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We are seeing My Fair Lady in May. We were surprised to still find reasonable seats ($99 per person for balcony seats). I love Laura Benanti and Henry Hadden-Paton so I could not be more excited!

Also, I don’t know how hard tickets are to get, but for Harry Potter fans, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a must. We saw it in London last year.

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Having seen the terms, I’m surprised the people I mentioned got in, too! :-)

I don’t know the details, I just know what they told me when they finally found us.

Anyway, I’d actually probably book the latest possible entry time, not only to allow for delays, but also because it’s a favorite trick of mine for any timed entry exhibit - there is no one coming in after you, so eventually the crowds thin out. This can backfire if you move slowly, but it usually works out.

If you’ll be there more than one day, I’d just get the Palace tickets for a different day if possible. I wouldn’t want to risk missing it entirely if there was a long delay somewhere along the line. For both the day we arrived, and the day my sister arrived, we just planned DIY walking tours - we did not want to have to concentrate on anything when we were tired and we didn’t want to be tied to a schedule. But, we were fortunate to be there for 9 days, so we had room to be flexible.

Also, if you can do it a different day - the Royal Day Out (with the Mews and the Queen’s Gallery as well as the Palace) is totally worth it! We loved all three stops.

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Sorry for the duplication post, and the misspelling. I missed the window for editing!

We went last summer. I loved it! We were in a large group and so we arranged our own coach. I wish we had added on Brompton, though. I’d spend the extra money and do the full day.


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We went last summer. I loved it! We were in a large group and so we arranged our own coach. I wish we had added on Brompton, though. I’d spend the extra money and do the full day.


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A couple of people in our group were late this past summer and they did still get in. I think they were like an hour late; they thought the time I’d said I thought we’d meet at the end was the time we were going in!


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I considered the London Pass for our trip this past summer, and ultimately decided against it because I read too many reviews about the lines being long, despite the fast line.

Make sure that you do get to skip the line for the places you want to go. For example, at Westminster Abbey, while it allows you to skip the ticket-purchase line, you still have to wait in the entry line. If you can plan a specific time, you can purchase your tickets on line from Westminster Abbey and then you get to skip all the lines. You also save a couple of pounds. We went first thing in the morning and by the time we left around noon, even the entry line was super long.

We bought the Historic Royal Palaces membership, which covered our entry to Kensington Palace and the Tower of London, as well as Hampton Court. It allowed us to skip the ticket purchase line, but at Tower of London we did have to wait in the entry line.

At the Tower of London, head for the Crown Jewels first - the line just gets longer! We did not start there and we ended up waiting about 45 minutes to see them.


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I guess I will tell everyone that 4:30am is a new arrival time and I don't know how that affects the self-disembarkation start time and suggest that everyone stick with the 11:45am recommendation for flights (which I always advocate for anyway, but I don't like to risk it). I appreciate the intel!

On 2/24/2019 at 9:14 PM, Ferry_Watcher said:

The ships at Pier 91 begin disembarking the 'walk off' passengers (those folks who chose to carry off their own luggage without assistance) beginning around 7:15 am.  Pier staff (longshoremen, US Gov't Border Control folks and Pier 91 shore staff) are all in place by 7 AM.

 

Do they move up the timing if the ship arrives earlier? Our scheduled arrival for Ovation (September 13) has been moved to 4:30am - I think it was originally 6 or 6:30. I don't know if it's the case for all sailings this summer. The email I got about the change said something about it being "for the convenience of the guests". I personally don't plan to be up and off the ship at the crack of dawn, because we are driving, but there are others in my group that are wondering if that means that self disembarkation will start by 6, since it's generally about an hour after the scheduled arrival. Royal is saying that the earliest flight time they recommend is 11:45am.

I recently did my check-in for my upcoming cruise on Anthem. I noticed the new form (new to me, anway; I last sailed in August) doesn’t ask for any departure information. In the past I thought they asked for it so they could assign you to a departure group based on your plans (e.g. flight time) - I’ve had late flights or just been driving and have always gotten one of the later groups. 

Do they now ask for this on board? Or, do you just need to wait and see what group you get and then have to deal with going to Guest Services to switch? 

I can't help with staying by the airport and getting downtown. There is a light rail system, but I'm not sure how close that can get you to Pike's Place.

There are plenty of things to see around Pike's Place - it's close to the aquarium, the art museum, and the Seattle Wheel (giant ferris wheel). I honestly could have spent hours just wandering around Pike's Place. It's also just a couple of blocks to the monorail that you can take to the Space Needle, Chihuly museum, and the Experience Music Project (which has a new name now that I keep forgetting). The Chihuly museum was the highlight of my last trip! 

