NCL BLISS Haven Arrival
Rather than arrive into the United Kingdom via London Heathrow Airport or London Gatwick Airport, chose to arrive a week before the sailing via Edinbaugh, Scotland. You will eliminate the massive security lines at the London airports and instead opt for a smooth entry into Edinbaugh, Scotland and a wonderful mini three day vacation. Suggest you find a hotel for a 3 night stay with an early checkin in Edinbaugh. After a good nights sleep to eliminate jet lag you can spent two full days touring Scotland before flying onto Southampton. Spend a day sightseeing the city of Edinbaugh and the second day on a tour to the Scottish Highlands. You will be flying on a domestic airline from Edinbaugh, Scotland directly into Southampton airport in the United Kingdom. Arrange for a two night hotel stay and relax and enjoy yourself before taking the cruise. Spend some time viewing the English country side, have some tea, visit Bath and Stonehenge. Reference Edinbaugh, Scotland and Southampton on this blog for more details.
Because Southampton is a very busy port it is wise to arrange transportation from your hotel to the dock ahead of time.
This cruise was an Inagural Cruise and NCL doesn’t use this port as they do in New York, Miami or even Seattle. NCL did a marvalous job of staying true to the Haven boarding processes. The terminal used was much smaller than NCL’s normal ports.
We left our hotel at 9:00 AM due to a shortage of cars available on April 21st.
We arrived at the terminal by 9:30 AM. With our luggage on carts we found seats and awaited the start of the boarding process. Our bags were taken by the porter before the mongul hords really arrived. We alerted NCL staff that “We were Haven guests.” We were advised they would come and get us as soon as the concierge was ready for us. When we went to the head of the TSA line the lines of people with their luggage was wrapped around the builing inside and out. As promised the Haven guests were processed first.
Our concierge Adrian Bica met us at check-in and helped to process our Haven cards and invited us to have a seat in the Haven waiting area with water, coffee, tea, fruits, and some sandwiches available until the start of the on ship boarding process. We sat in this lounge about 20 minutes and Adrian came back to escort us on the ship.
It took only a few minutes to reach the Haven Entrance. The walk into the Haven Concierge Area, through the Haven Lounge into the Haven Courtyard and finally to the Haven Observation Lounge. As we walked the Haven just got better and better! In the Haven Observation Lounge welcome drinks were passed out. Our concierge welcomed us, let us know our cabins were available, and the Haven Restaurant would be open soon but to relax and enjoy the Haven Observation Lounge which we did. The entire process was smooth and comfortable. This was our grand entrance into the Haven. We had arrived.
Set the GPS to NCL BLISS HAVEN