Heidi13

Always book with the airline using points. Book the flights once the schedules are published, so I have best availability.

For Canadians, that also don't have a UK passport, I believe the ETA requirement is effective January 2025, not November. The application process opened last month.

Our favourite Afternoon Tea in Victoria used to be the White Heather Tea Room. It is a couple miles from downtown on Oak Bay Ave. Our last visit, earlier this year, wasn't great as the owners must have changed. In August, we looked at Pendray, which is close to our condo, but the menu wasn't what we consider traditional Afternoon Tea. Way too nuvo cuisine for us. Personally, next time in Victoria, we are going back to Butchart Gardens. Will enjoy a walk around the gardens followed by afternoon tea, and finish with a stop at Church & State Winery. When in port for a few hours at night, I suggest heading downtown, either walking or taking the shuttle, and explore. Lots of shops and even more great pubs - Sticky Wicket, Bard & Banker, Irish Times, Whistle Buoy Brewing and a little further out is Spinnakers Brew Pub. You can also cruise around the harbour on the water taxi, but they have got fairly expensive the last few years. Edit - Another good pub worth checking out is Swans, which is at the Johnson Street Bridge.

Definitely worth a land trip, as 4 hr cruise stop at night doesn't do it justice.

I know Gatwick has direct UK rail service to Southampton, but having flown in/out of Heathrow for many years, the only UK rail stations at LHR are the Heathrow Express at T5 & T2/3 to Paddington. Haven't used LHR T4 for some years, but don't recall it has a Heathrow Express station. How did you get direct train service from LHR to Southampton?

If you are considering the evening tea, it is at the Empress Hotel. Haven't attended the evening version, but the Afternoon Tea is very expensive and somewhat over-rated for what they offer. We did it last year during a quick trip to Victoria, as no reservations were available elsewhere.

Cruising from Southampton, my preference is arriving into LHR, rather than Gatwick. The only direct public transport option between LHR and Southampton is by National Express bus. You have multiple buses running daily, with hourly service for much of the day. There is no direct rail service from LHR to Southampton. You can take the new Elizabeth Line then connect to UK rail with 1 or 2 connections. If you want to also see London, you can take the high speed train into Paddington, or the Tube to any station. When departing for Southampton, the best trains depart from Waterloo, but you can also use other stations.

When we booked Alaska we always did the 14-day R/T, as being Vancouver residents, it saved the hassles with flights. In Whittier, I suggest checking out the Phillip's 26 Glacier Cruise. It is a full day tour that departs and ends next to the ship. With respect to visiting mostly the same ports, I spent 2 seasons cruising Alaska, visiting the same ports every week, so have visited most of them well over 30 times. Even as a pax, I still enjoyed the multiple visits. Since I used to complete 4-months cruising, I didn't find the 14-days too long.

I have driven and walked these streets for many years, but have never brought my bike over to Victoria. Personally, especially after dark, I would not feel comfortable riding a bike on some of Victoria's streets. When we stay in Victoria, our condo is by Fisherman's Wharf and the traffic at night has increased significantly. Sounds like some drivers consider it a drag strip. Walking downtown or taking the shuttle then walking around downtown, sampling some of the excellent local ales would be much safer.

Affirmative, during Westbound transits the routing is on the Gibraltar side. Always preferred night transits, as most of the time they were cooler and clearer.

From memory, the distance from Lisbon to Gibraltar Straits is about 300 n/mls. Without knowing the month, next port and arrival/departure times, it is impossible to confirm if the transit is daylight or evening. The Gibraltar Straits has a Traffic Separation Scheme, so Eastbound vessels entering the Meddy, must transit on the African side of the channel. Been through many times, and during most of the daylight transits, it was so hazy, we didn't get great views of the rock.

As a UK National with a British Passport, you are Visa exempt, so should not require anything to arrive by cruise ship. the Canadian eTA was only required to arrive or transit a Canadian airport. Not required to arrive by ship or driving in from USA. Those were the requirements last time my dad arrived to visit a couple years ago. Regardless, it is always worth checking out the current requirements on the Canadian Govt website.

Both worked for and sailed with Princess for 40 years and can certainly confirm that their standards have eroded considerably. Personally, we won't sail with them again. However, along with HAL, they are 2 of the best cruise lines for Alaska. Based on your circumstances, I would at least consider sailing on the Coral/Island or Sapphire/Diamond. Even one of the basic "Grand" Class (pre-Caribbean Princess) would be an OK option. I would avoid the newer ""Royal" Class ships. Concur with the previous post, avoid R/T from Seattle in favour of a R/T Vancouver or a N'bd/S'bd Vancouver/Whittier.

Viking provides complimentary beer and wine at both lunch and dinner, and they are fairly easy going on pours. No issues taking a full glass with you after the meal. You can also bring aboard any alcoholic beverages (no restrictions on quantity) and they will happily serve your own wines in the dining room (no corkage fees). All specialty teas and coffees are also included. Self-service laundry machines are included, as is the soap liquid. With respect to ships, Azamara's are all the older "R-Class" ships from the turn of the century, while Viking's fleet is all < 10 yrs old. Great decor and they have lots of quiet spaces throughout the ship. Many of the lounges have shelves of books from the ship's library. The spa area is also included in the base price.

