Megatrain - London to Southampton. Anyone use it?

Thanks JB for all your wisedom! :)

Thanks, JohnBull for the helpful suggestions.

We will be arriving at heathrow airport for a cruise out of Southampton am wondering how we book the mega train and where we would go to get the train. Thank you for your help

There are lots of thread about this but in short you go to the megatrain website

 

http://uk.megabus.com/megatrain.aspx

 

around 6 weeks before departure and book a ticket from London (Waterloo) to Southampton. Today tickets are available till 10 June. You would of course have to get into London first so you'd be better just getting a National Express coach from Heathrow.

We will be arriving at heathrow airport for a cruise out of Southampton am wondering how we book the mega train and where we would go to get the train.

As tartanexile81 says, if you're going directly from Heathrow to Southampton, then don't use Megatrain or any train. That's pointless. You need to take the coach (bus) directly from Heathrow to Southampton.

 

The train, however, is probably the best way from central London to Southampton.

We will be arriving at heathrow airport for a cruise out of Southampton am wondering how we book the mega train and where we would go to get the train. Thank you for your help

 

As other replies, no megatrain tix on this route - megatrain prices are primarily geared to persuade folk to travel on under-utilised trains. Folk using Heathrow have to travel, thus no discounts.

Ditto the National Express bus.

Theoretically you can buy Megatrain tix for London Waterloo to Southampton, then head from Heathrow into central London to join the train, which then passes within just 3 or 4 miles of Heathrow on its way to Southampton. A convoluted journey just to save a few pounds.

 

But the direct http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx bus from Heathrow to Southampton is only about £18 pp.

You're very strongly advised to pre-book because frequency & capacity are limited.

 

JB :)

Any news about Megabus tickets?

I just checked the Website and I see the latest I can book today is August 4th trains.

 

My cruise departure is on October 13th, so, I only can book 4 days in advance?

 

Thanks,

SouthWest Trains, who operate this route and are part of the Megatrain consortium, have lost the franchise so we suspect that Megatrain tickets won't be available on this route after 4th August. Hence for some time 4th August has been the last date for which Megatrain tix have been offered.

RIP Megatrain :(

 

Best you can manage is advance purchase of tickets on http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ for some trains at £21 to £24.

See the post by Cotswold Eagle on

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2523409&page=2

 

JB :)

Has anyone used the Megatrain London to Southampton?

What was your experience? Any tips for Megatrain travelers?

 

We're crusing in September, and heard about the Megatrain. Found the site on the internet and purchased our tickets for just 1 pound each. What a deal!

We used it in June. Worked like a charm.

We used it in June. Worked like a charm.

 

 

 

That's great, but to repeat - it no longer exists on the London-Southampton route.

 

 

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South West Trains do offer some bargains. I found a train from Victoria to Southampton on Sat 30th Sept at 12:36 for £5. The problem is that it is a slow route and does not arrive until 3:30 which may be too late for someone wanting to join a cruise. There is also one at 10:30 though for £8:50 that arrives at 13:01 which would be fine.

 

It looks as if this operator only offers cheap tickets on this route, but if you don't mind that the journey takes an hour longer than the fast Waterloo/Southampton train, it offers a worthwhile saving.

 

https://buytickets.southwesttrains.co.uk/journey

In May we will be in Southampton wanting to get to Heathrow. What are our best options?

In May we will be in Southampton wanting to get to Heathrow. What are our best options?

Define 'best'; cheapest, easiest, fastest...

In May we will be in Southampton wanting to get to Heathrow. What are our best options?

 

Depends on your time-scale and depth of pocket.

 

Cheapest, at around £20 per person is by coach (bus)

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

You'll need a taxi hop (under £10) from cruise terminal to Southampton coach station. Then a direct coach service to Heathrow, takes about 2 hours.

Limited frequency &you are strongly advised to pre-book - they don't have elastic sides.

 

Easiest at around £80 to £90 per car is by private transfer. Check out www.smithsforairports.com and www.westquaycars.com and www.aquacars.co,uk

All, especially Smiths, are frequently used by CC members and have excellent reputations.

Journey time depends on what day-of-the-week & other traffic considerations. Usually about 1 hour 45 (but allow 3 hours if poss), and as quick as 90 minutes on a sunday morning,

 

Whilst trains are usually fast, frequent and good value, they're not great for Southampton to Heathrow because there's no direct service. Your train ticket gets you to a mainline station near Heathrow (Woking or Reading, depending on train times) and an included RailAir bus from there to Heathrow.

So you have to schlepp your bags from station platform to station approach road (driver loads & unloads), the total journey-time is no quicker than the direct coach service, and at over £40 pp it's twice the cost of Nat Express and for two people about the same as a private transfer.

The only saving grace is that the service is frequent (approx. every half-hour) and no need to pre-book.

So it's a useful Plan B if other arrangements go belly-up.

 

Ignore early-morning ship arrival times, disembarkation is usually from about 7am.

You should be at Heathrow around 2 hours ahead of flight time - that can change depending on security arrangements etc.

 

Check you wallet and flight times & krunch the numbers and times.

Come back here if you're in doubt about time-scale.

 

JB :)