ChristopherTracy

From a UK point of view it is a little bit stingy - compare with P&O: Can You Take Alcohol on a P&O Cruise? Bringing alcohol onboard at embarkation: Each passenger, aged 18 or older (21 in the US), is allowed to bring one litre of wine, Champagne, beer, spirits or liqueur onboard. Additional alcohol will be held until the end of the cruise.

I don't remember Southampton having luggage storage - I have the same problem as I want oboo ka cheap train and in the end booked an 11am knowing that I'm probably going to get there and wait for an hour and it isn't a big station with good facilities, its a bit crappy tbh. I wouldn't be going into London with kids that age from Gatwick - I might go to Brighton on the train though that's a good plan. Forget Windsor, its nowhere near.

Absolutely not - they are lovely, but wearing any trainers that could actually be used for sport with jeans or shorts is a US giveaway.

$30 a class? Goodness me!

It's the wrong trainers, sorry sneakers.😅We take our passports btw as in some European countries it is a legal requirement to have photo id on you.

For my trip in May (Northern Europe) I have just bid £130pp on a sideways interior to oceanview room. Just FYI. I actually normally prefer oceanview to balcony as I'm a bit weird before you all come at me.

To me it depends on the line and the ship. On the newer P&O ships the OV are a sweet spot for us as a family of 3 as they have more usable space than the balcony cabins plus they are lower in the ship. For my next cruise on Sky I have one of those sideways inside cabins as the cost was so low that it was a fantastic deal - Northern Europe in May I'm not that likely to need a balcony anyway. I think I will miss the window though (planning to use the bridge cam).

I would consider this but I often have to go to the States for only a few days work trip so it doesnt seem as bad. I would certainly make sure my insurance would cover a flight delay though! Or make sure there was another flight out of Orlando afterwards. That Gatwick flight is familytastic btw - you'll need good headphones.

Afternoon tea? Morning, noon and night tea. I require two cups just to get out of bed.

I was hoping this would have a description of how you did it rather like the Would I Lie to You episode with Bob Mortimer!

Absolutely. Though for those of us who work in cities like London we totally miss the global choice when we are on ships that are have very Western-heavy menus. At least P&O for all of its faults has The Quays casual dining where you can always get some ramen or a katsu curry etc etc

TBF I called the call centre a couple of weeks ago, it literally rang three times and they picked up and sorted my query (prebooking the wifi at the old rates). Competence doesn't correlate with where you are in the world. I don't have any issue with offshore call centres. I would rather have a human in the Phillippines than an AI chatbot!

We booked with the same company as @elaine5to the glacier and back and it was very good. The highlight was the walk itself and doable even for unfit people (me) and a slightly mardy 14 year old girl.

Ah sorry @Traderboy I assumed you meant accessible as in right there from the ship without needing a shuttle bus. If you mean how are these ports for those with accessibility issues then yes, troll cars in Olden. Stavanger old town is hilly and cobbled but the walkway along the harbour is flat and accessible into the new town and main harbour area.

Hi - we did a similar sailing last year so can let you know about Stavanger and Olden. Stavanger is very walkable, you are moored right next to the old town and can easily walk into the new town, see the cathedral etc etc. Other options there are boat trips (locally or all the way to Pulpit rock) and these are all accessible very near the ship - no prebooking required on my cruise. Olden - we prebooked (locally) a coach trip to and from the Briksdal glacier and then walked up ourselves without using the troll cars. It was a fantastic excursion and much cheaper than the P&O excursion that did exactly the same. There isn't much to walk to in Olden - you have to bus out to places, other people were getting on small land trains for trips or going up to the cable car. Again right off the ship was a local agent selling all of the excursions independently. The did a lovely sailaway for us as well. We were supposed to stop in Haugesund where I had booked a local excursion to a goat farm/homestead but we missed that port in the end. I got a full refund from the local operator. Our other port was Hellesylt where we did a RIB trip out to into the Geiranger Fjord. This was both spectacular and exciting and I think you can do them from Stavanger as well.

I suppose that's why its useful to have both a UK and a non-UK lens. Coaches are the cheapest most studenty form of transport here so lot's of people try to avoid them where necessary. Plus people from the UK are very used to dragging their own luggage on and off trains etc. I have a vested interest as I will get travel sick just looking at a coach!

Yes I totally get that Dog but you are extremely unlikely to be staying near the coach station so you have to get there anyway and you may as well get the same equivalent taxi to Waterloo. It is a flat station with easy access to the trains. You can walk about, go to the toilet, eat and drink in comfort plus you aren't subjected to the M25 plus the bit out of London to get to the M4. Once you are at Southampton the cabs are literally right outside the door and drop you at the same place as the coach right alongside the baggage drop. I would take the annoyance of having to carry a bag for 5-10mins in total throughout that whole thing than sit on a coach for hours plus having to deal with Victoria Coach Station which is like coach stations the world over with unusable toilets and chaos. Horses for courses though innit.

Its kind of the normal going rate for long stay - UK people are used to paying that at the airport as well. It is to discentivise driving and encourage public transport use. Plus scalping of course.

As a Londoner I don't understand if you are in Central London already why you would get the coach instead of the train. The only reason (other than disability for case wrangling) would be the convoluted nature of the ticketing system but it isn't that hard and you avoid the hideous journey on the coach plus the grimness of Victoria Coach Station.

Thanks for this thread - it galvanised me to check the single price for our cruise. I couldn't get the card to go through on the app so called Princess, was answered in 30secs and booked a single device for £60 for 5 days.

It would have never have occured to me NOT to make up rolls for lunch from a cruise ship in Europe. We did that in Norway on P&O and lots of other people were doing it as well for a days hiking. No signs anywhere in the buffet or at the doors.

I have no words for this. P&O have a quick service speciality that just does fish and chips on their new megaships and its very good and very popular. So Carnival can do it when they need to!

Thanks all - this is extremely helpful. My cabinmate will need the wifi but I'm not bothered and my mobile plan covers Europe for the port days anyway. We only really drink tea and that's free (plus we always travel with our own teabags being UK stereotypes), maybe a juice at breakfast - I assume also available at breakfast like most lines. I do like an exercise class but I hope there is free salsa/line dancing etc etc available.

I would love to do this but just cant justify it on a £399 5-day cruise at £50 a day - especially if we are only having one alcoholic drink a day in the evening. It only really works if you are a drinker surely?

I had no idea that cigar smoking was still such a big thing - in the UK it really isnt. We have much more vaping than anything else and local cruise lines seemingly struggling to contain that problem if you look at complaints from fellow passengers.