Cruise from Southampton Questions

[DEL67]

We will be taking the Britannia from Southampton in April and I have several questions.

 

- What is the best way to get from LHR  to Southampton and return.  We will be staying overnight near LHR the night before the cruise and leaving from LHR in the late afternoon after the cruise ends.

 

- What is there to do in Southampton if we have time after checking in?

 

= The ports are all new to us.  We would appreciate suggestions of what we should do in Cherbourg (on Easter day,)  La Coruna, Bilboa and St Peterport.

 

Thank you

 

 

[Turtles06]

Hello and Happy New Year!   

 

The "best" way to get from LHR to Southampton is a subjective decision involving such factors as cost, ease of travel, timing...  We would opt for a private car service, which will avoid any schlepping of luggage and take us right to the ship.   There are a number of highly-recommend car services here on this board.  We recently used the London-based Blackberry Cars for a transfer from our London hotel to Southampton, and I'd have no problem using them again.   We've used Smith's for Airports as well.  They are based around Southampton, so it might make more sense for you to use them on your return trip from Southampton to LHR after the cruise.  

 

You won't have all that much time in Southampton to get anywhere after you drop off your bags.  You could walk around the old City and the old City walls --  not far from where the ships dock.   The Tudor House might be worth a visit (it was closed when we were there, so I can't say personally).  We very much enjoyed the Titanic exhibit at the Sea City Museum, but that's a bit further from the docks and I doubt you'd have time to do it justice.

 

We have visited A Coruña on a port call.  We took an excursion to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Santiago de Compostela, which was magnificent.  (If you go, you might want to watch the Martin Sheen film "The Way" beforehand.)  

 

I hope that's helpful.

[John Bull]

Transport choices between LHR & Southampton ......................

 

Cheapest (around £16 per person) and very simple is by direct pre-booked bus with https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

You need to know your LHR terminal in order to book - T's 2 & 3 are served from Heathrow's central bus station, the bus also picks up on the concourses at T's 4 & 5.

Your destination is Southampton coach station.

Book for a departure about 2 hours after your scheduled landing time - if you are earlier or later you can switch your booking, subject to availability.

Buses are similar to Greyhounds - comfortable seats,  disability accessible (specify when booking), on-board rest-room, free wifi.

Journey time 2hrs 15 mins. You will need a taxi from the rank at Southampton coach station to your ship, £6 to £10 depending which of four cruise terminals.

 

Easiest is by pre-booked private transfer. Journey time about 1hr 15 mins (potentially significantly longer for a summer saturday heading to Southampton or a weekday morning heading to LHR). Expect to pay somewhere south of £100 for a sedan.

As well as www.smithsforairports.com other Southampton-based operators include www.westquaycars.com and www.aquacars.co.uk - all frequently recommended on CC. There are a lot of London / LHR-based operators but choose carefully because prices & standards & reliability are very mixed - Blackberry is frequently recommended on CC. 

 

Cruise lines offer transfers on sailing day. Their buses (broadly similar to Nat Express) pick up at all terminals and take you direct to the ship. Because they run throughout the morning you have no worries about timings - the cruise line's agents meet-and-greet at the arrivals hall in each terminal & you jump on the next available transfer bus. Quicker than Nat Express, and there's a certain comfort in being in the cruise line's care from the moment you arrive - but  you do pay through the nose, for two people it's about the same cost or more than a private transfer,

 

There's no direct train route from LHR to Southampton, so it's not a popular option. You have the choice of

- train into central London's Paddington station, then cross central London to Waterloo station for a direct train to Southampton central station 

- or RailAir bus transfer from LHR to a convenient rail station (usually Woking, sometimes Reading) for a direct train to Southampton.

Whichever route, it takes longer than Nat Express, costs over twice as much, and it's a little complicated.

But because the service is frequent and there's no need to pre-book it's a useful Plan B if other arrangements go belly-up.

 

Hailing a taxi from the rank at the airport will cost a fortune - don't leave that as your only option.

