Southhampton port to Paris transportation

First-time travelers to London (Southampton), England with Caribbean Princess cruise.

We will disembark at Southampton port on May 9th at 5:00 am; we’d probably be outside the terminal around 9.30 am. From there we’d like to travel to Paris via Eurostar. We need your recommendations as to what the best way for transportation are, cost and time wise. Thanks for any advice.:confused:

Probably the easiest way is to go into London, get to St Pancras station and take Eurostar from there. 2nd way would be to gt to Ashford in Kent and take Eurostar from their. Neither are 'easy' if you have a lot of luggage. London might be easier if you took the Princess transfer to Victoria then taxi from there to St Pancras, probably around £20.

To get to St Pancras allow 3 hours, and probably same for Ashford. Cost is variable as it depends on when you buy your tickets, how far ahead of time, and how busy the train may already be.

Hi Greytoothpicks, welcome to Cruise Critic!

My spouse and I are doing the reverse journey this fall -- taking the Eurostar from Paris and then UK rail to Southampton. This forum has been invaluable in providing a ton of very helpful info, and if you do a search here for "Eurostar" you should find the relevant threads.

Some key points:

The Eurostar seats are cheapest when they first go on sale, usually about six months out, and then they rise. You are already in that window, so you'll want to get moving on your plans. If you are going to go by rail from Southampton to London, you would arrive at Waterloo station and then you could take a taxi over to St. Pancras Station, where the Eurostar departs. The UK portion of that rail travel typically can't be bought till about 90 days out, maybe even a bit closer.

If you want to wait and book the entire journey by rail from SOU to Paris directly on the Eurostar web site, you can do that. When you go to Eurostar.com, in the upper right, you'll see a menu of country choices. Pick United Kingdom, which will make the UK stations available to you.

The other option is to just book your London/Paris Eurostar ticket asap, and then, when the internal UK rail seats go on sale, call this Eurostar UK-based number 00441233617913 (it's an international call from the US) and they will be able to add the SOU to London ticket to your reservation. Or, as noted above, take the Princess transfer to London and a cab to St. Pancras.

BTW, you'll find great advice about how to book your Eurostar seats and what seats to select from "The Man in Seat 61"

http://www.seat61.com/

Have a great trip!

First-time travelers to London (Southampton), England with Caribbean Princess cruise.

We will disembark at Southampton port on May 9th at 5:00 am; we’d probably be outside the terminal around 9.30 am. From there we’d like to travel to Paris via Eurostar. We need your recommendations as to what the best way for transportation are, cost and time wise. Thanks for any advice.:confused:

Train into London (Waterloo) from Southampton Central

Taxi from Waterloo - St Pancras

Train from London (St Pancras) to Paris

#2 is doable via the London Underground if you don't mind dragging bags

If you're looking to save money, often the slower (2½ vs 1½ hr) train from Southampton to London (Victoria) is cheap on Saturdays on Southern Rail.

Often flying would work from Southampton's small regional airport, but the only flight on a Saturday SOU-ORY is at 7:10a

As said, Eurostar leaves from St Pancras (a destination in its own right). Forget Ashford.

There are several ways to get to St Pancras and one of the most cost-effective (with luggage) is to take a coach to Victoria and a cab from there.

The easiest would be to book a private car from the dock all the way, but that would cost around 110 GBP - still cheaper than using the Princess coach and a lot easier with no need to change

As said, Eurostar leaves from St Pancras (a destination in its own right). Forget Ashford.

 

There are several ways to get to St Pancras and one of the most cost-effective (with luggage) is to take a coach to Victoria and a cab from there.

 

The easiest would be to book a private car from the dock all the way, but that would cost around 110 GBP - still cheaper than using the Princess coach and a lot easier with no need to change

One option for "the coach" is the National Express bus

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

8 GBP from Southampton Coach Station to Victoria Coach station. It takes about 2 hours.

Is there a ferry that would work? Maybe a ferry to Le Havre then a train to Paris? We are considering a visit in late August/early September but are still in the very early planning stage. So many options to consider! Thank you all for your help. m--