cyntil8ing

I admit I drank a lot more than I normally would since I had the package. I wouldn't have had nearly as many had I been paying per drink. So, is it a value for me? No. Is it worth getting? I'd say yes. I would have a coffee in the morning, then a rum punch when we got back onboard, then a sail away frozen drink, a cocktail at the show, followed by two glasses of wine with dinner, a cappuccino with dessert, another cocktail at the comedy show, then a nightcap at the casino bar. I never got close to the 15 drink limit. In fact, one night when we arrived to the casino for our nightcap, the bartender remarked that our count was only four. That was the night we accidentally napped through dinner. Busy days!

Friday Our reservations today were for the Twickenham Stadium Tour and World Rugby Museum. My daughter discovered rugby this year at school. In the afternoon, we took the Architectural Tour of the Ben Franklin House. And finally, we had tickets for the View from the Shard. That evening, we met up with my husband's brother and his family for dinner at a nice Portuguese restaurant, Casa do Frango London Bridge . They've lived in London for ten years or so, and we haven't seen them but once since then. Steps: 19k Saturday This morning, we had reservations for a James Bond Walking Tour. Our guide took us to many sights featured in James Bond films. This was an awesome morning! Later in the afternoon, we rode the Uber Boats up and down the Thames, then arrived at the Tower of London just an hour and a half before closing. We went straight to the Crown Jewels exhibit and then had some time to explore the grounds a bit. We then spent the evening at my brother-in-law's house. Steps: 15k

I think I should call this trip Luggage-Palooza. We had SO many bags! It was crazy. Never again will I travel with so much stuff. Four days in London: Wednesday Arrival day, we made no plans for this day. We took an overnight flight from Dulles, arriving at Heathrow about noon. Customs and Immigration was a breeze — no lines and we simply scanned our passports to enter. Our luggage arrived fairly quickly and without incident. We had pre-arranged a transfer to our hotel. We used the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel site to book with points. The provider ended up being London Travel In Limited (https://www.londontravelin.com). As we exited the airport, the driver was waiting for us with a sign with our names. My kids got quite the kick from this — thought we were so fancy! The driver took us to our hotel — The Clermont, Charing Cross (https://www.theclermont.co.uk/charing-cross). I dithered for months picking somewhere to stay in London. I considered AirBNBs, but just couldn't pull the trigger, and watched them disappear off my favorites list as they were booked up. I finally ended up using Priceline for the two rooms. The hotel was very nice, included a nice hot breakfast buffet that introduced my son to beans for breakfast, free mini-bar, and the location simply could not be beat. We were right in the middle of everything. We ate dinner at the hotel restaurant that evening. Afterward, my husband and daughter went out for a walk, while my son and I called it a night. We had an early tour the next day. Steps: 5k Thursday We had purchased 3-day London Passes and Oyster cards ahead of time, so we had a few reservations and a long list of places we wanted to visit. This day it was the 3 hour 30+ London Sights Tour. That evening, we had theater tickets for Come From Away. Before the theater, I used Tripadvisor to find a restaurant. The one we ended up reserving, J Sheekey (https://j-sheekey.co.uk) was simply amazing! Being a life-long Marylander, I consider myself a bit of a seafood snob, but everything was delicious! I had the Shellfish Platter and the oysters were the best I have ever had. We ended up getting an extra half dozen so everyone could try some. It was also my kids' first time enjoying wine with dinner. I think they enjoyed the experience more so than the actual wine. Steps: 17k

My kids, now 19 and 16, have been on about 10 Celebrity cruises since they started cruising at 5 and 3. They also have about 10 on Carnival and a couple on Royal Caribbean. They have never been made to feel unwanted or unwelcome on Celebrity. Based on Cruise Critic responses, I was a little worried before taking them the first time, but the onboard experience has always been wonderful. We just came off of a Northern European cruise on Carnival Pride that was awesome. The ship is old and dated, but the itinerary more than made up for it. Food and service were great. Entertainment was lacking, but we were so busy during the day it didn't really matter. I guess my point is that with a great itinerary, the rest doesn't matter as much.

We stayed in London and took the high speed train that morning. Very easy. Total transit time was about two hours. We took a taxi from the hotel to St Pancras Station, then a shuttle bus from Dover Priory to the ship.

