what time to arrange driver

[herbanrenewal]

For an American sailing into Southampton, scheduled arrival at 6am. What would be reasonable time to allow self-disembark, clear passport control and customs, and meet driver. I'm trying to see if its likely to make a 1250pm flight from Gatwick on a Sunday morning.

[sleepingcat]

Hi, if you havent already done so, I would suggest you repost on the board for the cruise line you are travelling with? there you should find plenty of previous posts about travel time to Gatwick from fellow Americans who have done it before.  all I m thinking is the most of us  UK cruisers dont take an ongoing flight after disembarking, so apart from those who live near Gatwick, wont have the right info. 

 

But off the top of my head, it sounds too tight, especially for Gatwick rather than Heathrow. You dont mention time of year either, and adverse weather here can really slow up travel. Or maybe even delay the ship arrival to Southampton. Storms last month in the eastern Atlantic resulted in many cruise ship schedules going awry. 

[Aulanis]

I would also agree that it would be tight.  In May the weather would not be expected to be bad

but if good at a weekend the traffic could be a problem.

    This site https://www.ecminibus.co.uk/southampton-cruise-terminals/   suggests time for

transfer to Gatwick. As I am sure you are aware it is suggested you need to be checking in at the airport  for an international flight 3 hours before. 

    If there is a  suitable flight on the Monday  you could  stay overnight at  an airport hotel

one  at each terminal and free shuttle between terminals.

There  is a regular  coach service  , national express , but takes 4 hours or so.

 

[John Bull]

I’m more positive 🙂  

it’s a SUNDAY 🙂.

unassisted disembarkation usually starts at 7am or a little earlier

 book a car for 7,15: there are normally no terminal lines or delays at that time in the morning.

Most drivers take the cross=country route rather than the motorway loop just in case the motorway is closed. By a serious Saturday late night accident. Journey time on a Sunday morning (no commuter traffic) is under 2 hours, so you should be at LGW by 9.30. Two hours before flight time is comfortable, 90 minutes at a pinch. So you have wiggle-room of a couple of hours.

 

criuse lines recommend not using their transfer buses for flights from LGW before 12:30 or 1 pm any day of the week.

 

No worries 

 

JB 🤑