9:30 am from Southampton too early?

[MyriamS]

We will be arriving back in Southampton from our Norway cruise on Saturday 29th June. P&O is not telling us the arrival time, but travel agent websites says 7am. Is there any way to check this?

Assuming 7am is correct, I've read that it is possible to self-disembark from 7.30am onwards. Also that one needs to vacate their cabin as early as 8am. If true, we could leave our cabin at 8am, go for a quick buffet breakfast, self-disembark, and walk to Southampton station in plenty of time for the 9:30 service to London. We travel very very light so carrying our own bags off the ship and to the train station is no problem at all for us. 

Does this plan seem realistic? I understand that due to weather or other impossible to foresee circumstances, the ship might be several hours late. However, I see no off-peak train fares for Southampton to London and anytime fares are outrageously expensive. So we have to gamble with an Advance ticket. We could go later (our flight's not until 6pm, so we won't miss it either way) but I'd much rather do my waiting in central London rather than Southampton. 

 

[Selbourne]

They always get back on time, so you needn’t worry about that! The ships are usually docked by around 6am. We’ve never done self disembarkation, so others can confirm the precise timings, but I think it’s usually between around 7.15 and 8am. If you intend to stay in your cabin until 8am and then go for a quick breakfast you will be too late for self disembarkation and will have to wait for regular disembarkation. Your best bet is to grab a very early breakfast in the buffet and self disembark. It’s quite a walk to the station, especially with luggage, but you will be fine with a 9.30am train if you self disembark. 

[MyriamS]

12 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

They always get back on time, so you needn’t worry about that! The ships are usually docked by around 6am. We’ve never done self disembarkation, so others can confirm the precise timings, but I think it’s usually between around 7.15 and 8am. If you intend to stay in your cabin until 8am and then go for a quick breakfast you will be too late for self disembarkation and will have to wait for regular disembarkation. Your best bet is to grab a very early breakfast in the buffet and self disembark. It’s quite a walk to the station, especially with luggage, but you will be fine with a 9.30am train if you self disembark. 

Thanks for your feedback, but I'm bit confused about the "wait for regular disembarkation". Why would I need to wait? I always thought they staggered disembarkation times because people have luggage, sometimes a lot of it, so they don't want everyone to try and grab their suitcases at the same time. But my luggage is with me, so I can just... walk off the ship at basically any time and not be in anyone's way, right? 

[EM35]

19 minutes ago, MyriamS said:

Thanks for your feedback, but I'm bit confused about the "wait for regular disembarkation". Why would I need to wait? I always thought they staggered disembarkation times because people have luggage, sometimes a lot of it, so they don't want everyone to try and grab their suitcases at the same time. But my luggage is with me, so I can just... walk off the ship at basically any time and not be in anyone's way, right? 

Officially, self-disembarkation happens first. You haven't specified but, assuming Iona since you are going to the Fjords, self-disembarkation has been between 7:30 and 8:15 on my last two Iona cruises. However, it has generally been possible to get off before this.

 

I've found self-disembarkation busier on Iona than any of the other ships due to the often younger demographic, although I do only travel during the holidays.

 

After self-disembarkation time, everyone is supposed to go to their allocated meeting points and be disembarked in groups. I have never tried to self-disembark after the allocated time to advice if this is possible but you no longer have to show your disembarkation papers as you did years ago when leaving the ship. 

[showingdiva]

I haven't self disembarked from a P&O ship, but have from Cunard and MSC, and the times to do so are quite early.   The ships tend to arrive at their scheduled times - it's all quite a choreographed ballet .. passengers need disembarking, stores need to be delivered, etc.   Your 9.30am train time is perfectly doable with self-disembarkation, but you will have to observe the time that P&O allocate.

 

However, my main reason for posting is that there are 4 large ships disembarking in Southampton on the 29th June - Iona, Ventura, MSC Virtuosa and Sky Princess.   Iona is at Ocean Terminal - even with "light" luggage, that's quite a walk, and irrespective of whether you walk or get a taxi that Southampton Central may be very busy that morning.

