Need Transportation and Hotel suggestions - Heathrow/London/Southampton

[SDCB432]

My husband and I are sailing out of Southampton on Silhouette in October. We fly into Heathrow 2 days before the cruise so we need transportation to hotel in London, and also transportation from London to Southampton on day of cruise.  My questions are:

 

What are some hotel options (moderate pricing) with ease to transportation as well as sightseeing.

 

What should we use from Heathrow to Hotel and from Hotel to Southampton?

 

Thank you in advance

[marieps]

10 minutes ago, SDCB432 said:

My husband and I are sailing out of Southampton on Silhouette in October. We fly into Heathrow 2 days before the cruise so we need transportation to hotel in London, and also transportation from London to Southampton on day of cruise.  My questions are:

 

What are some hotel options (moderate pricing) with ease to transportation as well as sightseeing.

 

What should we use from Heathrow to Hotel and from Hotel to Southampton?

 

Thank you in advance

This is best posted on the ports of call or departure board, but for what it's worth we are spending three nights at a VRBO in South Kensington and taking a train from Waterloo to Southampton.  We will Tube to our apartment.  The Tube is super convenient to the locations we'll frequent.  We enjoy the adventure of using local mass transit.  Very easy in Prague and Budapest, so I have to think London will not be a problem.  We are on Sillie's TA in October.

Edited January 16, 2023 by marieps

[jwlane]

We use the tube from LHR, and National Express to Southampton.  Lodging options are too numerous to discuss---it all depends on where you want to explore from.

 

Edited January 16, 2023 by jwlane

[the penguins]

55 minutes ago, SDCB432 said:

My husband and I are sailing out of Southampton on Silhouette in October. We fly into Heathrow 2 days before the cruise so we need transportation to hotel in London, and also transportation from London to Southampton on day of cruise.  My questions are:

 

What are some hotel options (moderate pricing) with ease to transportation as well as sightseeing.

 

What should we use from Heathrow to Hotel and from Hotel to Southampton?

 

Thank you in advance

The coach (bus) from London Victoria Coach Station is the cheapest easiest way to get from London to Southampton Dock. You can book on line direct with National Express. The are 3 prices of tickets: fixed non refundable, changeable for a fee  and fully flexible/refundable. Same seats. Bags to go in the hold are £8 (approx 💲10 ) a bag extra. Early booking recommended.

 

[jwlane]

9 minutes ago, the penguins said:

 Bags to go in the hold are £8 

 

We've done it 3 times, such an easy way to go.  By our experience, never had to pay extra for the bags.

[the penguins]

2 minutes ago, jwlane said:

We've done it 3 times, such an easy way to go.  By our experience, never had to pay extra for the bags.

Perhaps they make exceptions for Texans😂 Sorry our Grandson is a Texan.

Just checked again and I missed the first bit:

Tickets include 2 medium size bags (70 cm x 45cm x 30 cm) each weighing a maximum of 20 kilos or 1 large case (75cm X 50cm X 32 cm) max weight 20 kgs.

The charge of £8 applies over the above numbers or weights.

[dani negreanu]

We're also using the Tube from Heathrow, and book a hotel walkable from Victoria Station. Premier Inn is a good mid range.

 

From London to Southampton we used Smiths for airports, but, sadly, they went out of business during Covid.

 

Much more expensive options now out there....

[chisoxfan]

Just made this trip. Would highly recommend National Express to Southampton. We stayed at Moxy there which is walkable from bus stop. Not a huge Moxy fan but it is relatively new, associated with Marriott, cheap, clean and well located. There are some great 'historic' bars near hotel and a mall next door that has some decent restaurants so would stay there again. It is quick Uber trip to port.

We reserved a private car from LHR to London.  Recommending London hotels is another subject all

together. Good luck.

[TeaBag]

Another vote for the train from Heathrow to vicinity of Victoria Station.  Enjoy London and then take National Express from Victoria Station as others have said.  We have scored a £5/pp fare twice.  The bus is lovely and usually only one stop between Victoria station and the depot in Southampton.  Short taxi ride to hotels near the pier.  Since we only have one big bag, we have never had to pay extra.  Driver loads the bags.

