Southampton (London)

NCL Getaway Transatlantic, Day 13

May 12, 2017 - Southampton (London), United Kingdom

We didn't have to get up early this morning because of our late arrival at Southampton. We received our new tour tickets one more time and also the announcements that came out last night about the changes at this port and the new immigration check schedule. The immigration schedule did not look pretty at all with people going through it all day til late into the afternoon. Those on lower decks were scheduled at 4 or 5 pm which will definitely affect their shore time. NCL also compensated each passenger (the first two passengers in a cabin) with a $100 non-refundable OBC for the TWO missed ports. 

the revised daily

Here are some photos I took while we were sailing in to Southampton in the morning. It was very pretty even though the weather did not look too promising. There was a lot more traffic around here with many different kinds of vessels sailing which made it even more interesting. The castles, beaches, houses that lined the waterfront made this an entertaining sailing in.

Getaway finally docked.

Lunch at the buffet was really crowded even though we were there early, before 11:00. Our meeting time for the tour was at 12 inside the Illusionarium. The tour that we took was the London Panorama for $85 pp. I am sure there will be changes on this tour now that we have a late start for the day but at least we were still going into London.

Tours meeting point, inside Illusionarium.  

We were part of the last ones getting in the room for the tours because MOR forgot his jacket at the buffet and we had to wait for him to retrieve it. We got our stickers for bus #7 and then waited for a long time before they started calling us to get in the long line. The line went from the Illusionarium at the front of the ship, then outside on deck 7 all the way to the back of the ship before we went back inside Tropicana where there were four immigration officers checking passports of all 4000 passengers. We were in that line for over an hour. I believe there was another line going somewhere else for the people who were not on NCL tours, but I am not sure because by the time we were back inside Tropicana, we were met with another long line with frustrated people.

We tried to make the waiting more bearable and just went with the flow.

Peeking out between the life boats.

Well, of course we all had to touch the wet paint part to see if it's still wet.

Busy on his cell phone.

While still in our NCL tour line, the people on the other line were getting upset that they were letting the tour people go first. The crew then stopped us from moving and let a huge group go ahead of us. Then they couldn't decide who should get to the next available immigration officer waiting at their 'desks'. There was really no ship officers in sight and the crew were at lost of what to do. Squeaky wheels got the oil, I guess. Another example of poor management on the ship part. The immigration check was pretty easy and quick. The officer only asked when we plan on returning to California and he talked to ChC a little about his camera, then he stamped our passports and that was it. They did not take our passports away, instead just put a sticker on our key card that says "Immigration checked". 

What a relief to have gotten out of there, we quickly got in line for the restrooms before leaving the ship. With a two-hour drive into London, that was the place we must go before boarding our buses. As we were exiting the terminal, we saw many people waiting to meet their guests and they all looked as tired as we were. 

By the time our bus left for London, it was 2:10 already. We all clapped and cheered as the bus pulled out of the parking lot because our ordeal was over, at least for now.

On bus #7

London Panorama Tour

For the same price, we could have taken the London on your own tour but I figured that we probably won't be able to see as much if I have to do the guiding myself. We might as well have a relaxing day on the bus instead of rushing around the city on our own. We knew ahead of time that this tour was basically a drive through type with maybe one or two stops. At least we would be able to SEE the important sights. We had been in London in 2008 and stayed there for three days in between two cruises so we had seen most of the sights. For the rest of our group, this was their chance to have a glimpse of London, even if it was just from the bus. We just treated it as a HOHO bus experience without the hop-on and hop-off part being that our time was so limited. We were just hoping that with the late start, we could still see most of the sights with enough day light. 

Tim, our wonderful guide.

Some random scenes while we were driving into London.

A cloudy day.

Borough Market area. We stayed at the Travelodge Southwark when we were here in 2008 so this area was quite familiar to us.

Our first stop, the One New Change mall, a high-end shopping center across from St. Paul's Cathedral.

We went down to the basement to use the free restrooms and then took the glass elevator up to the rooftop for the view of London and St. Paul's Cathedral.

The restrooms were near this store at the basement.

Skyline of London at the rooftop.

St. Paul's Cathedral

That rooftop bar was very busy on this Friday afternoon. 

Inside the elevator as we were going down.

Back to our bus that was parked right outside. This was a 20-minute stop. Then we continued our ride around the city.

Our second stop was at Covent Garden where we had a one-hour stop for shopping and dining. We tried to look for a pub for some real local food, but found everywhere crowded with people. Well, it was Friday evening and seemed like everyone in London was out for the night. 

Russell Street right outside of Covent Garden.

Performers getting ready for the show.

The vendors at the market were closing down, so there was not much to see.

We finally found a little pie place in the basement and bought some pies for a quick bite. These were really good except that they didn't have too many choices left by the time we were there! Hot, flaky and delicious! 5.50 for a pie to go or if you want to eat in the restaurant, it's 6.00.

There were tables and chairs outside for people to use so it was very convenient. 

People watching while enjoying our pies was a fun experience.

Inside the Covent Garden

That's the pie shop where we got our pies.

After using the restrooms at the basement of the St. Paul's church (.50 vs. the ones at the basement of Covent Garden 1.00) it was time to get back to our meeting point to finish the tour.

We dropped our guide, Tim, off before driving two hours back to Southampton. We were in the city for only a little over four hours but it was stress-free and relaxing with minimum walking. 

By the time we were back at the terminal it was like 10:20 and we were met with another huge long line for security check which took about half an hour to get through. A female Chinese security officer got into a shouting match with some passengers which I totally think it was her fault. The way she presented herself was quite disrespectful when she was yelling at the passengers. Talking down to people is not the way to go. I think the passengers were fed up with all that was going on and just had enough of the long lines.

After washing up a little bit back on the ship, we went up to the Garden buffet for some late dinner. The buffet was opened til 1:00AM and it was very busy because most people were back at around the same time. By the time we were in bed it was 1:30 and we still had to change the time an hour forward. Good thing we did not have to get up early the next morning!

**We found out afterward that many people did not get to go to London because of the delayed immigration check. Some did not get through the immigration line until after 5pm so the only choice was to just walk around Southampton.