Transfer: Southampton—London (incl. LHR/LGW) train, car, other?

[gumshoe958]

37 minutes ago, Senga said:

If we take National Express from LHR to Southampton central bus station, will it be easy to get a taxi to Holiday Inn Express, Herbert Walker Avenue?

There is a taxi rank next to the coach station but it’s not very busy so you may have to wait for a cab to turn up. 
 

That journey is barely half a mile so you may find it quicker to walk (10-12 minutes).

 

Also note the hotel is a standard Holiday Inn, not an Express.

[cruisingxpert]

On 10/15/2022 at 7:04 AM, Pearl64 said:

Thank you John Bull and Globaliser. I value your expertise. I left the flights as they were and will hope for the best. Thank you again!

@Pearl64  I am getting on Oceania Vista the day you get off.  I am arriving day of cruise which I don't normally do but with 4 non stop flights from Toronto, I think I will be okay. Who di you book your transfer with- maybe they will pick me up when they drop you off- I'm arriving at 10am.

 

About your departure time, in 2018 I got off Oceania at 7:30am and took a Smiths private car to Heathrow for a 12Noon flight and had no problems.

[Tedferg]

We are interested in Southampton to a Heathrow hotel, post cruise. Princess transfer is $59 per person $118, cheaper than any of the private car quotes I have seen $150 -160. There would be the complication of getting from Terminal to Hotel, So maybe private car is worth the extra for convenience.

[John Bull]

On 3/11/2023 at 7:29 PM, Tedferg said:

We are interested in Southampton to a Heathrow hotel, post cruise. Princess transfer is $59 per person $118, cheaper than any of the private car quotes I have seen $150 -160. There would be the complication of getting from Terminal to Hotel, So maybe private car is worth the extra for convenience.

 

"Heathrow hotels" covers hotels anything from in-terminal to  about 10 miles away

Some are served by the Hotel Hoppa bus - over-priced for what it is but simple.

https://www.hotelhoppa.co.uk/

 

If you've already chosen a hotel and if you know your LHR terminal, it'll help us to make suggestions

 

JB 🙂

 

[erber]

We are booking the Princess transfer to Heathrow and are staying at the Holiday Inn Express, Terminal 4 in mid June. I assume we can ask the transfer to drop  us at terminal 4 so we can hopefully easily get to the hotel.

 

Then we want to go into London to do some sightseeing the next day and wonder what is the best way to get from the Holiday Inn Express into the city to see The Tower. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Finally, two days later we depart on a 9:20 flight from Heathrow terminal 3 on Virgin Atlantic. Any suggestions how to get to the correct terminal since I know the Holiday Inn Express is not near terminal Virgin Atlantic departs from?

 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  

[gumshoe958]

2 hours ago, erber said:

We are booking the Princess transfer to Heathrow and are staying at the Holiday Inn Express, Terminal 4 in mid June. I assume we can ask the transfer to drop  us at terminal 4 so we can hopefully easily get to the hotel.

 

Then we want to go into London to do some sightseeing the next day and wonder what is the best way to get from the Holiday Inn Express into the city to see The Tower. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Finally, two days later we depart on a 9:20 flight from Heathrow terminal 3 on Virgin Atlantic. Any suggestions how to get to the correct terminal since I know the Holiday Inn Express is not near terminal Virgin Atlantic departs from?

 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  

 

That hotel is connected directly to Terminal 4 by an overhead walkway. Terminal 4 has its own (separate) tube and train stations underneath the terminal.

 

You can EITHER take the new Elizabeth line train to Liverpool Street (every 30 mins), then change on to the Circle line tube and go two stops to Tower Hill. That is the more expensive but slightly quicker option - about an hour.

 

OR you can take the Piccadilly line tube (every 10 mins), get off at Hammersmith and from the adjacent platform take a District line train to Tower Hill. The whole journey will take around 1 hour 20 minutes but is a bit cheaper.

 

To get from your hotel to Terminal 3 it’s one stop on either the Piccadilly or Elizabeth lines to Heathrow T2&3, then follow the underground passageways. That’s a free journey BUT you’ll need to ‘touch in’ and ‘touch out’ with a contactless debit or credit card (or Apple Pay/Google Pay) to get through the ticket barriers: you won’t be charged though.

 

 

Edited March 13, 2023 by gumshoe958

[jeh10641]

We will be staying two nights in London in October 2023 before taking a train from Waterloo station to Southampton. Has anybody done this? Any recommendations?

