Hotel to cruise terminal — how it works
The pre-cruise hotel stay
Southampton is the UK's busiest cruise port, and most cruise lines recommend arriving the day before you sail. Thousands of passengers spend the night at a Southampton hotel and just need a short, reliable transfer to the terminal the next morning. That is exactly what this service is: a fixed-price, door-to-door run from your hotel reception to the correct terminal, timed around your boarding window. For airport, station or city-centre hotel journeys instead, see our general Southampton hotel transfers.
Every terminal covered
We drop at all five Southampton cruise terminals: Ocean (SO14 3QN) and QEII (SO14 3GG) in the Eastern Docks, and City (SO15 1HJ), Mayflower (SO15 1HQ) and Horizon (SO15 1AW) in the Western Docks. Tell us your ship and we drop you at the correct terminal forecourt — most are only 5–15 minutes from a city-centre hotel. (Horizon and QEII are different terminals — we make sure you go to the right one.)
Room for all your cruise luggage
Cruise cases are large and there are usually several per cabin. Our saloons, estates and 8-seater MPVs are sized for cruise luggage, so a family or group plus all the suitcases travels together in one vehicle — no squeezing and no second trip.
When to leave your hotel
Cruise check-in usually opens late morning and runs in timed boarding windows printed on your e-ticket. As a rule of thumb, leave a city-centre hotel about 30–45 minutes before your assigned check-in time — we will advise based on your exact hotel and terminal. Pre-book the pickup the night before and your driver is at reception on the dot.