gumshoe958

4 hours ago, Dreams of Traveling said:

Looks like I’ve found the perfect group to ask about traveling from Southampton to London! My husband and I are returning to the Southampton cruise port via Royal Caribbean on a Friday at 6am. We have to catch a 1:55p flight at Heathrow same day. What’s the best way to get from the port to Heathrow? We do plan to carry our luggage off the boat, no problem there. Train or bus? Anything direct?

 Thank you in advance for your suggestions!

The easiest way is the direct National Express coach (bus) from Southampton to LHR. However the times aren’t ideal for you: there’s one at 7:30, which I’m not sure you’d catch even if you’re off the ship early, and one at 9:45 which doesn’t arrive at LHR until 12:00 which is very tight for your flight.

So although it involves a change en route, I’d advise catching the train from Southampton Central to Woking, then the Railair bus from there to LHR. That runs every 30 minutes and the 8:30 train, for example, would get you into LHR by 10:45.

48 minutes from plane to bus is tight. US flights normally arrive at one of the T5 satellites B or C, which means waiting for and riding a transit to the main terminal.

Immigration is usually pretty fast if you use the e-gates (as most US citizens can) but there can be lines if you time it wrong.

So while it’s doable if all the stars align, personally I’d aim for the bus half an hour later which then gives you more time to change between bus and train at Woking.

It’s any continuous 24 hour period you choose, starting from the moment you activate it.

When you get on board and on the ship’s wifi you can either activate via the app or go to login.com to set up your account and choose whether to redeem your Diamond voucher for just 24 hours, or put the value towards a longer period - up to you.

Yes, seek advice from Royal.

Your brother’s past may not be an issue at home, but some countries may take a different view and refuse entry to someone who’s previously been arrested for a sexual offence.

I’d be prepared to bet plenty of people bid on every category they’re offered, regardless of whether they really want it. Just because they think they’re getting a bargain upgrade, even if they’re not. 

20 minutes ago, njkruzer said:

Dh, granddaughter and I are booked in a 2 bdrm grand suite on the Navigator in July.  They are suggesting we do a Royal Up bid to a Royal Suite, 1 bdrm, or an Owner's suite, also 1 bdrm.  Admittedly they are both very nice but why would I give up a bedroom?  I know, it's an automated process but still strange. 

The algorithm just offers you the next six or so categories immediately above yours. Logic doesn’t come into it.

You don’t have to reserve as there’s always a standby line but if you want to get in early to get good seats yes, you should. You can reserve for all shows in the main theater, the Aqua theater and the ice rink.

Until recently reservations opened around the start of the month before departure (eg start of April for a May cruise) but there’ve been reports lately that they’ve been opening earlier than that. There’s no consistency, you just have to keep checking.

13 minutes ago, gorda said:

Hope someone can answer this. Will be arriving in London Nov 19-22, 2024 before heading to Barcelona for transatlantic on Adventure of the seas. Just wondering if there will be Christmas decorations and any markets at this time frame. Here in US almost everything is decorated the week after Halloween LOL

London isn’t great for Christmas markets tbh, but what few there are (Trafalgar Square, South Bank, Leicester Square, Covent Garden) should be open by then.

Christmas lights will be on by then in the major West End shopping streets (Oxford St, Regent St, Bond St).

There’s also the incredibly popular Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park which you have to pre-book (not free).

Finally I highly recommend the Kew Gardens Christmas light trail which is always beautiful and, while very popular, feels a world away from the hustle and bustle of central London. Again, you need to pre-book.

43 minutes ago, scottie99 said:

As OP can I bring subject back to dilemma.

 

There is no other flight available from Sou to Scotland on Sunday 26.  
 

There is no easy train alternative ( def don’t want to change in London).   If we do change at Birmingham, there is only 12 mins between connections.  That seems tight.

 

The other point is my car would be at Edinburgh Airport.   We would then have to travel from city centre to airport to collect.

 

Loganair are being totally unhelpful.  This comes back to my question, can we get off Anthem in time to be at Sou airport for 8am.   The way things are working out, I feel we may have to chance it.

Will there be plenty of taxis at 7 ish?

 

I think it comes down to your attitude to risk.

