Which Southampton Cruise Terminal Is My Ship From? A Terminal Finder

Start With Your Ticket, Not a Search Engine

Your terminal is printed on your cruise ticket, your boarding documents and the cruise line's app, and that is the answer that counts. Terminals are assigned by the port operator sailing by sailing, not fixed to a ship forever. The same ship can leave from Ocean Terminal on one Saturday and Mayflower on the next, depending on what else is in port that day.

So treat everything else, including this page, as a strong steer rather than a guarantee. Check your documents when they arrive, then check again in the final week before you sail, because assignments do occasionally move. When you book your taxi, tell us the terminal from your ticket, and we will plan the run to the right gate.

The Five Terminals at a Glance

Here is the whole port on one table. The fare column is the set fare for a taxi from within Southampton to that terminal, the same published set fares that apply to every cruise transfer we run inside the city.

Set fares are per car from Southampton addresses. Journeys from further afield are priced from the published fare table and confirmed when you book.

Which Lines Usually Use Which Terminal

Cruise lines do have habits, and they are worth knowing as a cross-check against your ticket. P&O Cruises and Cunard, the port's two biggest regulars, sail mainly from the Eastern Docks: Ocean Terminal and the QEII Terminal, with Mayflower handling some of their sailings in the Western Docks. Princess Cruises splits between QEII and Mayflower.

On the Western Docks side, City Cruise Terminal is the usual home of Celebrity Cruises, MSC Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line, and Horizon, the newest terminal, opened in 2021, is used mainly by MSC and Norwegian. If your line and your ticket point at different terminals, believe the ticket every time: it was written for your sailing, not for the line in general.

• P&O Cruises: usually Ocean, QEII or Mayflower
• Cunard: usually Ocean, QEII or Mayflower
• Princess Cruises: usually QEII or Mayflower
• Celebrity Cruises: usually City
• MSC Cruises: usually City or Horizon
• Norwegian Cruise Line: usually City or Horizon

Getting the Dock Gate Right

The port works in two halves. Ocean and QEII stand in the Eastern Docks, reached through Dock Gate 4. City, Horizon and Mayflower stand in the Western Docks, reached through Gates 8, 10 and 20. The two areas are a short drive apart, but on a busy turnaround day, with several ships in and the dock roads full, going to the wrong gate first can cost you twenty minutes you did not budget for.

From the city centre, every terminal is roughly a 10 to 15 minute drive in normal traffic. Aim to arrive at the start of the check-in window your ticket gives you rather than the end of it: the queues are shorter, the drop-off is calmer, and you keep a margin for the unexpected. Tell us your terminal and your check-in window when you book, and the car will be timed to both.