Globaliser

So says a partisan organisation that (like cruise passengers) has a vested interest in distorting statistics or looking at them too narrowly.

Your travel date is a specific blackout date; the train operating company's website says "Advance Purchase tickets are not available: 22 & 29 July; 16, 17. 23 & 24 September; 1, 7 & 8 October". On a Sunday that's not a blackout date (eg 10 September), you can get Advance tickets. So I would be surprised if it's anything to do with demand on Sundays. (There's obviously something wrong, because as you say Advance tickets are available on some trains on Sat 23 September.) The first two blackout dates are known strike days, on which TOCs often take Advance tickets off sale, at least until there is a firm timetable for the strike day. Also, looking at the blackout dates on that page for other routes, 30 September is also not on sale on the West of England route. All this suggests to me that the TOC thinks that there may yet be timetable changes for some reason on those four successive weekends, and that may be the reason why it isn't selling Advance tickets for those days. So unless £41.00 is a deal-breaker, I would just leave it for the moment. You shouldn't be at risk of having to pay more than that, because I think that that's not a capacity-controlled fare and therefore won't "sell out". But there is a chance that Advance fares will get put into the system later, perhaps when an amended timetable is confirmed. If you check back periodically, you may see whether/when that happens.

SWR's page has now been updated, with no mention of any changes to 6 August services: https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey/industrial-action

A bit more pedantry: Schengen means that there's no immigration border, so there's no immigration control to be cleared coming from Norway to the Netherlands. However, there is a customs border between Norway (outside the EU Customs Area) and the Netherlands, so you do have to clear customs. But I suspect that like most customs clearance for personal travel in Europe, this is almost invisible.

As I read that, it must be a reference to the park itself, not to Hyde Park Corner station, which is so far away from the hotel as to be irrelevant for getting there. That would be the official route, and involves only one change. But the signposted route to change from the Piccadilly Line to the Jubilee Line at Green Park is not very convenient. The lifts at both ends of the change are slow and unreliable, and there is a long walk between them. A locals' hack is to ignore the signposted route. Instead, follow the Way Out signs up the escalator to ticket hall level. When you get there, do not exit through the barriers, but take the escalator down to the next line you want (ie the Jubilee Line in your case - there are actually two escalators in succession down to the platform). However, you need to be able to manage your luggage safely on escalators, which is a bit of a learned skill. What I do is actually to change twice: once at Barons Court, which is a very easy cross-platform change to the District Line; then change again at Westminster to the Jubilee Line, which is an easier change (offering both lifts and escalators).

The TfL step-free guide will tell you about this. At Waterloo, the Jubilee Line has lifts and escalators to street level, but the Bakerloo Line and the Northern Line do not. The hotel is about a ¼-mile walk from the Jubilee Line entrance. Paddington is more complex because there are more lines, and some are easier to access than others. But in any event, the Tube stations are ¾ of a mile or so from the Metropole. There is no Hyde Park station. The other stations close to the Metropole are the two Edgware Road stations, one for the Bakerloo Line and the other for the Circle, District, and Hammersmith & City lines. I believe that neither station has step-free access to the street. The other thing you need to know is that Waterloo is close to many tourist sites and entertainment areas. Paddington is not.

Yes, that usually qualifies, and then you wouldn't need to rely on your status for access.

Tube or bus, typically. From Paddington, the Bakerloo Line would take you directly to Piccadilly Circus, Charing Cross and Embankment, which are easy walks to those three places; and it's one change to get to Westminster (change at Baker Street for the Jubilee Line). If you want to be closer to those three places, then pick somewhere close to a District Line station. The journey to LHR by Tube is then pretty easy - just one cross-platform change at Barons Court from the District Line to the Piccadilly Line, involving a walk of about 10 feet. The only warning is that many District Line stations are not step-free (they don't have either lifts or escalators) so you would have to carry your luggage up or down some stairs. But the District Line is a sub-surface line so it's not a long way below street level. Heathrow Express is a company that runs trains between Heathrow and London Paddington. They start at Heathrow Terminal 5 and then call at Heathrow Central, from which they are non-stop to Paddington (at the mainline station's street level platforms). The Elizabeth Line is part of Transport for London's rail network, and runs limited-stop east-west trains through central London. Some of these trains start at Heathrow - there are trains from both Terminal 4 and Terminal 5, which all then call at Heathrow Central before continuing on to other stations en route to Paddington (at the Elizabeth Line's below-ground station) and then through central London. You can change between Heathrow Express and Elizabeth Line trains at Heathrow Central.

