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I've done 3 solo TAs, all in 'regular' cabins (1 obstructed balcony, 1 sheltered balcony, 1 oceanview), and all three have been delightful. I've never managed to book a solo cabin - your best bet seems to be to book as soon as the dates are released (which generally means booking between 12-18 months in advance). I do occasionally see them available on random crossings when I'm daydream-booking (but usually the Deck 2 'standard' KB layout instead of the Deck 3 long KC layout), so if you're flexible with your dates, you may be able to book one for a crossing sooner than otherwise. However, do check the prices for the solo cabins vs. the price with supplement for non-solo cabins. I have not infrequently seen 'regular' oceanview cabins for less $ than the solo cabins.

Just make sure you go to the correct airport. Due to lack of cell connection, out of date car GPS, it being the buddle of the night, and trying to avoid toll roads, I ended up at the wrong airport (Niagara Falls instead of Buffalo.) Luckily, the folks I was picking up (who were supposed to have flown into Pearson, but due to connection issues in Chicago, had to fly into Buffalo instead) were late, so didn't have to wait very long for me to find my way to the correct airport.

We've been using $1 and $2 coins for almost 3 decades now, so most Canadians have gotten into the habit of either using them each day, or emptying their pockets in the evening. Many businesses will also be quite happy to exchange bills for coins (if you've got $10+ in loonies and twonies, most convenience stores will be happy to give you bills in exchange for them.) And for those of us living in buildings with cash laundry (or who rely on laundromats), it's always good to have a stash. We also have gotten rid of pennies for cash purchases - your cash purchase is always rounded up or down to the nearest $0.05, which does reduce the number of coins overall. (Card purchases are still to the penny.)

With Canadian currency, you can very easily end up with significantly more than $5 in coins - I've thought I had no money in my wallet, then gone into the coin pocket and discovered $20 in loonies and twonies ($1 and $2 coins). One suggestion that I've seen, if you're a Starbucks consumer, is to swing by a Starbucks (if available) and put your remaining foreign currency on a gift card. The gift cards can be loaded into the app, and they are useable at (almost) all Starbucks, regardless of the currency put on them initially. (I'm not sure about the exchange rate, but if it's a choice between carrying home currency you're never going to use, and using it, it's almost moot.)

One of the excursions offered during our port stop in Puerto Quetzal is to Iximche. I searched, but didn't see any posts about it, so I'm posting to see if anyone has done this excursion, or visited Iximche otherwise, and have any recommendations/anti-recommendations?

I'm going to be spending roughly 24 hours in Fort Lauderdale next January, and it will be my first time in Fort Lauderdale. (As well as my first time in Florida since the late 80s.) I'm a solo traveller, female, mid-40s, who is primarily used to being a pedestrian/public transit user while travelling. I'm staying at the Holiday Inn Express on 17th Street, and I'm thinking about heading over to the 15th Street Fisheries for dinner my one night (based on recommendations on this board, thank you!) Is it actually walkable - are there sidewalks along 15th and 17th, or am I going to need to rely on Ubers/Taxis? I am planning on making a run to Trader Joe's, which I know will require vehicular transport, but I'd like to get a sense of whether the rest of my time will be on foot on in car!

The Memorial Day Sale is going on right now.

I am also a planner, and get excited from the moment it's booked. My next cruise (barring a deal I can't resist sometime between now and then) is a 16-day Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco on QV next January, and I'm already thinking about excursions and wardrobe and looking at flights and hotels and and and!

When transporting between point A and point B. While waiting for things to start. During my whale watching tour last summer, I spent quite a bit of time knitting while watching the waves (I can knit without looking at my hands.) During meals. I cruise solo, so times when someone else might be talking to a travelling companion, I'll usually have my fingers busy knitting or my nose in a book. I'm also not much of a people person, so I'm much more likely to wander on my own than do stuff in a group.

I carry pretty much the same stuff on an excursion day that is part of my EDC at home: - Phone & power pack - Wallet - Notebook & pen (Traveller's Company notebook + Pilot Vanishing Point fountain pen) - Kobo ereader - Small knitting project & small knitting tool kit (snips, cable needle, stitch markers) - Handkerchief If it's hot, I add a small fan (old school folding fan, not powered), and a water bottle.

Make sure that you check that all of your meds (both Rx and OTC) are legal in all of the countries you're visiting - I know that some of the middle eastern countries (in particular) have some very strict rules about what is allowed/not allowed.

I tend to run hot, so I will dress for the warmest temperatures and deal with being slightly chilly (but I'm a Canadian who will just wear a hoodie well into December, although I'm not one of the brave souls who wear shorts & sandals year round.) If you tend to feel the cold, I'd dress for the coolest temperatures, but in layers, so that you can remove them as necessary. Cardigans will be your friend.

As long as you're not bringing back cases of booze, and as long as you're declaring it, you should be ok. I've never been dinged for taxes & duties, even when exceeding my allowance. (We went to Scotland a few years ago and brought back 5 bottles of scotch between the two of us.)

I'm also an overpacker. I travel solo most of the time, and generally have one checked suitcase (currently 25" Maxlite), a carry-on suitcase (a 45L backpack/duffle/crossbody from Tom Bihn, which I check if I've got 2 free checked bags), and a personal item. On the last trip, I ended up with both the personal item and my purse full, and checked both the suitcase and the Bihn bag, on the way home. (I did too much shopping in London.) These are for QM2 transatlantics. Even though I know that people won't notice what I'm wearing on formal (or even 'smart') nights, *I* will notice, and I like being able to bring out my dressy stuff. I'm also a fun shoe person, so I like to bring multiple pairs (Irregular Choice and Fluevogs for the win!) I figure that, as long as I can manage it myself (and I'm a public transit kinda gal - no private cars for me, plus I have to fly to every cruise I take) I might as well bring what makes me happy.

