gdlamberth

First, please my woeful ignorance of the British Rail Ticketing system. Our situation is that we'd like to take a train from Southampton Central to LGW (we're staying at the Hilton near Gatwick train station) after disembarking a cruise on Wednesday 28 Aug 2024. We'd also like to take the train into London after dropping our luggage at the hotel to spend the afternoon and evening in London and return to hotel that evening. We will have luggage going to LGW so would prefer a direct train to LGW; but, don't need to be in First Class. Also, we'd like to head to LGW as early as possible, but can't guarantee what time we can be at Southampton Central. What way would you recommend we purchase the tickets (there also seems to be a wide variety of ticket types with an equally wide variety of pricing)? Thanks for your patience and assistance, Greg

Any thoughts about Hilton at South Terminal? Our plane departs from the South Terminal and the Hilton appears to be very near the train station also. We'll be coming up by train from SOU. Our thought was we'd drop our bags at our hotel at Gatwick then take the train into London for the afternoon/evening, come back to hotel get some sleep and catch our 1300 flight the next day. Greg

OCAPP?

Yes that's our cruise sailing on August 10th disembarking August 28th . There's a roll call for this Cruise also if you're interested . Actually trying to see if we can make a flight out of Gatwick at 12:50. If that turns out to be too risky then we will be going direct to get to Heathrow from Southampton Cruise terminal terminal

Our cruise is from Oslo to Southampton. The last stop immediately before Southampton is Bruges though prior to that we will have stopped in Edinburgh, Scotland.

We are scheduled to disembark Oceania's Sirena in Southampton at 0800 on a Wednesday. What experiences have folks had when disembarking carrying their luggage themselves? In Papeete once we were allowed to disembark a bit after 0700 (carrying our own luggage) other times I've seen very close adherence to group disembarking times. What been your experience in Southampton? Trying to schedule a car service as early as possible. Thanks, Greg

We are scheduled to disembark Sirena in Southampton at 0800 on a Wednesday. What experiences have folks had when disembarking carrying their luggage themselves? In Papeete once we were allowed to disembark a bit after 0700 (carrying our own luggage) other times I've seen very close adherence to group disembarking times. What been your experience in Southampton? Trying to schedule a car service as early as possible. Thanks, Greg

I'm sorry but I'm having trouble sorting thru the volumes on this thread. Can someone recommend a car/bus etc. service that will allow us to make a 1245 flight to US out of LGW on disembark day? Appreciate any help, Greg

I'd also recommend looking for a Non-Stop on Qantas.

Try this: How to Visit the Blue Mountains By Train: 2 Easy Itineraries | Sydney Expert

Next summer sailing from Olso on Oceania's Regatta. I've searched this forum and didn't see anything about recommended/suggested Hotels. Current plan is to fly into Olso on a Thursday afternoon and the ship sails Saturday afternoon. So, thinking two nights lodging, two dinners and a full day of sightseeing. Any recommendations/suggestions/advice would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks in advance for your assistance, Greg

While I don't proclaim to be an expert, here's some things we've enjoyed in the past: Free Guided Walking Tours: Both Sydney and Auckland have Free Guided Walking Tours. Sydney has two a City Sights and "The Rocks," Auckland's meets near the Cruise Terminal see: Sydney Free Walking Tours | I'm Free Tours Sydney (imfree.tours) Try to catch a show (not a tour) at the Sydney Opera House. We're seeing "Opera's Greatest Arias" in February 2024 Sydney Bridge Climb or at least the Pylon Overlook/Museum Dinner and a pint (or two) at one of the old pubs in The Rocks (Sydney) Sydney has two HOHO Bus routes that are very good at a "one over the world" view of Sydney ferry over to Manly Beach for a laid back kind of day (Sydney) A day trip (either by tour or a DIY) to the Blue Mountains (Sydney) A stroll through the botanical gardens (Sydney) Walk or Bus up to The Domain in Auckland. Great Museum and a very nice park. Find a tour of Auckland that gets you out to the major sights One Tree Hill and such Both places (Auckland especially) see what Tours by Locals has available Auckland-New-Zealand - Find an Authentic Private Tour - (toursbylocals.com) Have Fun, Greg

