LIVE from Anthem of the Seas, 23 September to 5 October 2022, "Discover the Canaries"

[FionaMG]

2 hours ago, tfo2000 said:

May I echo all the kudos sent your way, Fiona.  Your detailed reviews and pictures allowed me to "spend" an extra 12 days on Anthem.  So thank you and go well in your endeavors.

 

Thank you. It's been my pleasure having you along. 😊

[Jenglish711]

It’s not the best editing but it’ll do from a phone app lol. Thank you for taking us on your adventure! 

[FionaMG]

4 hours ago, Jenglish711 said:

It’s not the best editing but it’ll do from a phone app lol. Thank you for taking us on your adventure! 

Omg you got rid of the stupid bin! 😁😁😁

Thanks so much. Glad you enjoyed it. 😊

[FionaMG]

Finally home. The cat is thrilled to have us back. 🐱

I may just about have the courage to empty the suitcases before going to bed.

Final summing up tomorrow and then I'll have to start planning the next one! 😁

 

[Tin can]

Loved this review thank you, never managed a Canaries cruise so must definitely look into it.

[FionaMG]

Thanks very much. It's definitely worth doing if you get the chance. 😊

[FionaMG]

22 hours ago, FionaMG said:

Final summing up tomorrow and then I'll have to start planning the next one! 😁

 

 

Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans...

 

I can barely believe this but DH had an accident this morning on his way work and has to spend the night in hospital. I've been there all day waiting for news. Thankfully, he's going to be OK and should be back home by tomorrow evening. 

 

[Another_Critic]

15 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

 

Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans...

 

I can barely believe this but DH had an accident this morning on his way work and has to spend the night in hospital. I've been there all day waiting for news. Thankfully, he's going to be OK and should be back home by tomorrow evening. 

 

Sorry to hear the bad news.  😞

 

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

[grapau27]

30 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

 

Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans...

 

I can barely believe this but DH had an accident this morning on his way work and has to spend the night in hospital. I've been there all day waiting for news. Thankfully, he's going to be OK and should be back home by tomorrow evening. 

 

I'm so sorry to hear your husband had an accident on his way to work and had to go to hospital and has been kept in overnight.

Sending you both our Prayers 🙏 and very best wishes that your husband is okay.

Graham.

[njkruzer]

Best wishes for his speedy recovery and thanks for the review. 

[dani negreanu]

38 minutes ago, njkruzer said:

Best wishes for his speedy recovery and thanks for the review. 

 

+ 1 🤞 🙏

[grapau27]

7 hours ago, Tin can said:

Loved this review thank you, never managed a Canaries cruise so must definitely look into it.

We love the Canary Islands as well as cruises around them.

The weather is nearly perfect all year and the port's are very interesting.

Graham.

[FionaMG]

On 10/6/2022 at 9:09 PM, Another_Critic said:

Sorry to hear the bad news.  😞

 

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

 

On 10/6/2022 at 9:25 PM, grapau27 said:

I'm so sorry to hear your husband had an accident on his way to work and had to go to hospital and has been kept in overnight.

Sending you both our Prayers 🙏 and very best wishes that your husband is okay.

Graham.

 

On 10/6/2022 at 9:58 PM, njkruzer said:

Best wishes for his speedy recovery and thanks for the review. 

 

On 10/6/2022 at 10:37 PM, dani negreanu said:

 

+ 1 🤞 🙏

 

He is home! Pretty badly beaten up but still in one piece and able to joke about wanting to have an "extra week's holiday".

You have no idea how much I appreciate your well wishes. 💕

[sgmn]

On 10/6/2022 at 8:52 PM, FionaMG said:

 

Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans...

 

I can barely believe this but DH had an accident this morning on his way work and has to spend the night in hospital. I've been there all day waiting for news. Thankfully, he's going to be OK and should be back home by tomorrow evening. 

 

Oh no Fiona, scary for you. Glad he's not too badly hurt and hope he's not in pain

[grapau27]

2 hours ago, FionaMG said:

 

 

 

 

He is home! Pretty badly beaten up but still in one piece and able to joke about wanting to have an "extra week's holiday".

You have no idea how much I appreciate your well wishes. 💕

I'm delighted to hear your husband is back home now.

Sorry to hear he was badly injured and I think you both deserve another cruise to recuperate.

Sending you both our prayers 🙏.

Very best wishes.

Graham.

