Southampton to London - Time to Schedule Bus?

Should I expect an extra £1 per luggage?

Should I expect an extra £1 per luggage?

I don’t know what Bob was referring to, there are no extra charges for luggage in a London black cab.

Like all major London stations, there is a taxi rank directly outside Waterloo station, which usually has lots of cabs waiting. It is on the same level as the train platforms and will be well sign posted - the route can be seen on this plan.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations-and-destinations/stations-made-easy/london-waterloo-accessible-routes?routeId=142265

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We booked the National Express online and didn't see a senior rate for non-English or non-EU adults. The experience was just fine and we would recommend it. We booked the 9:50 to be safe and took a taxi to the station. The ride had a few stops on the way to Victoria Coach Station. This trip was the disembarkation from a TA, so we had gone through the passport check two days previously in Portland, England. Still had to go through customs.

Two adults:

Tickets:

£ 23.40

Booking Fee:

£ 1.00

Outbound Seat Reservation:

£ 4.00

e-Ticket:

free

Total

£28.40

I don’t know what Bob was referring to, there are no extra charges for luggage in a London black cab.

It must have been some other city - sorry

Can we buy the Oyster card at the Waterloo train station? If yes, where? At the train ticket counter or any ticket machine that sell Oyster card? or we need to go to Waterloo tube station? Also I need to set up a Young Visitor Oyster Discount, can it be done at the train ticket counter,

Thank you for the updated info on megatrain no longer servicing Southampton - I was wondering why I couldn't get that link to work.

Two questions about our upcoming embarkation from Southampton:

1. Somewhere online said there's a public bus (U1) from Southampton Central Train Station to Dock Gate 4 (from which we'd have to walk the rest of the way to QE2) - is that still operating? The other online port info seems to indicate taxi is the only option from the train station.

2. We were planning to take the South Western Rail from London Waterloo since it's faster and more convenient to our hotel than Victoria Coach station (for the National Express bus), but there's a notice that RMT is planning a strike from June 21-23 (http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/192991.aspx). How likely is it that the trains won't be running on June 23?

Thank you for the updated info on megatrain no longer servicing Southampton - I was wondering why I couldn't get that link to work.

 

Somewhere online said there's a public bus (U1) from Southampton Central Train Station to Dock Gate 4 (from which we'd have to walk the rest of the way to QE2) - is that still operating? The other online port info seems to indicate taxi is the only option from the train station.

The U1 route is operated by the Uni-link service. It's a service designed for university students, but the general public can - and do - use it.

Frequent service, every ten minutes or so, and costs pennies.

But it'll only get you to near the port gate, on Town Quay, the second-to-last stop on this map. http://www.unilinkbus.co.uk/service.shtml?serviceid=3887. (click on "show google route map")

Just a short walk via the new Dock Gate 5 to Ocean Cruise Terminal, but over a mile from QE11 Cruise Terminal and on a busy docks road with footpath & roadway not well-separated in many places. You are permitted to walk, but distance & safety are the reasons why you only see taxis being mentioned on the web for QE11 Terminal https://goo.gl/maps/hdBFEsuubzu

You may have noticed on the Uni-link map that the U1 route actually terminates inside the docks, a little closer to QE11 Terminal. That terminus is Southampton university's oceanography centre, and at the foot of the timetable it says that terminus is for "Authorised Personnel Only".

If the bus isn't busy you could probably blag the driver to drop you at the closest point, but I can't be sure of that.

All of which is a long-winded way of saying it's much simpler & easier to take a taxi from station to ship.

The fare will be south of £10.

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Sorry, can't help re the proposed train strike. One/two day rail strikes in the region have been on-going for many many months - more with Southern Trains (eg Gatwick to Southampton) than South-western (eg Waterloo to Southampton). Sometimes they have a significant effect, sometimes no noticeable effect at all.

Understandably regular commuters are truly pissed-off, you are simply unlucky with the date. I don't know what to advise. :(

JB :)

My husband and I will be doing our first TA next April (2019) arriving Southampton and then spending a few days in London. We are, ahem, a bit older and not at all familiar with either Southampton or London, so I thought we would just take a taxi into London, but maybe a car service would be better? Does anyone have any recommendations? And how much should I expect to pay for a taxi or car service? I really am not comfortable with a bus/train option (although I take public transportation all of the time at home, but then I've done it for years and know exactly where I'm going). Thank you in advance for any and all guidance.

My husband and I will be doing our first TA next April (2019) arriving Southampton and then spending a few days in London. We are, ahem, a bit older and not at all familiar with either Southampton or London, so I thought we would just take a taxi into London, but maybe a car service would be better? Does anyone have any recommendations? And how much should I expect to pay for a taxi or car service? I really am not comfortable with a bus/train option (although I take public transportation all of the time at home, but then I've done it for years and know exactly where I'm going). Thank you in advance for any and all guidance.

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Don't simply hail a metered taxi at the port, the cost will be horrendous. :eek:

Those taxis are fine for a short hop to Southampton rail station or coach station or a Southampton hotel or Southampton airport.

But London is 80 miles away, you need to get quotes & pre-book a car service (many of those car services are actually taxis, but the fare structure for a pre-booked journey is very different to the metered service).

Try www.smithsforairports.com or www.westquaycars,com or www.aquacars.co.uk

All three are frequently recommended by CC members. They are all based at the Southampton end rather than the London end, the service tends to be more personal & they're usually better value. And being local, they're not going to get caught in traffic heading to the port to collect you.

There are many other operators in both Southampton and London, most are fine but do go by personal recommendations or independent reviews.

You might also like to consider a couple of ship to London hotel tour-transfers offered by coach tour operators International Friends on the London Toolkit website

https://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/southampton_to_london_shared_bus.html

Both International Friends and London Toolkit are long-established, reliable and reputable.

And lots of useful information about London logistics on other pages of the London Toolkit website

JB :)

My husband and I will be doing our first TA next April (2019) arriving Southampton and then spending a few days in London. We are, ahem, a bit older and not at all familiar with either Southampton or London, so I thought we would just take a taxi into London, but maybe a car service would be better? Does anyone have any recommendations? .

We are also in the older range, but the National express coach worked great. We have done many TAs and our last one was exactly what you are doing. Catch a taxi to Southampton coach station and the driver puts your luggage on. Then, sit and relax. Take a taxi to the hotel. Easy peasy.

Check out my recent post for cost and time. I did a lot of research on this topic and the very experienced travelers highly recommend this...unless you are very wealthy. We used buses and trains all over Europe this year and was so impressed with the experience.

Thank you so much, Newport Dave, John Bull and Markanddonna! I now have lots of information to work with and I very much appreciate your time to share your knowledge with me. Thank you again. :)

Does the taxi in Southampton take credit cars or do I need cash? We are taking national express from Heathrow to Southhampton but will then take a taxi to the port - it just dawned on me I may need some pounds sterling.

Taxi in Southampton took a credit card. I had no British currency with me at the time.

Just got off the Royal Princess in Southampton. Used car service both directions as we had a group of six adults, so cost effective. Don’t take a taxi!! Way too expensive and you pay for waiting time if you hit traffic whereas you don’t on car service.

We can highly recommend Smiths for Airports. They are Southampton based. We also used Blackberry cars from London to Southampton, they were also excellent and both took credit cards. It isn’t cheap, but worth every penny and both will give a firm quote.

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