London to Southampton by Chauffeur

Sailing days give you nothing back. Check-in windows don't move, the terminals lie scattered right along the docks, and the sheer quantity of luggage would beat most cars long before it beat the people carrying it. Capacity and timing get solved at once by a chauffeur, who picks you up at home instead of leaving you to fight your way across a station car park with four suitcases and a hat box.

Out of London the M3 begins at Sunbury, then runs south past Basingstoke and Winchester without much incident, and the M27 swings you round towards the docks at the end. Of all our southern routes it behaves the best, except on holiday Fridays and through half term, when that Winchester stretch can slow right down. On a sailing day the margin goes in automatically. It isn't a favour we grant.

Two quiet hours ahead of a fortnight at sea is rather a good way to start. Nobody catches an early train, nobody drags cases the length of a platform, and nobody sits worrying about a connection that has been running late all week. Come the return, when several thousand people leave one ship together, a car already parked and your name held up makes the difference between a gentle morning and a very long one.

Give us the ship, the terminal and the check-in window at the time of booking. Ocean, Mayflower, Horizon and QEII stand a fair way apart from one another, and turning up at the wrong one costs an hour you might not have to spare. Return legs are set for the disembarkation morning against a flexible window, because passengers come off in groups. Say early if you need extra luggage capacity.