Group Transfer + Hotel: London/LHR to Southampton

[sunfan03]

I'm accompanying my dad and his siblings (mid-late 70s) and we're arriving in London to cruise out of Southampton (14 pax). Arriving a day early, so thinking best option is to book hotel near LHR (since we're arriving from 3 different cities) and then finding a group transfer to get us to Southampton the following day. If you have different advice/recommendation, please let me know.

 

- sticking with major brands (e.g. Hyatt, IHG) as the prices seem reasonable (~$130/room) and we need 7 rooms, Double occupancy - is a taxi the easiest option to get from airport to hotel? for budget, what's approx cost (we'll probably have a group of 2 and two groups of 6 arriving)?

 

- Recommendations on how to get this group from hotel to Southampton? Trying to balance cost and convenience...Is there a private operator? or should we take a taxi from hotel to train station and then take train?

 

Thanks in advance! It's been YEARS since we've all cruised together, so I'm a bit out of practice on moving a large group.

[Island2Dweller]

Which terminal(s) will you arrive into Heathrow at?

There are four terminals, spread across three zones (and they are miles apart).  So the easy/difficulty of getting to a particlar hotel very much depends on which terminal you're arriving in to.

It can be as quick to get to central London as it is to some "airport" hotels

[gumshoe958]

You may want to look into hiring a 16 seater minibus and driver as that may well be cheaper than three or four separate cars. @John Bull may have some suggestions for businesses that might fit the bill.

 

The other option would be to take the National Express coach direct from Heathrow to Southampton (roughly every 2 hours, takes just over 2 hours). You’d need to book in advance online to guarantee your seats. But tbh once you factor in the cost and hassle of cabs at each end (from your hotel and to the ship), you may decide it’s easier just to hire your own transport.

 

At Heathrow there are very few hotels actually on airport that don’t require a cab or a (not free) bus to get to, so choose carefully. 

[John Bull]

Since you'll be arriving  on different flights / at different times / mebbe different terminals (as Island2 has posted, they're on different sides of the airport) and even with the best-laid plans one delayed flight would screw-up meeting at the airport, it makes sense to book an airport hotel and meet-up there.

But altho it may be as quick to take the Heathrow Express or Elizabeth line to central London's Paddington station as it is to some "airport" hotels, travel from Paddington to Southampton next morning would be more expensive by private transfer or by train would involve first crossing central London and be more expensive than the Nat Express bus from Heathrow to Southampton. And with several different arrival times you're unlikely to be able to go out & explore London.

 

The train network in south-east England is centred on London, there are no trains from Heathrow to Southampton - you'd have to take a train or tube  in the opposite direction to central London and cross from one side of central London to the other for a train to Southampton.

So by train is complicated, time-consuming and expensive.

 

For Heathrow to Southampton by public transport the best option by far is the direct National Express bus service. Not a frequent service, but since you'll be near the airport overnight you won't have the worry of figuring what time bus based on whether your flight will be late, how long to get thro airport formalities etc.

Fare is about £18, adding something for taxi fares at each end (you'll need about 4, altho some cruise terminals are walkable from the coach station) means the total cost for your group hotel-to-cruise-terminal would be somewhere around £320.

If you choose the National Express option it's important to book soonest because of the size of your party, otherwise you might have to split between two (possibly 3) coaches.

https://book.nationalexpress.com/coach/#/choose-journey

 

A private transfer by mini-bus ( = USA "van") is obviously the most convenient option.

 

Gumshoe mentioned my name because I used to drive for various coach operators in the Southampton. But that was full-size touring coaches and I had little to do with minibus operators.

 

Here's a list of minibus operators based at the Southampton end.

I can certainly recommend getting quotes from the first two, which I know quite well (I drove full-size coaches for them). I don't know the others, but they are local operators, not booking agencies.

https://www.angelacoaches.co.uk/

https://nxts.nationalexpress.com/lucketts-travel/ (Lucketts are a local operator which has linked up with Nat Express)

https://www.pegasuscoaches.co.uk/

https://www.southamptonminibushire.net/airport-transfer

https://www.panachetravel.co.uk/

https://www.airlynx.info/services/minibus-hire-southampton/

 

It's also worth getting quotes from mini-bus operators based at the Heathrow end. But do carefully check reviews - some are actually agencies, not operators. And some are bound to be tin-pots, fly-by-nights or shady.

