Southampton QM2 Boarding at the Ocean Terminal 15 Feb.

[jcl410]

All -

 

 I'm planing my trip from London to Southampton to board the Queen Mary 2 on the 15th.  Our arrival time is at 1500. If we arrive early, is there any place at the Ocean terminal to wait indoors before getting the Covid test? If not, are there any good alternatives to wait after arriving at the train station? It looks like we'll be getting to Southampton at 1414. (South Western Railway has reduced the number of trains do to staffing issues (Covid related.) Right now, there is only one non-stop an hour from Waterloo.

 

Aloha,

 

John

[LadyL1]

Your timing seems perfect! At that point you should whizz through all embarkation procedures and there is an indoor waiting area, if needed.

[tv24]

In December our experience at the Southampton terminal was, frankly, dreadful.  We arrived on time, according to Cunard, and waited in a huge, crowded line for 2 1/2 hours to be tested.  Dreadful.  Seemed to be caused by the fact that Cunard had arranged for too few testers.  Then we had to wait 30 additional minutes in crowded conditions for our test results because Cunard could not send results to non-UK cell phones.  Hello 20th Century!  Or is it 19th Century?  This was all an Omicron disaster in process, all of us passing viruses among ourselves.  Anyway, hopefully things have improved, but don't count on it, as in our experience, embarkation on Cunard is often fraught with problems.  Do not arrive early.  Go sit in a pub and get drunk.  There is absolutely nowhere in the Ocean Terminal to sit and wait to get in your line for Covid tests.

[LifeonMars]

5 hours ago, jcl410 said:

All -

 

 I'm planing my trip from London to Southampton to board the Queen Mary 2 on the 15th.  Our arrival time is at 1500. If we arrive early, is there any place at the Ocean terminal to wait indoors before getting the Covid test? If not, are there any good alternatives to wait after arriving at the train station? It looks like we'll be getting to Southampton at 1414. (South Western Railway has reduced the number of trains do to staffing issues (Covid related.) Right now, there is only one non-stop an hour from Waterloo.

 

Aloha,

 

John

 

I suggest on arriving at Southampton Central Station take yourselves and luggage to the terminal. From there you can check your bags in.  See  what the arrangements are and if necessary go and visit a local bar if you need to abide time.  Oxford Street not  far away to walk a few bars ),  also The Dancing Man Brewery and Kutis Indian Restaurant at Royal Pier by the Red Funnel Ferry entrance.

Edited February 4, 2022 by LifeonMars

[sogne]

6 hours ago, tv24 said:

In December our experience at the Southampton terminal was, frankly, dreadful.  We arrived on time, according to Cunard, and waited in a huge, crowded line for 2 1/2 hours to be tested.  Dreadful.  Seemed to be caused by the fact that Cunard had arranged for too few testers.  Then we had to wait 30 additional minutes in crowded conditions for our test results because Cunard could not send results to non-UK cell phones.  Hello 20th Century!  Or is it 19th Century?  This was all an Omicron disaster in process, all of us passing viruses among ourselves.  Anyway, hopefully things have improved, but don't count on it, as in our experience, embarkation on Cunard is often fraught with problems.  Do not arrive early.  Go sit in a pub and get drunk.  There is absolutely nowhere in the Ocean Terminal to sit and wait to get in your line for Covid tests.

our check in on 14th Jan was quick and efficient within 30 minutes of LFT testing 

[3rdGenCunarder]

7 hours ago, tv24 said:

In December our experience at the Southampton terminal was, frankly, dreadful.  We arrived on time, according to Cunard, and waited in a huge, crowded line for 2 1/2 hours to be tested.  Dreadful.  Seemed to be caused by the fact that Cunard had arranged for too few testers.  Then we had to wait 30 additional minutes in crowded conditions for our test results because Cunard could not send results to non-UK cell phones.  Hello 20th Century!  Or is it 19th Century?  This was all an Omicron disaster in process, all of us passing viruses among ourselves.  Anyway, hopefully things have improved, but don't count on it, as in our experience, embarkation on Cunard is often fraught with problems.  Do not arrive early.  Go sit in a pub and get drunk.  There is absolutely nowhere in the Ocean Terminal to sit and wait to get in your line for Covid tests.

 

I never know what to expect at Southampton. Most check-in experiences were smooth and quick, but a few more recent experiences were so disorganized that it made me wonder if the port had been in business for more than a week!  

 

Possibly Cunard's system was not set up for international calling. Even though you're in the UK, your US phone is an "overseas" call, so it's more expensive and some systems refuse to allow those calls. Someone at IT should have thought about that. 

 

How did they contact people if they couldn't send a text? 

[LadyL1]

1 hour ago, sogne said:

our check in on 14th Jan was quick and efficient within 30 minutes of LFT testing 

Same for us on 18th Jan!

I think tv24 maybe a little harsh on S'ton, but all ports have there bad days including ones in USA. I would like to add that there was definitely an indoor waiting area.

