insidecabin

interesting...... The theatre was running full house on the 28 March cruise each time we checked, even the standing space at the back was too crowded to stay.

Turn Bluetooth off on your device should not be needed. App works through the WiFi. it might have detected your medallion

They want everyone to be using the app to do everything that is independent of the age demographic. The intranet and wifi infrastructure on ship should be robust enough to handle onboard requirements. Connection off the ship(that's not the wifi) is potentially bandwidth restricted if more people want to use high bandwidth stuff like streaming movies.

In the old days where in port tax/charges were getting added, the paper came out and the bars would collect the details(cabin & drink) then process them through the system later after leaving port. In port "taxes" on drinks never look right for those on packages especially in the UK and probably other areas as well. VAT(like sales tax) is based on the cost of the product, with package the cost is zero, there should be no added tax. Alcohol tax is based on product/alcohol/volume not price so should be fixed, eg: a shot of 40% spirit should have the same tax whatever the price at £11.50/ltr. for beer in the UK How much Beer Duty you pay depends on the beer’s strength, or ‘alcohol by volume’ (ABV). Strength (ABV) Beer Duty rate per litre for each % of alcohol More than 1.2%, up to 2.8% 8.42 pence More than 2.8%, up to 7.5% 19.08 pence More than 7.5% 24.77 pence

I see premier on the UK site when you select cabin P+ is the sweet spot for most people

Which cruise? is that through the UK site? I noticed some cruises P+ are still at the old £30pppd not the new £40pppd if the princess fair is reasonable for the cruise then just £40 looks like an error maybe 1 day rather than the 21 days have you gone through to payment pages as sometimes the search prices are wrong. We have had princess honour a major misprice before saving £1000s ..... had a look at the UK offerings I think I found it( 7n/14n showing similar pattern) bets not to alert Princess just book in case it is an error P+ at £1,500 for 21nights inside that's a good price balcony is £2.3k. those insides are GTY only and only 2 balcony selectable, getting full ..... That cruise was regular fare £1,600 earlier this year when I tracked all the princess in Europe for a couple of months I checked some others options and they are still applying £30pppd for P+ so the inside are closer to £2k for 21n

Major bugbear people calling, Southampton SouthHampton or South Hampton they do not exist in the UK.

The cruise lines are getting away with it because they have abandoned passenger testing unless they have to. Following a few ships/lines as we are cruising good to have a picture of what may be going on. After the TA's into northern Europe the test the US pax to go home has caught 100s on most of the bigger ships. One princess ship the estimate was around 30% of those tested for return to US a reasonable sample size to extrapolate to the full pax count, how many walked of that ship positive but not tested. Look what happened to the Dawn, Netherlands got the ship tested before Amsterdam, only allowing negative to leave the ship, the next two port were cancelled as numbers were too high disembark in Southampton where there are no isolation rules.

£75 that's pricey for a transfer. ( 2 people that's about the same as a car service) The other main option from LHR is National express starts at around £13 to Southampton from LHR. (prices do look a lot higher this year seeing some over £20) Does require a walk or taxi at Southampton. No sensible train option

They would need to include Dublin for the time in ROI, you need a stamp for in and out.

There are quite a few cruises where this can happen. for this one could be ..... Now the UK is no longer part of the EU on these round Britain you effectively check in and out of ROI, not sure why they don't do the same for Le Havre. We have to make sure all our time in EU is recorded as we are limited to 90 days in any 180 day period

The UK free at sea prices went up a couple of weeks ago its based on cruise length. Free means free so UK prices have to include taxes etc and free at sea has to be set price can't add extra later in the process We check UK, US and EU prices and book the best total. The £250 flight credit made UK prices very dood as a flight back to uk from Amsterdam is a lot less.

Great day you packed a lot in... We usually end up in one of the music pubs close to port.

Depends where you go for the wine. Any down near the port are walking to shops. Majestic is a good near the train station(proper wine place) (Ibis/Novotel) Asda has a good selection an prices(supermarket). Waitrose in the mall All stores have selection/price on line. Google maps is your friend for locations

Once down at that rate it won't go a lot lower anyway. As someone asked about the HI, it a decent popular cruise hotel not used for years it may have had some work as it was getting run down The Leonardo across the road is also a good call. The Dolphin Mercure has reopened wait for some recent reviews some rooms are in the older part. Star is similar lots of character..... Moxi is very new Travelodge central is a good budget option compact rooms Ibis budget is another compact but further away There are multiple premier Inn and Travelodge make sure you check locations. It comes down to price/value some dates the better hotels can be good value as the cheaper get full and put prices up.

Dinner with officers was back on the Getaway last cruise( May 18-27). Not stiped, but an entertainment team senior as a sacrificial "officer" to early to have the real ones mixing with pax covid is endemic on the ships and no spares if they have to quarantine. Latitudes party had the officers doing the thanks stuff(away from the people), a few give away's then the cruise next sales talk.

Great pics saw more of London in those than I have seen in 2 years, only live 1hr away.

We used the test centre at Rome-Fiumicino last Dec(when needed for back to UK) it was not busy but not that well organized glad we put an extra hour on timings. Might be better now, not seen any recent review.

