Transfer from Southampton to heathrow

[speech1102]

Looking for recommendations on getting from Southampton to Heathrow.  Plane leaves at 3:00.

[seachelt]

6 minutes ago, speech1102 said:

Looking for recommendations on getting from Southampton to Heathrow.  Plane leaves at 3:00.

We are using Princess shuttle, cost $59. per person

[jrblach]

we have always used Princess shuttle. always made our flight. worth it. 

[Thrak]

We took the Princess excursion that went to Stonehenge. They took our luggage and we got on a bus that went to Stonehenge. After Stonehenge it took us to Heathrow. Nice excursion and solved the luggage hassle.

[Joanne G.]

We took a Princess excursion that went to Windsor Castle and then Heathrow.   Like Thrak's excursion above, the one we did probably won't work for the OP with a 3:00 flight.  But others who haven't yet made their flight arrangements might consider these options.   We enjoyed the excursion, like an extra day of vacation.  We stayed at one of the airport hotels and took a morning flight home the next day.  

 

Even without an excursion, I would pick the Princess bus over any other option, due to the convenience.   The bus is waiting when you get off the ship, and if the ship comes in late or there is a delay in disembarkation, the bus will still be there waiting.                               

[Ombud]

Currently National Express Coach suggests arriving 3.5 hrs before your flight, so not enough time to tour. (2 hr drive + 3.5 hrs before flight ..... )

[MustangGT]

1 hour ago, Joanne G. said:

We took a Princess excursion that went to Windsor Castle and then Heathrow.   Like Thrak's excursion above, the one we did probably won't work for the OP with a 3:00 flight.  But others who haven't yet made their flight arrangements might consider these options.   We enjoyed the excursion, like an extra day of vacation.  We stayed at one of the airport hotels and took a morning flight home the next day.  

 

Even without an excursion, I would pick the Princess bus over any other option, due to the convenience.   The bus is waiting when you get off the ship, and if the ship comes in late or there is a delay in disembarkation, the bus will still be there waiting.                               

Can I ask why hotel you stayed at?  We will be finishing a B2B next year and want to do the same - stay at a hotel airport and fly home the next day.  Thanks!

[speech1102]

How do you sign up for the shuttle?

[Joanne G.]

1 hour ago, MustangGT said:

Can I ask why hotel you stayed at?  We will be finishing a B2B next year and want to do the same - stay at a hotel airport and fly home the next day.  Thanks!

 

We stayed at the Sofitel at Heathrow in terminal 5.   Our flight was on American, and we used the Heathrow Express (free for this portion) to get to the terminal we needed - either 2 or 3, I can't remember.   

 

It was a very nice hotel.   Not exactly cheap, but attractive with spacious rooms.   We liked that from the hotel, it was an easy walk to an area of terminal 5, outside of security, where we could purchase food for a light supper.   After a week of cruise dining, we didn't need the fancy, expensive meal at the hotel restaurant - though I am sure it would have been very good!

 

For an upcoming land vacation in London, for the last night before my early flight, I booked the Hilton Garden Inn inside terminal 2, which United uses, and it is accessible to terminal 3 by a walkway, according to their website.    

 

Heathrow is HUGE, even to me whose home airport is O'Hare.  Check which terminal your airline uses before choosing the hotel, though as we discovered, the Heathrow Express runs between terminals for no charge.  There are also some free shuttle buses between terminals. 

 

Edited August 18, 2022 by Joanne G.

[John Bull]

A 3.00pm scheduled flight should not be a problem, you have three main options.

 

1. At about £16 pp the cheapest option by far is by National Express bus. The 9.00am bus gets to Heathrow about 11.00am. You definitely need to pre-book to be sure of a seat, and you'll need to know your airport terminal.  Add a max. of £10 for a taxi from any cruise terminal to Southampton coach station.

If you're allocated a disembarkation slot later than 8.00am, go to customer relations and ask for an earlier slot, citing your onward travel arrangements.

