scarlet ohara

We did that full transit cruise in Feb 2008 too - but in reverse. We flew to Acapulco and home from Barbados. It was the first time we had a balcony and spoiled us for evermore!! I too remember looking down and wondering how on earth the ship managed to fit in as there seemed very little room. I can’t believe it’s 15 years ago!

I think it’s the Antigua flights from October which are still waiting to hear about the airline- although they’ve been told by P&O it will be TUI or Virgin. We have friends flying out from Manchester for a week then staying on to Southampton. If the flights were confirmed we might consider joining them so long as we could get premium seats

I will definitely try it next time. Thank you all

I would love to know how to do this. I’ve read other threads about using routers etc and didn’t really understand them. We both have iPhones and I know how to use them as hotspots here but not sure how to do it onboard

Thank you - so just the same as it used to be. We'll manage fine sharing one package between us. Thanks for coming back so soon. I’m really enjoying your blog by the way. Enjoy the rest of your cruise

Sorry if these questions have been covered but I’ve tried searching and not found the answers We have booked another cruise and will need to buy internet for some of the days. On previous cruises one of us has bought a day pass about midday and we have alternated logging on until midday the next. Now that the new internet packages have been rolled out, is this still possible. Cruise personaliser gives an option for each of us to buy an internet package for 1,2,3 or 4 devices. Does this mean that if only one of us buys a package for one device we can no longer “share” the package by using the same log in details alternately. If so, presumably to use an iPad and an iPhone would require a package for 2 devices, even if for the same person. There isn’t much difference in price between both of us buying a package for one device or only one buying a package for 2 devices (it’s slightly cheaper). Thanks for any information

Thankyou Leomins and Carlanthony24. Very helpful

What time do the flights generally leave the UK. I’m assuming outbound is a daytime flight and the return flight is overnight. We are thinking about possibly trying an Arvia cruise this time next year and the flights aren’t available yet, nor is the carrier. If it’s daytime there won’t be any need to sleep but wondering about the return

If this happened to us, we would happily volunteer to fly home. I’m a terrible sailor and prefer fly cruises but have sailed from Southampton many times too. It’s only a few days short and if the seas are very rough, I probably wouldn’t enjoy the sail home. On Britannia, we are usually in a deck 9 balcony, (low down and midship) so presumably someone from deck 8 who didn’t want to fly could be moved into our cabin

If we had been slightly earlier, I suspect we would have been sent to the queue. Maybe we were lucky that the traffic was so slow around Southampton, some/many people with earlier checkin or priority might not have reached the port. But it seemed that they were calling people from the queue by arrival time, rather than who was first. We met a couple who were on one of the coaches which didn’t arrive till 3.30 and they were all given priority and waved straight through. They said that the queue then was really long

We are on Britannia just now and had the best boarding ever. We were allocated 12.45 which is the earliest we have ever had. We stayed in Southampton on Thursday night, having sent our luggage ahead via BHC. We strolled up to Ocean Terminal at 12.15, past all the traffic at a standstill, just as they were calling for those with 12.45 arrival times and were directed straight into the terminal. Minimal queuing inside for checkin or security, went straight to our muster station and were sitting in the Glass House before 12.45, having our first fizz of the cruise!! it looked as if they were calling to those in the queue who had 12.45 arrivals to come forward

They seem to have stopped the gold stickers- there were actual prizes on Iona recently. Hubby collected a bottle stopper, usb stick x 2 and a car usb charger for winning a few. Not sure why they’ve stopped the stickers

Oops, that’s a typo!! Unfortunately I don’t think about a 100 is an exaggeration- we couldn’t believe what we were seeing. We never saw it as busy any other time, although it was always busier than the previous cruise - we usually only had breakfast there

If you are looking for a quiet lunch on embarkation I’m not sure that The Quays will suit. We walked past on 11Feb, our B2B changeover day. To say it was mobbed is an understatement- there must have been at least 109 people queuing- the queues for the 3 stations ran into each other and were several deep. The queue for fish and chips extended almost to the end of Sindhu- (the neighbouring restaurant for those who haven’t been on Iona/Arvia yet. It may be more civilised on a quieter cruise- I don’t know what it was like on our embarkation 2 weeks earlier.

Sorry for any misunderstanding- it was formal dress mainly on the formal night(Valentines day) but smart casual the other nights we ate in Epicurean