Chili Queen

On 6/19/2019 at 1:46 PM, aheape1979 said:

Do you mind telling us approximate costs for these?  We are very interested!

Hello,  Woodford Cruise Connections was very reasonable, especially since there were 6 adults so we split the cost amongst the 3 couples.  It was so much better than us having to rent a car, drive on the "wrong side" of the road, and deal with traffic and directions.  The cost for the pick up from the airport to Southampton was 160 pounds, plus 40 pounds per hour for touring.  They were more than reasonable when our driver calculated how much we owed him at the end of the day with how many hours they would charge for our "touring". We were picked up at 7 AM, and were dropped off at about 5 PM, and I think the charge was around 280 pounds, plus gratuity. 

Post-cruise we paid 945 pounds for pick up at the port, driving us around for 2 days, and then on the 3rd day, delivering us to Heathrow.  We received a discount for booking early (and received 2018 rates) and also received a discount for allowing our driver to stay with us (we had booked an airbnb that accommodated 7 people, so it was a perfect place for all of us to stay).  A suggested tip of 15 % is recommended, but I think we did more like 20% just because it worked so well for us, and Alan was just so personable and wonderful.  Feel free to email them Cheryl and I am sure she will work with you.  They were wonderful to deal with.  Good luck!  Diane

We used Woodford Chauffeur Cars.  We booked this service well ahead of our trip for a group of 6 adults. My contact was with Cheryl via email and she was wonderful to work with. She was very responsive and worked with us to meet our needs. Alan picked us up at Heathrow promptly in a van, with a tow-behind trailer to accommodate our luggage. We had wanted to see the New Forest area before arriving at our hotel in Southampton so he drove us around, stopping at various spots along the way, always waiting very patiently for us and further recommending other places to visit. At the end of the day, he dropped us off at our hotel and assisted us with our luggage.

We had also pre-booked our post-cruise needs with them. We are from the USA and didn't care to drive around England and deal with driving on the other side of the street, and dealing with traffic. Alan picked us up again in a very timely manner at the port, assisting us with our luggage (this time he had a larger van, that could accommodate all of our luggage, so he didn't need a tow-behind trailer). He drove us to Bath and the Costswolds for the next two days, and then back to Heathrow on the third day. We just loved Alan as he was very efficient, professional, informative and entertaining. The vehicle was spotless, comfortable and even had water. We were able to enjoy the drive and the beautiful countryside with Alan answering all our questions. We had a wonderful time with Alan and Woodford Chauffeur Cars. I highly recommend their service!

Very reasonable too!

We are enjoying following you on the Brilliance.  It sounds like a fabulous time.  We would like to do a back to back cruise in the future. 

We have never been on this size ship before. We have mostly done the Freedom class (Freedom - 2 times and Independence - 2 times), and Oasis.  I love your pictures and we are excited to get a sneak peek of the Brilliance.

 We are sailing on her for a 10 day trip in the British Isles on June 12, 2020, departing from Amsterdam, and traveling to the United Kingdom, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and France. That's a long way off, but we are on Independence in 7 weeks, to help pass the time.

Thank you for the posts.

Hello to all.  We are sailing this coming Saturday, December 7th from Amsterdam to Basel, on the Avalon Tranquility II.  Our travel agent has been calling Avalon every day for the past week to inquire about any changes in our itinerary.  Last week, we were told that we would have an answer by Friday.  When Friday came, we were told that we would now have to wait until Monday.  I know that it has been raining in the area and that Avalon needed to see what happens with the water levels.  I am sure Avalon wants to give us the most accurate information so we were fine with that answer.  It just made it a bit more difficult to make arrangements for our backup plan. 

We were told late this afternoon that our trip is a go and that it looks good as far staying with the original itinerary, but nothing is 100% certain.  I totally understand that water levels can change quickly.  We wanted to unpack just once and enjoy our time on the ship.  We didn't want to end up a bus trip for a good portion of the time and spend nights at various hotels. 

