Bristol to Southampton cruise terminal taxi: £159 fixed

Sailing day is the wrong day to be relying on a fare estimate. Aggregator and comparison sites will show you a range calculated from average traffic, not a car actually assigned to your booking. Ours is a locked fare set when you book, so there's no surge because it's a Saturday, no surcharge because half of Southampton is trying to get to the docks at the same time, and no recalculating the price if the M27 is slow. You know the number weeks before you travel.

We cover all four, at the same fixed fare:

• City Terminal (also known as the Queen Elizabeth II Terminal)
• Ocean Terminal
• Mayflower Terminal
• Horizon Terminal

Tell us your terminal and cruise line when you book and the driver will take you straight to the right drop-off, not the general docks area.

Cruise luggage is a different problem to a weekend bag, and vehicle choice matters more here than on most routes. A saloon fits two large cases and two cabin bags, fine for a couple travelling light. For a fortnight away with formal-night clothes and the extra case that always creeps in, book an estate or MPV, which takes four to five large cases. Two couples or a family of four travelling together with a full set of cruise luggage should book an MPV or 8-seater rather than splitting into two cars: it's one fixed fare for the group instead of two.

There's no flight to track on the outbound leg, so we work from your boarding window instead. Give us your cruise line's recommended arrival time and we'll set the pickup to get you there comfortably ahead of it, with room for the M27 on a Saturday. On the way home, disembarkation can run later than the terminal's official time, especially with a full ship, so tell us your estimated time off the ship and we'll build in some margin. If you're running later than expected, call the driver's number and they'll wait.

This is the trip most people search for after the cruise: a taxi from Southampton pier back to Bristol Airport (BRS). It's the same £159 fare, tolls included, and the same journey time of about 1 hour 40 minutes. If you're connecting to a flight from Bristol, we track it and hold 45 minutes of free waiting after you land, so a late one doesn't cost you anything.

Heading to the city centre or the university rather than the docks? The Bristol to Southampton route page covers those trips at the same £159 fare.