 

Jim

[gumshoe958]

11 minutes ago, jeh10641 said:

We will be staying two nights in London in October 2023 before taking a train from Waterloo station to Southampton. Has anybody done this? Any recommendations?

 

Jim

London’s a huge place with hundreds of hotels and anywhere in central London is an easy cab ride away from Waterloo.

 

However there are a few hotels within easy walking distance of Waterloo which are popular with cruisers, such as the Marriott County Hall and the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge or for the more budget-conscious the Premier Inn Waterloo or Premier Inn County Hall.

[jeh10641]

3 minutes ago, gumshoe958 said:

London’s a huge place with hundreds of hotels and anywhere in central London is an easy cab ride away from Waterloo.

 

However there are a few hotels within easy walking distance of Waterloo which are popular with cruisers, such as the Marriott County Hall and the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge or for the more budget-conscious the Premier Inn Waterloo or Premier Inn County Hall.

Thank you gumshoe958. We are staying at the Ridgemount Hotel on Gower Street near part of the University of London. I had looked at the premier Inn but the Ridgemount has a history going back 240 years. I loved that fact.

 

Jim

[gumshoe958]

13 minutes ago, jeh10641 said:

Thank you gumshoe958. We are staying at the Ridgemount Hotel on Gower Street near part of the University of London. I had looked at the premier Inn but the Ridgemount has a history going back 240 years. I loved that fact.

 

Jim

Nice!

 

In which case you can either take a cab to Waterloo (15 mins if the traffic’s ok, more if not) OR it’s a 5 minute walk to Goodge Street station (which has elevators down to the platforms), then a 10 minute tube journey on the Northern line direct to Waterloo. A cab will be easiest if you have luggage; the tube isn’t easy with big cases.

 

Fast trains from Waterloo to Southampton Central run every 30 minutes and take about 75 or 80 minutes. Then it’s a 10 minute cab ride to the cruise terminal (there are several, so make sure you find out which one your ship is docked at. Your cruise line will tell you).

 

Edited March 13, 2023 by gumshoe958

[erber]

4 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

 

That hotel is connected directly to Terminal 4 by an overhead walkway. Terminal 4 has its own (separate) tube and train stations underneath the terminal.

 

You can EITHER take the new Elizabeth line train to Liverpool Street (every 30 mins), then change on to the Circle line tube and go two stops to Tower Hill. That is the more expensive but slightly quicker option - about an hour.

 

OR you can take the Piccadilly line tube (every 10 mins), get off at Hammersmith and from the adjacent platform take a District line train to Tower Hill. The whole journey will take around 1 hour 20 minutes but is a bit cheaper.

 

To get from your hotel to Terminal 3 it’s one stop on either the Piccadilly or Elizabeth lines to Heathrow T2&3, then follow the underground passageways. That’s a free journey BUT you’ll need to ‘touch in’ and ‘touch out’ with a contactless debit or credit card (or Apple Pay/Google Pay) to get through the ticket barriers: you won’t be charged though.

 

 

Thank you so much for all this information. This is extremely helpful. Two additional questions. 

 

First, any idea what the cost is for the more costly option into London to the Tower area you mentioned? 

 

And second, if you could provide an estimate, how long does it take to get from hotel to terminal 3 when we want to get to the airport to get our flight back to the U.S. just trying to figure out when to leave for airport for a 9:30 a.m. flight. I know we need to be at airport several hours early. 

 

thank you again!

[gumshoe958]

5 hours ago, erber said:

Thank you so much for all this information. This is extremely helpful. Two additional questions. 

 

First, any idea what the cost is for the more costly option into London to the Tower area you mentioned? 

 

And second, if you could provide an estimate, how long does it take to get from hotel to terminal 3 when we want to get to the airport to get our flight back to the U.S. just trying to figure out when to leave for airport for a 9:30 a.m. flight. I know we need to be at airport several hours early. 

 

thank you again!

If you use the Elizabeth Line/Circle Line option, the price is £13.30 one way. 
 

For a return trip the price is £14.90 and you won’t pay any more for any other journeys you make on Transport for London (TfL) services that day as that is the daily cap, assuming you pay by contactless debit/credit card or Apple/Google Pay.

 

Allow 30 mins for the journey from your hotel to T3. If you aim to leave at 6.30am you’ll be fine.

[Globaliser]

7 hours ago, erber said:

First, any idea what the cost is for the more costly option into London to the Tower area you mentioned?

 

1 hour ago, gumshoe958 said:

If you use the Elizabeth Line/Circle Line option, the price is £13.30 one way. 
 

