post cruise advice: travel to London

[nolyd]

I'm not sure if this is the correct board to post but we've booked a very last minute cruise that ends in Southampton. Most post cruise tours that can easily get us from the cruise port to London are full. I was looking for any suggestions/advice that would would help first time UK travelers. Is it reasonably easy to catch a bus from Southampton to London? Am I correct that it would get us to the Waterloo Station? My first instinct is to try to then go to Paddington Station and book a hotel close by. Our flight leaves the following morning around 9:00 so we thought we could spend some time in London in the Paddington area in the evening and then catch the Heathrow Express early the next day. Does that seem reasonable or even doable?

Thanks!

Deb

[Island2Dweller]

Yes, you can get from Southampton to London by bus.  The services are operated by National Express and have a good reputation.  They drop you near Victoria station (not Waterloo).  It's very easy to get to Heathrow from the Victoria area, so I would not traipse over to Paddington unless there is a particular hotel there that you want.  There are loads of hotel choices near Victoria.

There are also trains from Southampton to London - these do go to Waterloo.  These are faster, and personally I find them more comfortable.  Trains usually cost a bit more.  But if you are content with the bus, then just head to the National Express site and book that now.  These can be busy so better to book in advance.

Heathrow Express booked at short notice is painfully expensive and I would not recommend it for your journey to the airport.  It has a lot of name recognition with visitors because of ferocious advertising spend, but it is little used by residents of London who use the underground or Elizabeth line instead.

[nolyd]

Thank you! Your insight is so helpful. 

[CCJack]

Agree.   We took the National Bus with good results.        We actually walked from ship to the national bus terminal.... not a short walk but possible and if weather is good not a bad walk.   You could taxi there as well.

 

 

[phabric]

Look at International Friends for your post cruise excursion to London.  They pick up at cruise line’s Southampton dock with stops at Salisbury, Stonehenge and Windsor then drop off at the door of certain London or Heathrow hotels.

 

www.internationalfriends.co.uk

[Harters]

Bear in mind that you probably need to allow around 3 hours at Heathrow for a flight to the States. Means you're going to need to catch one of the first couple of Heathrow Express trains. 

[Meander Ingwa]

If you are going to stay in Paddington, simply catch the Elizabeth Line to Heathrow.  Trains are frequent and comfortable.  Agree with Island 2 Dweller that Heathrow Express is no longer all that. 

[Cotswold Eagle]

8 hours ago, Island2Dweller said:

Heathrow Express booked at short notice is painfully expensive and I would not recommend it for your journey to the airport.  It has a lot of name recognition with visitors because of ferocious advertising spend, but it is little used by residents of London who use the underground or Elizabeth line instead.

Your implacable opposition to the Heathrow Express is impressive, but it remains the quickest and most comfortable service to Heathrow, and the only one that has trains actually designed for travellers with luggage. With a bit of advance planning, which I realise the OP doesn’t have time for, it can also be the cheapest. Even that “painfully expensive” walk up fare is no more than the price of a couple of pints of beer more than the Elizabeth line. For this London and Cotswolds resident it remains first choice. 
 

OP, your plan of using a Paddington area hotel effectively as an airport hotel is sound. You have the choice of two direct services (HEX and Elizabeth line) to the airport, which provides a bit of resilience, although as they converge at Heathrow there are points of failure that would disrupt both.  

[Globaliser]

9 hours ago, nolyd said:

Our flight leaves the following morning around 9:00 so we thought we could spend some time in London in the Paddington area in the evening and then catch the Heathrow Express early the next day. Does that seem reasonable or even doable?

 

It's definitely doable, but there's relatively little in the Paddington area compared to what you could see/do in central London. If you go directly to London when you disembark, you'll have a pretty full half-day plus an evening for London things, so there's a choice to be made between a central London hotel and a slightly less convenient journey to the airport on the morning, or a longer journey from central London back to your Paddington hotel for the night.

 

 

[fruitmachine]

20 hours ago, nolyd said:

My first instinct is to try to then go to Paddington Station and book a hotel close by.

I cannot recommend a hotel in the area, but there is one that - through personal experience - I would definitely avoid!  

 

Do not stay in the Hotel Indigo.  Anything and everything that could go wrong did, across the four rooms that I had booked.

[nolyd]

Thanks, everyone! So much to consider!