60-min free wait
Free waiting starts at scheduled landing time and runs for 60 minutes. Beyond 60 minutes, additional waiting bills at £20/hr.
Cruise port transfers
City Cruise Terminal transfers.
City Cruise Terminal sits at Berth 101 in the Western Docks, entered through Dock Gate 10 — the closest of the western terminals to the city-centre waterfront, and the main Southampton base for Princess Cruises and Holland America, with seasonal Cunard departures. Despite the name it is not in the city centre; it is inside the working dock estate, and the walk from the gate is not one to attempt with cruise luggage. Drop-off is at the terminal forecourt and the chauffeur takes the cases from the boot to the porter.
Destination
City Cruise Terminal — what to expect.
- Port
- Port of Southampton
- Pickup zone
- Berth 101, City Cruise Terminal building
- Cruise lines
- Princess Cruises · Holland America · Cunard (seasonal)
Western Docks
Enter by Dock Gate 10.
City Cruise Terminal is at Berth 101, City Cruise Terminal building, in Southampton’s Western Docks, reached through Dock Gate 10. Southampton’s five terminals sit behind two gates and they are on opposite sides of the Old Town — arriving at the wrong one costs 10 to 15 minutes on a quiet day and up to half an hour on a turnaround Saturday.
Getting in: Dock Gate 10, not the waterfront
The name misleads more passengers than any other terminal at Southampton. City Cruise Terminal is reached from West Quay Road through Dock Gate 10, along with Mayflower and Horizon — not from Town Quay or the Old Town waterfront that the name suggests. A satnav set to the terminal name gets it right; one set to a city-centre address does not.
Princess turnarounds and the Saturday overlap
Princess and Holland America turnarounds put this terminal at its busiest on Saturday mornings, when the disembarkation outflow and the embarkation inflow share the same approach roads between roughly 11:00 and 13:00. We set pickups against your printed check-in window rather than the terminal opening time, which puts you past the early queue and ahead of the late rush.
Arriving by Eurostar
A large share of City Cruise Terminal passengers arrive in London by Eurostar and transfer down. St Pancras to City Cruise Terminal is one of our pre-set routes, priced the same before you book regardless of the traffic on the day — useful on a route where the M3 and M27 can add an hour without warning.
Not sure which terminal your ship is using? It follows the berth rather than the cruise line, so it changes between sailings — see Dock Gate 4 or Dock Gate 10, or send us your booking reference and we confirm it.
Fixed-fare offers are paused just now.
These routes were a limited-time promotion and are not running at the moment — we will be opening them again. Every journey still gets a fixed price quoted upfront on our standard rates, which is already lower than most local firms charge for the same trip.
Fixed fare
St Pancras International → City Cruise Terminal
Priced on our standard rate card.
Quoted upfront
You see the full price before you book, and it does not move afterwards.
Distance, drive time and what the fare covers
The direction shown is the published route. We price the journey the same way in either direction — the route page has a button for each.
What's included
On every airport transfer.
Meet & greet (+£5, optional)
Driver waits at arrivals exit with a name board — a £5 add-on, pre-selected on arrival bookings. No standing on the kerb watching for a number-plate.
Fixed price quoted upfront
Quote locks the moment you confirm. Surcharges baked in. No day-of re-quote, no hidden fees.
More cruise ports
Other cruise ports we cover.
Port of Southampton
Horizon Cruise Terminal
Horizon Cruise Terminal at Berth 102 on West Bay Road is Southampton's newest passenger terminal — a 55 million pound facility opened in 2021, and home to the UK's first cruise shore-power connection. It sits in the Western Docks behind Dock Gate 10 and primarily serves MSC Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line, with occasional Royal Caribbean dual-use weeks. Modern drive-through forecourt, and a short walk from kerb to check-in desks.
ExplorePort of Southampton
Mayflower Cruise Terminal
Mayflower Cruise Terminal at Berth 106 on Herbert Walker Avenue is P&O's primary Southampton base and one of the busiest cruise terminals in the UK on British-holiday-season turnaround days. Cunard's Queen Mary 2 alternates here for some sailings and Fred. Olsen uses it regularly. It sits in the Western Docks behind Dock Gate 10, and the walk from the gate itself is about a mile — which is why being dropped at the gate rather than the terminal forecourt is a genuine problem here.
ExplorePort of Southampton
Ocean Cruise Terminal
Ocean Cruise Terminal sits at Berths 46/47 on Cunard Way in the Eastern Docks, entered through Dock Gate 4 — about a four-minute walk from the gate. It handles Disney Cruise Line during their UK season, Princess overflow weeks and a rotation of smaller and seasonal operators. Kerbside flow at the drop-off is good, and the terminal is adjacent to QEII behind the same gate, which makes the eastern pair easy to confuse with each other and hard to confuse with the western three.
ExploreFrequently asked
Quick answers.
- No, and the name is the single most common source of confusion at this port. It is at Berth 101 inside the Western Docks, entered through Dock Gate 10 off West Quay Road. It is closer to the waterfront than Mayflower, but it is still a working dock estate with a controlled gate, not a city-centre kerb.
- Dock Gate 10, the Western Docks gate, shared with Mayflower and Horizon. Ocean and QEII are behind Dock Gate 4 on the other side of the Old Town, and driving between the two gates costs 10 to 15 minutes on a quiet day and 25 to 30 on a busy Saturday.
- Driver, vehicle, fuel, and 15 minutes' free wait from the booked pickup time (60 minutes on airport arrivals). Surcharges (tolls, airport zones if applicable to the route) are itemised in the quote breakdown. No driver-side meter, no day-of re-quote.
- Fixed-fare routes are published for high-demand, repeatable routes from our hub. City Cruise Terminal has consistent traffic enough to justify a published rate that locks the price regardless of traffic. Quote it via the booking widget with the fixed-fare contract.
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours before pickup. Within 24 hours of pickup the booking is non-refundable. Changes (time, vehicle, route) accepted up to 2 hours before pickup, subject to availability.
- We co-ordinate pickup time against the cruise line's check-in window so you arrive 30-45 minutes into the slot — past the early-arrival queue, before the late-arrival rush. Drop-off at the terminal forecourt; chauffeur assists from boot to porter handoff.
Book your City Cruise Terminal transfer.
Fixed price quoted upfront. No day-of re-quote.