We have never done a river cruise before or any Christmas Markets so we are very excited!  This is a dream vacation for us, and we would have definitely canceled if we weren't going to get the itinerary that we had planned on for the past ten months.  I guess we don't have to use our Plan "B" after all, which included going to the Caribbean instead.   

After reading all of the comments, visiting websites that others have included links to, such as marine traffic, rainfall charts,  etc., I now know more than I care to admit on this subject!  Haha.  Keeping my fingers crossed that everything moves forward and we are able stick with our original itinerary (or at least as close as possible). 

Thank you to everyone who has posted, especially to notamermaid.  We have all benefited from the posts.  You have given us the knowledge and  information needed (along with a little humor) to make us feel comfortable in our decision to continue to move forward on our trip.   I will do my best to post while on our trip so others can possibly benefit from our experience.  

Happy sailing!  Let it rain!!  I got my raincoat packed!

Chili Queen

Thank you. 

i already received the email so you can completely delete the whole email address if you would like.

Diane

To Jaydub99,

I have been following this for a week or so now.  I too have an upcoming trip, departing Amsterdam to Basel on December 8th on the Avalon Tranquility II.  I was curious to know what ship you are scheduled to be on and your departure date which I believe you said was November 24th.  So you essentially are supposed to be departing in about a week?  How many days did Avalon give you to make your decision?  This is a once in a lifetime trip for us and I could see us definitely cancelling if this were to happen to us (which it might unfortunately).  We didn't buy trip insurance and bought our airfare directly from Avalon.  I would love to hear more particulars of what Avalon will give to you (full refund, etc.) if you are willing to share.  I fear that we may be in your shoes in another week or so.  Our travel agent spoke to Avalon yesterday and they said they have been doing well for 3 weeks now, but they take it week by week, moment by moment.  Looking forward to hearing back from you.  Chili Queen

Hi! I just booked my airfare for our upcoming trip through Air2Sea! We are going on Freedom of the Seas in July 2017 for a 7 Night Western Mediterranean and found that booking was pretty easy to do. They have especially great fairs for one way travel. I was looking at a one-way fare from Paris to Boston and end up booking it for $634 through Air2Sea through AirFrance. On the actual AirFrance website, the same flight was over $2800! I then noticed today that the price from Boston to Barcelona (where the cruise leaves from) that the price was just under $300 for that leg of the trip, one-way. That same flight on the American Airlines website was just over $2500 for one-way travel. I was not able to book that second one-way airfare online, so I called their toll-free number, and they were able to book everything for me. I received confirmation numbers and was able to go online and pick our seats too through our now linked airline reservations. Unlike what other people have said, I spoke to some very courteous and helpful people at Air2Sea. My son needed a round-trip ticket from Connecticut to Barcelona so I ended up booking that too through them. The return trip is not a good price right now and the round trip was more than I wanted to pay, but prices seem to change every couple of days, so keep checking their website. I will book my son's return flight when the prices drop. You can't beat their prices for one-way travel!

I am following too. Our family will be on Oasis on July 30th! Thank you for taking the time to do this. We are also doing the ATV trip in St.Kitts and am excited to hear about that! The food looks yummy too! Diane

35 years! We were married young! I will try to find our cruise thread. Is that the same thing as the roll call? Diane

Hi, I will sign up today for meet and mingle. Congratulations on your wedding anniversary! What year anniversary are you celebrating? We are traveling with ours kids (25 and 23)! They still want to travel with us. Diane:)

Our family really enjoyed your scoping. Scoping is all new to us. It certainly got us very excited to cruise! Only 2 1/2 weeks left! Thank you for all of the time and work you put into your scoping and your report. Could you please tell me what internet package you bought from Royal Caribbean? I am assuming it was the one with the streaming. Thanks again!

I, too, am sailing on the Oasis on July 30th and couldn't be more excited. I enjoy your writing and story very much! I am going to download periscope on my phone and I hope it is not too late to see your videos. Thank you for sharing and taking time out of your day!