gumshoe958

Ah: yes, I’m afraid the train strike will be a problem if it goes ahead. Details haven’t yet been published but on previous strike days there have been no trains at all between Southampton & Salisbury, and only limited services between Salisbury & London involving a change of train half way, at Basingstoke. There is an hourly bus, the X7, that would get you from Southampton to Salisbury in about 1 hour 20 mins, and the train from Salisbury to London should still be possible as above, so it’s still doable by public transport albeit not as simple as it would otherwise be. But note that the X7 is a normal city bus, not a coach, so luggage space will be limited. Otherwise yes, realistically you would need to book a private transfer OR try the International Friends tour mentioned by @John Bullif it’s available, which has been recommended by many on CC before.

Dundee sees very few cruise ships and doesn’t have the level of infrastructure seen at bigger ports. As such I would recommend pre-booking any transportation you may require. There will be some cabs, but not necessarily enough to meet demand.

I doubt they really care. The ship’s got to get from A to B regardless so if they can persuade anyone to pay to be on her, it’s just a bonus. Which they will.

Yes, I thought about £10. It’s less than two miles, a 7 minute journey. Then I looked at Uber. £23 😮 Could be surge pricing I guess, but that’s daylight robbery. Incidentally a black cab driver will hate you for that journey. They have to queue up, sometimes for a very long time, for what they hope will be a nice lucrative £100 fare into London. They may be allowed to jump the queue after a short hop to Bath Road, but they’ll still hate you.

It’s a very frequently asked question. See this thread for some suggestions:

No shortage of choice then!

The Russia/Ukraine situation has put paid to that. Many Americans won’t go near the Baltic now, and St Petersburg was the big draw for many on those itineraries.

I suspect the cruise line organises it, they just don’t tell you it exists until the last minute when they’ve sold as many shore excursions as they’re likely to. It’s the same in many European ports which are some distance from the nearest town. There’s invariably a free or low cost shuttle bus for independent travellers, but you won’t be told about it until the night before you arrive.

Of course you may still be disowned after he’s tasted it …

You were told wrong. No US flights use T4.

This. P&O are cheap for a reason …

Just go to any restaurant as soon as you board and make all your reservations for the week. Wonderland and Izumi tend to have shorter lines as most folks seem to head straight to Chops, 150 or Jamie’s. The earlier you do it, the better the availability. Best to go prepared with a Plan B (and C) just in case your preferred times are full. But as long as you’re flexible you should be fine.

In my experience cruise lines rarely advertise local port shuttle buses in advance as they want to sell you their own overpriced tours and have you believe they’re the only option. But there’s invariably a lower cost DIY shuttle option that you’ll be notified about in the on-board newsletter the day before arrival.

No, but be aware that Portland to Stonehenge is at least a 90 minute drive one way so you’ll be spending almost 4 hours on the road.

If you’re flying British Airways, you’ll arrive at Terminal 5. If you’re flying with any of the US airlines you’ll arrive at Terminal 2 or 3 (which are next to each other). Assuming you’re flying with either UA, AA or DL, have a look at the Hilton Garden Inn Terminals 2 & 3. That’s on-airport and doesn’t need a cab or bus to get to, unlike the Hyatt Place. Note that Heathrow doesn’t let hotels run their own airport shuttles. A stop at Winchester is entirely doable as it’s directly en route from Southampton to Heathrow. But if you’re doing that on the morning of your cruise make sure you allow enough time so you’re not late for check-in! Heathrow to Southampton non-stop is about 90 minutes so I’d plan for around 4 hours in total to give yourselves a couple of hours to sightsee. And don’t underestimate the time it takes to shepherd a large group around - there’s always one who needs the bathroom! Stonehenge involves quite a detour and considerably more time, cost and planning (including pre-booking a time slot). Probably not ideal if you need to be in Southampton by lunchtime.

You may want to look into hiring a 16 seater minibus and driver as that may well be cheaper than three or four separate cars. @John Bull may have some suggestions for businesses that might fit the bill. The other option would be to take the National Express coach direct from Heathrow to Southampton (roughly every 2 hours, takes just over 2 hours). You’d need to book in advance online to guarantee your seats. But tbh once you factor in the cost and hassle of cabs at each end (from your hotel and to the ship), you may decide it’s easier just to hire your own transport. At Heathrow there are very few hotels actually on airport that don’t require a cab or a (not free) bus to get to, so choose carefully.

Very few people would fly from the UK all the way to Florida just for a 3/4 night cruise. But Disney’s already proved there are plenty who’d combine a 3/4 night cruise with a week or 10 days at the theme parks. I think it’ll be extremely successful. We need to remember that Royal’s target market is very different from the typical CC poster whose ideal cruise is a repo lasting at least two weeks on a smaller ship visiting previously unserved ports on a cheap group rate, using their D/D+/Pinn free drink vouchers and spending virtually nothing on board!

There’s no legal reason why they couldn’t - indeed on the last Med circuit of the season they’ve traditionally sold a 3-nighter from Civitavecchia to Barcelona, presumably mainly for the benefit of passengers who wish to stay on for the TA. That’s the only one though.

Far fewer passengers board in Civitavecchia than in Barcelona, so it doesn’t feel like a total zoo on embarkation day. But, as others have said, it’s a bit of a pain to get to. And as biker says, Royal hasn’t figured out how to make the app work properly for passengers boarding in Civitavecchia - or at least it hadn’t on Wonder last year, though I did see someone claiming it now works. So there are pros and cons to both - I’d just go with whichever best fits your travel plans.

The Elizabeth line costs about £13 each, so for five people you may as well take a cab.

Have Royal not given you a PNR (six character booking reference) for the BA flights? That would allow you to access Manage My Booking on the BA app or website and add extra bags, choose seats etc.

I too would go for the second of the options suggested by @Island2Dweller - but you should know that, although many people take luggage on the tube it isn’t really designed for it: there are no racks or anything, it can get very busy and two cases each might not be terribly easy. Not trying to put you off - I always use the tube or Elizabeth line to get to Heathrow - but don’t underestimate the amount of dragging of cases on and off trains, elevators and moving walkways you’ll have to do (Terminal 3 to the tube station is about a 10 minute walk on its own). Only you know how up for that you are!

They are not overly plentiful so it would be wise to pre-book. At Zeebrugge you have to take a (free) shuttle bus from the ship to the terminal as it’s predominantly a cargo port and no pedestrians are allowed in the dock area. The buses run frequently but to be safe you should probably allow 15-20 minutes from walking off the ship to arriving at the terminal in case you just miss one and have to wait for the next one to fill up. Cabs will pick you up from the terminal. I’ve never seen very many waiting there though.

Just buy them at the station on the day. Or - even better - use a contactless Visa or MasterCard credit or debit card, or Apple/Google Pay. Then you don’t need a ticket at all - you just tap in and tap out at the gates.

East Cowes is the right choice for Osborne House. It’s about a half hour walk from the ferry, or a bus will take you just over half way. Or a taxi all the way if you’d prefer to avoid walking.