Dis-embarkation time from Independance of the Seas

[ecnirp, Manchester]

Hi

We are booked to sail on IotS in May 2014 from Southampton, we are planning to travel on the train to Southampton from Manchester the day before, I have booked the Premier inn, the train tickets cannot be purchased until 12 weeks before travel.

We are due to dock at 05:30 in Southampton on return, what time will we be able to leave the ship and get through customs etc? I need to book a return from Southampton Central (they should be hourly) but there are 5 of us, so I need to reserve seats on the train (open tickets are really expensive and no seat is guaranteed), so I need a realistic time we can make it to the station and not miss the train, but not be hanging around for hours at the station (we have 2 elderly passengers and a 6 year old traveling).

Never cruised before, so thanks for any advice.

[Malcolm, Essex]

Difficult - it can take 2-3 hours to get off a mega-ship, depending on your deck/cabin grade.

[ecnirp, Manchester]

We are on Deck (2 cabins), a few posts have mentioned removing your own luggage is faster, is this an option? I presumed your luggage would be offloaded for you? then through to customs?

[antalismy, UK]

We are on Deck (2 cabins), a few posts have mentioned removing your own luggage is faster, is this an option? I presumed your luggage would be offloaded for you? then through to customs?

If you disembark with your own luggage, you can leave the ship any time. Otherwise you'll be allocated the time to disembark, so it's a bit tricky if you have a fixed time ticket. Besides you may have to queue for a taxi considering the no. of people disembarking.

[Mick 'n' Mand, Birmingham]

Hi,

we were on I.O.T.S in October. Disembarkation has several options, you can select a time from the list that will be left in your room, which you can either hand into customer service or to your room attendant, this option is the one where you leave your cases outside your room the night before and they are taken for you, the second is carry your own luggage and leave the ship anytime up to 9.15am
and the final option is to pay to stay on the ship until the afternoon (cost £30 per person I think)
I would suggest the 1st option if you have elderly people with you. We carried our own luggage which worked well for us but was a bit of a pain with lots of people queuing for 2 lifts, I will say it did look well organized for the people who had their luggage taken for them.
Hope you have a great cruise!

[Taffy, Wales]

Hi

We are booked to sail on IotS in May 2014 from Southampton, we are planning to travel on the train to Southampton from Manchester the day before, I have booked the Premier inn, the train tickets cannot be purchased until 12 weeks before travel.

We are due to dock at 05:30 in Southampton on return, what time will we be able to leave the ship and get through customs etc? I need to book a return from Southampton Central (they should be hourly) but there are 5 of us, so I need to reserve seats on the train (open tickets are really expensive and no seat is guaranteed), so I need a realistic time we can make it to the station and not miss the train, but not be hanging around for hours at the station (we have 2 elderly passengers and a 6 year old traveling).

Never cruised before, so thanks for any advice.

Have you thought of using the Coach as an option the 6 year old may not like it ,but it is an easy way if you are near the pick up point. Your luggage goes straight on the ship whilst you check in and the coach will be there waiting for you when you leave the ship,the cost however may be more than the train as no discounts are available. ...Taffy

[Topdeck, London]

Most of the time the time ships clear quite quickly over the allocated times in Southampton although sometimes there can be delays and a backup develops.

You can pick your time, what we tend to do(when we don't have priority) is make sure our allocated time is before we need and then get off a bit later so the baggage section(they split the bags into groups based on time) has been cleared so only a few bags are left.

There is no active custom/immigration queue it is a walk through once you get your bags which simplifies things.

As has been said the biggest risk is getting taxis unless you get off very early although for a group you could split into two and use one taxi for luggage and most can walk to the station in 10-15mins with no bag.

we prefer the leisurely departure so aim for the later times say 8:30 but wait till after 9:00am, but we only live 2hr from the port

You may prefer to go for an early start gets you home earlier with the longer trip times. in that case I would think about the earliest possible probably around 6:30 or even a self walk off with your own bags.

[Jocap, Cumbria]

I've not done this from Indie, but we've self-disembarked several times from ships at around 7.30am, then taken a taxi to the station (10 mins or less depending on traffic)- and we've actually made the 8.15 train north, but we wouldn't rely on it.....one time there was a problem with the gangway, and we were all 1/2 an hour later than expected. Our problem is further connections, so we prefer to head somewhere like Birmingham and have lunch there, instead of Wolverhampton (less choice), then take the next northerly one again.
If you're travelling down the day before, there are some hotels handy for the station, but otherwise a taxi will take you to ones close to the dock.

[Wolfy, Shrewsbury]

Whatever way you do it you will be off by 10am

[ecnirp, Manchester]

Whatever way you do it you will be off by 10am

That's good to know, I will look to book the return train after 11am then.

[ecnirp, Manchester]

Have you thought of using the Coach as an option the 6 year old may not like it ,but it is an easy way if you are near the pick up point. Your luggage goes straight on the ship whilst you check in and the coach will be there waiting for you when you leave the ship,the cost however may be more than the train as no discounts are available. ...Taffy

The coach pickup/drop off points are not very close to us. We are also looking for a leisurely start to the cruise, so we are getting the direct train Friday morning, which arrives early afternoon, staying the Friday night at the Premier Inn in the centre of Southampton, so then we can get up, check out and go and board the ship, rather than having the hassle/worry of travelling early Saturday morning.

I think I will take the option of having the luggage removed the night before, then go and claim it for a later departure, then head to the station, this will depend on the train times which are due to be released around March.

Thanks everyone for advice.