jollyjones

Well that's true, but Marco Polo airport at Venice isn't wonderful either. It's not as crowded and frenetic as FCO, but there are likely to be far fewer flight choices. And you'd still have to be there three hours before flying.

After deplaning in LHR, you will follow the yellow signs to immigration and customs, not the purple connecting flight signs because you are going landside to the hotel, it’s as if London is your final destination. If your luggage is checked through to the US, I believe you don’t get to see it in LHR, so after immigration you go down the escalator to the baggage hall and go directly to the exit and out through the green channel, then follow the directions I previously wrote.

AA generally starts boarding 45 mins before flight time, sometimes earlier for transatlantic flights. I would allow at least a minimum of 30 mins to get from your T4 lounge to the T8 gate, but that assumes the train and the TSA lanes are working well, and that you walk briskly. I assume nothing, I have been in the TSA pre-check lane for ages when there was a shortage of staff. Personally I’d leave T4 two hours before my flight time, many would say that’s too much but I work on the principle that hours early always beats seconds too late. It will take you at least 30 mins, probably longer, from your CLT flight arriving at the T8 gate to getting into the T4 lounge so your 6 hour layover is in reality much less! I have many long layovers at T8 and just stay there airside, but I am an Admiral’s club member which makes a difference. PS I’d recommend getting the free myTSA app, it’s useful.

If, as I suspect, the Chase lounge is airside at T4, ie inside security, I don't know if you can get at it. I did a little google, and it seems that TSA regs say you can go in any terminal with a valid boarding pass for that day, but the info was old - you may want to follow up on that. The TSA person at T4 will tell you that you're in the wrong place but you may be OK if you explain, but you will of course have to go through Security at T4. Then again at T8 on your way back - you so definitely need TSA pre-check! Unfortunately at JFK there is no way to get between terminals airside, you have to go landside to the Air Train - which is a quick and efficient way to get to the landside of each Terminal, but almost everything you need in a Terminal is inside security.

Well done, that's by far your best option, and the luggage should go straight through. As for lounge access - both your CLT-JFK and JFK-Rome flights should be at Terminal 8 in JFK if they are AA, and I'd definitely suggest avoiding going landside and having to resubmit yourselves to security if you can avoid it. If there isn't a lounge you can use for free in T8, go up to the Admiral's Club by gate forty-something and enquire about a day pass - I don't know your tolerance for inconvenience but IMO that's by far the least aggravating way of spending your layover. It's one of their older clubs (looks a bit tired and worn) but there's still free WiFi, free booze and substantial nibbles to keep you going. And you can always go out for a walk around Terminal 8, concourses B and C, if you tire of sitting doing nothing. T8 isn't small. PS double check which terminal your JFK-Rome flight is from in JFK - if you are on a mileage award ticket it could be a code share operated by an airline that isn't AA. The airline actually operating the flight is the important one.

Do you mean EWR or LGA? There is a massive difference in travel time to JFK. However, even from EWR 6 hours should be enough, more reliably from LGA. Provided your luggage comes out promptly. Because I believe you will have to retrieve your luggage, carry it with you, and do check in and security all over again at JFK. I hope you have TSA pre-check, lines can be long in JFK. I would try really, really hard to fly CLT - JFK - FCO, not thru EWR or LGA. If you don't have enough miles for good flights, it might be worth buying the few extra that you need.

Maybe because it's too difficult / expensive to comply with NZ's very strict biosecurity rules?

Flying into and out of T3, the HGI T2/3 is the place to stay for exactly the same reason as the Sofitel is for T5. You can walk there, it’s fairly well signposted out across a car park at T2, takes max 10 - 15 mins from T3 and there are moving walkways, and most importantly you are not dependent on a train transfer, that always worries me given the frequency of strikes in London.

You come out of arrivals and turn right, then you walk past all the shops - there are others that sell snacks if you are hungry. Go along almost to the far end of the arrivals area, past the Underground signs, then look over to your left and you will see elevators - make sure you take the one that has the sign for the Sofitel, there are two and they are to the right hand side of the elevator bank. Out of the elevator you turn right, follow the corridor around and when you get to what you might think is the hotel, it is actually just the car hire place in the lobby. Press on, take the escalator or elevator down one level, turn right, and walk a short way on to the check in desks on your right. It sounds complicated but actually isn't!

You'd be lucky to find a Manhattan hotel that will let you check in early - check in time is usually 3pm or 4pm - you might be able to find a Manhattan hotel that will offer a day room, but that won't be cheap. IMO your most realistic option is to get a day room at the TWA hotel at JFK. https://www.twahotel.com It is not cheap either but will save you endless aggravation and give you a room to drop your luggage and rest before your overnight flight. The adjacent JFK air train is pretty good for getting you to your departure terminal. You can probably purchase a transfer to JFK with NCL when on board, could be cheaper than a taxi, it's a long way from the west side of Manhattan to JFK. Other JFK 'airport' hotels are much further away and are a pain to get to and from and are, indeed, pretty bleak.

Definitely the Sofitel T5. I don't particularly like the hotel and it's not cheap, but when you are arriving at T5 and departing from T5 it'd be absolute lunacy to stay anywhere else.

