Transfers to/from Southampton

Can someone provide information about the best way (without taking a train) to get from a London hotel to Southampton and from the ship to Heathrow airport? I noticed the Southampton Shuttle transfer, a small, shared shuttle - 67 pounds from London hotel to Southampton and 62 pounds from the port to Heathrow. Is this the best option? Does Princess offer a transfer from the ship to the airport? I couldn't find it listed anywhere on their website, not even as a shore excursion option.

Also, any ideas about getting from Heathrow to a London hotel?

Princess does offer transfers from the ship to Heathrow. You should be able to select the option in your cruise personalizer, or call Princess to add that to your booking.

We used the Princess transfers from Heathrow to Southampton as well, cannot help with specifics on a transfer from London proper to Southampton other than to note that Princess does offer a transfer, but I am not sure where they do the pick up. Again, a phone call to Princess to book it could result in the needed info.

Princess does offer transfers in either direction and it is by far the easiest and most seamless way of going. However, we have also used the National Express several times as well and it works very good.....the only wrinkle is that you need to take a cab from the Southampton Coach station to the pier or your hotel and in most cases it runs about £10. The National Express tends to be less expensive than rail or a Princess transfer.

http://www.nationalexpress.com/en/airports/heathrow-airport.aspx

Can someone provide information about the best way (without taking a train) to get from a London hotel to Southampton and from the ship to Heathrow airport? I noticed the Southampton Shuttle transfer, a small, shared shuttle - 67 pounds from London hotel to Southampton and 62 pounds from the port to Heathrow. Is this the best option? Does Princess offer a transfer from the ship to the airport? I couldn't find it listed anywhere on their website, not even as a shore excursion option.

 

Also, any ideas about getting from Heathrow to a London hotel?

we use 24/7airporttransfers. Direct from hotel to cruise terminal quite reasonable

We always use Smithtotheairport.com private care service. Can reserve on line, pay on day of service in BP, professional, relieable... worth the costs for us with luggage, feel we arrive after a nice relaxing drive.

To London to Southampton: check on line for "Smiths for Airports" They have private car service.

Fr Southampton to airport: A private car service can also be used or you can use the Princess transfer.

There are other car services on line also

I have used http://www.justairports.com from Heathrow to our London hotel, a private car service.

Princess has a London transfer from Victoria Coach Station. National Express coach uses the same coach station.

Check out Cruise Critic Port of Call - Britain for great information.

We always use a private car service. While it may be more expensive than some options it is just a whole lot easier and more comfortable. Given the overall cost of a trip this is just one more small component.

What time does your flight leave Heathrow on the return trip? Is it late enough to fit in a tour that day?

I used Blackberry Cars, a car service. It was a good experience. They picked up at the hotel and delivered us right to the ship.

We used the Princess transfer from London to Southampton last summer (July 2015). We left from the Victoria Coach Station in London. The instructions advised us to arrive at the coach station at a specific time - maybe 30 min before the bus was scheduled to leave. What we didn't realize was that there were many buses and they didn't all leave at the time on our instructions from Princess.

My advice (if you decide to use the Princess transfer) would be to arrive earlier than they suggest. Arriving at the suggested time put us in the absolute last bus to leave the station. We had to sit around and wait (I think we waited about an hour and a half) while they loaded up each bus. Our luggage traveled in a separate large cargo truck/trailer to the ship.

Princess transfer from Central London is at Victoria Coach Station. Much cheaper than at www.londontoolkit.com. '

Cheaper option is the train at Waterloo station but needs to take taxi from Southampton station to terminal.

We're fans of National Express. It's a short cab ride from the bus terminal to the ship and back. We've never had any problems with the buses. They even accomdated my wheelchair the year I broke my ankle a week before we left for the cruise.

We're fans of National Express. It's a short cab ride from the bus terminal to the ship and back. We've never had any problems with the buses. They even accomdated my wheelchair the year I broke my ankle a week before we left for the cruise.

This is the way to go especially if you catch one of their 5 or 10£ specials. You leave from the same bus station as princess does so your cab to their is the same. The bus driver loads your luggage underneath and you have a single pickup stop on the way. A quick cab to your from their terminal in Southampton. Best of all when we did it we met other cruisers on the bus and shared a taxi van to the dock. This bus leaves on a timed schedule, princess will wait to fill its bus.

For our return to Heathrow airport from the ship, we signed up for a tour to Stonehenge through Princess that ended up at the airport. We really enjoyed seeing Stonehenge and it was a convenient way to end up at the airport. For this tour, our luggage traveled with us in the belly of the bus.

We used the Princess transfer from London to Southampton last summer (July 2015). We left from the Victoria Coach Station in London. The instructions advised us to arrive at the coach station at a specific time - maybe 30 min before the bus was scheduled to leave. What we didn't realize was that there were many buses and they didn't all leave at the time on our instructions from Princess.

 

My advice (if you decide to use the Princess transfer) would be to arrive earlier than they suggest. Arriving at the suggested time put us in the absolute last bus to leave the station. We had to sit around and wait (I think we waited about an hour and a half) while they loaded up each bus. Our luggage traveled in a separate large cargo truck/trailer to the ship.

Good to know as we will be using the Princess transfer from Victoria Coach Station this July - thanks

For our return to Heathrow airport from the ship, we signed up for a tour to Stonehenge through Princess that ended up at the airport. We really enjoyed seeing Stonehenge and it was a convenient way to end up at the airport.

Do you happen to know the approximate time the earliest coaches leave the Southampton port on disembarkation day? We will need to be on the earliest one that morning to Gatwick.

