Dancer Bob

I was also on Sky last January. I was with a group but except for group activities, spent little time with them. Attended solo meet first night, very well attended, but it quickly became apparent there was no one who shared my interests (which do not include sitting in bars consuming alcohol). Always ate at the buffet (over the years, I have become less than enchanted with cruise ship restaurants. Also there was only one good band, the scheduling often conflicted with meal times.) Other than group activities and that one good band, I found everything pretty lowest-commom-denominator, not very interesting.

Trying to figure out 3 transfers- airport-hotel, hotel-port, port-airport? I'm a dedicated DIY so I can't help you on pre-arranged. Last time in Marseille, I used the bus from the airport to Gare St Charles, hotel was walking distance, I used cruise line transfer to & from St Charles. Marseille is one port where I consider cruise line transfers. If it's World Cup time- you've already booked hotel? Maybe they have a recommendation?

As to whether you'll have to claim your bags , clear Customs and re-check bags- maybe yes, maybe no. It's a confused mess right now. There are big signs posted. (My last arrivals were on Air France and Westjet, so I looked at those signs, but I wasn't connecting, so I didn't pay much attention.) Plan to collect your bags and be pleasantly surprised if you don't. All subject to change at a moment's notice, of course. It's reported that there were meltdowns at Toronto and Montreal last weekend, but that was a holiday weekend, never good.

Cruise Critic has an article dated 2022, which seems reasonably accurate. Except the cruise is not free, last I heard it was $30/day, and the hosts have to buy their own costumes. Notably, they are supposed to not accept any gratuity, and to not display any favouritism. The dance standards cited are pretty minimal. One of the sites you can find by searching cruise-ship-dance-host-agency mentions Compass Speakers, which apparently has copyrighted "Gentleman Host". I believe there is a UK agency as well.

This will be your Schengen entry. I'll assume you've verified your Schengen admissibility and whether you'll need an ETIAS. For planning purposes, you need to assume at least half an hour for Immigration and be pleasantly surprised if it's less, unpleasantly surprised if it's more. 1h 10m doesn't leave much for contingencies.

There are city codes for LON and NYC, not to mention CHI, WAS, PAR, ROM, TYO, and "Y" not include YTO and YMQ too.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the stop at T3 isn't all that easy to find, you have to go around the end of the building?

Also, the legal contract is in the local language. An English version is only a marketing tool.

OP also asked about auto insurance. I haven't rented in France for years, but this gets very tricky, very quickly. Assume nothing. Hlitner would have better information than me.

Since you're aware of the visa issues, I suspect "mobility-challenged older folks" will be the biggest problem.

In the UK, at least at LHR, US/Can have electronic gates, no passport stamp. In Paris, last month they were experimenting with using the EU electronic gates (s-l-o-w!) but you still had to get a Schengen entry stamp.

Traffic is even worse than Toronto/Montreal, especially around the tunnels. I drive at night, so I can juggle my times. Otherwise, not really much to say.

Agree with karebare42, except I would plan to arrive much earlier. Allowing for stops, traffic, and driving eastbound at sunrise, that means leaving midnite-ish. Are you comfortable with night driving? All the routes involve some trade-off, but you would avoid a lot of traffic.

In North America when you call Cunard you get the Princess/Cunard call centre in California. I suspect they have been asked this question before and their answer shouldn't be ignored, although it probably is incomplete and US-centric. One possibility- the hosts were invited by a dance group, not Cunard. Another possibility- the UK sailings, Cunard is responding to the bitter complaints from UK ladies about the poor quality of the hosts and are only ordering from the UK agency/agencies. While the US agency claims to have some (rather minimal) standards, they also earlier say don't worry, dancing is not really necessary. Many US hosts are used to huge, uncrowded US studios and simply can't cope with Cunard dance floors. I've never heard of them placing US couples. I don't know what standards the UK agency has but they must be higher. All of which doesn't predict QV later this year, the OP's question.

The ship I was on had one baggage tag scheduled for after lunch, I presume to accomodate later flights. I personally was not off til 10.30. My drink package was valid until I left. A day tour is certainly possible, but if you want to keep things simple, it may not be as dire as you expect.

I'm well aware of how little the political appointees and their $(2 million?) CEO can actually do. But you'd never know that from their PR hype.

The Airport Authority has promised that this summer, YYZ will not be the worst airport on the planet. But at 19.30 last Friday, hardly a peak arrival time, had a 10-minute Customs hold on the aircraft due to congestion. And several people had problems with the NEXUS machines not reading their cards, as well as several machines out of order.

Also Air France and Westjet in YYZ, at least on SOME flights. It's a confused mess.

I'll assume you mean one checked bag, not carryon. I've never checked in for a DL fight at BCN, but going straight to security definitely helps. I'm pretty sure BCN does accept electronic boarding passes. "Arrival" is not the same as "disembarking". How many other people are also trying to catch early flights is also a factor. Note that little britain did not actually say they are always in the same situation you are- latest time they have ever been off the ship, whether they always do self-help luggage, whether they travel with only carryon or have to check baggage, whether they always fly to the US, etc.

Not exactly. I look for four-bed rooms, and a "hostal" which is one notch up from a hostel, usually works out better value. The one time I used a hostel for a one-night stopover it was inconvenient and hard to find. If you are arriving in the morning to drop off bags and can confirm the booking, might be worth the risk.

Make sure you look for direct to CDG, not via Gare de Lyon, which is the opposite side of Paris.

Would you know if the hosts are English or American? The American agency was placing two hosts on some QM2 sailings, but I have no idea what's happening in the UK.

See Three-Year Cruise thread on Ask a Cruise Question board. I wonder how much money she lost? And neither article fact-checked the solo cost. Contrast that with the Never Too Old thread, many months of planning for a one-year cruise.

Immigration is at first Schengen entry. No one can answer this question without knowing flight itinerary. US passports use the All Passports (sometimes Other Passports) line. EU means European Union, not Estados Unidos. ETIAS is delayed so it's not applicable for your dates. For visa information, I strongly suggest you do your own research rather than relying on posters here. The last time I arrived in BCN it took 1.5 hours, but that was a year ago. T1 has a charter bus waiting area, I presume NCL will have a rep to direct you, if not, it's beside the Metro entrance. Schengen is an immigration treaty, you clear customs in Spain, most cruise ship passengers have nothing to declare and you use the Green channel. You're fine as long as the flight is on time, if not it will become high-stress very quickly. Be sure you know exactly what NCL will do for you, for your Plan B. As far as I know, non-EU passports no longer have to be surrendered at checkin.

My transfer was scheduled for 10.30, so I didn't pay any attention before that, but I'd guess soon after arrival, we never left the Schengen area so it was just another port stop for most.