gumshoe958

That coach is due into Heathrow Central at 11am, so it should be fine barring any massive hold-ups on the M3 or M25 motorways. From the bus station at Heathrow it’s about a 5-10 minute walk to T2 via an underground walkway.

She’s coming up to 5 years old so a dry dock is mandatory and in no way means she’s in bad shape. For now she’s the fourth newest ship in the fleet and still feels very contemporary. For a TA with so many sea days you want a ship with lots to do and see and plenty of options for eating and drinking, and an O-class ship really can’t be beaten for choice.

At under $125 a night for an interior including taxes & fees I’d say it’s still a decent solo price for one of the best ships in the fleet. Particularly when prices for pretty much everything are high right now.

You can use your D+ vouchers to buy drinks for anyone you like.

Staffing will be the issue. The people who work in there are assigned to other restaurants in the evening. It’s not like on land where a venue can just hire in temporary staff to cater a function.

Agreed. Plus the fact that Royal have little creative control over the Broadway shows and presumably pay a hefty fee to license them. Doubtless Nick Weir’s team is under the same pressure to cut costs as every other department and we’ll start to see evidence of that on stage, just like we have in the MDR and housekeeping. Sure, Effectors will have cost a lot to develop but now it’s opened the running costs will be considerably lower.

It’s a different show - Wonder has Effectors 2. I’ve not seen the Odyssey one but I’m guessing it’s pretty similar!

Yes, frequently. Even cheaper if you have a North American TA who secures group rates! You can also benefit from refundable deposits if you want (not available in the UK) and can choose a new cabin if you book a guarantee and aren’t happy with what they give you. BUT you won’t be ATOL protected and consumer protection laws are far weaker in the US so make sure you’re well insured in case anything goes wrong.

Yes. You have to confirm you’ve watched it by clicking a button on the app and when they scan your Seapass their device tells them whether you’ve done it.

You don’t sign anything, your Seapass cards will be scanned and they’ll run through some brief safety info (or a slightly longer briefing if you haven’t watched the video on the app first).

And that’s what’s going to catch a lot of people out (and lead to thread after thread on here this year). Even with the old menus with more choices, many people were accustomed to ordering off-menu. If that’s no longer an option, and there are fewer choices, a lot of people are in for a nasty shock.

Yes. I have never had to queue to get off. The way they word the request to register makes it sound like they’re doing me a favour by allowing me to self-disembark. Wrong. I’m doing them a favour so I won’t play their silly games.

Yes, you can always buy a package on board but it’s extremely rare for it to be cheaper than buying in advance. Remember if you buy now and the price drops before you sail you can cancel for a full refund and take advantage of the lower price.

Because they don’t need to know. They just want me off the ship asap.

I always self-disembark and have never once complied with their request to register with the purser’s office. At Southampton last Wednesday I vacated my cabin on QV at around 8.25 after breakfast and walked straight off with no queue whatsoever.

I imagine he’ll be delighted. He’ll be able to resell those cabins at twice the price to people who’ll spend more on board.

Surely the whole point of RoyalUp is to make sure all the suites are occupied even if the rest of the ship isn’t? So demand for CK should be fairly consistent, even on half empty sailings.

Assuming the same as Anthem, yes you can eat dinner there subject to space availability. In my experience you have to book in person on the day each day, although if the maitre d’s feeling kind they might let you reserve for the next night while you’re dining.

For the same reason that McDonald’s never changes its core menu. The mass market doesn’t want it and Royal believes the new cruisers it’s desperate to attract are happy with the status quo.

They tend to pull out all the stops for TAs as they’re well aware of the risk of tedium. Lots of daytime activities to keep you occupied. For instance on one of the sea days on Wonder’s eastbound TA last year there was a music festival in the Aqua theatre where all the musicians on board did a short set. That took up a whole afternoon and it was awesome. That was my first TA and I too was apprehensive about so many sea days. But luckily the weather was great all crossing so I spent most of my days up by the pool and never once felt bored. The days flew by and it was over far too soon. Had it been cold and wet I suppose it might have been a different story but I went armed with lots of books and downloaded plenty of TV to watch, much of which I never found time for! I loved it and now have two more TAs booked!

Ok, well to take Inverness as an example the port is actually in a small town called Invergordon, about 25 miles away. If all you want is a stroll, a few shops and a pub or cafe, they’re all available locally and easily walkable from the ship - no taxi required. But if you want to actually see Inverness or any of the other nearby attractions you’ll need to find a cab or use local trains or buses. Same for Glasgow (port is in Greenock) and Cork (Cobh). However there are some ports, like Belfast, which are in industrial areas not easily walkable from anywhere and poorly served by local public transport where I would definitely recommend a cab (although your ship might offer a free or low cost shuttle into the city).

No need to book in advance. There'll be plenty of cabs outside the terminal, or there's always Uber.

Good question! We haven’t had a coronation for 70 years so it’s impossible to predict exactly what’ll be open and what won’t. However: you can be certain that London will be very busy that weekend and I would expect any business catering to tourists to be open, and trains between London & Southampton to run as normal. I would say if you have the chance to be in London on coronation day, do it. It’s not like they happen very often!

Uber generally operate only in larger towns and cities and don’t serve every cruise port. (Southampton yes, Inverness no for example.) Availability of taxis depends on the port. Some ports are in small towns some distance from the city they claim to serve (Inverness is a good example), and there just aren’t many taxis in the first place. So if you know you’ll need one it’s worth researching reputable companies online and pre-booking if possible. On the Uber app it’s very easy to make a dummy booking to see if they serve the ports you’re interested in.

Agreed, take the Eurostar train. Frequent service from St Pancras station in central London, takes about 2 hours direct to Gare du Nord in central Paris. If you fly you’ll have to schlep out to Heathrow and in from Charles de Gaulle which will take twice as much time as the train. Note with Eurostar you MUST buy tickets in advance, and they use dynamic pricing like Royal and the airlines so it pays to book early. If you’d like a bit more space and comfort consider booking Standard Premier instead of Standard (ie coach).