For a return trip the price is £14.90 and you won’t pay any more for any other journeys you make on Transport for London (TfL) services that day as that is the daily cap, assuming you pay by contactless debit/credit card or Apple/Google Pay.

 

For completeness, the cap is the same amount even if you take the (cheaper) Tube option. However, the Tube is only £5.60 each way, so if you do only those two Tube journeys then you would spend less than the cap. All these prices and caps are also applicable if you pay with an Oyster card, although there's little reason why you would want to do that.

 

The cap amount that gumshoe958 quotes assumes that you don't travel in any Zones further outside London than Heathrow (Zone 6) during peak hours. But again, given what you want to do, there's little reason why you would.

 

Applying the same cap to use the Elizabeth Line is a bit of an oddity, because TfL has to pay a per-passenger fee to Heathrow to use Heathrow's railway tunnel. This is why the one-way Elizabeth Line journey costs £7.70 more than the Tube journey: it's a flat-rate surcharge for going through the Heathrow tunnel. The £14.90 cap is quite a bargain for the passenger; but it's probably not so good for the taxpayer! Even if you don't go back to Heathrow, the next journey in town will inevitably see you hitting the cap. I wouldn't be surprised if that were to change in the future.

[Tedferg]

23 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

"Heathrow hotels" covers hotels anything from in-terminal to  about 10 miles away

Some are served by the Hotel Hoppa bus - over-priced for what it is but simple.

https://www.hotelhoppa.co.uk/

 

If you've already chosen a hotel and if you know your LHR terminal, it'll help us to make suggestions

 

JB 🙂

 

Thinking of Holiday Inn / Staybridge Suites on Bath Road. Hitlon Garden Inn T2 is interesting but twice the price.

Edited March 14, 2023 by Tedferg

[John Bull]

6 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

Thinking of Holiday Inn / Staybridge Suites on Bath Road. Hitlo Garden Inn T2 is interesting but twice the price.

 

Staybridge Suites / H.I. Bath Road to T2 is served by the Hoppa - but it's only 1 1/2 miles so for two it's possibly cheaper by taxi.

 

JB 🙂

[Tedferg]

1 hour ago, John Bull said:

 

Staybridge Suites / H.I. Bath Road to T2 is served by the Hoppa - but it's only 1 1/2 miles so for two it's possibly cheaper by taxi.

 

JB 🙂

Thanks I am a bit sensitive to short taxi rides. wondering if Cabby is hoping for a fare into London.

[Globaliser]

8 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

I am a bit sensitive to short taxi rides. wondering if Cabby is hoping for a fare into London.

Yes, undoubtedly they are - it's why they are happy to sit in the feeder park for 2 or 3 (or more) hours just to get one fare from the airport. But AIUI there's a system at Heathrow that means that if the cab does a short trip to somewhere close by and gets back to the terminal within a specified period of time (IIRC, something like 45 or 60 minutes), it can go straight to the terminal and skip the feeder park queue.

 

So you don't need to worry about what the cabbie thinks about a short trip, which they're legally required to do in any event.

 

There is a cohort of cabbies that don't like the feeder park at all, and so if they've dropped someone off at the airport, they will simply drive empty back into town.

[Tedferg]

Thanks Globaliser

[The Chandlers]

On 3/13/2023 at 3:19 PM, jeh10641 said:

We will be staying two nights in London in October 2023 before taking a train from Waterloo station to Southampton. Has anybody done this? Any recommendations?

 

Jim

We will be staying in London for 2 nights after our cruise and will be doing the same route, just backwards.  Hoping it is fairly easy.

[The Chandlers]

We will be staying in London for 2 nights after our cruise.  I've been reading about transportation options.  We are not interested in doing the ship's transfer so we are looking at either a car service or the train.  We will be traveling with my husband's parents and our 7 year old son.  Would love to hear the pros and cons of both options so we can make the best decision for our family.  Thanks so much!

 

[jeh10641]

10 minutes ago, The Chandlers said:

We will be staying in London for 2 nights after our cruise and will be doing the same route, just backwards.  Hoping it is fairly easy.

 

8 minutes ago, The Chandlers said:

We will be staying in London for 2 nights after our cruise.  I've been reading about transportation options.  We are not interested in doing the ship's transfer so we are looking at either a car service or the train.  We will be traveling with my husband's parents and our 7 year old son.  Would love to hear the pros and cons of both options so we can make the best decision for our family.  Thanks so much!

