Earliest disembark time at Southampton

[Trixie21]

We are planning a cruise (our first princess cruise) on sky princess in May 24.

I am looking at possible flight times back to Dublin or Belfast from Southampton .

The flight time that morning to each is 9.15am. The ship docks at 7am on a Saturday morning.

We have flown home from Southampton many times before after a cruise,  but never with a flight this early.

I'm thinking its doable if there are no delays but I am unfamiliar with Disembarkation with Princess. 

I assume you can walk off with your own luggage? If so do you think we could be off the ship and in a taxi (I would have a prebooked car waiting) by 7.30am? If so we should be at the airport before 8am which should be OK. 

Thoughts?

Anyone successfully caught a flight from Southampton Airport this early ?

 

[PacnGoNow]

5 minutes ago, Trixie21 said:

We are planning a cruise (our first princess cruise) on sky princess in May 24.

I am looking at possible flight times back to Dublin or Belfast from Southampton .

The flight time that morning to each is 9.15am. The ship docks at 7am on a Saturday morning.

We have flown home from Southampton many times before after a cruise,  but never with a flight this early.

I'm thinking its doable if there are no delays but I am unfamiliar with Disembarkation with Princess. 

I assume you can walk off with your own luggage? If so do you think we could be off the ship and in a taxi (I would have a prebooked car waiting) by 7.30am? If so we should be at the airport before 8am which should be OK. 

Thoughts?

Anyone successfully caught a flight from Southampton Airport this early ?

 

I would also post this question on the 

ports of call British Isles.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/148-british-isleswestern-europe/
 

 

[Trixie21]

1 hour ago, PacnGoNow said:

I would also post this question on the 

ports of call British Isles.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/148-british-isleswestern-europe/
 

 

I posted it on the UK cruisers board but I will also post it on the above , thanks.

[david63]

If the ship is on time, and that is never guaranteed, then self disembarkation will probably start around 07:30.

 

Personally I would not book any onward travel much before midday. It is not unknown for ships to be delayed arriving in Southampton - I have personally experienced a ship not docking until 11:30, rare I know but it can happen.

[bjkTX]

Too many variables to really say.  On our cruise last Fall we arrived in Southampton on time and disembarkation was fast and quick - but we were just taking a car to Heathrow and were spending the night - so no time crunch.  I'm not sure my stomach is strong enough for that kind of schedule - it would be touch and go under the best circumstances - none of which you can control.  Good luck whatever you do!!!

 

[Ange45]

We disembarked on June 17th, we had Yellow 2 tags but were off the ship, luggage collected & out of the terminal by 7am. The fastest & easiest disembarkation we've ever done!

Obviously this was our experience & has no bearing on what might happen on another day, but just for information. Good luck with your decision.

[SCX22]

Cross your fingers that UK Border Patrol doesn't have the genius idea to hand screen all passengers disembarking. 😩 That became a problem for my relatives disembarking the Sky in Southampton earlier this year.  Apparently not only did it back up debarkation, but also delayed embarkation because the ship couldn't get a zero fast enough.

 

Would pad your air departure with more time.  Princess recommends you book your return flight 7 hours after published arrival time into Southampton.  Better that you wait for your flight because if all is on time, you're flight won't wait for you.

[Steelers36]

54 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

Cross your fingers that UK Border Patrol doesn't have the genius idea to hand screen all passengers disembarking. 😩 That became a problem for my relatives disembarking the Sky in Southampton earlier this year.  Apparently not only did it back up debarkation, but also delayed embarkation because the ship couldn't get a zero fast enough.

 

Would pad your air departure with more time.  Princess recommends you book your return flight 7 hours after published arrival time into Southampton.  Better that you wait for your flight because if all is on time, you're flight won't wait for you.

That time is for flying from London airport and presuming international.  The OP is taking a short domestic flight from the local airport.  Doesn't need a lot of time for that.

[Ocean Mouse]

If you can manage your luggage consider self disembarkation, saves the hunt for luggage 😁

[Trixie21]

5 hours ago, Ange45 said:

We disembarked on June 17th, we had Yellow 2 tags but were off the ship, luggage collected & out of the terminal by 7am. The fastest & easiest disembarkation we've ever done!

Obviously this was our experience & has no bearing on what might happen on another day, but just for information. Good luck with your decision.

Thanks for posting that - very helpful.

Can you recall what your scheduled arrival time was into Southampton?

[Ange45]

According to the itinerary, we were scheduled back into Southampton at 7am.

[Trixie21]

Thanks , thats interesting.

Even though your scheduled arrival was 7am , the ship was obviously in much earlier and disembarkation  began before that. 

I might keep an eye on this years roll calls and ask about disembarkation to see if that's a pattern or a one off.

If we were able to walk off at 7am or shortly after we would have no issues with a flight at 9.15am.