[marieps]

3 hours ago, the penguins said:

The coach (bus) from London Victoria Coach Station is the cheapest easiest way to get from London to Southampton Dock. You can book on line direct with National Express. The are 3 prices of tickets: fixed non refundable, changeable for a fee  and fully flexible/refundable. Same seats. Bags to go in the hold are £8 (approx 💲10 ) a bag extra. Early booking recommended.

 

Hey Geoff,

 

How long is the bus ride, and are you saying it stops at the dock and not Central Station?

[the penguins]

2 hours ago, marieps said:

Hey Geoff,

 

How long is the bus ride, and are you saying it stops at the dock and not Central Station?

Scheduled Journey time: 2 hours 25 minutes.

Address of Bus Station is : Harbour Parade.

Distance from Cruise Terminal: 1 mile.

Taxi from Bus Station to Cruise Terminal: 7 minutes 

Taxi cost: £5.

 

[the penguins]

Just now, the penguins said:

Scheduled Journey time: 2 hours 25 minutes.

Address of Bus Station is : Harbour Parade.

Distance from Cruise Terminal: 1 mile.

Taxi from Bus Station to Cruise Terminal: 7 minutes 

Taxi cost: £5.

 

Trains: for any one considering this option it is important to note that the train drivers and other rail employees have now been holding regular strikes for over 6 months and there is no sign of the dispute being settled. On strike days the entire rail network is virtually at a standstill. Geoff

 

[jwlane]

2 hours ago, marieps said:

it stops at ...not Central Station

The only negative is taxi service at the bus station is sporadic.  However, Central Station (train) is only a 5 minute walk away, and they're plentiful there.

[Munday]

We used this Company for our November TA cruise, which was our travel companion’s second time using the Company. Richard picked us up at LHR and drove us to our Hotel in Kensington. A couple of days later, he picked us up at our Hotel and drove us to Southampton. He books up quickly but was very responsive through email and reasonably priced.

 

http://www.lionhearttravel.com/index.html

 

This is where we stayed in Kensington. Close to transportation and Kensington Palace. Walking distance to a million restaurants. Great reviews on Trip Advisor and when we booked it in Jan/22, also reasonably priced.

 

https://www.kkhotels.com/products/kk-hotel-george-kensington-london/

 

https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotel_Review-g186338-d195217-Reviews-K_K_Hotel_George-London_England.html

 

 

Edited January 17, 2023 by Munday

[h20cruzer]

I can’t comment on any London hotels. I took Uber to Southampton. I have some mobility issues so dragging  2 suitcases to a bus stop was not going to happen. Although it is the cheapest way to go. I prices many of the private transfer companies, in the. 200-300 range . I ended up with Uber which cost 122.00 pounds that included the fare, parking and tip.

Most people like the holiday inn and I would stay there next time. This time I stayed at the 

Novotel, I was not impressed, room was so so, breakfast buffet also so so. Here are a couple of pics. I did have a handicapped room, also no air conditioning. Choose this because of an indoor pool, never got to use because they had the door locked and only allowed so many people in at a time. Apparently there was a school holiday and lots of families trying to use the pool.

[marieps]

16 hours ago, the penguins said:

Scheduled Journey time: 2 hours 25 minutes.

Address of Bus Station is : Harbour Parade.

Distance from Cruise Terminal: 1 mile.

Taxi from Bus Station to Cruise Terminal: 7 minutes 

Taxi cost: £5.

 

That's super comprehensive.  Thanks.

 

[the penguins]

7 hours ago, marieps said:

That's super comprehensive.  Thanks.

 

A pleasure 😀

[Canuker]

On 1/16/2023 at 10:51 AM, SDCB432 said:

"...We fly into Heathrow 2 days before the cruise..."

