NCL Prima walk off disembarkation earliest time Southampton- 1st time NCL and Southampton experience

[fsukel02]

Hello all,

  Apologies if I am posting this in the wrong forum. I am trying to plan for train tickets to London for our cruise that ends August 4 in Southampton on the Prima. Is there walk off options for people? What is the earliest time we would be able to disembark? Any experience is greatly appreciated- want to get to London as soon as possible to make the most of our 24 hours there.

[victory2020]

Last October I got off the ship & on a transfer bus to the airport about 7am since NCL had booked me on a flight back to the States at 11:50.

[fsukel02]

4 hours ago, victory2020 said:

Last October I got off the ship & on a transfer bus to the airport about 7am since NCL had booked me on a flight back to the States at 11:50.

Thank you! I'm wondering if that is similar timing to when people not arranging transport with NCL will be able to disembark. 

[The Traveling Man]

7 hours ago, fsukel02 said:

Hello all,

  Apologies if I am posting this in the wrong forum. I am trying to plan for train tickets to London for our cruise that ends August 4 in Southampton on the Prima. Is there walk off options for people? What is the earliest time we would be able to disembark? Any experience is greatly appreciated- want to get to London as soon as possible to make the most of our 24 hours there.

I hope that things go more smoothly for you than they did for us when debarking the Pr1ma in Southampton.  We were on Pr1ma's first visit to Southampton, on Pr1ma's second-ever cruise in September 2022.  We chose to carry our own luggage so we could control our departure time.  We allowed almost two hours from the time we left our stateroom until the scheduled departure of our bus to Heathrow.  The bus station in Southampton is less than a mile from the port, so once you're in your taxi, it should take only about five minutes.  National Express Bus asks that you arrive at the bus station 15 minutes early, so we figured that left at least 90 minutes to get off the ship and past Customs.  It took more than that to get through the line from the atrium to the gangway.  Immigration/Customs/Border Patrol assigned just one officer for the 3000+ passengers on our cruise and stationed him onboard near the gangway.  He insisted on carefully examining everyone's passport and asking several questions before letting us off the ship.  We missed our bus by a couple of minutes and had to take a taxi all the way to the airport.  The fare was about $175.  The train station is not much farther from the port, so also about a five minute taxi ride.  I would recommend allowing lots of extra time to get to your train. With any luck, you'll actually get there on time.

[fsukel02]

2 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

I hope that things go more smoothly for you than they did for us when debarking the Pr1ma in Southampton.  We were on Pr1ma's first visit to Southampton, on Pr1ma's second-ever cruise in September 2022.  We chose to carry our own luggage so we could control our departure time.  We allowed almost two hours from the time we left our stateroom until the scheduled departure of our bus to Heathrow.  The bus station in Southampton is less than a mile from the port, so once you're in your taxi, it should take only about five minutes.  National Express Bus asks that you arrive at the bus station 15 minutes early, so we figured that left at least 90 minutes to get off the ship and past Customs.  It took more than that to get through the line from the atrium to the gangway.  Immigration/Customs/Border Patrol assigned just one officer for the 3000+ passengers on our cruise and stationed him onboard near the gangway.  He insisted on carefully examining everyone's passport and asking several questions before letting us off the ship.  We missed our bus by a couple of minutes and had to take a taxi all the way to the airport.  The fare was about $175.  The train station is not much farther from the port, so also about a five minute taxi ride.  I would recommend allowing lots of extra time to get to your train. With any luck, you'll actually get there on time.

That must have been incredibly frustrating- you definitely allowed enough time. I am hoping they've resolved those problems but appreciate the head's up!

[victory2020]

5 hours ago, fsukel02 said:

Thank you! I'm wondering if that is similar timing to when people not arranging transport with NCL will be able to disembark. 

I think anyone could have left at the same time. As I was very aware of the timing, I was one of the first people off when they announced we were able they could get off - or maybe people didn't want to get off that early.