Not true. We had Cheers last week on Carnival Pride.

My family flew in 7/28 and out 8/12 with 8, yes 8!, checked bags. No issues in either direction.

FWIW, I agree with you. But the hub wanted Cheers, so we got it. We also got the Premium Wi-Fi for all of us. After struggling with the Value Plan on our last cruise (Bahamas on Conquest), we went with the Premium. We had no trouble or lags all week. Definitely worth the upgrade in my mind. Kids used all their socials, FaceTime and Netflix. I didn't run any speed tests because I didn't have speed issues.

Sorry for the delays in getting more details. I'm still loading photos, and I am still on Europe time! I was asleep before 10pm last night. Still dealing with tons of laundry too! We ate in the dining room each night, except one where I took a "little" three hour nap and slept through it. We had anytime and usually went around 8:30. We used the Carnival Hub app to book our table and it worked perfectly. The estimated wait time was usually right on, or a little shorter, so we could plan when to check in. After the fourth or fifth night, we found a waiter we really liked, so we asked at the dining room reception desk to always be put in his section. That worked with the app. The menus, I am happy to report, were at least as many as 12, our number of days. I was concerned about repeats after day 7, but that didn't happen. While the food wasn't anything to rave over, it was fine. I'm watching calories and always found something, even ordering the Indian vegetarian twice. We had the Cheers package, and that worked well with dining. Our waiter, Lester, learned our preferences, and had my Prosecco and my husband's Sauvignon Blanc delivered as soon as we sat down, then we chose our main course wine when we ordered. Our cappuccinos always arrived promptly with dessert. And he made a fun game of presenting the $0 bar bill to someone at the table. By the end, my daughter was official secretary. We went to Sea Day Brunch (we had three sea days) and it seemed the same as it ever was. I had my favorites -- Huevos Rancheros and Broken Egg Sandwich. There was Tea Time on this ship. We were pleasantly surprised after hearing it had been canceled fleet-wide. My daughter and I went once and the other time, my son joined us. It was his first time ever attending. I think he was a bit overwhelmed by the ladies at our shared table. I think he was a bit taken aback by the "girl talk". We teased him about it and I doubt he will ever return. The snacks and treats weren't worth it to him. I had Guy's Burgers once or twice. Never made it to Blue Iguana or the Deli. The Pizza, as always, was very good. No meals at David's, though we thought about it for my daughter's birthday. We stuck with the dining room and Lester and crew sang to her. I can't think of much else to report about food. As I said earlier, I am watching calories and despite having Cheers and not watching at all on alcohol consumption, I ended the cruise up just 1.2 pounds from where I stated, an accomplishment for sure. My husband, on the other hand, was up 13 pounds, so obviously, the food was good.

The biggest key to success, I think, for this cruise was transportation planning. Many of these ports were some distance from the town, and for those like me who prefer to DIY over taking ship excursions, knowing ahead of time how you'd get there will save a lot of stress and headache. The port guides from https://www.whatsinport.com were invaluable for this. I highly advise not to just "wing it" like we often do at Caribbean ports. Two days before the cruise, Carnival sent the attached email. While our plans were set by that time, I hope other cruisers found it helpful.

In my experience, overwhelmingly Americans, with lots of English, and some others. This was posted on the itinerary FB group from a fellow cruiser.

