12 hours in Southampton, so train to London or MSC excursion by bus?

[Stockjock]

As mentioned, we'll be in Southampton from 9 am to 9 pm on an MSC cruise stop.  They have a fair number of excursions and most/all are apparently bus excursions, so we're talking about roughly 5 hours by bus roundtrip, which doesn't seem too exciting.

The MSC excursion I'd consider is about 10 hours in length and stops at the Tower of London and Covent Garden.  The price is about $132 USD per person.

It seems like the train gets us to London faster and probably cheaper, although neither of us is familiar w/London, so certainly we would need some sort of tour once we get there.

I'm open to your suggestions and recommendations.  Thank you in advance!

[John Bull]

There are a few factors to consider, then you make up your own minds.

 

Train tickets for direct Southampton Central to London Waterloo  cost approx £30 or approx £52.

The lower price is for advance ticket purchase, but it comes with caveats - tickets have to be pre-purchased (not refundable), they are only available from about 8 weeks out, they're valid only for the train time that you choose (miss that train & your tickets are trash), and there are a limited number of advance tickets (no chance if you try to book a week out).

Can't be too specific, cos the national website of my usual source

 https://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/planjourney/plan

is currently playing-up, and I find the website of the train operator 

https://www.southwesternrailway.com/

to be confused and slow.

Journey time is about 90 minutes, so a train at 9.30 & a return train at around 6pm would give you about 7 hours in the city.

 

Southampton Central is an easy 15-minute walk or approx £7 taxi fare from your ship, and London Waterloo ia a 15-minute walk to London Eye, then you cross over Westminster Bridge to Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Whitehall, Churchill's War Rooms, Downing Street, Horseguards Parade, Trafalgar Square. Other sights need transportation

 

There's also a ho-ho stop between Waterloo station and the London Eye. All-day tickets cost around £30, a full tour takes about 2 1/2 hours & the only sight where you'd have to alight is if you want to see Buckingham Palace - ho-hos aren't allowed past the Palace so you hop off, walk round the corner to see it, then back to the stop to hop on the next bus. The tour gives you a very good oversight of most of the sights of central London - but if there's more than one sight that you'd like to see in detail then depending on which sights you'd probably find it quickest to use the Tube (London's excellent underground system), so the ho-ho value isn't great.

 https://www.bigbustours.com/en/london/ 

or https://www.tootbus.com/en/london/home

The offerings of the two vary in minor details, but the main route is the same for both.

 

So if you include the ho-ho the total travel cost will be £70+ per adult - a saving from MSC's tour, but not a huge one.

You'd also need to do a fair bit of research. Here's a good resource https://www.londontoolkit.com/ 

The return time that I've suggested gives you wiggle-room for delays, so the prospects of missing your sailing are pretty slim.

 

I was a coach driver, and I've driven ships' excursions to London.

If MSC's tours are the same as other cruise lines, a specialist London guide joins your coach in Southampton so they'll give you background on the way up to London (about 2 1/2 hours) and during your tour (passing many sights that are on the ho-ho route), then the guide then deoparts from the coach in London at the end of the tour. I don't know whether MSC's tour includes admission charges for the Tower of London - or even whether the stop is so short that it'll be just an outside view. There's no admission charge for Covent Garden, that'll be free time for you - it's mainly shops & stalls & cafes & bars though there's an excellent London Transport museum.

 

The vast majority of those going to London will go on an MSC coach, because its the easiest.

Whether you do the same is up to you - different folks, different strokes.

 

There are other simpler options locally, including Stonehenge & Salisbury, Bath, and Portsmouth & its historic dockyard

 

JB 🙂

 

 

 

[Stockjock]

10 hours ago, John Bull said:

There are a few factors to consider, then you make up your own minds.

 

Train tickets for direct Southampton Central to London Waterloo  cost approx £30 or approx £52.

