Portsmouth Historic Dockyard: confused about tickets

[FionaMG]

Thinking about doing a day trip here from Southampton in September (an unexpected turn of events means we'll be staying 3 nights in Southampton pre-cruise).

 

I've had a look at the Dockyard website and I'm confused about the tickets. It looks like if we want to spend the day there we really need to get the Ultimate Explorer ticket which is valid for 12 months, since the one-day ticket only lets you into one attraction. Am I reading that right or am I missing something? It seems silly to be buying a ticket that's valid for a year when we only want to visit for the day.🤷‍♀️

 

@John Bull and anybody else familiar with it, can you share any insight, please?

 

 

[Thejuggler]

It is a common feature at many UK museums which charge admission that a day ticket is valid for a full twelve months. It is partly due to to a form of tax relief known as Gift Aid which benefits museums and charities,

 

 It isn't much use for most visitors, but may be for some.  If you are an overseas resident you will only be able to sign a Gift Aid declaration if you pay UK income tax.

 

 

[John Bull]

All tickets used to permit entry for a year - hardly worthwhile even for a local.

But both prices & visitor numbers have risen and I guess this is an attempt to keep prices at a sensible level for a day visitor.

 

The "attractions" are basically Mary Rose, HMS Victory (still a commissioned warship, complete with a Navy captain & crew), HMS Warrior (strictly speaking just " Warrior" because she was de-commissioned), and HMS M33 (which for most visitors comes a very poor 4th)

 

Plus "Explosions" munitions & armaments museum and the Submarine Museum (including the submarine HMS Alliance), but both are at Gosport on the opposite side of Portsmouth harbour and accessible by included waterboat. They're not suitable for a one-day visit - they'd take too much time out of the day

 

Many of the other sights listed under the Ultimate Explorer, such as Boathouse 4 & Dockyard Apprentice are part of any ticket. And there's a privately-operated shop of maritime antiquities, great to browse but the stuff is seriously expensive.

 

Altho the Mary Rose is located in the Historic Dockyard, she is separately-owned by the Mary Rose Trust & can be accessed by a separate ticket. So I thought "hey, you could buy a one-day £36 ticket including one attraction (either HMS Victory or Warrior), and a walk-up ticket to the Mary Rose".🙂

That thought evaporated when I saw the Mary Rose ticket price - £36, on top of the £36 minimum dockyard ticket, a total of £72 which is massively more than even the walk-up price of an Ultimate Explorer ticket.🙁 

 

Probably in a single day you can't do much more than the inclusions in the "Three Attractions" ticket.

But on-line the Ultimate Explorer is discounted to £46, the same as the Three Attraction ticket and just £10 more than the basic single-attraction ticket.

 

All of which can be summed-up as "Yes, I think the Ultimate Explorer ticket is the one to go for". 

 

Concentrating solely on the Historic Dockyard & ships for a very full day can be quite wearing.

If you don't yet have plans for your other days, consider spending two (or more) in Portsmouth - including lodging there if you're not already committed.

Your flexible Dockyard ticket would allow you to split your days between the Dockyard and Portsmouth's many other attractions, including the narrow fortified harbour entrance & the promenade overlooking the Solent & Isle-of-Wight (and hovercraft trips to the Island), with diminutive Southsea Castle (fee entry) from which Henry V111 watched the sinking of Mary Rose, and the adjacent D-Day Museum, and the holiday attractions of this major English seaside city..

Or outside the city

- Fort Nelson, high on Portsdown Hill one of the ring of forts protecting Portsmouth & looking down on the city, and now an excellent artillery museum (entry by donation)

- Portchester Castle, a Norman (12th Century keep inside the original walls of a Roman fort), on the northern shore of Portsmouth Harbour.

If you switch accommodation, best-located are 

- For a hotel which will remind you of home, Holiday Inn Express in close-by Gunwharf Quays

- Or to maintain the naval theme, the Royal Maritime Hotel just 100 yards from the Dockyard entrance - originally for Royal Navy officers who were between-ships, now open to the general public. Still some Royal Navy trappings, and the clientele usually includes a smattering of current & former Navy personnel.

