First time cruise advice

Hi All,myself and My wife are going on Brittania at the end of September for our Silver anniversary.Can anyone tell me how long it normally takes to disembark as I need to book our train tickets from Southampton to London.

Cheers,Andy

Hi, I am just back my first cruise which was on Britannia. You can do an express checkout but you have to carry all your own luggage from cabin to wherever you are going, so instead of sitting it out your cabin door on the last night just have it packed and keep it in the cabin, the process took me no longer than 15 min

Hi All,myself and My wife are going on Brittania at the end of September for our Silver anniversary.Can anyone tell me how long it normally takes to disembark as I need to book our train tickets from Southampton to London.

 

Cheers,Andy

You can request self disembarkation which is what Whitelaw87 refers to. You can disembark from about 7.30 but have to manage all your own luggage. You can request an early/the earliest organised disembarkation time, there will be a quite a large group of you, but once the group is called and you get moving it is usually really quick. The slowest bit (apart from waiting in a lounge for your time to be called) is looking for your suitcase in the baggage hall - they are not always logically organised/all your cases together. I think the longest it's taken us was about 20 minutes from ship to car.

I think the earliest regular (not self) disembarkation is about 9.15. You will have the chance to request your time, at Reception, probably 3 days before getting back to Southampton.

Do you need to book a time for your train? Could you not get an open return, taking all the time pressure off - you can just disembark when you disembark, taxi to the station and take the first Waterloo-bound train

Thanks for your reply's,Eddie we need to meet our connection from London to Glasgow so we would need to be away by a certain time,I could still get and open return from southampton though then I won't be worrying about being late,as long as we have enough time to get to London.

Also I have read that you can't take an iron on board,does that mean there are some available to use?

Sorry if this is a silly question but this is all new to us :)

Andy

Andy,

Why not consider the train to Glasgow via Birmingham. Saves humping luggage on the underground.

No need to take an iron. There are self service laundrettes with washers, dryers and irons. Free to use except you have to provide the detergent, which you can buy on board or take your own.

Brian

Hi Brian,cheers for that,I will have a look at train prices,I take we can go from Birmingham to Southampton?

Andu

Hi Brian,cheers for that,I will have a look at train prices,I take we can go from Birmingham to Southampton?

 

Andu

Yes, runs every hour.

Brian

Hi Andy

Southampton to Birmingham New Street (Cross Country) - Glasgow (Virgin)

Job done!

Enjoy your cruise and Happy Anniversary

Pete

If you do self disembarkation you can get off from around 7.15, but have to be off by 8am.

On the last day the waiter served restaurants have two fixed time sittings, usually a 7.30 and an 8.30.

I find it perfect to go for the earlier sitting, rather than suffer the nightmare that is the buffet restaurant. Then off the ship at 8.

Occasionally I have found the lift to the baggage hall has been taken out of used by crew for some purpose, but it just means wheeling my bag down the ramps, which is no problem.

There appears to be almost nobody else disembarking at that time, so straight through the baggage hall and out to a taxi. There are always a few taxis waiting, so no queue and jump straight in, and off (in my case to the coach station).

It is an awful lot better than kicking your heels waiting for a time slot to leave.

Thanks all for your reply's/suggestions,I'm pretty sure it will all work out,just want to make sure I have covered everything.

One other thing,I see there is wi-fi on board,is it free or is there a charge and can you connect to it in your cabin?

Andy

Yes there is wifi and you can connect in your cabin or anywhere else on the ship. However it is vey expensive and slow.

Brian