Emmandjay

Can only help with a couple of things.

Discovery is scheduled to depart and return to City Terminal 4th to 18th October.

There are no big school holidays around that time.

I'd also add that the tourist board has produced some circular walks (about 4 I think). They are colour coded and you follow the appropriate coloured line on the pavement around the route. It does become quite faint in places but with their map you can get around and you soon get used to where to look for the line at street corners. I'd agree with the earlier post that the walk through the Botanical Gardens is well worth doing.

Thanks for the replies.

Vitalsign, we followed your advice and found out which cabins were still available before we pressed the 'pay now' button. Got a junior suite in a good position. It's a long winded way of doing it, but we do like to know our cabin location beforehand.

Apologies if this seems a silly question, but we are considering a late booking to the Western Med for November and hoping for a junior balcony suite. Unlike other lines, the cabin availability isn't shown during the online booking process, and we do like to choose the position of our cabin carefully. Can any of you seasoned Marella cruisers help me?

If we go ahead and book what do you think the chances are of getting a cabin in a good position (ie not too forward or aft) at this late stage.

If we use a travel agent, do we find out our cabin at the same time?

Thanks for any info you can give me.

Last year they were the first sea day and the last port day. Don't know if this is always the case, though.

Ouch!

Thanks for the info.

Has anyone done the overnight excursion from Reykjavik to see the Glacier Lagoon?

What was the cost?

Was it worth the upheaval of an overnight hotel stay in the middle of a cruise?

We are planning for next year and trying to weigh up whether to do this trip or just rent a car for some independent sightseeing. We've been to Iceland before and done the Golden Circle.

Would be grateful for your input. Thanks.

Went there a couple of years ago on Britannia. The ships dock a little way out, but there was good shuttle service. It's free if you're on a Select fare as far as I know.

P & O always seem to cater very well for their less mobile passengers.

Superior deluxe cabins are quite spacious. They have a dividing curtain that can be pulled across to make a bedroom and a sitting room.

Because they have a bath, even if you don't use it, the bathroom is bigger than a standard balcony cabin.

A couple of years ago we did a day visit to Aurora in Southampton. We were guided around the public rooms and saw one of each type of cabin, including a suite. The visit ended with a 3 course lunch in The main dining room. The cost was £25 each, and although there were sales staff on hand, there was no hard sell at all.

Very enjoyable.

There is a site called Deck Plan Genius, which gives the pros and cons of cabins but I don't think they include P &O

Just got off today. Southampton embarkation and disembarkation were both deck 5. During the cruise we used 4, 5 and 6 depending on the tide and dock at each port.

we too were staunch Celebrity cruisers, but their prices seemed to be creeping up and up to a level where we weren't comfortable so we decided to give P &O a go. Since then we have enjoyed three cruises on Britannia (as we like the bigger ships).

P&O have a slightly more British feel, with the staff polite, friendly and efficient rather than the American 'have a nice Day'enthusiasm.

Drinks are definitely cheaper on P&O.

They still have formal nights -some like it, some don't.

Celebrity embarkation at Southampton is much, much better.

Definitely try P&O - you'll like it.

We put out one of those folding plastic crates about 2 weeks beforehand. Every time either of us thinks of something we need to take, say a particular charging cable or plug adapter, we go and put it in the crate. When case packing starts in earnest we sort the crate contents into suitcase or hand luggage as appropriate (or a do we really need this? pile.)

Doesn't entirely remove the last minute panic, but it does help. For clothes, the usual rule applies - lay everything out on the bed then put half of it back.

We have been lucky that our last 2 cruises have left on a Sunday which makes a fairly easy drive down. We still aim to arrive far too early but park up in Mayflower Park and go for a stroll around the waterfront. If it rains we wander over to John Lewis for a coffee and cake!

Just paid on line for our upcoming cruise. The card payment page still showed that the credit card charge would be applied, so we changed to debit card, which was free to use.

We use wipes from a company called Clinell, and as others have said, we wipe everything touchable in the cabin as soon as we get in there and each day when we return from ashore. Whilst Clinell do not claim to be 100 per cent effective, I was pleased to see that the same packs were in use throughout our local A&E when I was there earlier this year.

Good personal hygiene and luck play a big part.

Just go to their website - all their different tours are detailed there. Booking on line was easy and you don't have to pay until you complete your tour. They had helpful agents at the port to direct customers to the right buses We went in May and the weather was really good - dry and not too hot.

Another vote for SPB - could not fault them.

Would also recommend starboard side. We did this cruise on Britannia this May and we always seemed to dock on the starboard side, which , if you have a balcony, allows you to sit and watch the town and the dockside goings on. Whichever side you choose you will enjoy it!

There's a site called Deck Plan Genius that might be what you're looking for.

I too was diagnosed with AF earlier this year. I advised our insurer(NatWest) and they were happy to cover me for our cruise on Britannia a couple of months later. They then imposed a loading of £100 to cover any holidays taken in the forthcoming year. After that I need to advise them of any holidays we book in the future. It all seems very straightforward so as long as you let them know what holidays you are going on you should be OK.

Enjoy your cruise and don't worry.

Have used the Costa coffee shop on Britannia. It compares very favourably with the UK stores, but we can't speak for the espresso as we usually drink latte or Americano. The prices are also much the same as UK. We didn't think the coffee package offered much of a saving, so paid as we went.

All the big luxury yacht builders exhibit there. You can look at the outside of most of them, but looking inside is usually reserved for serious buyers and by appointment only. However a couple of years ago Sunseeker did let people look around one of their smaller (one million pound) boats. You had to take off your shoes and wear plastic bags on your feet, but it was fascinating to see how the other half lives. Some of the trade stalls are of interest to non serious sailors, but the food stalls are quite pricey and get very busy.

Had a superior deluxe cabin on A deck for our recent fjords cruise in Britannia. Lovely cabin -enjoyed it so much we've chosen almost the same one for next year's cruise. Having the bath gives a bigger bathroom over normal balcony cabins. There was some noise from above when the staff were cleaning and moving the chairs first thing in the morning,but as we're early risers this wasn't a problem. No noise at night, but if the cruise was somewhere with warm evenings there may well be people on the deck until later.