Visiting Salisbury Cathedral, Stonehenge & Windsor Castle.
International Friends guarantee - If your ship is late we will wait!
Drop off available to over 250 London and Heathrow hotels, Heathrow airport terminals and London mainline train stations.
Exclusive tour in a luxury touring coach with professional guide
A full day tour and hotel transfer with collection at your cruise terminal. This service is available on all dates (April to November) when Royal Caribbean, Oceania, NCL, Celebrity, Princess & Azamara Quest cruise ships are visiting Southampton. You will be driven in an air conditioned touring bus with a professional guide accompanying you throughout the day. In a memorable day you will see three world class attractions; Salisbury Cathedral, Stonehenge and Windsor Castle plus much more.
NCL Jade - We are aware this ship may dock at 08.00am. On occasions when this happens the meeting time will be from 09.00am, departure scheduled for 09:30am (instead of 08:30am) and all timings for end of day drop offs one hour later than detailed itinerary below. On days where it does dock earlier than 08.00am the meeting time will remain as 08.00am, departure scheduled for 08.30am
At the end of the day the coach will take you to the Central London & Heathrow Hotels on the link below. We also drop at Victoria, Kings Cross, St.Pancras and Paddington stations, plus Heathrow terminals 1-5.
Salisbury Cathedral
It is a 45 minute drive from the cruise terminal to Salisbury, famous for its Cathedral, one of the finest Gothic Cathedrals in England built in the 13th Century.
Salisbury Cathedral has the tallest Cathedral spire in England, contains the world's oldest clock and one of the four original copies of the Magna Carta on view in the Chapter House. We plan to spend one hour at Salisbury Cathedral. This will allow time for a photo stop and quick visit to the Cathedral. Entry to the Cathedral is free but Salisbury Cathedral do ask that all visitors make a donation; Their recommended donation is £7.50pp.
Salisbury Cathedral is a working Cathedral. On all Sundays and a small number of special event dates there will be services in the Cathedral and we are unable to guarantee entry. Also, on Sundays the Chapter House is not open until 12:00 so we are unable to see the Magna Carta. When special events are being held in the Cathedral and entry is allowed additional entry charges could apply.
On leaving Salisbury we pass through the medieval town centre where there still remain many wooden framed buildings from about the 13th to 15th Century when Salisbury was at its most prosperous and importance.
Stonehenge 
We will spend around 90 minutes at Stonehenge, time enough to take in this world famous monument from 4-5,000 years ago and still have enough time for the gift shop or a quick coffee. Your guide will explain to you the many theories and mysteries behind Stonehenge as you enter the new visitor centre and neolithic village. You will then have the option (entry extra) of taking the train to the stones to enjoy an audio guided tour.
Advance booking with International Friends will be the only way to guarantee entry at the correct time. If you do not pre-book your entry ticket when you book the transfer we cannot guarantee you will be allowed entry on the day. There is free wifi for all to use in Stonehenge visitor centre.
Please note there is not an 'allocated' lunch stop on this tour. The guide will point out places to buy lunch in Salisbury and Stonehenge which you can eat during the tour. On arrival in Windsor if you do not wish to enter the castle you will have time for a more formal sit down lunch.
Windsor
It is 75-90 minute drive from Stonehenge to Windsor. We aim to arrive at Windsor at early afternoon.
Over 900 years of royal history are waiting for you in Windsor Castle, which is perched high above the River Thames. From William the Conqueror all the way through to our current Queen, successive monarchs have lived here and left their mark on what is now the largest continuously occupied castle in the world.
See for yourself the splendour of St. Georges chapel and the sumptuous state apartments. Windsor itself is a pretty town full of traditional shops and historic pubs.
We stop longer than most tours, enough time to take a full visit to Windsor Castle and have time for something to eat and a quick walk around the Old Town. The guide will not enter Windsor Castle with you - you will receive a personal audio guide on admission so you can take in Windsor Castle at your own pace. To avoide long queues and possible disappointment on the day we strongly advise you include your attraction entry when booking the transfer.
If you don't want to visit the castle there is much else to do in Windsor and Eton. The guide will be available to assist you in having a very enjoyable few hours.
Due to the new booking system at Stonehenge on some dates the order of places visited may be Stonehenge first then Salisbury, then Windsor.
Joining Procedure At Southampton 
Nearly all cruises at Southampton arrive between 05:00 and 06:00 in the morning with disembarkation starting around 07:00. Your guide will meet you at the terminal building exit from 08:00. We plan to leave Southampton by 08:30
There are 4 cruise terminals at Southampton, all slightly different but you will have a typical walk of about 75 yards to the tour bus where the driver will load your luggage into the hold. That is the last time you will see your luggage until you get to London. In the unlikely event your ship is delayed into port, we will delay our departure time accordingly (applicable only to the listed ships we service). For all delayed ship arrivals we will aim to leave at the latest one hour after docking (earlier if possible). On dates when this service is collecting from 2 or more ships and one ship is late, a transfer service will be provided for these customers to 'catch up' with the tour. Unfortunately due to strict timed entry procedures at major attractions this may result in late arrivals missing a portion of the tour.
Arrival in London & Heathrow
We depart Windsor at 16:00 and drop at Heathrow hotels and terminals 16:45-17:30 subject to traffic, arriving in Central London 18:00-18:30. We cover the vast majority of hotels in London city centre. We also drop at Victoria Coach/train station, Kings Cross/St.Pancras station and Paddington station. Please click on the link to see a complete list of drop off points.
If your hotel is not on the list please contact us at cruise@internationalfriends.co.uk and we can advise you of the nearest drop off point to your hotel. When enquiring about hotel drop offs please ensure you provide us with the name and full address of the hotel.
Flying From Gatwick, Stansted or Luton Airports?
If you are flying from Gatwick, Stansted or Luton Airports we can drop you at Victoria Rail or Coach Station around 18:45-19.00pm, where there are frequent trains and airport buses to each airport.
Guaranteed Departures - Please note this is a guaranteed cruise day trip transfer, and will operate on all of the dates listed.
These dates are listed in the drop-down at the top right corner of this page.
If you require a transfer on a different date or prefer a private transfer for 1-7 people please click here.
if your enquiry is for 9 or more people please click here to request a quote.
Booking Conditions and Payment
In order that we can guarantee your booking, you will need to make payment in full. However, all cruise transfer/tours which are booked from this webpage, are not subject to cancellation charges up to 42 days (6 weeks) prior to the the transfer/tour travel date. Within 41 days of your travel date, our normal booking conditions shall apply.
The luggage allowance is 2 large cases per passenger (maximum 23kgs per case) plus 2 pieces of hand luggage (max 10kg per case). If you have more than this you must contact our office prior to travel. We do not carry outsize items (eg bicycles) and you MUST inform us in advance if you have a wheelchair, mobility vehicle etc.
Additional Information
On arrival in Salisbury the walk from the coach drop off to the Cathedral is 5 minutes. In Windsor the walk from the coach park to/from the castle is 10-15 minutes.
Important information regarding Windsor Castle
If you specifically want to visit Windsor Castle, please note the restrictions below. This information is provided in good faith and has been sourced from the Royal Collection trust website <http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/visit/windsorcastle/plan-your-visit>
We are not responsible for further updates and strongly recommend that you double check opening information on the link above if you are intending to go inside Windsor Castle. Where there is no Windsor Castle upgrade option it is known to be closed and we will still visit Windsor as planned, where the guide will orientate you around this beautiful town so you can enjoy the riverside cafes, shops and perhaps stroll along to Eton.