Heathrow is 60 miles from Southampton. Victoria Coach station is about 20 miles in the other direction, so it makes no sense to trek all the way there to get a transfer back to Southampton - unless you are planning to spend a day or two sightseeing in London.

National Express Coaches pick up right at the terminals in Heathrow airport, and head straight down the freeway to Southampton, with a couple of stops at towns on the way. The trip takes about two hours, and there is an onboard toilet. The coach terminus in Southampton is about a ten minutes' cab ride to the cruise terminal. You can buy a ticket for the coach when you arrive at Heathrow, but you'll get a much cheaper ticket if you book in advance.

To catch the train, you need to get on a bus to Woking. The train is faster, but by the time you mess around with waiting for the bus, getting off the bus, waiting for the train etc, you might as well just get the National Express coach all the way!

There are coach tours that combine airport transfer with the chance to see some sights:

https://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/heathrow_southampton.htm

Do you happen to know the approximate time the earliest coaches leave the Southampton port on disembarkation day? We will need to be on the earliest one that morning to Gatwick.

The Princess website says the earliest acceptable flight from Gatwick is 12.30pm.

That seems late, but perhaps they are transferring via Victoria Coach Station, as another poster says they do for Heathrow? If so, it's a terribly roundabout way to do it and it would take a long time. Victoria Coach Station is 30 miles beyond Gatwick - so you'll be wasting a lot of time going way, way past Gatwick and then have to take a train back!

You could look at taking a National Express coach. The coach station is only a ten minute cab ride from the cruise terminal and the earliest coach leaves at 6.50 am and will drop you right at the terminal at Gatwick at 9.30am.

Curious as to why you are averse to taking a train. Because the price you quoted for that private shared shuttle service (assuming per person, not total) is double the price of the fast train from London Waterloo to Southampton Central which takes only 1 hour 20 minutes and is only a few minutes cab ride from the ship. And the stopping train from London Victoria to Southampton Central offers advance purchase tickets for the same price as National Express coach for a far, far more comfortable ride.

Princess absolutely offers its own coach service from Victoria Coach Station to the ship, and from the ship to Heathrow. If you don't purchase it at booking you can sign up for it through your cruise personalizer. The distance may seem about the same but the time from central London to Southampton will be 2.5 hours versus 1.5 hours to Heathrow strictly due to traffic. And if you do not arrive at Victoria Coach Station a good hour earlier than the time suggested by Princess you may not make the first coach leaving you to wait until a gate opens for the second coach in a cramped un-air conditioned station with very little seating.

Curious as to why you are averse to taking a train. Because the price you quoted for that private shared shuttle service (assuming per person, not total) is double the price of the fast train from London Waterloo to Southampton Central ...

 

Princess absolutely offers its own coach service from Victoria Coach Station to the ship

I live in Southampton, which is 60 miles south of London. Both Heathrow and Gatwick are also south of London, and are 20 to 30 miles away from Waterloo/Victoria.

So, if people are going to travel into London to get their transfers, they'll be travelling 20 or 30 miles AWAY from Southampton to reach their starting point. And they'll have to pay for a train or bus to do that, and waste an hour or so's travel.

If people want to take the train from Heathrow, they can take the Rail Express bus to Woking and pick up the fast train there. If they want to take a train from Gatwick, the train station is right in the terminal, and they then change at Reading for the fast Southampton train.

But if people are worried about getting lost at train stations, struggling with luggage etc, then the simplest option is the National Express coach service, which picks up at the airport and drops off at Southampton Coach Station, which is a few minutes' cab ride from the cruise terminal (or a 20-minute walk if you're feeling energetic).

So, if people are going to travel into London to get their transfers, they'll be travelling 20 or 30 miles AWAY from Southampton to reach their starting point. And they'll have to pay for a train or bus to do that, and waste an hour or so's travel.

The OP asked specifically about transport from a central London hotel to the ship in Southampton. That is what I was responding to, not to the thread hijack from a different poster asking about transport from the ship to Gatwick.

I suggested they reconsider eschewing train service as given they are starting from central London and not Heathrow it would be both faster and less expensive than the shared shuttle service they found. But if they are train averse due to the need for assistance with their luggage, they won't get it from either the train or the Princess coach from Victoria; in both circumstances they have to haul their luggage through the station to their gate. But a door-to-door private car service should run 90-100 pounds and would obviously be better than a shared shuttle at 62-67 pounds per person.

The OP asked specifically about transport from a central London hotel to the ship in Southampton. That is what I was responding to, not to the thread hijack from a different poster asking about transport from the ship to Gatwick.

Yes, but they have to go back to Heathrow, not London, at the end of the cruise and they were also asking about that.

I agree, I would always choose the train for the London-Southampton run as it's by far the fastest and most reliable. ALL the other options, (private operator, Princess or National Express) have to use the highly congested roads out of London - and while in theory it should take about two hours, it only takes an accident or some roadworks and the trip can easily extend to three hours or even four!

The only thing to be aware of is that you MUST book your train tickets in advance. If you don't, they can be very expensive. It's easy to book the tickets on thetrainline.com

The OP asked specifically about transport from a central London hotel to the ship in Southampton. That is what I was responding to, not to the thread hijack from a different poster asking about transport from the ship to Gatwick.

 

Yep that hijacking "different poster" was me - sorry:o

I live in Southampton, which is 60 miles south of London. .

Hello from OZ,

What's the best solution travelling from Southampton to St Pancras International for the Eurostar?

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