Dancer Bob

These days, two days early is better. Also, there's a 6-hour or more time change. I agree Heathrow is a PITA but Barcelona has had some long lines at Schengen entry/exit (maybe ETIAS will help). Have two cards from different issuers. If one bank suddenly decides to shut off their card, you still have another.

Haven't used Port Rashid in a while (last cruises were from Marina) but don't recall much in the line of public transit nearby. I don't think QE2 is too far from the cruise terminal.

Have you been on MSC before? It's very different from Seabourne. Costa also positions a ship in Dubai over the winter. If you're interested in these countries no reason not to visit. Remember 8-hour time change so a few days in Dubai (or wherever) is recommended.

Assuming this to be a port stop with inflexible times, and the OP's low-stress parameter, I vote with Vieux Port. For a first-timer, a few minutes here, a few minutes there, and a wrong turn all add up. If you're curious you could even walk up to St Charles to see if it would have been practical, but I think for a family of 4, it will take more than 10 minutes.

I had a contact # for the company that handled the cruise line transfer, if I can find it I'll post it.

For Americans, medical insurance is also a huge issue. And making sure you don't run out of cash if the bank turns off your credit card. And on and on. I expect the OP wil need at leaast a year to plan properly.

Applied 01 Feb, approved 09 June (immediately after US trip- coincidence?) received new card 06 July.

Over on the Solo board, there's a thread about a ship planned for a three-year cruise. There's discussion about the huge number of practical issues involved. I'd suggest starting with a trip to Europe. Ships move there in the spring, back in the fall. Getting around Europe as a single is easy, you can do a combination of cruise and land.

I was also on Sky last January. I was with a group but except for group activities, spent little time with them. Attended solo meet first night, very well attended, but it quickly became apparent there was no one who shared my interests (which do not include sitting in bars consuming alcohol). Always ate at the buffet (over the years, I have become less than enchanted with cruise ship restaurants. Also there was only one good band, the scheduling often conflicted with meal times.) Other than group activities and that one good band, I found everything pretty lowest-commom-denominator, not very interesting.

Trying to figure out 3 transfers- airport-hotel, hotel-port, port-airport? I'm a dedicated DIY so I can't help you on pre-arranged. Last time in Marseille, I used the bus from the airport to Gare St Charles, hotel was walking distance, I used cruise line transfer to & from St Charles. Marseille is one port where I consider cruise line transfers. If it's World Cup time- you've already booked hotel? Maybe they have a recommendation?

As to whether you'll have to claim your bags , clear Customs and re-check bags- maybe yes, maybe no. It's a confused mess right now. There are big signs posted. (My last arrivals were on Air France and Westjet, so I looked at those signs, but I wasn't connecting, so I didn't pay much attention.) Plan to collect your bags and be pleasantly surprised if you don't. All subject to change at a moment's notice, of course. It's reported that there were meltdowns at Toronto and Montreal last weekend, but that was a holiday weekend, never good.

Cruise Critic has an article dated 2022, which seems reasonably accurate. Except the cruise is not free, last I heard it was $30/day, and the hosts have to buy their own costumes. Notably, they are supposed to not accept any gratuity, and to not display any favouritism. The dance standards cited are pretty minimal. One of the sites you can find by searching cruise-ship-dance-host-agency mentions Compass Speakers, which apparently has copyrighted "Gentleman Host". I believe there is a UK agency as well.

This will be your Schengen entry. I'll assume you've verified your Schengen admissibility and whether you'll need an ETIAS. For planning purposes, you need to assume at least half an hour for Immigration and be pleasantly surprised if it's less, unpleasantly surprised if it's more. 1h 10m doesn't leave much for contingencies.

There are city codes for LON and NYC, not to mention CHI, WAS, PAR, ROM, TYO, and "Y" not include YTO and YMQ too.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the stop at T3 isn't all that easy to find, you have to go around the end of the building?

Also, the legal contract is in the local language. An English version is only a marketing tool.

OP also asked about auto insurance. I haven't rented in France for years, but this gets very tricky, very quickly. Assume nothing. Hlitner would have better information than me.

Since you're aware of the visa issues, I suspect "mobility-challenged older folks" will be the biggest problem.

In the UK, at least at LHR, US/Can have electronic gates, no passport stamp. In Paris, last month they were experimenting with using the EU electronic gates (s-l-o-w!) but you still had to get a Schengen entry stamp.

Traffic is even worse than Toronto/Montreal, especially around the tunnels. I drive at night, so I can juggle my times. Otherwise, not really much to say.

Agree with karebare42, except I would plan to arrive much earlier. Allowing for stops, traffic, and driving eastbound at sunrise, that means leaving midnite-ish. Are you comfortable with night driving? All the routes involve some trade-off, but you would avoid a lot of traffic.

In North America when you call Cunard you get the Princess/Cunard call centre in California. I suspect they have been asked this question before and their answer shouldn't be ignored, although it probably is incomplete and US-centric. One possibility- the hosts were invited by a dance group, not Cunard. Another possibility- the UK sailings, Cunard is responding to the bitter complaints from UK ladies about the poor quality of the hosts and are only ordering from the UK agency/agencies. While the US agency claims to have some (rather minimal) standards, they also earlier say don't worry, dancing is not really necessary. Many US hosts are used to huge, uncrowded US studios and simply can't cope with Cunard dance floors. I've never heard of them placing US couples. I don't know what standards the UK agency has but they must be higher. All of which doesn't predict QV later this year, the OP's question.

The ship I was on had one baggage tag scheduled for after lunch, I presume to accomodate later flights. I personally was not off til 10.30. My drink package was valid until I left. A day tour is certainly possible, but if you want to keep things simple, it may not be as dire as you expect.

I'm well aware of how little the political appointees and their $(2 million?) CEO can actually do. But you'd never know that from their PR hype.

The Airport Authority has promised that this summer, YYZ will not be the worst airport on the planet. But at 19.30 last Friday, hardly a peak arrival time, had a 10-minute Customs hold on the aircraft due to congestion. And several people had problems with the NEXUS machines not reading their cards, as well as several machines out of order.