Southampton Hotels

[Presto2]

I am from the North and the hubby South, we live in the centre :)

 

I'm North, he's South - we work in the middle - but live in the North :D:D:D

[Mysticalmother]

How secure are the car parks at Holiday Inn and Premier Inn West Quay?

 

As Presto2 says the Holiday Inn car park is open to anyone but is barrier controlled for exit. You have to leave a large ticket in your windscreen which reception provide but You do not have to leave your keys with the hotel reception so your car is not moved for the duration. There was CCTV in operation in the car park in June this year.

 

I am not sure that the Premier Inn has its own car park - I think you have to use the public multi- storey next door. If I am wrong, no doubt someone will correct me!

[CCFC]

The Premier Inn does indeed use the public car park next door.

[Josy1953]

The Holiday Inn Car Park is by the hotel, but can be entered by anyone. Having said that there is a barrier and you can't leave the car park without a card from Reception.

 

Have to note that you are yet another Potter ! I was beginning to think that Stoke on Trent is becoming the main cruising area for the UK until hubby mentioned that what SOT does have is the rich heritage of having the Capt of the Titanic come from these parts. ;)

 

Not sure what to say about that. :D

The Capt of the Titanic is definitely a man of note from Stoke but do we really want to be proud of him ?

I think that the Festival Park Marina is the reason that so many Stokies are attracted to the water and want to cruise (lol). It amazes me that we talk of a marina so far inland.

Edited September 21, 2014 by Josy1953

[DONNYCRUISE]

It's a no brainer for me Dolphin every time.:rolleyes:

[Presto2]

The Capt of the Titanic is definitely a man of note from Stoke but do we really want to be proud of him ?

I think that the Festival Park Marina is the reason that so many Stokies are attracted to the water and want to cruise (lol). It amazes me that we talk of a marina so far inland.

 

It isn't exactly Monaco is it either :):D I think it must be the canals to be honest -

 

Re Captain Smith - we agree with you - I was being sarcastic ;) Then again, at least he went down with his ship and didn't 'fall' into a lifeboat before most of the passengers were off....

[dun123das]

Hi. Another hotel to add to the pot is the Novotel, which is very close to Premier Inn, Grand Harbour and Holiday Inn. TGI Fridays is a very short walk from the hotel, but it is probably wise to book this (we do it online a couple of weeks before we visit) as they are very busy. We are also Potters and have 3 x BW and 1 RW in the family mix.

 

We were on P & O Oriana acouple of months ago, on a Norway and Iceland itinerary but we are on MSC Magnifica in a couple of weeks, and booked into the Novotel for the second time.

[Presto2]

We are also Potters and have 3 x BW and 1 RW in the family mix.

 

.

 

This is getting spooky now ;)

[cruisefan2012]

dun123das, presto2

 

I`m a fellow Midlander and Staffordshire resident aswell being from Stafford - Small world isnt it

 

I think we love the sea and cruising because we are (almost) in the middle of the country so have to travel miles in any direction to see the sea

Edited September 21, 2014 by cruisefan2012

[Presto2]

dun123das, presto2

 

I think we love the sea and cruising because we are (almost) in the middle of the country so have to travel miles in any direction to see the sea

 

That sounds like a good excuse to us ;)

[majortom10]

This is getting spooky now ;)

 

I was born in Stoke-on-Trent and lived for 23 yrs in a lovely little village called Bentilee and then moved to Longton and 23 yrs ago moved away from Stoke-on-Trent to the prosperous south ;)

Edited September 21, 2014 by majortom10

[Presto2]

I was born in Stoke-on-Trent and lived for 23 yrs in a lovely little village called Bentilee and then moved to Longton and 23 yrs ago moved away from Stoke-on-Trent to the prosperous south ;)

 

Ha ha ha - love it. I used to work in that lovely little village and now work in Longton. Have yet to move to the prosperous south. ;)

 

I am amazed that so many Stokies are on here to be honest - the next time we are in Southampton we will be listening more carefully for the accent and looking out for the oatcakes !

 

The last time we were on a cruise we met a lovely couple via CC from Cannock - I suppose it is people from the Midlands and North of the UK who need a hotel before the cruise. Have to admit - we now go down 2 days before the cruise to avoid travelling on a Friday. After a 6 hour trek one year we vowed never to do it again !!!

[Mysticalmother]

This is getting spooky now ;)

 

Very. I am feeling discriminated against here. I am not from Stoke on Trent, not sure I have even been there.

 

But we have all been to Southampton- so maybe we all have something in common!:D:D

 

(Sorry - it's late on a Sunday night....):rolleyes:

[Josy1953]

Ha ha ha - love it. I used to work in that lovely little village and now work in Longton. Have yet to move to the prosperous south. ;)

 

I am amazed that so many Stokies are on here to be honest - the next time we are in Southampton we will be listening more carefully for the accent and looking out for the oatcakes !

 

The last time we were on a cruise we met a lovely couple via CC from Cannock - I suppose it is people from the Midlands and North of the UK who need a hotel before the cruise. Have to admit - we now go down 2 days before the cruise to avoid travelling on a Friday. After a 6 hour trek one year we vowed never to do it again !!!

