How close to embarkation can/should we arrive at the port (Southhampton, UK)?

[sciteach11]

My family of 6 (young children, parents, grandparents) is booked on a cruise out of Southhampton next year (July 2025) and we are planning to stay in London to see the sights a few days before we embark. We are hiring a driver to deliver us and our luggage to the port the Sunday we embark at 4pm. He thinks we'll have time to see some things in London that morning, before we head out for the ~2 hour drive to Southhampton. Could we leave as late as 12:30 or 1pm and arrive at 3pm or do we need to plan to start the boarding process sooner than 3pm if the ship sails at 4pm? Thank you!

Edited Sunday at 11:20 PM by sciteach11

[reedprincess]

Way too late to be leaving for Southampton.

 You should be aiming to be there around noon or the absolute latest of 1- and that will leave some time for any delays. 

3pm, by ship's time, is the absolute latest you can arrive - and that's by their clocks, not yours. 

 

Unless you were already in Southampton from the night before, I'd be aiming to leave London absolutely no later than 10, maybe 10:30.

There's simply too many variables that can happen on the road to take chances and chance missing a multiple thousand dollar trip.

 

You could leave for 8 am and do a bit of sightseeing on the way, but much better to be a little early to port, at 12 or 1, rather than late - and miss the boat. Or if you were up and ready to go by 8 am, you could do some sightseeing around London and leave by 10am.. 

 

 

Of course, only you know your risk tolerance.  If you're okay with risking your trip, then aim for 2:45....  Personally, I wouldn't be comfortable with that at all.  At port by 1 at the absolute latest for me.. 

[tobyt]

Please consider day of the week….traffic, rain, accident the timing would be too close for me but only you can decide. The British site of CC may have others provide more reliable details.

[sciteach11]

24 minutes ago, reedprincess said:

You should be aiming to be there around noon or the absolute latest of 1- and that will leave some time for any delays. 

 

Thank you! That's what my intuition was telling me too. Glad I confirmed!

[cr8tiv1]

From experience this summer.  I had factored in 2 nights (3 days) in Southampton before my cruise.  

 

Cut down to one overnight due to Delta meltdown.

 

Had a private car service from LHR to Southampton.  Arrived around 4 PM.  It took about an hour to get through immigrations, but driver was right there.  Got into his car and started the 90 minute drive (on a weekday) to Southampton.  His clutch gave out...and we had to wait for a back up.  Dinner, crash, and slept until embarkation day.  

 

Left the hotel at 10 for a 10 minute ride to the cruise terminal.  Was on board before 11 AM.  

 

I would opt for a leisurely morning then leaving London no later than 9:30 AM.  Why create more stress before a cruise?  It's a long flight and 8 hour time zone difference.  

[VibeGuy]

If you’re completely checked in on the app, you have to present to the check-in desk (not the kerb, not security, not bag drop) 60 minutes prior to scheduled departure.  If you’re not Ocean Ready, it’s 90 minutes.  
 

London’s a big city; it would highly depend on where I was starting from as to when I would want to leave, but there is enough peril involved that I wouldn’t want to schedule my arrival in Southampton for much after 1:30. From my preferred hotel in London (Covent Garden / Strand area) that means in the car and moving by 11:00.   It’s possible I hit the quay at 12:45 (a best case scenario) or it’s entirely possible I get there at 2:00 with nothing more dramatic than typical traffic.  
 

I fully understand wanting to make the most of your morning but there are a lot of ways that particular trip can go wrong and a relatively finite number of ways to recover.  

[Mara4166]

Given it is a Sunday traffic should be lighter than normal, but I would still give it at least 3 hours to have a buffer.  If there is an accident on the M3 it can easily take an extra hour or two assuming you can get off the motorway and find a different route.
 

Personally I would travel to Southampton on Saturday afternoon/evening and look around Southampton on Sunday morning to avoid any concerns on traffic.

[sandancer]

There is no way I would recommend travelling from London to Southampton on the day of the cruise regardless of what your driver proposes. Stay overnight and be nice and chilled when you board. 

[KforKitty]

My daughter was an undergraduate at Southampton University.  The weekend we moved her into her University accommodation we were only 1hr away from our destination, when we hit traffic.  The M3 was closed in both direction and it took us 5 hours to travel the final 50 miles.  If we had been going on a cruise that day, we’d have missed it.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4912578/Bomb-scare-sparks-weekend-travel-chaos-M3-shut.html

 

Although this was a rare circumstance, I’d always go with the plan for the worst and hope for the best.

 

Catherine

 

 

 

[Mara4166]

1 hour ago, KforKitty said:

Although this was a rare circumstance, I’d always go with the plan for the worst and hope for the best.

100% this.  We live less than an hour drive from Southampton.  We have considered travelling the day before. DH does not want to so we have a taxi booked to collect us at 9:30.  Luckily there are multiple routes we can take if there is an issue.  We will check traffic online before we are picked up, but it is a concern.  The M3 does have major backups at least once a month near us.

[brounie]

I work in the suburbs of Southampton (I can see and wave to my place of employment when sailing East out of Soton cruise terminal), as do many of my colleagues.  M3 and M27 have been really bad recentl;y.  Those that have to use either motorway to get into the office in the morning have been having a nightmare recently with journeys taking easily double the normal time.  When you then add in the M25 from London (biggest car park in Europe) I would definately want to come down to the city the day before if possible, but no later than 10am same day if not.

[sandancer]

We have family in Portsmouth but still prefer to stay over in Southampton the night before a cruise. Major traffic collision can shut the motorway for several hours and sometimes it’s not possible to get off between junctions. 

