Royal transfers London to Southhampton?

[Joanne G.]

A friend and I are booked on a Norway fjords itinerary on the Anthem out of Southhampton next June.   We are starting to make our pre-cruise plans.   Does Royal offer transportation from London to Southhampton?  If so, is it from the airport only?  An option from somewhere in central London, such as Victoria coach station as Carnival does, would be great, eliminating the need to return to the airport after spending a few days in London.   

 

I have researched public options by bus and train and private transfers, and we are considering those.  But our first preference would be Royal transportation, for the security of knowing if we encounter traffic or other delays, Royal would know we are on our way on one of their buses.   We are willing to pay for convenience, given the distance between London and the port, but returning to the airport on embarkation day isn't appealing.    

 

Thank you for any information.   

[jwlane]

29 minutes ago, Joanne G. said:

 Victoria coach station

We've used National Express 3 times from VCS to Southampton---could not have been easier (or cheaper!).

[Jetdriver787]

I don’t believe Royal run anything other than coaches to Heathrow. There are regular direct trains from London Waterloo to Southampton Central (not the airport) so I wouldn’t let that concern you. Any strikes tend to be announced in advance and you have the coach service from Victoria as a back up and even a private car transfer, although the latter is likely to cost around £200+. 

[Jetdriver787]

The other option if you want more peace of mind is to check out of your London hotel the day before. Book a Southampton port hotel (Holiday Inn etc.) and then you will wake up knowing the ship is only a few hundred yards away. The train service runs until quite late, so you can still spend most of the previous day sightseeing in London. 

[Jetdriver787]

Trains run about every 30 minutes up to midnight with fares from as little as £8.50 if you book well in advance.

 

This website (others are available) will help you plan and book, even down to telling you which platforms you are likely to use, and the stops the train makes. Journey time is normally around 90 minutes.

 

 

https://www.thetrainline.com/journey-planner

 

 

Edited August 19, 2023 by Jetdriver787

[BirdTravels]

2 hours ago, Joanne G. said:

But our first preference would be Royal transportation, for the security of knowing if we encounter traffic or other delays, Royal would know we are on our way on one of their buses.   

Coach service (buses) or trains are your best bet. We always stay in London for a few days prior to cruise (mostly to get over the jet lag). We take a taxi to Waterloo and travel by direct train to Southampton. We have done this for years and it is really easy (not as cheap as a bus). Our goal is to be at the port (including taxis) around 9:30 to board early as we would do on a cruise out of Miami. 

[Joanne G.]

Thank you all for sharing information and your experiences.   Going to Southhampton the day before is something I hadn't thought about.   We are two nervous senior ladies, one with some walking difficulties, so anything to reduce overall stress is a good thing for us.

 

What's the situation for managing luggage on the train?  Do you have to keep it by your seat, or is there storage areas on the train cars?  We will each have a 24" bag, plus our carry-on hand luggage.  

 

Thanks again!

[aubreyc1988]

I am doing the Sept 3rd sailing this year. I am arriving in London on Sept 1st, spending two nights in London to sightsee, then we are using London Cruise Transfers (https://londoncruise-transfers.com) for a private Mercedes sprinter to take our party of four to Stonehenge and then to the cruise port. I would have taken the train but wanted to visit Stonehenge and was worried about all of our bags on the train. 

 

We are leaving at  8am, having two full hours at Stonehenge (Although I doubt we will take the full two hours) and will be dropped off at the port at 1:30pm 

 

the cost for 4 of us was £445.00, plus the tickets for Stonehenge, which were like £15-20 each. Technically the sprinter van had enough room for 6 people, depending on luggage situation 

 

 

[watcher_62]

If you want to check what Royal offers, contact Air2Sea at 1 844 278 9745.  I believe they only offer from the airport though. From Heathrow one way it was $95 usd pp...

[gavvy]

At the moment I would not recommend the train. There are currently frequent strikes that cause a mess. While they may be sorted by next year you can't guarantee it. They have been going on all year. National express is probably a safer option.

