Southampton Cruise Terminals

Facts checked October 2026 against operator sources. Prices and times change, the booking page wins.

ABP, the port operator, runs five cruise terminals. Berth numbers are the key: the live schedule lists ships by berth, not by terminal name, so remember that 38/39 is QEII, 46 is Ocean, 101 is City, 102 is Horizon and 106 is Mayflower.

Terminal	Berth	Entry gate	Address	From Southampton Central
QEII Cruise Terminal	Berth 38/39	Dock Gate 4	Test Road, SO14 3GG	2.5 miles, 45-50 minutes on foot, 5-10 minutes by taxi
Ocean Cruise Terminal	Berth 46/47	Dock Gate 4	Cunard Road, SO14 3QN	1.5 miles, about 30 minutes on foot, 5 minutes by taxi
City Cruise Terminal	101 Berth	Dock Gate 8 (Dock Gate 10 also works)	Solent Road, SO15 1HJ	0.6 miles via Dock Gate 10, about 15 minutes on foot
Horizon Cruise Terminal	102 Berth	Dock Gate 10	West Bay Road, SO15 1AW	0.5 miles, about 12 minutes on foot
Mayflower Cruise Terminal	Berth 106	Dock Gate 20 recommended (Dock Gate 10 possible)	Herbert Walker Avenue, SO15 0GN	1.5 miles, about 30 minutes on foot, 5-7 minutes by taxi

Each terminal in detail

QEII Cruise Terminal, Berth 38/39, Test Road, SO14 3GG. The oldest of the five and the Cunard terminal. From Dock Gate 4 the road runs a mile along the Eastern Docks, past the container cranes, to a long low building with the check-in hall on the ground floor. Queen Mary 2 is the regular here; P&O, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Silversea, Regent and Oceania appear on some calls. Nearest bus stops are a mile away at the Platform Tavern, so for everyone this is a taxi terminal. CPS, the Carnival UK parking operator, parks cars inside the port for Cunard and P&O passengers.

Ocean Cruise Terminal, Berth 46/47, Cunard Road, SO14 3QN. Opened on 9 May 2009 at a cost of £19m, built at Ocean Dock opposite the old Ocean Terminal of the liner era, with a twenty-year agreement between ABP and Carnival UK and a design capacity of 4,000 passengers a day. P&O's three biggest ships and the AIDA ships use it. It is the one terminal within a short walk of somewhere useful: Town Quay with the Red Funnel ferries is 0.4 miles, Ocean Village with its restaurants about the same, and the Triangle car park on Cunard Road has 270 spaces for park-and-ride or valet parking.

City Cruise Terminal, 101 Berth, Solent Road, SO15 1HJ. Opened in 2003 and refurbished twice since, City is the terminal passengers can reach on foot from Southampton Central: out of the south exit, along Western Esplanade and West Quay Road, through Dock Gate 10 and the terminal is on the left, 0.6 miles in all. Dock Gate 8 is the alternative for cars and stays open during the Boat Show in September. Fred. Olsen, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Disney and Saga have used it. ABParking, the port's own car park, is a five-minute walk and serves City and Horizon; the terminal has Blue Badge bays.

Horizon Cruise Terminal, 102 Berth, West Bay Road, SO15 1AW. The newest terminal opened in summer 2021 at £55m, with shore power connections added in 2022 and a £5m air bridge so passengers board at deck level. Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and MSC are the main users; NCL, Regent and Oceania call. From Dock Gate 10 take the second exit at the first roundabout in the left lane, then the filter lane at the second roundabout up Horizon Way. From the station it is half a mile. ABParking is five minutes on foot; a shuttle from West Quay Road mentioned in some guides is not listed by ABP, so confirm with your line.

Mayflower Cruise Terminal, Berth 106, Herbert Walker Avenue, SO15 0GN. Opened in 1960 and refitted in 2003 and 2015, with shore power since 2022, Mayflower is the far end of the Western Docks and the home of P&O's Ventura, Aurora and Arcadia. Cars should use Dock Gate 20 via Western Avenue and the level crossing to West Bay Road, then Imperial Way; from Dock Gate 10 the cruise filter lane on West Bay Road leads into Imperial Way. On foot it is 1.5 miles from the station and a mile from Dock Gate 10, flat but long, so most passengers take the five-to-seven-minute taxi. CPS parks cars on site for P&O.

Drop-off, parking and taxis by terminal

Terminal	Drop-off	Parking operator	Taxi from station
QEII	lane at the entrance, short stop	CPS inside the port	5-10 min
Ocean	lane at the entrance; Triangle car park next door	CPS; Triangle (270 spaces)	5 min
City	lane at the entrance	ABParking, 5-min walk; Blue Badge bays	5 min or 15-min walk
Horizon	lane at the entrance	ABParking, 5-min walk; Blue Badge bays	5 min or 12-min walk
Mayflower	lane at the entrance via Imperial Way	CPS inside the port	5-7 min

Three walking routes from Southampton Central

• To City and Horizon (12-15 minutes). South exit, right along Blechynden Terrace to the roundabout, down Western Esplanade with the medieval walls on your left, right into West Quay Road past the Leonardo Royal and voco hotels, through Dock Gate 10. City is the first building on the left, Horizon up Horizon Way on the right.
• To Ocean (30 minutes). Same start, then continue along Western Esplanade and Town Quay Road to Town Quay, past the Red Funnel terminals, through Dock Gate 4 and left after 100 yards. Pleasant with a backpack, a chore with cases.
• To Mayflower and QEII (30 and 45-50 minutes). Possible, flat, and not recommended with luggage: a mile along dock roads with lorry traffic. Take the taxi.