[chisoxfan]

As suggested, stay overnight in Southampton. Reasonably priced hotels and restaurants and you can visit a few 'Titanic' bars close to port (and hotels) prior to the cruise. You could enjoy a day in London and leave mid afternoon since you have a car service.

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

Another Brit here, confirming what others have said. I’d book a hotel in Southampton the night before and spend some time in Southampton. Visit the Titanic Museum, have a wander around the centre, Southampton has enough to see and do for sure.

 

The M3 and the M25 motorways can be a nightmare. Yes it’s a Sunday, so should be quieter but one accident can delay you for quite a while. Also I don’t know how many ships are in the same day but if it’s quite a few that can make traffic painfully slow into town as well.

 

one day last year Border Force decided to do an unannounced visit to do extra immigration checks which ground the traffic to a halt
 

I live 2 hours away In W Sussex. (Near Gatwick Airport). 

 

We’ve taken to travelling down the night before

 

[AllenF]

So what about people who take the Princess transfer Bus from the Airport the day of the cruise if there is a major traffic issue they don't wait for them?

[sandancer]

People who take the transfer bus don’t have the option to stay overnight in Southampton. The OP does.  Why take the risk?

[racj846]

7 minutes ago, AllenF said:

So what about people who take the Princess transfer Bus from the Airport the day of the cruise if there is a major traffic issue they don't wait for them?

The ship will wait for the "official" transfer bus, just as they do for late arriving  Princess excursions.

[missnd]

1 hour ago, JG&Lcruisingnewbies said:

one day last year Border Force decided to do an unannounced visit to do extra immigration checks which ground the traffic to a halt

 

I disembarked from an MSC cruise that day, so I remember it well.  Complete gridlock.  With train strikes that day and the extra immigration checks, it was chaos. 

 

People were delayed in getting off the ships by hours and the next cruises were delayed in boarding.  With the train strikes, many people had to make alternate arrangements, adding to the mass of cars at the port.  Thankfully, I did self-disembark as early as I could and had a train reservation to London that was running on time, but I truly felt for all the others!

[Tranquility Base]

Different query but thought I'd ask for others' experiences here.

Thinking about a 'side to side' at Southampton (two different cruise lines).

7am arrival on first ship, 5pm departure on second ship on the same day.

 

I am fully aware of the obvious risk of a very late arrival or clearance on the first ship.

 

Apart from that, what other considerations should I consider ?

 

Thanks.

Edited Monday at 06:22 PM by Tranquility Base

[MyriamS]

Our bus from Southampton to London Victoria took 2.5h on a Sunday morning, no traffic, so I wouldn't count on a 2h drive.

 

Rather than staying overnight in Southampton, I would recommend Salisbury, which is very close by and much better looking in my opinion. One day before embarkation, go from London to Salisbury, see Stonehenge, then relax in your hotel for the night. Embarkation day, visit the cathedral in the morning or just have a stroll around, then take the train to Southampton. It's only 45 min away and, even if all trains were cancelled, there are buses as well.

[arxcards]

We are looking forward to a night in Southampton pre-cruise next June. There are heaps of places of interest, cheaper than the extra night in London, and a 15-minute stroll to the terminal on embarkation morning.

[reedprincess]

On 10/21/2024 at 2:20 PM, Tranquility Base said:

Different query but thought I'd ask for others' experiences here.

Thinking about a 'side to side' at Southampton (two different cruise lines).

7am arrival on first ship, 5pm departure on second ship on the same day.

 

I am fully aware of the obvious risk of a very late arrival or clearance on the first ship.

 

Apart from that, what other considerations should I consider ?

 

Thanks.

Not much.

Obviously, there can be rare circumstances as described in a few posts - strikes and such, but those would affect both ships - delaying disembarkation, but also delaying embarkation.

Same would go for weather events...

 

98% of the time, everything goes normally -all you have to do is get yourself from Ship A to Ship B... Consider dropping your luggage for cruise B and enjoying some time in Southampton, if you have to kill a little time between cruises..

 

Enjoy!

[Barry H]

On 10/21/2024 at 11:55 AM, AllenF said:

So what about people who take the Princess transfer Bus from the Airport the day of the cruise if there is a major traffic issue they don't wait for them?

On ship tours and transfers from the airport.

Princess will be in contact with the transfer coach so they will have an estimate for arrival.

Princess has a window (time period they can delay leaving port). When the time is up the ship has to leave or pay extra port fees. If the delay is excessive, the ship will leave.

 

It is then up to Princess to get you to the next port (travel, accommodation and meals) and board you on the ship.

 

If you travel on your own and miss the ship, staff will assist you to get to the next port at your expense.

[Crown Vic]

On 10/20/2024 at 7:20 PM, sciteach11 said:

… He thinks we'll have time to see some things in London that morning, before we head out for the ~2 hour drive to Southhampton…

Go down a day or so earlier. Plan to visit the Duke of Wellington on Bugle Street for a meal and a pint (or two). Children may enter a pub but must be 18+ to purchase alcohol.

p.s. Only one “h” in Southampton. Don’t want to upset anyone…

[sciteach11]

1 minute ago, Crown Vic said:

Go down a day or so earlier. Plan to visit the Duke of Wellington on Bugle Street for a meal and a pint (or two). Children may enter a pub but must be 18+ to purchase alcohol.

p.s. Only one “h” in Southampton. Don’t want to upset anyone…

Oops! Thanks for gently correcting my spelling. 🙂 I appreciate the advice and knowledge! We're trying to minimize how much we move the kids around to different hotels so despite the wonderful advice on this board we're going to spend the night in London. But we will be sure to leave very early in the morning in case we need to take an alternate route!