I'm also a planner. 🙂 One of my TAs I took the train to Southampton the night before and stayed at a random hotel (I can't remember which one it was, but it was outside of the city itself), while the other, I stayed in London the last night and took the train to Soton the morning of embarkation. If you're taking the train, going the morning of is probably ok (if worst comes to worst, you can get on the National Express coach, which should only take a couple of hours) - just make sure that you check the schedule for the train you've booked. My last TA (when I stayed in London and took the train the morning of), the original train I had booked was scheduled to be replaced by a coach partway through the trip (so half by train, then at some random station switch to coach for the rest of the trip), so I rebooked onto a different train that was still running the entire way to Soton. (This was last November.)

That's what I'm finding (departing late Jan). I found a couple with CAA/AAA or member rates in the mid-$200s, but everything else is $300+ (occasionally significantly plus.)

Apart from the money side of things: Explore the ship. If you're able to do stairs, start at the top and work your way down - poke into the nooks and crannies (and there are a LOT). Especially forward on decks 2-3 there are all sorts of little passageways and interesting spots. I think that I've only been above Deck 9 twice in my 3 TAs, and I always regret it when disembarking. Have lunch at the Golden Lion. The food is included, and it's always a nice change. Check out the different breakfast options. MDR at least one morning, check out Carinthia Lounge for their nibbles (both breakfast and lunch), breakfast in bed... Afternoon tea in the Queen's Room is a must-do, at least once. (And then have a late dinner.) The Library is a lovely place to sit and read during the day. The Carinthia Lounge has comfy couches and chairs, and is a frequent gathering spot on sea days. Going out on deck at night, especially in your gala night finery, is something that I try to do at least once every trip - there's something magical about staring out into the darkness while dressed to the nines.

Cunard has been somewhat 'dumbed down', if you listen to the folks who have been sailing with them for years. They have reduced the number of 'gala' (formal) nights per week, but you will still see people dressed to the nines on 'smart' (non-gala/formal) nights, and even the 'smart' nights seem to be dressier than other lines' formal nights. I've not sailed yet on QV, so I can't speak to the amount of dining room space, but Cunard does have three timing options for dinner - early, late, and anytime - which you book prior to boarding. If you book early or late, you always have the same table and same wait staff, and eat at the same time (usually it's around 5.30 and 8PM respectively, I think?), so there should never be a wait to get to your table after the first night, which is often somewhat chaotic as people are escorted to their table. On QM2 at least, after the first night you can usually just walk in and go straight to your table, without having to wait to be escorted there. The Cunard ships are medium sized - QV/QE have approximately 2100 passenger capacities, which is larger than the Oceania and Viking ships, but significantly smaller than the Princess ships, which seem to be in the 3k range from a quick google.

I'm booked on this segment of the world voyage, and I'm really looking forward to it. It's mostly sea days, which is what I especially enjoy on Cunard (why I've mostly done TAs). There is a (mostly quiet) roll call for this segment, and a slightly more active roll call for the full world voyage that includes at least a few folks who are only on board for segments. Your experience will depend on your expectations. Why won't you cruise on Princess anymore, for instance?

Porter out of Toronto uses turbo-prop planes, so I've flown them a bunch (they're actually the best way to get between Toronto and the US Northeast). The thing to keep in mind is that they can be louder than larger jets (the planes are tiny), so make sure you've got noise cancelling bits for your ears.

I rarely wear a watch during regular life, but always wear one while cruising. Seconding the recommendation for noise cancelling headset/earbuds, and vigorously seconding the USB battery pack/power bank recommendation. I got a pair of the Bose QCII noise cancelling earbuds for my last trip (London for a week, then QM2 TA back), and they were a fantastic investment. Make sure that whatever style you get, you can adjust the amount of noise cancellation they provide. A USB battery pack/power bank is something that goes with me everywhere, whether I'm travelling or not. I rely on my phone for so much, and a lot of apps are battery hogs, so being able to top up the charge on the go (plug the phone into the power bank in my purse) is a lifesaver.

That's a great colour, bluetardis!

My late partner had done part of a round the world cruise with her parents a few years before her death (on Crystal, I think?), and she and I had always discussed doing a transatlantic on the QM2, but never quite got around to it. So, after her death, I bit the bullet, and haven't looked back (3 TAs on QM2 and 1 HAL Alaska cruise under my belt so far, Cunard Panama Canal full transit next winter.)

I only wear skirts and dresses, and as a plus-sized gal, I wear bike shorts under my skirts to avoid the dreaded chub rub. I generally wear knee-length or longer skirts, so the shorts don't show, but I don't have huge amounts of leg showing either. You can get really excellent undershorts from Thigh Society - their cooling fabric actually does what it says on the tin, and they're very comfortable - not control-wear at all, just a comfortable extra layer. My favourite skirts currently come from eShakti - you can get standard sizes (up to a size 30, I think?), or for a slight up-charge, have them custom-sized for you (useful if you're not a standard size.) Plus, all (or almost all) of their skirts and dresses have pockets, which I'm a fan of.

The Auberge is not terribly well signed - it took me a bit to find it when I stayed there last spring. If you're not specifically looking for it, you probably won't see it. (It also shares a lobby with a condo (I think) and some businesses.