England cruise transfers

[bigb1026]

Staying at Belgrave Hotel in London.  Looking for reasonable way to transfer from hotel to Southampton for departing Celebrity cruise October 22.  Would prefer to avoid excessive expense of private limo, looking for alternatives.  First does Celebrity have any transfer partners from London hotels?  Or, is there a way we could easily taxi to say Victoria Station (which I understand is near our hotel), then bus or train or whatever to Southampton?  Then short taxi ride to Southampton from drop off point, or even better drop-off directly at port? 

 

Second issue:  Best way to transfer from Heathrow to Hotel Belgrave?   Taxi?  Uber?

[mrgabriel]

We always take the train to/from Southampton, and taxi to or from the station at both ends. It’s easy and relatively stress-free. 
 

edit to add - we usually use Black cabs in London. 

Edited July 13, 2023 by mrgabriel

[SPacificbound]

I can answer the Southampton question, yes you taxi to Victoria Station and train to Southampton.

1 minute ago, mrgabriel said:

We always take the train to/from Southampton, and taxi to or from the station at both ends. It’s easy and relatively stress-free. 
 

edit to add - we usually use Black cabs in London. 

Agree!!

[gumshoe958]

3 hours ago, bigb1026 said:

Staying at Belgrave Hotel in London.  Looking for reasonable way to transfer from hotel to Southampton for departing Celebrity cruise October 22.  Would prefer to avoid excessive expense of private limo, looking for alternatives.  First does Celebrity have any transfer partners from London hotels?  Or, is there a way we could easily taxi to say Victoria Station (which I understand is near our hotel), then bus or train or whatever to Southampton?  Then short taxi ride to Southampton from drop off point, or even better drop-off directly at port? 

 

Second issue:  Best way to transfer from Heathrow to Hotel Belgrave?   Taxi?  Uber?

Victoria is the closest station to your hotel, and there are direct trains to Southampton, once an hour - but they’re very slow (2.5 hours).

 

The faster trains, taking half that time, leave from Waterloo every half hour. Waterloo is an easy 10 minute cab ride from your hotel.

 

There are also direct National Express coaches from Victoria Coach Station to Southampton, roughly every hour. That’s about half a mile from your hotel so a 10 minute walk or 5 minute cab ride.

Whether you take the train or the coach, once you get to Southampton you’ll need a cab to the cruise terminal. It’s a 5 to 10 minute ride.

 

From Heathrow to your hotel you can either take a cab, an Uber, book a private pick-up (all in the £60-80 range) OR take the Heathrow Express or Elizabeth line train to Paddington and pick up a cab there.

[John Bull]

As other replies, your choices are

 

- the direct National Express bus from Victoria coach station.

Most cruise lines also offer their transfer buses from there - of course they go direct to your ship, but are significantly more expensive than Nat Express for only a little more convenience, altho some folk like the comfort of being the cruise line's responsibility.

Destination is Southampton coach station, journey time about 2 1/2 hrs, fares about £5 to £8 (makes it the cheapest way to travel) 🙂. A reliable service, comfortable seats with wifi, bathroom, driver loads & unloads luggage. Coaches about every 60 or 90 minutes. Booking strongly advised.

https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

 

- or by train. 

There's an hourly direct service from London Victoria train station, but its route goes two sides of a triangle which means it takes as long as the Nat Express bus.

The better option is direct trains from London Waterloo station. 2 to 3 trains per hour, journey time about 90 minutes. Destination is Southampton central station,

Walk-up fares are around £50 😮, but cheap advance tickets are anywhere from about £15 to £25 🙂.

Those advance tickets are available from about 12 weeks out, but are only valid for the train time that you selected - no amendments, no refunds. If you miss that train your tickets are trash & you'll have to buy walk-up tickets 😒.  Advance ticket prices are dynamic, they rise (or sell-out) close to the date of travel. If your journey isn't within the next 3 months, check the fares for about 10 weeks from now

We are currently going thru a long  period of industrial unrest on the trains, with seriously-reduced or cancelled trains on strike days. You'd be a little unlucky to be travelling on a strike day, and by law those strike days are notified well in advance - there are no wildcat strikes. But if you book the train you'd do well  to check the website from time to time. ("no refunds" for advance tickets don't apply when the service is disrupted)

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

 

From either Southampton coach or train station it's a max of about £10 for a taxi to any cruise terminal - some cruise terminals are a level 15 - 20 minute walk, tho' you might change your mind if it's bucketing down with rain

 

JB 🙂

 

Edited July 13, 2023 by John Bull

[mrgabriel]

15 hours ago, bigb1026 said:

Second issue:  Best way to transfer from Heathrow to Hotel Belgrave?   Taxi?  Uber?

