dawntrdr

Thank you for your thorough review. The number of children was surprising, but it is summer vacation time and this was a 7 night cruise. I feel that 7-night cruises are very bad for giving you an authentic experience of the line - they are much more likely to have large charter groups and families travelling with children, especially on school breaks. I hope you find a longer itinerary at a quieter time that allows you to savor a different cruise experience.

Fun trivia fact: John Lennon's middle name was Winston. John was born in October 1940.

And make sure you bring the right plug or converter. They have US and Europe receptacles, but I don't recall others.

Just to be clear, Royal Caribbean is stopping pre-cruise testing for cruises of 5 days or less IF you are vaccinated. It is NOT changing its policy about vaccination. With few exceptions, you still have to be fully vaccinated and up to date. Here is the language from the July 28 press release: "Starting Aug. 8, testing will be required for unvaccinated guests on all voyages and for vaccinated guests only on voyages that are six nights or longer. "

For the record, Lufthansa ground crews announced a one day strike for July 27 so Lufthansa canceled just about every flight for Franfurt and Munich arriving today and tomorrow.

Carnival finished up 7% at 4 pm today and immediately dropped 8.5% in the next 1.5 hours (after hours). At 4:15 pm it announced a $1.0B offering of common stock.

Wise move to come a day early! Yes, if you fly in the day of sailing, and you booked door to door, SS will provide the transfer to the ship. If I were in your situation, though, and coming in one day early, I would arrange for a private transfer or take a cab directly to Southampton. You're going to be very tired when you arrive that you won't be able to enjoy London and you are going to have to pay for a transfer to Southampton anyway the next day. You will also avoid all of the London traffic in and out of London.

I highly recommend the Sofitel on Avenida Liberdade. Close to everything and has a very nice breakfast.

With all respect to RCCL, it's like Liberace and Walt Disney decided to go into the restaurant business.

Coincidentally, I recently came across an article that included a photo of a recent "formal night" on the RCL Wonder of the Seas: Here is the link: https://www.insider.com/first-time-cruise-mistakes-royal-caribbean-wonder-of-the-seas-2022-5. (I think that decor would bring on a migraine for me.)

We were in the equivalent suite on the Spirit three months ago. DH loves the Arts Cafe so I just asked the TA to get us as close as possible! I too was worried that it might be noisy there but it was fine . . .and very convenient. Also, you have only one neighbor on the veranda.

Still down for me too, but saturday night to Sunday morning is a common time for website maintenance.

Query whether these were former Crystal fans; it's been hard for other lines to match the experience they are familiar with.

Women aren't bad drivers. Men are bad passengers.

The Dolce Vita bar, which is the main bar and gathering space, has a menu of specialty cocktails but they are not necessarily tailored to the local area as in the S.A.L.T bar on the Moon and Dawn. The bar staff do often have, however, spirits and beers acquired locally and will be happy to make up something for you. I found that a variety of local beers was also available at the Pool bar.