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We are spending 9 days in London before our cruise in August. I'm being indecisive about how to get from Gatwick to our hotel in South Kensington (near Gloucester Road tube).

It will be on a Friday, and our flight lands at 6:30am. There are two of us and we will probably have one fairly large spinner bag each, plus a piece of rolling hand luggage.

Using the site https://www.minicabit.com I have found that I can get a private car for a reasonable amount more than 2 tickets on the Gatwick Express plus the tube fare from Victoria to Gloucester Road.

I'm leaning towards the car, because it seems like a hassle to get to the train and then change to the tube and then walk 6 blocks to the hotel when we are tired. I recently had knee surgery and I'm still rehabbing from that, although we have 7 more weeks before the trip so who knows. (We are in our 40s and generally pretty fit; I tore my ACL in a skiing accident this spring.)

Friends have pointed out that the train is faster because of rush hour traffic, but we are not really going to be in any hurry to get to the hotel and as long as we have prepaid the car and there won't be an extra fee if it takes a long time I don't see the downside.

Is there a detailed map anywhere of the royal place park? We will be there the week after the palace tours end (much to my disappointment), but it sounds like the Queen Sonja Art Stable is still open and I am also interested in seeing Princess Ingrid Alexandra's sculpture park.

I am organizing a large group sailing on the Navigator from Southampton in August. I'd like to be able to tell people a spot to meet for the sail away if they want to be with the group. I'm thinking somewhere on deck 12 because I think 11 will be too crowded for us to find each other. Would deck 12 on the jogging track just outside the aft elevators be good? I remember my mom and I found an uncrowded place on Explorer 2 years ago, but I can't for the life of me figure out where we were (we were probably just wandering!).

Also, which way does the ship face in port? Will we be seeing land from the port or starboard side when we are sailing away?

Thank you for the advice! It's nice to know that confiscated items are usually returned.

Look at the packaging or the back of the power strip bar to see if it says "joules rating", or "joules protection" or "clamping voltage". If none of these terms are present, the strip is not surge protected.

Thank you for all this information, I had never thought about this, because we do not normally bring an extension cord or anything. We usually manage ok by just switching out devices, and last year my sister brought a multi-USB thing. But this year, we are sailing from Southampton and will be spending time in the UK before and after the cruise. Since we need an adaptor, and my DH is planning to bring his MacBook, we purchased this: https://oneadaptr.com/collections/oneadpatr/products/twist-plus-world-adapter-duo

The specs say it has "built in fuse protection." Is that the same thing as the terms you mentioned that indicate it's surge protected? We can just not use it on the ship since we will have American outlets, but since it cost $40 and we need it after the cruise, I don't want to have it confiscated and not returned.

My sister and I tried walk every deck to see the art last year on Serenade but we got tired and ended up just walking the stairwells. This year with 3 sea days on Navigator I think I will try it again but divide up over the 3 days!

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Thank you for posting! We are on the Navigator from Southampton in August so I have been checking frequently for reviews. I’m especially curious about the menus so thank you for including them!

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I enjoyed your review! We are going to Alaska in 2019 on the Ovation and I'm already excited!

This is more of a question for other people that have cruised recently, but about the menus - it looked like you have the new menu style, where all 3 courses are on the same menu. But, it seemed like the the options were different. I noticed you did have the chilled fruit soups (which I love) and that you also had the entrees that were the same every night under the heading "Classics" I'm wondering if they're maybe continuing to tweak the menu options. We are on Navigator out of Southampton in August and I'm curious about what the menu will be like.

First, apologies in advance if this is the wrong board. There seems to be overlap between this board and the Western Europe one for Hamburg and Bruges, but I did not want to post twice! I have searched for information about this and can't find definitive answers. I'm leading a large group on RCI's Northern European cities itinerary in August, but I have never been to these ports. Members of the group are asking for advice, so I am hoping to find some here!

In Hamburg, we will be at Steinwerder port, and we will be taking a bus tour that will drop us off near Rathaus for free time, followed by a stop at Minatur Wunderland.

In Oslo, we will be at Søndre Akershuskai port and will be going to the Norsk Folkmuseum and then in the afternoon will have free time in the Karl Johan's Gate area of the city.

In Bruges we will be at Zeebrugge and are taking a bus that will drop us off at the Bargeplein lot were we will start our walking tour, which ends up at the Market.

So, my questions:

Are there ATMs available right at the ports as you disembark? I think I am going to encourage everyone to get their Euro and Kroner before leaving the US because if all 60 people need to use the ATM, that will delay us in loading up the bus! But, I'd still like to know just in case. It does seem like from my research that there will be ATMs available around the cities so people should be able to find one once we are dropped off.

Do these port facilities have booths where you can obtain a VAT refund? Most everyone will be returning to the US from the UK, so from what I understand they will be able to do their VAT from the UK, Germany, and Belgium all at once when departing from the UK, since for now they are all in the EU. But, since Norway is not in the EU, I am guessing that any VAT refund would need to be obtained at the port.

How available is public WIFI in these cities?

How common are pay toilets? If you have paid to go in to a museum or attraction (for example, the Minatur Wunderland in Hamburg), do you still have to pay to use the restroom? I've been to Europe but have no recollection of ever having to pay to use the restroom, but it's been a while so I may not be remembering correctly. Specifically for Bruges, I saw on the map that there is a restroom at the Bargeplein park, but I can't figure out if it's free or not.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

I just wanted to say I really enjoyed reading your review. I started following the thread because I though we were going on the Oasis next year (oops, it's the Ovation - I am easily confused), but it was so entertaining that I had to keep following along! :-)