gumshoe958

For a 10am flight with some lounge time, I’d probably aim for the 6:35, 6:54 or 7:05 Southern trains. There is also a 6:29 or 6:59 Gatwick Express but that costs considerably more for only a very slightly faster journey. The station at Gatwick is attached to the South Terminal so you are literally seconds from check-in and security when you emerge. No long walks (well apart from once you’re airside, to the gate). If you have a London Oyster card or a contactless credit or debit card, you can use that to pay for the train to Gatwick; you don’t need to buy a paper ticket. The contactless/Oyster fare is £10.10 per person on Southern or £22.90 on the Gatwick Express (rip-off!). Uber from your hotel to Gatwick is currently showing £84 so the train will cost considerably less and will be faster.

Teleportation.

@TMLAalum It’s worth noting that the Notting Hill Carnival always takes place on that Sunday & Monday, which typically attracts one to two million people (it’s billed as Europe’s biggest street party). Much of central London is unaffected but it does have an impact on travel around the Paddington, Notting Hill, Bayswater and Hyde Park areas where there are many popular hotels.

@shay1 What date is your flight? Then we can check train times for you.

See post #3 in this thread by @John Bull https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2873595-princess-transfers-from-lhr-airport-to-their-cruise-terminal/ If you want to use an arrivals lounge, it’s probably best to speak to the Princess rep in the arrivals hall first and ask them if you can travel on a later bus. The LHR arrivals lounges are all landside after immigration, baggage reclaim and customs.

8 is late dining. It varies by ship but early traditional is typically 5:30-6 and late is 8-8:30. A few weeks ago it was reported that Royal has trialled a third slot, maybe 6:45-7:30, on Wonder & Icon with a view to rolling it out fleetwide but it seems to have gone quiet. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2024/02/28/royal-caribbean-introduces-third-dining-time-give-cruise-ship-passengers-more-choice

Right now Uber is quoting €300 for a standard car but you’d probably need a minivan which is nearer €500. A private limo transfer would be even more.

I used Chiltern. But you have to specify via Havant to get the full timetable. It’s the same with the National Rail website and Southern’s own website. As you found out, if you just ask for Southampton to Gatwick it omits the :50 service. Perhaps because it’s the slowest (albeit only by a minute or two) and the algorithm rejects it for taking too long. Whatever the reason, as with many aspects of British train travel it’s ridiculous and user unfriendly but it is what it is. Anyway, the intricacies of British train timetabling are probably a bit confusing for our overseas friends! The key takeaway for cruisers is that from June 1st there will no longer be a direct train between Southampton and Gatwick Airport, which means a 20 minute longer journey and a (simple, granted, but still a pain with luggage or for the less mobile) change of train en route at Havant.

For the avoidance of doubt, this is an excerpt from the new Southampton to Gatwick Airport train timetable from June 1st, showing the easiest and cheapest route (with a change of train en route at Havant). Monday-Saturday - half hourly: Sunday - hourly: Other faster (and more expensive) options are available via Clapham Junction but the change of trains there isn’t as easy, especially with luggage.

On Monday to Saturday from June 1st Southern’s service will run every 30 minutes involving, as you say, a change of train en route at Havant. Trains normally leave Southampton Central at 20 and 50 minutes past the hour. On Sunday the same service runs once an hour, normally leaving Southampton Central at 30 minutes past the hour, also with a change of train at Havant. Total journey time to Gatwick is between 2 hours 20 and 2 hours 40 mins Mon-Sat and around 2 hours 10 mins on Sundays. It will nearly always be quicker to use the other route via Clapham Junction, which normally takes less than 2 hours. However it’s more expensive and the change of train at Clapham Junction involves negotiating elevators/stairs and a footbridge or underpass at an extremely busy commuter station so is really not recommended with heavy luggage. The bottom line is from June 1st the loss of the direct Southampton to Gatwick service makes the train a far less attractive proposition. And there is no direct bus service so the only choice is an indirect train or a very expensive taxi/limo service. Such is progress.

