Embarkation and Disembarkation at Southampton.

[lucky white heather]

Since many of you seem to be experienced in this area.....

 

Could you recommend a hotel in Southampton? We are flying in the day before sailing and will head down to Southampton.

 

And to that point, what are the recommendations for transport from Heathrow to Southampton. Prefer not to take a train, but if that is the best option we will consider it.

 

Any thoughts?

 

When we travel down from Scotland , usually day before sail day if we do our own flights etc..as we are doing for this November, we have in the past usually booked the Premier Inn (City Centre, Southampton...Premier is a chain ) and have done so again.There are several locations of Premier Inn in SOU.... We could choose the newest one in the chain (West Quay) which is slightly more central than City Centre but they don't offer breakfast.We just choose continental (£5 odd each)as we are going on the ship same morning and taxi from this location to the ship terminal is very reasonable too..

The room costs are fairly reasonable and room has always been comfortable / clean... you need to take a wee walk up to the High Street shopping though. We have just paid £44.50 for 1 room for 1 night/2 of us to include cont. breakfast.

Look it up on the net to get prices and availability for your dates of travel.

Hope this helps.

[lucky white heather]

On our only previous cruise from Southampton, we opted to use the official Eavesway coaches and arrived in Southampton, tired, rather stressed and in need of a wash after a 350 mile journey. The return coach trip was equally tiring.

Rather than start and end our next cruise stressed and tired, we have decided to travel by non-stop train and stay in a hotel near the cruise terminals both before and after our cruise.

Are there any advantages to arriving early at the cruise terminal or is it best to arrive at the time stated on our documents?

At the end of the cruise, do we have to disembark at the time stated (deck 8) or can we wait a while until the rush has died down a bit. We will only be going to leave our luggage at the hotel before exploring Southampton?

Thank you in advance for any advice anyone can give.

 

I am unsure because I haven't ever done it myself .....but something sticks in my mind about self disembarkation and dragging your own bags off ... isn't there a " window" they insist on you using between very early 7 am (sort of thing) till 7.45 or so and then it all reverts to the colour code tabs system for those who have handed their luggage over the night before???

 

Maybe they won't mind you waiting around till the very end of disembarkation anyway .... we hope to do that ourselves as we have arranged our own flights this time and we have no rush to get to the airport.

Perhaps someone can tell us if a " rigid specified window" for self disembarkation is a figment of my imagination?

[pepperrn]

Perhaps someone can tell us if a " rigid specified window" for self disembarkation is a figment of my imagination?

In 2007, QE2 Southampton, they did the "those self-disembarking may now leave" & "last call for those self-disembarking" announcements. I know because this was the one occasion I was listening out for them. On all other trips I have waited for the ticket colour/number, and haven't been taking notice.

However... as long as you are out of your cabin on time, and don't block walkways or lounges with your pile of cases... what are they going to do if you are an hour or two late leaving the ship? (Perhaps someone can tell us if they've ever been escorted off the ship, or been told off at security?).

But, in which case (!) (keeping all your luggage & late self-disembarking), I don't quite see the point in struggling with cases around the ship. Far better to let others take them to the terminal, I would have thought? :confused:

I did see one couple with a small Vesuvius of luggage in the Kings Court at the end of one trip. Taking it in turns to get coffee. Breakfast. More coffee. While the other watched the cases. Quite comedic.

[3rdGenCunarder]

In 2007, QE2 Southampton, they did the "those self-disembarking may now leave" & "last call for those self-disembarking" announcements. I know because this was the one occasion I was listening out for them. On all other trips I have waited for the ticket colour/number, and haven't been taking notice.

However... as long as you are out of your cabin on time, and don't block walkways or lounges with your pile of cases... what are they going to do if you are an hour or two late leaving the ship? (Perhaps someone can tell us if they've ever been escorted off the ship, or been told off at security?).

But, in which case (!) (keeping all your luggage & self-disembarking), I don't quite see the point in struggling with cases around the ship. Far better to let others take them to the terminal, I would have thought? :confused:

I did see one couple with a small Vesuvius of luggage in the Kings Court at the end of one trip. Taking it in turns to get coffee. Breakfast. More coffee. While the other watched the cases. Quite comedic.

 

I thought there was a "window" for self-disembarkation. I didn't pay attention last winter on QM2, as we were planning to disembark fairly late. But from earlier trips on QE2, I remember a "last call." I think they may do that simply to keep the people with lots of luggage out of the flow of passengers doing regular disembarkation. It's bad enough with lots of people with only their 'carry off' things. Adding people with several cases could seriously worsen congestion.

[3rdGenCunarder]

When we travel down from Scotland , usually day before sail day if we do our own flights etc..as we are doing for this November, we have in the past usually booked the Premier Inn (City Centre, Southampton...Premier is a chain ) and have done so again.There are several locations of Premier Inn in SOU.... We could choose the newest one in the chain (West Quay) which is slightly more central than City Centre but they don't offer breakfast.We just choose continental (£5 odd each)as we are going on the ship same morning and taxi from this location to the ship terminal is very reasonable too..

The room costs are fairly reasonable and room has always been comfortable / clean... you need to take a wee walk up to the High Street shopping though. We have just paid £44.50 for 1 room for 1 night/2 of us to include cont. breakfast.

Look it up on the net to get prices and availability for your dates of travel.

Hope this helps.

 

Yes, they do. Or at least they better--I've already paid for it in my booking for Nov.

[lucky white heather]

Yes, they do. Or at least they better--I've already paid for it in my booking for Nov.

 

I must be confused...sorry ....... perhaps they only offer a full English breakfast ??

[david,Mississauga]

.... We could choose the newest one in the chain (West Quay) which is slightly more central than City Centre but they don't offer breakfast.We just choose continental (£5 odd each) ...

 

We stayed at the Premier Inn West Quay for the first time in June (thanks to recommendations on this forum) and enjoyed it. There was a rate with breakfast and without. We paid, I think, a difference of a mere £7 p.p. for the full hot breakfast buffet.

[david,Mississauga]

I thought there was a "window" for self-disembarkation. I didn't pay attention last winter on QM2, as we were planning to disembark fairly late. But from earlier trips on QE2, I remember a "last call." I think they may do that simply to keep the people with lots of luggage out of the flow of passengers doing regular disembarkation. It's bad enough with lots of people with only their 'carry off' things. Adding people with several cases could seriously worsen congestion.

 

I recall a strict window for self-help on the QE2 on our last crossing in 2008. They gave us only 30 minutes from first to last call. They had said if we didn't make it by the last call we would have to wait for the regular call for our colour code - which we didn't have because we registered for self-help. So I doubt there would have been a problem, but we left early because we had a train to catch.

 

But on our four subsequent crossings on QM2 there was never any indication that we had to leave by any time. We usually disembarked fairly early, but on our most recent arrival we dallied having long farewell chats with our new-found friends.