The lower price is for advance ticket purchase, but it comes with caveats - tickets have to be pre-purchased (not refundable), they are only available from about 8 weeks out, they're valid only for the train time that you choose (miss that train & your tickets are trash), and there are a limited number of advance tickets (no chance if you try to book a week out).

Can't be too specific, cos the national website of my usual source

 https://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/planjourney/plan

is currently playing-up, and I find the website of the train operator 

https://www.southwesternrailway.com/

to be confused and slow.

Journey time is about 90 minutes, so a train at 9.30 & a return train at around 6pm would give you about 7 hours in the city.

 

Southampton Central is an easy 15-minute walk or approx £7 taxi fare from your ship, and London Waterloo ia a 15-minute walk to London Eye, then you cross over Westminster Bridge to Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Whitehall, Churchill's War Rooms, Downing Street, Horseguards Parade, Trafalgar Square. Other sights need transportation

 

There's also a ho-ho stop between Waterloo station and the London Eye. All-day tickets cost around £30, a full tour takes about 2 1/2 hours & the only sight where you'd have to alight is if you want to see Buckingham Palace - ho-hos aren't allowed past the Palace so you hop off, walk round the corner to see it, then back to the stop to hop on the next bus. The tour gives you a very good oversight of most of the sights of central London - but if there's more than one sight that you'd like to see in detail then depending on which sights you'd probably find it quickest to use the Tube (London's excellent underground system), so the ho-ho value isn't great.

 https://www.bigbustours.com/en/london/ 

or https://www.tootbus.com/en/london/home

The offerings of the two vary in minor details, but the main route is the same for both.

 

So if you include the ho-ho the total travel cost will be £70+ per adult - a saving from MSC's tour, but not a huge one.

You'd also need to do a fair bit of research. Here's a good resource https://www.londontoolkit.com/ 

The return time that I've suggested gives you wiggle-room for delays, so the prospects of missing your sailing are pretty slim.

 

I was a coach driver, and I've driven ships' excursions to London.

If MSC's tours are the same as other cruise lines, a specialist London guide joins your coach in Southampton so they'll give you background on the way up to London (about 2 1/2 hours) and during your tour (passing many sights that are on the ho-ho route), then the guide then deoparts from the coach in London at the end of the tour. I don't know whether MSC's tour includes admission charges for the Tower of London - or even whether the stop is so short that it'll be just an outside view. There's no admission charge for Covent Garden, that'll be free time for you - it's mainly shops & stalls & cafes & bars though there's an excellent London Transport museum.

 

The vast majority of those going to London will go on an MSC coach, because its the easiest.

Whether you do the same is up to you - different folks, different strokes.

 

There are other simpler options locally, including Stonehenge & Salisbury, Bath, and Portsmouth & its historic dockyard

 

JB 🙂

 

 

 

Thank you for your detailed suggestions!

[sddsddean]

JB's info is totally correct (as usual!), but personally, I would not go to London on a coach tour. You will effectively have 4 or 5 hours being driven round a congested city which you can easily spend 2 weeks going round. I'd focus on JB's last paragraph and go either to Salisbury/Stonehenge (a 30 min train ride, cheaper and much more pleasent than sitting in a coach) or Portsmouth dockyard. Just my opinion, unless you are absolutely dead set on going to London.

 

Simon (an ex-Londoner!)

[Hazel52]

I’m curious if there is a tour from Portsmouth/Southampton to the Isle of Wight. Thoughts?

[John Bull]

3 hours ago, Hazel52 said:

I’m curious if there is a tour from Portsmouth/Southampton to the Isle of Wight. Thoughts?

No regular tours, but you can take the fast-cat ferry from Portsmouth or the hovercraft from Portsmouth’s conjoined twin Southsea, both go to the Island’s seaside resort of Ryde ( the car ferry from Portsmouth to the Island goes to Fishborne which is inconvenient for folk on foot). Or from Southampton the Red Jet passenger ferry to the tourist and yachting town of Cowes, or the car/foot passenger ferry to West Cowes plus short ride on the frequent local buses to Osborne House.

