Questions about Disembarking in Southampton

[Ssislandgirl]

Hi all,

This is our first cruise out of Southampton and also our first cruise with Princess. We are planning on spending several days post cruise in London and would like to take the National Express Bus to Victoria. There are several buses leaving on June 27th early in the a.m. and I am trying to decide which one to book, the one leaving at 8:30 or the next one at 9:35.

 

Does anybody know how early you can leave the ship after docking in Southampton. We usually carry our luggage off ourselves (we are light packers).I posted this question on the Princess Boards, but was advised to ask this question here😊.

 

How much time should we allot for customs, etc? Southampton will be our first British port after a cruise to Norway.

 

Are cabs readily available at the port so we can get to the bus station? We also don't mind walking if there is a side walk.

 

Thanks for the help.

Regards

Petra

[John Bull]

Hi Petra,

 

If you opt for unassisted early disembarkation (about 7am) you should be out of the terminal virtually without stopping,

Later you'd be in a shuffling line here & there, and there may be a bit of a scrum around the baggage & perhaps a line for immigration, but usually no more than fifteen minutes from gangway to outside the terminal..

You won't even know you've been through customs unless you are of interest to them.

 

Yes, there'll be stax of taxis at the cruise terminal -with early disembarkation you'll almost certainly be able to jump right into one, later in the morning demand might exceed supply from time to time resulting in a short wait.

Princess ships generally use either Mayflower terminal or Ocean terminal, at that time on a saturday morning neither is more than a five-minute drive from the Nat Express coach station. Taxi should cost well under £10.

 

With early disembarkation, the 07.40 coach would very probably be OK - though "very probably" is very probably not good enough.;)

 

With early disembarkation, no worries with the 08.35 coach. :)

 

The 09.30 coach would suit most passengers

 

Everyone would make the 10.30.

 

All that presumes taking a taxi.

The coach station is about a 25 minute walk from either of those terminals, there's no restriction on walking in the docks & the entire walk is level and on sidewalks.

 

JB :)

[Ssislandgirl]

For the detailed info

I really appreciate it

[sddsddean]

Can't fault JB's answer (no matter how hard I try!:D). Personally, I'd go for the 0830 coach, just to give you a bit of wiggle room for eventualities. You must pre book your coach at http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx as demand will be high. Also, phone your credit card provider before booking, as some US CC's think that as you are using your card outside the US its a fraudulent payment. National Express's site seems very susceptible to this for some reason.

 

Simon

[Farnoosh]

Just the information I was looking for-many thanks.

 

Does the advice change if Gibraltar is on the itinerary?

 

Several posts indicate long lines in Southampton customs after a stop at Gibraltar due to passengers trying to go over the allowed limit on duty free cigarettes and alcohol. If we're among the first off the ship with minimal luggage I would hope any inspection at customs would be quick, but I don't want to assume too much. Our ship is scheduled to dock at Southampton at 7 AM.

[John Bull]

Just the information I was looking for-many thanks.

 

Does the advice change if Gibraltar is on the itinerary?

 

Several posts indicate long lines in Southampton customs after a stop at Gibraltar due to passengers trying to go over the allowed limit on duty free cigarettes and alcohol. If we're among the first off the ship with minimal luggage I would hope any inspection at customs would be quick, but I don't want to assume too much. Our ship is scheduled to dock at Southampton at 7 AM.

 

7am is likely to be earliest disembarkation - most ships actually berth at around 5am, while you're still in the land of nod.

 

At Southampton, cruises that have included either Gib or Canary Islands, both outside the EU duty area, do tend to be targeted by HM Customs. Mainly for cigarettes.

 

Though I'm surprised to hear about long lines, because they have a flexible number of customs officers available.

And luggage offloaded into the terminal from such cruises is checked for tobacco by sniffer dogs, which identify bags containing large quantities - so the C&E officers have a good idea of the passengers of interest before any disembark.

 

JB :)

Edited September 14, 2015 by John Bull

[newport dave]

Have done cruises from Southampton that included the Canaries or Gibraltar and never had a problem getting through customs.

[Morgans]

No problems with Gibraltar cruises either. Straight through.

[SwissDave]

Think the last 3 times I have been via Gib or Canaries back to Southampton there have been no customs people out at the desks.

 

The previous time though they were out in force and even at 8.00 in the morning only a couple of them were engaged in stopping & checking luggage, including 1 person who appeared to have cleared out every tobacconist in Gib judging by the stack of cartons on the table.

[John Bull]

Think the last 3 times I have been via Gib or Canaries back to Southampton there have been no customs people out at the desks.

 

The previous time though they were out in force and even at 8.00 in the morning only a couple of them were engaged in stopping & checking luggage, including 1 person who appeared to have cleared out every tobacconist in Gib judging by the stack of cartons on the table.

 

Sad, ain't it. All that money going up in smoke without them actually having a smoke :D

 

One time a flight from the Canaries into Bournemouth (small UK provincial airport, one terminal, one carousel) was heavily targeted by HM Customs.

EVERY passenger's bag was opened & huge piles of D/F cigs built up on their desks.

After they'd done their job and the last passenger had left the baggage hall, they looked up - and saw a dozen or more cases still circulating on the carousel, minus their labels.

Cigarettes lost, but reputations still intact. ;)

 

Back to the point - only done one Gib-included cruise out of Southampton & there were no lines at Customs - just walk through unless challenged.

Twice I've had my collar felt there (those sniffer dogs had done their job) but I was OK because I'd played safe & bought duty-paid in EU countries (Spain for that Med cruise & Estonia for a Baltic cruise). Cigs packs has the duty stickers across the closures & I has the receipts from the Spanish & Estonian tabacs. So I was quickly on my way. :)

 

JB :)

[Farnoosh]

Thank you for all of the replies. I think we will hope for the best and plan for the worst. If all goes well, we'll have a time for a coffee before the coach leaves. If not, well, perhaps we'll have an interesting story.