Help - Arriving Southampton by QE2 Need Private Driver

I have never seen this question - please help!

My parents are arriving Southampton by QE2 and need private driver to take them to Worcester to a hotel. A week later they will need a private driver to take them from the Worcester hotel to LHR for an early afternoon flight.

They will not be able to ride the train so they need private transportation.

Does anyone have any suggestions of very reliable companies that would travel that far from Southampton.

Are the private drivers allowed to meet their customers and help them with all their luggage as they leave the ship?

Please help - I need to make all their arrangements for October.

Thanks!

Benji

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Hi Benji,

I think you mean the QM2.

We used an excellent car service that I had discovered here at Cruise Critic.

The terrific reviews were well warranted for Smiths for airports. http://www.smithsforairports.com

Smiths was reliable, on time anf delivered us to our destination in a timely fashion. We used them twice from London to the Southampton cruise terminal and from Southampton to LHR.

Highly recommended.

Jonathan

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Benji,

We have used Addison Lee many times, mainly around London, have found them very reliable, great vehicles with reasonable rates. Private cars and drivers aren't a cheap item at any time, so good luck.

Cheers, Rose

https://www.addisonlee.com/?utm_source=ExactTargetCRM&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=ADHOC+-+B2C+-+ACQ+-+ALL+TIERS+-+HELLO10-+CAR+SERVICES+-+MULTI+DROP+-+20170614&utm_content=003b000001FRvTxAAL

Addison Lee are excellent but there is no point booking them to come out from London to Southampton and then out up to Worcester. This wouldn't be cost effective at all. There are many Southampton companies (which if you do a search of these boards) would be a better bet.

If you want to use one transfer provider for both journeys, Southampton to Worcester and Worcester to Heathrow, it needs to be one based in the Worcester area.

No personal experience but these seem to be well-reviewed

http://www.executivetravelworcestershire.co.uk/

https://www.worcestertaxis.net/

Southampton-based www.smithsforairports.com is exceptionally well-reviewed by Cruise Critic members - you'll see their name dotted around threads on this forum and I've never seen a bad word about them.

You can also check out www.westquaycars.com and www.aquacars.co.uk , also Southampton-based. They're less-frequently mentioned on Cruise Critic, but both are reliable, long-established and reputable.

But these are just for Southampton to Worcester - they would not be suitable or competitive for Worcester to Heathrow, which is waaaay out of their area.

For Worcester to Heathrow, either a Worcester-based operator or a Heathrow-based operator.(eg Addison-Lee as per Rose's post, though there are dozens of others)

As a general rule I prefer operators based near the pick-up point rather than the destination. This means the driver doesn't mis-judge his arrival time or get held up by problems en-route to the pick-up.

So I'd choose Smiths or one of the other Southampton operators for Southampton to Worcester, and one of the Worcester-based operators for Worcester to Heathrow.

Because it is very unlikely that the operator will be able to match your Southampton - Worcester ride with another booking for the car's return journey to Southampton, that fare is likely to be comparatively high.

But operators can generally tie in return fares from airports like Heathrow, so airport journeys tend to be better value.

Your driver can meet your parents in the cruise terminal, just after Customs. But for a stack of reasons he can't go onto the ship or even beyond Customs. There are porters at the baggage pick-up point in the terminal if required.

Be guided by the transfer operator on where/when to meet the driver, and in case of any problems or changes it's ideal if your parents swap phone numbers with the operator/s.

JB :)

There is no great advantage to using a single company for both legs of the trip as you would be very unlikely to get the same driver anyway. As JB says above, a firm based on the South Coast could not compete with a more local one. A Worcester based taxi is also likely to be cheaper than a Heathrow based one simply because their costs will be lower.

I suggest that you ask for quotes and see how they handle your request.

Thank you so much everyone for your great advice. I will now start the process of getting quotes!

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Good luck Benji, never the easiest.

Good luck Benji, never the easiest.

I agree!

I've started research and planning for our first TA next Spring, and I've found that many of the European vendors do not have booking/paying directly online. Many require you to call or email for prices before you book, which is an added step we are not used to here in New York.

When all of the port cities are new, as they are to us, I first have to find the right questions to ask to be able to get a fairly accurate quote before I proceed.

Despite the extra effort required, we are all VERY excited about our first TA cruise!!

GOOD LUCK!

Contact Smiths for Airports. Based in Portsmouth. Will meet your parents in Southhampton. We used them from Heathrow to Southhampton. Excellent service. Paid with a credit card.