Southampton cruise terminals: which one your ship uses and how to get there

Use the terminal on your boarding pass or cruise ticket, because it depends on your ship and your date. Southampton has five cruise terminals in two dock areas, about 1.3 miles apart by road.

Terminal	Berth	Docks	Dock gate by car	Address
Queen Elizabeth II Terminal	38/39	Eastern	Dock Gate 4	Test Road, SO14 3GG
Ocean Terminal	46	Eastern	Dock Gate 4	Cunard Road, SO14 3QN
City Cruise Terminal	101	Western	Dock Gate 8 or 10	Solent Road, SO15 1HJ
Horizon Cruise Terminal	102	Western	Dock Gate 10	West Bay Road, SO15 1AW
Mayflower Cruise Terminal	106	Western	Dock Gate 20 or 10	Herbert Walker Avenue, SO15 0GN

The addresses are ABP's. ABP owns the port. This site is independent, and it is not ABP, a terminal, a cruise line or a travel agent.

Which cruise terminal does my ship use in Southampton?

Your boarding pass or cruise ticket tells you, and it has the final word whatever you read anywhere else. Where you find it depends on the line:

• Cunard. Your boarding pass, or the booking summary in My Cunard.
• P&O Cruises. Your boarding pass.
• Fred. Olsen. Your cruise ticket, sent about three weeks before embarkation. If you gave a mobile number, a text with the terminal and postcode arrives the day before check-in.
• Princess. Your documents or Manage Booking. Princess says terminal assignments and access points can change by sailing.

Visit Southampton advises checking your terminal at least 24 hours before you sail.

How to get an early idea of your terminal

Look your ship up on ABP's Cruise Ship Schedule, which runs about five months ahead and gives a berth for each call. Match the berth to the table above. Our calendar shows the same schedule with the terminal named, and each terminal has its own page.

This is what the schedule showed on 1 November 2026, for calls up to 31 March 2027:

Terminal	Ships on the schedule
Queen Elizabeth II	Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria, AIDAperla
Ocean	Iona, Arvia, Ventura, Queen Anne, Queen Victoria, Majestic Princess, Sky Princess, AIDAnova, AIDAprima, Mein Schiff Flow
City	Balmoral, Borealis, Norwegian Star
Horizon	MSC Preziosa, MSC Virtuosa, Aurora, Ventura, AIDAnova, Mein Schiff Relax
Mayflower	Arcadia, Aurora, Ventura, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Victoria, Sky Princess

Five of those ships appear at more than one terminal in those five months, which is why a line's usual berth is no guarantee:

Ship	First date at each terminal
Aurora	Mayflower 3 November 2026, Horizon 27 November 2026
Ventura	Mayflower 13 November 2026, Ocean 17 November 2026, Horizon 29 November 2026
Queen Victoria	Mayflower 6 November 2026, Ocean 11 November 2026, Queen Elizabeth II 3 January 2027
Sky Princess	Mayflower 5 November 2026, Ocean 22 March 2027
AIDAnova	Ocean 16 November 2026, Horizon 22 March 2027

ABP calls the schedule "strictly provisional" and says it can change without notice. Treat it as a first look. ABP's Planned Movements page has firmer details within six days of arrival, and your boarding pass or ticket still outranks both.

Why some sailings on this site show no terminal

We take the terminal from ABP's schedule and nowhere else. It is read through 31 March 2027, so later sailings show no terminal, and we do not guess one from the line.

What postcode do I put in the sat nav for a Southampton cruise terminal?

Enter the postcode in the table at the top of this page, then follow the road signs for your dock gate. Fred. Olsen says to follow the signs for your berth once you reach Southampton, and Royal Caribbean says the ship name and terminal appear on signs along the perimeter road.

Three things catch drivers out, because official pages do not all agree:

• Mayflower has two postcodes in use. ABP's direction sheet prints "SO15 OGN" with a letter O. That is not a valid postcode, so type a zero, SO15 0GN. In a straight line, it sits about 0.15 miles from Dock Gate 20, the gate ABP recommends, and about 1.4 miles from the terminal building. Fred. Olsen and CPS, the valet parking company, give SO15 1HJ, about 0.25 miles from the building.
• City has a withdrawn postcode in circulation. CPS prints SO15 1BS, and ONS postcode data shows that one was terminated in May 2019. ABP, Fred. Olsen and Royal Caribbean give SO15 1HJ.
• Gates vary between ABP's own pages. Its direction sheet sends City drivers through Dock Gate 8, while its City terminal page and cruise page say Dock Gate 10. Visit Southampton's June 2026 leaflet lists both. ABP's sheet recommends Dock Gate 20 for Mayflower and also gives directions from Dock Gate 10, and its Mayflower page leads with Dock Gate 10.

