transportation from waterloo to southampton

Has anyone used the megatrain from waterloo to southampton to catch a cruise? Our hotel is close to the waterloo station and it seems to far to go to Victoria Coach station to catch the National Express bus to Southampton.

Any suggestions?

Yes - it is easy and cheap. Be aware that the ticket is only valid for a particular train. Also, remember that you will need to show your ticket to the staff to get out at Southampton.

The "megatrain" are just cheap advance tickets on the normal (slower) Southwest Trains service to Southampton.

As mentioned (and like any other Advance ticket) you are restricted to a specific train and your ticket isn't valid on anything else.

Theoretically there is a Megatrain carriage on the train, but in practice nobody cares if you sit in it or not.

The only hassle is needing to show the paperwork at Waterloo (and Southampton) to a member of staff to get through the barriers, rather than putting a ticket through.

It worked great for us - book as soon as you can, prices go up. Just about the only "deal" we got in London, except for museum entries. I'd much rather take a train than deal with traffic too - London traffic is horrific.

https://uk.megabus.com/megatrain.aspx is very popular with cruisers spending pre-cruise time in central London (there's no megatrain tickets to or from London's airports).

It's a bucket-price website owned by a consortium of travel operators, including South West Trains who operate this route, and it's a trusted website. The objective is to encourage non-essential travel by offering cheap prices on a limited number of journeys.

There are about 3 trains per hour from London Waterloo to Southampton Central, Megatrain tickets are only available on less than a dozen of those trains per day but for a sailing from Southampton the timing of two or three of those trains will suit.

The walk-up fare to Southampton is £40. Megatrain fares are between £1 and £15 depending on the train time and how early you book.

Tickets are available from about 6 to 8 weeks out, as suec's post prices do go up closer to the date.

Must be pre-booked on-line, select the train time that you want, no amendments & no refunds.

If you miss your booked train you'll have to throw away your ticket. You'll not be stranded because there are plenty of trains, but you'll have to buy new full-price tickets.

No megatrain tickets for sundays.

And megatrain tickets for the opposite direction, Southampton to London, are only available for trains after about 1pm - which doesn't suit most folk planning a post-cruise stay in London.

JB :)