[jcl410]

For those who boarded on the 18th, what time was on yuor boarding pass, and when did you show up? Hopefully things will also go smoothly in 11 days!

 

Aloha,

 

John

[tv24]

29 minutes ago, LadyL1 said:

Same for us on 18th Jan!

I think tv24 maybe a little harsh on S'ton, but all ports have there bad days including ones in USA. I would like to add that there was definitely an indoor waiting area.

I don't blame the Port of Southampton at all.  My issues have been with Cunard.  We've also experienced disorganized, lengthy, and at times dangerous, check-ins with Cunard in Los Angeles, Brooklyn, Cape Town and Hamburg.

[sogne]

at Southampton I suspect the experience for those using CPS parking and those arriving by other means are different

3 cruises since restart and the longest wait from LFT  to board was 1 hour

[frankp01]

4 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

How did they contact people if they couldn't send a text? 

You waited in a comfortable lounge until your name was called. While I was uncomfortable in the queue waiting to be tested (I tried to keep a social distance in front of me, but the next in line were right on my back), the waiting room for those waiting for the results was large enough that (at least when I was there) there was plenty of room to spread out. And you could go outside and walk around, if you wanted. You weren't restricted to the lounge.

Edited February 4, 2022 by frankp01

[kinshasa]

we boarded QE 18 Jan.  Almost no line for testing with 10 testing stations available.  Our only problem was that they never texted our US mobiles even though we gave them the international code.  After 45 minutes of waiting for the results we went up to the rep who found our negative results in the system  and sent us on our way

 

We arrived at 1145 for a 1215 testing time but no one ever looked at the time we were told to arrive   We were on board the ship by 1330 even with the phone issue above

[david,Mississauga]

On 2/4/2022 at 2:27 AM, tv24 said:

...  Then we had to wait 30 additional minutes in crowded conditions for our test results because Cunard could not send results to non-UK cell phones. 

...

 

As someone who does not have a smart-phone - and has no intention of getting one - I have to hope there is an alternative method of receiving test results. Our basic mobile can receive text messages but it definitely will not work outside of Canada. (We can upgrade our plan to have it work in the US but not Europe.) We always travel with a tablet; perhaps this could help as long as  WI-fi is available. Perhaps it is just as well we have no plans on boarding in Southampton in the near future.

 

Our next two voyages embark in Vancouver in June and Québec in September. Cunard has no idea what boarding protocols will be for these voyages or even if proof of vaccination will be required.

[tv24]

1 hour ago, david,Mississauga said:

 

As someone who does not have a smart-phone - and has no intention of getting one - I have to hope there is an alternative method of receiving test results. Our basic mobile can receive text messages but it definitely will not work outside of Canada. (We can upgrade our plan to have it work in the US but not Europe.) We always travel with a tablet; perhaps this could help as long as  WI-fi is available. Perhaps it is just as well we have no plans on boarding in Southampton in the near future.

 

Our next two voyages embark in Vancouver in June and Québec in September. Cunard has no idea what boarding protocols will be for these voyages or even if proof of vaccination will be required.

There was an alternative.  We sat in the big reception hall while 2 workers periodically received messages regarding the infection status of the tested passengers.   Once they received the messages, they periodically wrote the results down on a piece of paper.  Then, when they got around to it, they called the names, and one-by-one, we walked to them to receive a pass that we were negative.  Since the workers often forgot to call the names, and since it was hard to hear their unamplified voices, we all trudged up to them from time-to-time to ask if our names were on their list.

[jcl410]

We're on the train to Southampton now... I noticed on marinetraffic that the ship isn't at the Ocean terminal as planned. Hope everything is ok 

 

Aloha 

 

John

[exlondoner]

18 minutes ago, jcl410 said:

We're on the train to Southampton now... I noticed on marinetraffic that the ship isn't at the Ocean terminal as planned. Hope everything is ok 

 

Aloha 

 

John

 

Probably because of the strong winds.

[D&N]

7 hours ago, jcl410 said:

I noticed on marinetraffic that the ship isn't at the Ocean terminal as planned.

I note that all QM2 departures until end July 2022 shown on the southamptonvts web page are from Berth 106, Mayflower Terminal. Berth 46, Ocean Terminal seems to be allocated to ships that may have larger numbers of passengers.

[Jonem2001]

Yes, the change to Mayflower was due to winds - those on board were notified on Sunday 13th, so a decision taken quite far in advance.

[exlondoner]

32 minutes ago, Jonem2001 said:

Yes, the change to Mayflower was due to winds - those on board were notified on Sunday 13th, so a decision taken quite far in advance.

 

Just be glad it's not Friday, when we are promised winds up to 90mph down here. Which is very unusual.

[jcl410]

High winds confirmed... We used two tugs to help us leave the dock last Tuesday.

 

Aloha,

 

John