Both City gates and both Mayflower gates lead to the terminal, so take whichever your sat nav picks, unless your line's documents name one.

How far apart are the Eastern and Western Docks?

Dock Gate 4 and Dock Gate 10 are about 1.3 miles apart by road. Our routing check on 1 November 2026 gave 1.3 miles and about 4 minutes with no traffic at all, and about 0.8 miles from Dock Gate 4 to Dock Gate 8.

The gates are close, but you have to leave the docks by one and enter by the other. Going from the Queen Elizabeth II Terminal to Mayflower means about a mile out to Dock Gate 4, the run between the gates and about a mile in from Dock Gate 10, a little over 3 miles on ABP's distances and our routing check. So a wrong terminal costs you more than the map suggests.

Within each dock area, some terminals are close and some are not:

Terminals	How close
Ocean and Queen Elizabeth II	Share Dock Gate 4. Ocean is 0.2 miles past it, and Queen Elizabeth II is about a mile, a 5-minute drive or 20-minute walk
City and Horizon	About 0.25 miles apart, building to building
Horizon and Mayflower	About 0.5 miles apart, building to building, but Mayflower is about a mile from Dock Gate 10 by road

The building distances are straight lines we measured on OpenStreetMap.

Queen Elizabeth II Terminal

The Queen Elizabeth II Terminal is berth 38/39 on Test Road, about a mile past Dock Gate 4 in the Eastern Docks. ABP also calls it the QEII Cruise Terminal, and its schedule writes the berth as 38/9. This is the longest walk of the five, and ABP recommends a taxi.

• Address. QEII Cruise Terminal, Berth 38/39, Test Road, Southampton SO14 3GG.
• By car. Come in from the A33 and Platform Road, following signs for Dock Gate 4. Pass the manned security gate, take the second exit at the first roundabout and follow Test Road for about a mile. The terminal is on your right.
• By bus. No public bus stops at the terminal. Southampton NOCS, on the U1A and U1E, is about 0.7 miles away. Platform Tavern, on the 19, 19A, U1A, U1C and U1E, is about a mile away.
• On this site. Sailings showing this terminal: 11. See every ship due at Queen Elizabeth II.

Ocean Terminal

Ocean Terminal is on Cunard Road in the Eastern Docks, and you can see it as soon as you pass the Dock Gate 4 barrier. ABP calls it Ocean Cruise Terminal. ABP's schedule and cruise page give the berth as 46, while its direction sheet and Princess say 46/47.

• Address. Ocean Cruise Terminal, Berth 46/47, Cunard Road, Southampton SO14 3QN.
• By car. Come in from the A33 and Platform Road, following signs for Dock Gate 4. Take the third exit at the first roundabout, go 100 yards and turn left. The terminal is straight ahead.
• By bus. Platform Tavern and Southampton NOCS are each about 0.3 miles away. The QuayConnect bus from Southampton Central stops at Town Quay, about 0.4 miles away, every 35 minutes on ABP's sheet.
• On this site. Sailings showing this terminal: 19. See every ship due at Ocean.

City Cruise Terminal

City Cruise Terminal is berth 101 on Solent Road in the Western Docks. Fred. Olsen says most of its sailings use it, and it is the only terminal ABP directs through Dock Gate 8.

• Address. City Cruise Terminal, 101 Berth, Solent Road, Southampton SO15 1HJ.
• By car through Dock Gate 8. ABP's sheet sends cars here, with the terminal on your left. It adds that Dock Gate 8 stays fully open during the Southampton Boat Show.
• By car through Dock Gate 10. Take the A33 to West Quay Road and follow signs for Dock Gate 10. ABP's terminal page says to turn left after the gate, with the terminal on your right.
• By bus. Bus services in the Western Docks are limited. From the QuayConnect stop at Town Quay, the walk is about 0.6 miles through Dock Gate 8.
• On this site. Sailings showing this terminal: 1. See every ship due at City.

Horizon Cruise Terminal

Horizon Cruise Terminal is berth 102 on West Bay Road in the Western Docks, and it is the closest terminal to both Southampton Central station and Dock Gate 10.

• Address. Horizon Cruise Terminal, 102 Berth, West Bay Road, Southampton SO15 1AW.
• By car. Take the A33 to West Quay Road and enter through Dock Gate 10. At the first roundabout take the second exit and stay in the left lane. At the second roundabout, follow the filter lane to the first exit and continue up Horizon Way until the terminal is in front of you.
• By bus. No bus stops near the terminal.
• On this site. Sailings showing this terminal: 27. See every ship due at Horizon.

