Since we were in London in May of this year, we just flew in the day before the curise. We took a British Airways non stop from the West Coast of the U.S. and stayed overnight at the Sofitel Hotel at Terminal 5 Heathrow. This is a great hotel at the airport, easy for late night or early morning flights.

Our journey to Southampton, was with a Princess transfer. We did have to take our cases to Termial 3 to meet the transfer. Good thing because we found out there that the ship would have a delayed boarding due to Noro the last cruise. Princess took us to the nearby Marriot hotel to wait it out until the all clear to go. At first there were enough chairs, then people streched out taking up to four chairs. This left late arrivals no place to sit.

Boarding was easy, though a line we had prefered status so were on board within 10 minutes of coach arrival at port. Read more