 

Compare quotes against the approx cost of 14 seats on Nat Express service coaches + taxis, and decide whether any extra cost is worth the convenience.

 

JB 🙂

 

[sunfan03]

8 hours ago, Island2Dweller said:

Which terminal(s) will you arrive into Heathrow at?

There are four terminals, spread across three zones (and they are miles apart).  So the easy/difficulty of getting to a particlar hotel very much depends on which terminal you're arriving in to.

It can be as quick to get to central London as it is to some "airport" hotels

We're flying in from the US (Seattle, Houston and Newark), so from a quick google search, terminal 2 or 3?

[Globaliser]

20 minutes ago, sunfan03 said:

We're flying in from the US (Seattle, Houston and Newark), so from a quick google search, terminal 2 or 3?

 

Terminal allocation is by airline. The airport's website is a better place than Google to look for this information.

[sunfan03]

3 hours ago, John Bull said:

Since you'll be arriving  on different flights / at different times / mebbe different terminals (as Island2 has posted, they're on different sides of the airport) and even with the best-laid plans one delayed flight would screw-up meeting at the airport, it makes sense to book an airport hotel and meet-up there.

But altho it may be as quick to take the Heathrow Express or Elizabeth line to central London's Paddington station as it is to some "airport" hotels, travel from Paddington to Southampton next morning would be more expensive by private transfer or by train would involve first crossing central London and be more expensive than the Nat Express bus from Heathrow to Southampton. And with several different arrival times you're unlikely to be able to go out & explore London.

 

The train network in south-east England is centred on London, there are no trains from Heathrow to Southampton - you'd have to take a train or tube  in the opposite direction to central London and cross from one side of central London to the other for a train to Southampton.

So by train is complicated, time-consuming and expensive.

 

For Heathrow to Southampton by public transport the best option by far is the direct National Express bus service. Not a frequent service, but since you'll be near the airport overnight you won't have the worry of figuring what time bus based on whether your flight will be late, how long to get thro airport formalities etc.

Fare is about £18, adding something for taxi fares at each end (you'll need about 4, altho some cruise terminals are walkable from the coach station) means the total cost for your group hotel-to-cruise-terminal would be somewhere around £320.

If you choose the National Express option it's important to book soonest because of the size of your party, otherwise you might have to split between two (possibly 3) coaches.

https://book.nationalexpress.com/coach/#/choose-journey

 

A private transfer by mini-bus ( = USA "van") is obviously the most convenient option.

 

Gumshoe mentioned my name because I used to drive for various coach operators in the Southampton. But that was full-size touring coaches and I had little to do with minibus operators.

 

Here's a list of minibus operators based at the Southampton end.

I can certainly recommend getting quotes from the first two, which I know quite well (I drove full-size coaches for them). I don't know the others, but they are local operators, not booking agencies.

https://www.angelacoaches.co.uk/

https://nxts.nationalexpress.com/lucketts-travel/ (Lucketts are a local operator which has linked up with Nat Express)

https://www.pegasuscoaches.co.uk/

https://www.southamptonminibushire.net/airport-transfer

https://www.panachetravel.co.uk/

https://www.airlynx.info/services/minibus-hire-southampton/

 

It's also worth getting quotes from mini-bus operators based at the Heathrow end. But do carefully check reviews - some are actually agencies, not operators. And some are bound to be tin-pots, fly-by-nights or shady.

 

Compare quotes against the approx cost of 14 seats on Nat Express service coaches + taxis, and decide whether any extra cost is worth the convenience.

 

JB 🙂

 

Thanks JB for all the great info. Agreed re: staying near hotel...I think getting everyone in one spot should be first priority and then once everyone is at the hotel (overnight), then we can travel together. Appreciate the reminder about delayed flights as one option was to try to get to Southampton Sunday evening - so we'll scratch off that option. We're traveling from 3 different US cities. 