If Anthem’s on time and you’re among the first off, you’ll make it. But there’s very little room for manoeuvre and even a 30 minute delay in disembarking would scupper you.

I’d be minded to go for the 4pm flight. Yes, it’s a pain having to hang around Southampton but you don’t want to spend your whole cruise worrying about disembarkation day. And the 4pm flight would get you to EDI at roughly the same time as the train.

4 minutes ago, Jack E Dawson said:

I don't disagree foodsvcmgr, this certainly isn't my normal modus operandi but sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind. Of course we would insure our trip.

Unfortunately the flight we are looking at is EI 124 which gets in to Dublin too late to catch the SH flight plus, the lower fair requires LHR to be the final destination. We do have points in the bank but have those budgeted for trips in 2024, 2025 & 2026. 

This started out as a spur of the moment, "lets go for it"idea but thanks to the wise counsel above it is now more of a long shot. If we do end up going I will be sure to report back.

Thanks all.

Jack

The EI124 arrives DUB at 10:25. The earliest LHR flight you could reasonably catch leaves at 12:00 and arrives 13:25. So once you’ve got your bags and gone landside you’re probably looking at a 15:30-16:00 arrival at Southampton, and that’s as long as all the stars align.

Sorry, but I fear that’s a non-starter. With the earlier EI122 you’d have a very good chance but even I, who quite enjoys the thrill of the chase, wouldn’t dare try this one.

If your ship is due to dock at 10:30 you won’t be allowed off until 11:00 or later, so there’s no way you’ll make a 10:45 train.

It’s a very popular train with limited space so I’m not surprised that the departures when the ship’s in dock are already sold out.

1 hour ago, Fairgarth said:

I arrived at Heathrow from Canada on Monday this week.  Immigration was zero wait with the machines that scan your passport.  (Time of day, maybe?)  Customs?  Pah!  Walk right out.  I believe Aer Lingus also use Terminal 2.  But beware, it's a route march from aircraft to Immigration.  You feel like walking to Trafalgar Square might be quicker.  Your choice, Sir Jack, but I would never fly in day of departure.  Your faith in the airlines is touching and entirely misplaced. 

Air Canada flights arrive at Terminal 2B at LHR, the satellite terminal which is indeed a long walk to immigration and customs.

Aer Lingus flights arrive at Terminal 2A, the main building with significantly less walking and - crucially - no immigration checks.

If @Jack E Dawson has an option to fly directly from Dublin to Southampton, though, that would be a no-brainer in this situation. Just have a Plan B ready via London in case the Chicago flight is late or the Southampton flight is cancelled.

You will have to clear immigration at Dublin before proceeding to your connecting flight.

Thanks to the Common Travel Area (CTA) agreement between the UK and Ireland you won’t have to clear immigration again at Heathrow, but you will have to clear customs. 99.9% of the time that’s just a walk-through though - no queueing involved unless you’re extremely unlucky and get stopped.

That’s the trouble with Google.

Type in “Do I have to wear a mask on a cruise ship” and this is what you get:

Click the link and you’ll see Google has just taken a selective quote from a similar question on CC 6 months ago, and presented it totally out of context.

You can see why people get confused.

It’s a frequent question. No update.

7 minutes ago, MJSailors said:

My DH saw some information online that recent RCL passengers were being required to wear masks.

I am not sure that he is reading the most recent cruise information.

Curious if this requirement,infdeed, 

 now exists on RCL ships. 
Thank you for your responses.

MJ🙋🏻‍♀️

Utter rubbish. He’s probably reading something written 3 years ago.

1 hour ago, latebuyer said:

I don’t know why we’re rehashing this. There has been statements from royal caribbean officials including Michael Bayley that they are introducing this new class. Are people suggesting they are lying?

I absolutely think it will happen.

But will these new smaller ships just be new versions of Radiance & Vision which are popular with many on CC because they feel more like ‘classic’ ships without all the bells & whistles of Oasis & Icon?

No, they absolutely will not. 

15 minutes ago, Saab4444 said:

But to a very limited range of ports and Voyager class is as old as Radiance class. 

I think Royal are perfectly happy visiting a very limited range of ports. The market they’re now chasing doesn’t care about quirky destinations. The ship (and Coco Cay, obviously) is the destination. 
 

