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1 minute ago, kochleffel said:

After looking at all the options for two days in Stockholm pre-cruise and one day post, I'm leaning toward buying an SL Access card. The card itself costs SEK 20 but then the fares with it are lower, so that it takes very few trips to recover the cost. I have tried out the SL app and it seemed to work, but I stopped short of actually purchasing the fare.

We're still not sure. We are going to have four days pre cruise and so the Pass with a lot of attractions pre paid may be the way we go.

7 hours ago, Desdichado62 said:

Stockholm public transport is very extensive with frequent departures and also easy to use.
A Stockholm pass is quite costly and if you're only visiting one day I am not sure that you
will be able use it's full value.

 

SL also have an app (SL-Reseplanerare och biljetter) which you can use to buy tickets,

search connections and etc. However it has very poor reviews. I have used it once
about a month ago and it worked ok for me.

We are going to be Stockholwm for a few days pre-cruise, so the pass might be worth it for the included admissions. Thanks for the info on public transit!!!

Ed

Title says it all. Considering a HOHO company including stockholm Pass.

Was wondering if anyone has used Stockholm Public Transit and how did it work.

TIA,

Ed

We are flying home on Monday after getting off Serenade on Sunday. Early flight would mean needing an Uber around 3-4am from our hotel.

Will there be Ubers about?

TIA

Ed

thanks for all the input!!

DW and I are actually talking about booking each leg of our trip separately to give us a couple of full days in London! And it looks like it may even save us some $$$ doing it that way.

Ed

7 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

 

Not sure if you've mis-read Host B's post.

The free van transfers are between hotel and airport, not between LHR & LGW.

 

Transfers between LHR and LGW are operated by  https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

You can buy your bus tickets on arrival at LHR, but I think you have to buy at the Heathrow airport bus station. That's OK if you arrive at Term 2 or 3, because that's where you catch the bus. But Terms 4 and 5 are in remote corners of the airport - buses pick up at those terminals, but if you don't have a ticket you might have to make your way to central bus station to buy tickets (does anyone else know the answer to that?).

 

Service is half-hourly or better, but it's possible that the next bus, and even the one after that , might be fully-booked - so I'd strongly recommend you buy in advance.

I suggest you book a bus for about 90 minutes after your scheduled landing. 

If you arrive earlier you can switch to an earlier bus, if you arrive later you can switch to a later bus. In either case a switch would be subject to seats being available - and there's a £5 admin fee, though that's not always charged.

Journey time is something over an hour, fare about £27pp. 

To book you need to know your LHR terminal.

And you need to agree with the hotel which LGW terminal (North or South) to collect you from, though if you don't know before you book the bus you can choose either - the bus goes to both. 

 

JB  

Yes, I did misread it. Thanks so much for the clarification and the additional info!

14 hours ago, Host Bonjour said:

I needed an airport hotel at Gatwick a few years ago, checked online and reviews are still good for the Belmont in Horley. They kind of like a pub in the evenings at night and if I remember right there was breakfast in the morning but my flight to Italy was early (ha, not...no plane!) so I had to leave at 6am. 

 

Thats the other great thing....transfers to/from Gatwick via van are free. Rooms are small and basic but it’s not touristy, it’s all you need for an overnight, good atmosphere in the “pub” and good food (I ate there) and gracious hosts. Price was great, I needed to mind my £! 

 

Only thing weak was the WiFi but I bet they have a better router now 😉 

 

Hope it works out you get the flight combination you like! 

thanks for the info. The transfer from Heathrow to Gatwick - is that something to arrange in advance or do you just go to a spot to catch the van??

TIA

Ed

7 hours ago, John Bull said:

Since your onward flight is next day, you have the choice of

- airport hotel, probably at the airport of your onward flight but dependent on flight times. That'll be the cheapest option.

There'll be little of interest in airport-land but public transport between London and its airports is good - if your timing is OK..

- or a central London hotel. Accommodation will be significantly more expensive but gives you time where it all happens. Whether it's worthwhile depends on your time available and your attitude to digging deeper in your pockets.

 

 

That's all very vague, for better info we really need to know your flight times and airports, and other things that might impact such as the size & make-up of your party

 

JB 

It's just me and DW. Yes, it's Heathrow and Gatwick, and nothing booked yet. These flights are on justfly.com (but not Kayak, which is interesting) and are a combination of Virgin and SAS. We fly from Stockholm to Heathrow landing in the afternoon. Layovers are 11-17 hours with the SAS flight departing Gatwick sometime the next day at  either 10 am or 1 pm

We're cruising on Serenade this summer out of Stockholm. Really cheap flights about $600 but they have a long layover and change of airport in London on the return. Would mean overnighting in London and getting a hotel for one night. I guess we would have one evening to wander around the hotel and eat. Anyone ever done this? How did it work out? TIA.

Ed

Congratulations on both. Emerald knocking on Diamond and neither the upgrade or upsell fairies has ever called. OH well. :)

You can walk around the Square which is just across the street from the dock.We did the four hour tour and was very interesting till the end,they take you to a flea market for about a half hour.We enjoyed the trip,we were there overnight.

That will probbaly be suffecient. I saw that you can get a ticket for a hopp on/hopp off type of bus for about 10 CUCs. We'll see how tired we are after our tour

Hi all,

Traveling to Cuba in 2 weeks on Majesty. Just downlaoded travel form and choice is (parapharsed) full day RCI excursion. Well, the excursion we booked is only 4 hours out of the 8 in port. Anyone know if things have changed and wandering around on our own afterwords is no longer allowed?