 

For airport hotels, I'm currently considering Hyatt Place (The Grove, Bath Rd, Harmondsworth, ~£103/dbl occupancy), but am open to other suggestions (especially if I can get a quad occupancy hotel room that's reasonably priced).

 

I'll request quotes from your list - again thank you!

 

What do you all think about a Stonehenge (or Winchester, or ??)  stopover enroute to Southampton? I know it will add to the cost, but if we don't do any sight-seeing in London, it might be nice to have a stop. 

[gumshoe958]

2 hours ago, sunfan03 said:

Thanks JB for all the great info. Agreed re: staying near hotel...I think getting everyone in one spot should be first priority and then once everyone is at the hotel (overnight), then we can travel together. Appreciate the reminder about delayed flights as one option was to try to get to Southampton Sunday evening - so we'll scratch off that option. We're traveling from 3 different US cities. 

 

For airport hotels, I'm currently considering Hyatt Place (The Grove, Bath Rd, Harmondsworth, ~£103/dbl occupancy), but am open to other suggestions (especially if I can get a quad occupancy hotel room that's reasonably priced).

 

I'll request quotes from your list - again thank you!

 

What do you all think about a Stonehenge (or Winchester, or ??)  stopover enroute to Southampton? I know it will add to the cost, but if we don't do any sight-seeing in London, it might be nice to have a stop. 

If you’re flying British Airways, you’ll arrive at Terminal 5. If you’re flying with any of the US airlines you’ll arrive at Terminal 2 or 3 (which are next to each other).

 

Assuming you’re flying with either UA, AA or DL, have a look at the Hilton Garden Inn Terminals 2 & 3. That’s on-airport and doesn’t need a cab or bus to get to, unlike the Hyatt Place. Note that Heathrow doesn’t let hotels run their own airport shuttles.

 

A stop at Winchester is entirely doable as it’s directly en route from Southampton to Heathrow. But if you’re doing that on the morning of your cruise make sure you allow enough time so you’re not late for check-in! Heathrow to Southampton non-stop is about 90 minutes so I’d plan for around 4 hours in total to give yourselves a couple of hours to sightsee. And don’t underestimate the time it takes to shepherd a large group around - there’s always one who needs the bathroom!

 

Stonehenge involves quite a detour and considerably more time, cost and planning (including pre-booking a time slot). Probably not ideal if you need to be in Southampton by lunchtime.

 

Edited June 26, 2023 by gumshoe958

[John Bull]

Bath Road hotels are handy to the airport, but still need a short taxi hop.

 

There are a couple of restaurants (Turkish & Chinese) within a 10-minute walk of the Hyatt Place if you don't fancy hotel food or prices, and if you don't like the hotel food and bar prices there are a couple of pubs a further 10 minutes in the same direction in the "village" of Longford

 

- the White Horse  http://oldenglishpub.com/ ( good TripAdvisor reviews, and their website says it provides free courtesy transport !!) - best to book as soon as possible when you arrive.

 

and a minute further on

 

- the King's Arms https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g1657893-d5449716-Reviews-The_Kings_Arms-Longford_Shropshire_England.html  (ignore "Shropshire" (????) in the TripAdvisor header, it's the one on Bath Road, Heathrow). Mainly Indian food.

---------------------------

 

As Gumshoe's post, Stonehenge adds about 25 minutes / 40 miles to your route to Southampton - more importantly numbers at Stonehenge are limited and you're advised to book a 30-mnute arrival slot - travelling from London it's difficult to predict your arrival time if you miss that arrival slot on a busy day you'll be delayed until there's space. Not a risk in the winter, more likely in the summer, especially at weekends and particularly mid-morning. 

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/prices-and-opening-times/

A 90 minute stop is about right

 

Consider the cathedral city of Winchester as an alternative - it's five minutes off your route. Your driver can drop you in The Broadway close to the cathedral, then he has to vamoose and come back for you at an agreed time. You need an hour, 90 minutes or longer would be better

https://www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/

 

JB 🙂

 

 

Edited June 26, 2023 by John Bull

[sunfan03]

12 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

If you’re flying British Airways, you’ll arrive at Terminal 5. If you’re flying with any of the US airlines you’ll arrive at Terminal 2 or 3 (which are next to each other).