Accessibility at the terminals

All five terminals are step-free with accessible toilets, designated seating and hearing loops, and each has a drop-off zone at the entrance. Cruise lines ask for 48 hours' notice to arrange assistance; Fred. Olsen provides port wheelchairs and gangway help from the terminal. City and Horizon have Blue Badge parking bays, and wheelchair-accessible taxis can be pre-booked with the city's radio taxi firms, which is wise on cruise Saturdays. Mobility-scooter hire is available in the city for passengers who want one for a day ashore before sailing.

Eastern Docks or Western Docks

The Eastern Docks (QEII and Ocean) are reached through Dock Gate 4 off Platform Road, beside Ocean Village and Town Quay. The Western Docks (City, Horizon, Mayflower) sit behind Westquay and the station, entered through Dock Gates 8, 10 and 20 on West Bay Road and Western Avenue. Driving between the two sides takes ten minutes around the city centre, so check the gate before you set the satnav.

What every terminal has

• A drop-off and pick-up zone at the entrance for short stops; waiting cars are sent to short-stay parking.
• A taxi rank outside the building and ranks on both sides of Southampton Central; use the station's south exit.
• Step-free access, accessible toilets, hearing loops and designated seating. Tell your cruise line at least 48 hours ahead if you need assistance.
• No left-luggage facility inside. For bags on a port day see luggage storage in Southampton.
• No public bus stops directly outside any terminal.

Which lines use which terminal

ABP does not publish fixed assignments; the pattern in the autumn 2026 schedule is Carnival UK ships (P&O, Cunard, AIDA) at Ocean, Mayflower and QEII, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and MSC at Horizon, and Fred. Olsen at City. Always confirm with the boarding documents from your line.

Inside the terminal: check-in and security

The sequence is the same at all five buildings. Porters take the cases at the drop-off lane and you do not see them again until the cabin. Inside, check-in desks are organised by cabin grade or boarding window; you show passports, the cruise documents or the line's app, and the credit card for the on-board account, and receive the cruise card or wristband. Security is an airport-style bag scan without the liquid rules; wine allowances vary by line and are checked here. From security a gangway or, at Horizon, the air bridge leads straight on board. Twenty to forty minutes is normal, longer at the start of a boarding window when the first wave arrives together, so arriving at the middle of your window is faster than arriving at the start.

Which gate: the short version

• Cunard or Queen Mary 2: Dock Gate 4, then Test Road to QEII.
• P&O Britannia, Iona, Arvia, or AIDA: Dock Gate 4, immediately left to Ocean.
• P&O Ventura, Aurora, Arcadia: Dock Gate 20 to Mayflower.
• Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, MSC: Dock Gate 10 to Horizon.
• Fred. Olsen and most others: Dock Gate 8 or 10 to City.
• Unsure: the boarding documents name the terminal, and the live schedule shows the ship's berth number on the day.

Facilities inside

The terminals are built for throughput rather than for waiting: rows of seating in the check-in hall, toilets, a small café or vending in most buildings, and little else. There is no left-luggage, no shops beyond a kiosk, and the wifi is the cruise line's where it exists. Passengers are not admitted before their boarding window and cannot wait inside on disembarkation morning, so an early arrival means a wait on the forecourt. The practical answer for a long gap is the city: Westquay is ten minutes from City and Horizon, Ocean Village ten from Ocean, and both have cafés, toilets and shelter.

Crew and visitors

Crew joining ships in Southampton use the same terminals as passengers, with separate check-in desks and a crew lounge at the larger buildings; the port's crew information lists the agents for each line, The Baggage Handling Company for Carnival UK brands and Intercruises for Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. Visitors without a boarding pass cannot enter the terminals or the dock estate beyond the gates; the places to see someone off are the drop-off lane and then Mayflower Park for the sailing.

How the terminals came to be

The Ocean Terminal of 1950, a streamlined building where the Queens of the liner age loaded, was demolished in 1983 when the port had written off passenger shipping; the cruise boom that followed had to be fitted into converted sheds until the City terminal of 2003 and the new Ocean Terminal of 2009 marked the start of purpose-built facilities. Mayflower, opened in 1960 for the Union-Castle line, and QEII, opened in 1966, were rebuilt rather than replaced. Horizon in 2021 was the first terminal designed from the start for the 5,000-passenger ships, with shore power and a boarding bridge at deck height. Together the five give the port a capacity that no other British port approaches, which is why the lines concentrate their British programmes here.

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