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

As per Turtle's post you'll likely not have the time to look round Southampton on your embarkation day, but it will depend on your flight time and transfer choice. 

And if you do have time, you'll probably forgo it in order to get on-board & settled-in. 

Only City Cruise Terminal is easily walkable from the city centre or walled old-town, or Ocean Terminal for the walled old-town. You'd need a taxi hop from other cruise terminals. The walled old-town isn't attractive overall, because it suffered from the Blitz, but there are a number of attractive and historic buildings such as the Tudor Merchant's House & Garden.

At the northern end of old-town is the old city's main gate, the Bargate, which separates old-town from the bustling modern shopping centre.

Sea City museum, which majors on Titanic, is further - it needs a taxi hop. If your cruise visits Belfast, its Titanic museum is better.

http://www.discoversouthampton.co.uk/visit/visitor-info

 

From Cherbourg the two obvious options are -

 

The D-Day sights & beaches. The nearest sight, the village of Ste Mere-Eglise is only 30 minutes away, Utah beach another 15 mins, and Omaha & the American Cemetery and other sights are also possible with a full day in port.

 

Mont St Michel is two hours away. An impressive place, but the drive is pretty boring.  

 

JB 

Edited January 1, 2019 by John Bull

[Southampton UK Nick]

Hi,

Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire (population about 250,000). There are lots to see and do in the city.

Within the city is West Quay shopping mall with museums like The Sea City Museum (Titanic), Tudor House Museum. Southampton is also a great base for day trips for either return to Southampton (return to your cruise ship) or stopping on route to an airport like Heathrow.

Of course a private car transfer would be more expensive but the itinerary would be tailored to your own requirements.

Popular tours include Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral and city, The New Forest, Winchester Cathedral and city, Portsmouth Historical Dockyard (HMS Victory and the Mary Rose), the Roman city of Bath, Bovington Tank Museum .... and the list goes on.

Just Google the sear words Southampton Cruise Tours and you will get several companies.

These companies will offer straight forward transfers to transfers incorporating visits to the above destinations on route to or from Heathrow.

[bonsai3s]

For a private transfer, we highly recommend English Rose Collection.  We used them last October.  Our flight was delayed and the driver responded immediately.  We had further delays at Immigration/Customs at LHR...the driver patiently waited for us.  Peter, our driver, was professional and truly engaging making our LHR to Southampton ride feeling much quicker.  Happy Sailing!

[Cobbie48]

We are sailing October 9. Plan to stay 2 nights in Southampton before. Most likely at the Mercure.

 

we plan to go to Osborne House on our free day.  I haven’t been able to find any tours from Southampton. It does seem rather easy to take the ferry then bus to the House.  Also lunch at their upscale restaurant looks lovely.

 

thanks for any help.

[John Bull]

1 hour ago, Cobbie48 said:

We are sailing October 9. Plan to stay 2 nights in Southampton before. Most likely at the Mercure.

 

we plan to go to Osborne House on our free day.  I haven’t been able to find any tours from Southampton. It does seem rather easy to take the ferry then bus to the House.  Also lunch at their upscale restaurant looks lovely.

 

thanks for any help.

 

 

Yes, very easy.

 

Turn left out of your hotel and you'll hit the waterfront at Town Quay in 5 to 6 minutes

Simplest to take the Red Funnel CAR ferry from Town Quay to EAST Cowes - the booking office /  foot-passenger entrance is on the right as you cross at the traffic lights.

The car ferry crossing takes something under an hour.

(NB the hi-speed Red Jet passenger ferry goes to (West) Cowes & from there it's a slightly awkward 10-minute walk then the troublesome chain ferry across the Medina River to East Cowes.)

 At East Cowes take any bus, they're routes 4 or 5 and run every 20 minutes or better from outside Waitrose, just a two minute walk from the ferry.

http://www.islandbuses.info/servicelisting.shtml

Just a five or six minute journey on the bus, ask the driver to put you off at Osborne House.

