How to get to Southampton Cruise Port from Manchester

Most cruises departing from the UK go from Southampton. This Hampshire based cruise port ranks as the 6th busiest cruise port of Europe. In 2019 it saw just short of 1.3 million cruise passengers embarking and disembarking British Isles Cruises, sailings to the fjords and Mediterannean, and transatlantic crossings from the likes of Cunard. Southampton can be somewhat confusing to get to however. This article should give you a few ideas as to how to get from Manchester to Southampton for your cruise!

I’ll be covering travelling to Southampton from Manchester by train, coach and air. Where I’ve talked about rail I’ve given options with as few changes as possible. Obviously all details are correct at the time of writing but may be subject to change due to timetables or route changes.

Some useful sites to help you book your cruise transfer from Manchester to Southampton are:

Can I get to Southampton from Manchester on the day of my cruise?

My recommendation when coming from Manchester is that you do not try and travel on the day of your cruise if you are using public transport. We all know train services can be unreliable, and if you end up delayed, you could very easily end up missing the ship. I prefer to go down the night before and find a hotel in Southampton for the evening. That way you can be relaxed, get a good nights sleep and arrive at the ship feeling fresh and holiday. Better than feeling a bit grubby after as much as 5 hours on public transport!

How to get from Manchester to Southampton…

By Train

If you’re looking to travel to Southampton by train, you can catch a CrossCountry direct services from Manchester Piccadilly to Southampton Central. This journey will be approximately 4h32.

Alternatively you can go from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston. You’d then need to change to Waterloo for your onwards journey from London to Southampton.

By Coach

If you are travelling on Cunard, P&O Cruises or Princess Cruises from Southampton it’s worth looking for specialist cruise transfer services like CruiseConnect. These will be suitable for heading to Southampton on departure day, but you might have to brace yourself for an early start! On the plus side, you’ll get dropped off at the terminal, and with 50 collection and drop-off points throughout the UK may be a better option if you are not based in a city centre. The closest CruiseConnect pickup points to Manchester are Knutsford services and Bolton’s Reebok Stadium.

If you are relying on general public transports, Megabus operates a service from Manchester, Shudehill Interchange to Southampton, Queensway. This service also picks up at Manchester Airport Bus Station, so if you don’t fancy flying, you could book Manchester Airport parking and catch the coach. It’s worth noting, this journey will take around 6h40m, so not one to do on the day your cruise departs!

By Air

You can fly direct to Southampton Airport from Manchester Airport with Eastern Airways, Hahn Air or Blue Islands. The flight time from Manchester to Southampton is about 1hr 10 mins.