Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
busy road (with the port on your left) about five more minutes to the Citylink bus stop at
Town Quay.
Western Docks:
This gloomy industrial zone, accessed through Dock Gate 8 (closer
to town) or 10 (closer to the train station), hugs Southampton's coastline west of down-
town. Shuffled between the endless parking lots and container shipping berths are two
cruise terminals:
City Cruise Terminal,
close to the town center (Berth 101); and
May-
flower Cruise Terminal,
farther out (Berth 106). As Mayflower is a distant and dreary
walk from the port gate, I'd spring for a taxi. From City Cruise Terminal, the walk-plus-
bus combo may be worth considering: Exit the terminal to the right, then continue straight
about 10 minutes through Dock Gate 8 and along the port to Town Quay and the free
Citylink bus.
Trains to London:
From Southampton Central Station, trains depart every 30
minutes to London's
Waterloo Station
(1.25 hours; additional departures require a
change in Basingstoke and take 1.5 hours; slower trains go to London's Victoria Station
in 2.5 hours). A same-day return (round-trip) ticket to London costs
£
39; a one-way ticket
costs
£
34.10.
When returning to Southampton, be sure to get off at
Southampton Central Station;
the stop called Southampton Airport Parkway is much farther from the cruise port.
Sights in Southampton:
While most people will make a beeline for London, the port
city does have one sight worth considering: its excellent
SeaCity Museum,
with a beau-
tifully presented exhibit about the
Titanic
. “Southampton's
Titanic
Story” explores every
facet of the ill-fated ocean liner that set sail from here on April 10, 1912, and sank in the
North Atlantic a few days later. Three-quarters of the
Titanic
's 897 crew members lived in
Southampton (
£
8.50, daily 10:00-17:00, last entry at 15:00, next to the Civic Centre along
Havelock Road, tel. 023/8083-3007,
www.seacitymuseum.co.uk
)
.
For generations, Dover—with its easy ferry connections across the English Channel to the
Continent—was the place where many travelers first set foot in Britain. But since the ad-
vent of cheap flights and the high-speed Eurostar train beneath the Channel, Dover is most
useful these days for its cruise port.
Services:
Like much of southern England, Dover sits on a foundation of chalk;
its famous white cliffs are visible from your cruise ship. The workaday city center is
anchored by Market Square, with a handy
TI
(inside the Dover Museum). Across the
square begins the mostly pedestrianized (but not particularly charming) main shopping
drag, Cannon Street/Biggin Street, with ATMs, Wi-Fi hotspots, and a Boots pharmacy.