MNfamilycruiser

On 11/27/2018 at 8:11 PM, Thorben-Hendrik said:

 

Let's face it - at this point in time gratuities are totally optional at RCI.... they can be removed anytime... no questions asked! 👍

If you do not like that - you should choose another cruise line or stop cruising at all! 😁

On 11/27/2018 at 8:16 PM, GUT2407 said:

This....

On 11/27/2018 at 8:40 PM, springfire said:

Well said!

Yes, and we can all think anyone who does so is being cheap unless they have received poor service from the staff....

A day early - it is just too stressful to be rushing and worried about making it to the ship.  Also you have more choice in flight times, which can save money.

I was able to get a vodka cranberry for free in the suite lounge in 2016 - probably still the same.

Does this link work?

https://dlxffu6hwewxp.cloudfront.net/cas/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/18063159_CAS_MemberBonus_Amenity_List_v3.pdf

1 minute ago, PghSunny said:

This is helpful.  I'll look at the % off on board prices.  Thank you.

I would definitely wait for the beverage package to go back to 20-25% off rather than the BOGO if you only need one.  Based on what I have read, you can always book, cancel and rebook if a better price comes along before the cruise.  The prices change all the time and vary for each ship and each sailing.  

21 hours ago, cpayne said:

We do NOT need unlimited internet access on our cruise next Spring.  However, we would like to purchase some minutes to be able to use our phones and check email with the dog sitter and the office while we are away.  Does RCL offer a package where we can just purchase a set amount of minutes?  If so, how much?  I looked in our cruise planner and was unable to find anything.  Thanks. 

You used to be able to just buy minutes to use at their "internet cafes" -  wired internet stations.  So you could check email, but not phone.   Verizon has different pricing for cruise ships vs. the international travel packages.  But if you wait until you are off the ship at a port, you can just use the cheaper international package.

On 11/23/2018 at 9:37 AM, RadioPeri said:

 

gottogocruisin, I'm not sure this is still the case or applies in your situation, but we were told our kids would have our status (Diamond), even though we've cruised far more often than they have. And sure enough, that is the case. We were on the Harmony earlier this year and my son, who hasn't cruised in quite a while and would never have reached that status on his own, was indeed Diamond. He was in a separate cabin, so didn't have to buy the drink package, but he got all the Diamond perks, including access to the Diamond Lounge and his three free drinks per evening on his card. 

They get whatever status you had when they turned 18.  So we have one daughter that is Diamond with us, and one that is not.  We reached Diamond status AFTER the older turned 18.   I tried to talk my husband into taking an extra cruise before her birthday, but he didn't agree 😄  They both had sailed before, and had their own C&A numbers - not sure if that aspect is necessary.  

I am looking for transportation information when a ship docks at the Belview Port/berth for Waterford. We are on the Pacific Princess.

Was a shuttle provided into the town? Where does it stop? Could you walk from the terminal into town?

We are actually planning on renting bikes for the afternoon and biking the newly completed Greenway from Waterford to Dungarvan. I am trying to figure out if we can get to the bike shop location on our own, of if we should get the cruise ship package they offer.

Thanks everyone for the information!

We only have one tender port (St. Helier Jersey), and I am not planning any "big" tours there. I don't think it would be physically possible to get that far away anyhow ;)

One of the tour companies that has responded said they would have us back 1 hour before the ship leaves - I think that will be fine.

How long before the ship is scheduled to leave do they want you to be back on board typically? I am planning some tours and was planning on making sure we would be back 1.5 hours before departure - but maybe could push it to 1 hr? We will be on the Pacific Princess on a British Isles cruise. Does being on a much smaller ship make any difference?

I'm trying to decide whether to do a HOHO bus one day too. We have 2 full days in London after our cruise, and then leave the 3rd morning from Heathrow. We're staying at the Crowne Plaza Kensington, so we're right near both a tube station and a HOHO bus stop.

 

 

We might get the 2-day London Pass, which includes 1 day of blue HOHO bus (Grayline Golden Tours). How does that one compare to the other HOHOs? Are the all pretty much the same?

