Always said I will never book a flight home on the same day we disembark, but.....

[Blue and Green]

We have always stayed a couple days post-cruise when cruising out of Southampton but this time.... hoping to make a flight leaving Heathrow at 12:50 on a Thursday when our cruise docks at 7:00am in Southampton.   We will probably book a Blackberry car or similar, unless it is better time-wise to reserve transport through Princess?   Hoping someone in this well-traveled group can confirm they have made a flight this close to disembarking, or advise the best way to not miss our flight to the US!

[WESTEAST]

32 minutes ago, Blue and Green said:

We have always stayed a couple days post-cruise when cruising out of Southampton but this time.... hoping to make a flight leaving Heathrow at 12:50 on a Thursday when our cruise docks at 7:00am in Southampton.   We will probably book a Blackberry car or similar, unless it is better time-wise to reserve transport through Princess?   Hoping someone in this well-traveled group can confirm they have made a flight this close to disembarking, or advise the best way to not miss our flight to the US!

Never cruised with Princess however, have walked off the ship as soon as docked at Southampton with our luggage.  On our ship's disembarkation sheet you fill out, you can mark this and the time and that you will not put out luggage the night before. Also, can double check with purser.  Wasn't a problem and we had booked a limo to take us to airport (unfortunately, that company is no longer in business). 

[JennyLynnP]

Hi, We cruised Princess in/out of Southhampton this summer. We had a 9 a.m. pickup from British Express Cars (you can easily search for them) and had smooth sailing into our hotel in the city. If you tried for pickup at 7:30, you should be able to get to the airport by 10:30, I'd think. However, if Princess offers the transfer for a flight with that time, go for it. In the past, they have a specific time flights need to leave after for them to take you, and they won't make exceptions if your flight is just a few minutes earlier, even. We were glad to have the private car service, and it wasn't that much more than the transfers. Hope this helps.

[John Bull]

A 12.50 flight from LHR isn't normally a problem, even on a weekday - but I suggest you give yourselves the widest window possible to make that flight.

 

Ships normally arrive in Southampton at around 5.30am, and are cleared for unassisted disembarkation (haul your own bags from your cabin) around 7am, with assisted disembarkation in tranches from 7.30am. 

At that time in the morning there are effectively no lines and disembarkation is quick, less than 15 minutes.

A car booked for 7.15 would make sense and altho traffic will be heavy and slow in places, unless there is an exceptional delay (eg the motorway closed due to a fatal crash or an over-turned truck), you should be at LHR by 10 -10.30.

As a general rule, airports tend to recommend arriving 3 hours before flight time, 2 hours should be fine, 90 minutes would be rushed.

 

The first ship's transfer buses depart around 8am, some cruise-lines say that passengers shouldn't book their bus for flights leaving LHR before 12.30, other cruise-lines say not flights before 1.00pm.

I think this is only a recommendation rather than a deadline, but because of variables in commuter traffic and airport formalities, I'd aim for the widest possible window ie a pre-booked car for 7.15. 

The price of Princess transfers has always been much more reasonable than most cruise-lines, but as @JennyLynnP posted, a car won't be enormously more expensive than two seats on a ship's bus.

 

Just a personal viewpoint, but when timing is a little tight I rate a car based at the start of a journey as better than one based at the end - this avoids the car being unexpectedly delayed en-route to the pick-up.  British Express Cars is based at Heathrow, you might want to consider an operator in the Southampton area, such as   https://westquaycars.com/ or https://www.aquacars.co.uk/ or https://gunwharf-executive-travel.co.uk/

 

JB 🙂

[Blue and Green]

Thank you--we will definitely book one of the Southampton cars. After I wrote the original post, I remembered we once had a Blackberry car show up a half hour late to take us to the airport. That trip, it was ok because I had plenty of time built in for that type of issue (still a little anxiety-provoking).

 

This is the tightest timeline we've been on, but there was a significant price difference between a Thursday flight and a Friday or Saturday flight so I couldn't resist.  Thanks for the feedback and fingers crossed we will get home as planned!

[ptf2009]

Do we have to go through customs at the Amsterdam airport at the end of our cruise form Rotterdam? Just wondering since we have always had to go through customs at the cruise terminal when disembarking. Please advise.

[Globaliser]

1 hour ago, ptf2009 said:

Do we have to go through customs at the Amsterdam airport at the end of our cruise form Rotterdam? Just wondering since we have always had to go through customs at the cruise terminal when disembarking.

 

If you you have to clear customs at all, you'll have to clear customs when you disembark. Otherwise you'd be free to roam the Netherlands with uncleared goods. Very few countries require customs clearance on departure for normal air passengers.

 

Immigration, of course, is a different kettle of fish.

[Blue and Green]

Update: The airline changed the flight time to almost an hour earlier now! Too much stress for me...we decided to add a day on to the trip and fly home the next day. Thankfully, because the airline changed the flight, we are not paying an additional fare.