T-2

Maybe someone would be willing to ask their room steward if its labeled when they change the sheets. I have tried several mattresses as my back suffers from a compressed disk, to avoid surgery I do physical therapy before getting into bed and on getting out of it. Not once during our week on the Icon did I need to do that, first day home, back to P.T. Wish I'd realized the magic of that mattress while I was onboard. I just thought after 2 years, it was finally improving- it was the mattress. You weren't imagining things.

We recieved our email link to the pictures on the same day we disembarked off the Odyssey on the 30th, hopefully yours are waiting for you.

I must have over read the steps, thanks for clarifying. I thought since they had to confirm his age from either his passport or birth certificate (with the parent being with him), that I had to go to one of their special TfL stations and that after they verified his age, then any staff at the station could take his Oyster card and set it for the Young Visitor Discount. I don't know what we travelers would do without kind people like you and JB!

JB's directions on buying the train tickets were amazing, it did take just a little time but everything was absolutely straight forward, no problems using my U.S. address or c.c., and I can pick up the tickets at the station, they give you a confirmation number. This advice was so worth while, as he said, same day tickets can run about £35 each way. I am at 2 months advance and I was able to buy Four tickets outbound for a total of about £47 for the 3 adults and 1 tween (11-15 yr olds are half price of adult fare). Added with the return and taxes it was only £120 for Four round trip tickets vs potentially £245 had I bought them on the day of. In dollars that's about $152 vs $315. Don't let booking train travel intimidate you, his help is unbelieveable! Thank You JB & Cotswald Eagle!!!

That's also a great idea for anyone who could use google/apply pay. For us the Young Visitor Discount on his Oyster card is perfect, and lets him have his own card since none of us link our phones to banking.

Piccadilly Circus has a very convenient TfL only a few stops away on the Bakerloo line- Perfect!

I hoped to include John Bulls message about taking the train to Bath but I will have to settle for just a Huge Thank You for your help to my question above in post 211. I can't wait to give the ticket purchases a try tomorrow, it's late in my time zone, but fingers crossed, with all that helpful info- I am anxious to give it a try. We're only about 8 weeks out, so I know I won't see the cheapest price- I missed that window. But maybe even 2 months is still a bit of an advanced ticket. BTW- I loved your helpful thread 'Clocks'. Over a decade ago we had a ride transfer to the Paris airport for our 9am flight, they were going to pick us up at 5:30am- imagine my shock when they called from the lobby wondering where we were- now we are Always on time- it was only 4:30 in the morning, the last of our group just out of the shower for the long transatlantic flight home and they're ready to leave without us right that minute. We made it downstairs in 5 minutes just mortified. While clocks had changed to spring ahead back in the U.S. weeks ago- apparently they change in Europe much later. You have saved a lot of people some very embarrassing moments or missed rides. Thank you from all of us and making planning our trips to England easier.

Thank you beyond words for clarifying that, I thought it was something I needed to purchase before we arrived in England since I got the 2 products mixed as one. I know so many others who read this thread down the road will appreciate immensely your sharing this. I had not stumbled on anything about it, but the tube is such a time saver as you move about London, that I know its going to be well worth its small cost. We're coming in by rail from Southampton post cruise & are staying near the Waterloo station so I'll see where a visitor centre is nearby- thanks so much for heading off my misconception and that the photocard is not the same thing. Thank you again for all your help!

Globaliser- that was astounding, I had no idea there was such a thing as a Young Visitor Discount and for different age groups. Your link even contained a video walkthrough of the process. Since we will be there for 8 days it seems especially worthwhile and solves the problem of a 14 year old junior high boy not having his own credit card. He would always be with the adults but saves having to keep track of yet another credit card. This is perfect, Cannot Thank You Enough!

I read that London is moving away from the Oyster card, we are 3 adults who can do the credit card scan to pass through the turnstiles, I assume you then use the same card to exit so that it knows how much to charge you. But how do you handle a 14 yr old, we do not have a credit card for him to use, but guessing he cannot tap/scan through using his moms same card at the same time? If your card gets cranky about being used abroad, can you still buy the Oyster card and just load cash on it, I know you don't get your deposit back, but as a backup, visiting in July, super thanks. We'd really hoping not use the phone for apple pay or android.

We are arriving in Southampton 2 days before the cruise, partly to recover from all the time zones but also to take the train up to Bath, wander about. Its been a Long time since we were last there (and it was by tour bus back then) but I remember it being lovely and wanting to show the rest of the family this trip. Then we'll take the train back the same day to Southampton, can I ask how you found the information on the train service please? I had seen it was an option by train and it was something you could do on your own, versus the organized tours to Stonehenge, etc. but I hadn't gotten any further with it yet.

I think there are going to be some variables here, depending on the ships size and age. As well as the packages themselves varying. We were on b2b but different ships, and the prices/option for prints were different even though I bought both on the same sale day. Depending on how soon you sail, the offers may also vary with different sales. It doesn't hurt to keep an eye out and watch to see if it says in smaller print- an option to chose prints instead of digital as long as you let them know the day you board, but I think all of ours have said in bigger print right at the top about the choice between digital or prints. I'm not sure if all ships are able to let you see the photos right on your app, hopefully others will chime in, we were able to see and select them right on our phone, prior to these last cruises we had to go to the photo kiosk screens to view them. The kiosks always had to be closed when the ship was in port so this was an exciting upgrade being able to see them right on the app.

They've made selecting your final choices much easier than the old days of sorting through walls of prints to find your pictures (does this ever say how long we've loved sailing RCCL). Now when you have one taken you can give them your stateroom number, we do try to make a mental note of the approx time we've done pictures (like right after dinner or dockside time, because there is still the very small chance of error). Cabin numbers are often now 4 or 5 digits, we knew we had one backdrop taken that didn't show up- so they looked up the backdrop and approx time and found ours right away- the photographer had swapped 2 of the numbers in reverse, instantly our images were in our app. Or on our kiosk screen depending on the age of the ship. One of our packages included both digital and prints- so I checked the download size- they are all between 1.2 and 1.8mb They look stunning even on my computer screen but I wouldn't make a wall print with them. The digital is perfect for most everyone, nothing to carry, But some packages still give us the option for prints, for those who go that route- I've made incredible photo books of memories this way- but I know I am in the minority- have fun whichever works best! PS- for photos taken when they don't get to ask your name like the bumper cars or the slides, they use facial recognition. The ones we got digital I believe we had the option to download them to our phone after they were paid for (without the watermarks) and then you get an email link so that you can download them to your computer about 48 hours after you leave the ship.

i'm not real app savvy, we've never had any problems with ordering the pictures from either the kiosk or the app, on the Icon it actually showed how many more pictures we could still select, you can still change any of your 'favorites' right up to submitting your final order. I think some people even buy a 2nd pkg or increase the size of their first one while onboard but preordering is by far the best deal. I just can't speak for every ship in the fleet, but I've been blown away by the ships we have sailed on. In the old days, the backdrops were pretty much the same for every ship and sailing, now its exploded into amazing new options. And the skill of the photographers in making everyone look great has eclipsed as well. I was really impressed and we had a lot of fun.

In our case we had 2 cabins linked (for dining/excursions/boarding), so it asked which passenger we wanted the photo pkg for, since the grandkid was the main focus and always in the pictures, he's the one we listed, rather than a cabin number, it asks if you have linked cabins. So as long as he was in the picture, it could be any picture he was in, including either cabin.