It’s online check-in that closes 2 hours prior to departure. At the airport, check-in & bag drop opens 2 hours and closes 40 minutes before departure. So there’s little point arriving at the airport much before 9:20 as doing so may just mean sitting around waiting.

Assuming the ship arrives on time, no problem at all. Southampton Airport is small and efficient and check-in may not even open until 9:20, so I wouldn’t even leave the ship before 8:30.

London to Southampton: take your pick between train, National Express coach, cruise line bus transfer or private car transfer. Depends how much you want to spend, how mobile you are, how much you want to haul your own luggage etc. Southampton to Heathrow: depends on flight time. If “noon time” means 12:00 a private car transfer is really your only option but if it means 2:00 there’s also the National Express coach or cruise line bus transfer.

I stand corrected! I guess it does kind of fit in the chilling category.

VV’s USP seems to revolve around partying by night and chilling out by day rather than visiting scenic destinations so I can’t really see them doing Iceland, Alaska or Norway.

Royal Caribbean has also just cancelled the Marseille call on a number of sailings. So there certainly seems to be a wider issue with southern French ports this summer.

I’m afraid @Cotswold Eagleis right - $200 won’t get you much in central Amsterdam. The cheapest hotels tend to be in the south of the city, in the area south of the A10 ring road and Amsterdam Zuid station, or in the modern Amstelkwartier nearby. They’re both some distance away from the historic and tourist areas but they’re perfectly safe, easily accessible via tram or metro and only 15-20 minutes by cab from the main cruise terminal.

12.20 is quite tight - it’s 90 miles so a 1 hour 40 minute drive on a good day, more if traffic’s bad on the notorious M25 motorway. So you’d probably want to be on the road by 8.30 at the latest.

I’m not an expert on transfer options in Le Havre but assuming Princess allow you to disembark a day early (some lines do, some don’t) I can’t imagine it’ll be a problem finding a car service to take you to Paris, although it won’t be cheap. Or there’s a direct train to Paris St Lazare station every couple of hours if you can manage it with your luggage, which would be cheaper. There’s one at 10.03am, arriving at 12.20pm which would be ideal. Otherwise if you have to return to Southampton, you can fly direct to Paris CDG. There’s one direct flight, with Eastern Airways, at 3.10pm on the day you arrive.

Great! I should have said make sure you book the correct National Express stop at LHR. The Southampton coaches start at Heathrow Central (for Terminals 2 & 3), then pick up at Terminal 5 (British Airways).

Sure, it’s not ideal. But if there have to be compromises, parking is a relatively minor one. If folks aren’t happy they’ll almost certainly have the opportunity to cancel or move to another sailing.

I can see no issue whatsoever with dock scheduling. There are no other cruise ships due in port on any of Vision’s turnaround days in 2024. Parking may well be an issue, but it’s not an insurmountable one. They can always shuttle people to & from parking lots further afield, like Carnival does at Long Beach where the garage is too small to cope with two ships. This is an emergency situation. There’s no perfect solution and there will inevitably be disruption and inconvenience. All Royal can do is minimise it and do its best by its guests. But it can’t and won’t please everybody.

Not an issue. No other cruise ships are scheduled at Bayonne on any of Vision’s turnaround days in 2024.

She needs to go somewhere with availability that’s easily accessible for all the passengers who’ve already booked assuming she’d sail from Baltimore, and somewhere that’s convenient logistically with the necessary infrastructure already in place. Bayonne fits all those requirements. It’s the obvious choice.

LHR to Southampton - National Express run scheduled direct coaches every couple of hours. Quick, easy and relatively cheap. Otherwise you’re looking at a private car for $200 or more. Southampton to Paris - there’s one direct flight a day, normally around 5pm (3pm on Fridays, none on Saturdays). Otherwise you can fly from Heathrow or Gatwick or catch the train up to London Waterloo, jump in a cab to St Pancras and catch the Eurostar train from there direct to Paris Gare du Nord. Best to book the Eurostar asap as it’s dynamic pricing which only goes one way!