Train after disembarkation in Southampton?

We should be ok self disembarking as we are catching the train to Gatwick to fly out to the ship. Hubby will be pleased as it will mean no shopping!!

We should be ok self disembarking as we are catching the train to Gatwick to fly out to the ship. Hubby will be pleased as it will mean no shopping!!

Can't blame him for being pleased! Gatwick does have a wide array of duty free, however ;)

I think you ought to catch cruise connect. They are directly linked to P&O so if there are any delays caused by P&O (which there shouldn't be but you never know) the coach should wait for you. I'm quite the advocate for taking the train but I would only do so if there was a lot of time built in for delays.

Dan

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... and it's free, isn't it, on the repositioning cruises?

I think the coach is only free to take you back to the airport you flew from? (Gatwick in our case) but it is quicker for us to either catch the train straight home (only 1 change) or pay to use the cruise connect service then pay for a taxi home from where the coach drops us off(about 14 miles away)

We usually go by cruise connect when it is part of the Select Fare but thought we may try the train?

I always catch the 9.47 to the north east after self disembarking. I wait until about ten to eight when there is no queue. And I ring West Quay cabs once we're in Southampton so that my cab is waiting when I get off; I do this because once there were large numbers of crew jumping the taxi queue and it took half an hour to get one.

I've only ever missed the train once when Oceana docked late; just had to bite the bullet ad buy a ticket for the later train. But that's once in 18 cruises and 13 years!

Thanks Clodia.Thats encouraging to hear.We want to catch the 9 47 train as well.:):)

When we went on ventura we had breakfast and disembarked at 0800 we got to the station by 0900 so you should have plenty of time ☺

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Thanks Toadie. Thats encouraging to hear:)

Toadie57 Just noticed you are on same roll call as us(Britannia translantic)in March. Will you be travelling home from Southampton by train this time?

Ann:)

Toadie57 Just noticed you are on same roll call as us(Britannia translantic)in March. Will you be travelling home from Southampton by train this time?

 

Ann:)

Hi no we are leaving car at Gatwick so will be getting the coach back

Sarah :)

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We have now booked our (very) cheap advance train tickets so are keeping our fingers crossed for a smooth disemarkation!!:)

We have thrice got the train. Book a train around 9.30 ish , into Waterloo and home in Bromley by 1230. Easy Peasy.

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We've used the train to get back from Southampton a few times. It went wrong once. We were on a Fred Olsen cruise and the ship was late docking - rough seas in the Channel (it was in December). Anyway, we arrived at the station just about in time to see our train's tail-lights disappearing around the curve...

We'd bought Advance tickets so we had to buy new ones. "Two singles to Sheffield, please" I said through gritted teeth. "Certainly sir! - that'll be £175" was the reply.....

Our tickets (both sets) were for a Cross Country Trains service between Sheffield and Southampton. On reflection, it would have been worth it to buy a second set of tickets - singles at least - for the return journey, and write off the cost as "insurance" if we didn't need them. On other occasions we've travelled via London and had advance returns on the East Midlands train between Sheffield and St. P. but bought off-peak returns between Southampton and London. Then we've allowed ourselves enough time in London to make sure we got the train for which we had an Advance return. That's worked well, several times.

Thank you for your comments Tomuk.

I am hoping that in our 10 previous cruises because we have never docked late it means that even if it happens very occasionally the money we hopefully will have saved from buying advance train tickets will more than cover the cost of the occasional very expensive fare!! Now that we have our senior railcards it will make more of a difference and be slightly less painful if we are unlucky!

We also like the fact that on the 9 46 train we only have to change at Derby rather than Birmingham.I don t fancy dragging a suitcase via London!

Ann:)

The point about luggage through London is very valid. The last time we did this via London we actually used the Bag Carrying Company to deliver a big bag to Southampton - we travelled with carry-on bags only. So yes, that's a good point.

(That should of course be "The Baggage Handling Company" in the post above. We had a good experience with them.)