 

 

[grapau27]

41 minutes ago, MyriamS said:

Thanks for your feedback, but I'm bit confused about the "wait for regular disembarkation". Why would I need to wait? I always thought they staggered disembarkation times because people have luggage, sometimes a lot of it, so they don't want everyone to try and grab their suitcases at the same time. But my luggage is with me, so I can just... walk off the ship at basically any time and not be in anyone's way, right? 

If you are self disembarking normally you can just walk off usually around 7.30am.

On our last Iona cruise March 30th - April 6th there was 6500 passengers and almost 2000 first time cruisers.

There was an announcement the night before that if you were able to carry your own cases off the ship you should.

The result was thousands of people were self disembarking at 7.30am.

It is worth getting a taxi to the train station.

[tring]

50 minutes ago, MyriamS said:

Thanks for your feedback, but I'm bit confused about the "wait for regular disembarkation". Why would I need to wait? I always thought they staggered disembarkation times because people have luggage, sometimes a lot of it, so they don't want everyone to try and grab their suitcases at the same time. But my luggage is with me, so I can just... walk off the ship at basically any time and not be in anyone's way, right? 

 

Everyone will have a specific disembarkation slot and if you ask for self disembarkation, it will be early as others have said.  After that a lot of people will constantly be leaving the ship with just hand luggage.  Someone going through with more than the usual hand luggage will likely delay the movement of passengers off the ship at that time.  What P&O will do if you turn up then, I do not know, but you will not have been allocated that time slot, so in theory they could well ask you to wait until after the other groups have disembarked.  Does not seem to be a good idea to test that system imo if you want off the ship early.

 

I suggest you look at the route to the station from Ocean terminal on Google Earth street view and distance it on a map, to confirm if walking to the station is a good idea for you.  With four ships in port, taxis may not be so easy to find and roads in Southampton do get gridlocked at busy times, though an early self disembarkation may assist with missing the worst of the busy spell.

 

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, MyriamS said:

We will be arriving back in Southampton from our Norway cruise on Saturday 29th June. P&O is not telling us the arrival time, but travel agent websites says 7am. Is there any way to check this?

Assuming 7am is correct, I've read that it is possible to self-disembark from 7.30am onwards. Also that one needs to vacate their cabin as early as 8am. If true, we could leave our cabin at 8am, go for a quick buffet breakfast, self-disembark, and walk to Southampton station in plenty of time for the 9:30 service to London. We travel very very light so carrying our own bags off the ship and to the train station is no problem at all for us. 

Does this plan seem realistic? I understand that due to weather or other impossible to foresee circumstances, the ship might be several hours late. However, I see no off-peak train fares for Southampton to London and anytime fares are outrageously expensive. So we have to gamble with an Advance ticket. We could go later (our flight's not until 6pm, so we won't miss it either way) but I'd much rather do my waiting in central London rather than Southampton. 

 

If you self disembark then I think you have to leave the ship before normal disembarkation starts which can be as early as 8:00am.

[MyriamS]

@EM35 Yes, I'm indeed on Iona! I should have specified that in the first post.

 

We definitely won't be taking a taxi to the station. The distance is what I walk to get to work, so a very easy distance for me. As said in the original post, our amount of luggage truly is minimal. I have a small backpack and my boyfriend has a slightly larger one, but it still fits under the seat of an airplane. We won't be clogging the corridors with that! 

 

I have to admit, I found it quite funny when one post said "Disembarkation is a complex choreography, you have to do what P&O tells you" then the next one "People did what P&O told them (self-disembark at 7.30am) and that created huge chaos". Not blaming any of you for your advice, just reflecting that P&O does not seem to be managing this optimally!

 

Anyway, it seems a 9.30am train is absolutely doable (baring exceptional circumstances, like the ship being 2 hours late). I would wait and see what regular disembarkation slot we are allocated (I suppose we won't get any say in it?) and, if it is too late for our train, just go for the latest possible self-disembarkation slot.