We are jumping on a Princess UK trip just as you get off interested in the latest reports from the ports. Also looking at Dawn for later in the year. Although the dining package list restrictions never had a problem with extras/swaps other than the extra entre charge, always come away full. the free at sea dinners got cut back on bookings from Jan 2022, inside 10 days now only gets 1 meal with a upsell for 2 more(£60pp in the UK)

A lot of LHR hotels have the local TFL bus options that go to the terminals and are a lot cheaper(used to be free) than the Hopper at £1.65 (each way). The thistle(premier inn over the road) are very handy for T5 as the bus(423) stop is just outside <5min on the bus( to the arrivals level there are a few guides around. Google has the bus stops marked you can see which buses go to the terminal and which hotels are close for central bus station(T2/T3) also TFL has a map https://www.heathrow.com/content/dam/heathrow/web/common/documents/transport/Heathrow_area_map.pdf

The ones I was looking at dropped eventually but NCL got priced out by Princess on 2 trips. Both lines have put up the price of the fixed addons in the UK, NCL free at seas has doubled on some cruise length(eg £99-£199), Princess have added £10 a day to their Princess+(drinks grats and unlimited wifi) now £40pppd Will start watching some other NCL soon, Plenty of talk about not discounting to fill but it has happened in Europe as they added the £250 flight credit which dropped prices quite a bit on some trips, add the flight total price goes down as a lot of flights in Europe are well under £250 return. looking at the fruit based tracking site plenty of price drops in the US since Jan as the prices were all pushed up late last year Dawn leaving Southampton tomorrow(3 June) 2021 $2,078 (Jan low) 2022 $3999 (jan, started dropping) 2022 $1,299 (21 May low point)

Did one on the Getaway last week. Cruise next. Go first day and check out what latitude benefits are being offered dates and times. No behind the scenes, got $50 OBC(covered extra speciality tips) Dinner with officers We had reinstated(did not happen Nov) only 4 pax so pretty covid safe, Not with stripes but a lovely lady from entertainment became the sacrificial "officer". The loyalty event( was well attended(30% capacity Baltics lots of new UK cruisers), Pretty generous on the fizzy wine giveaways (nearly every is AI anyway) for various milestones, cruises and married 50% event, thanks for coming back type stuff from captain and seniors then the giveaway most loyal number of cruise years married etc. 50% sales talk, the Getatway cruise next manager is very enthusiastic on that ship No dress code as such it was in 11:30 morning of a late arrival, I would say most smart casual, regular sea day attire(not swim wear) would have been OK. Cruise lines are pretending covid is over and packing the ships when they can, can't makes excuses for not doing the social gathering events when they pack the theatres etc. I understand behind the scenes as that can expose none pax facing crew. Officers are not very visible yet, covid/Isolation is still a big operational issue as ships don't have spares at the top.

Copenhagen : We did a cruise from there just last week if docking at Oceankaj. Just outside terminal 1 (google maps with bus stop) There was a free shuttle to the nearest subway(Orientkaj M4 line) There is also a bus 164(not used it) There is the cruise bus 25 bus from that runs on cruise days(every 15 mins) and goes to Osterport, Trains to the main station buses and near the Kastellet to start a tourist walking trail Ticket machine is there at the port(next to the cafe) and takes cards 24kr ticket is 80Dkk(£9) 48hr if overnight 150DKK Singles are cheaper if the plan is to walk about once in the city and just use the transport to get there and back https://dinoffentligetransport.dk/en/prices-and-zones/prices/ 2 zone 24Dkk(<£3) last for 1hr so can change multiple times (most tourist stuff is in Zone 1 but they don't do a ticket for that) Best place to plan routes as it includes stop/platform information for changes. (google also works) Route planner main station is next to Tivoli (København H) The cheapest beer(35dkk/55Dkk) we found in the centre was as Charlie Scotts Bar nice pot of tea (35 Carlsberg offer/55 real beer)

Very interested in the changes hope things improve. We were on the 28 March trip and that was busy but manageable, only no go was the theatre as that was rammed. They did not have much slack to increase numbers then. Higher capacity with no extra crew is going to be crazy, We found the trick in March was to catch the dead times. eg. They alternated DJ with event in the Vista, people would leave when the DJ came on so you could grab a seat with some social distance, the high bar in front of the main bar was our target spot good view social distance and passing bar staff to get an order in . It may be that exodus does not happen now as there is no where for people to go. We adjusted dinning to the less busy periods, but had to stop people trying to share tables at times in the buffet. When full this will be a big issue as many will be couples not wanting to share and most are 4 tops, a 6 can take 4 with the middle empty. By changing dinning time got quieter bars as more were at dinner/theatre Take 5 had Jazz was never busy when we went. Our Emerald trip soon is also looking close to sold out(past the window to shift it) the fear is under staffed as well. One reason the 3 Princess ships UK cruises are high capacity is the giveaway prices in the UK they started at £50pppd and when Enchanted shifted from the Baltic to Southampton Balcony with Princess Plus were £100pppd Just checked Emerald 14th 12n cruise (P+ still at the old rate, new rate will be +£120) UK £599, P+ £960 US $1,300(£1032), P+ $1950(£1523)

Jumping on Emerald 14th June trip(round Britain are local/regular for us) love to follow a recent experience. A first timer to the UK gives us a fresh perspective enjoying a lot.. Some info for those following and thinking about a trip out of Southampton. That Premier inn west quay is a cruise favourite, worth following pricing because they have sales where you can price down. Another good budget option is the Travelodge Central even closer to the Mall and town, often a bit cheaper, compact rooms not been since they did some updates. (check for discount codes 5% is regular for the TL) Loads of other options from budget to $$$$, Ibis/Novotel are handy for the coach, train and some terminals(walkable) but a bit further away from the mall/town 10-15 mins walk For those looking at pubs, a couple of starter options Duke of Wellington, Red lion are the nearest "british pub", for good cheap ale(and other drinks) is The Standing Order(big chain), there is also a quirky small bar on the high street, near the Red Lion & next to the Stein Garten, Below Bar(was Crammed Inn), Dancing Man Brewery is also very popular more modern(.