We have met quite a lot of Stokies on cruises over the years. 4 years ago on the Grand Princess we went into breakfast on the first morning and were shown to a table where we instantly spotted the Stokies, no they didn't where R&W or B&W shirts but they had brought a packet of Poveys oatcakes to the table with them. They told us that they always take oatcakes for the first morning wherever they go on holiday.

We are slowly moving south, we started in Penkhull but now we only have to go half a mile south to be out of Stoke on Trent and into the prosperous south.

[Len Baker]

We have booked an overnight hotel prior to our January cruise from Southampton as we did not want to risk travelling on departure day, especially at that time of year.

 

Regarding Staffordshire oatcakes I was born in Tunstall but have lived in Shropshire for 38 years. I till visit Burslem P V on a regular basis for the football.

 

I think there are so many cruisers from the Potteries because there are so many travel agents in the area fulfilling the demand of those folks wanting to leave!!!!!!!

[Presto2]

Very. I am feeling discriminated against here. I am not from Stoke on Trent, not sure I have even been there.

 

But we have all been to Southampton- so maybe we all have something in common!:D:D

 

(Sorry - it's late on a Sunday night....):rolleyes:

 

I spent most of my childhood holidays in Devon so please don't feel discriminated against. :) Would swap our Stoke on Trent 'marina' for Goodrington any day :D;)

[Presto2]

We have met quite a lot of Stokies on cruises over the years. 4 years ago on the Grand Princess we went into breakfast on the first morning and were shown to a table where we instantly spotted the Stokies, no they didn't where R&W or B&W shirts but they had brought a packet of Poveys oatcakes to the table with them. They told us that they always take oatcakes for the first morning wherever they go on holiday.

We are slowly moving south, we started in Penkhull but now we only have to go half a mile south to be out of Stoke on Trent and into the prosperous south.

 

Ha ha ha - that made me laugh. We do that when we go to Lapland S/C !

We always check the table ware to see where its made. The waiters often think we are mad!

[Presto2]

I think there are so many cruisers from the Potteries because there are so many travel agents in the area fulfilling the demand of those folks wanting to leave!!!!!!!

 

That's not nice ------ we have our lovely marina remember - and Westport Lake. What more do you want?!

 

Before we get told off for stealing the thread --- which hotel do you use pre cruise ;)

[bertie1992]

Lol perhaps we should start a new tread

Captain Smith's Children ;)

 

We always meet fellow Stokies, but that is because during the day my husband does have one of his many R&W tops on

 

At the last Great British Sail away, he persuaded the crew to wear it whilst singing Deliah....:o

[Ataraxia]

We moored two weeks ago at Westport Lake for a couple of nights before going through Harecastle Tunnel.

 

Just booked the Dolphin for cruise parking in December - cheaper than Hotel then CPS.

[Paul1924]

on the subject of hotels have used The Grand harbour twice before once just dinner bed and Breakfast and 2 years ago used the ultimate cruise package and was seriously impressed, parking great room,dinner bed breakfast and lunch plus transfers all included in the price. looking forward to this year as the hotel has had a multi million pound makeover so should be a real good start to he cruise

[bertie1992]

on the subject of hotels have used The Grand harbour twice before once just dinner bed and Breakfast and 2 years ago used the ultimate cruise package and was seriously impressed, parking great room,dinner bed breakfast and lunch plus transfers all included in the price. looking forward to this year as the hotel has had a multi million pound makeover so should be a real good start to he cruise

 

I 've stayed at the Grand Harbour 5 or 6 times and loved it however we stayed last May and it was horrendous looking at trip advisor it doesn't seem to have improved.

 

Room was disappointing, to say the least, no hot water moved to 3 different rooms in the morning till we managed to find one with hot water

Breakfast not up to standard

Took over an hour to leave the hotel car park, because they insisted we hadn't paid. Even though I have the booking reference and invoice

 

Hope I haven't caused you the headache I have now

[Paul1924]

I take reviews on travel sites with a pinch of salt, have stayed at places that everyone raves about only to find it to be a third world dump and stayed in others that were rated as dumps and turned out to be excellent. As I said in my last stayed two years ago and enjoyed and since then they have had the makeover. And yes I am aware that DeVere no longer own it, Headaches no if it turns out duff then somewhere else next time and hey we Stokies are made of stern stuff

[NSWP]

Stayed at Ibis, Southampton pre cruise, quite ok, also this year stayed a couple of nights at Holiday Inn, Winchester for a couple of nights precruise, very good and gave us a look at Winchester which is great for a visit.

 

I was amazed at the number of hotels around Southampton, they must do very well from the cruise trade.

[BigMac1953]

Interesting. We stayed at the Grand Harbour in July this year and even got an upgrade to a front facing room.

 

The room was fine, but the restaurant a bit of a joke. Service was extremely slow.

 

When we eventually we managed to get a wine waitress and ordered a bottle of wine, she came back and said they had run out. After I ordered another she returned with the same story. It wasn't an extensive list, so to make things easy, I got her to tell me what they actually had.

 

It was the same with the food. It is quite a small menu, but our first two choices were not available. Their excuse was that there had been a big wedding the night before and because of that many things had run out. I pointed out that they had had all day to replenish, but was told that they had to wait for the official supplier who was due to arrive the next day.

 

The room itself was clean and reasonably well appointed, as was the hotel in general.

 

The problem was that a bunch of amateurs were trying to run the place.

 

We've booked the Dolphin for our December trip as friends have rated it very good.

 

Stewart