Agreed - I long ago learned to just take off my glasses as part of the eGates process. So long as you have two hands, it's a pretty trivial thing to do. So I have no idea whether the eGates would now be any better at recognising me with glasses on.

It's net impact, taking into account the (often hidden) costs that Londoners currently bear. If there were suddenly no tourists, there would be lots of businesses that would go to the wall because they directly depend on tourist revenue. But the rest of London would be relieved of the costs, which are costs that tourists themselves are typically unable to see. That's why economists have to get to work on issues like these. Unfortunately, the study was done before stuff was as readily available on the Internet as it is today. I would also love to have a copy of it. I don't actually personally believe that the figure would be zero, but from personal experience of the costs, I have no doubt that the net benefit is a rather smaller number than just adding up the money that tourists spend in London.

Every airline's rules will be slightly different. But as a generalisation, arrivals lounge access is only for premium cabin passengers, plus top-tier frequent flyers. Many passengers who can get in to departures lounges (eg through lower-tier frequent flyer status) don't have access to arrivals lounges. So it really will be worth your while finding out in advance.

As I've said above, you only need to read a few CC forums to get the strong impression that most pax only stay one pre-cruise night and no post-cruise nights. That's what people ask about here. Tourists can be very good at bigging themselves up as financial fairy godmothers to the cities that they visit. They're also very good at ignoring the costs - often hidden, and often non-financial - that their presence imposes on locals, costs that counterbalance the immediate cash input that the tourists bring. That's a side of tourism that isn't often looked at or quantified, but what's happening in Amsterdam shows that this is being taken much more seriously now. A number of years back now, there was actually an economists' study of tourism in London that tried to estimate these imposed costs, and concluded that the net financial benefit of inbound tourism might be close to zero. So tourists really shouldn't flatter themselves about the money that they spend - especially those whose time in a city includes sleeping and eating on the ship rather than in local establishments. There are good reasons for tourism, but a narrow focus on money money money may well not be one of them. I suspect that cities like Amsterdam or Venice, whose size and layout makes them particularly vulnerable, might mind it less if all cruises that called there had to make them turnaround ports, and there was a requirement that every embarking passenger had to stay for three pre-cruise nights and every disembarking passenger had to stay for three post-cruise nights. But the proportion of cruise passengers who would happily do this is pretty small. The rest will be taking their money to other cruises that don't have such requirements.

I think that I would take a Stratford International train from London City Airport to West Ham, and change there to the Hammersmith and City Line to either Kings Cross St Pancras, or to Paddington. Make sure you board the correct train at both points, even if you're heading in the correct direction. There will also be trains from London City Airport to Bank, and there will also be District Line trains from West Ham that will go around the bottom edge to Embankment and Victoria. Neither would present you with insoluble problems, but they'd probably be less straighforward journeys.

As gumshoe958 says, don't stress about this. I think that it is by now almost certain that the service to Southampton will not be cancelled due to this industrial action. The worst that will happen is that some trains may get re-timed, or there may be a reduced frequency. But my guess is that you will find that Sunday 6 August operates in accordance with the published timetable. (Leaving aside the possibility that something goes wrong on the day, not related to industrial action.) The reasons are these: At least two weeks' notice must be given of industrial action. The union concerned notified this action on 17 July, with action from 31 July until 5 August. In theory, there could be notification today that the action will continue into 6 August (and perhaps beyond), but it wouldn't be logical for the union not to have included that in the 17 July notification. Plus it's Sunday today. It's not a strike. Recent experience is that the only industrial action that brings the railway to a halt is if this union (ASLEF) actually strikes. The possibility of a strike is now only theoretical, given the need for two weeks' notice to be given. If the industrial action doesn't include your travel date, the possible disruption for you from the action is simply from consequential knock-on effects as the operation recovers from any disruption on the previous day. South Western Railway has already planned its operation for the days from 31 July to 4 August. Trains to Southampton Central are typically bound for Weymouth; the published timetable for 6 August is a mixture of Weymouth and Poole trains. On the days with a planned reduced operation, Poole trains are "Service largely as per normal weekday timetable ..." and Weymouth trains are "Service largely reduced to hourly throughout the day". So at the very worst, even in the middle of this industrial action there is only going to be a reduction in frequency. You can keep up to date with SWR's plans on this page: https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey/industrial-action - the company has not yet announced how it's going to deal with Saturday 5 August, so there will be further updates. FWIW, I need to take the train on the next strike day (29 July). It's a route that normally has 13 trains an hour. Because of the strike (admittedly not by ASLEF but a different union), that's been reduced to 9 an hour. I'm not stressing about it.

