Novotel Southampton - Southampton, United Kingdom 

My husband and I stayed here for one night prior to boarding a cruise. I figured we'd get a standard budget hotel, but was surprised at a few things that made the stay better than expected. The room was decent sized, especially for London standards. The toilet was located in a separate room from the bathroom, which included both a shower and tub. The furnishings included a flat screen tv and were quite stylish. The room was generally clean and comfortable. Front desk service was friendly and courteous, with a quick check-in. Location of the hotel is great for proximity to shopping and the port (about a 5 min taxi ride). I would advise not eating at the Fridays near the hotel, as it was extremely slow service and just like the mediocre food you get here in the US chain. Unfortunately we were too late to eat at the mall and were too hungry to explore further options. Wish we had eaten at the hotel, as we did the following day for lunch. The dining room is modernly styled and the menu has a lot of choices. They offer three different sizes to their dishes, so you can order a small taste, appetizer size, or entree size depending on your appetite. It was a great way to try a couple of choices. We found the food to be quite tasty, much better than we hoped. If you just need to check your email quickly, they have a public computer in the lobby for 10 minutes per pound. They will also hold your bags during the day (we had a several-hour wait between check-out and cruise boarding). My only two complaints were that they gave us a room right by the elevator and across from the service room, which was kept open during the day and had staff going in and out. That made it a little bit noisy. The bed was also extremely firm. I think we would have had a problem sleeping on it for more than one night, but it was fine for our stay. We would definitely stay here again and recommend it for similar reasons.