Southampton: London via Cotswolds, Oxford and Pub Lunch

Take your seats on the luxury coach as you set off from Southampton into the much loved Cotswold region of England, famous for its honey-coloured stone villages and leafy valleys. Your local guide has a wealth of information about this beautiful part of the world. Learn of the wool trade and how it played an vital role in shaping the history of the area, and hear how the region's decline as a cloth producer saw the Cotswolds become a sleepy backwater, frozen in time. Our first stop is in the delightful village of Bibury with its photogenic collection of houses known as Arlington Row. We then drive along meandering lanes and rolling hills to the beautiful village of Burford where the ancient stone cottages seem to cascade down to the River Windrush. After a guided walk through the town, and a chance to see the ancient church of St John the Baptist we will enter an old tavern built in 1402. Here, we will enjoy a delicious lunch amongst the old stone floors and wood fires. We then continue to Oxford where our time begins with an hour's walking tour of this world famous University city with your professional guide. Founded in 1167, Oxford is England's oldest university. On the walking tour, we'll walk past some of the most famous university buildings, cloisters and quadrangles, explore the back streets and wander across cobblestone squares, all the while standing in the shadows of the famous 'dreaming spires'. Our guided walking tour will take you into the heart of this land of hallowed academia, where you'll have a chance to see the Bodleian Library, the Radcliffe Camera, Sheldonian Theatre and selected colleges. Some of the university colleges our tour will take us past include Christ Church, Merton, Oriel, Corpus Christi, Magdalen, University, Queens, All Souls, Hertford, Trinity, Balliol and St John's. The University has 38 independent, autonomous colleges and we will also pass alongside many others on your tour. We end our visit to Oxford with some free time, a chance for you to explore at your own leisure before heading eastwards to take us to Heathrow airport and London to be dropped at your designated hotel or airport terminal. This service is available on all dates when Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Oceania, NCL, Celebrity, Princess & Disney cruise ships are visiting Southampton. Service also available to passengers on other ships not listed when dates and arrival times coincide with ships listed. Please note you will need to make your own way to the ship we are servicing on that date.