gumshoe958

Bear in mind Southampton to Tilbury is 120 miles, so at least a two-and-a-half hour drive (more if the M25 motorway is jammed up which it often is) and I wouldn’t expect much change from £200, if any.

Because of their size, O-class are limited in the ports they can visit. They’re too big for Greece or the Adriatic so they’re pretty much limited to the western Med circuit.

To add - it might make more sense to stay at Gatwick rather than Southampton the night before your flight. There are plenty of airport hotels, and it would mean a later start without the worry of delays on the roads or trains.

Southampton to Gatwick is a 2 hour journey by train or car and you’ll presumably want to be at the airport by around 9. The train would be cheapest - direct services leave Southampton Central at 6.08 (arrive 8.12) or 7.12 (arrive 9.09). (This is Mon-Sat. There is no viable train option on a Sunday.) Otherwise it’s a taxi or private car transfer but I would expect that to cost £150-200 and take around the same time - maybe longer if the traffic’s bad, which it often is.

The fast train from Dover to London St Pancras takes just over an hour and runs every hour, so it’s entirely doable as long as the ship’s in port long enough. The problem is choosing what to see in London. It’s a huge place and the sights are very spread out, so you won’t even scratch the surface in a day. It’s one city where a HOHO bus tour is worth considering.

It’s doable, but you have very little margin for error if there are any delays in disembarking. You’d really need to be in a cab by 7.30 at the latest. Much depends on your attitude to risk and the implications of missing your flight. But no, I wouldn’t anticipate any customs or immigration delays unless the UK Border Force is doing random spot checks, which it occasionally does.

So true. And why I never, ever, sail P&O.

Tipping isn’t mandatory or expected like it is in the US. But if you must, £1 a bag is fine.

Very easy walk, even with luggage. It’s half a mile, so 10-15 minutes.

Tram #26. You’ll see the stop just across the street that runs past the terminal. You need the stop on the side of the tracks nearest the terminal. The #26 is the only tram that serves that stop so you can’t go wrong. They run every 7-10 minutes. Alternatively just walk - it’s only 10-15 minutes.

Yes, hotel prices everywhere have shot up since Covid but in Amsterdam they’re off the scale this summer. The convenience and simplicity of the trains actually make Schiphol and neighbouring Hoofddorp a very attractive proposition as the Doubletree next to Centraal station is in no way worth the €384 it’s charging for a random Saturday night in July. But people are clearly paying, so …

Train from Southampton to Windsor is a bit slow but not complicated at all - just one easy transfer at London Waterloo. Southampton to Waterloo and Waterloo to Windsor & Eton Riverside both run every 30 minutes. Total journey time about 2 hrs 30 min each way. Alternatively rent a car, there’s a couple of places in town near the cruise terminals or a wider selection at the airport which is a 5 minute train or 20 minute cab ride from the city centre.

This number is allegedly open for 6 more minutes (8pm UK, midday PST): +44 3717 81 81 81 Failing that it will reopen at 8am UK, midnight PST.

There is a 9:45am service which still has 2 seats available so you could call up and ask to be moved on to that one.

Yes, the US requires you to reclaim your baggage and clear customs and passport control at the port of entry before re-checking it for your onward flight. The procedure in the UK and EU is different.

As long as you’re booked on one ticket from Copenhagen to Chicago, your luggage will be checked through regardless of whether you transfer in London or the EU and you won’t have to retrieve and re-check it. If you choose Heathrow, you’ll be able to stay airside and won’t have to clear passport control. You will have to clear security again, and you may have to change terminals depending on which airline(s) you use, but that’ll be by bus and you’ll stay airside.

I suspect you mean the army were standing in for Border Force if you were arriving. Completely separate to security, which affects departing passengers.

In the UK there is a long-running series of train strikes which do cause major disruption, but for cruisers there are always alternatives to get to/from Southampton, London or Heathrow so there’s no huge cause for concern. And the law requires unions to give at least two weeks’ notice of a strike so there’s always time to make new plans. There is a separate series of strikes by security personnel at Heathrow. These, up till now, haven’t caused any major problems for travellers as they’ve only affected Terminal 5 (British Airways) and the airport has just moved staff around to cover striking workers. However the next wave of strikes, starting on June 24 and spanning 31 days across the summer, will involve more staff and also affect Terminal 3 (American, Delta, Virgin) so it’s possible there may be more of an impact. How much, we just don’t know. But certainly one to be aware of if you’re due to fly out of Heathrow in June, July or August.

1. There may be a limit on the number of advance tickets they sell, and they will go up in price as time goes on, but you’ll always be able to buy a full price ticket and get on a train. They’re commuter trains and there are no reserved seats, even if you buy an advance ticket that ties you to a specific service. Many trains on that route start at Salisbury (others start further west) so you’d be unlucky not to get a seat but worst case scenario is you’d have to stand. You’ll definitely get on a train though.

Cheaper alternative - National Express coach from Southampton to Heathrow (every couple of hours), then British Airways or Air France to Paris CDG (frequent flights on proper jets), then train or cab to Marne la Vallee.

You can try but I suspect many local Uber drivers wouldn’t accept the job as it’s a long way and they‘d have to return to Southampton empty after dropping you off. So best to pre-book. West Quay is another popular Southampton-based firm, or there’s Blackberry at the Heathrow end. Prices seem to be in the £150-200 ballpark these days.

All true, but the issue with cruises is that many of those on board won’t have a British or Irish passport and the cruise line must be able to satisfy the authorities that everyone disembarking at each port is entitled to enter the relevant country. The alternative would be a passport/ID check for every passenger at every port which would be expensive and time-consuming, so it’s all done behind the scenes and the easiest way for the cruise line to comply is to require that everyone has a passport. In addition, there’s always the risk of an unscheduled diversion and if the ship had to call unexpectedly in France or Belgium there would be a big issue if not everyone had a passport.

Will you have checked luggage? If not, and if your passport entitles you to use the E-gates at the UK border, you could easily make plane to train in 20 minutes. If you will have checked luggage, obviously you’ll have to factor in more time to collect it. Whichever terminal you arrive at (T4 for KLM, T5 for BA) you need to catch the Heathrow Express or Elizabeth line train to Heathrow Central. Four times an hour from T4, six from T5. Journey time about 5 minutes. It is free but you need a ticket from the machines to operate the barriers to & from the platforms. It’s then about a 10 minute walk underground to T2 where United arrives. So I would allow 45-60 minutes in total, maybe a bit more if you have checked luggage.

Don’t panic! Cruise port to rail station in a cab is only about 5-10 minutes. Southampton Central isn’t that big - only 4 platforms linked by a footbridge with elevators so from ship to platform should take no longer than half an hour. Therefore a train at 9:30 should be just fine, given that most ships start disembarkation at around 7 and want the majority of passengers off by 9. Advance tickets are indeed non-refundable and can’t be used on a later train if you miss yours. The 9:30 is currently £14.50 for an advance single but will go up. Otherwise it’s £52 for an anytime single which can be used on any train.

£189 to South Kensington? Sorry, but you’ve been robbed. A normal cab should cost around £50-60.