Repositioning Cruises from Southampton: Crossings to New York, Florida, the Caribbean and Brazil

Repositioning cruises from Southampton are the one-way sailings that take ships from their northern Europe summer to winter seasons in Florida, the Caribbean and South America. Most leave between mid-October and late November and reach Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Port Canaveral or New York in 12 to 15 nights. A smaller group leaves in August and September on a northern route via Iceland and Canada, and a few head south to Brazil or Argentina in 19 to 25 nights.

Southampton also has one sailing that isn’t a repositioning cruise at all: Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 crosses to New York in seven nights on a schedule through most of the year. If your dates are fixed, that liner is often the only option. If they’re flexible, the fall crossings to Florida usually give you more ports and a lower price per night.

Where repositioning cruises from Southampton go

Four kinds of one-way voyage leave Southampton. Each runs at a different time of year and feels quite different on board.

The southern route to Florida is the most common and the gentlest. Ships drop south along the coast of Spain and Portugal, often call at Madeira, the Canaries or the Azores, then spend five or six days crossing to Florida. The northern route is shorter in sea days but colder and more exposed, and it suits people who want Iceland and Atlantic Canada more than sunshine. For more on the full set of westbound options, including Barcelona and Rome departures, see the guide to westbound transatlantic repositioning cruises.

Which lines sail from Southampton, and when

Our sailing data, built from the cruise lines’ own websites and checked in fall 2026, lists 19 non-Cunard repositioning voyages from or to Southampton between November 2026 and the end of 2027, plus 20 Queen Mary 2 crossings. The westbound ones that are still to come from the date of writing look like this:

Lines change itineraries, so treat this as a picture of the pattern rather than a booking list, and check the ship on the line’s own site. Norwegian, Princess, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean are the regulars, Regent and Oceania add smaller ship crossings in late summer, and MSC uses Southampton as a starting point for its long voyages to Brazil. Cunard is in a category of its own, covered below and in more depth in our guide to Cunard crossings.

Queen Mary 2: the scheduled crossing to New York

Queen Mary 2 is an ocean liner rather than a cruise ship, and its seven-night Southampton to New York crossings run on a timetable for much of the year instead of only at season changes. There are no port stops. The ship gains an hour on five of the seven nights to cover the usual five-hour difference between the UK and New York, which makes the westbound direction easier on the body clock. The details are in our article on transatlantic cruise time changes.

Cunard says Queen Mary 2 has 15 single staterooms with large ocean-view windows, which matters if you travel alone (see solo repositioning cruises). As of 2026, agency listings show lead-in inside fares for seven-night crossings from roughly $1,300 per person, and summer and holiday dates cost noticeably more. That works out higher per night than a mainstream fall crossing, but you’re paying for a fixed date, a liner built for the North Atlantic, and Cunard’s formal evenings.

For crossings in the other direction and the full New York picture, see repositioning cruises from New York and Boston.

Caribbean to Southampton, and other spring arrivals

Searches for “Caribbean to Southampton” usually come from people looking at British lines. P&O Cruises sends a ship from Southampton to Barbados in late October for its winter fly-cruise season and brings it back in March. Its listed March 2027 return runs Bridgetown to Southampton in 16 nights. These voyages are priced in pounds and marketed to UK travelers, so the onboard style, currency and entertainment are British.

American lines handle spring the other way round: they sail from Florida to Southampton in April and May to start the northern Europe season. In our data, Celebrity Apex, Freedom of the Seas, Regal Princess and Norwegian Jewel all make that move in spring 2027 in 12 to 15 nights, typically via Bermuda, the Azores, Portugal or Spain. Cunard brings Queen Anne back from Fort Lauderdale in March, and Queen Elizabeth sails Miami to Southampton in January. Our guide to repositioning cruises from Florida to Europe covers the eastbound side in detail.

Weather on the crossing from Southampton

The route you pick matters more than the month. The southern route via Portugal and the Azores is milder and usually calmer, with sea days warming steadily as you approach Florida. The northern route to New York via Iceland and Canada is cool even in August, and fog is common off Newfoundland. Late fall and winter crossings on Queen Mary 2 can be the roughest of the year, since the direct North Atlantic route is exposed to the storms that track across it from November to March.

Most passengers on a large ship see a couple of lively days at most. If you’re prone to seasickness, a November southern route is a safer bet than a January crossing to New York. The month-by-month detail is in are transatlantic cruises rough.

Getting to Southampton and the cruise terminals

Southampton has five cruise terminals run by Associated British Ports, split between two dock areas. Ocean and QEII terminals are in the Eastern Docks, entered through Dock Gate 4. City, Horizon and Mayflower are in the Western Docks, through Dock Gate 10. Horizon, the newest, opened in 2021. Your cruise documents name the terminal, and it’s worth checking, because the walk from the train station differs a lot between them.

• From London by train: direct South Western Railway trains from London Waterloo to Southampton Central take about 75 minutes on the fastest services. From the station, City and Horizon terminals are a short taxi ride, and most people take a taxi with luggage to any terminal.
• From Heathrow: the airport is about 70 miles away. Cruise line transfers, coach services and private cars all run it, and the drive takes well over an hour even in light traffic.
• Flying in the day before: overnight flights from the US land in the morning, which can work for an afternoon departure, but a delayed flight leaves no slack. Most travelers spend a night in London or Southampton first.

US citizens need a UK Electronic Travel Authorisation to enter the UK, whether you fly in to board or step ashore at the end of an eastbound crossing. According to GOV.UK’s ETA guidance, it costs £20 as of 2026, each traveler needs their own, including children, and it allows stays of up to six months. Apply through GOV.UK or the official app, not a third-party site.

What a crossing from Southampton costs

As of 2026, mainstream fall crossings from Southampton to Florida typically sell for about $60 to $110 per person per night in an inside or ocean-view cabin, in line with westbound crossings from other European ports. A 14-night crossing often comes to roughly $850 to $1,500 per person before taxes, gratuities and the flight to London. Celebrity and Oceania usually sit higher, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean often lower, and balcony cabins add a meaningful amount on a two-week trip.

The flight is the cost people forget. Because you fly to London and home from Florida or New York, a one-way or open-jaw ticket is part of the trip. Our guide to flights home after a repositioning cruise explains how to book them. For an eastbound trip that ends in Southampton, Princess’s own guidance suggests leaving about 7 hours between the ship’s scheduled arrival and a Heathrow flight, which in practice means a mid-afternoon departure or a night near the airport.