lebreos

Its nice to have - I didn't manage to buy mine at rock bottom but I'll be happy to have the OBC to tot up and eventually cover the cost of the shares - as i only do 1 cruise a year maximum. When retired I may make up for lost time... Who knows they may even eventually start paying dividends again in about 10 years...

having searched their site - no - P&O, fred olsen, Disney and Princess only - and dfds - under cruises but I don't count that channel crossing particularly highly lol.

I was lucky enough to book a meal with, imo the unfairly disgraced/removed, Atul Kochhar when he was onboard doing staff audit and training. Similar to when Marco and other food heroes are onboard there is a leaflet left in your room with the rest advertising a meal or 2.It comes up on cruise personaliser that they are onboard before the cruise. After brief discussion with the wife whom wasn't keen, I booked the 2 of us onto the available meal within 15 min of us getting into our cabin - happened to be the second one at 50£ish a head I think. I told her if you don't want to go I'll go by myself and eat his supervised cooked dishes with him.... There were 20 or so sat on a long table - he sat 1 end first half and swapped to other end 2nd half. The food in Sindhu that night was superb with wines for each course as selected by Atul - I can imagine a meal with any of the food heroes will be great but not cheap. However when will you ever get the chance again...

Seems like much less traffic as well advertised - added 30 to 45 min to journey time with highways asking people to follow the diversion route not your sat navs. hoping wont be there early September when i have to use that route...but 3 to 4 more closures to go between now and xmas 24

Triangle car park just outside gate 4 - was ok last trip too. drove in dropped main luggage - drove out gt 4 car park on left - parked up you take keys with you then reverse on way back - left wife with all the baggage in the load/unload lanes and walked to get car and drove back in to load up

I don't know why everyone is so pessimistic the share perk will cease, they have kept it all through the recovery years of the pandemic - their ships have high occupancy and they are eating into their debt pile... Have I missed an announcement somewhere?

well if you make it and worse case you could get a private hire from London to Southampton, at least the ship is a good place to have the jet lag. The flight from Orlando will probably land early in London by 30 min or so - cant land b4 6am or so. which will help buffer the landing time to train a little in your favour. the ships last boarding time is around 430pm normally so i think your good to go. If you do a self disembark at 7 to 8am and allow for all the transfers the flight back is also doable. Have decent travel insurance and go for it...Booking the train ticket on the web up to 12 weeks in advance will give you a good saving but you must catch that train - book a seat when you do if its able to be done.

No one ever does that do they ?????? 😁

I like wine with my meals and beer rest of the time - we usually end up buying the captains wine package and pay as you go for the rest. At least i dont have to worry about getting a second glass with my meal. I dont drink during the day if possible, but would if i had the drinks package so pays your money and takes your choices.

it can be in your suitcase - well packed of course..

Ive used, penguin parking - much quicker now they are in Southampton than over in Marchwood as before. Car stays in their compound they shuttle you back and forth in a minibus. very good service and drivers. Cps when it was worth more than any OBC we might have had. This last time triangle parking - which is an ANPR carpark just outside ocean terminal/dock gate. A greeter there on parking to check you were booked in and take your keys with you. so dropped luggage first off then drove out to car park and walked back with hand luggage.

Definitely pre book as they even sell out out some days. I think if your polite and just a little late you will probably be fine - they are just trying to get an even flow through and probably have a little wiggle room.

I can only comment on P&O. the larger ships are a different beast to the small ships, all freedom dining on the 2 newest, 2 formal nights on a 2 week cruise, 4 on the rest of the fleet. They maintain some dress standards in MDR on an evening and the pay extra dining is quite good if you fancy a change. Tips are now included in price so only tip if you want to, i usually tip cabin steward if they have been good, they have been so far. The cabin steward you will only see in the morning as no night time turndown on P&O any more. No longer silver service and only a 3 course meal.You can ask for desert and cheese though and they will happily bring it. Unless you want to drink all day just do pay as you go as the inclusive packages do cost a bit. The staff are still great and the entertainment pretty good depending on your taste. Britannia is a nice compromise between the older Ventura and azura, and the massive and newer Iona and arvia. They all have advantages and disadvantages. I hope you take your cruise without dwelling on the differences from your previous experiences and enjoy it very much.

or take some pods/sheets with you and use the laundrettes on each floor, its a lot cheaper but does take time...

only aware of the big set on deck 17 or 18 just as you come out of the midship lift onto the deck i think.