[FionaMG]

10 hours ago, sgmn said:

Oh no Fiona, scary for you. Glad he's not too badly hurt and hope he's not in pain

It was. I'm feeling emotionally drained but he's on the mend and that's what matters.

 

You asked about Bournemouth Airport. Well, it was so easy.

It's a tiny airport with just 12 check in desks. There was one flight boarding when we arrived and ours and one other due to go out within about 15 minutes of each other.

We arrived two and a half hours ahead of departure and check in wasn't open yet but there was information above the counters to say it would open at 15.10 (exactly two hours before departure). And it did, punctually, with 3 desks manned by very efficient and friendly agents.

Going through security was a pleasure in comparison to any other airport I've ever flown from. There were just two stations but they were staffed by two lovely friendly ladies who actively assisted passengers, explaining what needed to go where and helping to put the stuff in the trays as opposed to just standing there scowling at you.

Inside, there is a to-scale duty-free shop, a bar/restaurant and a WH Smith. With two flights going out together, the restaurant was almost full but there was still enough seating in the departure lounge for people to have proper seats rather than having to sit on the floor like you often see at the bigger airports.

I would definitely use Bournemouth again in preference to the big London airports.

[FionaMG]

8 hours ago, grapau27 said:

I'm delighted to hear your husband is back home now.

Sorry to hear he was badly injured and I think you both deserve another cruise to recuperate.

Sending you both our prayers 🙏.

Very best wishes.

Graham.

 

Thanks Graham, appreciate it.

And I absolutely agree about having another cruise to recuperate! I'm going to enjoy getting the planning started for the next one once we're through this emotional rollercoaster! 

[sgmn]

1 hour ago, FionaMG said:

It was. I'm feeling emotionally drained but he's on the mend and that's what matters.

 

You asked about Bournemouth Airport. Well, it was so easy.

It's a tiny airport with just 12 check in desks. There was one flight boarding when we arrived and ours and one other due to go out within about 15 minutes of each other.

We arrived two and a half hours ahead of departure and check in wasn't open yet but there was information above the counters to say it would open at 15.10 (exactly two hours before departure). And it did, punctually, with 3 desks manned by very efficient and friendly agents.

Going through security was a pleasure in comparison to any other airport I've ever flown from. There were just two stations but they were staffed by two lovely friendly ladies who actively assisted passengers, explaining what needed to go where and helping to put the stuff in the trays as opposed to just standing there scowling at you.

Inside, there is a to-scale duty-free shop, a bar/restaurant and a WH Smith. With two flights going out together, the restaurant was almost full but there was still enough seating in the departure lounge for people to have proper seats rather than having to sit on the floor like you often see at the bigger airports.

I would definitely use Bournemouth again in preference to the big London airports.

Interesting. It's about 1 and half hours from us, so similar (a little longer) than LGW or LHR .

I never think to check flights from there, I will in future.  

 

Glad your DH is on the mend 👍

Edited October 9, 2022 by sgmn

[FionaMG]

24 minutes ago, sgmn said:

Interesting. It's about 1 and half hours from us, so similar (a little longer) than LGW or LHR .

I never think to check flights from there, I will in future.  

 

Glad your DH is on the mend 👍

Thanks. 😊 

We could have saved about 100 euros by flying into Gatwick but given the state of pandemonium at the London airports and the added hassle of getting from Gatwick to Southampton,  it was a small price to pay.

[FionaMG]

Well, DH is gradually healing and I'm back to do my final summing up. 

 

Basically, we loved it. It was very relaxing, mostly just taking it easy and no long excursions, visits to museums, churches and the like. We would happily do it again.

 

Getting to Southampton.

I won't go into a ton of detail as it won't be relevant to most readers. Flying from Faro, we were able to bypass the big London airports by going into Bournemouth. Southampton would have been even better but the weekly flight operates on Saturdays, which didn't fit the schedule.

There is the potential for folks coming from elsewhere to use these two airports as well. KLM has a twice-daily flight into Southampton from Amsterdam, so if you can conveniently fly to there, you may be able to make the connection work.

Flying into Bournemouth may be possible from somewhere like Dublin, which could be a useful routing especially for folks coming from across the pond. Note that these would not be connecting flights, though; they'd have to be on separate tickets. An especially enticing option if you fancy spending a day or two in Dublin AND the added bonus of clearing US immigration BEFORE your return flight. Just be very mindful of the baggage rules of the European low-cost carriers!