Mayflower Cruise Terminal

Mayflower Cruise Terminal is berth 106 on Herbert Walker Avenue, at the western end of the three Western Docks terminals. ABP's direction sheet recommends Dock Gate 20 for drivers, and on foot you use Dock Gate 10.

• Address. Mayflower Cruise Terminal, Berth 106, Herbert Walker Avenue, Southampton SO15 0GN. See the sat nav note on the postcode.
• By car through Dock Gate 20. Reach it from the M271 and Redbridge Road. It is about a 2-mile drive through the docks. Take the first exit at the first roundabout onto Western Avenue, the second exit at the next, cross the level crossing and go straight over the third roundabout onto West Bay Road. Turn right down Imperial Way, turn left at the end, and the terminal is on your right.
• By car through Dock Gate 10. Take the second exit at the first roundabout in the right-hand lane, avoiding the Horizon-only lane. Go straight over the second roundabout onto West Bay Road, use the cruise traffic filter lane onto Imperial Way, and turn left at the end. The terminal is on your right.
• By bus. No bus stops near the terminal.
• On this site. Sailings showing this terminal: 15. See every ship due at Mayflower.

How far is each terminal from Southampton Central station?

Horizon and City are the only two you could reasonably walk to with luggage, at 12 to 15 minutes. These are ABP's figures from its direction sheets:

Terminal	Walk from Southampton Central	Walk from the dock gate
Queen Elizabeth II	2.5 miles, 45 to 50 minutes	1 mile from Dock Gate 4, 20 minutes
Ocean	1.5 miles, 30 minutes	0.2 miles from Dock Gate 4, 4 minutes
City	0.6 miles, 15 minutes	0.2 miles from Dock Gate 8, 4 minutes
Horizon	0.5 miles, 12 minutes	0.2 miles from Dock Gate 10, 4 minutes
Mayflower	1.5 miles, 30 minutes	1 mile from Dock Gate 10, 20 minutes

ABP's City and Horizon terminal pages say about a mile from the station, so the two ABP sources differ there. ABP's cruise page says pedestrians should use Dock Gate 10 for all three Western Docks terminals.

Leave the station by its southern side. There is a taxi rank on both sides, and taxis drop off outside the terminal. National Express coaches stop at Southampton Coach Station on Harbour Parade, about 5 minutes from any terminal by pre-booked taxi on ABP's sheets. Our train and coach guide covers the journey.

If you are flying in, ABP gives drive times of about 20 to 25 minutes from Southampton Airport, 45 minutes from Bournemouth, 1 hour 25 minutes from Heathrow and 1 hour 45 minutes from Gatwick. See the airport guide.

How do check-in times work at Southampton?

Your line gives you an arrival time, and you should turn up then, not earlier. ABP's terminal pages ask every passenger to arrive at their allocated time.

• Cunard. Your boarding pass sets the time, based on your cabin grade and where your cabin is on the ship. Cunard says you will not board before it, and that guests who want a quieter arrival at Southampton can come after 2.30pm.
• P&O Cruises. Times go by cabin section and Peninsular Club tier. P&O says early arrivals may be asked to leave the terminal area and come back at their time.
• Fred. Olsen. Your allocated arrival window and terminal are behind the link on your cruise ticket, which arrives about 21 days before you sail. Fred. Olsen says to arrive no earlier than your time.

Other lines put the time in their own documents. If you reach Southampton early, Visit Southampton suggests waiting in the city centre.

Where do you drop off passengers and bags at Southampton?

Each terminal has a passenger drop-off area and a short-stay car park, ABP says, and private taxis can drop you directly outside. Security staff at the dock gate may check you before you enter, so keep your documents to hand.

ABP says bags go to a drop area outside the terminal, and you then go inside for check-in and security. For CPS valet passengers, P&O Cruises and Princess say porters help with luggage at the terminal. Fred. Olsen says port agents take your large luggage to your cabin.

Long-stay parking must be booked in advance. The operator depends on your line, not your terminal, and our parking guide has both operators and their prices.

What is inside the Southampton cruise terminals?

Plan on toilets, baby-changing and vending machines, and nothing more. Visit Southampton's June 2026 leaflet says all the terminals have those and no other refreshment outlets on site.

ABP says airbridges give passengers a walkway from ship to shore. Each terminal has a taxi rank outside for the trip home.

Who do you call about lost bags at Southampton?

It depends on your line, and ABP lists the numbers:

• P&O Cruises, Cunard and Princess, baggage. The Baggage Handling Company on 023 8087 3111.
• P&O Cruises, Cunard and Princess, lost property. 023 8065 6426.
• Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. Intercruises Shoreside and Port Services handles these lines.
• All other lines. Contact your line or booking agent.

For where to stay the night before, see hotels near the cruise port. For a first sailing, start with the first-time cruiser FAQ. To see what sails, browse the schedule.