SDCB432:

1. You don't say where you're flying from, nor does your avatar have a location. Are you flying in from NAm? If so, your flight likely lands early to mid-morning at Heathrow. You will be jet-lagged and sleep-deprived.

2. You say "2 days". Do you take off 2 days before or land 2 days before?

3. What is the date  - and time - when you arrive at Heathrow, please?

These three pieces of info will have a big bearing on what you can accomplish before embarking your ship.

Can you share these details, please, SDCB432?

 

 

[the penguins]

On 1/17/2023 at 6:05 AM, h20cruzer said:

I can’t comment on any London hotels. I took Uber to Southampton. I have some mobility issues so dragging  2 suitcases to a bus stop was not going to happen. Although it is the cheapest way to go. I prices many of the private transfer companies, in the. 200-300 range . I ended up with Uber which cost 122.00 pounds that included the fare, parking and tip.

Most people like the holiday inn and I would stay there next time. This time I stayed at the 

Novotel, I was not impressed, room was so so, breakfast buffet also so so. Here are a couple of pics. I did have a handicapped room, also no air conditioning. Choose this because of an indoor pool, never got to use because they had the door locked and only allowed so many people in at a time. Apparently there was a school holiday and lots of families trying to use the pool.

Most hotels in the UK, other than the "big brands" , don't have Aircon. Heating yes. The same goes for restaurants, pubs and of course our houses.

[scidee]

We sailed the Silhouette out of Southampton last June to the Baltic.  Our 3 pre-cruise days in London were spent at the Point A hotel Westminster.  Great location for public transportation, 15 min walk to "The Eye", and plenty of food options, but very small room.  We took the tube from LHR to a station across the street from the hotel.  It was a 7 minute walk to Waterloo Station for the 2+ hr $12 train ride to Southampton.  Once in Southampton a $7 cab ride to the Holiday Inn.  We walked across the street to the ship in the morning.  We used Celebrity transportation back to LHR as we had extra OBC and didn't want to risk missing our flight.   We will be stay at the Holiday Inn again this Aug. pre-Iceland cruise.

[CNSfromHI]

6 minutes ago, scidee said:

Once in Southampton a $7 cab ride to the Holiday Inn.  We walked across the street to the ship in the morning.

We stayed overnight at this Holiday Inn for our cruise last autumn and I highly recommend it. It's neat and clean, offers friendly service, it's not terribly expensive, and they don't mind people camping in the lobby after checking out until they can board.

 

The best part is the location, as the photo from our hotel window shows 😀

 

As far as transportation, we used Heathrow Shuttle, a private-car service, both there and back. Comfortable sedans both ways, courteous professional drivers, door-to-door service, etc.

 

Hope this helps,

 

cjr

[dodger1964]

Might not be for everyone, but in case you or someone else reads this can see as an option.

 

We did a 6 night MSC cruise from Southampton in November 2022 (thanksgiving week).

 

We flew into LHR 2 days early and stayed 3 days after cruise.

 

We rented a car for the whole 10 days and did a "cruise and park" at the Holiday Inn...same one as in post #21.

 

It was cheaper than trying to do two one way rentals.

 

We would do this same trip again...we had a great time wandering around the countryside.

 

Have a great cruise!

 

[hampshirelad]

Live just outside Southampton

Suggest you use national Express which has been well trawled. The reason is you can easily get you cases on the coach in the usual baggage store. On the train dealing with cases will be much

more problematic.

Private taxi type  transport will cost you an "arm and a leg "

 

Easy taxi from Southampton Coach station to one of the Chain Hotels near the Quay

 

If you want to throw some money at it and or special occasion

 

Leonardo Royal Southampton Grand Harbour

4.0 star property

4-star hotel with spa, near Southampton Cruise Terminal

[southernbreezes]

Is it easy to get a taxi at the airport? We have 5 bags so the bus or train is out of the question for us.

[tonyd285]

National Express is the way to go.  Cheap and efficient.  If you want you can reserve seats on a particular run.  A taxi from the coach station to the ship is less than $10.