For transport between Bournemouth and Southampton, I pre-booked with Westquay Cars who are often recommended on the British Isles board. They were fine and the price was reasonable: £65 each way. A credit card was required to guarantee the booking but actual payment was in cash to the driver. I did have trouble getting their website to work for me so was not able to do the bookings online; instead I emailed them and then called them to give them the card details.

 

Southampton Hotel.

We stayed at the Premier Inn Westquay. We've used this chain before. Generally they're reliable and reasonably priced. We paid a bit more than would perhaps have been normal because our dates happened to coincide with the Southampton International Boat Show, which we took the opportunity to visit.

The hotel was fine, no surprises, conveniently located and on a good day, in theory, you could walk to/from the port. The boat show rendered that option unworkable for us but a taxi cost only £6.

 

Getting on the ship.

Fastest and easiest embarkation ever. Ten minutes from getting out of the taxi to stepping on to the ship!

 

Cabin.

Obstructed balcony cabin #6560. Largely unobstructed except for the davit to the right of the balcony blocking the view aft. Very convenient location, right by the forward lift lobby. Plenty of storage for two or even more people. This particular cabin is sold as only double occupancy but its counterpart on the port side is sold for triple occupancy.

 

Food.

We ate embarkation lunch in Jamies. First experience of doing anything other than WJ for embarkation lunch. The food was great but was way too much for our small appetites. The comfort really made it worthwhile. So much better than fighting the crowds in the WJ. I would definitely do this again.

 

We ate all our dinners in the MDR and were largely satisfied with the quality and variety. There were a few misses and a couple of days when it was a bit harder to find something we liked. Royal really could do with introducing some new menus, though. These ones - and the speciality dining ones, for that matter - have been the same for years.

 

We had My Time Dining and I had made reservations for the same time each night so, with the exception of the second night, we were always seated in the same area and with the same wait staff. They tried their best to give us great service but you could tell they were run off their feet.

 

We had only a couple of breakfasts in the WJ (I hated it - too crowded, too hard to find seats and I don't like the layout. I felt it created a logjam around the food). The rest were in the MDR, where there was the option of à la carte (in American Icon) or buffet in Silk. We mostly did the buffet and tried the à la carte a couple of times. The food was good but the service was sooo slow.

 

Our lunches were all over the place, sometimes on the ship, sometimes off; pizza, two70, WJ.

 

All in all, we were happy with the food. It did what it said on the tin, although we acknowledge the downhill trend in quality over the years. 

 

The Gym.

An essential part of my cruise experience. As usual, well-equipped, although some of the treadmills needed attention. I'll keep my habitual rant to a single sentence this time round: A gym is an accident waiting to happen so there should always, always, always be an instructor on duty but there isn't.

 

Entertainment.

It wasn't the best we've had on our various cruises but, that said, it's as subjective as food and I think it's probably more down to what we like than the quality. The audiences always seemed to be appreciative. We loved Spectra but hated the venue because of the dreadful sightlines. The magician was great. We would have liked some more visual/musical entertainment, like the production shows of old.

There did seem to be a fair bit going on around the ship, trivia and stuff like that, and a few pool games as well so, although we tend not to participate, I have the impression that the entertainment team did its job fine.

 

The Ship.

We sailed on Odyssey in May and that was our first time on a Q-class ship, so it was interesting to compare it with its older sister. I can't say I'm a huge fan of the split-level promenade as one half seems to have a lot of wasted space and the other seems to be too narrow thus creating a bottleneck at busy times. I think what they've done with the Seaplex on Odyssey in comparison to Anthem is great. Again, there seemed to be some quite under-utilised space on the older ship.

 

Loved Two70 as a lounge but not as a show venue and also, on Anthem, the fact that there was an internet café. This was sadly lacking on Odyssey and I'm not sure if they were still using covid as an excuse or if they actually don't plan on having one at all. I did go hunting for the "secret" door that I've seen mentioned, that takes you to the cabins on deck 6, but I couldn't find it. Maybe it was one that said "Crew Only".

 

We did use the D lounge a few times and found it to be an attractive space (thanks to having windows, as opposed to the dungeon location on Harmony). It was very busy at the old "happy hour" despite the new drink voucher system.

 

All things considered, we prefer Oasis and Voyager classes over Q but, of course, that's just our preference and would certainly not prevent us sailing on this class again (in fact, our next cruise will be on this same ship).