Additionally, if you are Gluten Free (or any other Free, I think) your pre-selected items from the MDR can be brought up to you at the Terrace. Frequently, DW (who is Gluten Intolerant and has pre-selected dinner items from the MDR menu) and I would dine at the Terrace and her MDR items would be brought up course by course and she could supplement her GF selections with clearly GF items from the Terrace. In the FWIW category, she was also able to get GF selections for lunch brought up to The Waves at lunchtime. Greg

We tend to use The Terrace for dinner about half the time when on board. Much faster than MDR, nice shorts and runners acceptable dress, usually some sushi and something off the grill or maybe a special stir fry works well for us.

All this said my BIL is with a group of 4 playing golf all over Scotland and have ben site seeing in Inverness, at Culloden, Edinburgh (attended the Tattoo) and just emailed this PM saying that they've had great weather everywhere so far. Granted they have been on land; but, if they had had naxty winds messing with their golf fame they would have said something. Just a data point

Thank you both! The iSite is a great suggestion since it's close to the Te Papa Museum. Greg

Oceania's Free Shuttle List says several places in city center....can anyone tell me more specifically "Where in the City Center?" Trying to set up a meet with friends. Thanks, Greg

Oceania's Free Shuttle List says several places in city center....can anyone tell me more specifically "Where in the City Center?" Trying to set up a meet with friends. Thanks, Greg

Oceania's Free Shuttle List says several places in city center....can anyone tell me more specifically "Where in the City Center?" Trying to set up a meet with friends. Thanks, Greg

Where in Wellington, NZ? List says several places in city center....can anyone tell me more specifically "Where in the City Center?" Thanks, Greg

One more point that may be in play depending on when you want to cruise out of Australia. CURRENTLY!! as best I can tell, the Federal Gov't of Australia does NOT require either COVID Testing or Vaccinations to enter the country HOWEVER! boarding a cruise ship in an Australian port requires both current vaccinations and a negative COVID test 24hrs (I think) prior to boarding the cruise ship. Unsure of when this policy (being invoked by all of the Australian States (as I understand)) may change. PLEASE, if someone has more current information on this issue post here and I will apologize for posting incorrect information. Thanks, Greg

I want to thank everyone for help me better understand the rules and the issues here. Please indulge me one more clarification. I need no vaccination or test results to fly into and travel around Australia, just to embark a cruise ship. I'm asking because we plan on spending 10 days traveling in Australia pre-cruise; so we'll need to bring test kits with us to use prior to embarking.

So, as of right now a cruise departing from Sydney requires passengers over 12 years old to be vaccinated and have a rapid antigen test prior to boarding. Do I understand this correctly? I understand it may change but these are the rules today.

I apologize for being a bit thick but the Australia Government web site it says; International travellers to Australia Australia’s borders are open, and there are no Australian Government requirements to: give proof of a negative COVID-19 test on arrival to Australia supply proof of COVID-19 vaccination wear a mask, although this is encouraged. And later: Cruise travel Check with your cruise provider for up-to-date travel requirements for your ship and destination. Vaccination There is no Australian Government requirement for travellers to be vaccinated on board a cruise vessel. However, we recommend: COVID-19 vaccination, as you are at the greatest risk of developing severe illness and long COVID-19 if you are unvaccinated reconsidering your travel on cruises if you are unvaccinated. Am I looking at old info? A bogus website? Or, are all the testing and vaccination requirements unique to specific cruise lines? We have a Sydney to Auckland to Sydney cruise booked for Febr and March of 2024, at this point thoroughly confused. Any help or clarification would be greatly appreciated. Greg

I've experienced the same lack of consistency with timing. The only reason it even came up is I just had my Shareholder Benefit request turned down for being too soon for my February 2024 cruises. Seems to depend upon who fields the request. YMMV!!! 🙄