southampton

[sannibop]

Hi I am trying to work out what's the best way to travel from scotland, to meet our cruise in southampton, could anyone tell me how far southampton airport is from the port.

thanks in advance

[dak]

Hi I am trying to work out what's the best way to travel from scotland, to meet our cruise in southampton, could anyone tell me how far southampton airport is from the port.

thanks in advance

 

 

About £15 taxi.

 

Remember your luggage restrictions when flying. Also it depends on the airport you are flying from. We no longer use Southampton since Fly (may)Be became the sole operators. Too many bad experiences and stories.

 

When flying, we now use LGW and take the train connection or LHR and take National Coaches.

 

The alternative is to drive down and stay at a hotel that includes car parking.

 

David

[old git]

is it not free coach travel from scotland????

[dak]

is it not free coach travel from scotland????

 

No, but even if it were, who would want to sit on a coach for that length of time?

 

David

[The Monocled Mutineer]

Travel the day before by car, train or coach and stay in a Southampton hotel for the night.

 

If you're minded to fly you may as well have booked a fly-cruise in the first place.

[forest_]

Derek,

Strange thing to say, why not travel via Narrow boat!!! I think the point is flying is faster and it allows them to join the ship at the point of embarkation ie. Southampton. Many people I know that live in Scotland, fly to Southampton or London to meet ships leaving from Southampton or Dover.

I take it you think that everyone living outside the UK to join a ship at Southampton should drive or use a train!!!

[CASPALL]

As regular cruisers from Scotland we usually travel from Aberdeen or Edinburgh with BA to Southampton. There are cheaper fares with other airlines but their luggage allowance is less.

To play it safe we travel down the night before and stay in a Southampton hotel.

 

We look forward to my husband retiring - then we will have the time to drive down to Southampton and not have to worry about the weight of our suitcases.

 

Caryl

[daiB]

Hi I am trying to work out what's the best way to travel from scotland, to meet our cruise in southampton, could anyone tell me how far southampton airport is from the port.

thanks in advance

 

 

 

Hi Sannibob,

 

How you travel depends on your circumstances. So here are a number of points to think about.

 

1. Have you the time to drive, you have to come the day before and it is a long way. We live in the north east and drive and it takes 6 to 8 hours depending on stops traffic etc. So from Scotland you can add 3+ hours to that.

 

2. You would have to come the day before and you may need 2 days to get home.

 

3. You have wear and tear on the car and the driver.

 

4. On the plus side you can carry as much luggage as you like, so the length of the cruise may be a factor!!

 

5. If you fly you can come the same day and the airport is 20 minutes away from the ship.

 

6. Would you risk flying the same day, delays do happen.

 

7. If you fly you have restrictions on luggage, not a good thing when going for a cruise.

 

8. You could go by train or bus, the latter direct to the ship with Eavesway, but you may have a journey to get to the pick up and it is a long coach journey!! By train you would have to change! Luggage is less of a problem with these options but with the train you would have to carry it yourself.

 

We drive from the North East and park at the port with CPS, free this year with the offer. This is the option which works for us.

 

Hope that helps.

 

 

 

 

:):)Happy Cruising:):)

 

 

:cool:

 

 

Dai

[sannibop]

Thank you for replies, when I booked the cruise,(its my first time), I thought oh we will just drive to southampton and park the car, like it was 5 minutes down the road, its only when I had mentioned to other people , I realised how far it was, I also booked online and didn't realise different options I could have had, but I have learned from my mistakes, and am also thankful for forums like this one, that I can get a lot of information, so as a result, we have decided to fly from glasgow early morning in case of delays ect.. and fly back home on the day of our return, we are only going for 1 week so the luggage should hopefully be ok!!!(incase my husband reads this).

 

thanks again

 

sannibop

[Globaliser]

As regular cruisers from Scotland we usually travel from Aberdeen or Edinburgh with BA to Southampton. There are cheaper fares with other airlines but their luggage allowance is less.

There is no BA any more on these routes - BA services were transferred to FlyBe. I think Eastern also flies to Edinburgh.