 

Also, is the London Pass worth it for the number of attraction you can reasonably get into in 2 days? There's probably 5-6 items in the list we'd like to get to.

For us, no it is not worth it. But that is also considering we won't really want to cram every minute full of sights, and we have 6 people - making it more difficult to keep a really tight schedule. I think we will do the Travelcard purchased from a rail station (our hotel is very close to Waterloo station) and get the 2 for 1 deals for what we want to see.

I took the Big Bus - oddly enough I had already been to London :eek: but was quite tired one day (not unlike having jet lag maybe...) and it was a lovely, sunny day. I thought it might be a good day to have a ride ALL AROUND LONDON above ground. I was right. I took the *longer* route - on Big Bus, it's I think the Blue Route (ok, or the red route, our locals will know!) but it was close to a three hour ride and I loved it. Also, I have to dig out the brochure but I think the Big Bus runs later into the evening though if you're arriving off season, maybe not? JB would know better than me - I did my ride in May.

 

Some folks *did* hop off and hop on (Piccadilly, Trafalgar, Hyde Park) but many on this longer route like me, were taking the entire ride. As a life long NYC resident, I was keen to take in the layout of greater central London - doing the boroughs, not unlike NYC would require days or weeks - so I could put it on some sort of terms with my city and others I've explored widely like Paris, Sydney, Hong Kong, Rome or Philadelphia...mostly just geographically - I'd never attempt to ever really compare any of them. Each was a unique treat to me.

 

The audio for the tour was likewise wonderful - somehow I could still hear the descriptions and the sounds of the city as well so I thought it was wonderful and well worth the time, depending upon how/why one wishes to plan their visit. In the case of getting a preview of London and combatting jet lag, I think it's a great option...take the longer tour, then go to a pub, try to walk a bit for some exercise and maybe turn in early.

 

Enjoy your visit :)

Thanks for the confirmation! I do think the HOHO plus a walk along the river (our hotel is in the Southbank near Waterloo station) will be perfect for our first afternoon/evening.

The full yellow route takes 2 hrs 20 minutes, other main routes about the same (detail is on their website).

London is packed with sights, and a full tour is interesting for pretty-well its whole duration.

 

Some folk ride a full route for an overview, some will hop off/on mebbe two or three times in a day using different routes.

 

What doesn't work well is using the hop-on bus purely as transport from one sight to another - say, just to get from Trafalgar Square to the Tower of London. That's about 3/4 of the yellow route, so around 1 hr 45 minutes. By tube (London's underground) it takes about ten minutes !!!

 

Buses aren't allowed past Buckingham Palace - If you want to see Buckingham Palace you will have to get off, walk 100 yards or so to see the Palace, then back to the stop to catch the next ho-ho.

Or from Buck House walk up The Mall & under Admiralty Arch into Trafalgar Square. .

 

Or hop off around Parliament Square for Big Ben & Westminster Abbey. Then mebbe walk up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square & jump on another ho-ho there.

Or take a little river cruise (included in the ho-ho fare) from Westminster Pier (near Big Ben) to the Tower of London and re-join the yellow route after looking round the Tower & Tower Bridge.

 

There are lots of permutations. :)

 

JB :)

Thank you for the information! Yes, lots of possibilities - I love that :D Knowing the time for the whole circuit will help us decide what we will try to accomplish the first afternoon.

We have never done a HOHO bus tour, but I am thinking about it for our first afternoon in London. We will have 8+ hour overnight flights with a 6 hr time change - so I want us to stay awake and adjust to the new time zone, but not push anything too strenuous (group of 6 - ages 17-77).

My question is really how have you used the tour? Do you really hop off/hop off to see different areas? Or do you just make the circuit to get a overview of the city an introduction to where things are? We might be able to do some of each - just ride the first afternoon, stop off places the next morning.