Do you have any idea how much the Princess transfers to Heathrow cost ? Do you book them on the ship or on your planner before you go ?

[Ange45]

Sorry, can't help with cost of transfers to Heathrow with Princess, I booked a private taxi which cost me £150, because I wanted to get to LHR as quickly as possible to spend time with family prior to flying out in the evening.

You can add transfers to your booking by calling Princess directly or speaking with your TA. Or you could book via excursions a disembark tour which ends at LHR, depending on your flight times. The excursions were a similar cost to my taxi, direct transfer would have been less. Hope that's of some help.

[Trixie21]

9 minutes ago, Ange45 said:

Sorry, can't help with cost of transfers to Heathrow with Princess, I booked a private taxi which cost me £150, because I wanted to get to LHR as quickly as possible to spend time with family prior to flying out in the evening.

You can add transfers to your booking by calling Princess directly or speaking with your TA. Or you could book via excursions a disembark tour which ends at LHR, depending on your flight times. The excursions were a similar cost to my taxi, direct transfer would have been less. Hope that's of some help.

Thanks - appreciate it.

We have booked private cars to Heathrow previously and the cost you mention sounds about right.

A princess transfer might work just as well though and may be cheaper- i will check it out.

[Ange45]

Depending on how many there are of you, don't forget the taxi is one cost whereas the Princess transfer cost will be per person, sorry if I'm stating the obvious

[david63]

1 hour ago, Trixie21 said:

If we were able to walk off at 7am or shortly after we would have no issues with a flight at 9.15am.

Do you have any idea how much the Princess transfers to Heathrow cost

So are you saying that your 09:15 flight is from Heathrow and not Southampton?

 

You do realise that on a good day it is around 1.5 hours drive to Heathrow from Southampton and at that time of day can be significantly longer.

[Trixie21]

7 minutes ago, david63 said:

So are you saying that your 09:15 flight is from Heathrow and not Southampton?

 

You do realise that on a good day it is around 1.5 hours drive to Heathrow from Southampton and at that time of day can be significantly longer.

No , my 9.15am flight is from Southampton should I choose to book it.

My other option is to book a later flight from Heathrow (there are multiple flights to choose from) which is why I was also asking about transfers through princess.

Yes , I'm aware the traffic from Heathrow to Southampton can be challenging at times so I would certainly factor that in.

 

[Trixie21]

17 minutes ago, Ange45 said:

Depending on how many there are of you, don't forget the taxi is one cost whereas the Princess transfer cost will be per person, sorry if I'm stating the obvious

Just 2 of us and yes thanks , I'm aware of what you just said   but thanks for pointing it out anyway !

Previously there have been 4 of us which really made the private transfer from Heathrow good value.

[blazerjan]

Please be aware, you must check in one hour before you flight in Heathrow..   we were in line for our 12:15 flight at 10:45 am.   By the time we got to the front to check in, it was 11:30.   We were not allowed to check in and had to find another flight home.   I wouldn’t chance it.  
Also, if traffic is heavy, it could take an hour and a half or more to get to the airport from South Hampton.

[david63]

58 minutes ago, blazerjan said:

Please be aware, you must check in one hour before you flight in Heathrow.

Some UK airports/airlines are now saying that it is a four hour check-in for international flights.

 

59 minutes ago, blazerjan said:

South Hampton.

It's actually Southampton 😉

[blazerjan]

17 minutes ago, david63 said:

Some UK airports/airlines are now saying that it is a four hour check-in for international flights.

 

It's actually Southampton 😉

19 minutes ago, david63 said:

Some UK airports/airlines are now saying that it is a four hour check-in for international flights.

 

It's actually Southampton 😉

I knew that….. sorry !    

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

On 7/3/2023 at 6:39 PM, david63 said:

Some UK airports/airlines are now saying that it is a four hour check-in for international flights.

 

The airports definitely advise arriving at least 3 hours before flight. 4 hours before is best. Please follow their advice. Not the airlines.

 

My town is an airport town. Towns biggest employer is Gatwick.

 

they absolutely won’t wait for you. No amount of ‘but it’s only 5 minutes’ pleading will work

 

 @blazerjan I’m sorry you had to find out the hard way about the strictness of check in times. I can imagine that was v frustrating.

 

Honestly though- airlines do have some responsibility here. The airlines may well tell you check in closes 1 hour before the flight. And they are right, they do.

BUT they should tell you to get there earlier based on what the airport recommends for good reason-

 

Heathrow is 2nd busiest airport in the world. Gatwick 10th.

 

for comparison- JFK New York is around 20th, & gets far less than HALF of Heathrow’s passenger numbers

 

so as @blazerjan said- please don’t chance it. And allow extra time for traffic on the nightmare M25 🙏