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London to Southhampton transfer for Princess Cruise of British Isles.


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I will be going on a princess cruise in summer of 2018 of the British isles. I fly into London but the boat leaves from South Hampton. I will be taking the trasnfer via the cruise ship with a motor coach that leaves from Victoria station in London. Has anyone done this? I just was wondering how it was? easy/difficult? Anything you would do different?

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I found this webpage useful when we were planning:

 

https://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/southampton_london_transfers.htm

 

 

We opted for a private car transfer ourselves, heading to the ship, since we were actually outside central London. We had positive experiences with both Blackberry Cars and Smiths for Airports.

 

(On the way back to the airport, we did the excursion through Princess that stops at Stonehenge on the way to Heathrow, and I very much enjoyed it.)

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I will be going on a princess cruise in summer of 2018 of the British isles. I fly into London but the boat leaves from South Hampton. I will be taking the trasnfer via the cruise ship with a motor coach that leaves from Victoria station in London. Has anyone done this? I just was wondering how it was? easy/difficult? Anything you would do different?

 

Are you going strait to the ship on arrive in London or a you spending a few days.

If your flying in the day of the cruise . Why not take the cruise shuttle directly from the either Heathrow or Gatwick.

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It's Southampton - all one word.

 

If you're travelling from London's Heathrow or Gatwick airports, you don't need to go to Victoria.

Ships' transfer coaches pick up at the airports & take you direct to the ship.

Or you can take the National Express bus from Heathrow direct to Southampton, or the train or Nat Express bus from Gatwick to Southampton. Links at the bottom of this post.

 

If you're spending pre-cruise time in central London, ships' transfer buses pick up at Victoria coach station (not Victoria rail station).

How easy depends on the location of your London hotel.

A hotel in Victoria (west side of central London) obviously is pretty easy, but from one at the northern or eastern end of central London you'll need London's underground system, the tube (can be difficult with luggage) or a taxi (expensive).

The train is potentially easier (and cheaper) if your hotel is near Waterloo station or Paddington station.

Or from that same Victoria coach station you can use a Nat Express scheduled bus. Similar vehicles to ships' coaches, but Nat Express coaches all have washroom, wifi for each seat, and disabled access.

And the fare on Nat Express is usually just £5 and at worst about £15. :)

Ships' transfers are multiple times that cost :(, tho' some folk prefer that their transfer is in the hands of the cruise line.

With the Nat Express coach you'll need a taxi from Southampton coach station to pier, fare depends on which cruise terminal, but no more than £10. Ditto from Southampton central rail station.

Whether ship's coach or Nat Express coach you need to pre-book.

Pre-booking the train isn't essential, but will save you a few pounds.

 

http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/travel/downloads/tube_map.html

(don't bother to print-off the tube map, they're freely available)

https://www.londontoolkit.com/

(excellent info about central London's infrastructure, about London's airports, about Southampton, and about travel between them. Including a cruise tour/transfer coach from your hotel to your ship, but don't book an over-priced private transfer car through this website - they have to earn their money somehow ;))

 

JB :)

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I will be coming into London a fews days early to tour London. I was thinking about staying at The Grosvenor Hotel, since it looks like it is close to where I have to go to ride the coach.

if you can afford the Grosvenor, you can afford a private car

If you take a coach be careful; there are 2 Victoria stations. One for trains and tube and a different one for buses.

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We stayed in London for three nights before our cruise last month. We took the train from Paddington. After the cruise, we took the Princess transfer via bus to Heathrow. The train ride was so much more pleasant than the bus.

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I will be going on a princess cruise in summer of 2018 of the British isles. I fly into London but the boat leaves from South Hampton. I will be taking the trasnfer via the cruise ship with a motor coach that leaves from Victoria station in London. Has anyone done this? I just was wondering how it was? easy/difficult? Anything you would do different?

 

 

 

We did the Princess transfer from Victoria station. It is the National Express Bus terminal. Once you enter the terminal building, you can ask the reception desk which gate no. the Princess transfer couch will be and the time it will open. At the appointed tme, a Princess rep will be at the gate and your name will be checked against their list. On boarding, your check-in luggage will be loaded by the staff and will handle them to port and onto your cabin. It was easy from the time you are at the station. Getting there from your hotel is another matter. We did not encounter any problem.

 

 

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I was reading in Rick Steves that you can also take a train from Waterloo station in London that goes to Southhampton, then take a cab to the boat. Has anyone tried this?

