Kgills

I used West Quay Cars (https://westquaycars.com/) in November 2022. Great communication and really quick to respond to all my many emails (of course taking into account the time difference). My plane landed an hour early and I made it through passport control and luggage in about 40 minutes; never stopped moving once I got off the plane. I had scheduled a specific pick up time that was an hour later than West Quay recommended because I didn't want to feel rushed. My driver called me as I was walking to passport control to let me know he checked the airline website and saw that my plane was landing an hour early. He was on his way to the airport even though it was a over an hour earlier than I had scheduled just in case I didn't want to hang around the airport after flying for so many hours. I only had to wait about 10 minutes (again, still way earlier than I scheduled) before he arrived. I was a female traveling alone and felt completely safe the entire time. Planning another transatlantic cruise this fall and will definitely be booking with West Quay again.

I stayed at the Moxy Southampton in November 2022. Definitely had a TV in the room. The room was smaller than most hotel rooms in the US but I found the size of room on par with a lot of hotels in Europe. The bed was really comfortable, the staff was great and I really enjoyed my stay there. Loved the kettle and tea bags in the room. It''s true that you check in at the bar but the check in area is located at the end of the bar counter nearest the door and not any different than any other hotel check in. Being a typical American, I talked to a lot of people in the hotel during breakfast, waiting for elevators, waiting for taxis and not one person complained about anything nor mentioned no having no TV in their room - and we Americans love our TVs 🙂 . Morning of the cruise I got online on my phone and ordered my own taxi. Arrived quickly and off I went. Enjoyed my stay at the Moxy and have recommended it to several friends who have since tried it and also loved it. It's not a luxury hotel but it's also not basic budget motel.

I've never tried to bring powdered hot chocolate or coffee but I always bring hydration/electrolyte powders (like ZipFizz and Ultima) and have never had a problem. I believe others have mentioned bringing Starbucks Via on the ship. And yes to free ice in the buffet. I take my insulated tumbler into the buffet and get ice and water throughout the day. (Ice and water go in a cup and then into the insulated tumbler so as to not contaminate the ice and water dispensers)

For my upcoming cruise in November I sent en email to: sbpcl@princesscruises.com. In the body of the email I included my booking number, date of sailing, and attached a copy of brokerage statement showing my carnival stock. I checked my booking a couple of hours later and it was already showing the OBC for my cruise.

Thanks for such a quick reply! This will definitely come in handy in November when I'm onboard for 15 days for the transatlantic on the Sky 🙂

@LACruiser88 Thank you for providing photos of each step. Definitely going to buy the items you use to connect to the TV. Question - do you disconnect the cable from the tv every time you leave the room or is it ok for the room steward to see the set up?

@phabric@memoak Thank you!

@phabric Does the OBC show up automatically in your account once you board or do you have to go to guest services and ask for it? I haven’t pre-booked ship excursions or spa services since earning the 10% perks but plan to for my December 2023 cruise.

@irisbax3 I did some research for my trip last Fall and found this YouTube video showing how easy it is to walk from Terminal 3 to the central bus station:

In November I had the exact same experience as @bjkTX (except I was Platinum and not Elite). I headed to the ship by taxi from my hotel (Moxy Southampton) around 11 a.m. I dropped my luggage off at the collection point, walked in and right up to the check in counter, moved to the next station to pick up my medallion, and walked right on the ship after that. In my room around 11:30. No one ever asked about my assigned boarding time. It was quick and easy.

I used West Quay Cars (westquaycars.com) this past November for travel between Heathrow and Southampton. Communication was great and they were easy to work with. I plan to use them again this Fall for my next transatlantic 🙂

@gunnywife I used West Quay Cars (https://westquaycars.com) in November for travel from Heathrow to Southampton. Every step from reservation to pick up was easy. They responded quickly to every email I sent (and I sent quite a few before and after making the reservation) and the price was quite a bit better than the quote I received from Blackberry. My plane was an hour early arriving at Heathrow and time from walking off the plane, getting through the passport gate and grabbing my suitcase was about 30 minutes. My driver called as I was walking to get my suitcase to say he was almost to the airport. He’d been watching the ETA of my plane and figured that I would make it through passport/grab my suitcase quickly and be ready for pick up much much earlier then the time I booked. I was a female traveling solo and I felt completely safe and comfortable with my driver. I’ll definitely be using Westquay Cars next November for my transatlantic.

I am not able to get the vaccine and am also booked on an enhanced guideline voyage. Did you receive your exemption letter prior to the recent changes? Earlier this summer the Princess website listed the same requirements contained in the exemption letter. As the summer progressed, the website requirements began to differ from the letter and now the website contains none of the information that is in the exemption letter. When the enhanced guideline voyage information was first released, the website had conflicting info, saying fully vaccinated only in some parts of the site and other parts of the website saying unvaccinated were welcome to sail on the enhance guideline voyage. With one exception (the only one I have found), the contradicting info has been changed to reflect that unvaccinated/not fully vaccinated are allowed to cruise on these voyages. Until this past weekend my boarding status in the Medallion app was yellow and now it's green. In addition, I spoke to a Princess rep last week who said I technically no longer needed to bring my exemption letter to get on the ship, but should probably have it with me just in case. My conversation with her indicated that the initial restrictions placed in the exemption letter were no longer in place. It would be worth it for you to call Princess to confirm I'm giving the right information. If the rep says something different then I would ask to be escalated up to the customer support dept (or whatever the next level up is called). I only say this because the first rep I spoke to said I couldn't cruise even with an exemption letter.

It's a special cruise because it's a transatlantic and 16 days 🙂 Thank you for the quick response! Feeling a lot less stressed and anxious!!

I'm platinum on Princess but It's been almost 10 years since my last cruise and those cruises were all in the Caribbean. My next cruise is the Emerald Princess transatlantic departing Southampton November 7. I've got my transportation from Heathrow to Southampton set up, I've booked my hotel, booked my Covid test, and even set up reservations for tea at the Mercure Dolphin and a massage/afternoon of bliss at a spa 🙂 If I'm remembering correctly, when I cruised before I just showed up at the port with my passport and boarding information and got on the ship. Because of Covid and the fact that I'm getting on the ship in England, I'm starting to slightly stress about what I need to have with me at check in. What I'm thinking is that I need to complete the online check in process and just show up at the port with my passport, Covid test results, and vaccine information. Is that all I need? The ship is stopping in France, Spain, Portugal, and the Azores before heading off for six glorious days at sea. I checked to see if I need a visa for any of the countries but it looks like I don't. Am I missing something? I'd hate to get to the ship to check in and find I'm missing a key document or piece of info. Thanks in advance for your help and input! Kim