 

Ports of Call.

We had seven on this 12-night cruise - Vigo, Lisbon, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Funchal and La Coruña, so it was an excellent balance of interesting ports and sea days. It looked to me like a lot of people didn't bother getting off the ship much at all, preferring just to sun themselves on board. That would probably be down to the demographic, about 96% of the passengers were Brits, who've likely been to many of the ports before and only wanted time away in the sunshine.

 

Excursions.

You really don't need them on this itinerary unless you're looking to go farther afield than the port city. The only one we booked was the bus transfer to the beach in Lanzarote purely because I knew from past experience that it's a pain to get to using the local bus. We could have done it by taxi, though, as there were plenty lined up on the quay and the pricing was similar to the transfer (for 2 people; any more and you'd be better with the taxi).

Everything else we DIY'd.

 

End of cruise.

We did fill in the questionnaire asking for a late departure time, since our flight home was not till late afternoon but they gave us early tags. However, GS said no problem, just get off when you're ready. Breakfast in the MDR on the last day was à la carte only, so we did the WJ and as we were up a bit earlier than planned, it wasn't too bad. 

 

After our final ding and picking up our luggage, we waited over half an hour in the taxi queue (didn't pre-book as we weren't sure what time we'd be off the ship) to take us back to the Premier Inn. They will store bags for you (even if you're not staying with them) in exchange for a donation to the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. This is very convenient if you have a few hours to kill because there is a big shopping centre right next door if the weather's being unfriendly (which it was on that day) or you can go for a wander without having to drag your bags around with you.

 

Double points promo.

I booked this cruise on board Harmony last year, literally two days before the booking window closed. The double points posted with no issue six days after we got off the ship. Only 25 more to go to get to D+. I'm working on it! 

 

Next time...

Will be on Anthem again, on her last sailing from NY before she comes back across the pond for next year's summer season. Time to start getting all my ducks in a row.

 

Thanks...

So much to everyone who followed along. I loved doing the "live" and am grateful for everyone's participation and, especially, support at the end, when the unexpected happened.

 

Until next time, happy cruising and safe travels everyone! 

 

 

[tfo2000]

Fiona, thanks for the review.  Glad to hear that DH is on the mend.  Have to agree with much of what you had to say.  Yep, 270 presented its own difficulties about where to sit and see.  The Esplanade was crowded on deck 4 often, so we used deck 5 as an expressway to get from one end to the other. Certainly loved the tropical vibe and set up of the solarium.  As we are Canadians and had not travelled to this part of the world before, we loved the itinerary and enjoyed most of the excursions, since there was so much to see and experience. Bumper cars were a hoot!  For sure, we will do this itinerary again in the future and we would sail Anthem again.  I wonder if you might comment on Covid on the ship.  We started feeling badly towards the end of our cruise and tested positive 2 days after we got home.  Deck 3 on our cruise was full of sick people, as well.  Thanks again!

[sgmn]

21 hours ago, FionaMG said:

Well, DH is gradually healing and I'm back to do my final summing up. 

 

Basically, we loved it. It was very relaxing, mostly just taking it easy and no long excursions, visits to museums, churches and the like. We would happily do it again.

 

Getting to Southampton.

I won't go into a ton of detail as it won't be relevant to most readers. Flying from Faro, we were able to bypass the big London airports by going into Bournemouth. Southampton would have been even better but the weekly flight operates on Saturdays, which didn't fit the schedule.

There is the potential for folks coming from elsewhere to use these two airports as well. KLM has a twice-daily flight into Southampton from Amsterdam, so if you can conveniently fly to there, you may be able to make the connection work.

Flying into Bournemouth may be possible from somewhere like Dublin, which could be a useful routing especially for folks coming from across the pond. Note that these would not be connecting flights, though; they'd have to be on separate tickets. An especially enticing option if you fancy spending a day or two in Dublin AND the added bonus of clearing US immigration BEFORE your return flight. Just be very mindful of the baggage rules of the European low-cost carriers!

For transport between Bournemouth and Southampton, I pre-booked with Westquay Cars who are often recommended on the British Isles board. They were fine and the price was reasonable: £65 each way. A credit card was required to guarantee the booking but actual payment was in cash to the driver. I did have trouble getting their website to work for me so was not able to do the bookings online; instead I emailed them and then called them to give them the card details.

