A Lifes Journeys

Some of the findings described also make me question the lack of consideration shown by the prior passenger. Who leaves such waste in placed other than the garbage can?

While it seems the OP is an IHG member, if arriving at Terminal 5, the Sofitel attached to Terminal 5 (under the Accor - ALL program) is very convenient. It is about a 5-7 minute walk from T5 Arrivals to the check in desk - all covered. I think you can take airport luggage carts. I've stayed there a number of times when transiting Heathrow. The rooms are quiet and the restaurants are good.

An even more challenging event could be to combine the egg drop and paper airplane contests - attempt to fly your egg on a paper airplane to a safe landing and have the egg remain intact. That will need something a bit sturdier than note paper.

Thanks for the responses. Neither my wife nor I have been able to connect to our work VPNs. Our last cruise was February on Ruby. I'm trying to get answers from Princess and if I do, I will share them here. Sadly, if the cruise lines are going to make it difficult or unreliable to access a VPN and network with bank level security, we might have to rethink our cruise plans. The need to be able to respond and deal with critical issues at any time is a downside to our chosen career paths. I will also check with my IT team to see if they have any words of wisdom and will share those as well.

Based on my search, this is a subject that hasn't been updated in at least 6 months. Is Princess still blocking access to all or certain types of VPNs? I have a few cruises coming up and must use a corporate VPN to access our company network from my laptop. On my last few cruises, I wasn't able to gain access and had to get by doing what I could on my phone, which isn't very pleasant when reviewing and editing large documents. If access is still blocked on the ship, I won't be able to do the work I need to do, and will have to figure out a work around (which I hope doesn't involve cancelling the cruise). I hope that somebody can give me comfort that Princess has become more enlightened and realizes that there are passengers that are employed by major companies that are serious about network security and that need to work while on a cruise. Thanks.

I must have gotten lucky. I completed the on-line renewal app in late December. I received my new Nexus card a few weeks ago - no new interview or photo required. When I submitted the renewal application, the site said my existing card would remain valid until a decision was made on my renewal, regardless of its otherwise applicable expiry date.

I've had three cruises where I tried to book the same time each day with a private table. I was able to book it, but then when I viewed the reservations they showed as shared tables. On one cruise, I successfully did a series of individual daily bookings. On the others, I called the Medallion line prior to sailing and they were able to secure the bookings. All efforts to do it via the app were futile.