If you're worried about crowds on the holiday, I'd google to see when and where celebrations are taking place. Or, probably someone on this board will know! I love fireworks over the water, though, so I'd consider it a benefit to be there on July 4th.

We were at SAK this summer. We walked to the Opera House easily. Walking on the roof there was so cool. The inside is beautiful. When we got back at the end of the day, we got ice cream at a stand right on the water close to city hall. I had wanted to walk over to Aker Brygge, but we didn’t have time.


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I enjoyed your review! The most recent cocktail menu had a drink called "Red Velvet Cake" on it. Was that from a speciality restaurant or a regular bar? Red Velvet is my favorite kind of cake and it would be fun to try the cocktail version!

9 hours ago, SarahD112 said:

Thank you for all the specifics! I’m taking screenshots in case I can’t find the thread a year from now. Did you book independent tours or rccl tours? And how did you find the dinner dress code? I’m trying to keep it to one suitcase plus a carry on and backpack per person! Usually I would wear a nice top with capris or a sundress, but I don’t think it will be warm enough for northern cities in end of May/early June.

 

Thanks again for all the feedback!

You’re welcome! 

We go with a private group, so our excursions are through RCCL but they are customized for us. Oslo we just went out in our own - no tour at all. 

I didn’t find the dress code all that dressy. On port days I wore what I’d worn to port to dinner (but it was capris and casual tops, not jeans and t-shirts) because we had traditional dining in the early seating and we were always getting back right before so we barely had time to drop our bags in the cabin and run a brush through our hair, much less change clothes! One formal night I wore a sundress with a cardigan over it. I forget what I wore for the other one, but it wasn’t cocktail attire. Normally I like to dress up, but I had had knee surgery in May and I was not allowed to wear heels, plus like you I was trying to keep the baggage down. DH wore a button down and sport coat, no tie.  Like I said I don’t have any Caribbean itineraries to compare to, but it wasn’t much different from any other RCCL cruise I’ve been on - I saw the full range from gowns to capris.

I’d just keep an eye on the weather. It was actually pretty warm in August (we were hot a lot of the time in London, actually). It wasn’t as hot on the cruise, but it was still short sleeves weather. I’ve been in London in May and it’s been warm. It’s probably not going to be 90, but it’s probably going to be warm enough for short sleeves and maybe a light sweater or jacket. 

We did the 7-night Northern European Cities this past summer. The only port we did not have was La Havre.

Oslo was actually probably our favorite place. DH and I just spent the day on our own. It's so convenient being docked right in town! We walked to the Opera House and walked on the roof, which was really cool. The inside of the building is beautiful, too (and it has free restrooms!). We took the tram up to a stop near the Royal Palace. I wanted to go to Queen Sonja's Art Stable, but we did not have time. We walked through the park and saw the Palace from the outside. I was disappointed we had missed their summer opening by a week or so, because I have a strong interest in European monarchies. From there we went to the National Gallery of Art, which was amazing but is now closed because they are combining it with the National Museum. It does reopen sometime in 2020, though, so you might keep an eye on that. From there we walked down Karl Johann's Gate (the main shopping street in Oslo) and then took the tram back to near the port. 

Bruges was a close second. We did a walking tour that included the Begijnhof. Then we had some free time and so I went to the Church of our Lady to see the Michelangelo sculpture that was rescued by the Monuments Men. After that we took a canal boat tour, had a bit more free time and then finished up with a horse-drawn wagon ride back to where the buses pick up/drop off. 

In Hamburg we went to St. Nicholas Church, which was bombed in WWII and is now a museum about the war. You can also go up in the tower in a glass elevator. Then we went to Miniatur Wunderland. We could probably have spent all day there. It was absolutely amazing. It's very crowded, though. People told us we were lucky to be going in the afternoon because it's more crowded in the mornings. I'd hate to see it in the morning! The coffee shop next door is excellent. 

Our cruise was in August and we had 3 sea days. On our busiest day, we did the All-Access tour, had lunch, and went to the ice show. The other two days we really just puttered around. We'd spent 9 days in London before the cruise and honestly it was nice to just relax and read! I've never been on a Caribbean itinerary, so I've never been in the pool on a cruise! Just the hot tubs in the evening! 

33 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

That's because the two hotels aren't really just "a bit down the road" from each other. They're a mile apart, perhaps 20 minutes walking at a normal pace (and sometimes about that long by car if the traffic is bad). That Radisson is pretty much across the road from Gloucester Road Tube, hence all the places you mention were convenient for you.

 

The Residence Inn is a completely different kettle of fish. It's much more than "a block's walk" to Gloucester Road.

