Three different ports for embarkation for British Isles cruise

I am looking at the 12 day British Isles Cruise for next summer and the only ship doing it is the Crown Princess and for almost all the voyages you have the option of boarding in London (Southhampton), Paris (Le Havre) or Dublin. Is this how it has been done in the past? I'm wondering if it changes the nature of the cruise when people are embarking and disembarking on different days?

Also, I am very surprised to see that the price can be substantially different depending on where you embark, even though you are on the same ship for the same amount of days visiting the same ports. For instance, on a cruise leaving Le Havre on 8/16/19 a balcony is $3349. If you instead board the next day in Southampton, a balcony is only $3109 but if you get on in Dublin the price goes up to $3902! We've been to London a few times so it would be nice to go out of Dublin, but that is a big price difference! I'm nervous about going out of Le Havre because I have read on these boards that there have been times the ship hasn't been able to dock there because of weather and the passengers were on their own to get to Southampton to catch the ship.

I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has done this trip or any trip where there was more that one embarkation point.

Board in Southampton, unless you have a specific reason like pre or post cruise vacation time, or family in these other ports. Passengers getting on at various ports does not affect the cruise experience.

This is just a guess but I’m thinking that the difference in price might have something to do with the cost for the embarkation process (check-in, stevedores, baggage handling machines, etc.)

If you choose to embark/disembark in LeHavre, make sure you have Plan B. While unusual, ships do miss this port from time-to-time.

We just got off the cruise in May. We originally planned to embark in Le Havre but, changed our minds and decided to go to London for 3 days pre cruise then fly to Paris post cruise and stay 3 days. I thought the price difference was because of the amount of cabins and demand for certain ports but, Pam may be right it may depend on the fees. We have been on this cruise and a Baltic cruise both had more than one embarkation/disembarkation port. Having different embarkation ports did not affected us by the time new people are arriving we were on a tour. The only difference I seen was the "newbies" would have question for the staff, that the ones who arrived earlier would already have their questions answered.

The difference in price may be due to some cabins being empty for some of the days.

I wouldn't risk boarding in Le Havre. Boarding in Southampton is easy but boarding in Dublin is even easier. My husband did just that on my second British Isles cruise last August. In Dublin, both the city center and airport are closer to the port.

I'd watch prices. Maybe they'll come down. If you book a refundable deposit, you could move from the Southampton boarding to a Dublin one without any penalty before final payment.

Has anyone actually had problems with embarking in Le Havre? I would love to hear about real experiences and how you handled it.

We are booked on this cruise for next August. Our embarkation is in Le Havre. After reading about the problems in the past about the ship not being able to dock for embarkation, I am now considering changing to one of the other choices.

Has anyone actually had problems with embarking in Le Havre? I would love to hear about real experiences and how you handled it.

 

There is an entire thread about one time this year when the ship could make it to Le Havre. Those wanting to embark there had to make it to Southampton making their own arrangements. Princess eventually did reimburse the extra expenses involved.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2630384

We booked the one out of Dublin. We booked when they first came out. Prices then were pretty much the same. Choices of cabins were VERY limited and sold out quickly. When the $1000obc special showed up, I was lucky to be able to get it added to our cruises. By the end of the first week of the special, prices had escalated and cabin selections and categories dwindled dramatically. There will be no further reductions for those going out of Dublin on that one.

With so few cabins open, categories dwindle quickly and opportunities to add specials or price reductions virtually disappear. If I were to do it again, we would book out of Southampton, however if we wanted Dublin or Le Havre we would book asap after they opened for booking and then "hope" to get a deal added before the cabins sold out.

That said, when comparing prices, also check airfare. For us Dublin was cheaper.

Yes definitely compare airfare prices for Dublin and Southampton. I would also avoid Le Havre for embarkation because of the recent problems with it (and the port is a three hour drive from the airport). For SH you can fly into three different airports: Heathrow, Gatwick, or even Southampton itself (although it has limited options). The fares are indeed dramatically different between the three embarkation ports. Cabin options are fewer from Dublin (for example, I wasn't able to find a pair of interior cabins next to each other) so if you see one you like and the fare is doable I would book it sooner than later. We are booked out of SH and on the dates that so far haven't had a fare increase (while the others have all gone up a lot).

We're taking the Royal's trans-Atlantic next month. We board in Southampton, but the cruise was also sold for some people to embark in Le Havre the day before we do. This is the first time we'll be on a cruise like this where people embarked on different days.

Last year we sailed the British isles itinerary that had an overnight in Dublin. We enjoyed being able to see more of this city than a one-day stop would have allowed. It would be nice if Princess offered more overnights.

If you want to see Dublin before the cruise, you can still fly there and then take a cheap flight to Southampton. Flybe Airlines has direct flights cheap. (The cost for checking one piece of luggage was more than the cost of the flight for the date I checked next June, but it still came in around $100 total.)

We are going on this cruise next May out of Southampton. I've read on other threads on CC of folks wondering why the cabin availability from Dublin was so limited.....apparently they didn't know the main embarkation port was Southampton and the majority of passengers embark from there. I assume since our cruise in late May comes after passengers embarked earlier in the month that there will be luggage in the hallways the nights before we visit Dublin and LeHarve.

Customs and Immigration are a breeze in Dublin. Not so much at Heathrow.

Diver2014- You are correct there will be luggage in the hall for the people leaving the next day and you smile a little knowing you are not getting off yet.

We had a problem embarking in Southhampton in May we were on second cruise of the season. There was no priority line when you get there. The priority line started about 1/2 through the line and to top it off they lost power and the xray machines were shut down and the gangway would dislodge and they would make everyone on the gangway get off and try again to reattach the gangway. After waiting for about 3 hours they had us use the crew gangway to board. They stated this is the way they always embark they don't have priority embarkation inside the terminal. I don't believe that is true because I read many reviews form the year before and no one said that in their review. It was a miserable experience.

I wonder how often the ship(s) are unable to dock for embarking passengers? Is there a website that gives this sort of information?

My wife and I are booked for a round trip British Isles cruise out of Le Havre (Paris) in August 2019. We are planning to spend a few days in Paris prior to the cruise.

We have Platinum travel insurance with Princess. The idea that we might possibly not be able to embark and have to catch up to the ship really worries me.

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This year, people could embark/disembark in Southampton and Le Havre. Only 300 people were allowed to use Le Havre. Perhaps that’s why it’s more costly, supply and demand. Maybe there isn’t as much personnel available there. I’d recommend booking the less expensive Southampton embark, since that’s more affordable and the main port of embarkation and choose a sailing that’s doing an overnight in Dublin. Ours did that, and it was great.

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I am looking at the 12 day British Isles Cruise for next summer and the only ship doing it is the Crown Princess and for almost all the voyages you have the option of boarding in London (Southampton), Paris (Le Havre) or Dublin. Is this how it has been done in the past?

This is new for the next season as I understand it. There seems to be listed an 8 day British Isles cruise 17 August 2019 on Pacific Princess. This is round trip from London (lol) Dover. Significantly shorter cruise but you could stay in UK longer for a set vacation length.

Regards John