the penguins

For the "free drinks" to be of any value you need to book at the Sail Only rates.

Sorry but the back of the ship isn't for us - mid ship and deck 7 is as high as we go. Also do the SV's have proper high backed chairs as these are essential due to mobility issues. As is at least one footstool. The transformation of the Sky Lounge in to an area exclusively for Suites is also a major disappointment. Taken as a whole our first choice is still S Class, second choice M class and if either of those don't give us the itinerary we want a different cruise line ( in March we are trying Princess for the first time ).

Real veranda but terrible chairs. The designer and the Directors at X who approved the chairs should try sitting on them for a couple of hours. Actually forget "should" make it "must" then the chairs would never have been approved..

It was Astoria which had the 55 age limit on the tour we described at Post 13.

Looks very uncomfortable. Couldn't see us relaxing on those chairs with a book for 10 minutes let alone the hours we spend on our traditional balcony. Plus if we did the room would very hot or cold unless we kept the window shut which somewhat defeats the object. Great for passengers who like the idea of a balcony but don't actually use it. We will be sticking to S class.

We have cruised on Silhouette 4 times in the last 12 months and had none of these issues. On one cruise we didn't have the production shows because the Cast Members were all quarantined (2 had tested positive). The crew were as always excellent. Never booked Aqua as the cabin locations and the dining arrangements don't appeal - we always share tables at dinner.

No the bifold doors are not connected to the Aircon only the drop down window. Drop window by any amount Aircon is off.

The folding doors don't affect the Aircon - opening/lowering the window turns it off. No M or S class ships have balcony doors that turn off the aircon. Leaving the sliding doors open causes all sorts of issues not only for you but for your neighbors as the Aircon units are connected in pairs. With the balcony door open just open your cabin door and you will instantly feel the rush of air. Walk along the corridors and you can also hear the whistling where balcony doors are open.

We use clothes pegs

It's about Insurance on one cruise a tour that included a half mile walk along a disused railway line which had been converted to a footpath had an upper age limit of 55. Simple solution is to book a private guide and share the cost with one or two other couples on the Roll Call. You get to set the itinerary, for us it's no long lunch or shopping but coffee and cake breaks. We use Toursbylocals but there are lots of alternatives. With TBL you deal direct with the guide but pay via TBL in Canada. Never had a bad guide.

The HVAC does stay on when the door to a traditional balcony is open - hence the sign on every such door asking you to keep the door closed.

Not unless you are Elite + in which case you can get it from opening until closing - a fantastic perk if like us you don't drink alcohol.

When you sign on you get the choice but once you start using the Elite minutes you can't swop between the 2. 240 minutes each is more than enough for us so we just use one device and one lot of 240. If that is used up we log in with the other account so never use the basic minutes. Now that we have the choice of booking Sail Only we never book AI rates.

X has different menus in the MDR for everything upto 17 days after that it repeats. No need to worry on a TA just make sure that if you see something you like in the main menu to order it as you won't see it again.

From the way you have worded your reply it would appear that she did pay for 2 of everything i.e. the price you paid included drinks and she paid for double occupancy which also included the drinks so she paid for 2 of everything that was included. In March you have selected a cruise only rate so now any supplement will only be on the room and she will pay for 1 of everything else. The new system gives you these options whereas the old system didn't. Of course from Aqua and above AI is still compolsary.

Depends on 2 things: 1) CC status as Elite + and above get free speciality coffees/teas,/chocolate. 2) What else you drink: for us we get enough free water during the Elite free drink period to take us through the next day. We only drink smoothies and juices at breakfast (free at the Elite breakfast). Lattes also free in the MDR. We have the occassional mock cocktail. For us none of the drinks packages are of any value.

Secret from the kids? I didn't even tell the boss ( Anita) until after the second leg was booked 2 days before the end of the first!

Same on Silhouette and many more headsets than when the event first started.

Or you book for the 4 of you at one restaurant and pays and your sister books for the 4 of you at another and pays.

None of the tours or sizes mentioned meet my difinition of small. No real difference between any of these sizes - you still trail behind the guide, have no choice over the itinerary and no say as to when/where you stop for a break. We choose a truly private guide with a vehicle that holds 6 but we restrict to 4 or, occasionally, a vehicle that holds 8/10 but we restrict to 6. We agree an itinerary, walk with our guide chatting as we go, the guide adjusts to our pace (my wife uses a 4 wheel Rollator) and we stop in smaller cafes to enjoy a coffee and cake. If we see something we like during the journey we ask the guide to stop. Yes we pay a little more, usually less than 💲15 a person, but it's worth every Cent. We also leave the ship later to avoid the rush and return ahead of the ships tours. As always it's all about choice - no right or wrong just choose what's best for you.

You should be fine. You need minimum 3 hour check in at Heathrow for International flights giving you a latest arrival time of 12.15. I assume this is for next spring by which time hopefully the industrial action by Border Force Officers will be over. However I wouldn't rely on a train booking as the long running industrial dispute shows no sign of ending.

There seems there are as many ways to do this as there are passengers and ships. We have taken 💲50 played a couple of times and cashed out 💲48. We have been locked out of the slots but the card has always reset within 24 hours. We much prefer to convert our OBC via roulette as that way we have a lot of fun for very low risk (we have only lost once ). We accept that with our system of play we will never win big but most of the other ways of using OBC are extremely unattractive to us - for medical reasons we don't drink alcohol (our Elite + gives us all the speciality teas/coffees/chocolate we want) so any drinks package is a waste; we don't need unlimited WiFi (our 240 minutes each is more than enough); we always do private excursions as ships tours simply don't cater for passengers with mobility issues. The great thing is everyone is free to choose whichever suits them best.

Oh you can you can. If you happen to have anything left give it to a member (s) of the crew, you can get a form at Guest Relations.

Covid seems to have stopped this at least for now.

Shareholder bit only works if you are both shareholders