Southampton, England - March 24th, 2025

Southampton in England was where our transatlantic cruise ended. We weren’t staying in Southampton, but we spent most of the day strolling around the town before boarding a train to Salisbury. Southampton is generally not on the top places in England for people to visit, but we had an enjoyable day there.

Monday was disembarkment day in Southampton England. We got up at 7 am so we could eat one last meal at the buffet on Sky Princess. Even after taking our time, we were both ready to go by 8:30 am. So we headed down to see if they would let us off the boat early. It was no problem, as no one was really checking what our time slot was.

We had some time to walk around Southampton before catching our train to Salisbury, so we wanted to get to the Southampton Central train station and find a place to store our bags. As we exited the terminal, there was a line, or should we say queue, for the line of taxis. It was a long queue, but it went quickly. After about 15 minutes, we were in a taxi headed for the train station. The taxi ride cost us 9 pounds plus we added a 1 pound tip (currently, one pound was about $1.30).

After the taxi dropped us off, we searched for a Bounce storage location. The closest one was 0.4 of a mile away. So we booked it, strapped our luggage to our backs and started walking. The storage location was in a Maynards News & Food store. It was a pretty easy process to drop the bags off, since everything was already paid for online. They would hold our bags in the back until they closed, at 9 pm. Perfect.

If we were to do it again, we might have considered finding a storage location about half way between the ship dock and the train station. They were only 1.5 miles apart. So we would have only had to walk our bags 3/4 of a mile to drop them off, then 3/4 of a mile after picking them back up. That meant we would have walked our bags about double the distance than we did, but we would not have needed a taxi ride.

After dropping off our bags, we went for a lovely stroll around the town. We started off by walking through several parks that are linked together, Watts Park, East Park, Palmerston Park, Houndwell Park, and Hoglands Park. It was definitely spring time, as there were many plants starting to blossom and flower. Daffodils seemed to be everywhere. Statues, fountains, and memorials dotted the otherwise green landscape.

To reach the parks, we walked alongside the SeaCity Museum and the Southampton City Art Museum. For an adult admission price of 11 pounds, the SeaCity Museum included an interactive Titanic exhibit. However, the art museum is free. We did not go into either museum as we usually don’t care for museums. If we were staying in Southampton and had more time, we might have considered the Titanic exhibit, as interactive museums are more our style.

After exiting Hoglands Park, we walked by Saint Mary’s Church and made our way over to Queen’s Park and the God’s House Tower. Saint Mary’s Church was mostly rebuilt in 1956 after major destruction during the Southampton Blitz during World War II. The tower and spire, built in 1914, survived the bombings.

The God’s House Tower is a late 13th century gatehouse into the old town of Southampton. It is now an arts and heritage venue.

From there, we passed by the port where the Sky Princess was still docked and followed the ruins of the Southampton Old Walls up to Blue Anchor Lane. There was a section of the wall where you could walk along the top. The walls date back to the early 13th century. There was also a cargo ship replica built using traditional Viking techniques.

Blue Anchor Lane was a cute little street that brought us up to the Tutor House & Garden and Saint Michael’s Square. There is an admission to tour the house and garden, but we skipped it. The Tutor House is a timber-framed building built in the late 15th century. King John’s Palace is an adjacent Norman house dating back to the 12 century. Admission to the Tutor House gives you access to the museum inside the house, plus the Tutor Knot Garden and the ruins of King John’s Palace.

Walking past Saint Michael’s, we reached High Street and the ruins of the Holyrood Church. The Holyrood Church was built in 1320 and destroyed during the Southampton Blitz in November 1940. The shell of the church is now a memorial to those who served in the Merchant-Navy.

We headed north on High Street, which seemed to be the main pedestrian shopping for the downtown area. We stopped at a TSB bank ATM to withdraw 200 pounds, since we didn’t have any. We hadn’t needed any cash up to this point, since the taxi took credit cards and we paid for the luggage storage online. But we always feel better having some cash, just in case.

Then we went into a coffee shop called Coffee #1 for a drink. We both had a spiced chai and split a lemon muffin. After spending two weeks on a cruise ship, we really didn’t need anything to eat. We could have gone a couple of days without food before we felt hungry again.

While we were walking around, we made an effort to remember that everyone is driving on the left-hand side of the road. Every time we approached a street, we reminded each other to look right first. At some crosswalks, “Look Right” is painted on the pavement at the curb. Some of the pedestrian crossing signals help you look the right direction. At a divided road, the crosswalk is staggered. The button that you push is on the same side of the crosswalk as the oncoming traffic, and the indicator lights of the red and green men are just above the button. So you are looking at the light and the oncoming traffic at the same time.

After our refreshments, we picked up our luggage and headed back to the train station. It was not even 1 pm (13:00) when we arrived at the station. We had booked a 14:11 train to Salisbury, but our tickets were Evening Out Single tickets. That meant we could take any train along the same route that afternoon. Ann talked to a staff member at the ticket window, just to make sure we could take an earlier train. The answer was yes, and there was a train leaving at 13:11.

Southampton was a great place to start our visit to England. There weren’t any “must-see” sights for us there, but we love just wandering around and exploring a place. And we needed a slow-paced area to get adjusted to the subtle differences between England and the States. Thankfully, we speak similar languages.

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