Missing the ship!!!

[cruisefan2012]

I travel down the day before.

 

I always get the same train - 08:25am from Stafford that gets into Southampton Central at about 11:43am.

 

Its a long journey from Staffordshire to Southampton so I like to get up early and get that train down knowing I have the afternoon evening and following morning in Southampton before I leave the hotel to go the ship.

 

I use www.cruisetimetables.com to see which ships are in the day before and on the day I join a ship so I can take a walk to the Red Jet pier is as theres a car park there with a great vantage point to Ocean Terminal, QE2 Terminal and MayFlower Terminals

 

Plus I have time to go shopping, go to the theatre etc 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2019 by cruisefan2012

[ann141]

5 hours ago, dazlight said:

I’m thinking get train down from Liverpool on the day then walk to the terminal if it’s only 15 minutes. 

We tend to travel by train the day before and choose a cheaper advance ticket and spend the afternoon, evening and following morning exploring Southampton.I fairly often travel by train to Liverpool from Derbyshire and I can remember on 2 occasions in the last couple of years where people have missed flights because the train has broken down.There are occasional strikes and also delays when sadly people jump onto the track.We look forward to our time in Southampton(It helps that my husband grew up there) but we have also travelled to Winchester and Portsmouth for the afternoon before our cruise, once the bags are dropped off in our hotel.We make it part of the holiday.

[FangedRose]

28 minutes ago, cruisefan2012 said:

I travel down the day before.

 

I always get the same train - 08:25am from Stafford that gets into Southampton Central at about 11:43am.

 

Its a long journey from Staffordshire to Southampton so I like to get up early and get that train down knowing I have the afternoon evening and following morning in Southampton before I leave the hotel to go the ship.

 

I use www.cruisetimetables.com to see which ships are in the day before and on the day I join a ship so I can take a walk to the Red Jet pier is as theres a car park there with a great vantage point to Ocean Terminal, QE2 Terminal and MayFlower Terminals

 

Plus I have time to go shopping, go to the theatre etc 

 

 

Sorry, but I do not consider Staffordshire to Southampton a long journey. Any journey that can be completed between breakfast and lunch, with an hour to spare is not a long journey. 

 

This last May/June I have invigilated exams longer than that. (proper invigilation, being vigilant, on my feet, none of that pretend Invigilation which many imagine it to be). 

 

I will be catching cruise connect at 5am, and expected arrival time is 1pm. But, I know for a fact that some will have already been on the coach for two or three hours before me. Now that is a long journey! 

Edited August 21, 2019 by FangedRose

[emam]

11 minutes ago, cruisefan2012 said:

I travel down the day before.

 

I always get the same train - 08:25am from Stafford that gets into Southampton Central at about 11:43am.

 

Its a long journey from Staffordshire to Southampton so I like to get up early and get that train down knowing I have the afternoon evening and following morning in Southampton before I leave the hotel to go the ship.

 

I use www.cruisetimetables.com to see which ships are in the day before and on the day I join a ship so I can take a walk to the Red Jet pier is as theres a car park there with a great vantage point to Ocean Terminal, QE2 Terminal and MayFlower Terminals

 

Plus I have time to go shopping, go to the theatre etc 

 

 

 

That's not a long time ☺  By 8.25 a.m. it would be 3 1/2 hours since leaving home for us. With still another 2-3 to go. Even longer for some people.

[cruisefan2012]

oh good lord, not my idea of a fun start to a holiday !!!

[emam]

I wish there was more cruise departures from further up the country. It puts me off 7 day cruises, but wouldn't stop me if the right one came up.

[Ranchi]

We 😂

 

Quote

 

This last May/June I have invigilated exams longer than that. (proper invigilation, being vigilant, on my feet, none of that pretend Invigilation which many imagine it to be). 