 

Assuming you’re flying with either UA, AA or DL, have a look at the Hilton Garden Inn Terminals 2 & 3. That’s on-airport and doesn’t need a cab or bus to get to, unlike the Hyatt Place. Note that Heathrow doesn’t let hotels run their own airport shuttles.

 

A stop at Winchester is entirely doable as it’s directly en route from Southampton to Heathrow. But if you’re doing that on the morning of your cruise make sure you allow enough time so you’re not late for check-in! Heathrow to Southampton non-stop is about 90 minutes so I’d plan for around 4 hours in total to give yourselves a couple of hours to sightsee. And don’t underestimate the time it takes to shepherd a large group around - there’s always one who needs the bathroom!

 

Stonehenge involves quite a detour and considerably more time, cost and planning (including pre-booking a time slot). Probably not ideal if you need to be in Southampton by lunchtime.

 

Thanks @gumshoe958, I did not realize you needed a time slot for Stonehenge. Once I know everyone's airlines, we'll take a look at the Hilton. Appreciate your help!

 

[sunfan03]

10 hours ago, John Bull said:

Bath Road hotels are handy to the airport, but still need a short taxi hop.

 

There are a couple of restaurants (Turkish & Chinese) within a 10-minute walk of the Hyatt Place if you don't fancy hotel food or prices, and if you don't like the hotel food and bar prices there are a couple of pubs a further 10 minutes in the same direction in the "village" of Longford

 

- the White Horse  http://oldenglishpub.com/ ( good TripAdvisor reviews, and their website says it provides free courtesy transport !!) - best to book as soon as possible when you arrive.

 

and a minute further on

 

- the King's Arms https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g1657893-d5449716-Reviews-The_Kings_Arms-Longford_Shropshire_England.html  (ignore "Shropshire" (????) in the TripAdvisor header, it's the one on Bath Road, Heathrow). Mainly Indian food.

---------------------------

 

As Gumshoe's post, Stonehenge adds about 25 minutes / 40 miles to your route to Southampton - more importantly numbers at Stonehenge are limited and you're advised to book a 30-mnute arrival slot - travelling from London it's difficult to predict your arrival time if you miss that arrival slot on a busy day you'll be delayed until there's space. Not a risk in the winter, more likely in the summer, especially at weekends and particularly mid-morning. 

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/prices-and-opening-times/

A 90 minute stop is about right

 

Consider the cathedral city of Winchester as an alternative - it's five minutes off your route. Your driver can drop you in The Broadway close to the cathedral, then he has to vamoose and come back for you at an agreed time. You need an hour, 90 minutes or longer would be better

https://www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/

 

JB 🙂

 

 

Great advice, @John Bull! About how much should I budget for Bath Road hotel taxi? 

 

I think I'll heed Gumshoe and your advice and just go to Winchester. Appreciate the approximate visit times and the restaurant recommendations!

[John Bull]

54 minutes ago, sunfan03 said:

Great advice, @John Bull! About how much should I budget for Bath Road hotel taxi? 

 

I think I'll heed Gumshoe and your advice and just go to Winchester. Appreciate the approximate visit times and the restaurant recommendations!

 

Sorry, taxis & Heathrow aren't really my territory.

You'll need to take a black cab from the rank at the airport terminal & altho its only 2 - 3 miles they're expensive.

I'll hazard a guess at around £10 per cab, but will cede to a Londoner's advice. 

 

Yes, Winchester keeps life simple and relatively inexpensive.

Without significant delays it's about an hour to Winchester, then 1/2 hr to your ship. But to be safe I'd be inclined to double that - especially if this is a summer saturday, when the lemmings from the big bad city head for the coast and when more ships are usually in port.

That's an advantage of a Winchester stop - book a van for, say, 8.30 and trim your time in Winchester if there are delays (or even abandon it if there's a massive delay), extend your time there if you're ahead of the clock.