The issue is the home ports. They need smaller ships if they’re to continue operating in markets like Tampa and Baltimore. And I agree with @HBE4. Discovery class will be like a mini Icon, not a reinvented Radiance or Vision.

3 minutes ago, CarolRoy said:

I would like to know before I book either of these ships.

 

Anthem has the 270 and also We Will Rock You.  Have been on the Anthem 3 times and saw We Will Rock You then.

There is no Broadway musical on Odyssey. Just in-house Royal production shows.

@leaveitallbehind has already answered for Symphony & Liberty.

6 minutes ago, RobInMN said:

We did this (from Rome) in 2018 on Symphony. We had the Orange card and kept it. I heard it was about 2/3 Barcelona, 1/3 Rome.

Other than the ship/MDR schedule being the back half of one cruise followed by the front half of the next cruise, with the embarkation party stuff being half way through the cruise, zero differences for us. These last thing don't really matter to us.

Yes, 2/3 Barcelona 1/3 Civitavecchia is about right. For those boarding in Civitavecchia it can feel a bit like you’re joining the ship mid-cruise but it’s really not a problem - you’ll still get to experience everything, just in a different order!

Motion sickness and seasickness are different things. On most large, modern ships you’d hardly know you’re moving so motion sickness isn’t an issue.

The thing people do tend to have an issue with is the pitching and rolling of the ship if the sea’s rough. It can be a weird sensation if you’re not used to it.

1 hour ago, alc13 said:

Is that correct?  I've been on the National Express website and they do show a T4 stop.  Both going to and returning from Southampton.

 

I have a related question.  If we book a changeable fare in advance and then miss the bus because of a holdup in immigration (this is for LHR to SOU), can we rebook right away to the next available bus?

You’re right. My bad. They do now stop at T4, which makes National Express a no-brainer.

For an extra £5 you can upgrade at the time of booking to Change & Go which allows you to move to any coach up to 12 hours either side of the one you booked. You can call up to rebook as soon as you miss your booked coach, if necessary.

https://www.nationalexpress.com/en/help/change-go

12 hours ago, epixx said:

Ship docks at 0700 on Saturday in Sept.  Flight departs LHR Terminal 5 at 1630.  Plan to take public transportation, either bus or train.  We would like to walk around Southampton if possible.  What time should we depart Southampton for LHR?  We only have carry on luggage, but I think we would need to find a left luggage location in order to go for a long stroll.  What area of Southampton would be nice for a walk within this time frame?

The train between Southampton and Heathrow is not easy - it involves two changes with a tube or cab ride across London in the middle. 
 

Easiest is the National Express coach. They leave Southampton at 9:45 (arrive Heathrow Central 12:00) and 11:45 (14:10). The later one doesn’t give terribly much margin for error if it’s late, which is annoying, but up to you whether you’re prepared to risk it as obviously that would give you a couple more hours to wander around Southampton.

8 hours ago, TouchstoneFeste said:

We'll be travelling from Southampton to Bath, then from Bath to London a few days later. From searching this forum, I see that first class train tickets (at least on the first leg) don't confer much of an advantage. Would that also be true for the Bath-Paddington leg? We won't have much luggage, just carry-ons. Both legs would be on weekdays - the first after disembarkation, the second probably late morning or early afternoon.

 

And ... embarrassing to admit, but the last time we took longer train trips around southen England, we had a lot of trouble finding the first class section, sometimes just giving up and travelling in regular seating. How are they marked?

The hourly direct Southampton to Bath trains do not have first class. If you’re seeing first class fares online, they won’t be for direct trains and you’ll have to change en route (maybe at Reading). YMMV on whether it’s worth the extra hassle.

Bath to Paddington trains do have first class. It will normally be at the very front of the train (but on occasions may not). You should get some complimentary drinks and snacks, plus wider seats in a 2+1 layout with more legroom, if that makes a difference.

6 hours ago, Down-Unders said:

Getting off Queen Anne for a 2.15 PM afternoon flight from Heathrow Terminal 4, any advice appreciated.

Be aware that National Express coaches from Southampton do not stop at T4, which is some distance from the other terminals on the other side of the airport.

If you choose to go by National Express, get off at Heathrow Central then catch the free Elizabeth line train one stop to T4.