 

 

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks”

😂👍

 

& also Emam has a hell of a walk with suitcases from Durham to Stafford station. 😂

Edited August 22, 2019 by Ranchi

[FangedRose]

24 minutes ago, Ranchi said:

We 😂

 

 

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks”

😂👍

 

& also Emam has a hell of a walk with suitcases from Durham to Stafford station. 😂

It's amazing how many people think that exam invigilation is an opportunity to catch up on their reading, or knitting. They get a shock when they find out what is exactly involved 😁

Edited August 22, 2019 by FangedRose

[Ranchi]

I do know. It just made me smile at breakfast. Have a great day & enjoy choosing a cruise (partly paid for by your endeavours in school). 😀

[annieuk]

You don't even get to sit down when you are invigilating exams.  You have to keep your eyes open all the time and walk round and round and......  It's certainly not a time to sit down and read!  We live very near Southampton but allow  a good amount of time to get to the port.  It only takes one accident on the M27 to hold traffic up for ages and then all the roads around get blocked up too!    I'd rather be at the port early and have to wait than sit in a traffic jam seething.

[FangedRose]

1 hour ago, Ranchi said:

I do know. It just made me smile at breakfast. Have a great day & enjoy choosing a cruise (partly paid for by your endeavours in school). 😀

That's what keeps me going during an exam. Another hour, another cocktail, and a half 🍹

[DamianG]

We always used to drive down from Leeds (240 miles) on the day of the cruise until 2015 when we were stuck on the M1 without moving for 1.5 hours due to a car with caravan jack-knife accident. Having set-off at 7:30am we arrived at the terminal around 3:45pm only to then have a 45 minute wait while CPS worked through the car parking.

Ever since then we book a hotel for an overnight stop approximately halfway but have a tricky decision to make next year as we sail on the first Saturday of the main school holidays. Set-off even earlier or battle with the rush hour traffic down the M1 on a Friday night after school? Even without accidents our roads just seem busier than ever these days.

[Stokie33]

On 8/20/2019 at 11:25 AM, SquishTheWhale said:

 

It's often not just one incident or delay as well. We once drove from Swindon to Gatwick to catch a flight, normally we stay over the night before but this was a 5pm flight so thought we'd be fine. We made it, but it was touch and go as it seems every time we changed road there was another accident and traffic jam, it was just endless. Good job we are the type who set off way way in advance.

 

If we set off at 9am next Saturday that gives us 6.5hrs to do a 2-2.5hr drive so fingers crossed lol

Just got home and read this, we boarded Ventura last Friday, left Swindon at 10.20 and were waiting to drop our car off with CPS at 11.40 and were on board by 12.30 at the latest. Our check in time was 15.00 but when we got in the terminal they were doing what they called free flow and letting everyone on straight away, also left the tobdrive home this morning at 9.20 and got home at 11.00 with a quick stop at Membury services so considering ourselves lucky 🍀 after reading this

[ollienbertsmum]

14 hours ago, DamianG said:

We always used to drive down from Leeds (240 miles) on the day of the cruise until 2015 when we were stuck on the M1 without moving for 1.5 hours due to a car with caravan jack-knife accident. Having set-off at 7:30am we arrived at the terminal around 3:45pm only to then have a 45 minute wait while CPS worked through the car parking.

Ever since then we book a hotel for an overnight stop approximately halfway but have a tricky decision to make next year as we sail on the first Saturday of the main school holidays. Set-off even earlier or battle with the rush hour traffic down the M1 on a Friday night after school? Even without accidents our roads just seem busier than ever these days.

 

I have read through the journey descriptions with envy because I have a three hour flight - which of course entails about 6 hours of journey time just to arrive in to Gatwick.  

 

I looked at your journey description from Leeds wondering why you would not take the train from Leeds.  Then I did a quick train 'mock booking' - right now a single is £160 and the cheapest is around £100 (ouch). 

 

No wonder the roads are so congested!   My 3 hour flight would be cheaper than your rail journey, and you have to get a taxi to the train station.  

 

If I were you next year, given what people have written I would drink a cup of coffee, leave after the Friday rush hour and not even stop half way.   Stay at a hotel really close to the port so that you can have a bit of a lie-in!!

[kruzseeka]

You can never predict the roads - or indeed the trains.  Even though we have a short drive to Southampton, you can't be sure there won't be traffic issues - 4 hour jams are not uncommon in this area and with a relatively poor road network most traffic eventually has to go through the same bottlenecks.

 

Having listened today to the announcements warning against travel on the trains this weekend I just hope no one has a problem making their cruise.  We were caught up in the debacle over the May Day weekend last year when they changed all the timetables and had a train/bus/train/bus journey to get to Gatwick. Thankfully we'd travelled up the day before. 

