Southampton to Heathrow - earliest flight time

[johnrich]

We have a Regal Princess British Isles cruise booked. The ship is supposed to get back at 7:00 AM on a Friday morning. What is the earliest you would book a flight out of Heathrow? We plan on flying American Airlines. 

[ziggyuk]

4 hours ago, johnrich said:

We have a Regal Princess British Isles cruise booked. The ship is supposed to get back at 7:00 AM on a Friday morning. What is the earliest you would book a flight out of Heathrow? We plan on flying American Airlines. 

 

How are you getting to Heathrow and are you planning on self disembarking early with luggage?

[johnrich]

3 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

 

How are you getting to Heathrow and are you planning on self disembarking early with luggage?

We were planning on a private taxi. If we need to do self disembarkation we can although one person will have a wheel chair. We haven’t been on Princess in many years. We also weren’t sure what immigration was like getting off the ship in Southampton. We’ve only ever done cruises out of US and Canada. 

[ziggyuk]

1 hour ago, johnrich said:

We were planning on a private taxi. If we need to do self disembarkation we can although one person will have a wheel chair. We haven’t been on Princess in many years. We also weren’t sure what immigration was like getting off the ship in Southampton. We’ve only ever done cruises out of US and Canada. 

 

The car journey is 1.5 hours and you should be in the airport 3 hours before the flight (I personally would stick to the 3 hrs but certainly not less than 2).
You want to allow 4.5 hours for the journey and airport time, so it's all down to how quickly you can get off the ship if you need an early flight. As its your first Princess cruise, you wont have priority disembarkation.

Self assist are first off the ship, probably about 8am. otherwise they will allocate you a time, if you go to customer services and tell them you have an early flight they will allocate you an earlier time.
Southampton is pretty well organised so its normally fast but of course never guaranteed. I personally don't like the stress on departure day and try to book a later flight, but if you need an early flight I guess there is no choice.

[John Bull]

8 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

 

The car journey is 1.5 hours and you should be in the airport 3 hours before the flight (I personally would stick to the 3 hrs but certainly not less than 2).
You want to allow 4.5 hours for the journey and airport time, so it's all down to how quickly you can get off the ship if you need an early flight. As its your first Princess cruise, you wont have priority disembarkation.

Self assist are first off the ship, probably about 8am. otherwise they will allocate you a time, if you go to customer services and tell them you have an early flight they will allocate you an earlier time.
Southampton is pretty well organised so its normally fast but of course never guaranteed. I personally don't like the stress on departure day and try to book a later flight, but if you need an early flight I guess there is no choice.

 

 

I don't agree with the maths but I do agree with the total.🙂

1.5 hrs (or less) is easy for most weekend journeys, but friday morning competing with London-bound commuters can take a lot longer, to be safe I'd allow 2.5 hrs.

But being at the airport 2 hours before flight-time is usually no problem. .

So the same 4.5 hours total.

 

Disembarkation around 7am is usually unassisted (haul your own luggage from your cabin) but quick thro the formalities - so a car booked for 7.15 should be OK for a flight time of 11.45am.

 

First tranche of assisted disembarkation (luggage waiting for you in the terminal) is usually 7.30, allow a little longer as lines start to build so a car booked for 8.00 for a 12.30 flight.

If you're allocated a disembarkation time that's risky, ask at Guest Relations for an earlier slot citing your onward travel arrangements

 

JB 🙂

 

[ziggyuk]

1 hour ago, John Bull said:

 

 

I don't agree with the maths but I do agree with the total.🙂

1.5 hrs (or less) is easy for most weekend journeys, but friday morning competing with London-bound commuters can take a lot longer, to be safe I'd allow 2.5 hrs.

But being at the airport 2 hours before flight-time is usually no problem. .

So the same 4.5 hours total.

 

Disembarkation around 7am is usually unassisted (haul your own luggage from your cabin) but quick thro the formalities - so a car booked for 7.15 should be OK for a flight time of 11.45am.