I apologize to the OP - I missed the "a block's walk" specification for restaurants/cafes. I did look at the map to see where the Residence Inn was, since Kensington is a relatively large area (and because I knew some of my group stayed at a Marriott, though it turns out it was a different one), so I knew it was a mile. That's walkable for me, and so in the range of "a bit down the road." (I'm from the south; "down the road" is always relative! 🙂 )

I also meant, but obviously didn't make clear, that I didn't find that are to be removed from the action in that there were sights we wanted to see nearby.

We stayed in Kensington last summer (a bit down the road from that hotel, at the Radisson Blu Edwardian Vanderbilt closer to Gloucester Road). I didn't find it inconvenient at all. We were close to several things we wanted to see - Kensington Palace & Gardens, the V&A museum, and Harrods. We mostly took the Tube, but it was also easy to get a taxi or bus along Cromwell Road. 

Some people in our group were at the London Marriott Hotel Kensington. I know they stayed there because they had points. They said the breakfast wasn't that good - they came down to our hotel and ate breakfast most days. 

There are several good places to eat on Gloucester Road. We enjoyed The Stanhope Arms & The Hereford Arms (I liked this better than Stanhope, but both were good). Also the restaurant in the Radisson was excellent. There is a Nando's which is one of my favorite fast casual places. If you do want to eat breakfast out, Caffe Forum is excellent (it looks like kind of a dive, but the food & coffee are amazing). The pizza at Pizza Express is solid. The one place we ate in that area that I would skip is Garfunkle's. 

On 2/18/2019 at 11:01 AM, voyager70 said:

 

We did the whale watching tour with Mendenhall glacier visit through the cruise line and thought it was excellent.  Saw tons of whales and plenty of time to explore Mendenhall.  It was a crowded boat for the whale watching part of the tour but it didn't bother us.

 

Do you remember about how much time you had at Mendenhall? We are doing this tour, and I would like to do the Nugget Falls trail, and the Mendenhall website says to allow an hour (although it's only 1 mile, which I can easily do in 30 minutes if it's not too steep). I don't want to have to rush, though, or worse yet hold up the excursion. 

You can also pre-order a case of liter bottles of Evian, but I think the smallest is a 12-pack. 

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Seattle-City Center when we last cruised from Seattle. It was fine as hotels go but we did not find it especially convenient. This year we are staying at the Embassy Suites Pioneer Square.

You could probably see those places at least from the outside in that amount of time. A hop-on, hop-off bus might be your best bet, or you can take the Tube to get around. Personally, I wouldn't do it just to see them from the outside, but that's just me. Also, not to rain further on your parade, but Big Ben is in scaffolding until 2021 while the tower is restored. The Tower of London doesn't have timed entry tickets. We spent probably 4 hours there, including the time we spent waiting to see the Crown Jewels. We did not go up into the White Tower because I was recovering from knee surgery and couldn't do the stairs. You might be able to go straight there, get straight in line for the jewels, but skip the rest and get to see the other sites you mentioned from the outside. You could also take the river taxi from the Tower to Westminster bridge to see Parliament and the shrouded Big Ben, then walk to Buckingham Palace.

Do you want to be able to tour Buckingham Palace or just see it from the outside? It's not open all the time, the summer opening is usually about 10 weeks starting at the end of July (this year it starts July 20), so it would likely not be open in June. 

On 2/8/2019 at 7:26 AM, Charles4515 said:

 

 That said the beach at St. Catherine is not considered one of the pink sand beaches. The pink sand beaches are on the south shore.

 

 

I'd read that, but the Bermuda tourism website says "Fort St. Catherine sits between St. Catherine’s Beach and Achilles Bay, towering above pink-sand beaches and offering sweeping ocean views nearly everywhere you look." So, that's where I got the idea it might be at least pink-ish.

I don't think digging as evenstar1976 suggests is going to get me quite the effect I want to see! :-)

Regardless, I think we'll end up going to St. George's. My mom and sister are most interested in that, and while I don't mind doing my own thing, I'm pretty interested in that area as a whole, and the beach at Ft. St. Catherine looks gorgeous, even if it isn't pink. 

This is why cruising is hard - so much to see in each port, so little time - Even with an overnight! I guess I'll just have to go back someday!

Thanks! That’s a really helpful site that I had not found yet. It will be great for my group!

On 1/24/2019 at 9:08 PM, Charles4515 said:

 Scroll back thru the thread for contact information for private guides and taxi drivers you can pre arrange with in advance. You can also find Blue Flag taxis when you get to Bermuda. They will be located in zone 3 at the Dockyard.

 

This is a great map! Do you know where it’s from? I would love to share it with the group I’m bringing to Bermuda but I like to be able to cite my sources. 🙂