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Pre-cruise itinerary

Posted by (Toronto, Canada) on

Hi all,

Wonder if I can get some advice. I booked a 13 night Virgin Voyages cruise from Portsmouth to Barcelona in September 2025 with my parents. I believe I'll likely have to fly into LHR and then make my way to Portsmouth via train. I was thinking of arriving maybe 4-5 days earlier and visit England. I have been to Scotland and England before in 2018, and have been to Edinburgh, York, London, and did take a day trip to Bath and Stonehenge back when I last visited. I'm thinking of visiting Windsor and Cotswods and also check out some other sites in London that I wasn't able to visit last time (Big Ben was under renovations), and using London as a base before heading out to Portsmouth (ideally staying a night in Portsmouth before the cruise).

Does it make sense to use London as a base? Or should I pick somewhere else? Or other itinerary ideas?

Posted by
1031 posts

Portsmouth itself is worth a full day of anyone’s time. Check out the Historic Dockyard - Nelson’s flagship HMS Victory plus the unique and fascinating Mary Rose Museum, telling the story of raising a Tudor warship from the bottom of the sea, and the artefacts and bits of the ship that they found. It’s world class.

Posted by
9588 posts

You could fly into Southampton on Aer Lingus via Dublin or KLM via Amsterdam.

It is a short train transfer to PTS from SOU.

You could use Portsmouth as a base to explore the South Coast or the Isle of Wight.

Air Transat also fly from Toronto to Gatwick.

Posted by
2651 posts

Rather than heading to the Cotswolds, have a think about the New Forest area instead. It's a lot nearer to Portsmouth and doesn't get the same number of visitors. It also has some very pretty villages and also the chance of seeing the New Forest ponies. Alternstively there is akso Dorset a bit further west with lots of attractive small toewns and villages as well as the coast.

Posted by
9316 posts

I just wanted to add my voice to say make sure you spend a day in Portsmouth as well. It is worth the time.

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