 

 

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, MyriamS said:

Thanks for your feedback, but I'm bit confused about the "wait for regular disembarkation". Why would I need to wait? I always thought they staggered disembarkation times because people have luggage, sometimes a lot of it, so they don't want everyone to try and grab their suitcases at the same time. But my luggage is with me, so I can just... walk off the ship at basically any time and not be in anyone's way, right? 

To be clear, normal disembarkation doesn’t always start as soon as self disembarkation has finished. There can be a pause, for safety reasons, whilst the porters are moving large pallets of luggage around the luggage pick up hall. During this time, nobody is allowed off the ship. 
 

If you want to self disembark (which given your train time you will) then you cannot wander off at your leisure. You have to leave within the designated time slot (it’s at least a 30 minute window, but always early). The good news is that you don’t have to register for self disembarkation, so you could wait to see what disembarkation time you are allocated and then take a view, but if you wish to use normal disembarkation then you have to put your luggage outside your cabin as you go to bed the last night.

 

If you are travelling light and will be time limited, I would just self disembark as you are guaranteed not to have any delays in getting off the ship, trying to find luggage, getting through customs etc. We went on Iona in the August school holidays with 5,750 others and whilst the ship felt crowded, disembarkation was very good. One of our daughters decided to self disembark and was off the ship, collected her car and on the road by 7.30am. She was very impressed with it. 

[showingdiva]

30 minutes ago, MyriamS said:

 

I have to admit, I found it quite funny when one post said "Disembarkation is a complex choreography, you have to do what P&O tells you" then the next one "People did what P&O told them (self-disembark at 7.30am) and that created huge chaos". Not blaming any of you for your advice, just reflecting that P&O does not seem to be managing this optimally!

 

 

Not something P&O (or any other cruise line) can be blamed for not managing.   I work with cruise ships in my home port and we had a turnaround ship yesterday morning.   Nowhere near the size of Iona but still a tight schedule for everyone.   The point being made on this thread, is that if people just decide to do their own thing, when and where they want, it creates unnecessary pressure for staff on board the ship and ground services such as baggage handling and security off the ship.  

 

[MyriamS]

5 minutes ago, showingdiva said:

 

Not something P&O (or any other cruise line) can be blamed for not managing.   I work with cruise ships in my home port and we had a turnaround ship yesterday morning.   Nowhere near the size of Iona but still a tight schedule for everyone.   The point being made on this thread, is that if people just decide to do their own thing, when and where they want, it creates unnecessary pressure for staff on board the ship and ground services such as baggage handling and security off the ship.  

 

I have to disagree with you there. When you build a cruise ship the size of Iona, then you need to be able to manage a very large number of people getting on your ship, off your ship, and everything in between (meals, shows etc.) If self-disembarkation is very popular on Iona and it results in a huge stampede of people at 7:30 am, it's very much on the cruise line for telling everyone they could all leave the ship at that time, and not on the passengers. 

 

We definitely won't have any luggage to leave at our door, so normal disembarkation and self-disembarkation are the exact same process for us. The only difference is the time. Do they ask passengers for their preferences regarding disembarkation time (of course you're not guaranteed to get your preferred slot, but would be nice of them to ask), or is it all automatically allocated?  

[jh1809]

If there are going to be four ships disembarking that morning, then it might be a wise precaution to reserve your seats on the train in advance so you don't risk having to stand all the way up to Waterloo. A train at 9:30 is after the commuter rush, so wouldn't normally be that busy, but with four ships in it might be different.

[david63]

3 hours ago, Selbourne said:

They always get back on time,

That is not strictly correct. There have been instances when due to various circumstances the ship has been late docking. One instance that I recall was on Oriana some years back when she got stuck behind a slow moving cargo ship and dis not reach the dock until 11:30. There are several reports that due to bad weather ships have been late docking.

[Selbourne]

3 minutes ago, david63 said:

That is not strictly correct. There have been instances when due to various circumstances the ship has been late docking. One instance that I recall was on Oriana some years back when she got stuck behind a slow moving cargo ship and dis not reach the dock until 11:30. There are several reports that due to bad weather ships have been late docking.

It’s extremely rare though and I don’t think that the OP needs to worry about that with Iona. Oriana left P&O 5 years ago!