 

Southampton Hotel.

We stayed at the Premier Inn Westquay. We've used this chain before. Generally they're reliable and reasonably priced. We paid a bit more than would perhaps have been normal because our dates happened to coincide with the Southampton International Boat Show, which we took the opportunity to visit.

The hotel was fine, no surprises, conveniently located and on a good day, in theory, you could walk to/from the port. The boat show rendered that option unworkable for us but a taxi cost only £6.

 

Getting on the ship.

Fastest and easiest embarkation ever. Ten minutes from getting out of the taxi to stepping on to the ship!

 

Cabin.

Obstructed balcony cabin #6560. Largely unobstructed except for the davit to the right of the balcony blocking the view aft. Very convenient location, right by the forward lift lobby. Plenty of storage for two or even more people. This particular cabin is sold as only double occupancy but its counterpart on the port side is sold for triple occupancy.

 

Food.

We ate embarkation lunch in Jamies. First experience of doing anything other than WJ for embarkation lunch. The food was great but was way too much for our small appetites. The comfort really made it worthwhile. So much better than fighting the crowds in the WJ. I would definitely do this again.

 

We ate all our dinners in the MDR and were largely satisfied with the quality and variety. There were a few misses and a couple of days when it was a bit harder to find something we liked. Royal really could do with introducing some new menus, though. These ones - and the speciality dining ones, for that matter - have been the same for years.

 

We had My Time Dining and I had made reservations for the same time each night so, with the exception of the second night, we were always seated in the same area and with the same wait staff. They tried their best to give us great service but you could tell they were run off their feet.

 

We had only a couple of breakfasts in the WJ (I hated it - too crowded, too hard to find seats and I don't like the layout. I felt it created a logjam around the food). The rest were in the MDR, where there was the option of à la carte (in American Icon) or buffet in Silk. We mostly did the buffet and tried the à la carte a couple of times. The food was good but the service was sooo slow.

 

Our lunches were all over the place, sometimes on the ship, sometimes off; pizza, two70, WJ.

 

All in all, we were happy with the food. It did what it said on the tin, although we acknowledge the downhill trend in quality over the years. 

 

The Gym.

An essential part of my cruise experience. As usual, well-equipped, although some of the treadmills needed attention. I'll keep my habitual rant to a single sentence this time round: A gym is an accident waiting to happen so there should always, always, always be an instructor on duty but there isn't.

 

Entertainment.

It wasn't the best we've had on our various cruises but, that said, it's as subjective as food and I think it's probably more down to what we like than the quality. The audiences always seemed to be appreciative. We loved Spectra but hated the venue because of the dreadful sightlines. The magician was great. We would have liked some more visual/musical entertainment, like the production shows of old.

There did seem to be a fair bit going on around the ship, trivia and stuff like that, and a few pool games as well so, although we tend not to participate, I have the impression that the entertainment team did its job fine.

 

The Ship.

We sailed on Odyssey in May and that was our first time on a Q-class ship, so it was interesting to compare it with its older sister. I can't say I'm a huge fan of the split-level promenade as one half seems to have a lot of wasted space and the other seems to be too narrow thus creating a bottleneck at busy times. I think what they've done with the Seaplex on Odyssey in comparison to Anthem is great. Again, there seemed to be some quite under-utilised space on the older ship.

 

Loved Two70 as a lounge but not as a show venue and also, on Anthem, the fact that there was an internet café. This was sadly lacking on Odyssey and I'm not sure if they were still using covid as an excuse or if they actually don't plan on having one at all. I did go hunting for the "secret" door that I've seen mentioned, that takes you to the cabins on deck 6, but I couldn't find it. Maybe it was one that said "Crew Only".

 

We did use the D lounge a few times and found it to be an attractive space (thanks to having windows, as opposed to the dungeon location on Harmony). It was very busy at the old "happy hour" despite the new drink voucher system.

 

All things considered, we prefer Oasis and Voyager classes over Q but, of course, that's just our preference and would certainly not prevent us sailing on this class again (in fact, our next cruise will be on this same ship).

 

Ports of Call.

We had seven on this 12-night cruise - Vigo, Lisbon, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Funchal and La Coruña, so it was an excellent balance of interesting ports and sea days. It looked to me like a lot of people didn't bother getting off the ship much at all, preferring just to sun themselves on board. That would probably be down to the demographic, about 96% of the passengers were Brits, who've likely been to many of the ports before and only wanted time away in the sunshine.