8. You could go by train or bus, the latter direct to the ship with Eavesway, but you may have a journey to get to the pick up and it is a long coach journey!! By train you would have to change! Luggage is less of a problem with these options but with the train you would have to carry it yourself.

I think that there is a direct train from Edinburgh, although that takes something like 7-8 hours. However, if the OP is coming from the Glasgow area, then there is still a bit of a hike to get there - effectively a change of transport of some kind.

[The Monocled Mutineer]

The beauty of sailing from Southampton (or Dover or Harwich) for UK residents is not having to fly.

[dak]

The beauty of sailing from Southampton (or Dover or Harwich) for UK residents is not having to fly.

 

Derek,

With respect, you liove in Hampshire!:)

 

David

[Globaliser]

The beauty of sailing from Southampton (or Dover or Harwich) for UK residents is not having to fly.

Given the choice between 10 hours in a car or on a train, and flying, I'd rather fly!

 

In fact, my tolerance for surface travel is much lower than that. Having had an unpleasant experience on Virgin Trains, I've vowed to fly between London and Manchester, even if it takes longer and costs more.

[jazzbabe]

:o Living as we do in Durham we find it less stressful to fly down the evening before by Flybe and stay at the Travelodge overnight.

To date,no problems with luggage & Travelodge now has a noon checkout .

 

Happy cruising:) :) :) :)

[The Monocled Mutineer]

If you want to fly why don't you book a fly cruise from your regional airport to Barcelona, Genoa, etc?

[dak]

If you want to fly why don't you book a fly cruise from your regional airport to Barcelona, Genoa, etc?

 

Perhaps a part of the attraction is the sea days before the first port and after the last port. It certainly is for me.

 

David

[forest_]

If you want to fly why don't you book a fly cruise from your regional airport to Barcelona, Genoa, etc?

 

I think you are missing the point :p . If you want to sail on a P&O ship you will have problem flying to Barcelona or Genoa i am sure your aware that the P&O fleet sail from Southampton with the odd fly cruise during winter and certain ships based in the Caribbean and of course the Grand Voyage (World Cruise) which you can join along the way.

.

[tom_uk]

Interesting discussion, and it raises points I hadn't considered: it really is a long way from Glasgow to the south coast of England,isn't it? From Sheffield I can get to Southampton in 4 to 5 hours, and it's a fairly easy drive (Dover is further and harder). But I suspect that Yorkshire is the furthest point from which Southampton could be called 'an easy drive'. Like others I wouldn't fancy the long coach drive, but (again, as others have said) flying to Southampton rather spoils the trip. You can see the point behind Fred Olsen's cruises from Newcastle, Liverpool, Edinburgh & Glasgow, can't you? (although Black Prince may not be everybody's cup of tea....)

 

My wife has pointed out that there is another possibility: drive, but split the drive. Get as far south as Lancashire or Staffs the evening beforehand; stay overnight in a Travelodge / Premier Inn; and then you've got a shorter and more manageable drive on the day of the cruise. Splitting the drive in two reduces the wear & tear on the driver, and of course allows you to take as much baggage as you want.

[dak]

My wife has pointed out that there is another possibility: drive, but split the drive. Get as far south as Lancashire or Staffs the evening beforehand; stay overnight in a Travelodge / Premier Inn; and then you've got a shorter and more manageable drive on the day of the cruise. Splitting the drive in two reduces the wear & tear on the driver, and of course allows you to take as much baggage as you want.

 

Sensible idea and one to which we will possibly revert. OTOH, driving to Southampton in one go does not really pose a problem and we have considered that with an overnight in Southampton at an hotel offering parking FOC for the duration of the cruise.

 

The problem with a direct flight to Southampton is that they are now operated by FlyBe whom, in my experience oner several flights, simply are not reliable at all, especially if the weather condition do not suit the aircraft. I understand that they are referred to by some agents as Fly MayBe.

 

David

[dak]

My wife has pointed out that there is another possibility: drive, but split the drive. Get as far south as Lancashire or Staffs the evening beforehand; stay overnight in a Travelodge / Premier Inn; and then you've got a shorter and more manageable drive on the day of the cruise. Splitting the drive in two reduces the wear & tear on the driver, and of course allows you to take as much baggage as you want.