[Dorset cruise fan]

16 minutes ago, MyriamS said:

We definitely won't have any luggage to leave at our door, so normal disembarkation and self-disembarkation are the exact same process for us. The only difference is the time. Do they ask passengers for their preferences regarding disembarkation time (of course you're not guaranteed to get your preferred slot, but would be nice of them to ask), or is it all automatically allocated?  

You are allocated a time for disembarkation but there should be a message a few days before in the Horizon newsletter that if you have a specific request then you can arrange a time with the Reception desk. This worked well for us when we had a bus to catch but that was from a much smaller ship. We self disembarked from Iona last December and got stuck in a huge queue as they kept halting the self disembarkation to allow forklifts with luggage through.  Took nearly 40 minutes to get off.

[happy v]

If you didn't leave with self disembarkation. Latest probably 8am. You would then have to wait until, passengers with disabilities, priority group, and coach travellers left. Which would be too late for your train.

[terrierjohn]

3 hours ago, MyriamS said:

@EM35 Yes, I'm indeed on Iona! I should have specified that in the first post.

 

We definitely won't be taking a taxi to the station. The distance is what I walk to get to work, so a very easy distance for me. As said in the original post, our amount of luggage truly is minimal. I have a small backpack and my boyfriend has a slightly larger one, but it still fits under the seat of an airplane. We won't be clogging the corridors with that! 

 

I have to admit, I found it quite funny when one post said "Disembarkation is a complex choreography, you have to do what P&O tells you" then the next one "People did what P&O told them (self-disembark at 7.30am) and that created huge chaos". Not blaming any of you for your advice, just reflecting that P&O does not seem to be managing this optimally!

 

Anyway, it seems a 9.30am train is absolutely doable (baring exceptional circumstances, like the ship being 2 hours late). I would wait and see what regular disembarkation slot we are allocated (I suppose we won't get any say in it?) and, if it is too late for our train, just go for the latest possible self-disembarkation slot.

 

 

If you will only be carrying what appears to be hand luggage, then I doubt you will have any problem disembarking along with those passengers collecting their luggage in the luggage hall, just head for the gangway when you are ready.

[DamianG]

We’ve self disembarked Iona (albeit not at full capacity) and Arvia (a sold out school holidays cruise) with no problems either time. As others have pointed out it’s an early morning time slot and though there was a large queue around the Atrium both times it moved quickly. We joined the queue both times around 7:30am and were on the road home before 8am.
 

Just a general observation, on both occasions there were passengers in the self disembarkation queue without any luggage! They were being intercepted shore side and made to wait until the end of self disembarkation before being allowed to enter the baggage hall. 

Edited April 22 by DamianG

[MyriamS]

20 minutes ago, DamianG said:

We’ve self disembarked Iona (albeit not at full capacity) and Arvia (a sold out school holidays cruise) with no problems either time. As others have pointed out it’s an early morning time slot and though there was a large queue around the Atrium both times it moved quickly. We joined the queue both times around 7:30am and were on the road home before 8am.
 

Just a general observation, on both occasions there were passengers in the self disembarkation queue without any luggage! They were being intercepted shore side and made to wait until the end of self disembarkation before being allowed to enter the baggage hall. 

Hmm why? Did the staff suspect these passengers to be trying to "sneak in" early in the luggage hall by joining the self-disembarkation queue?

If so, I hope we won't be held back because it looks like we don't have enough luggage. We really have nothing more than 1 backpack each, as hard as it seems to believe for some people (last time we flew to the US, the check-in agent seemed flabbergasted by our lack of suitcases).

[AndyMichelle]

2 hours ago, MyriamS said:

 

If so, I hope we won't be held back because it looks like we don't have enough luggage. We really have nothing more than 1 backpack each, as hard as it seems to believe for some people (last time we flew to the US, the check-in agent seemed flabbergasted by our lack of suitcases).

Could you please tell my wife how you manage to travel so light... 😊

Your backpack wouldn't cover half the shoes she 'needs'... 

Only kidding of course, but it will baffle a lot of people who like to partake in formal nights etc. 

