Bus transfer from London to Southampton

[crafticruiser]

I’m planning to take a Princess cruise out of Southampton following a short stay in London later this year. The cruise line will sell us a bus transfer from Victoria Coach station to Southampton.  From my reading of reviews, am I correct in assuming this would not be a bus for Princess cruisers only, and that it would drop us off in town rather than at the cruise pier? I know that the train is an option, but we will have fairly large luggage.  Many thanks!

 

 

[Aulanis]

What does the Princess transfer say it does?  -    It is not too far from the coach station to  any of the piers  and there are taxis.

Edited April 11 by Aulanis

[John Bull]

 

I used to drive ships' bus transfers.

 

If you book with the cruise line it will be a bus chartered by the cruise line, all the passengers will be your cruise-mates, and it will take you and your luggage direct to your cruise terminal. Exactly the same as coaches chartered by cruise lines for airport transfers

 

Yes, ships' transfer buses leave from Victoria Coach Station in central London - that's the same coach station as the time-tabled cross-country National Express (think Greyhound) buses, and that's possibly the reason for confusion.

 

You have the option of instead booking with National Express for a much lower fare (around £9), it's a direct service from Victoria coach station to Southampton (two or three stops en-route, but no changing buses), driver loads & unloads luggage, same as ship's coaches. But they go to Southampton Coach Station. From there a couple of cruise terminals are only a 15 minute walk, or it's a taxi costing no more than £10 to any cruise terminal.

 

I usually try to persuade folk to save their money by booking Nat Express. Some understandably prefer the security of being the cruise line's responsibility from the moment they board the bus, but also there are luggage constraints. Since you mention lots of luggage, perhaps better for you to stick with a Princess transfer, which has no limitations on luggage - in fact they don't book out every seat because of the risk of too much luggage for the bus's belly-lockers and exceeding the coach's maximum gross weight.

 

I hope that explains the reasons for conflicting reviews..

 

JB 🙂

[michelew650]

5 hours ago, crafticruiser said:

I’m planning to take a Princess cruise out of Southampton following a short stay in London later this year. The cruise line will sell us a bus transfer from Victoria Coach station to Southampton.  From my reading of reviews, am I correct in assuming this would not be a bus for Princess cruisers only, and that it would drop us off in town rather than at the cruise pier? I know that the train is an option, but we will have fairly large luggage.  Many thanks!

 

 

I know it's not what you asked, but while I was researching what to do on this same situation, I found International Friends. They have a transfer to Southampton with a stop/tour of Stonehenge on the way. They pick up right at various London and Heathrow hotels with your luggage. Take you to the ship and you get to see Stonhenge. I booked it for my May 15 cruise, it says you get to the ship 1-2pm. It's like a pre-excursion