[Asawi]

I disembarked there October 2023, Star. I only had a carryon size bag so I took it off the ship myself and was off the ship around 7. Docking according to itinerary was 5, so the 2 hours they usually quote seems pretty accurate although I can't say I kept track of when they actually allowed people to disembark. There were no lines at all at the time I went and all very easy.

[JandC_Cruising]

On 5/26/2024 at 7:43 AM, fsukel02 said:

I am trying to plan for train tickets to London for our cruise that ends August 4 in Southampton on the Prima.

Last August we "planned" for a 10am disembark to be safe, and pre-purchased our train tickets for a 11am train (or so) to London.  

We were off the ship by 8:30am and in the Southampton station just after 9am.  Rather than wait 2hrs for our train, we had to pay more money to "change" our tickets to one that was leaving in 5 minutes. 

My advice is to not pre-purchase (unless you buy "anytime" tickets, for an upcharge) There were plenty of seats, so it wasn't an issue getting onto the train.  

[fsukel02]

1 hour ago, JandC_Cruising said:

Last August we "planned" for a 10am disembark to be safe, and pre-purchased our train tickets for a 11am train (or so) to London.  

We were off the ship by 8:30am and in the Southampton station just after 9am.  Rather than wait 2hrs for our train, we had to pay more money to "change" our tickets to one that was leaving in 5 minutes. 

My advice is to not pre-purchase (unless you buy "anytime" tickets, for an upcharge) There were plenty of seats, so it wasn't an issue getting onto the train.  

Thank you so much- can I ask, was 8:30am when they first allowed people to disembark? It is crazy how affordable advanced tickets are versus day of tickets for the train.

[fsukel02]

3 hours ago, Asawi said:

I disembarked there October 2023, Star. I only had a carryon size bag so I took it off the ship myself and was off the ship around 7. Docking according to itinerary was 5, so the 2 hours they usually quote seems pretty accurate although I can't say I kept track of when they actually allowed people to disembark. There were no lines at all at the time I went and all very easy.

That's my hope for getting off early and easily. Thank you!

[JandC_Cruising]

5 minutes ago, fsukel02 said:

Thank you so much- can I ask, was 8:30am when they first allowed people to disembark? It is crazy how affordable advanced tickets are versus day of tickets for the train.

I think self assist started around 7:30 or so?  We are Platinum, we didn't do self assist but had breakfast in MDR and then walked off fairly easily. 

We thought the same regarding pre-buying tickets.  However, we didn't want to risk a late arrival and missing our pre-booked train, so we were too conservative and ended up "wasting" 50 Pounds to change our tickets rather than waiting for 2hrs 

[mking8288]

We got off the Prima TA earlier this month, UK immigration/ border police pre-cleared everyone onboard several days while at sea, between Iceland & Amsterdam with 2 other port stops, easy & quick. 

 

Scheduled arrival into Southampton from Le Havre, France was 6 AM but we're docked earlier and ship was cleared, express walk-off started around 6:30 & easy as walking off a ferry. We went to breakfast & leisurely vacated our cabin by 8:15 and off the gangway into the luggage hall, collected our bags and outside for M&G with our taxi-tour driver, and off to Portsmouth by 9 AM.  Folks that left early were at London Heathrow Airport by then as traffic was light on early Sunday morning. 

 

 

See below for details - it depends - in part - on your sailing's scheduled arrival time and whether there are UK immigration check there or prior, as that really speed things up. NCL apparently made arrangements & flew the UK agents to Iceland & houses them on the ship to process 3000+ pax and crew while en route 👍

 

[fsukel02]

18 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

We got off the Prima TA earlier this month, UK immigration/ border police pre-cleared everyone onboard several days while at sea, between Iceland & Amsterdam with 2 other port stops, easy & quick. 