 

 

 

Many, many thousands of people have done this - it's pretty much the standard way to go by train and is frequently mentioned in these threads. Is there any particular aspect of it we can help you with?

 

 

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I was reading in Rick Steves that you can also take a train from Waterloo station in London that goes to Southhampton, then take a cab to the boat. Has anyone tried this?

 

 

Yes, that's a pretty standard route for many many cruisers, especially those based close to Waterloo.

 

But you now have to forget the silly-cheap "Megatrain" prices - there was a change of train operator in August, and the new operator isn't a member of the Megatrain consortium. So at about £40 pp the train isn't as cheap as it was, and I suspect that more folk will use either the National Express coach service from London Victoria coach station (from as little as £5 pp) or private transfers (about £120 per car) or a tour-transfer coach.

 

JB :)

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Yes, that's a pretty standard route for many many cruisers, especially those based close to Waterloo.

 

 

 

But you now have to forget the silly-cheap "Megatrain" prices - there was a change of train operator in August, and the new operator isn't a member of the Megatrain consortium. So at about £40 pp the train isn't as cheap as it was, and I suspect that more folk will use either the National Express coach service from London Victoria coach station (from as little as £5 pp) or private transfers (about £120 per car) or a tour-transfer coach.

 

 

 

JB :)

 

 

 

But don't forget the new operator sells Advance tickets on that route now, so still some bargains to be found through normal rail ticket channels.

 

 

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But don't forget the new operator sells Advance tickets on that route now, so still some bargains to be found through normal rail ticket channels.

 

 

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True, my feathered friend.

Well ............... sort of true. ;)

 

From what I've seen the fare is around £40, apart from £15.50 for just one train each day - though that one is at 9.39am, which is suitable for cruise passengers.

And it looks like to get that lower fare you have to book over 7 weeks in advance. :(

 

JB :)

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All depends how quick they sell. Lowest seems to be a £9-10 Advance, and I have just seen a £15-20 First Class Advance - both on a couple of trains on Saturday 21/10.

 

But yes, people will need to look as far in advance as possible.

 

 

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Totally ridiculous state of affairs.:(

Yes, on that morning seven different fares with no discernible reason for the variations, from £9.10 for the 10.05am to £40.40 for the next train, at 10.20am. :confused:

Go back through that week & the fare for every train on every other day is over £40, cos it's too late for advance tickets for those days.

No wonder train fares leave me bemused.

 

So what do I do?

Buy shares in SouthWestern Trains to take advantage of the higher fares?

Or buy a bus to take advantage of folk switching from trains to buses?

 

JB :)

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Question - If we wish to use Princess transfer from Victoria Station. Is it difficult/expensive to get to Victoria Coach station from Waterloo side?. Anybody knows the cost of the taxi.

 

It appears Waterloo side is close to more touristy sites - read through many comments.

 

We are trying to decide which side in London to stay for our pre-cruise - Victoria or Waterloo:confused:.

 

Thanks.

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Question - If we wish to use Princess transfer from Victoria Station. Is it difficult/expensive to get to Victoria Coach station from Waterloo side?. Anybody knows the cost of the taxi.

 

It appears Waterloo side is close to more touristy sites - read through many comments.

 

We are trying to decide which side in London to stay for our pre-cruise - Victoria or Waterloo:confused:.

 

Thanks.

 

It is not that far. The 211 bus goes from Waterloo station to Victoria coach station (not good with loads of luggage though). I would guess a taxi might be £10 or so. It could be a nice walk - maybe an hour with stopping to look at the many tourist highlights you will pass on the way.

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Question - If we wish to use Princess transfer from Victoria Station. Is it difficult/expensive to get to Victoria Coach station from Waterloo side?. Anybody knows the cost of the taxi.

 

It appears Waterloo side is close to more touristy sites - read through many comments.

 

We are trying to decide which side in London to stay for our pre-cruise - Victoria or Waterloo:confused:.

 

Thanks.

 

It would be more sensible to save money and effort by catching the train from Waterloo to Southampton as described by JB above.

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Thanks for the responses and all are very helpful.

 

We are trying to come up the location plus the cost to get us to the ship. We might use a private transfer if the cost would not be too much more expensive than Princess. We can't get the quote from Smith's transfer yet. Our cruise won't be until late April 2018.

 

ChattTenn

Edited by ChattTenn
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