 

JB 🙂

 

 

 

[FionaMG]

Thanks @John Bull. This is incredibly helpful and much appreciated. 😊

 

While we're not, strictly speaking, committed regarding accommodation, we're actually flying straight to Southampton from Faro, so it makes sense to stay there. The unexpected turn of events I mentioned was getting a cracking deal on the flight that had previously been running at over €700 for the two of us one-way, which is the sort of price you have to contend with when you live in the Algarve and fail to take the English school holiday dates into consideration when booking your cruise! 😂

And on top of that I got a promotional deal for a 3-night stay at the Ibis, which has also saved us a ton of money over our original plans. 😁

 

We are planning to go into London on one of the days so that DD can catch up with her pals from uni, so that does just leave us with the one full day to do Portsmouth, so the year-long ticket for a single day it will be. And by signing up for the Dockyard's newsletter, I can get us £10 off the walk-up price, so that brings it down even more. 😁

 

I'm glad you mentioned about the Gosport attractions not being suitable for a one-day visit because I would not have realised that.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to provide such great info! 🥰

[Chocolate Teapot]

To share my experience from staying in Portsmouth* several weeks ago, I did a full day at the dockyard and it was quite intense. I started at about 10.30a.m. and only left about 4 in the afternoon, and that was just the Nelson and HMS Victory stuff and the Mary Rose, with a break for a scone and cup of tea promotion in the cafe.

 

As Victory is currently being restored and covered in scaffolding, I didn't think I would get to see inside, but it turned out I could. Do watch out for the low ceilings though. According to the cashier in the souvenir shop, only banging your head once is a good result!

 

*I got an extremely good deal at the Portsmouth Ibis hotel and was loathe to change it when NCL decided to depart from Southampton instead. 

[onyx007]

On 5/27/2024 at 8:20 AM, Chocolate Teapot said:

As Victory is currently being restored and covered in scaffolding, I didn't think I would get to see inside, but it turned out I could. Do watch out for the low ceilings though. According to the cashier in the souvenir shop, only banging your head once is a good result!

 

Oh no, not again; I especially have booked me two post-nights at Southampton in November for my cruise on NCL Star to visit Portsmouth and the Victory...

 

I already visited Boston and the USS Constitution in November 2016 and it was beeing restored...

 

But I will visit on a Monday and I believe only the Victory will be open anyway...

 

And about accomodation:

I should have thought that over, before booking a non-refundable hotelroom, as first of all my ship departs at 6 pm and I fly into London; I would have saved one trip if I would have chosen Porthsmouth as you did...AND I later found out, that that particular monday is the 11th of November aka Armistice Day which has usually a big memorial service in London, where usually Royals attend and can be seen...so I might have booked in London instead and skipt Portsmouth altogether...

Edited May 30 by onyx007

[Globaliser]

40 minutes ago, onyx007 said:

AND I later found out, that that particular monday is the 11th of November aka Armistice Day which has usually a big memorial service in London, where usually Royals attend and can be seen ...

 

No, the big ceremony is on Remembrance Sunday, the closest Sunday to Armistice Day, so in 2024 that will be on Sunday 10 November.

 

Armistice Day itself sees relatively little ceremonial, although depending on where you are, you may find requests to keep a minute's silence at 11 am.

[onyx007]

47 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

No, the big ceremony is on Remembrance Sunday, the closest Sunday to Armistice Day, so in 2024 that will be on Sunday 10 November.

 

Armistice Day itself sees relatively little ceremonial, although depending on where you are, you may find requests to keep a minute's silence at 11 am.

Didn't know that, thanks for clarifcation

[John Bull]

10 hours ago, onyx007 said:

 

 

But I will visit on a Monday and I believe only the Victory will be open anyway....

 

 

What makes you think that ??

 

JB 🙂

[onyx007]

12 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

What makes you think that ??

 

JB 🙂

They changed that homepage since the last time...it's a little bit confusing...

[Globaliser]

2 hours ago, onyx007 said:

They changed that homepage since the last time...it's a little bit confusing...

 

Pure speculation/guesswork here, but did you perhaps see a note that on a particular Monday, only Victory was going to be open? We have recently had a couple of public holidays here (Monday 6 May and Monday 27 May), so that might be a possible explanation for a partial opening on a specific day.