3 nights UK before Southampton departure on DCL: London or countryside?

[Lorana]

Okay, I thought I had our pre-cruise stay figured out, and my husband has thrown a bit of a monkey wrench into our plans that is making me reconsider, so I thought I’d ask for advice.

For context, I’ve been to London many times due to business trips, and my husband once (when we took 4-5 days after one of my business trips), so we’ve both seen most of the major sites of London, as well as Bath, Lacock, Windsor Castle and the outer circle of Stonehenge.

My DH & 2 DS’s don’t like traveling as much as I do, and the Norway cruise is already 8 nights. As our Mediterranean trip last year was 17 nights, I was trying to keep this one under two weeks for them. So the plan was go do 4 nights in London - 1-2 days adjusting and relaxing, 2-3 days sightseeing, but I scored a great deal on flights departing a day later, so we arrive Thursday at 10:15am and have just three nights/ 2.5 days pre-cruise. And I managed to snag 3 nights in 2 rooms using Marriott free night certificates and points at the Dixon London Tower.

Because we’ve been and my sons aren’t as big into sightseeing like we are, we were just going to hit a couple of highlights we thought they’d like (Tower of London, London Dungeons, Alice in Wonderland themed cat cafe, Shakespeare Globe, Churchill’s War Rooms, Phantom Peak).

However, my husband recently brought up that he’d really love to see the inner circle of Stonehenge (we could only see the outer circle before), and I’ve been looking to see availability. My first thought - do a tour on Saturday to see Sunset and get dropped off at a hotel in Southampton for the night before the cruise - won’t work because the Saturday evening tickets are already sold out. I tried to see if we could do a stop on our arrival day with a private transfer from Heathrow, but it’s a lot of driving for arrival day and my husband is concerned that means we’ll be too tired to appreciate it. But if we go Friday or Saturday we’ll lose a whole day in London and that IS a lot of driving, with a long drive to port on Sunday.

So of course my brain went - well, should we even go to London then? Should we stay somewhere else and see the countryside? So now I’m exploring Southampton, Bath, and even Bournemouthe. We could visit Salisbury Cathedral, Avebury, Bath, and relax at the seaside.

What would you do in my shoes?

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

Ive done a lot of sightseeing in Southampton before my 2023 and 2024 cruises. Southampton is a major historical city that so many cruise passengers miss out.

This is my 2023 cruise trip report with 1 day sighseeing in Southampton pre cruise https://www.disboards.com/threads/s...-cruise-2023-complete-final-thoughts.3929341/

This is my 2024 cruise trip report with 2 days sighseeing in Southampton pre cruise https://www.disboards.com/threads/s...-and-vigo-from-southampton-completed.3953303/

You can also do day trips by train from Southampton, Bath or Salisbury, or get the ferry to the Isle of Wight, or do a day trip to New Forest National Park, or any of the small beach towns.

 

[SleepyDeb]

I lived in England for a few years when my husband was stationed there with the Air Force. We traveled all over the island and never got bored. There's stuff to do everywhere. We've been to London countless times and always find new things to do, along with some old favorites. So, I would never say "don't go there" to (almost) any where in England. But, for ease of getting from the airport and to the port, hard to beat London. On the other hand, the further from London you are, the cheaper the hotels.

I saw a Day Trip to Stonehedge, Bath, and Windsor on shore excursions group. We've used them before (not in Europe) and they've been good. It's expensive and a long day though.

 

[Geomom]

We're not city people, so we just did 2 nts in Southampton before our Norway cruise in 2023 (first time in the UK). We did a private tour with Oldbury Tours, including a morning inner circle tour of Stonehenge, it was amazing to walk among the stones. (I was worried about the early start time after flying in the day before, but it worked out ok.). Our tour included a stop in Avebury, and other neolithic sites in the area. They tailored the tour to our specs, and it was a highlight of our trip.

 

[holula]

In the Southampton area, Winchester is about 15-20 mins by train and so lovely! Would recommend even half a day there to have a look around.

 

[Dive Bar Casanova]

Every 50 steps something interesting to see. Especially if you love history.

 

[Stitch'sCousin]

I spent many summers in Lymington when I was growing up, and it is a nice place to visit. We always took the train to Bournemouth and Southampton, as well as the ferry to the Isle of Wight. However, Lymington is on a branch train line so it takes a bit longer to get to places. If you want to stay in the New Forest and be on the main train line, consider Brockenhurst. It is centrally located and is only about 10 minutes by train to Lymington Pier (where you get the ferry to the Isle of Wight), 15 minutes by train to both Southampton and Bournemouth, and 1 hour to Salisbury where you can get the bus to Stonehenge.

 

[tidefan]

Stop at Arundel and visit Arundel Castle on the way down. It is extremely impressive and a great day out!