Anyone know what Princess are charging for transfers Southampton port to Heathrow ?

[laynp]

We will be doing a TA from SouthHampton to Galeston. Arriving LHR the day of the cruise at 11:30 am, transfer is paid on our itenery LHR to Southhampton.  Does anyone know what time the Princess Bus leaves to go to the ship?  Are we cutting it to close on time?  We will be using Ezfly thru Princess incase of a delay.  First Princess cruise, not sure how this works, any info is appreciated.

[Lady Arwen]

5 minutes ago, laynp said:

We will be doing a TA from SouthHampton to Galeston. Arriving LHR the day of the cruise at 11:30 am, transfer is paid on our itenery LHR to Southhampton.  Does anyone know what time the Princess Bus leaves to go to the ship?  Are we cutting it to close on time?  We will be using Ezfly thru Princess incase of a delay.  First Princess cruise, not sure how this works, any info is appreciated.

LHR is a huge airport and extremely busy.  IF your flight is on time at 11:30 am, count on at least another hour to get to baggage claim and to meet up with the Princess rep.  Flying into Europe the same day as the cruise is really risky and I doubt if most folks are that brave.  We usually stay 2-3 days prior to the cruise in the embarkation city.  Can you at least do one day before?  This is too close for comfort for me.  

[laynp]

Thanks for the reply.  The air will be through Princess as will the transfer so they will know we are coming and if we don't make it to the ship by 4pm they will get us to the ship at the next port, the next day!

[Lady Arwen]

5 minutes ago, laynp said:

Thanks for the reply.  The air will be through Princess as will the transfer so they will know we are coming and if we don't make it to the ship by 4pm they will get us to the ship at the next port, the next day!

Good luck!  Your question was “are we cutting it close on time”.  I think yes you are, but if you feel confident then I hope it all works out for you.

Edited March 28, 2023 by Lady Arwen

[coo359a2]

We have transfers from LHR to Southampton in June.  In my Travel Summary it says that transfers to the pier will begin at 7:30am and that it's two hours travel time (depending on traffic)  to the pier.  As Lady Arwen said - allow hour to get luggage and meet outside the customs area.    IF there was a  transfer leaving at 1:00 it would be at least 3:00 before arriving at the pier.  Not sure that Princess would knowingly schedule a transfer arriving that close to departure time.  I have seen the ship hold up their departure when about 60 passengers arrived late.

 

Can you call Princess and ask when their last transfer leaves LHR for Southampton??

[nini]

2 minutes ago, coo359a2 said:

We have transfers from LHR to Southampton in June.  In my Travel Summary it says that transfers to the pier will begin at 7:30am and that it's two hours travel time (depending on traffic)  to the pier.  As Lady Arwen said - allow hour to get luggage and meet outside the customs area.    IF there was a  transfer leaving at 1:00 it would be at least 3:00 before arriving at the pier.  Not sure that Princess would knowingly schedule a transfer arriving that close to departure time.  I have seen the ship hold up their departure when about 60 passengers arrived late.

 

Can you call Princess and ask when their last transfer leaves LHR for Southampton??

 

Hi @coo359a2! You are on our Roll Call. What time does your flight get in? I would plan on at least 1.5 hours to get out and get to the transfer. It took us close to 2 hours on the bus from Victoria Station to the port (last May). LHR is closer to Southampton than Victoria Station.

[Lady Arwen]

10 minutes ago, nini said:

 

Hi @coo359a2! You are on our Roll Call. What time does your flight get in? I would plan on at least 1.5 hours to get out and get to the transfer. It took us close to 2 hours on the bus from Victoria Station to the port (last May). LHR is closer to Southampton than Victoria Station.

OP said 11:30 am is flight arrival 

[coo359a2]

4 minutes ago, nini said:

 

Hi @coo359a2! You are on our Roll Call. What time does your flight get in? I would plan on at least 1.5 hours to get out and get to the transfer. It took us close to 2 hours on the bus from Victoria Station to the port (last May). LHR is closer to Southampton than Victoria Station.

We are arriving on 1 June so no worries on getting to the bus on time. Just going by our Travel Summary saying it was 2 hours depending on traffic from LHR to Southampton. We were too busy talking and watching traffic to keep track of our travel time.    See you on board!  

[GonzoWCS]

Thanks for the information?

 

Cheers

[nini]

32 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

OP said 11:30 am is flight arrival 

 

I was not responding to the OP.

[nini]

31 minutes ago, coo359a2 said:

We are arriving on 1 June so no worries on getting to the bus on time. Just going by our Travel Summary saying it was 2 hours depending on traffic from LHR to Southampton. We were too busy talking and watching traffic to keep track of our travel time.    See you on board!  

 

See you then! Safe travels.

[Lady Arwen]

2 minutes ago, nini said:

 

I was not responding to the OP.

Sorry, I see that now.  Senior moment, again lol.

[coo359a2]

6 minutes ago, nini said:

 

See you then! Safe travels.

Have you decided on who to use to get to Southampton.  Last I remember reading you were still undecided?  

[nini]

21 hours ago, coo359a2 said:

Have you decided on who to use to get to Southampton.  Last I remember reading you were still undecided?  

 

I think we will bite the bullet and book with West Quay Cars. We will use Princess transfer to LHR.

[Barry H]

We have sailed out of Southampton many times. After a Princess transfer had to take a 45 minute stop at a highway rest stop because the driver had gone 4 hours without a break (it is law in the UK) we looked into private car services. 

 

We have used Smiths for Airports numerous times for both going from LHR to Southampton and from Southampton to LHR. The cost is reasonable (similar to 2 Princess transfers). Driver meets you at the airport or cruise terminal, helps you with your luggage, and drives you directly to your destination. Vehicles are clean and owned by the driver. Most drivers are ex-military. Most times transfer is 60-75 minutes (and no waiting for the Princess transfer bus to fill). You can check them out on trip advisor.

[nini]

4 hours ago, Barry H said:

We have sailed out of Southampton many times. After a Princess transfer had to take a 45 minute stop at a highway rest stop because the driver had gone 4 hours without a break (it is law in the UK) we looked into private car services. 

 

We have used Smiths for Airports numerous times for both going from LHR to Southampton and from Southampton to LHR. The cost is reasonable (similar to 2 Princess transfers). Driver meets you at the airport or cruise terminal, helps you with your luggage, and drives you directly to your destination. Vehicles are clean and owned by the driver. Most drivers are ex-military. Most times transfer is 60-75 minutes (and no waiting for the Princess transfer bus to fill). You can check them out on trip advisor.

Sadly, Smith's no longer exists.

[Cruiser Nonna]

Have sailed out of Southampton and other cruise ports several times in the past.  One time we flew what was to be a non stop flight to Heathrow had a medical emergency onboard and diverted us for more than 3 hours and arrived into Heathrow about the same time the ship was departing.  They did hold the ship as there were 14 of us on that flight - however the transfer was almost 2 hours and the driver was talking to the port the entire time not knowing how much longer they could hold based on the tides.

 Yes if we had missed embarkation they would have helped us to get to the next port - however remember that you miss that first day and even the second day as you will be traveling and the hope that there are flights into the next port of call.

 Two months ago flew into and out of Heathrow and it has become so busy and so crowded so definitely leave yourself plenty of time to not only get baggage, hopefully flight on time, clear customs and get out of the airport.

 Hopefully you might be able to change your flights - add on 1 night pre cruise either through Princess or on your own so that you are stressfree and ready to have a great cruise - Enjoy

 

[Prometheus1]

$60 per person for the Princess transfer LHR to Southampton for our Oct cruise, same for transfer back to LHR