gumshoe958

Any food, if you eat too much of it. See the thread about ordering two entrees, which appears to be the norm for many.

Depends on the terminals. Mayflower <> Horizon and City <> Horizon are walkable in about 10 minutes. Mayflower <> City and Ocean <> QE2 are walkable in 15-20 minutes. Otherwise, it’s a short cab or Uber journey. But bear in mind you may be sitting around for a couple of hours waiting for Princess check-in to open. There’s not a lot to do around the terminals.

You’ll want to be at Heathrow by 10 or 10.30 and it’s about a 90 minute drive in good traffic, longer if it’s busy. I’d be minded to use a private transfer as you never quite know how long the cruise line buses will take to load or when they’ll leave. As long as you’re off the ship by 8 you should be fine.

Totally. Bear in mind only 10,000 people live on Skye and Carnival Pride holds more than 2,000. That’s a BIG influx of people on an island without the infrastructure to cope, in the middle of the Scottish school holidays and the first week of the English ones when it’ll already be as busy as it gets.

If you’re off the ship early, the traffic around Southampton shouldn’t be a problem. But you’ll be heading up the M3 towards London at rush hour, round the M25 which is notoriously unpredictable and into Dover where queues for the ferry terminal are by no means unknown. Changing to a 2pm ferry would be very sensible. You can have breakfast on the ship, take a break en route and still have decent contingency time in case of delays.

Agree 100%. It’s a 2.5 hour drive even if the traffic’s good - and the quickest route is via the M25 motorway which is notorious for delays. I would seriously rethink this, otherwise you risk spending your whole cruise worrying about whether you’ll make it. If you really have no choice I would consider booking parking at the Doubletree by Hilton Southampton which is right next to the M3 motorway and should allow for a fast getaway. Use a cab to take you there from the ship.

There’s usually only one Oasis class ship in Europe. In 2024 it’s Oasis of the Seas. She’s due to finish her summer season in the Med on Sep 29th then go into dry dock before her westbound TA. But we don’t yet know whether that’ll be a revenue TA. It may well not be, but if it is it’s not yet on sale.

Very little, I’m afraid. Whereas trains on long distance leisure routes do have luggage racks at the ends of coaches, this is primarily a commuter route and the trains used on it are notorious for lack of luggage space. It’s been sacrificed in favour of cramming in as many seats as possible. There are big overhead racks above the windows which take all but the largest cases, but they’re not very useful for heavy luggage. If the train’s quiet you’ll be able to squeeze your luggage into an empty seat area or under a table. But that’ll be a problem if it’s busy.

If they don’t there are direct trains from Rotterdam Centraal to Schiphol every 15 minutes which take 25 minutes. Factor in a cab to the station, and ship to airline check-in should reliably take 60-75 minutes.

Oops! Yes, the Piccadilly line runs direct to King’s Cross from there. Or, from a different station just across the street, so do the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines which have nicer (and air-conditioned) trains. Or you could be naughty and just stay on the coach and hope the driver doesn’t notice (or play the confused tourist card) ……

That’s absolutely fine. Just as long as you’re aware that if you’re expecting a scenic drive through majestic English countryside, you’ll be disappointed. Once you’ve cleared the seemingly never-ending suburbs of west London it’s pretty much motorway (the UK equivalent of an Interstate) all the way. But yes, it’s good value.

The ship actually docks in the port of Zeebrugge which is about 10 miles and a 20-30 minute drive or train ride from Bruges. Bruges is a compact but beautiful and very popular city with tourists, and a delight to wander around so I’d be minded to spend the day there. Brussels is pleasant enough but as world capitals go, it’s not particularly high on most people’s must see list.

Fair enough - I hope you enjoy the delights of the M3 motorway, Basingstoke and a big car park somewhere near Winchester! Personally I’d make sure I take a good book …

I believe there is a taxi rank outside Asda in Portland Terrace. There’s also one at the coach station. Or you can just use Uber.

The port’s a 10-15 minute drive from the city centre. It’s in a fairly grim industrial area with very limited public transport so a cab is probably best (although your cruise line may well run a free or cheap shuttle). Belfast is a relative newcomer to mass tourism thanks to its troubled recent past. But things have changed rapidly, it’s now a vibrant modern city and the Titanic Experience is brilliantly done and an absolute must see. Also there are very good taxi or HOHO bus tours that’ll explain the city’s divided history and show you its famous murals. And if you’re into Game of Thrones, there are all sorts of trails and tours you can take as it was filmed in Belfast and around Northern Ireland. Oh, and if you’re there on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday there’s St George’s Market for gifts and nice food. Further afield look for organised tours to the Giants Causeway which is truly spectacular.

It does, and it is. The clothing range is called George at Asda.

In Hamburg, Cunard’s shuttles drop off and pick up in Mönckebergstraße, very close to the town hall and next to the Rathaus U-Bahn station. I think P&O is the same.

No, you can go via Reading which has direct trains from Southampton every couple of hours (including at 10:15am, convenient for cruise passengers). From Reading there are direct trains to Penzance in some hours, or you may have to change again at Plymouth. There’s also a significantly cheaper route from Southampton to Salisbury, then to Exeter, then to Penzance. Again every couple of hours including one at 9:11am. Either way it’s a long journey - allow 6-7 hours. And those times are for Mon-Sat. Sundays are different (and actually a touch faster, which is rare for Britain!).

There’s Bateaux London but they only do lunch cruises on Sundays. https://www.bateauxlondon.com/lunch-cruises I’m not aware of any others that could be considered upscale.

Yes, National Express coaches run every 60 to 90 minutes from Victoria coach station and take roughly 2 hours 30 minutes. Trains are quicker and more frequent - the fast services from Waterloo usually run every 30 minutes and take roughly 1 hour 15 minutes.

Agreed. Stay in London, have a nice meal, maybe catch a show, see some sights the next morning and head out to Heathrow after lunch.

Most UK car hire places will rent you an automatic so if it’s only that that’s dissuading your husband from driving, it’s worth asking. Otherwise, London is the obvious place to visit as all roads and railways between Dover and Southampton lead there. Or there’s Cambridge, Oxford, Windsor and Salisbury/Stonehenge which are all easy day trips from London by train.

Trust me, a night in Southampton is more than enough! To be fair it’s got a decent maritime museum but it’s certainly not on anyone’s list of must see places in the UK. However Salisbury and Winchester are both easily accessible from Southampton by train and are worth seeing, or you could hop on a ferry across the Solent and visit Queen Victoria’s family home on the Isle of Wight, Osborne House. Southampton has plenty of unremarkable but perfectly adequate chain hotels near the port (Holiday Inn, Novotel, Premier Inn, Ibis) but I’ve got a soft spot for the Pig in the Wall which is a very small boutique hotel in the city centre. https://www.thepighotel.com/in-the-wall/ I’m sure others will have other good hotel suggestions. Further afield yes, Stratford is certainly worth seeing. Or as you have a week you’d have enough time to see Edinburgh, or maybe Liverpool. There are very few towns in Britain that aren’t easily accessible by train.

No, I meant $300 (or £250) as that seems to be the going rate for an Uber. Interesting to see if a local cab firm will beat that - West Quay were quoting £300 ($365) online.

They haven’t announced road closures yet but that hotel is very close to Buckingham Palace and the area will be extremely busy. I would have a Plan B ready. Such as using the Piccadilly line tube from Heathrow to Barons Court, changing on to the District line to Victoria (easy cross platform interchange, no steps involved) then a 10 minute walk.