It's a five minute walk down the drive at Osborne House. 

 

It's worth checking Red Funnel & Osborne House websites for any discounted combined tickets.

https://www.redfunnel.co.uk/en/isle-of-wight-guide/places-to-visit/osborne/?fromdate=1/1/0001&12:00:00&AM&todate=1/1/0001&12:00:00&AM

 

JB 

 

Edited January 6, 2019 by John Bull

[Cobbie48]

Thank you so much, JB.  Just the info I was hoping for.  Any restaurant suggestions near our hotel?

[tartanexile81]

You won't have time after checking in. Things must work differently at Southampton for P&O cruises than other cruises you may have done. You are allocated a time to board and they like you to stick fairly closely to that. The baggage handlers won't start till 11:30 in any case so once you hand over your luggage there's little point going back into town for the short time you'll have. Best just to wait in the terminal and hope they let you on the ship early 

Edited January 6, 2019 by tartanexile81

[Turtles06]

4 hours ago, Cobbie48 said:

We are sailing October 9. Plan to stay 2 nights in Southampton before. Most likely at the Mercure.

 

Do you mean the Mercure Dolphin?  I ask because we stayed there three years ago, and unless they have totally renovated their rooms since then, well -- it was really run down.  There's historic and charming, but this place was historic and very tired.  Looking quickly at the recent Tripadvisor reviews, it seems that they may be in the midst of refurbishing their rooms.   Unless you are familiar with this property from a recent stay, you might want to inquire of them. 

[John Bull]

2 hours ago, Cobbie48 said:

Thank you so much, JB.  Just the info I was hoping for.  Any restaurant suggestions near our hotel?

 

Turn left out of your hotel, heading for Town Quay.

In just a few yards turn right, opposite the bombed-out church, into St Michael's Street. In a few yards, on your left is George's restaurant. Greek. George has been around for decades, he's a bit of a Southampton institution. Premises are pretty unimpressive both inside and out but don't be fooled - the welcome is warm, food is excellent, portions are large and prices very reasonable, 

Or continue down High Street to The Red Lion pub. Small historic pub, atmospheric, food rather ordinary but inexpensive & acceptable. So handy to your hotel, worth going in there at least for a drink

Continue past the Red Lion, at the traffic lights by the Red Funnel ferries turn right. On the corner La Regata (Spanish) and next door Ennio's (Italian), Town Quay. Both excellent restaurants but quite expensive.

Continue past them a few yards along the waterfront to The Dancing Man (aka The Wool House). 12th century stone wool store converted a few years ago to a pub / micro-brewery. Very attractive building, very good pub-grub (beef rag and bone is excellent) though quite a limited menu. 

Turn right alongside The Wool House, 100 yards up Bugle Street to The Duke of Wellington. Another historic pub, very good pub-grub,  popular with CC members for their cruise RollCall dinners & probably my top choice too. 

You'll pass a number of other pubs & restaurants, the only one I'd suggest you steer clear is the Juniper Berry pub - it looks like a historic pub but it's mainly used for functions - discos, wedding receptions & such.

 

If you prefer modern international chain restaurants, turn right out of your hotel up High Street for 5 mins to The Bargate (the city's original main gate) & turn left. In 100 yards, across the next road is a recently-added extension to the large West Quay Mall. 20 or more eateries, most with some outside dining, mainly steak restaurants & speciality cuisines, plus cinema complex.  Address is Westquay, also known locally as The Forty Steps. 

 

Google these places for menus etc, though you might not have time to eat at all of them 

 

https://goo.gl/maps/gSWihVEtDgM2

 

JB 

Edited January 6, 2019 by John Bull

[Cobbie48]

OMG. Excellent.  Just whT I was looking for. Must try the pub as it will be our only time in England.

 

do you know if the Mercure is being remodeled as someone above suggested?

 

karen. 

