Arrival and Departure Times (Southampton RC)

Books on RC Independence for 7night out of Southampton May 27th-June 3rd. Departure is 4:30pm. What is a good time to arrive into the Southampton train station. Will be taking a direct train from London Waterloo. I am someone who does not enjoy waiting around to get on the ship, I rather get on a little later and enjoy breakfast in London. Would say a 1:00pm arrival to Southampton station be too late?

As for getting off the ship. Anyone have a good choice for a time for the departure train. I was thinking 10:00am or so? Really want to get back into London and enjoy it some more as we depart the next day back to Miami.

Thank you.

Arrival at Southampton Central station around 1pm is fine It's only a 5 minute taxi ride (or 15 minute level walk) to RCI's terminal (City Cruise Terminal). With a 4.30pm departure, last registration time is likely to be 2.30 or 3pm

The cost of advance-purchase train tickets for the London Waterloo to Southampton Central route has dropped enormously - most trains now cost only £13, with a high degree of flexibility. Times, prices & bookings on http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

A little cheaper via the Megatrain website https://uk.megabus.com/megatrain.aspx at around £7, but Megatrain tickets are only available on a few trains per day (eg 11.39am from Waterloo arrives Southampton 1.12pm) and your Megatrain ticket is only good for the train that you book.

Megatrain was exceptionally good compared to the regular walk-up price of about £40, but now I'd be inclined to advance-buy off-peak tickets from the National Rail site & have no worries about committing to a specific train time.

Disembarkation from Indy is usually from about 7am unassisted, with regular staggered disembarkation slots from 7.30 to about 9.30.

A 10am train is perhaps just a little late - you might want a lazy breakfast on the ship but the crew might end up frog-marching you off by 9.30 :D

But again, with a flexible off-peak train ticket you don't have to make your mind up until the day.

(no morning Megatrain tickets from Southampton to London)

JB :)

Great info. I noticed the train prices have dropped a bit. Will book a advance ticket. 1:00pm arrival it is, and for the return I will aim for a 9:30am train.

Thanks!