Anyone has done disembarkation at Southampton in Spring this year? How long it took?

[nho9504]

The last time we did that was several years ago.  We took a taxi to the National Express coach station for a bus to LHR leaving after 9am, and we still had over 30 min wait at the bus station where there were very few seating.  Relatives were to Victoria London and they bought the bus leaving after 11am fearing not enough time to catch the bus.  They could not exchange their tickets to earlier time so had to wait almost 3 hours for their bus to London.

 

We plan to take the Sky Transatlantic to Southampton.  Disembarkation time on Princess website is 7am.  I am trying to figure if it is enough time to catch the 09:45am bus, arriving LHR at 11:30 so to catch the BA flight at 13:25 to MAD.

 

Or to be on the safe side, use the BA flight leaving at 15:00 instead.  In that case I might have to get the business class even though it is only a 2.30hr flight, so we could have lounge access to kill a couple hours wait time.  (redeeming Avios so is 11750 vs 20000 only 8250 Avios difference. Tax and fees are the same at $1 (the benefit of flat fee benefit which name I forgot).

 

Econ You can select when paying

 

• 11000 Avios + $ 11.00
• 9750 Avios + $ 21.00
• 7250 Avios + $ 31.00
• 4650 Avios + $ 61.00
• 2900 Avios + $ 76.00
•  

Biz You can select when paying

• 19250 Avios + $ 11.00
• 15000 Avios + $ 36.00
• 13500 Avios + $ 51.00
• 10000 Avios + $ 106.00
• 8000 Avios + $ 136.00

 

Opinions welcome!  Thanks!

Edited November 28, 2023 by nho9504

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

It might be possible but catching a flight that departs LHR at 13.25 would require you to be at the airport by 11.25... catching a bus that is scheduled to arrive LHR at 11.20 would make that almost impossible. It might be possible but without doubt I would go for the 15.00 flight and have a relaxed champers or a beer in the lounge before. The whole day will be more relaxed, less stressful and a good way to end the cruise 🙂

[karatemom2]

We disembarked the Sky in Southampton on our recent cruise in September and we did walk off which was incredibly easy. We walked off the ship at 7:45 a.m. and met our car service driver by 8 a.m. and were on the road by 8:15 a.m. If you are able to walk off with your luggage, you should be able to disembark very early and expediently.

[victory2020]

I actually made aa 11:50 am flight on an NCL cruise in October (they booked me, I would not have done anything before 1pm)

[Wander58]

We were just there in October.  We disembarked the Island Princess and took a taxi to the train station.  We had a 9:30 train to Waterloo but were easily there before 8:30am.  LHR is about 1.5 hours from Southampton.  On the way to the ship, I booked a private transfer and would not hesitate to book one if we were heading back to LHR.  I'd expect that you could easily be there by 10:00am.  

[nho9504]

4 hours ago, Snaxmuppet said:

It might be possible but catching a flight that departs LHR at 13.25 would require you to be at the airport by 11.25... catching a bus that is scheduled to arrive LHR at 11.20 would make that almost impossible. It might be possible but without doubt I would go for the 15.00 flight and have a relaxed champers or a beer in the lounge before. The whole day will be more relaxed, less stressful and a good way to end the cruise 🙂

 

You make a point.  My worry is not catching the 9:45 National Express Bus.  Missing that the next bus is not until 11:45.  Definitely not able to make the 13:25 BA flight.

[nho9504]

3 hours ago, karatemom2 said:

We disembarked the Sky in Southampton on our recent cruise in September and we did walk off which was incredibly easy. We walked off the ship at 7:45 a.m. and met our car service driver by 8 a.m. and were on the road by 8:15 a.m. If you are able to walk off with your luggage, you should be able to disembark very early and expediently.