When booking this type of promotion, any delay in booking can make a difference. Ships do NOT have infinite capacity in the Survival Craft and also, each Assembly Station has a maximum capacity. If the cruise line receives significant interest in a 3rd/4th person per cabin promo, it could mean that the cabin you booked becomes ineligible, as your cabin's assigned Assembly Station is already at capacity. In addition, the pax count plus crew count could be at maximum compliment of the Survival Craft, so no additional 3rd/4th pax can be booked in a cabin. Both of these possibilities could occur at any time after you made your initial call and booking. If you aren't aware of these very basic requirements, then more reason to employ a reputable TA to assist with your booking. When you select a new cruise line, may I suggest using a TA or reading and understanding the pax contract and the terms of any promotional offers.

Based on my experience, Southampton would be the easiest. It is about a 2 hr bus ride from LHR and has a number of reasonable hotels close to the port. However, you do spend a couple days at sea heading to/from the Meddy, which limits the number of ports. For a Meddy TAR port, I concur that Barcelona is probably the best. Not many cruise start in Gibraltar or Malta, but they are also easy ports to access.

Your first task should be re-reading the cruise lines pax contract, or terms & conditions. They may provide some insight into what support the cruise line may offer. When the Medical Centre determines that your level of care required exceeds that readily available onboard, the Doctor and ultimately the Master, will medically disembark you for treatment ashore. In my experience, the ship will endeavour to send you to the best available, local medical facility capable of treating your issues. They will arrange transportation to said facility by ambulance/taxi, but it is highly unlikely they will send an escort. Since cruise lines operate worldwide, in only very few ports do they have shoreside staff readily available. Shoreside issues are dealt with by the "Ship's Agent", who is a local company employed by the cruise line. In some ports, the "Agent" may assist, but has no obligation, to the cruise line, to assist medically disembarked pax. Your primary support would come from your travel insurance and local consulate. Any costs for hotels, meals, hospital bills, repatriation are the responsibility of travel insurance, in accordance with their terms & conditions, specifically their list of exclusions. If you have no insurance, or the claim is denied, you are responsible for those costs. You may, or may not receive a refund from the cruise line, for unused days, based on the T&C. Probably not.

Email contact is not only limited to online TA's. Our exceptional TA works in a local brick & mortar agency and I usually communicate with her mostly by email.

Since you indicated the 3rd/4th person sailing free was in fact a promotion, your best option of getting no surprises was to use a reputable TA. A reputable TA would have checked the promotional terms & conditions and explained them accordingly. If you didn't use a TA, making the booking yourself, then the onus rests with you, the consumer, to read and understand the promotional T&C. No, it isn't your fault they provided incorrect information. Since all humans make mistakes, your error was not completing your due diligence.

The beam is 136' which is wider than Panamax size, so she will require the new locks.

@AZ_Tim has a very valid point regarding the cost deltas of port intensive cruises and sea day intensive cruises. When in port, the vessel may not be using propulsion power, but unless shore-power is available she is still running the DG's to power the hotel services. At sea, the vessel is running at a constant speed, most likely at a reasonable speed, which maximises fuel economy. Other factors to consider are at sea, they may also have the option of burning cheap bunkers. Entering/leaving ports and during docking/undocking the vessel may have higher power loads when using thrusters, changing engine loads and manoeuvring are less efficient and more expensive bunkers may be required. In addition to bunker costs, pilotage, tugs, longshoremen and other port costs can be considerable. When visiting minimal ports, Viking provide less included shore-ex, although this is somewhat offset by profit on other shore-ex. World Cruises are an example of cruises with many sea days and they often have higher per diem costs than shorter cruises with many port days. Since Viking have filled 2 ships some years on World Cruises, there is clearly a demand for this type of cruise. Therefore, cruise pricing is based on both costs and supply/demand.

For ex-pats requiring a UK passport renewal, I received mine in 11 days, which included postage to UK from Canada and back again. Easy online process, with the photo taken at our local London Drugs. I received an online code, which is entered to the online application. The photo is then uploaded. No forms to print or sign and no passport photos to get dated and signed. Completed the online form then posted my old passport to UK. Received by HM Passports on Monday morning, approved on Wednesday, printed by Thursday and posted the same day. Received by 08:00 Monday morning. Significantly faster and easier than any previous renewals. Also way easier than getting a Canadian passport renewed.

While on all other cruises our preference is a balcony cabin, in Alaska it is an inside cabin, especially around the Solstice. With long daylight hours, we find the inside cabin is better for sleeping. With great scenery on both sides of the ship, our preference is also not sitting on a balcony, but being up on deck enjoying both sides.

I would start in Whittier of Seward, arriving a couple of days early to take the Glacier Cruise out of Whittier. Ships inbound to Whittier spend the previous day cruising Prince William Sound, but those departing head straight south. Therefore, arriving early and taking the Glacier Cruise, you won't miss Prince William Sound. Heading southbound also provides a daylight transit of the BC Inside Passage, as on Northbound cruises you transit this area at night.

Many years ago, a number of the ships had some questionable responses during the annual Flag State Inspection. As probably the youngest operational Master, I was asked to form an assessment team to review emergency drills for each crew in our home and opposing terminal. We visited each of the 12 crews once per year, providing verbal feedback to the Master and Senior Officers. At the discretion of the Master we would also provide feedback to the crew at large. We had reflective vests and the crews were instructed to ignore us. One of my toughest jobs ever, with many of the Masters 20+ yrs older, and more experienced than me.