 

Hello, The Chandlers,

This stream has many recommendations for travel between London and Southampton. I think we are going to do it by train from Waterloo Station to Southampton. The trains go in the opposite direction from Southampton. Luggage should be a concern since there are five of you.

Jim

[njkruzer]

17 minutes ago, The Chandlers said:

We will be staying in London for 2 nights after our cruise.  I've been reading about transportation options.  We are not interested in doing the ship's transfer so we are looking at either a car service or the train.  We will be traveling with my husband's parents and our 7 year old son.  Would love to hear the pros and cons of both options so we can make the best decision for our family.  Thanks so much!

 

This past October used Meadway car service from London hotel to the port.  We were 4 people so reasonable.  Was told no dedicated luggage space on the train, which could be crowded as it's a commuter train.  Used them also from Heathrow to our hotel.  Worked well for us.

[gumshoe958]

7 hours ago, The Chandlers said:

We will be staying in London for 2 nights after our cruise.  I've been reading about transportation options.  We are not interested in doing the ship's transfer so we are looking at either a car service or the train.  We will be traveling with my husband's parents and our 7 year old son.  Would love to hear the pros and cons of both options so we can make the best decision for our family.  Thanks so much!

 

If there are five of you I’d book a car service. The trains, while faster and cheaper (if booked in advance) have very little luggage space and you’ll have to load and unload all your cases on and off the train and into and out of cabs at both ends. 

[John Bull]

13 hours ago, The Chandlers said:

We will be staying in London for 2 nights after our cruise.  I've been reading about transportation options.  We are not interested in doing the ship's transfer so we are looking at either a car service or the train.  We will be traveling with my husband's parents and our 7 year old son.  Would love to hear the pros and cons of both options so we can make the best decision for our family.  Thanks so much!

 

 

Can I resume that your port is Southampton?

Post again if it's Dover.

 

A private door-to-door transfer from central London should take something under 2 hours and cost about £200 - £225, probably a little more because of your party size.

There are a lot of operators and consolidators in London, and standards vary from excellent to rip-off - be sure to choose a well-reviewed operator.

 

Ships' transfer buses operate from Victoria coach station - that's the same place as the direct National Express coaches to Southampton. National Express can cost as little as £5 per person, and the driver loads / unloads. Journey time is about 2hrs 20 minutes, just a little slower than ships' transfers because of 2 or 3 intermediate stops. The only other difference is that you'll probably need  a taxi (more likely two taxis) from Southampton coach station to cruise terminal at something under £10 per taxi.

 

As per Gumshoe's post, trains have very limited luggage space - but trains out of London in the mornings aren't crowded and you shouldn't have difficulty in keeping your luggage around you, altho schlepping and loading them (much easier than Amtrak) is down to you. 

Trains are direct, and advance fares are from as little as about £14 per person. (For details of booking advance fares and their limitations scroll thro this thread). Again a taxi or two from Southampton Central station to cruise terminal.

Frequent direct Southampton-bound  trains are from London Waterloo and take about 90 minutes, there's also a direct hourly service from London Victoria but it takes a round-about route with a journey time of about 2 hrs 30 mins.

 

If your London hotel is handy to Victoria or Waterloo, the train or Nat Express are well worth considering.

But it's a brave man who takes luggage on the Tube or London buses, so add the cost of a taxi (again, probably two) to Waterloo or Victoria from elsewhere in central London.

 

Undoubtedly a private door-to-door transfer is simplest and easiest, but it depends whether you consider that justifies the cost

 

JB 🙂

 

 

Edited March 16, 2023 by John Bull

[Globaliser]

53 minutes ago, John Bull said:

As per Gumshoe's post, trains have very limited luggage space ...

 

 

But it's a brave man who takes luggage on the Tube ...

 

The difficulties of doing so can be exaggerated. Every day, countless thousands of people travel with their luggage on trains of these kinds all around London and up and down the country.

 

Although the commuter trains between London and Southampton have no dedicated luggage space, there will be plenty of space so long as you're not trying to do the journey during peak hours in the direction of the peak traffic (which is very tidal).

 

There are some Tube journeys which would be more difficult with luggage because you would have to carry it up and down stairs with no assistance from lifts (elevators) or escalators. Also, safely wrangling luggage on escalators involves some situational awareness. But there are plenty of Tube journeys which are absolutely straightforward with luggage. Outside peak hours, there is usually plenty of space for luggage. On some trains (for example, the Piccadilly Line) there is space that is designed for luggage, even though it is not dedicated to it.

 

What is incontestable is that if you want an easy life, a door-to-door car transfer would fit the bill. But that privilege has to be paid for.