A cruise begins long before the ship does, with a drive to the coast and a boot full of cases. Southampton is the port most London sailings leave from, a little under two hours from the centre of town on a clear run, and the ship keeps to its own clock, not yours. I do this run through the year, and it is busier than people expect in winter, because the Christmas market sailings to Hamburg, Rotterdam, Zeebrugge and Honfleur run from late November right up to Christmas. Here is how I get you and your luggage to the right terminal in good time, and back home again at the other end.
Your arrival slot is the real departure time
Most cruise lines now give you an arrival slot when you check in online, a few weeks before you sail. That slot matters more than the time the ship leaves. Turn up well before it and you can find yourself waiting outside the terminal with your cases; turn up after it and you are holding up a queue of people who did the same maths as you. Some lines treat the slot as a guideline and some hold you to it, so I ask you for the slot printed on your boarding pass, not the sailing time, and plan the pickup backwards from that.
The road is the variable. The M3 is the usual way down and it is a good road, but it has its moods, especially on a Friday or the first Saturday of a school holiday. I build in a buffer for it, check the route the evening before, and if there is a problem on the M3 I would rather take the long way round than gamble on it clearing.
Southampton has five terminals, not one
This is the part that catches people out. Southampton has five cruise terminals: Mayflower, Ocean, City, the Queen Elizabeth II and Horizon, the newest. Some sit in the Western Docks and some in the Eastern Docks, with different dock gates, and a ship can use a different terminal from one sailing to the next. Going to the wrong one costs you twenty minutes at exactly the moment you do not have them.
So I confirm your terminal from your booking documents before the day, not from what your line used last time. Each terminal has a short-stay drop-off zone close to the entrance, which is where I set you down, with the cases straight out of the boot and over to the porters.
The luggage nobody enjoys carrying
Nobody packs light for a fortnight at sea, and a winter sailing is worse: coats, boots and something smart for the formal nights. Two large cases each plus hand luggage is normal, and that is exactly the load that makes the train and a change at Waterloo miserable. It goes in the boot, I carry it from your door to the car and from the car to the porters, and you arrive with your hands free and your back intact.
Put your cruise line luggage labels on before I arrive. It saves a few minutes of fiddling on the pavement, and it means the porters can take your cases the moment they come out of the car.
Flying in, then sailing out
Plenty of people start a Southampton cruise with a flight into Heathrow or Gatwick the day before. If that is you, I can meet the flight, take you to a hotel for the night, and drive you down to the port in the morning, so the front of the trip is one arrangement with one driver rather than three separate bookings. My airport transfers are met inside the terminal and the flight is tracked, so a late landing the night before your cruise does not turn into a panic.
If you are coming from abroad and want to see London first, the same applies in reverse: a few days in town, then the run down to the coast on the morning you sail.
Coming home is slower than you think
Disembarkation is never as quick as the itinerary suggests. Ships clear in groups, there are a lot of cases to come off, and it can easily be mid morning before you are actually through the terminal. I follow your ship in and time the pickup to when you are really out, not the optimistic hour on the paperwork, so the car is there when you walk out rather than an hour too early or keeping you waiting.
If you are flying on from Southampton to somewhere else, I can take you straight to Heathrow or Gatwick, and I will tell you honestly whether the gap between landing at the port and your flight is comfortable.
Groups, families and the right car
Cruises are often a family affair, three generations and a pile of cases. For that the V-Class is the car: seven seats, proper room for the luggage, and nobody perching on a bag for two hours. For two of you travelling light, the S-Class is quieter and more comfortable over the distance. You can see what each car carries on the fleet page. Child seats are included if you need them, just tell me the ages when you book.
One price, one driver, an early start
These are early mornings, often before six for a midday slot, and I would rather agree everything the day before than improvise at dawn. The price is fixed and confirmed when you book, the pickup time is set, and wherever possible it is the same driver at both ends of your trip, so the person who dropped you off is the one waiting when you come home.
If you have a sailing booked
Tell me your cruise line, the ship, the date, your arrival slot and terminal if you have them, and where you are starting from. I will come back with a pickup time and a fixed price. Send me the details and I will take care of getting you to the water, and home again afterwards.
