Botley Park Hotel & Spa

[Stephen]

Anyone here used Botley Park Hotel & Spa for their overnight pre-cruise stop over?

[Mervyn and Trish]

Not stayed but we had a nosey at it once. Looked nice.

[oldbluefox]

Looks too posh for us.
We're trying a new place for us, The White Lion at Soberton. It has excellent reviews and is not overly expensive.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained!!

[Manoverboard]

The Three Lions at Stuckton, nr Fordingbridge, is another decent option ... or so we thought

[oldbluefox]

Some of these lesser known pubs seem to be offering a good option to the hotels and motels especially in the villages around Southampton.
Hopefully the experience will match the reviews although as long as it's clean and comfortable it's just for one night, not bothered about gym, spa, swimming pool etc.

[Mervyn and Trish]

.... not bothered about gym....

No of course not. You can do that before breakfast every day on the cruise....

[Stephen]

Nor are we, although Mrs S quite enjoys the pool and I don’t mind getting the belly out if there happens to be a spa/hot tub.

We are now booked and got a half decent deal through booking.com including breakfast.

Just our luck and we didn’t know at the time of booking the cruise that it’s the last day of the boat show the day we sail so of course everywhere have hiked they’re prices. We would normally book the Chilworth Manor hotel or the Double Tree Hilton, but not at their rip off prices for room only.

Should also be fun getting to the terminal departure day with the world and his mother in Southampton.

[Stephen]

Looks too posh for us.
We're trying a new place for us, The White Lion at Soberton. It has excellent reviews and is not overly expensive.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained!!

Looks good Foxy. Another future option

[Stephen]

The Three Lions at Stuckton, nr Fordingbridge, is another decent option ... or so we thought

That’s nice too Moby, although pricey.

[CaroleF]

I've been to The White Lion at Soberton several times, Foxy. It's very near where my elder daughter lives in the Meon Valley, a very pretty area and Soberton is a very pretty village. I hope you enjoy it. John and I used to go there and I've been there recently, lovely Sunday lunch. Incidentally I've also been to Botley Park Hotel on various occasions, usually for Rotary dos, that kind of thing. It's not particularly post, more middle of the road I would have thought. Of the two I'd prefer the pub in Soberton.

Carole

[Stephen]

The White Lion does look nice Carole, a pity they put one of the raised deck beer gardens right next to the two accommodation blocks.

[Mervyn and Trish]

White Lion looks nice. But does it have off road parking? Couldn't see clearly on Google maps. Bit of our pain if I have to unload my little case and Trish's seven for security.

[oldbluefox]

My chauffeur will take care of the parking....

Thanks for the information Carole.

[Ranchi]

We’re scheduled to go there later this month. Always used CPS & a Perm Inn or Travelodge within an hour of Soton. Our forthcoming trip is on Princess & there was no offer of parking. I did check CPS & other option’s prices but they were pretty steep (CPS wasn’t the most expensive.) We got B&B, parking & taxi to & from Soton for about £20 less than CPS parking(14 nights). This included no cost cancellation up to 72 hours before arrival.

When we got off Britannia earlier this year we went for a day trip to IoW and left the car in West Quay. I was quite impressed with place and at £5 per day we may consider using it in future.

[CaroleF]

I think that the White Horse has parking over the road from the pub, it's a very small local road, not miles to walk. I think the overall impression of the place is that it's a very traditional, not small, village pub, very attractive.
Carole

[Stephen]

Changed booking after coming across dire reviews on Tripadvisor about Botley Park hotel. Fortunately we had a free cancellation option.

On checking Chilworth Manors online rates again they appear to have come down so have booked in with them. Better the devil you know, plus after speaking to them direct we got a room upgrade for a small additional charge.

It may be only for one night but I do have standards you know

[Mervyn and Trish]

We like Chilworth too.

However we've just booked Southampton North Premier Inn for Aurora pre cruise stay next June. We stayed there last year when we cruised with the family. Good location 14 mins from Dock Gate 10, free car park and eatery on site. Only downside if it is very hot is no air con, and no lift.

[oldbluefox]

Another fan of Chilworth too. We're booked in there for our next cruise but when we looked for next year it was so much more expensive.
Unfortunately most of P&Os cruises seem to leave on a Sunday (at least the ones we book) so there's usually a premium for a Saturday night.

[Stephen]

Same here Foxy. We sail on a Sunday.

We have stayed at Chilworth many times and although we have had evening dinner there we prefer to go to the Chilworth Arms which is about a ten minute walk or two minutes by car from the hotel. Good food and surroundings including large garden if you fancy alfresco dining.

https://www.chilwortharms.co.uk/?utm_so ... aign=gmb#/

[Mervyn and Trish]

Ours is a Saturday sailing so it's a Friday stay. Not quite as bad as Saturday.

[oldbluefox]

Same here Foxy. We sail on a Sunday.

We have stayed at Chilworth many times and although we have had evening dinner there we prefer to go to the Chilworth Arms which is about a ten minute walk or two minutes by car from the hotel. Good food and surroundings including large garden if you fancy alfresco dining.

https://www.chilwortharms.co.uk/?utm_so ... aign=gmb#/

Good tip Stephen. We drive up to Romsey to The Luzborough. Just an ordinary pub with decent food and not too far away.

https://www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk/pubs/ ... ugh-house/

[Stephen]

.

[oldbluefox]

Just checked and its 3 miles to Romsey and the Luzborough. Just a chain pub but if it's something simple you want it fills the belly!!! Personally after a long drive down all I want is something light to eat and a good sleep.

[Ranchi]

I thought about cancelling our booking at BG following some reports. One advantage of BG is the free cancellation up to 72h before stay. In the end we stuck with it. The room was fine but food only just OK. Staff were good. Pool was small. The taxi service both ways worked well. We were glad they were pre paid as there were 4 big ships in Soton and it took close to an hour to get in. Our pick up on returning arrived about 5mins after we phoned. I should still prefer to pay ~£20 more for CPS & add in and extra night in a Prem inn en route. (CPS full for this cruise)
Had an interesting time on Sky Princess we liked lightning fast embarkation, PrincessPlus (on offer &$25pppn) Alfredo’s pizzeria and International Café. Medallion worked well. Steward serviced rooms twice per day. MDR ok ( found Britannia better earlier in summer). Shows were quite good -unfortunately tech problems affected two of the shows. Excellent house band (MockingBird) Also loyalty discount applied to OBC (unlike P&O policy) Loyalty laundry excellent service. Crown Grill & Rudi’s quite good (we were disappointed with Epicurean on Britannia). Wi-Fi was good throughout the ship. The complimentary ‘whippy’ ice cream was a nice touch.
Not so impressed with expensive shuttles, Live lounge entertainment -makes Saturday night ITV seem high brow (yes/no interlude, and at one point the cd had passengers repeating ‘one smart fellow, he felt smart etc.
The ents schedule looked full but most was un hosted so nothing happened -eg ballroom dancing involved the bar staff moving a few tables and unannounced dance music played for an hour. The only organised competition was table tennis games played to 7points!
On the disappointing side; desperate shortage of sun beds. Passengers were lying on deck on towels. There were 4200 passengers (that’s what the capt said at one of the receptions.) apparently only 2500 sun beds (of which ~200 were unserviceable)
Disembarkation was pretty efficient cf P&O.