gumshoe958

See my answers in red above.

Spot on. There is an hourly train from St Pancras to Dover which takes just over an hour. No need to book in advance, just buy tickets at the station. It’s £37 per person one way but if the four of you travel together ask for a ticket called Groupsave which gives you about a third off. From Heathrow to central London your daughters can either: - use the tube (cheapest but slowest, and runs direct to St Pancras) - use the Heathrow Express (fast but expensive, need to change on to the tube at Paddington) - use the new Elizabeth line (somewhere in the middle, need to change on to the tube at Farringdon) - take a cab/Uber For any of the rail options from Heathrow into London, your daughters don’t need to buy an actual ticket. It’s cheaper to use a credit or debit card to “touch in” and “touch out” at the ticket gates. The system will automatically charge them the correct fare. Buying a paper ticket is much more expensive.

It’s around 100 miles from Heathrow to Dover and takes just under 2 hours to drive if the traffic’s good, more if it’s not (and any journey that involves the M25 London orbital motorway is unpredictable!). An Uber will set you back between US$200-250. A local Dover cab company may do it a bit cheaper if you research online and pre-book. There are regular trains, but not direct so you’d have to change trains in London and use the tube to get to St Pancras, where the trains to Dover leave from. Journey time would be roughly the same. So for four of you I’d get a cab, it would be much simpler and probably roughly the same price. By the way Dover Castle (a must see) is in Dover, not Canterbury! So you can walk there from your hotel - it’s just under a mile although it’s a steepish climb up to the castle. Otherwise the hotel will find you a cab. If you want to visit Canterbury there’s an hourly train from Dover which takes just under half an hour.

Yes.

Yes. You’ll be absolutely fine. No need to check in any more than 2 hours before departure for a flight to Venice.

I guess they figure they can still fill a ship without a jazz club. And if it’s being replaced with a casino extension I have little doubt they’re right, if the number of people on here who use the casino is anything to go by. I hope they don’t go down the Carnival route and use a prerecorded track for production shows. Those orchestras can’t be cheap.

Entirely likely. We’ve already seen cost cutting this year in the MDR and housekeeping. Why would entertainment be immune? I imagine every department’s been given a target to cut costs and/or increase revenue. Like most businesses their costs have risen sharply and they’re still recovering from an 18 month enforced shutdown. Like it or hate it, this is the new normal.

No, the jazz club and music hall/Dazzles are totally separate.

That should be fine. It’s about a 15-20 minute cab ride to Rotterdam Centraal station and the train to Schiphol takes less than half an hour and they’re very frequent. So if you’re off the ship at 8am you should be at Schiphol by 9.30.

I’d guess they’ll wait to see how this one goes first …

BA does fly Southampton to Edinburgh - but only once a week, early on a Sunday morning, and not year-round. So for all intents and purposes that route is operated by Loganair, who codeshare with BA, up to five times a day (but fewer at weekends). For cruise passengers, there’s usually a flight somewhere between noon and 2pm Monday to Saturday. Sundays are trickier as there’s a big gap in departures in the middle of the day.

Time-wise the flight takes less than an hour and the Eurostar train takes about four hours. But the train is city centre to city centre while if you fly you’ll need to factor in travel time to/from the airport. So they work out roughly the same. Otherwise it’s really down to price and personal preference. There are only 4 direct trains a day to Amsterdam, and annoyingly none between 11am and 6pm, and on your travel day (4 May) the 11am is pretty expensive. But the 8.16am and 6.04pm are both pretty reasonable still, and I’d recommend upgrading to Standard Premier for more space. You must book in advance though, and prices only tend to go up so don’t hang around too long.

Monday May 1st is a public holiday in the UK (as it is in much of Europe) so many London tourist attractions may be very busy that day. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th should be fine. Sure, it won’t be quiet and preparations for the coronation will be in full swing, but they’re normal working days so I think you’ll be fine.

Most airlines close check in and bag drop an hour before departure. For international flights they recommend 2-3 hours. The nightmare queues at security that were widely reported last year are long gone. National Express, perhaps understandably, are playing it safe and recommending 4 hours in case of traffic delays. But for a 2pm flight I wouldn’t think twice about booking a coach that’s due to arrive at 11am. You’ve still got at least 90 minutes of wiggle room. YMMV though.

Ultimately, it’s not Royal’s decision to make.

I think that’s a US thing. Doesn’t tend to be available on European sailings either.

I suspect a 12yo used to O-class will find Jewel very dull. And if you like O-class for its choice of dining and entertainment, so might you. Jewel’s main advantage is she can reach ports that O-class ships can’t, so you’ll get more interesting destinations. She tends to attract an older crowd who appreciate her more traditional style and less frenetic atmosphere (although you’ll still find plenty of families). So if you’re sailing for the itinerary, go for it. If you’re sailing for the ship, I’d rethink.

This thread has plenty of good advice for taxi and limo services. London to Southampton is about 75 miles and should take 90 minutes to 2 hours depending on traffic.

How long is a piece of string? Last summer in the UK the temperature reached over 40C/100F. Equally, in June it’s perfectly possible for it to be nearer 15C/60F. And much cooler at night. And the temperature will vary around the country but as a general rule, as in the US, the further north you are the colder it’ll be. I’d say you’ve a decent chance of being able to sit out for at least some of your cruise - but layers are the answer as evenings may well be pretty chilly and rain is always a possibility. (Also note that on a British Isles cruise you won’t enjoy stunning views like in Alaska or the Norwegian fjords. You’ll be too far offshore most of the time and in any case the UK coast is not very spectacular apart from parts of Scotland.)

That coach is due into Heathrow Central at 11am, so it should be fine barring any massive hold-ups on the M3 or M25 motorways. From the bus station at Heathrow it’s about a 5-10 minute walk to T2 via an underground walkway.

She’s coming up to 5 years old so a dry dock is mandatory and in no way means she’s in bad shape. For now she’s the fourth newest ship in the fleet and still feels very contemporary. For a TA with so many sea days you want a ship with lots to do and see and plenty of options for eating and drinking, and an O-class ship really can’t be beaten for choice.

At under $125 a night for an interior including taxes & fees I’d say it’s still a decent solo price for one of the best ships in the fleet. Particularly when prices for pretty much everything are high right now.

You can use your D+ vouchers to buy drinks for anyone you like.

Staffing will be the issue. The people who work in there are assigned to other restaurants in the evening. It’s not like on land where a venue can just hire in temporary staff to cater a function.

Agreed. Plus the fact that Royal have little creative control over the Broadway shows and presumably pay a hefty fee to license them. Doubtless Nick Weir’s team is under the same pressure to cut costs as every other department and we’ll start to see evidence of that on stage, just like we have in the MDR and housekeeping. Sure, Effectors will have cost a lot to develop but now it’s opened the running costs will be considerably lower.