 

First tranche of assisted disembarkation (luggage waiting for you in the terminal) is usually 7.30, allow a little longer as lines start to build so a car booked for 8.00 for a 12.30 flight.

If you're allocated a disembarkation time that's risky, ask at Guest Relations for an earlier slot citing your onward travel arrangements

 

JB 🙂

 

 

 

You are right, I didn't take into account the rush hour traffic, I should remember, I had to contest with it for long enough!!

The OP said they get into Southampton at 7am, they are not likely to be cleared and off before 7.30/8.00 which I why I said 8am to get off self-assisted. I think 7.15 for a taxi booking is a bit optimistic.

 

[John Bull]

1 minute ago, ziggyuk said:

 

 

You are right, I didn't take into account the rush hour traffic, I should remember, I had to contest with it for long enough!!

The OP said they get into Southampton at 7am, they are not likely to be cleared and off before 7.30/8.00 which I why I said 8am to get off self-assisted. I think 7.15 for a taxi booking is a bit optimistic.

 

 

Hi Ziggy,

 

Most cruise ships sail into Southampton anytime between 05.00 and 06.30, hence unassisted disembarkation at 7am & often a little earlier. That includes Princess.

I've lost count of the times folk talk about getting off the ship at 05.00 or 05.30 😂

 

But it's difficult to know, because ships quote a time without saying whether it's their arrival time or their disembarkation time. Same problem at ports-of-call.

 

JB 🙂 

[ziggyuk]

8 minutes ago, John Bull said:

 

Hi Ziggy,

 

Most cruise ships sail into Southampton anytime between 05.00 and 06.30, hence unassisted disembarkation at 7am & often a little earlier. That includes Princess.

I've lost count of the times folk talk about getting off the ship at 05.00 or 05.30 😂

 

But it's difficult to know, because ships quote a time without saying whether it's their arrival time or their disembarkation time. Same problem at ports-of-call.

 

JB 🙂 

 

I agree, I was just going on what the OP said.

[johnrich]

3 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

 

The car journey is 1.5 hours and you should be in the airport 3 hours before the flight (I personally would stick to the 3 hrs but certainly not less than 2).
You want to allow 4.5 hours for the journey and airport time, so it's all down to how quickly you can get off the ship if you need an early flight. As its your first Princess cruise, you wont have priority disembarkation.

Self assist are first off the ship, probably about 8am. otherwise they will allocate you a time, if you go to customer services and tell them you have an early flight they will allocate you an earlier time.
Southampton is pretty well organised so its normally fast but of course never guaranteed. I personally don't like the stress on departure day and try to book a later flight, but if you need an early flight I guess there is no choice.

Thanks. I also hate the stress but we don’t have a lot of choices. There are several flights that leave around 1:00 but I’m not crazy about cutting it that close. I think we’ll just stay at a hotel and catch a flight the next day. 

[johnrich]

3 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

 

I don't agree with the maths but I do agree with the total.🙂

1.5 hrs (or less) is easy for most weekend journeys, but friday morning competing with London-bound commuters can take a lot longer, to be safe I'd allow 2.5 hrs.

But being at the airport 2 hours before flight-time is usually no problem. .

So the same 4.5 hours total.

 

Disembarkation around 7am is usually unassisted (haul your own luggage from your cabin) but quick thro the formalities - so a car booked for 7.15 should be OK for a flight time of 11.45am.

 

First tranche of assisted disembarkation (luggage waiting for you in the terminal) is usually 7.30, allow a little longer as lines start to build so a car booked for 8.00 for a 12.30 flight.

If you're allocated a disembarkation time that's risky, ask at Guest Relations for an earlier slot citing your onward travel arrangements

 

JB 🙂

 

Thanks John. I appreciate your comments. 

[Eno]

In April, I booked the excursion that went to Stonehenge and then dropped us off at the airport. Was a great way to end the cruise.  We stayed one night at the Hilton Heathrow terminal 2.  Got up the next morning, had breakfast included in our rate, walked over to departures and had no worries.