Train or coach from London to Southampton?

I live half way between London and Southampton and along the train route. Having commuted to London on a regular basis, I am very familiar with the trains on this route peak and off peak.

 

The trains are not designed to hold luggage. So even a couple of suitcases and some hand luggage can be a pain as there isn't storage space. Disruptions are frequent which cause trains to get very busy even off peak.

 

You may get lucky and enjoy a comfortable journey but chances are you will end up on a crowded train. So for me, coach is a more comfortable way to travel. Not sure why others on this thread think train is somehow better or more convenient.

Thank you, not having storage for luggage was a concern for us as well.

Plus the large price difference we are definitely leaning towards a coach

Sorry to drag up a few months old thread! But my query is relevant to train/bus to Southampton from London.

On the return, my cruise (P&O, Arcadia ship) says it is unable to confirm exactly what time it is arriving back at Southampton. So it looks like I can't book any advance fares, either train or bus, and will have to pay the full price fare at the station?

Is there a way to get an accurate cruise disembarkation time? Or a way to get advance savings but be flexible on the bus/train time?

Sorry to drag up a few months old thread! But my query is relevant to train/bus to Southampton from London.

 

On the return, my cruise (P&O, Arcadia ship) says it is unable to confirm exactly what time it is arriving back at Southampton. So it looks like I can't book any advance fares, either train or bus, and will have to pay the full price fare at the station?

 

Is there a way to get an accurate cruise disembarkation time? Or a way to get advance savings but be flexible on the bus/train time?

No cruise dis embarkation time can claim to be accurate.There are so many reasons for slight delays etc.If you choose to self disembark it means you can leave the ship as soon as possible which helps but there are occasions when a ship is late arriving at Southampton e.g Azura yesterday which was late docking because of a medical emergency.We tend to book a train for about 10am and just accept that there may be a time when we miss our train and have to buy another ticket!It hasn t happened so far and we reckon the money saved by purchasing the advance ticket over a few cruises is worth the risk.You can buy advance tickets the day before you travel so if you had internet connection you could wait until the day before.It is quite a lot cheaper to travel to/from Southampton from London Victoria than London Waterloo(but much slower route)

I just get an period return from Waterloo to Southampton Central. I leave the ship as late as possible and get to the station in time for the 10ish or 10.30ish train to Waterloo. no need to book a seat

I agree with yuvraj re the train service.

We've had some really poor experiences of SW trains in the last 6 months. Remember the first Sunday in May with the new timetables? Train, bus, train, bus to get to Gatwick and 100s in the queue for the last leg from Three Bridges to Gatwick. It made the nationals - we were in that queue!

That's not been our only bad experience either. A second journey to Gatwick was not so bad but involved 2 extra changes because of some disruption or other. No fun with large cases plus carry-on.

Earlier warnings of train disruption and strikes are not without foundation. They are really causing havoc with services in the region.

Other issues:

- the previously mentioned lack of luggage space

- uncomfortable seats

- a carriage arrangement of 2 - 3 seats which makes the carriage extremely cramped and moving down the very narrow aisle with cases looking for somewhere to store them a real challenge.

- narrow aisle = no buffet car (perhaps not a problem if your journey is only as long as expected but with revised timings, changing trains unexpectedly, rushing to get connections, planned refreshment opportunities may not materialise!)

As you can tell we've not been impressed with the train service of late!

We've reverted to using National Express

- they don't sell more tickets on a coach than the number of seats

- you can even reserve a seat now for a small extra charge

- the driver will store your luggage in the hold so no need to lift heavy cases on and off the train

- always room for cases

- comfortable, contoured seats.

Only drawback is that there are less frequent services than the train and always the possibility that with an open return the service you want may be full. You have to book your return at the ticket office in Southampton though I'm fairly sure you can do it on line or on an app so could do that in advance once you have an idea of your departure time and are pretty confident you will be berthing on time.

P. S. Buffet 'car' should read 'trolley' (and they stopped buffet cars years ago I was told).

Also like dave, we buy open return tickets for either coach or train travel. This leaves your return departure time flexible so you would be able to benefit from cheaper fares as you don't have to wait to purchase until the day of travel.

Have you seen this site? As already mentioned they cannot be sure of arrival times because of unforeseen circumstances, but this is the time they think they will be back. Select Arcadia from the drop down (Adonia currently), select 'dates' then 'view' for your sailing date. All anticipated arrival, departure times are displayed. It's not of course set in stone!!

http://www.cruisecal.com/portal/ItineraryLookup/tabid/2918/Default.aspx

From those I've checked, it's between 6 - 7am.

I use National Express all the time. You can often travel for £5 or £7 and it's very easy and good service.

Sorry to drag up a few months old thread! But my query is relevant to train/bus to Southampton from London.

 

On the return, my cruise (P&O, Arcadia ship) says it is unable to confirm exactly what time it is arriving back at Southampton. So it looks like I can't book any advance fares, either train or bus, and will have to pay the full price fare at the station?

 

Is there a way to get an accurate cruise disembarkation time? Or a way to get advance savings but be flexible on the bus/train time?

Just get a train with a cheap ticket to arrive at Southampton at some point before the ship leaves.

If you are late for your embarkation spot they are not going to tell you to get lost. If you are early and they are being miserable and won'r let you on, go and use the saving on the train fare to have a beer.

The ships are nearly always in by 6 am, so if you book anything on coach or train after 10 am, you will be just fine.

Just get a train with a cheap ticket to arrive at Southampton at some point before the ship leaves.

 

If you are late for your embarkation spot they are not going to tell you to get lost. If you are early and they are being miserable and won'r let you on, go and use the saving on the train fare to have a beer.

Weekends in particular seem badly affected by timetable changes, engineering work on the tracks and industrial action. On our last journey to Southampton from Gatwick, the guard came round checking tickets and said he thought the train was terminating in Havant? /Barnham? but, he said, the driver thought he was going through to Southampton! He later came back to confirm he was correct and the driver wrong so we'd have to get off and wait for another connection. We told him of our experience going up to Gatwick the first w/e in May. His response was 'If I want to go somewhere on a Sunday, I wouldn't plan to go by rail!' What a state of affairs. This makes depressing reading:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/c77jz3mdm0zt/south-western-railway