FionaMG

When you booked this, what did you put in as the pick-up time? The time your flight was scheduled to land? Or did you add some time on to allow for deplaning and getting through immigration?

There's a much higher chance on Quantum class ships where a large number of balcony cabins on deck 6 are obstructed by lifeboats.

The one time we booked two guarantee cabins when travelling with family on Royal we were assigned one on deck 7 at the very front of the ship and the other midships on deck 3! Luckily we didn't need to be near each other. 😂 On MSC, we were assigned adjacent cabins. You might get lucky or you might not, so if proximity is something that could make or break your cruise you really should pick your staterooms.

I have stayed at the Holiday Inn Southampton, the Premier Inn Westquay and the Ibis Southampton. Of the three, I preferred the Holiday Inn on the basis of the pleasant, comfortable room and best breakfast, but it was the most expensive. Of the other two, the Premier Inn was closer to the centre and the room was nicer but I'm not a huge fan of their breakfast as the choices are very limited, especially if you just want continental. The Ibis breakfast offered a fair bit more choice than the PI, although not as much as the HI. The location is a bit farther from the centre but is very convenient for the train station. You can actually see the hotel across the road when you come out of the station. However, the room was tiny, smaller than our cruise ship cabin. Literally no room to swing a cat, as the saying goes.

I couldn't say. Maybe someone who is familiar with the programme out of Galveston will be able to speculate. But it is all just speculation for now.

That's a good point. I'm not sure about Lisbon. I know some of MSC's big ships have called there (meraviglia and euribia, among others) but I don't know if an Oasis class ever has. I suppose the next closest would be Marseille.

The thing is, if you look at the Oasis-class transatlantic itineraries, there are definitely other ports that can handle those ships: Cadiz, Malaga, Cartagena, Alicante and Valencia. That's a nice little Iberian itinerary right there.

Icon 3 takes over the standard 7-night Western Med itinerary and Harmony moves to 3- and 4-night itineraries. 😂

The opening schedule is up on loyaltoyoualways.

I've heard of this but never done it as we usually buy one full voyage package and then just use our free days to connect a second device on sea days. However, even if there's no official policy, in practice, all you'd need to do would be to use up all four free days between you (there's nothing to stop you sharing) and then buy a rest of voyage package, which again you could share and this would have the same effect.

Of the two, I found La Coruna to be more interesting. St. Anthony's Castle and the Tower of Hercules are both well worth a visit and the entrance fees are very cheap.

The strike has been called off as of last Sunday. The article below is in Portuguese but you can take my word for it. I did try running it through Google translate to see if it would be helpful but as a professional translator myself I can tell you that it botched the job! 😂 https://www.portugal.gov.pt/pt/gc24/comunicacao/comunicado?i=ministro-das-infraestruturas-congratula-se-com-suspensao-da-greve-dos-pilotos-de-barra-e-portos

E-sims are a great way to have access to data when travelling abroad and there are lots of providers out there, so it's just a question of doing your research and finding one that works for your needs. I have personally used Airalo and Roamless in the States and both worked fine. Ultimately, I have found I prefer Roamless because it's pay as you go. Your credit never expires and is not restricted to a specific country or region, which means if you have any credit left over from one trip you can still use it on another even if it's to a different country.

I know you're asking about a specific ship so it makes sense to have posted your question here but I was wondering if you've found the cc family board where you'll definitely be able to get lots of general information and tips for sailing with your little one. Link here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/28-family-cruises/

You can view it by going into Odyssey's current sailing on the app and choosing day 1.

The filters have only just started working again for me this morning. Eta: but only on one of my two booked cruises. Still acting up on the other. 🙄

There is an issue with it that seems to be affecting some people but not everyone. Another poster posted about it on Saturday here: I can't get the excursion filter to show all of my ports but I can see all of the excursions all jumbled up if I scroll down past the filters. 😕 This is on my phone and tablet; I haven't tried on my PC yet.

I am one of those people who generally don't care and don't pay attention to the CD so it's saying a lot that I did actually notice Dennis Charles when I was on Symphony back in February. Unfortunately, the reason I noticed him was that he was so insipid as a CD. 😕 I did not interact with him personally, though, and it was very close to the end of his contract, so I may be doing him an injustice.

Mine is acting up too. I can see all 4 sea days but only one port. However, when I scroll down past the filter bars, the excursions are all there, but all jumbled up with no rhyme or reason to the order. I have already booked mine so it's not really an issue for me but it would be really frustrating if you were shopping for excursions. On another note, my very first cruise has mysteriously disappeared from my list of past cruises, so the number of cruises is one short, although my points total has just updated to reflect the most recent one. That same cruise also shows up in DH's history even though he didn't go on it.

Hi @SarahandNewt, Plugs will mostly be standard North American along with one European. Multi-slot USB adapters are fine. Have a great cruise. 😊

@mleng, my pleasure. Glad to have been of assistance. As an added bonus, the sailaway out of Lisbon, under the 25th of April Bridge is spectacular. 😊

Below is the link to the Union's article about the strikes from 5 days ago. It's in Portuguese; I couldn't find anything in English. Google should be able to translate it but, to summarise for you, it only mentions the dates that @lovetocruise1953 stated in post #5. I can’t find any information about strike dates beyond that although that doesn't necessarily mean there aren't any. https://www.cgtp.pt/accao-e-luta/20536-greve-dos-pilotos-de-barra-e-portos-a-partir-de-16-de-setembro

You could essentially toss a coin. They are both great cities and both are easy to get around. Lisbon Airport is right in the city and Barcelona Airport is very close to the city. I would expect Lisbon to be the cheaper of the two in terms of accommodation and meals, if that matters. You really can't go wrong with either so maybe pick the one that you can get to more easily and/or more cheaply? For Lisbon, TAP Air Portugal have loads of non-stop flights from the NY area (Newark and JFK) and their prices are typically very competitive. They are Star Alliance, like United, if miles are relevant.

I didn’t see anyone else mention it, so I will. DD and I very much enjoyed our dinners at The Real Greek, which is another of the restaurants on the outside of the Westquay Shopping Centre. We found it by chance last year and returned this year.

Oh wow, I must have been walking around in a daze on Anthem last week. I just got off on Sunday and never saw or heard anything like this, although I do remember seeing it reported here beforehand so am not questioning the OP's experience. I am just glad I didn't experience it. Our servers in Izumi and Wonderland, as well as in the MDR, mentioned the survey only once, and briefly at that, and while they explained that 10 was the best score not one of them actually asked us to give them that score. We were also never hounded to book speciality dining. To the one person who approached us on day one I (untruthfully) said we had the dining package. I guess we must have looked like cheapskates as we were never approached by anyone else after that! 😂