TIA,

Ed

Loved Oasis. When she first entered the fleet I said I'd never sail on her -too big. But she was in Port Canaveral and we wanted a cruise so we gave her a try. Very happy. Mostly never crowded. My only complaint is how they handle reservations for shows. You make reservations via cruise planner in advance and you get tix, but the lines are still not very well organized IMHO. But that is a minor complaint. Generally really enjoyed cruise and entertainment. You will have a great time.

Sure, you can have a table for 2. You may even be able to slip a sheet of paper between your table and the one next to it.

 

Just kidding ... kinda...

 

Obviously not that close to each other, but they are crowded. Random internet picture to illustrate follows (believe it's from Independence of the Seas):

 

 

True enough. Often ending up having conversations with the table next to us. But even that little separation makes it so you don't feel like you have to if you don't want to. ;p

Hubby and I sailing on Anthem in March and have My Time Dining .

Will we be seated with other guests or can we request a table for 2 ?

Just make a reservation for a table for 2 for every night. Based on recent experience I now always make reservations for MTD - wait times w/o reservations can be long.

Virtually anything can happen on a cruise for which the line gives you some OBC - leaving the grats to be paid on the ship is the best use of such OBC.;)

I suppose. I use OBC to pay for drinks, gifts and gambling. :D

Just want to make myself clear, the only "side" I am on in this discussion/debate is the side of facts. I care as a consumer and have an interest in knowing I'm not being lied to by the business I'm patronizing. I also care that the employees are being paid what we're being told they are being paid (i.e. the gratuities).

 

The trouble I'm having is trying to reconcile the information from various sources, not knowing exactly which ones are reliable. The math based on the gratuities breakdown for the cabin stewards is especially clear and suggests they're being paid much more than what other sources are telling us. I am not making a judgment on whether they're overpaid or underpaid. I'm saying there is a significant discrepancy between the information at hand and I'm not sure what to believe.

 

I am the poster who originally said (in a different thread), "$6.90/cabin/day x 19 cabins/day x 7 days/week = $917.70/week on gratuities alone?" The context of this is based on double-occupancy, and https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/onboard-service-gratuity-expense telling us that the cabin steward receives $3.45 out of the $13.50 (soon to be $14.50, I guess) and one report of a steward being responsible for cleaning 19 staterooms (they must work really quickly on turnaround morning!). Mind you they don't necessarily make $917.70/week x 52 weeks/year ~= $47,700/year since I believe contracts are typically shorter than a year and the crew have breaks in between (e.g. to go home and see their families).

 

But at $917/week, the math does work out to roughly $3,700/month which is far more than other sources have suggested cabin stewards are paid. Again, I'm not sure what to believe. :confused:

They do not work 52 weeks a year. They work a 3 or 4 month contract and then are off for 1-3 months.

Same argument could be made for paying anything more than your deposit until final payment. Meaningless point. As other posters have said Grats are part of cost of cruising. I prepay. I actually prepay nearly everything I can to minimize my final bill. If RCI gets a buck or two in interest from fine - they still one of the least expensive lines around that gives a cruise product I like.

That's buried in "other hotel services".

You're jumping to a conclusion. Could mean assistant steward and people who wash your sheets.

Thanks for all of your comments.

We've booked an inside cabin for this one. Traveling on Seranade OTS.

Looking forward to this cruise.

Ed

Greetings,

Looking at booking a Scandinavia/Russia cruise on Seranade summer 2019 and was wondering if a balcony was worth it. I know in the summer days are long with sunset not until 10ish. Question is will there be something to see or will the ship be too far from shore for it to matter. We've seen plenty of ocean and are thinking of saving money by going interior this time.

TIA,

Ed

Greetings,

Looking at booking a Scandinavia/Russia cruise and was wondering if a balcony was worth it. I know in the summer days are long with sunset not until 10ish. Question is will there be something to see or will the ship (Seranade OTS) be too far from shore for it to matter. We've seen plenty of ocean and are thinking of saving money by going interior this time.

TIA,

Ed

Hi all,

Longtime Royal cruiser looking at MSC for Summer 2019 Northern Europe/Baltic. How far in advance does MSC generally release itineraries? Royal already has theirs up and looking at MSC for something new.

Successfully used Search to answer all of my RCI vs MSC questions but can't find this one. :)

TIA,

Ed

I wish RCI would make some type of "official" announcement on if/when the new menus will be introduced fleetwide. Oasis, I believe, is the only ship that has the new menus and they've been used for almost 2 years. Over the past year, I've asked the Hotel Manager for information on all my cruises. Last August and December I was told they would start to be introduced first quarter 2017. On a cruise in January I was told second quarter and in March and again in May I was told they had no idea.

 

I'm one who usually enjoys the food in the MDR but as a fairly frequent cruiser would like a change from the spice menus. I'm very anxious for the return of duck and Vidalia onion tart.

Someone on my roll call for my upcoming cruise on Oasis said they were on Empress recently. So they are beginning to be implemented.

Unless there is a new new menu, Oasis got the new menu last year:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2375673

Yeah, that's it. I don't know of the blog was slow or if the person on FB found it and just thought it was new.

It will still be new to me, as the last cruse still had the old "spices" menus

Thanks

Ed