You enter Bermuda under different immigration rules as a cruise ship passenger versus a land based tourist. I don't know the actual details - I guess you ought to be OK if you are going to reboard your ship but you must check it out with your cruise line.

My first sentence referred to ‘Barbados as a cruise port’

Beg to differ also. I speak specifically about Barbados. I too have been to many industrial ports and know that one must use the shuttle. However, in Barbados, there is a marked walkway that I, along with many other pax, have used every time I’ve been there. In Barbados you can walk to and from your ship. On the marked walkway.

I'm sorry for your bad experience - I find Barbados as a cruise port just dreadful to the extent that I no longer book cruises that disembark there. Embarkation there isn't great but can occasionally be OK. It is almost impossible to get a hotel day room in Barbados and you can't even enter the airport until a few hours (three, I think) before your flight, not that there is any sort of decent lounge there in which to wait. The tours offered by cruise lines to fill in the time are fairly useless and often still get you to the airport far too early. It's a real problem, I've never found an acceptable solution. Also, no use to you but for information for others - you are not obliged to use the awful shuttle from cruise terminal to ship, they cannot force you, I always refuse and walk. They may yell at you but just ignore them. There is a marked walkway. It is quicker.

The only problem with a guarantee booking is that you might end up in a very forward cabin, possibly even on a high deck, where you will feel far more motion in rough seas than low and mid-ships which is where I always try and book. Since you haven’t done ocean cruising, you may not know how sensitive to ocean motion you are. I never book a guarantee and I’d suggest you avoid it until you know better how ocean cruising suits you. A deck 5 cabin well back from the ‘pointy end’ is ideal. And so convenient for the bar.

You’re welcome, hope you enjoy!

I have over 500 days as a solo woman on SS and love it! I'm actually boarding the Dawn on Monday, can't wait. I started in vista suites which are huge for a solo, but moved up to verandahs when the depredations of menopause meant I feel the need to be able to step out into fresh air every so often. Vistas are the same size that verandah suites are without the verandah, and the service - butlers etc. - is the same for both. SS has good deals for solos - look at https://www.silversea.com/best-luxury-cruise-deals/single-occupancy-supplements.html which you'll find on the website under 'fares and offers'. They also have a good deal at the moment, only till end of Feb tho', - https://www.silversea.com/best-luxury-cruise-deals/reasons-to-sail.html And, as icing on the cake, IMO SS has the best loyalty award scheme in which you will automatically be enrolled after your first voyage.

I cruise solo on SS frequently and would think about going in 416, back in the days before I moved up to verandah cabins. Maybe. You are very far forward and in a connecting cabin so you will get plenty of sea movement and maybe some noise, not from next door if you are lucky, but you will definitely hear the anchor chain go down when at a tender port. Sizewise, the cabin is plenty big enough. However, I am disturbed that you are considering a 70 day ocean cruise with only an 11 day river cruise as experience. River and ocean cruising are very different. When I was considering my first long ocean voyage, I took a shorter cruise first on the same ship to make sure I'd be OK. A thought for you, perhaps? However, that said, I have cruised most cruise lines and Silversea is IMO by far the best line for solos. Very easy to meet people, plenty to do.

Sorry about this, just seen it today: https://www.royalgazette.com/general/news/article/20240201/work-on-improvements-at-fort-hamilton/ Dunno when it'll reopen, maybe by May, you could ask the Corporation of Hamilton closer to the time: info@cityhall.bm 1 (441) 292 1234 Other places you could think about: Right there in Dockyard, if you haven't visited it, it is very well worth it, the National Museum https://nmb.bm BUEI, close to Hamilton https://buei.bm The Aquarium at Flatts Village https://bamz.org

The gardens are in a sad state, you can walk around but there's nothing much to see, IMO you'd be better off visiting Fort Hamilton, a short walk uphill from the east end of Front St in the City of Hamilton. The moat alone is worth it. https://www.cityofhamilton.bm/explore_the_city/fort_hamilton.php

Oh dear, please can we get this straight. The Horn of Africa is Somalia. No cruise ships anywhere near. The Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa near Cape Town. Cape Horn is the southern tip of South America.

The old cruise port where you will check in is called Marittima, it is the penultimate stop on the people mover. Then you’re bused to Fusina, you have no option, it’s the only way to get there. Don’t go to the final stop Tronchetto - some cruise lines gather their pax into buses there but SS uses Marittima. You can get a direct bus into Piazzale Roma from Venice airport, that’s the best way to get into Venice for a reasonable price, it’s about ten euros. I’d recommend getting a hotel near P’zale Roma so you can walk to it from the bus, also that means you’ll be near the people mover to get to Marittima. You’ll also be near the Grand Canal where the number one vaporetto runs frequently down to Piazza San Marco and beyond. I walk to Marittima but I travel with a carry on bag only so I can manage my luggage, if you have more luggage the people mover is the way to go.

Thank you mods! So much easier to use in this format. I had given up reading it in the new 'improved' format.

I have found the MyTSA app to be invaluable to avoid such a situation. Free to download, I use it every time before arriving to check in at an airport in the US.