 

Google for details - sorry, away from home for a week with just my ancient I-Pad

 

JB 🙂

[Hazel52]

Great info. Thank you!

[den32837]

Last time we were in Southhampton, we took the train to Salisbury. Great ride. At Salisbury train staion sits the green bus to Stonehenge. It was a bucket-list item for me. Absolutely loved it and shot my favorite ever photo there. Also, Salisbury cathedral has on display an original copy of the Magna Carta!. Don't miss it.

[Stockjock]

Since I just completed my cruise, I thought I'd offer some remarks.

We did take the MSC excursion by bus from Southampton to London.  I didn't realize that the freeways were so narrow as one approached London, with many traffic lights and roundabouts.  It's not like this here in the US.

Unfortunately, we arrived on the day that the Queen's coffin arrived, so there were quite a few roads blocked off.  We did visit the Tower of London, which was interesting, but maybe only 45 minutes in Covent Garden, which wasn't enough time to see or do anything.

We were on the bus for probably a total of 5.5 hours or so, which was a lot of time stuck on the bus.  While I'm not sorry that we tried this, I wouldn't go with the same choice next time.  I'd either take the train suggestions or stick closer to Southampton.

In fact, we also have a winter sailing that stops in Southampton (should be chilly) and I think we're going to stay close to the ship and do the "Titanic Trail" walking tour in Southampton.

Thanks again for the recommendations!

[Globaliser]

6 hours ago, Stockjock said:

I didn't realize that the freeways were so narrow as one approached London, with many traffic lights and roundabouts.

 

Thanks for letting us know how it went.

 

This is more that in general we do not have freeways/motorways going into central London. It sounds like you came straight in on the M3. This freeway/motorway basically ends about 11 miles outside London, and it's just normal urban roads after that. The only arguable exception to this is the A40, which basically has freeway/motorway conditions as far as Paddington - but even that is punctuated by a series of traffic lights near Acton.

 

So that is one reason why the train is consistently high up on the list of advice if you don't have luggage (and even if you do). And millions of visitors manage to self-guide around London, so it isn't difficult. There's even a reasonable amount of English spoken here.

[ollienbertsmum]

On 10/7/2022 at 3:30 AM, Stockjock said:

Since I just completed my cruise, I thought I'd offer some remarks.

We did take the MSC excursion by bus from Southampton to London.  I didn't realize that the freeways were so narrow as one approached London, with many traffic lights and roundabouts.  It's not like this here in the US.

Unfortunately, we arrived on the day that the Queen's coffin arrived, so there were quite a few roads blocked off.  We did visit the Tower of London, which was interesting, but maybe only 45 minutes in Covent Garden, which wasn't enough time to see or do anything.

We were on the bus for probably a total of 5.5 hours or so, which was a lot of time stuck on the bus.  While I'm not sorry that we tried this, I wouldn't go with the same choice next time.  I'd either take the train suggestions or stick closer to Southampton.

In fact, we also have a winter sailing that stops in Southampton (should be chilly) and I think we're going to stay close to the ship and do the "Titanic Trail" walking tour in Southampton.

Thanks again for the recommendations!

It is great that you came back to give feedback.  This is really helpful for other cruisers who are making plans for their own trip.  

 

As an English person I always am amazed that the cruise lines market Southampton as a port for London trips.  Portsmouth seems like a more reasonable option.  

[Stockjock]

4 hours ago, ollienbertsmum said:

It is great that you came back to give feedback.  This is really helpful for other cruisers who are making plans for their own trip.  

 

As an English person I always am amazed that the cruise lines market Southampton as a port for London trips.  Portsmouth seems like a more reasonable option.  

You're welcome.  We'll be in Southampton again in a few weeks.  Doing a "Titanic" themed walking tour in Southampton.  It has good reviews, so hopefully it will be interesting.  We are southern California types, so we may well freeze our buns off.  But at least we'll be close to the ship.

Edited December 9, 2022 by Stockjock