If we just stay on for a full circle - how long would that take approximately? (Yellow route) I am guessing we won't even be able to get on the bus until 3pm or after if we try it the first afternoon. The last full tour is at 4:30pm

We were at the Tattoo in Aug 2016. It is AMAZING. You will line (queue) up (line starts behind the Castle and works its way uphill to the Royal Mile you'll see signs) and will need to go thru security but they are so well organized the line keeps moving. We joined the line about 1 hour before the show started and were in our seats in plenty of time for the pre-program announcements, etc. We stayed to the very end and were happy we did. You get to see everyone who participated including many who were behind the scenes. Enjoy!

I was guessing about one hour - thanks!

Check with your carrier(s) to make sure none of the 6 of you can add a temporary travel package for international use. I know both Verizon and TMobile have multiple different packages available (by the day or by the month). We added one month package to my phone, and a daily package to my daughters phone for our trip to Copenhagen and Norway last year.

I live near Rosyth and it would certainly be possible to get back from Edinburgh to rest and have a bite to eat before heading off to the tattoo. Although I agree there is a lot to see in Edinburgh, it is tiring and you'll probably head off early in the morning so if I were you I'd probably want a break early evening.

 

You can access the train timetables on this website - www.nationalrail.co.uk.

You'd need to get a taxi from the ship to the station and vice-versa but there are always taxis at Inverkeithing IMO. If you were worried, sure I could help with phone number of local taxi company.

 

I got the train back after being at the tattoo last year and there is one at 11.19 which we made easily, as well as a couple before that you could also catch if you get away quickly from the castle.

 

There are also buses which stop not far from the cruise terminal, but you'd definitely need to book a taxi to meet you there as taxis don't usually meet the buses. Happy to give you more info about that if you want.

I know this post is old, but I have already reserved a taxi for the 8 of us FROM the Tattoo, to the cruise terminal. (And thank you tartanexile81 for the list of taxi companies!) I am considering going back to the ship to rest and for dinner and then returning to Edinburgh for the Tattoo via taxi. My question is: how much ahead of time should be plan to arrive in Edinburgh before the Tattoo? We are there on a Thursday night, 9pm show. So should we plan to be there by 8:00? 8:15?

Yes - I would certainly want to use a company based near Dover. That way you are not stranded if the driver oversleeps or the car blows a tyre. Be sure that you have a way to contact them. If you don't have a cellphone you can use, there will be public phones in the terminal.

Thank you, I was thinking of using the same company for all transport, but I will see what I can find from around Dover. I didn't think about being stranded :o

Bliss :)

Traffic will almost certainly be a dream.

90 minutes

But unassisted disembarkation, if possible, would get you ahead of the herd & any lines at the cruise terminal, and give you stax of time in hand.

Bob reckons it may be cheaper to book a private transfer.

He's right - even though he was probably thinking there'd be two of you!!

Five of you?

No contest.

Try http://www.folkestonetaxi.com/ or http://www.premiertaxisfolkestone.co.uk/fares.php or http://www.dovertaxis.com/

 

Do mention how much luggage you'll have - a 5-6 seat vehicle won't cope.

 

JB :)

This is reassuring! I booked a 12:55 flight from Heathrow on a Sunday thinking it would be no problem, then started worrying again when I read about traffic problems. We will have either 6 or 8 people so I already knew we would need a private transport, and realized we would probably need to do self-disembarkation. We are on the Pacific Princess. I used tripadvisor to come up with some options and found twelvetransfers.co.uk to be the cheapest so far for a MPV8 - but that was pricing London to Dover. I will check out these other options as well. Thank all of you on this board for the wonderful information you give!

The problem with the London Underground is that, like the streets above, it was not conceived as one great plan. The world's first ever underground train line opened in 1863 (Yes it was pulled by steam engines) between Paddington and The City. After that it grew, bit by bit; many of the lines, which were constructed by private companies for commuters. did not even connect with each other. It wasn't until WW1 that all the lines except that original one, were merged into a single company. The famous maps, designed by Harry Beck, were introduced in the mid 30s and it wasn't until 1948 that the whole system was nationalised.