[BoundForSea]

On 8/19/2023 at 12:09 PM, gavvy said:

At the moment I would not recommend the train. There are currently frequent strikes that cause a mess. While they may be sorted by next year you can't guarantee it. They have been going on all year. National express is probably a safer option.

I was looking at the South Western line for London to SoHampton and there are many days of track maintenance which will require disruption and bus connections on the line. I was looking around Oct 21-22

[John Bull]

5 hours ago, BoundForSea said:

I was looking at the South Western line for London to SoHampton and there are many days of track maintenance which will require disruption and bus connections on the line. I was looking around Oct 21-22

 

A good try, but the abbreviation for Southampton is So'ton 😏

(code is SOU for airport & central train station & coach station)

 

Yes, that weekend there's track maintenance between Southampton Central to Bournemouth, but it seems that London Waterloo and Southampton central is unaffected.

Websites have been unclear about the last part, Southampton airport to Southampton central. That's now been clarified - it's unaffected but passengers heading for Bournemouth will be off-loaded at the airport and onto rail-replacement buses because that's quicker & simpler than from Southampton Central.

 

But more significant is that on that weekend there are no cheap advance tickets (usually as low as £9)  for London Waterloo to Southampton central. Instead you'll have to pay the walk-up fare of £41 

So either bite the bullet at £41 or book a National Express coach (bus) from London Victoria coach station at about £10.

 

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

 

https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey/~/link.aspx?_id=C4848AD038AC473E8D9DB6009BEF28C6&_z=z

 

https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

 

JB 🙂

[BoundForSea]

On 8/26/2023 at 3:00 AM, John Bull said:

 

A good try, but the abbreviation for Southampton is So'ton 😏

(code is SOU for airport & central train station & coach station)

 

Yes, that weekend there's track maintenance between Southampton Central to Bournemouth, but it seems that London Waterloo and Southampton central is unaffected.

Websites have been unclear about the last part, Southampton airport to Southampton central. That's now been clarified - it's unaffected but passengers heading for Bournemouth will be off-loaded at the airport and onto rail-replacement buses because that's quicker & simpler than from Southampton Central.

 

But more significant is that on that weekend there are no cheap advance tickets (usually as low as £9)  for London Waterloo to Southampton central. Instead you'll have to pay the walk-up fare of £41 

So either bite the bullet at £41 or book a National Express coach (bus) from London Victoria coach station at about £10.

 

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

 

https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey/~/link.aspx?_id=C4848AD038AC473E8D9DB6009BEF28C6&_z=z

 

https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

 

JB 🙂

Thanks JB for the info. It wasn’t clear to me so I just stayed away from it just in case. So for clarification, Waterloo to Southampton Central is fine. We were going to book a private auto transport, but if the Rail is clear we will go back to that plan. Thanks again! 

[John Bull]

7 hours ago, BoundForSea said:

Thanks JB for the info. It wasn’t clear to me so I just stayed away from it just in case. So for clarification, Waterloo to Southampton Central is fine. We were going to book a private auto transport, but if the Rail is clear we will go back to that plan. Thanks again! 

 

Yes, that weekend DIRECT trains (mainly half-hourly) are unaffected between Waterloo & Southampton central.

There's also an hourly service which involves a change of train at Basingstoke, and that service involves a rail-replacement service for the 6 miles between Southampton airport and Southampton central - but you wouldn't want one with a change of train anyway.

But, as I mentioned, there are no cheap advance tickets that weekend - the walk-up fare is £52 for trains before noon on the saturday, £41 after noon on the saturday & all day sunday.

 

I checked this info on both the National Rail website and the website of the regional train operator, South Western Railway.

https://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/timesandfares/WAT/SOU/211023/1045/dep

https://www.southwesternrailway.com/buy-train-tickets/ticket-search-results

 

JB 🙂