I seem to recall that the Globe used to hire out something like this, but I can't now find any mention of them on the website.

Or take a folding seat cushion that has its own seat back, like this product. Not allowed in the yard (the standing area), of course.

One small point of detail about the DLR. The station next to the hotel is West India Quay. DLR trains go from WIQ towards Bank. You can also go to Tower Gateway if you take a Bank train and change at Westferry. (There are also trains from WIQ towards Stratford, and you can change at Poplar for Beckton or Woolwich Arsenal trains.) However, if you are returning from town, DLR trains do not stop at WIQ: trains towards Lewisham pass through the station, but do not stop there. The official route is to take a Lewisham train, change at Canary Wharf for a Bank or a Stratford train, and backtrack one (short) stop to WIQ. But it's probably better to simply get off at CW and walk back to the hotel (a nice walk). In theory, you could also take any train to Westferry and walk from there. This walk is safe, but it can feel slightly intimidating to anyone who's not familiar with the area; although it can save a little bit of time because three DLR routes serve Westferry, it's usually a pretty small time advantage.

TfL publishes a step-free Tube guide - it's not the easiest guide to use, but it's a valuable indicator of where there are lifts and escalators. But it does illustrate what's already been said: the viability of a Tube journey with lots of luggage depends critically on where you're going.

The area where the Marriott is will actually be pretty buzzy late into the evenings, because the restaurants and bars both in the building next door on West India Quay and in Crossrail Place (where the Elizabeth Line station is) are all busy places. Because of the Elizabeth Line, this Marriott is now arguably better connected for Ronnie Scott's and Pizza Express Dean Street than many central London hotels in traditional tourist areas.

We do now have electric lighting over here! 😀 The most magical (if tiring) experience at the Globe is when they do a mid-June show starting at 11.59 pm, especially when it's A Midsummer Night's Dream (as it was this season). Most of the performance takes place under the night sky, but by the time it finishes dawn has broken and you can walk home in the light. I can vouch for the fact that there's no difficulty in seeing what's happening on stage.

You don't need to spend long reading either this board or the Cruise Air board to see that one pre-cruise night is typical, and that those who are disembarking are typically keen to get out of Europe and back to North America as fast as possible on the same day. As for the difference between turnaround days and port call days, remember that the number one reason given is pollution, and the docked ship will generate the same amount of pollution regardless of whether it's a turnaround day.

It can happen, although perhaps more likely as a consequence of IRROPS. That can also wreck the plans of those who have booked a connecting itinerary and who intend to travel the whole booked journey, but who - perfectly legitimately - have also organised to do things at the connecting point.

This can sometimes work even with checked baggage, but you have to really know the details of the fare rules and of the airline's policies and practices.

But this was only the third of the three reasons given, "in addition" to the first two. So it is clear that the decision was not simply based on reducing numbers. Pollution was first, followed by the inhibition of a second IJ bridge. The D66 statement was headed "Gemeenteraad: maak eind aan vervuilende cruise in Amsterdam" (machine translation: "City council: put an end to polluting cruise in Amsterdam"). The D66 party leader's quote in full was: "De vervuilende cruise past niet bij de duurzame ambities van onze stad. Ook het realiseren van een tweede brug over het IJ naar stadsdeel Noord, is niet mogelijk als de cruiseschepen blijven. Daarbij passen cruiseschepen in het stadshart niet in de opdracht van Amsterdam om het aantal toeristen te reduceren. Oftewel, Amsterdam vaart beter zonder de cruise." Machine translation: "The polluting cruise does not match the sustainable ambitions of our city. The realization of a second bridge over the IJ to the Noord district is also not possible if the cruise ships remain. In addition, cruise ships in the city center do not fit into Amsterdam's assignment to reduce the number of tourists. In other words, Amsterdam sails better without the cruise."

Even if the decision was simply based on the number of passengers (which the responsible articles make clear was not the case), it's not only a question of numbers: cruise ship passengers bring less net economic benefit to their ports of call than other kinds of tourists and visitors. So if you want to effect (say) a single-digit percentage point reduction in tourist numbers, it wouldn't be a bad idea to start by targeting the less profitable.