 

JB 🙂

[gumshoe958]

13 minutes ago, John Bull said:

 

Sorry, taxis & Heathrow aren't really my territory.

You'll need to take a black cab from the rank at the airport terminal & altho its only 2 - 3 miles they're expensive.

I'll hazard a guess at around £10 per cab, but will cede to a Londoner's advice. 

 

JB 🙂

Yes, I thought about £10. It’s less than two miles, a 7 minute journey.

 

Then I looked at Uber. £23 😮 Could be surge pricing I guess, but that’s daylight robbery.

 

Incidentally a black cab driver will hate you for that journey. They have to queue up, sometimes for a very long time, for what they hope will be a nice lucrative £100 fare into London. They may be allowed to jump the queue after a short hop to Bath Road, but they’ll still hate you.

 

Edited June 27, 2023 by gumshoe958

[Globaliser]

8 minutes ago, John Bull said:

You'll need to take a black cab from the rank at the airport terminal & altho its only 2 - 3 miles they're expensive.

I'll hazard a guess at around £10 per cab, but will cede to a Londoner's advice.

 

I've never done this myself, but my guess is that it'll be significantly more than that - perhaps closer to £20 per cab from the CTA (ie from T2 or T3). Apart from anything else, there's the £3.60 Heathrow surcharge to be added to the meter rate. And it can take a good few minutes to get around the CTA road circuit and into the tunnel.

 

I'm not going to re-hash the "why on earth would you stay at the airport for 24 hours" argument in thsi thread, but if we're getting in to the detail of food and drink in the culinary wasteland of the Bath Road, I'd suggest the Sipson Tandoori. It would need a short minicab ride from the Hyatt Place, but it's probably more interesting than anything you could walk to.

 

4 minutes ago, gumshoe958 said:

Incidentally a black cab driver will hate you for that journey. They have to queue up, sometimes for a very long time, for what they hope will be a nice lucrative £100 fare into London. They may be allowed to jump the queue after a short hop to Bath Road, but they’ll still hate you.

 

It's more likely that the driver will pretend to hate you to try to blackmail you into a bigger tip. A run to the Bath Road and back should be within the time limit for going straight back to the terminal and bypassing the feeder park.

 

The drivers who seriously hate this sort of thing just switch off their light and drive empty back in to central London.

[John Bull]

6 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

I've never done this myself, but my guess is that it'll be significantly more than that - perhaps closer to £20 per cab from the CTA (ie from T2 or T3). Apart from anything else, there's the £3.60 Heathrow surcharge to be added to the meter rate. And it can take a good few minutes to get around the CTA road circuit and into the tunnel.

 

 

Ouch 😮

 

JB 🙁

[OriginalBoat]

On 6/26/2023 at 9:27 AM, sunfan03 said:

What do you all think about a Stonehenge (or Winchester, or ??)  stopover enroute to Southampton? I know it will add to the cost, but if we don't do any sight-seeing in London, it might be nice to have a stop. 

 

I can't recommend it yet myself, but from another's recommendation here, we'll be using https://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/ for the transfer from London area to Southampton.  We chose the transfer with the Stonehenge stop, but they also do Winchester or Windsor or direct.  

[John Bull]

2 hours ago, OriginalBoat said:

 

I can't recommend it yet myself, but from another's recommendation here, we'll be using https://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/ for the transfer from London area to Southampton.  We chose the transfer with the Stonehenge stop, but they also do Winchester or Windsor or direct.  

 

Yes, I just suggested the same in response to a similar question at

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2662148-transfer-southampton—london-incl-lhrlgw-train-car-other/page/30/#comments 

post #737

 

But with a group of 14, I would hope that the OP could get a better price plus of course better flexibility by booking a private van tour-transfer 

 

JB 🙂

 

[sunfan03]

Update: The family wants to overnight in central London with the hopes of being able to do some sight-seeing, so I'm planning to book private transfers for them from LHR to hotel (two groups of 6 (one from IAH, the other EWR) and then my dad and me). The next day we'll have another private transfer from hotel to Southampton. 

 

The private transfers will take the pressure off of them getting to the hotel with their luggage - 😅