 

We will do walk off too.  Need to take a taxi to the National Express coach station.  It is not far from my memory.  Taxi fare at that time was less than 15 GBP, so must be a short drive.  The coach departure that I aim at is 09:45.  Though upon further consideration, I think we might need to allow some traffic jam time even though National Express ride duration is 1 hour 45 min in normal traffic.  We might need to make some allowance on this. 

Edited November 29, 2023 by nho9504

[nho9504]

3 hours ago, victory2020 said:

I actually made aa 11:50 am flight on an NCL cruise in October (they booked me, I would not have done anything before 1pm)

 

Wow!  For an international flight at 11:50am departure and you made it!  That was a miracle considering the need to find the gate, going thru security etc.

[nho9504]

42 minutes ago, Wander58 said:

We were just there in October.  We disembarked the Island Princess and took a taxi to the train station.  We had a 9:30 train to Waterloo but were easily there before 8:30am.  LHR is about 1.5 hours from Southampton.  On the way to the ship, I booked a private transfer and would not hesitate to book one if we were heading back to LHR.  I'd expect that you could easily be there by 10:00am.  

 

National Express gives a 1 hour 45 min ride time between Southampton coach station to T5.  There seems no allowance for traffic issues.

[nho9504]

Finally thank y'all for the valuable inputs.  I tried to do multi-quote to reply but the reply box does not seem to be able to do it.  It would only quote the last post in the multi-quote.

 

Anyway, thanks a lot everyone!

[Jadn13]

Sharing because if your flight/terminal is included this was a breeze took 15 mins total for security

time slot booking at LHR

https://www.heathrow.com/at-the-airport/airport-services/VQRP

Edited November 29, 2023 by Jadn13

[Incognito1]

We did the transatlantic earlier this year.  Southampton was super fast because they come onboard the day before and take care of all the customs stuff.  It appeared that there were only certain countries' passports that took more than 3 minutes to clear. We were headed to Liverpool and needed to be off early.  If you handle your own bags and tell the steward, you can be first off and just walk out the moment the disembarkation happens (assuming you made your appointment time for the customs agents.)  

 

 

[nho9504]

4 hours ago, Jadn13 said:

Sharing because if your flight/terminal is included this was a breeze took 15 mins total for security

time slot booking at LHR

https://www.heathrow.com/at-the-airport/airport-services/VQRP

 

Thanks for the great info.  Since the flight is not until late March, I doubt the flight would be included in the trial.  Nonetheless this is a good thing to know that LHR is trying to speed up the security clearance.  Will definitely check back when it gets closer.

 

11 minutes ago, Incognito1 said:

We did the transatlantic earlier this year.  Southampton was super fast because they come onboard the day before and take care of all the customs stuff.  It appeared that there were only certain countries' passports that took more than 3 minutes to clear. We were headed to Liverpool and needed to be off early.  If you handle your own bags and tell the steward, you can be first off and just walk out the moment the disembarkation happens (assuming you made your appointment time for the customs agents.)  

 

 

 

Was your ship the day before disembarkation a port day?

 

The Sky Princess would have 2 Sea Days before disembarkation day.  Before the 2 Sea Days Sky would be at Lisbon.

 

I am not sure the Immigration folks would get on board to process passport at Lisbon, or on the first Sea Day.  We had the immigration processing on a transatlantic several years ago with several ports in the Ireland / Northern Ireland and Scotland but I forgot the sequence.   Immigration officers did board the ship to process passports, though I forgot they were from the above country or from UK.  I tend to think it wasn't from UK.

[Incognito1]

Might have been two days before (we did several this year and they all run together in my head).  Anyway, they were UK customs guys.  Very organized and the process was fast.  

 

Best bet would be to call Princess, but we had 8:30 am transportation to Liverpool and made it in plenty of time.

[long cruiser]

You canal's rent a private car.It's not cheap, but you will get there on time.

[david63]

It would appear that no allowance has been made for the ship arriving late into Southampton. I have known of ships with an "estimated" arrival time of 07:00 not docking until 11:00 and disembarkation not starting until after 12:00