Earliest One Can Arrive at Southampton Cruise Terminals

We are due to embark Braemar in Southampton on 7th November and have booked in to the Travelodge pre cruise and they do not store luggage after their midday check out time. Hence we will need to wait in their bar cafe or go to the terminal early, (currently showing as the QEII terminal). Travelodge bar cafes do not have any more appeal than cruise terminals from our point of view, so we are thinking we have perhaps gone too cheap on hotel this time!

Does anyone know what the earliest time is that we can arrive at the terminal, even if check in has not opened? I know in Liverpool they usually take luggage soon after midday, but we then disappear into town from there. The QEII terminal looks like a taxi job though, so no easy escape once there and luggage checked in.

We are gold Oceans members and are booked freedom fare for our deck 6 cabin, so we should have a nippy embarkation once things get going. We always check that the ship has arrived that morning and embarkation expected to go to schedule.

We are due to embark Braemar in Southampton on 7th November and have booked in to the Travelodge pre cruise and they do not store luggage after their midday check out time. Hence we will need to wait in their bar cafe or go to the terminal early, (currently showing as the QEII terminal). Travelodge bar cafes do not have any more appeal than cruise terminals from our point of view, so we are thinking we have perhaps gone too cheap on hotel this time!

 

Does anyone know what the earliest time is that we can arrive at the terminal, even if check in has not opened? I know in Liverpool they usually take luggage soon after midday, but we then disappear into town from there. The QEII terminal looks like a taxi job though, so no easy escape once there and luggage checked in.

 

We are gold Oceans members and are booked freedom fare for our deck 6 cabin, so we should have a nippy embarkation once things get going. We always check that the ship has arrived that morning and embarkation expected to go to schedule.

I would go around to the terminal at midday if it were me. Although boarding is unlikely to start before 2 pm there is a selection of interesting free magazines in the waiting hall which should keep you occupied.

Don't forget that suite cabins now take priority over Oceans gold although it doesn't make lot of difference given the small number. Don't think that there is free wifi at QEII terminal.

We've had a couple of pre-cruise stays in the Holiday Inn at Winchester where car parking is included along with coach transfers to and from the terminal. We check the suitcases in at the hotel and we don't see them until we get to our cabin. They usually get us to the terminal by 11 am so there is quite a wait before passenger check in opens. At least you can buy coffee and sandwiches at the QEII terminal and there are lots of magazines to read. But we usually go with friends so the time passes very quickly. Sadly the days of free coffee for gold members has long gone.

Thanks for those replies. Shame about the wifi - it would have been handy as that is very limited in Travelodges as well.

As long as the terminal is normally accessible at that time, then we can have a leisurely check out and order a taxi for 12.15pm or so. Are they likely to be taking luggage by then?

We have stayed at the Holiday Inn by the docks, (on loyalty points), for our last couple of Southampton departures, but are running out of points and we need two nights so my husband can nip over to Gosport and check on his elderly mother while we are there. That Holiday Inn is great as we get a room overlooking the north docks, which looks really nice at night and we have been able to see our ships the next morning as they have been moored in the more northerly docks. Their loyalty club got us a 2pm check out and free wifi as well.

We have taken to coming down by train and having one big bag taken down by the baggage handling company, and this time we have no option as we will be flying back to Manchester.

Cheers and thanks again,

Barbara

Yes, they will be keen to take your luggage at 12.15pm.

Yes, they will be keen to take your luggage at 12.15pm.

That's great,

Thanks again

Hi Barbara in January this year we walked down to the Mayflower terminal at 11.00 and they said you can bring luggage now. I was a little wary it would go missing so we did go back about 2.00 by taxi. I haven't decided whether to use Baggage Handling or not. I have never had any problems with them. In January this year we got train direct but this year because it is Sunday we have to change at Birmingham so lugging 2 cases is a problem. Flying back into Manchester, like you, just have to watch weight allowance. Have you decided what to do in Lisbon, i know you said you wanted to do something different. I think we will have time to visit Estoril and Sintra. I hope to do this. Carolyn

We have delivered our main luggage to terminals walkable of the Holiday Inn a couple of times soon after midday or so, then returned to have another coffee and pick up our hand luggage.

I have started a roll call since I am obviously not the only poster on that cruise, but we are planning to go to Sintra as we have such a long day. We got our train tickets to Southampton online a couple of days ago to go down on the 5th - the cheap advance tickets have just been released. We have changed at Wolverhampton before (from Liverpool) which was easy, but are going through London this time as the tickets are half the price. We will only have our smallest suitcase + hand luggage, so the case is DH's problem to transport. No direct trains from Liverpool.

We have used the Baggage handling Company a couple of times with a couple of snags, but should be OK if you allow an extra day in case they miss a pick up. I would not let them pick up on a Friday either as they do not collect at weekends - we had probs last time, but their labels gave the name of the courier and we were able to find their phone number online and ring them after BH office had closed. Case eventually picked up about 7pm. Bag was a bit battered on the return from Dover in May this year, but not bad enough to claim (as you would expect from an airport or a ship at times). Other times the bag has been perfect. They have a max size of 25 kgs, but we have never been much over 20kgs.

Barbara

Have you thought about late checkout? Its only an extra £10 till 2.00pm.

Have you thought about late checkout? Its only an extra £10 till 2.00pm.

I see your point and it could have been worthwhile to have somewhere to store the luggage for another couple of hours if it was a port that we wanted to look round, but the main shopping centre in Southampton does not appeal that much to us. We will only have one hard plastic chair between both of us in a Travelodge room, so staying there is less appealing than our other options.

We could trundle our case round the corner into High Street and take up residence in a local pub for a while if embarkation is to be delayed, but otherwise we will likely just go to the terminal or stay in the bar cafe at the hotel.

Does anyone know if we will need to book a taxi the day before in Southampton, or can we just ring half an hour before we want to be picked up? There are about four ships in port that day.