FionaMG

@Kelownabccan, given you're from Canada, you may find the sea is actually warm enough for you to swim in. 😂 Note that the stretch of Ocean between the Canaries and Madeira can be bumpy. Take precautions if needed. In Madeira, the cable car up the mountain followed by a wicker basket ride back down is a great way to spend the day. https://madeiracablecar.com/en/ https://www.carreirosdomonte.com/v3/en/index.php

I've just finished my first D+ cruise. I contacted C&A through messenger on their fb page to request my amenity as I didn’t want to have to make an international long distance call. They replied really quickly and the requested amenity (toiletry bag) showed up in my cabin on day 3 or 4. I agree it would be so much easier if we could request online.

It could potentially have been a fam trip for European travel agents.

And also to see luggage out in the corridor for departure and know it's not you (yet). 😄

If it's just a standard mandatory dry dock it's probably about two weeks so I'd guess sailings could start as early as mid-April. I have sailed on Harmony twice in the Med, the first time in 2016, which was the inaugural season (still have the t-shirt! 😂) and the second time was in 2021, one of the very first sailings after Covid with about 1,000 passengers. That was so weird. Guess I should make a habit of it and book for 2026 too. 😁

Harmony should be in Europe in summer 2026 as she is due for dry dock. The transatlantic sailing from Galveston to Barcelona has been on sale for a while now (departs March 16th). If she follows the usual pattern she will be doing the standard 7-night itinerary with embarkation available in Barcelona and Civitavecchia (Rome).

I've only ever done one, about 14 or 15 years ago, and it was on Splendour, which was tiny in comparison.

I sailed on that standard 7-night Med itinerary with just one sea day on Harmony on her inaugural season away back in September 2016. Met two English couples on board who had booked b2b precisely to be able to enjoy the ports and the ship.

A lot of us Europeans do sail on them for the ship. 🙂 But I do agree with you that they're a waste for anyone who's travelling a long way to cruise Europe for the ports.

Thanks for confirming. 🙂

There's supposed to be a luggage storage facility in the airport. The website says it's in central terminal E but I haven't used it myself so can't confirm. Maybe you could head straight to the airport, leave your bags there for a while, and then use the public transit system to go to Bayside for a wander and some lunch. There's also a bar/restaurant in the Miami Airport Hotel, also located in central terminal E. It's called Viena and is open to the public, not just hotel residents. It's a much quieter place than the pandemonium that is the airport proper. The food is decent and (I felt) reasonably priced. You can use the hotel's free wifi and the bathrooms are way better than the ones in the airport concourse. The only thing is I think it doesn't open until noon and you'd be at the airport well before that so potentially not the best option.

It's not Royal's recipe but if you want to try making one from scratch I have done this one in the past and it was really good: https://www.cookingclassy.com/autumn-spice-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting/

I agree. There's just something so satisfying about turning over actual pages.

My daughter has used Send My Bag in the past, when her studies required her to spend several months away at a time. Her trips were always within Europe but I know they ship to the US as well. They will pick up at an address of your choice. You can use the website to get a quote. https://www.sendmybag.com/en-gb/

The daily pies will definitely go away as those are a thing on menus in Europe. Once the ship returns to the US, they will be replaced by a different dish. For example, the Welcome Aboard menu on the first night usually has southern fried chicken in the Caribbean and chicken and leek pie in Europe. You may still see fish and chips and a pie on one night, if your particular sailing features the Taste of the UK menu, as those dishes appear on that one. The Italian menu is pretty much guaranteed wherever you are sailing.

I have used Guruwalks twice, once in London and once in Rome. In both cases, the guides and tours were very good and we saw a lot. However, you may be impacted by the number of people who sign up. In London, there were only 8 of us, which was great as we were able to interact with the guide and ask lots of questions. In Rome, there were over 40 of us which obviously meant interaction was limited, and I felt it did detract a little from the experience. In both cases we gave a "tenner" each, i.e. £10 in London and €10 in Rome. I don't know how much other walkers gave. You don't say what ports you're visiting in Spain but if one of them is Barcelona look up runnerbean tours. They do an excellent free walking tour of the Gothic Quarter. I got the recommendation on these boards a number of years ago and we were very happy with the tour when we did it.

Thanks for sharing. I've enjoyed reading about your adventures. 🙂

@MommaNeedsACruise, I completely agree with @twangster on this one. You have to bear in mind that even on a port intensive itinerary with just one sea DAY, you still have seven sea EVENINGS when your teen is absolutely going to want to be connected. Even without knowing your son, I'm pretty sure he'll be bored and frustrated in the evenings on this smaller ship if he can't connect with his friends back home. In fact, I can attest to this from personal experience (even though my teen years are well behind me at a time when internet wasn't even a thing). A couple of years back, I decided to save some money by not buying an internet package. The reasoning was essentially the same as yours: port-heavy plus I would have mobile data in port during the day. Well, it backfired. I felt completely lost without my browsing time when DH was in the casino in the evenings. Since then, I've always bought a full voyage package. Looking at it in purely $$$ terms, it's impossible to argue that it's worth the money but, if I have it, it enhances my overall cruise experience, whereas not having it detracts from the experience. For that reason, to me, it's worth it.

So helpful of them. 🙄

Oh no, that's hugely annoying. I hope you manage to get it sorted. 🤞

Thanks. 😊 We're on the 1st of September so hopefully it should show up soon. Still no e-docs either.

Yup, but still not available to book 30 days out. I keep refreshing the entertainment page... 😂

30 days from sailing on Anthem and also still no entertainment reservations open.

We didn't have to change trains; took one that went via Bristol all the way to Cardiff. I guess I must be thinking about the stairs you mentioned because our train from Southampton did leave from an island platform. Good info about the refreshments. We might pick up a coffee to go along with the cookies that we will be bringing off the ship. 😉 Hope you enjoy your time in Innsbruck. ☺️

Thanks @Canuker. ☺️ Yup, it is indeed going to be busy that day. Back in October 2022, we had to wait over 30 minutes for it to be our turn in the taxi queue so I imagine this will be similar and that's exactly why I booked the 10.30 train to give us a bit of wiggle room. I'd rather have to hang around for a bit than get all flustered rushing to catch the 9.30, especially since our flight doesn't leave until 5 pm. If it's a nice (euphemism for "not tipping it down with rain") day, we will probably walk to the station as we're both capable. If it is tipping it down, the strategy will be to hoof it to the Holiday Inn and call a taxi from there. That's what we did last year and it worked out fine. Thanks for the directions regarding the station. I have no idea what side of the station we got dropped off at last year but I do remember having to go down some stairs, through an underpass and back up some more stairs onto the platform. We were headed for South Wales on that occasion, though, not Gatwick, so probably not the same one as this time.