Cruising out of Southampton

Having experienced 3 cruise holidays previously, one Caribbean and two Mediterranean, I was keen to test out sailing from Southampton. With no flights to take to meet the ship, and travelling with two children, I couldn’t wait to see how convenient this was (not to mention how much extra luggage I could take!)

It turned out to be a dream. We stayed in an apartment near to the port the night before, and when we woke up in the morning, we could see the ship from the window. We were all very excited.

Driving to the port was extremely easy. It was very well sign posted, and we found our delegated car park easy enough and there were port marshals on hand to direct us to our parking space.

Once parked and unloaded, we handed our suitcases to staff members who met us at our car, and it was a short 5-minute walk to the terminal building. Again, there were plenty of staff on hand to direct people. Off we went to join the check in queue. Through security, we were met by a lovely lady who went through the regular questions (has anybody been sick, are our passports valid etc).

We were then asked to sit in a certain row, and they called us up row by row so as not to create a backlog of people waiting to board the ship. This worked more efficiently than any of the other ports we had embarked from in the past and we were on the ship in no time. Prosecco in hand, I sat by the pool as my children enjoyed splashing about in the swimming pools.

I would definitely recommend cruising out of Southampton!