 

Scheduled arrival into Southampton from Le Havre, France was 6 AM but we're docked earlier and ship was cleared, express walk-off started around 6:30 & easy as walking off a ferry. We went to breakfast & leisurely vacated our cabin by 8:15 and off the gangway into the luggage hall, collected our bags and outside for M&G with our taxi-tour driver, and off to Portsmouth by 9 AM.  Folks that left early were at London Heathrow Airport by then as traffic was light on early Sunday morning. 

 

 

See below for details - it depends - in part - on your sailing's scheduled arrival time and whether there are UK immigration check there or prior, as that really speed things up. NCL apparently made arrangements & flew the UK agents to Iceland & houses them on the ship to process 3000+ pax and crew while en route 👍

 

Wow- that’s cool. I would be shocked if flying agents is something they do regularly but this info is very helpful. I can acknowledge I’m probably spending too much time worrying about this but there are certain things I want to do in London and in hopes of accomplishing it all, I want to hit the ground running. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if I don’t get it all done. They are just favorites from past visits. I can imagine my experience may be different from yours as you were getting there during a shoulder season period for the cruise port (just a guess).  I’m concerned about it being peak summer travel time too. 

[mking8288]

12 minutes ago, fsukel02 said:

I would be shocked if flying agents is something they do regularly but this info is very helpful. I can acknowledge I’m probably spending too much time worrying about this but there are certain things I want to do in London and in hopes of accomplishing it all, I want to hit the ground running. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if I don’t get it all done ... concerned about it being peak summer travel time too. 

We're shocked and I don't think most pax onboard the TA expected a quick, smooth & super, super early disembarkation on arrival into UK.  Flying agents out, house & feed, and get them to process all the pax & crew is NOT something NCL is known for.  We booked a private tour to spend 3 to 4 hours, originally planned to see Windsor (not the Castle & its grounds) before the ride to London Gatwick Airport for our evening non-stop flight home (to NY's JFK Int'l) and did NOT want to spend hours at the airport lounge (4 hours max pre-boarding is the usual rules in the U.S.) with 4 day passes - or to get a day rate at a nearby hotel - our pickup time was 9 AM as we wanted to play it safe and not be rushing in the morning to get off ... as it turned out, the marginal costs for the taxi tour w the driver-guide was well worth it, we walked and saw a lot; and, our luggage was stored.  

 

Peak summer travel is the prime "suspect" on your Prima cruise coming up ... there're several other ships in SH that morning, but each ship docking at a seperate berth/terminal and the port's layout & design made it very easy.  

 

Just words of caution, the gangway for the Prima to exit was on Deck 6, and it was (is) a long series of descending gangways to reach street level, and not necessary easy or fun if you are traveling with more than just carry-on luggage.  With a 24" rollerboard and a carry-on, we opted (as always) to put them out the night before and it worked (Airtagged ours, just in case) - by 7:15 AM, we watched from our balcony, essentially all the luggage were taken off the ship and move into the terminal ... by the time we got "out" below to find our colors, around 8:30'ish, only 2 dozens bag with our "Yellow" tags remained there & unclaimed (color was called very early, between 6:45 to 7 AM ... and by 8:15 to 8:30, nearly all colors were called - no lines or wait to get past ship security w the final scan.  

 

Enjoy your Prima cruise ... and if you haven't seen our Live TA review posted, you should easily find it here on the forum, plenty more info & details that you should find useful.  Caution - it is long, sit back & have coffee/tea or a nice, cold beer to browse & skim thru it - some of the port info are same as yours.  

[victory2020]

8 hours ago, JandC_Cruising said:

Last August we "planned" for a 10am disembark to be safe, and pre-purchased our train tickets for a 11am train (or so) to London.  

We were off the ship by 8:30am and in the Southampton station just after 9am.  Rather than wait 2hrs for our train, we had to pay more money to "change" our tickets to one that was leaving in 5 minutes. 

My advice is to not pre-purchase (unless you buy "anytime" tickets, for an upcharge) There were plenty of seats, so it wasn't an issue getting onto the train.  

I was at the bus station & a bus was canceled or changed or something happened so there people on standby. I was so sad to see 3 people who didn't get on the bus.