 

Missed this part of the question the first time around.

 

For the past 4 or 5 years we have used Heathrow Express to Paddington station then hopped in a cab to our hotel. We have never booked Ubers in London because it's like any big city where it can be impossible to find the meeting point, then the car leaves and you're hit with a fee.

 

When we haven't used Heathrow Express, we pre-book a car to meet us at LHR. The services we used prior to the pandemic seem to have disappeared or been renamed but I know that some of our friendly and helpful locals like @John Bull can likely give you guidance on car service. 

[John Bull]

On 7/13/2023 at 7:07 PM, mrgabriel said:

 some of our friendly and helpful locals like @John Bull can likely give you guidance on car service. (Heathrow to Hotel Belgrave)

 

Sorry, John Bull isn't a London local - he's a country yokel from the south coast.

And he avoids the big bad city as much as he can  😏

 

No Londoners have responded yet - but just like London buses you wait & wait and then three of them will come along together.😄

 

JB 🙂

[Meander Ingwa]

Agree with  @mrgabriel, take Heathrow Express or Elizabeth Line to Paddington then take a cab. 

 

If you are at The Belgrave on Belgrave Rd, you don't have the best connection to the Underground.  Pimlico station is deep underground and is not step free.  No elevator 

[Crown Vic]

On 7/15/2023 at 5:04 PM, John Bull said:

 

Sorry, John Bull isn't a London local - he's a country yokel…JB 🙂

JB, perhaps a pseudonym…Walter Gabriel comes to mind.

Cheers…

[John Bull]

Just now, Crown Vic said:

JB, perhaps a pseudonym…Walter Gabriel comes to mind.

Cheers…

 

Now there's a name from the days before TV.  🙂

 

That's quite a memory for an ex-pat, Vic.

"The Archers - an everyday story of country folk", an every-day radio soap from the days when "soap" was just something you washed with.

I never chose to follow it, but I remember hearing it from time to time.

The actor who voiced Walter died back in 1988, I've no idea when Walter was written out.

But The Archers is still going strong on BBC Radio 4.

 

BTW John Bull is a pseudonym - much more famous than Gabriel, tho' not as famous as his US counterpart

JB 🙂

[Crown Vic]

13 hours ago, John Bull said:

 …BTW John Bull is a pseudonym - much more famous than Gabriel, tho' not as famous as his US counterpart

 

JB 🙂

JB, glad we didn’t get into Mrs Dale’s Diary.

My ‘red, white and blue’ comes from growing up with Arsenal and Middlesex.

Always enjoy reading your comments and answers on this thread. You are The Man.

Cheers..

 

 

[John Bull]

12 minutes ago, Crown Vic said:

JB, glad we didn’t get into Mrs Dale’s Diary.

My ‘red, white and blue’ comes from growing up with Arsenal and Middlesex.

Always enjoy reading your comments and answers on this thread. You are The Man.

Cheers..

 

 

 

Jeez, Vic - you can bring up plenty of ancient nonsense.🤣

If you mention "Listen with Mother" or "Women's Hour" I 'll block you on Cruise Critic 😏

But "Round the Horne", "Workers' Playtime", "Journey into Space", "The Navy Lark" and "The Goon Show" are perfectly acceptable - altho now you've got me googling for excerpts from the last two 🙂

 

JB 🙂

[Crown Vic]

36 minutes ago, John Bull said:

…”Round the Horne", "Workers' Playtime", "Journey into Space", "The Navy Lark" and "The Goon Show" are perfectly acceptable…JB 🙂

As long as you are ‘sitting comfortably”…

👍 👍 

Edited July 19, 2023 by Crown Vic