 

Best of luck to everyone - on the roads and on the trains.  It looks like it's going to be a bad weekend for travel especially given the weather.   

[JB9302]

3rd year running for us travelling down to Southampton , train from M/c Piccadilly to Southampton Central day before , stop in Jury's Hotel .

£208 return (1st class) total booked 12 weeks before , tickets discounted disabled rail card .

[jeanlyon]

Must say I am always glad we cruise away from the summer season, usually April and October.  Wouldn't like to do it in mid summer.

[Les_ldh]

Just now, JB9302 said:

3rd year running for us travelling down to Southampton , train from M/c Piccadilly to Southampton Central day before , stop in Jury's Hotel .

£208 return (1st class) total booked 12 weeks before , tickets discounted disabled rail card .

Wow, that’s pricey. I traveled from Newcastle last year (first class), so a lot further than Manchester, for £190 return. I would have expected the journey from Manchester to be substantially cheaper than from Newcastle, but sometimes there’s just no logic to their pricing. I travel the day before as it doesn’t matter what mode of transport your using it’s never 100% reliable, and I would hate to miss my well earned cruise. I’ve just booked the Travelodge in the city centre for next June for £29. Worth every penny for the peace of mind it gives me, as well as giving me an extra days holiday 😀

[mickrory]

It took a friend of ours 11 hours to get home on a P&O coach from Soton to Blackpool (usually 5 hours) so for our October Britannia sailing I'm hiring a helicopter, cheaper than the train looking at those prices.😉 

[FangedRose]

18 minutes ago, JB9302 said:

3rd year running for us travelling down to Southampton , train from M/c Piccadilly to Southampton Central day before , stop in Jury's Hotel .

£208 return (1st class) total booked 12 weeks before , tickets discounted disabled rail card .

I checked pricing for train from Carlisle to Southampton for my next cruise. It was approx £86 return, senior Railcard, through a ticket splitting site. It did include four changes (nothing to do with ticket splitting) and 12 hours, arriving far too late. It is a Sunday which probably accounts for the changes.

 

You don't say whether that price is each, or for you both, in which case it seems quite reasonable.

[Danamis]

We are totally won over to using the coach service now. We always stayed overnight near the port  but then did the maths and even if we didn't get free coach it still work out cheaper. When you factor in hotel charges, fuel, meals etc it soon adds up. We travelled the first weekend of the school holidays recently and the coach driver learned of an accident on the motorway and diverted. We were still on time. The added bonuses are that the coach driver loads your cases and that's the last you see of them until you are in your cabin. Also the ship will always wait for the coach.

[Tablelamp]

I have been looking at your ticket prices by railway from Manchester to Southampton.  It is cheaper to fly.   Try FLYBE.  but be prepared for the 23K baggage allowance.

[FangedRose]

11 minutes ago, Tablelamp said:

I have been looking at your ticket prices by railway from Manchester to Southampton.  It is cheaper to fly.   Try FLYBE.  but be prepared for the 23K baggage allowance.

Even if they have to factor in longer taxi rides at both ends? Plus the hanging round in the airport. 

 

And they still haven't said whether that was the price each, or for both. 

[AndyMichelle]

2 hours ago, mickrory said:

It took a friend of ours 11 hours to get home on a P&O coach from Soton to Blackpool (usually 5 hours) so for our October Britannia sailing I'm hiring a helicopter, cheaper than the train looking at those prices.😉 

Don't worry Mickrory, I will send the jet up for you and offset the emissions by planting a tree in the garden😀

Andy

[Scorpio41]

On 8/19/2019 at 5:21 PM, SquishTheWhale said:

 

Yes I'm sure it was very bad luck for them and a number of factors. We only go on the m27 very briefly so if that's the problem point we shouldn't be too bad. We board on the 31st Aug, I think some schools are back by then and some not, maybe it will be better.

 

Definitely aiming to board early- our first time on P&O, normally with someone like NCL we turn up at 10am and get on board nice and early for lunch!

 

We are sailing on Sapphire Princess  the same day so that's two big ships in. I wonder if there are any more?