 

Excursions.

You really don't need them on this itinerary unless you're looking to go farther afield than the port city. The only one we booked was the bus transfer to the beach in Lanzarote purely because I knew from past experience that it's a pain to get to using the local bus. We could have done it by taxi, though, as there were plenty lined up on the quay and the pricing was similar to the transfer (for 2 people; any more and you'd be better with the taxi).

Everything else we DIY'd.

 

End of cruise.

We did fill in the questionnaire asking for a late departure time, since our flight home was not till late afternoon but they gave us early tags. However, GS said no problem, just get off when you're ready. Breakfast in the MDR on the last day was à la carte only, so we did the WJ and as we were up a bit earlier than planned, it wasn't too bad. 

 

After our final ding and picking up our luggage, we waited over half an hour in the taxi queue (didn't pre-book as we weren't sure what time we'd be off the ship) to take us back to the Premier Inn. They will store bags for you (even if you're not staying with them) in exchange for a donation to the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. This is very convenient if you have a few hours to kill because there is a big shopping centre right next door if the weather's being unfriendly (which it was on that day) or you can go for a wander without having to drag your bags around with you.

 

Double points promo.

I booked this cruise on board Harmony last year, literally two days before the booking window closed. The double points posted with no issue six days after we got off the ship. Only 25 more to go to get to D+. I'm working on it! 

 

Next time...

Will be on Anthem again, on her last sailing from NY before she comes back across the pond for next year's summer season. Time to start getting all my ducks in a row.

 

Thanks...

So much to everyone who followed along. I loved doing the "live" and am grateful for everyone's participation and, especially, support at the end, when the unexpected happened.

 

Until next time, happy cruising and safe travels everyone! 

 

 

Thanks again Fiona, and great your DH is improving 

Wish we had a longer season in Med with RC, next spring seems a long way.

[FionaMG]

1 hour ago, tfo2000 said:

I wonder if you might comment on Covid on the ship.  We started feeling badly towards the end of our cruise and tested positive 2 days after we got home.  Deck 3 on our cruise was full of sick people, as well.  Thanks again!

 

Ohh, that's not good. I hope it didn't take you too long to feel better. 

 

Neither of us felt ill at any time during our cruise and I can't say I noticed an abnormal amount of coughing when we were out and about around the ship, nor did I hear any comments or rumours about covid. The only time we went down to deck 3 was when we were getting off at port stops.

That said, I suspect someone was ill in the cabin two doors down from us as they had the "sleeping off the adventure" sign up all day long and I saw a female officer-type crew member there at one point. However, this was a sea day and it was a bit rough (the barf bags were out on the stairs) so what little attention I paid put it down to seasickness, although I obviously could be completely off-base.

 

We did enjoy watching the bumper cars, even though our rather dodgy backs made us play it safe and not ride ourselves. 

[FionaMG]

1 hour ago, sgmn said:

Thanks again Fiona, and great your DH is improving 

Wish we had a longer season in Med with RC, next spring seems a long way.

Thanks. 

It certainly does seem a long way away. I have always thought that Royal could leave one of their smaller ships in Europe to do Canary Island cruises over the winter. They could home port in Tenerife or Gran Canaria and do 3 and 4 night cruises round the Canaries, with perhaps an occasional 7-nighter to take in Funchal and/or Cape Verde, in similar fashion to what they do with Navigator in Southern California. I would think there would be a market for that type of offering, when so many Europeans head down there for winter sun every year. Maybe one day...

[dani negreanu]

22 hours ago, FionaMG said:

Southampton Hotel.

We stayed at the Premier Inn West Quay. 

The hotel was fine, conveniently located and on a good day, in theory, you could walk to/from the port. The boat show rendered that option unworkable for us but a taxi cost only £6.

 

Fiona, thanks for the comprehensive summary.

 

We've actually walked to the port from PI, since I've read on these boards that it is possible.

 

We checked in Sunday evening, WQ mall was closed, and with nothing better to do, we decided on some "recce" of the surroundings, to ascertain that actually, as it was mentioned, in the morning, we could walk to port...

 

Indeed, the following morning, we cut through the Holiday Inn's parking lot, and, presto, we were there... a very easy walk.

 

We've done almost the same itinerary with Anthem, with Bilbao instead of La Coruna 😉.