Pre and Post British Isles cruise suggestions

You are cruising out of Southampton, not South Hampton.

Until others come along to offer advice, here are a couple recent posts to get you started.

Chichester, Winchester

Arriving in Southampton

Looks like your planning a great trip!

Will you be hiring a car? That would make it a lot easier to see Stonehenge (a disappointment in my opinion, but who am I) the Cotswolds (a series of small, pretty towns and villages) and out of city places like Blenheim Palace . It would give you somewhere to store bags and make it easy to get to Southampton.

In cities like Oxford and Bath , cars can be a bit of liability, on the other hand.

Also, how many in the party? Rail travel can get expensive for a party of, say, 4 adults.

I posted in 2023 about Southampton's rich and documented history. This site won't let me repost that information. So here is the link for the full post.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/transportation-options-from-central-london-to-southampton

I lived in Southampton in the early 90's and back then it was dominated by post-WWII reconstruction projects in an oppressively brutalist style. But since then the city has transformed itself through new builds and a desire to embrace and promote its rich history.

Now I live in the US, but I visit family in the area several time a year. I often stay in Southampton, spending some time as tourist and enjoying the broad range of choices that didn't exist in my youth.
It is home to great pubs, live music and theatre, diverse cuisine and really worthwhile museums and exhibits, plus parks and green spaces, good fish and chips and tearooms. It's very walkable and has excellent public transportation links.

These sights are worth your time:

The Tudor House
https://tudorhouseandgarden.com/

The Sea City Museum.
https://seacitymuseum.co.uk/

God's House Tower
https://www.godshousetower.org.uk/

Pubs:

The Wool House
https://dancingmanbrewery.co.uk/

The Red Lion
https://www.theredlionpubsouthampton.co.uk/

The Duke of Wellington
https://www.wadworth.co.uk/find-a-pub/duke-of-wellington-southampton

There are other great pubs and restaurants that I can recommend in Southampton, Winchester and Chichester.

In the meantime, this link may be useful:
https://visitsouthampton.co.uk/your-visit/map
It's a nice map of Southampton showing the different areas (Old Town - defined by the original walls, the cultural and maritime quarters etc.)
It shows hotels and landmarks, public transportation links and the ferry terminals.
Each square represents a 5 minute walk.

These links take you to maps showing the ferry terminals:
https://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/southampton_map.htm
https://www.abports.co.uk/media/n2qpmrlo/southampton-port-plan-2022.pdf

Do you know where you are staying?

Stay in Bath and take a Mad Max tour to Avebury, Stonehenge, and Cotswold.

Consider Salisbury (Cathedral) and Winchester (Cathedral) are great places to visit. The Cotswolds are great, also Stratford upon Avon, Blenheim Palace, Oxford.

On the other side of London, Canterbury and Cambridge.

If you are interested in Stonehenge, then consider staying in Salisbury for at least 2 nights. On the full day you can get the local bus company's shuttle out to Stonehenge. It comes back by Old Sarum which is a good stop as well. The company website calls it a "tour" but really it's just transportation out to the stones with a DVD running, then transit back. There are a couple of places to pick up the bus - the station and the City Center both of which are easy to get to from most of the hotels in Salisbury

https://www.salisburyreds.co.uk/stonehenge-tour?__cf_chl_tk=CugOIFzPBTqv9yaQk5EUrE0eyhaR2mT.Hao9j8TDHw4-1742839209-1.0.1.1-m.pLYd3F8zry2cz8vOO30tB5vCEj9YC3bBUFCNaaO5I

For myself I always find enough to do in Salisbury for another full day. I love the Salisbury Museum, the cathedral. walking thru the water meadows.

I love Bath as well and have always enjoyed multiple nights there, too. The Roman Baths, the Royal Crescent, No.1 Royal Crescent museum, the Holburne Museum, Prior Park Garden....all very interesting to me!

Thank you for your replies. There are two of us and we don't plan on renting a car. Do people have a suggestion of which area would be better to do before or after the cruise? The only hotel we currently have booked is the one night in Southampton before the cruise. Thank you,

If you don’t have a car, 3 days in Oxford with. Day trip to Blenheim would seem a good idea either before or after the cruise. The problem with the Cotswolds is that there isn’t a lot to see in each town or village ( you sty a short time and then move on) so moving around without a car requires some planning. There re several’ Cotswolds by public transport’ sites to help.

The suggestions I gave for Salisbury/Stonehenge and Bath I've done using trains and the local bus. From Bath there are also Mad Max day tours to the Cotswolds if that would be of interest.

Thank you all for your replies and advice. I looked into the Mad Max tours and was able to book both the Cotswold and Stonehenge tours after the cruise, so we will go to Bath then. We will do four nights in Southampton before the cruise and do day trips to Winchester, Salisbury and maybe Portsmouth. I thought it would be easier to have a home base for four days. Thanks again.