We were looking at booking a taxi to the port on Friday, but the app wouldn't let us book for 2 people with 4 cases... 🤷

 

Have a fantastic time. 

Andy 

[9265359]

2 hours ago, MyriamS said:

We really have nothing more than 1 backpack each, as hard as it seems to believe for some people (last time we flew to the US, the check-in agent seemed flabbergasted by our lack of suitcases).

 

We recently came back from Tenerife and was chatting to another couple in the airport on the same flight.

 

They had been there for five days and had a 20kg+ suitcase each plus a carry on suitcase each and they found it impossible to believe we just had a carry on bag each despite having been away for two months.

 

Anyway self-disembarkation, we have done it many times and have found that if we leave the ship just before normal disembarkation starts at 8am(ish) then there are very few other people leaving the ship at that time and it is quick and easy away, so there should be no reason not to be at the train station for a 9.30am train.

[Angel57]

14 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Could you please tell my wife how you manage to travel so light... 😊

Your backpack wouldn't cover half the shoes she 'needs'... 

Only kidding of course, but it will baffle a lot of people who like to partake in formal nights etc. 

We were looking at booking a taxi to the port on Friday, but the app wouldn't let us book for 2 people with 4 cases... 🤷

 

Have a fantastic time. 

Andy 

I suppose it depends how big the backpack is…..🤣

I can travel much lighter on a warmer cruise as opposed to going somewhere like Norway when every season is likely to be experienced and shoes are quite likely to still be wet the following morning if unlucky with the weather! But I agree with your wife in that the very minimum pairs of shoes “needed” on a cruise is 5 🤣🥾👠🥿👟🩴.

[MyriamS]

18 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Could you please tell my wife how you manage to travel so light... 😊

Your backpack wouldn't cover half the shoes she 'needs'... 

Only kidding of course, but it will baffle a lot of people who like to partake in formal nights etc. 

We were looking at booking a taxi to the port on Friday, but the app wouldn't let us book for 2 people with 4 cases... 🤷

 

Have a fantastic time. 

Andy 

We dress very simply. A weeks worth of clothes takes very little space and, if we're away for more than a week, we book accommodation with laundromats and wash and dry our clothes for a small fee.

One pair of sensible walking shoes per person. In the summer, I might slip in a pair of sandals but they hardly take any space.

No makeup. No fancy toiletries (my partner has a small tube of hand cream and I have a small bottle of conditioner). My partner also carries a basic medkit.

All books on Kindle. No other devices besides our smartphones and chargers except if on working holiday.

 

As mentioned earlier, both our bags fits under a airplane seat, though my partner is a tight squeeze so he uses the overhead bins if there is space left.

 

Formal clothes can be neatly folded, but classy shoes for men take up a lot of space, so we might give formal night a miss because of that. Why anyone would care about my partner's shoes when they will be hidden under the table for 95% of our dinner baffles me, but this seems to be the way on P&O.

 

Anyway, thank you for the advice, everyone. It seems on recent Iona cruises, the self-disembarkation slot was 7:30-8:15, so we will plan with that in mind.

[DamianG]

4 hours ago, MyriamS said:

Hmm why? Did the staff suspect these passengers to be trying to "sneak in" early in the luggage hall by joining the self-disembarkation queue?

If so, I hope we won't be held back because it looks like we don't have enough luggage. We really have nothing more than 1 backpack each, as hard as it seems to believe for some people (last time we flew to the US, the check-in agent seemed flabbergasted by our lack of suitcases).

 

The couple that were in front of us were carrying a single small bag. They were stopped by a steward in the terminal who asked where their luggage was. "We are going to collect it now" was their answer. At this point they were directed to a waiting area and advised that general disembarkation had not yet commenced as luggage was still being unloaded and moved to the baggage hall.

 

So they had either missed or deliberately chosen to ignore the disembarkation information that would have been left in their cabin for them to read.

 

I do not think you will have any problems self disembarking and if challenged you will be able to deminstrate that you are carrying all your luggage (if you really need to).

 

 

Edited April 22 by DamianG