AskCruise.aiStart Your Search

UK departure ports

Cruises from Southampton

The UK's busiest cruise port, and the only one where the choice is wide enough that the ship, not the sailing date, is what you are choosing between.

Who sailing from Southampton suits

  • Anyone who would rather not fly. You drive to the terminal, hand over your cases at the door, and you are on board. No baggage allowance, no connection to miss, no airport at either end of the holiday.

  • Anyone travelling with mobility needs or a lot of luggage. Removing the flight removes most of what makes a cruise holiday difficult.

  • Anyone who wants the sea days. On the southbound itineraries they are not filler — they are most of the first two days, and for a certain kind of traveller that is the holiday starting early rather than late.

When you'd be better off elsewhere

  • If this is your first cruise and you are drawn to the Canaries or the Mediterranean in winter, start somewhere else. See the crossing note below — this is the one piece of advice on this page that could change whether you ever cruise again.

  • If you are set on the Greek islands or the eastern Mediterranean in a week. Those itineraries are built around flying to Athens, Venice or Civitavecchia, and no Southampton departure will reach them and come back in seven nights.

Whether you cross the Bay of Biscay depends on where you're going

This is the thing to understand before you book from Southampton, and it is about the destination, not the length of the cruise.

Anything heading south — the Canaries, Iberia, the Mediterranean — crosses the Bay of Biscay. Biscay is notably turbulent, and in winter it can be genuinely rough. Anything heading north or round the coast — the Norwegian fjords, the British Isles, the Baltic — does not; you are in the North Sea instead, which is a different proposition altogether.

So a seven-night sailing from Southampton might cross Biscay twice or not at all, and the brochure rarely leads with which.

If this is your first cruise, do not let Biscay in January be your introduction to being at sea. A bad crossing at the start of a first cruise has put more people off cruising for good than any other single thing, and it is entirely avoidable: sail north instead, go south in the summer months, or fly to Barcelona or Malaga and join the ship there.

If you already know you travel well, ignore all of that. Southbound in winter is often the best value on the board, and this is exactly why.

Which lines board at Southampton

  • P&O Cruises
  • Cunard
  • Princess Cruises
  • Royal Caribbean International
  • MSC Cruises
  • Celebrity Cruises
  • Norwegian Cruise Line
  • Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines
  • Disney Cruise Line
  • Carnival Cruise Line
  • Oceania Cruises
  • Regent Seven Seas Cruises
  • Silversea
  • Seabourn
  • Explora Journeys

What actually sails from Southampton

  • Norwegian fjords — the classic Southampton week, and no Biscay crossing in either direction

  • British Isles — round-Britain itineraries calling at ports most people have never thought of reaching by sea, and again no Biscay

  • The Baltic and Northern Europe — longer sailings, typically twelve nights and up, north the whole way

  • Iberia and the Canary Islands — ten to fourteen nights, southbound, and the Canaries are at their best when Britain is at its worst

  • The Mediterranean — possible, but budget a fortnight or more for the crossing to be worth it

  • Transatlantic — Cunard's Queen Mary 2 to New York, which is a different kind of holiday altogether

Getting there

By road

M3 from London and the north, M27 from either direction along the south coast. The terminals are inside the docks and signposted from the motorway. Port parking is booked through the cruise line or the port's own operator when you book the cruise, not on the day.

By rail

Southampton Central from London Waterloo takes a little over an hour and a quarter. It is a short taxi from the station to any of the terminals — worth pre-booking on a busy turnaround Saturday, when several thousand people want the same thing at the same time.

By air

Southampton Airport is about fifteen minutes away and has its own railway station. Heathrow is the more common route for guests flying in from abroad, with coach transfers timed to the main departures.

Ready to sail?

Tell us what you're after, from Southampton

Answer in plain English and we'll match you to the ship that fits — judged on fit, never on who pays us more.

Find my cruise from Southampton