 

After that, it went into a long decline, with roads taking the brunt of the traffic. With no investment the whole system became unreliable and at times (no air con anywhere) pretty unpleasant. Then, in the 70s, it began a renaissance, culminating in the newest state-of-the-art Elisabeth Line Stretching over 60 miles from Reading and Heathrow in the west across to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east. Due to open next year.

Thank you! Very interesting history - I love learning as much as I can about places we will visit. I am ready to order my guide books for Great Britain, London and Edinburgh :D

We use frio refrigerator packs for my husbands medication which keeps content cool for several days

That should widen your choice of suitable hotel

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Yes, we do use them when actually travelling, on the plane, train, automobile etc. But I prefer to have the ease of the fridge once we are staying put for several days. We were very happy to have discovered them!

My DH and I are leaving on April 16 for a TA cruise ending in Southampton. I booked the Hampton in Waterloo based on the glowing reviews. We are staying 3 nights and then flying back to the US. I did book a private car service to get to Heathrow that morning. Not sure when you are traveling to London.

 

Gail

August 9th - I actually have two hotels booked right now, the Hampton and the Park Plaza County Hall. I discovered the Hampton does not have refrigerators in the rooms and we have medication that needs to be kept cold. Trying to decide if that is a deal breaker for us.

This is slightly complex.

 

At Gloucester Road, eastbound Circle Line and District Line trains use the same platform, so you can freely change between them without difficulty. Westbound Circle Line trains use a different platform from westbound District Line trains, so this is not a good place to change between them. However, there is a simple cross-platform change between the westbound Circle Line and the eastbound trains.

 

The Piccadilly Line at Gloucester Road is for most practical purposes a completely separate station. To get between a Piccadilly Line train and any other train, you have to get a lift to/from street level and then go into the Circle/District Line part of the station (although I can't off the top of my head remember whether this is all now within the same gate line boundary).

 

At South Kensington, eastbound Circle Line and District Line trains use the same platform, and westbound Circle Line and District Line trains use the same platform. Changing between eastbound and westbound trains is a simple cross-platform change. So for some changes, South Ken is easier than Gloucester Road.

 

Changing between the Circle/District Line platforms and the Piccadilly Line at South Ken is a more conventional intra-station change; IIRC there are stairs down located between the eastbound and westbound Circle/District Line platforms that take you down into the underground passageways leading to the Piccadilly Line platforms. I suspect that it is this difference that has led to South Ken getting different symbols from Gloucester Road, so as to encourage people to change to/from the Piccadilly Line there rather than at Gloucester Road.

Thank you for the complete explanation! It is helpful to understand the intent of the markings - even if reality is slightly more complicated. ;)

Thank you, as of now I have booked in the Waterloo area (fully refundable) the Hampton by Hilton London Waterloo. I decided that after an overnight flight, the six of us were not going to want to be hauling luggage up and down stairs and would probably appreciate a private transfer. Still time to change my mind though ;)

 

I have stayed in the Waterloo area at the Premier Inn Waterloo and Park Plaza Westminster, Great area for HOHO, Westminster bridge, Parliament, Big Ben, London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Thamas River, tub, Waterloo train station, regular bus, pubs, restaurants.

 

I have used www.justairport.com, a private car service from/to LHR and London hotels, use hotel's postal code to get a quote.

Thank you for the confirmation on the Waterloo area! The Hampton is a bit farther from the river than some of the hotels, but we can walk:D

I will add your link to my list of car services to price out.

Yes, distances can be very misleading on that map. Gloucester Road and the Southbank are both excellent locations as a base for sightseeing.

 

It's quite easy to change lines at Gloucester Road and there is no reason to prefer South Kensington to it. In fact, partly because of the circles, everyone changes at South Kensington for the museums so that station is often very very busy.

 

There are more hotels around Gloucester Road than directly around South Kensington, which is probably why it comes up more in discussions, although they're not far apart at all.

Thank you, as of now I have booked in the Waterloo area (fully refundable) the Hampton by Hilton London Waterloo. I decided that after an overnight flight, the six of us were not going to want to be hauling luggage up and down stairs and would probably appreciate a private transfer. Still time to change my mind though ;)