Cruisin' Along

We were happy to see that this was extended through late August, when we will be in London. We got tickets as soon as the extension was announced and are looking forward to seeing it. 

On 3/15/2019 at 12:37 AM, iancal said:

We buy easy care, fast drying fabrics for travel.  Our experience is that you do not necessarily have to pay a high price for these at travel stores.  Two of my best easy care shirts came from Costco.  They have been on many two-three months trips and still look like new.  The fabric is the most important....not the brand or the retail outfit.  We only travel with carry on.....one week or ten weeks.  

I do the same in that I buy easy care, quick dry travel clothes. It’s hard to beat Costco. They currently have Eddie Bauer quick dry, no wrinkle pants. They are light and very comfortable. I bought 5 pairs for our upcoming trip that includes 2 weeks of cruising. 

Disney does a pretty good job matching table mates. I cruised once with my young adult son and they seated us with two other couples cruising with young adult sons. Same when I cruised with my adult daughter. We were seated with a mom and her adult daughter. 

16 hours ago, M-H-B said:

Is it always the same person all week?

 Duplicate post. 

16 hours ago, M-H-B said:

Is it always the same person all week?

Usually but not always. We were on a 7 night cruise and had one cabin host for the first 3 nights. Not sure what happened but he disappeared and we then had a different cabin host for the remainder of the cruise. 

I’ve been wondering the same. Considering a cruise on the Diamond in late 2020. 

I enjoyed your review. Thanks for taking the time to write this. 

2 hours ago, NantahalaCruiser said:

I do all of my own research - itineraries, ships, prices, etc. - then call my "big box" warehouse TA and let them book it to get their store gift card with about 8% benefit. If I book on-board to get additional cruise-line benefits, I still have the reservation transfered to my TA to also get their 8% benefit.

 

Unlike some, I have no concern about "losing control" of my booking. My TA has no extra fees for changes or cancellations and if prices drop prior to final payment, my TA will have booking repriced whenever I request it. They are open 7 days per week, 16 hours on weekdays and 11.5 hours on weekends. If I happen to find a great deal late at night, I merely put a 24 hour hold on a cabin and call them the following day. I can still book shore excursions and specialty dining reservations directly through the cruise line even though I use a TA for the cruise booking. Why pass up $400 back on a $5000 cruise?

I do the same. Sounds like we use the same big box TA. It has always worked well for us. 

I use a cross body bag as my everyday purse and when traveling. I like the features on the Travelon bags. 

We did a Panama Canal cruise in April 2018. No vaccinations required. 

We cruised departing August 27 a few years ago and shops were already running end of season sales. We found the best bargains in Juneau. 

Just a few years ago the Panama Canal cruises always seemed to offer military discounts. Not anymore. We did the PC cruise in April this year and it sold out within a couple months of the release date. 

22 hours ago, Kartgv said:

Do you belong to Costco?   If so, check renting a car through them.    We always use them and find their rates are cheaper, plus we've had no 'drop-off' fees - though that's been for pick-up/drop-off within California.    They use standard car rental companies and show you the rates for each option.    You can also cancel and rebook at any time if rates fall when you get closer to your trip.   

I also recommend Costco if you are a member. We use them whenever we need to rent a car. For our vacation last week we ended up getting an intermediate SUV for less than an economy car.  We saved over $50 canceling and rebooking as prices continued to drop. 

38 minutes ago, Cruisensusan123 said:

Doubletree on 30 John Islip street near the river.

It is probably going to be easiest to book a car service from Heathrow directly to your hotel. 

It looks like your hotel is mid way between the Pimlico and Westminster tube stations. You would have to catch the Tube from Heathrow, change trains in Central London to one that goes to one of these stations then take a cab from the station to your hotel. 

1 hour ago, Cruisensusan123 said:

We are arriving on November 1, into Heathrow. Does anyone know an affordable way to get to our hotel, and then to the cruise port in Southhampton? We are not youngsters, and don’t want to struggle too much with luggage. Any suggestion?

It’s hard to advise without knowing where your hotel is. Tube is only about $5 from Heathrow into central London. If you don’t want to struggle with luggage that probably isn’t an option. BlackBerry Cars is a private car service that is usually highly recommended and among the more reasonable in cost. 

I agree with the others. The split bathrooms are really small, so I don’t see the HA cabin as a bad thing at all for a single person.

Do you know if premier inn provides a hairdryer in the room? Trying to pack light. I would prefer not to bring a hairdryer for just the few days pre-cruise since the ship's cabin will have a hairdryer. thanks

This thread is from 2007 so the previous posters are probably no longer following this topic. You might want to start a new thread to ask those who have stayed at a Premier Inn recently.

We are taking the ship’s excursion to Edinburgh.

Looking forward to more of your TR. Glad you didn’t miss your flight!

Enjoyed your TR. thanks for taking the time to post the photos.

I’m enjoying your TR. We are cruising to Norway next year (different cruise line) but stopping at a couple of the same ports. Looking forward to seeing your photos of Norway.

How bad is an ocean view room?

Would you risk it?

We’ve sailed in both balcony and ocean view cabins. How bad is an ocean view? Not bad at all. We recently did a 14 night Panama Canal cruise in an ocean view and enjoyed it very much. And we have ocean view booked for two upcoming cruises. We don’t spend enough time in the room to need a balcony.

We use packing cubes to keep everything organized it the suitcase. They also keep TSA from going through everything if they do open our suitcases. And they are easy to remove from the suitcase and place directly in the hotel room dresser for longer stays.

We fold or roll the clothes depending on the item. We bought some very lightweight cubes on Amazon for around $20 for a set of 4.

Enjoyed your fun review!

Very helpful information in your review. Thank you!