[John Bull]

1 hour ago, Cobbie48 said:

OMG. Excellent.  Just whT I was looking for. Must try the pub as it will be our only time in England.

 

do you know if the Mercure is being remodeled as someone above suggested?

 

karen. 

 

I've never stayed there, Karen, and it's a long time since I was last in there - I used to collect clients from there.

The Dolphin is a quite historic coaching inn. Mercure bought it mebbe 6 - 7 years back & spent a lot of money on it. At that time it got rave reviews, nowadays the reviews are more mixed.

 

The only review site that I trust is booking.com because you can only post a review if you've actually booked the place through them.

https://www.booking.com/hotel/gb/dolphinhotel.en-gb.html?label=gen173nr-1FCAEoggI46AdIM1gEaFCIAQGYAQm4AQbIAQzYAQHoAQH4AQuIAgGoAgM;sid=3ae54e71c8c232535da7da1dd7e56367;dest_id=-2608164;dest_type=city;dist=0;group_adults=2;hapos=1;hpos=1;room1=A%2CA;sb_price_type=total;sr_order=popularity;srepoch=1546826958;srpvid=c6af0f26148b0025;type=total;ucfs=1&#tab-main

Click top-right on "guest reviews".

There are over 2000 reviews.

The manager's responses to some very recent reviews mentios current refurbishment of some rooms/bathrooms.

The overall score of 7.4 is toward the lower end of what we look for in the UK.

As with any review site, we ignore the top & bottom 10 - 15% 

 

Pretty-well all other Southampton hotels in the same price range are modern cloned chain hotels - probably better comfort & amenities but rather bland & featureless & international.

Wherever possible we like to stay in more-individual properties typical of the locality - in Miami that means an art-deco South Beach hotel, in Montana a log cabin, on Route 66 a classic old motel, in Istanbul an Ottoman house, in Kruger Nat Park a rondeval, in the Loire Valley a chateau, you get the drift. In pretty-well every case we'd be more comfortable in a Hol Inn but that's not our style.

So despite its shortcomings, were we visitors to England we'd choose the Mercure Dolphin.

But that's us, not you.

 

JB 

 

BTW. Evening dinner in pubs & restaurants - best to pre-book for a saturday, some also for a friday. Though if you eat as early as Americans usually do you have more chance - they don't tend to get busy til 8 - 9pm

 

 

 

Edited January 7, 2019 by John Bull

[LHT28]

2 hours ago, Cobbie48 said:

do you know if the Mercure is being remodeled as someone above suggested?

 

karen. 

according to reviews on trip advisor   they are re doing the rooms

we are booked there in April 

 

[Cobbie48]

When I started looking at a hotel for pre Cruise I didn’t see anything I liked in Southampton and was most likely going to stay in London.  I realized Osborne House was near.  I’m collecting Accor points so thought I’d take a chance on the Mercure. We stayed in the quirky one in Oxford and it was fine.  I agree about the 7.4 rating.  I normally wouldn’t go with that low of a rating.  I have many months to continue to follow booking.com’s ratings.  

 

Hah,  we usually do dine before 8.

 

karen

[Cobbie48]

31 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

according to reviews on trip advisor   they are re doing the rooms

we are booked there in April 

 

 

 

Please let us know how it is after your April stay

[Turtles06]

9 hours ago, LHT28 said:

according to reviews on trip advisor   they are re doing the rooms

we are booked there in April 

 

 

The hotel’s response to reviews on Booking.com (the site John Bull provided above) says they are redoing “a number” of their rooms, it doesn’t say all. You might want to check with them on this.  I say this only because, as I posted above, we did stay at the Mercure and our room really had long since passed its shelf life.  And we went into this knowing it would be a quirky, old property, so the bar was low.  

 

Edited January 7, 2019 by Turtles06

[LHT28]

10 hours ago, Cobbie48 said:

 

 

Please let us know how it is after your April stay

will do

 

 

[Guernseycruiser]

On 1/1/2019 at 9:42 PM, DEL67 said:

We will be taking the Britannia from Southampton in April and I have several questions.

