FirstTeacher

Downtown Halifax can be a busy place, but once you’re outside of it (e.g., Peggy’s Cove), it’s no problem. Parking Downtown (e.g., the public gardens or the nautical museum) can be tricky.

We also rented a car in Halifax; the rental agency was very close to the dock. In addition to Peggy’s Cove (where we arrived earlier than most of the buses), we visited the public gardens (beautiful), the Titanic Cemetery, and the Nautical Museum (a short walk down the street from the ship). in St. John, we went on a private full-day tour with four other passengers and saw much of the amazing coastline of New Brunswick. We also stopped by the bay at 2 separate times in order to see the tide going in and out- pretty impressive.

We’re cruising through Northern Europe in May, and I’m concerned about what currency to prepare with for tips. We’ll definitely get some euros ( for France, Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany). However, I’m not sure about England, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. We don’t need much since it will be just for tips on excursions. Would it be acceptable to give them euros as well?

I’ve only done it once, for my upcoming May cruise. I received an email about 6-7 weeks after I signed up for it.

I have a different phone # for EZ Air that I just used this morning- 800-252-7248. I was able to get right through to them (9:00 AM). Also, we flew our return flight last June from Rome on ITA. We flew Business Class and had no problem with the experience (although the menu was not to my liking, but I’m a picky eater). We were able to choose our seats right at our initial booking with EZ Air, and there was no upcharge to do so. (Unlike my experience this morning with British Airways- to choose our seats early, they charged us almost $600 for round trip tickets for 2 in Business Class. I’ve had that happen before with BA, and I can’t believe I fell into that trap again!)

Thank you all for your prompt replies.

Does Princess offer any special benefits if you reserve a new cruise while on-board? On Celebrity, I was offered OBC plus reduced deposits. Anything like that with Princess?

Recently got off the Connie where they offered Bingo once during the 9-day cruise.

Thanks for the info!

You mentioned using Aqua Cars for the transfer from Heathrow to Southampton. When I looked them up, they only mentioned the Portsmouth area. Is this the same Aqua Cars that you used?

Thank you to everyone for your helpful responses. Although I’ve got plenty of time for the planning (May 2024), it’s never too early to start!

I looked into National Express. Have you used them before? I noticed some comments suggesting their pickup times were inconsistent. They’re certainly cheap enough.

Yes, I am following the responses. I’m now looking into booking a private transfer to Southampton and looking for hotel suggestions.

I just got off the phone with Princess after scheduling my flights with EZ Air. We’re flying into Heathrow the day before our cruise from Southampton. The Princess advisor assured me that Princess would have a shuttle available from Heathrow to the port- even though the ship won’t be there yet! (We’re planning to stay in Southampton overnight.) Has anyone had this experience? I stressed that this would be the day before the cruise, but she said it’s not a problem.

Thanks to you, OP! I saved over $1500 on my May 2024 cruise, and I got to keep the $400 casino OBC from my original booking! This made my day!

As someone who purchased basic WiFi for my upcoming cruise (6/22), I am very disappointed in this decision. If I had known this would be happening, I would have taken advantage of the $9.99 voucher to upgrade back when we first booked. My husband did this so he’s all set. However, it now looks like I cannot keep the basic package at all, and if I want the premium WiFi I’ll be paying a much higher price to get it. When I get on board next week, I will certainly be requesting some satisfaction.

Thank you all!

When check-in is finally available, I want to asap choose an early check-in time. Will I need other info (like passport #’s, etc.), or can I just go to the section where I choose my time?

I followed the long discussion about the $9.99 Premium WiFi Voucher upgrade. The debate was how Celebrity’s wording would be interpreted once on-board: Was it $9.99 per package (as the title seemed to imply) or $9.99 per day (as the fine print explained). (I see now that they’re very clear that the current voucher is now $15 per day.) My question is for those who have cruised recently and tried to use the voucher. How is it working out? If you tried to push for the better deal, how did they respond? Also, did you have to go to the IT center to get it started?

Thanks!

Do you know the name of the app?

Thanks for this. I just ordered the book from the library.

Just another note about Caravan. It’s a delightful circus-like show- one of the best shows we saw on our Apex cruise in June.

Thanks so much for this link and the info. One question: Does the daily train ticket include the option of the ferry too? (The page describing the ferry service is only in Italian!)

We’ll be in La Spezia for a day, and I was hoping to visit CT from there. How easy is it to take the train from LS to CT? Is there a one-day pass with the train so we could get off in a couple of different towns without paying a new fare? We’re healthy 70-somethings, but I’m concerned about how strenuous the hikes uphill will be. Which towns would be the easiest to traverse from the train?