Just off the 12-day Northern Europe 7/31/22 sailing of the Pride. In short, all went well and we had a fantastic time on our first ever trip to Europe. I would do it again in a heartbeat. We are a family of four, mom, dad and two older teens, one of whom celebrated a birthday onboard. We flew into London Heathrow four days ahead of boarding and stayed at the Clermont, Charing Cross. It was a great hotel in a fantastic central location. We pre-purchased London Passes and Oyster cards for our stay. There was a train strike scheduled the day before our transfer to Dover. We had purchased train tickets before this announcement, so wanted to have a backup plan, so I also purchased Carnival bus transfers. By two days beforehand, we decided to stick with the train. We tried to cancel the Carnival transfers, but it was already too late. I was going to fight that onboard, but then promptly forgot about it. Anyway, our train ended up being canceled because of a mechanical issue, and we briefly thought of a mad dash across London to get the bus, but instead waited an hour for the next train. That one ran as scheduled and we arrived in Dover about 12:30. There were shuttles running from the train station to the port for $5 or €5 or £5, whichever one you have. We had so much luggage for the four of us that it wouldn't all fit on the first bus. So, we split and two of us went on the bus with half of our luggage and the other two waited with the remaining luggage for the next bus. Since we tagged our bags while waiting in line for the bus, we didn't really have to do this. Our luggage was taken right off the shuttle and we didn't see it again until it arrived at our cabins. Embarkation, our first as new Platinum cruisers, was quick and painless. We had no issues with Verify and walked right onboard. This was our fourth time on the Pride. It's familiar and comfortable. I was annoyed with the automatic doors on deck 9 no longer working, but got used to it within a day. Our cabin door lock was temperamental and sometimes hard to open from inside the cabin, but it wasn't awful enough or consistent enough to mention it to anyone. We had to leave our bathroom light on all the time because it took 15 seconds or more to turn on after hitting the switch. All-in-all, inconveniences, not rising to the level of issues. We had an extended balcony and it was lovely, though this trip was so port-intensive we didn't make a lot of use of it. Debarkation was simple. We booked the Carnival transfers to Heathrow with a stop at Windsor Castle. The bus we were on didn't have enough compartment space to hold all the luggage, but there were only 27 of us on the excursion, so we just put the extra luggage on the bus itself. There was an initial a/c issue (and the day was hot!) but it was fixed while we took a break at a rest stop. We were delivered back to Heathrow in plenty of time for our flight. We didn't do a lot onboard. Our evenings were generally whatever was going on in the Taj Mahal at 7:30, then dinner, then the two adult comedy shows at 10:30 and 11:15. I was a bit disappointed that all the bars, except the Casino Bar, closed at midnight. All of our ports were docking ports, so other than a half hour delay with a ramp at our Amsterdam port, we never had any issues. I'll detail our port days later, but wanted to get the review started for questions.

I don’t think UK is changing requirements, but Europe is scheduled to implement ETIAS next year.

There are four of us, with luggage, so we would need an XL. Price-wise, that would be about the same as the Carnival transfer, so guaranteed arrival would be our choice. Or maybe I could find a helicopter! That would be fun. Nope, the luggage kills that idea.

We are on next week's sailing. We will be transferring from London on Sunday, the day of departure. We currently have tickets both for the train (1 hour) and the Carnival transfer (3 hours). There is a train strike planned for Saturday, so Sunday's trains may be delayed. I guess that's also important information for anyone debarking on Sunday hoping to get to London. Anyway, I'm not sure yet which way we'll travel. I know the Carnival transfer is the safer bet, but I was really looking forward to the high speed train.

Sorry to hear this. I hope things improve for you. We will be boarding next cruise.

Unless things have changed in the past three years, the connecting cabin, ie. Family Suite, only gets suite amenities if the occupants are under 12. I know this because we tried to book this way with my teenagers.

This is exactly what travel insurance is for. I would have been shopping in every port! Kudos for Celebrity for helping out.

It's been a few years since I disembarked in Baltimore, but having used facial recognition in Miami and Bayonne, it certainly seems to speed things along for those with passports. https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-city/cng-co-face-biometrics-port-of-baltimore-20220719-oi4w74m6rbfcbbn5kyx7yhde6e-story.html

Thanks for this. We are going the opposite way -- London to Dover on 7/31. I just booked Carnival transfers from Victoria Station just in case. We can cancel them within 24 hours if the strike is called off.

That is awesome!

I did! We got 11:30. We have also booked a canal cruise at 10:00 and the Van Gogh Museum for 1:30. Going to be a busy day!

Not in my case. My card with no annual fee had the offer. My card with a fee did not.

You can create your account anytime at https://www.mynavica.abbott. After logging in, to the left, there is an option to add a managed profile. Click on this and add your son. When you are ready to test, you will be asked to logon and then select the profile to be tested. Once you're done one test, you can restart and select the other profile. My family has one account for all four of us.

Thanks! I had it on one of my Chase cards, but not the other -- the one I usually pay Carnival with. I bought some Cruise Cash for our Pride cruise later this month.