flying home to a U.S. airport. Pity!

[CHK]

14 hours ago, Twickenham said:

 

Well, technically you don't have to fly anywhere - you can take the train if so inspired. London to Rome would require an overnight somewhere, but you've got 8 days to play with, so no reason why a couple of those days can't be spent in Paris or Milan. If you're interested in the train option, check out The Man in Seat 61 website's Italy page.

A truly lovely thought--traveling via train. Years ago we would have jumped at the chance. Unfortunately during Covid I developed an allergy to most synthetic fabrics but especially to polyester. You can't even begin to imagine what a nightmare it's been to replace everything I wear plus carpets, bedding, furniture.... Luckily, Princess cruise lines use only 100% organic cotton bedding on their ships. And their Access Dept, made sure to provide feather pillows. We had originally planned to stay at least one night in UK before flying to Rome but none of the hotels have 100% cotton sheets. But we found two hotels that use cotton bedding in Rome (IHG Indigo and Harry's Bar/Restaurant). There may be others but trying to find out by contacting each hotel takes too much work.