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TouchstoneFeste
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London to Gatwick car service timing
TouchstoneFeste replied to TouchstoneFeste's topic in British Isles/Western Europe
BA to Malta, arriving three days before our cruise starts, so no problem (other than a tour we wanted to take on arrival) if we totally miss the flight. But I'm starting to think the overnight at Gatwick is inevitable. -
We have a 7am flight out of Gatwick on Thursday, September 5 (yes, I know; but all the other alternatives for our destination are immeasurably worse) to connect to a cruise departure. We'll be staying at the Clermont Charing Cross. I booked our departure from London for 4am, but asked the car service what their recommended pick up time would be. The response was "Upon checking, the journey from The Clermont London to Gatwick airport can take up to 2hrs depending on traffic. Gatwick recommends passengers to be at the airport at least 2-3hrs before flight departure. Please let us know what pickup time would be more comfortable for you and we will update your booking." Does that make sense? or could we stick to our original estimate ("at that time of the morning allow an hour or so to get there, a couple hours to process through Gatwick")? (I know that one option would be to transfer to a Gatwick-adjacent hotel the night before, but we'd like to avoid that because it would mess up our last night in London.)
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https://www.romeairports.com/fiumicino_en/fast-track.html
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Usually just a piano player or harpist. Nothing rowdy.
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There's a roll call for this voyage (but no real activity there yet)
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And it may or may not apply in all fare classes. Our first voyage we ended up in QG for the P2 fare (spoiling us forever). But when I explored this on a recent booking, it applied only to Britannia Club or lower fares.
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And finally ... Based on previous Smithsonian trips (but no Ponant/Smithsonian ones), I'd guess the passengers will all be parcellled into bundles of 20-30 people - sized for coaches. We've never encountered any options for more "private" tours, but of course you would be at liberty to book from independent providers at each port. When overwhelmed by days of trudging through dusty beige ruins, we've sometimes taken beach days on our own or wandered a port independently.
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(dope slapping myself) Most of the information above, and much more detail, can be seen at https://us.ponant.com/the-mediterranean-ancient-wonders-and-culinary-delights-cruising-southern-italy-and-sicily-with-smithsonian-journeys-eg080924-12 Click on Itinerary. There are also pre- and post-cruise extensions offered. We found them both to be uninviting - they seem overpriced and flawed. The Malta one is a single overnight with one tour; we'll stay in a very nice room at the same hotel for three nights and do multiple tours around Valletta and the island - for approximately the price of the extension. The Florence hotel appears to be very nice, but it's 20 miles away from the central attractions, meaning independent exploration would be difficult. Obviously, your cruise will have different pre- and post- options, but I'd be careful. I can't find info about them on the Ponant site, but you can get some detail on Smithsonian's: https://www.smithsonianjourneys.org/tours/ancient-wonders-and-culinary-delights/details/
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I can answer a few of these. We'll be taking a Ponant/Smithsonian tour from Malta to Livorno (that is, up the western coast of Italy) in September with daily port calls. Our tour options were announced in early April; they're not yet available for sign-up. The number of excursions varies, but only one port has just two options; the rest have 3-5 choices. None of our excursions seem on the high end of the activity scale. Frequent mention of "uneven terrain", but even the trips up Mounts Etna and Vesuvius appear to be coach-based with just one to two miles of walking. There's a "flat" tour available at each port. None are strictly sedentary, though. Each port has at least one food-oriented choice, sometimes more. This is advertised as a foodie tour with a celebrity chef onboard, so we may have more food-oriented excursions than normal. Even so, a lot of the excursions are archeology/museum oriented or mixed (for example, the Mt. Etna visit includes a stop at a winery). No classic movie locations tours :) There is no extra cost for any excursion. With the Smithsonian partnership, all tours are included in the base price.
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Ewww. One thing worse than looking at a wall is looking at me!
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So Osman has indeed jumped ship to the QA?
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The Archeological Museum is probably the best bet since it has a much broader collection (and yes, you could spend days there). The Acropolis Museum is well worth it, though: beautifully designed but single purpose. The top floor is a walk around of the top of the Parthenon itself. It's quite an experience, we thought.
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Stupid question about the luggage tags
TouchstoneFeste replied to schattenfell71's topic in Cunard Line
I'm trying to come up with a witty answer here, but all I've got is - Sorry, my mistake. I meant "embarkation". -
Stupid question about the luggage tags
TouchstoneFeste replied to schattenfell71's topic in Cunard Line
Your point is well taken :) and your plan ought to work. If you do decide to use tags, I'd recommend the plastic ones so both sides of the folded tag are visible. Makes it much easier for the crew onboard. (We had a bag misdirected to another stateroom when I fumbled the tag attachment.) FWIW, I attach them at the hotel on the morning of disembarkation. Too much risk of an airlline tearing them off by accident. -
New process for claiming shareholder OBC
TouchstoneFeste replied to elmsliebev's topic in Cunard Line
Are folks taking a picture of the stock brokerage page with information redacted (as has been recommended in the past)? -
For what it's worth: The US site still says "Have your printed boarding pass ready to present as soon as you arrive, and we will show you to the nearest check-in desk." if you dive down into "Before You Sail", "Embarkation & Disembarkation". Obviously this isn't strictly enforced. But ... Cunard app?
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In the US Luggage Forward just uses the regular shipping companies, UPS, FedEx, and DHL. So maybe go straight to those companies or their UK equivalents? (LF does do pick-ups and drop-offs at domestic addresses, but you're right that their focus is on cruise lines, and they evade weekends except for meeting cruise ships.)
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If you pick up your tickets at the station kiosk, be sure you have the credit card you used to purchase them (I use American Express to purchase things online, but don't always carry it with me overseas because it's not as widely accepted). You can still see the agent with your confirmation number, but that can take longer (depending on how many confused tourists are ahead of you in line).
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We'll be travelling from Southampton to Bath, then from Bath to London a few days later. From searching this forum, I see that first class train tickets (at least on the first leg) don't confer much of an advantage. Would that also be true for the Bath-Paddington leg? We won't have much luggage, just carry-ons. Both legs would be on weekdays - the first after disembarkation, the second probably late morning or early afternoon. And ... embarrassing to admit, but the last time we took longer train trips around southen England, we had a lot of trouble finding the first class section, sometimes just giving up and travelling in regular seating. How are they marked?
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I recall one day when all the game tables were full, but generally you are correct. I prefer the games corridor because the chairs are straight-backed, not "loungy". I've certainly moved on when the other tables start to fill up. Also makes it easy for me to wander over from time to time and place a few pieces on the jigsaw puzzle that is currently in play.
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I did a quick search and see at least one tour that would take you there (and to other neolithic sites and the Italian Chapel) from Kirkwall. There are also a few taxi companies and I'm fairly sure you could contract with one for a trip to Skara Brae. Kirkwall is a charming city with a few worthy sightseeing items and a bunch of shops that are much lest touristy than most of the places we visited. But I agree with @gnome12 that the ancient sites are far more interesting. Strange that a city tour would be offered but not the other. We selected our northern Scotland tour because it spent a day and a half in the Orkneys, so we saw both. Maybe you should ditch the city tour for a full day exploring the ancient sites?
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ETA Required for Americans entering UK?
TouchstoneFeste replied to helenb's topic in British Isles/Western Europe
While I certainly wouldn't take that bet, I'd encourage the original poster to check again later. The site is already operational for some countries, and now it's just a matter of rolling it out to new ones - in theory that could happen quickly.