In normal times the 11.00am bus would be "OK" but these aren't normal times, plus it gives you no wiggle-room for any delay en-route.

https://book.nationalexpress.com/

 

2. All cruise lines offer their own transfer buses to Heathrow, they each go direct to a single LHR terminal - the first one leaves from about 8.00am, but you have a wide time window and even the last one - which leaves about 9 - 9.30 & takes the stragglers to all LHR terminals - will arrive at LHR in good time for you.

Folk on this thread have mentioned Princess - if indeed you are on Princess their transfers have always been good value at about $65 pp. But other lines including RCI & Cunard at over $100 pp have been more expensive than a private transfer for two or more people. 

 

3. For suggestions of private transfer operators, scroll thro' the top sticky thread on this forum. But ignore Smiths for Airports, who sadly were a casualty of the Covid restrictions.

 

Because of rampant inflation, especially fuel costs, the private transfer prices on that thread (and the cruiseline prices that I've quoted above) will be out-of-date.

 

There's no direct train service from Southampton to LHR, it involves a London-bound train to Woking, then a tortuous RailAir bus from there to LHR. Expensive at over £40 pp, and takes longer than the bus. Not recommended, but it's a frequent service, there's no need to pre-book, and time is not a great problem for you, so it's a good Plan B if your other arrangements go belly-up.

I don't know whether you can buy a thru train+bus ticket at Southampton station, or you have to buy a train ticket to Woking then a RailAir ticket from the bus driver. But don't buy a "train ticket to Heathrow" - that involves a train to London Waterloo, then crossing central London to London Paddington for a train back out to Heathrow. 

 

JB 🙂

[Globaliser]

32 minutes ago, John Bull said:

There's no direct train service from Southampton to LHR, it involves a London-bound train to Woking, then a tortuous RailAir bus from there to LHR. Expensive at over £40 pp, and takes longer than the bus. Not recommended, but it's a frequent service, there's no need to pre-book, and time is not a great problem for you, so it's a good Plan B if your other arrangements go belly-up.

 

More details about the current arrangements via Woking at:

• https://www.southwesternrailway.com/travelling-with-us/at-the-station/airport-links
• https://www.firstbus.co.uk/railair/timetable
• https://www.firstbus.co.uk/uploads/node_images/RA2 from January 2021_0.pdf

[speech1102]

How do you get the princess shuttle?  Everyone says it is $59. Our TA told us it’s $75. Is she talking about a different one?  Do I arrange it after I board?   Thanks 

[Ashland]

6 hours ago, speech1102 said:

How do you get the princess shuttle?  Everyone says it is $59. Our TA told us it’s $75. Is she talking about a different one?  Do I arrange it after I board?   Thanks 

Pricing may have changed. There's no problem in waiting to book the transfer once onboard.

[dreaminofcruisin]

On 8/18/2022 at 1:10 PM, speech1102 said:

How do you get the princess shuttle?  Everyone says it is $59. Our TA told us it’s $75. Is she talking about a different one?  Do I arrange it after I board?   Thanks 

 

No idea what your TA is talking about. Looks like mine for next summer is $59. Since you booked through a TA, you can't do it online like I can since I booked online. You need to book it through your TA. Ask why it is that he/she is telling you $75 and we all see it as $59. Perhaps just nicely ask him/her to re-check the pricing. Perhaps they are thinking of a different cruise line. I have heard that others are more expensive.

 

[ontheweb]

On 8/17/2022 at 7:28 PM, Thrak said:

We took the Princess excursion that went to Stonehenge. They took our luggage and we got on a bus that went to Stonehenge. After Stonehenge it took us to Heathrow. Nice excursion and solved the luggage hassle.

We were going to take that on our 2020 Princess Norwegian fjords cruise from Southampton. DW even said she was more looking forward to that than the actual cruise.

 

We had previously done something similar on a Princess British Isles cruise from Dover. Our transfer took us to Canterbury.

 

One other positive of this type of transfer to the airport in addition to what you already wrote is that instead of a feeling of loss as you depart the ship because your cruise is over, you have something to look forward to. And in our case we knew a few people on the transfer from our roll call, and it really made it feel like we were still partaking in the cruise.