Southampton hotel booked — and why going down the night before is worth it

We're heading down to Southampton today, ready to board MSC Virtuosa tomorrow morning — and it's finally starting to feel real now.

We booked the Ibis Budget Southampton Centre. Nothing fancy, but it's clean, cheap, and about ten minutes from the cruise terminal. For a one-night stopover, that's all you really need. The money saved versus a big chain hotel pays for a couple of drinks on the first night onboard.

Going down the day before is something I always do now if the drive is more than three or four hours. Our journey can easily turn into 6+ hours with traffic, and the last thing you want on embarkation day is stress, panic, or worse — missing the ship altogether. The ship does not wait.

There's also the parking question. We've booked CPS meet-and-greet parking at the terminal. Drop the car, hand over the keys, walk straight to check-in. No shuttle buses, no long-stay car parks miles away. On the way back, the car is waiting at the terminal. Again — more expensive than the long-stay options, but the convenience after twelve days away is worth every penny.

The bag is packed, the documents are in the carry-on, and the hotel check-in is at 3pm. For now, it's just that pre-holiday feeling starting to kick in… knowing that by this time tomorrow, we'll be onboard and heading out.

MSC Virtuosa → Rotterdam 🇳🇱

Not long now.