 

Sensible idea and one to which we will possibly revert. OTOH, driving to Southampton in one go does not really pose a problem and we have considered that with an overnight in Southampton at an hotel offering parking FOC for the duration of the cruise.

 

The problem with a direct flight to Southampton is that they are now operated by FlyBe whom, in my experience over several flights, simply are not reliable at all especially if the weather condition do not suit the aircraft. I understand that they are referred to by some agents as Fly MayBe.

 

David

[daiB]

Interesting discussion, and it raises points I hadn't considered: it really is a long way from Glasgow to the south coast of England,isn't it? From Sheffield I can get to Southampton in 4 to 5 hours, and it's a fairly easy drive (Dover is further and harder). But I suspect that Yorkshire is the furthest point from which Southampton could be called 'an easy drive'. Like others I wouldn't fancy the long coach drive, but (again, as others have said) flying to Southampton rather spoils the trip. You can see the point behind Fred Olsen's cruises from Newcastle, Liverpool, Edinburgh & Glasgow, can't you? (although Black Prince may not be everybody's cup of tea....)

 

My wife has pointed out that there is another possibility: drive, but split the drive. Get as far south as Lancashire or Staffs the evening beforehand; stay overnight in a Travelodge / Premier Inn; and then you've got a shorter and more manageable drive on the day of the cruise. Splitting the drive in two reduces the wear & tear on the driver, and of course allows you to take as much baggage as you want.

 

We go 'all the way' if we have a full day. It is a 6/7 hour drive with plenty of stops so an 08.00 start gets us in mid afternoon. I must be odd cos I enjoy the drive.

 

If my wife has to work the day before I pick her up from work at about 16.00 and we drive to Newbury in about 5 hours with a stop and stay at the Hilton. In the morning it is an easy 1 hour drive to the port.

 

Going home we usually do it all in a day with plenty of stops.

 

As I said above it suits us or rather me.

 

 

:):)Happy Cruising:):)

 

 

:cool:

 

Dai

[daiB]

This computer/site/telephone/desk is going crazy. I could not see the above so I posted again. Ahh well.

 

 

:):)Happy Cruising:):)

 

 

 

:cool:

 

Dai

[Globaliser]

If you want to fly why don't you book a fly cruise from your regional airport to Barcelona, Genoa, etc?

Although I personally don't need to fly to Southampton, I can see two good reasons. Flying to Barcelona or Genoa is not much good if your ship is sailing from Southampton. And cruises that start from Barcelona or Genoa heading for places like Norway or Iceland are a bit thin on the ground.

[supered]

We are flying to Southampton the day before our cruise on Ventura in October. The main reason is that it is the respositioning to Barbabdos and we've opted to fly back to Gatwick. This gives us the best option to get back to Edinburgh. As we have a flight at the end we need to restrict our baggage anyway. With FlyBe's 10kg hand baggage allowance and 20kg hold allowance we can just about cope, especially as there are no informal nights. As for the reliabilty of FlyBe I don't see much of an issue, especially in the Summer. But I did have a delay for 5 hours until 1am at Birmingham once! This is one of the reasons we would always travel the day before the ship's departure. Other than that they've been fine and no less reliable than other airlines I could mention.

 

If we were going roundtrip from Southampton we would definately drive and park the car as we would need more luggage for extra formal and informal nights. I don't think it's an issue, even with an 8 hour drive, as we drive to Norfolk a few times a year. From Edinburgh Southampton is a longer distance but a shorter drive than to Norfolk. What a difference decent roads makes!

 

Have a great cruise! :)

 

Eddie

[alibail]

I live just outside Glasgow and go to university in Southampton. I drove down yesterday (Sunday) and it took me just under 7 hours - admittedly very tiring.

Having had a load of experience with them, If you're flying with flymaybe, I would really suggest going the morning of the day before, at least that way they can transfer you onto a later flight, or a flight the next day :)