Transportation to Southhampton port

[noniepapa6]

What are the transfer options from Heathrow to the Southhampton port?

[MicCanberra]

Check out the 'London Tool Kit', there are numerous options listed there.

[capriccio]

A few years ago we used Smith for Airports (http://www.smithsairportcars.co.uk/).  Our flight was 45 minutes early and we were some of the first through immigration and customs but our driver was there waiting for us.  Both to and from Southampton we had new Mercedes vehicles and excellent drivers.  In 23 days (but who is counting?😁) we will use them again from Heathrow to Southampton.

[Heidi13]

LHR has no direct train service to Southampton, so that leave limo service, car hire or bus.

 

The cheapest option is the National Coach service, which has multiple departures daily.

 

For limo service, you can check prices on Smiths for Airport, or our preference - Addison Lee.

[bonsai3s]

We used English Rose Collection.  Our flight was delayed and to make matters worse the line through Customs took over two hours at Heathrow.  Our driver patiently waited and had bottled waters waiting for us.  Our driver was so engaging that our long ride to Southamton seemed only minutes.  Our emails were promptly responded and received quotes immediately.  Their prices are competitive and they also have options to visit Stonehedge, if you happen to arrive early.

https://englishrosecollection.co.uk/

 

[John Bull]

For 1/2/3 people, cheapest is by coach https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

Direct service from airport to Southampton (note spelling) coach station, then a short taxi hop (£10 or less) to any cruise terminal. Journey time about 2hrs 15 mins. Fare from £12 to £26 pp., depending how far ahead you book and your time of travel. 

Pre-booking strongly advised, allow a minimum 2 hrs for airport formalities.

 

As Heidi's post, there's no direct train service - it's either taking a train into central London's Paddington station (the opposite direction to Southampton), cross central London (tube or taxi) to  London Waterloo station & direct train from there, or a RailAir bus from Heathrow to a mainline station for a train to Southampton. More expensive than by coach and journey time the same or longer, so not popular. But because frequency is excellent & no need to pre-book, it's a useful Plan B if other plans go belly-up.

 

Cruise lines offer coach transfers. Coaches are similar to National Express coaches, and take you direct to your cruise terminal. Ship's shore agents meet you at your airport terminal, and for large cruise ships there are multiple coaches so there's no long wait. And of course once you're in the shore agent's custody getting you to the ship on time is the cruise line's responsibility.

But as with most ship-sponsored travel, the value is poor - anything from about $60 pp for Princess to $100 pp for RCI / Celebrity.

Journey time about 90 minutes.

 

A pre-booked private transfer will cost you around £100 for a sedan. www.smithsfrairports.com is most-frequently recommended on Cruise Critic, but there are many other operators like those quoted in other posts.

Journey time 75 minutes plus.

 

Don't be tempted by the independent coach transfer or Stonehenge tour/transfer offered on the London Toolkit website - because of the vagaries of air travel & airport formalities they actively discourage bookings from those who fly in same-day, the service is designed for those who've over-nited at Heathrow.

 

If you simply take a taxi to Southampton from the rank at Heathrow it will severely damage your wealth.

 

More info at

https://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/heathrow_southampton.htm

(but the car services they offer are usually seriously over-priced)

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2662148-transfer-southampton—london-incl-lhrlgw-train-car-other/

 

JB 

[Corby114]

Blackberry Cars is another commonly used limo company. I personally used them for transportation between a London hotel and Southampton for my families cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Independence Of The Seas in June 2018.

[JMorris271]

We used National Express directly from Heathrow to the South Hampton Station. From there ,it was a quick Taxi to our hotel for a good rest before the next days  Departure. The line was quite comfortable and reasonably priced and we never had to touch our luggage,  It was a good choice for us i'd say and recommend it

[taglovestocruise]

9 hours ago, Corby114 said:

Blackberry Cars is another commonly used limo company. I personally used them for transportation between a London hotel and Southampton for my families cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Independence Of The Seas in June 2018.

Ditto.. We used Blackberry Cars and they were excellent. We paid 110 Euros from Kensington, slightly less from Heathrow. Driver was great and showed up in a Mercedes SUV. 

[noniepapa6]

Thank you all for the great advice! Much appreciated.

[newport dave]

And for future reference... it's Southampton.  All one word and one 'h'.