 

- What is the best way to get from LHR  to Southampton and return.  We will be staying overnight near LHR the night before the cruise and leaving from LHR in the late afternoon after the cruise ends.

 

- What is there to do in Southampton if we have time after checking in?

 

= The ports are all new to us.  We would appreciate suggestions of what we should do in Cherbourg (on Easter day,)  La Coruna, Bilboa and St Peterport.

 

Thank you

 

 

 

For St Peter Port, Guernsey, there are so many places to visit you can’t see everything in one day.  Before I make any suggestions, please advise what interests you.  In order to make the most of your visit, It would probably  be best to arrange a small group with a private guide.  Below is a link where people have asked questions about this port.

 

 

Please feel free to ask any questions and I will do my best to answer.

 

[Bob++]

On 1/1/2019 at 9:42 PM, DEL67 said:

We will be taking the Britannia from Southampton in April and I have several questions.

 

- What is the best way to get from LHR  to Southampton and return.  We will be staying overnight near LHR the night before the cruise and leaving from LHR in the late afternoon after the cruise ends.

 

Thank you

1

 

Since no one else has mentioned it; I wonder why you are staying near LHR the night before? Are you a late arrival? If you are not too late, it would make sense to travel down to Southampton the evening before.

[DEL67]

On 1/7/2019 at 7:00 PM, Bob++ said:

 

Since no one else has mentioned it; I wonder why you are staying near LHR the night before? Are you a late arrival? If you are not too late, it would make sense to travel down to Southampton the evening before.

 

Thank you all  for the information. 

 

Bob"

Our flight is scheduled to arrive at LHR about 5 PM the night before the cruise so I had planned to stay at an airport hotel and go to Southampton early  in the morning, leave our luggage and walk around South Hampton until our designated check-in tome.  However, now that I know that the luggage handlers do not start until 11:30, I need to look at other options.

[LHT28]

5 minutes ago, DEL67 said:

 

Thank you all  for the information. 

 

Bob"

Our flight is scheduled to arrive at LHR about 5 PM the night before the cruise so I had planned to stay at an airport hotel and go to Southampton early  in the morning, leave our luggage and walk around South Hampton until our designated check-in tome.  However, now that I know that the luggage handlers do not start until 11:30, I need to look at other options.

 

Are you taking the bus to Southampton or private car service ?

You probably would not have a lot of time to wait around

 

[Twickenham]

10 minutes ago, DEL67 said:

 

Thank you all  for the information. 

 

Bob"

Our flight is scheduled to arrive at LHR about 5 PM the night before the cruise so I had planned to stay at an airport hotel and go to Southampton early  in the morning, leave our luggage and walk around South Hampton until our designated check-in tome.  However, now that I know that the luggage handlers do not start until 11:30, I need to look at other options.

 

Gosh, with a 5 pm arrival I'd totally be looking at travelling down to Southampton that night and staying there. Then you can do some walking around in the morning, go back to your hotel to pick up your bags, and make your way to the port.

[Turtles06]

10 hours ago, Twickenham said:

 

Gosh, with a 5 pm arrival I'd totally be looking at travelling down to Southampton that night and staying there. Then you can do some walking around in the morning, go back to your hotel to pick up your bags, and make your way to the port.

 

I agree.  Especially if the porters won’t take bags until 11:30.  Seems Ike a waste of an evening at an airport hotel, and giving up a true early start in Southampton itself.  

[LHT28]

On 1/7/2019 at 4:16 AM, Cobbie48 said:

 

 

Please let us know how it is after your April stay

arrived today

they put us in one of the outside units

small but comfortable ..suppose to be privilege room

will see how it goes

it is a short walk to West Quay  mall

no A/C of course  but the room is updated

we're here until Monday 

we are in ADONIA  which lower floor

Some others are up a flight of stairs 

the main hotel has an elevator