markeb

My bad. In my defense, I did say Equinox 🙂

You’ll be on British Summer Time in Southampton and probably change to Central European Time (summer time as well) before your first stop on the Continent. Belgium and Norway are CET, so no additional changes until you start the return to Southampton.

Where are you sailing from? Norway is all on Central European Time. The only time change would be if you're sailing from the UK.

The Edge class was built for the Retreat. The Retreat Sundeck is a designed feature. (We've actually not sailed the Edge Class but it's pretty obvious the ship was designed around the Retreat.) On the M/S class, the sundeck is an add on that fits into the space with minimal modification. Equinox has a partially retrofitted Retreat Sundeck. Pretty much as George described. No bar. It's a couple of flights of stairs down to a bathroom. No water feature. It is manned pretty well, but it's the front of the ship and it gets hot, windy, and dry pretty quickly. The staff has to go down at least two levels to a bar, and I'm not sure where the food actually comes from. It's always been good but Luminae is at the other end of the ship and on Deck 3. We're on Summit in two weeks. Alaska, so I don't know that we'll spend much time on the sundeck, but we'll see. From the descriptions, I expect it to be similar to Equinox.

Is there any actual evidence that they dropped an anchor? Accepting they were way too close, the whole "at anchor" thing just seems silly. With the thrusters and azipods they can stay in place without needing to drop an anchor. I don't know that I've ever been on a cruise ship that actually dropped her anchor. And I'm not minimizing that they got too close to shore. They did. But if this is a legitimate news source, it's not hard to get it right.

But very modern. Not sure it’s the experience they’re looking for.

Jeans are acceptable every night. They planned fine. I don't usually wear them as they're heavy to pack and can be hot in the Caribbean, but they're likely to be my evening wear in Alaska later this month.

I don't think you'll have a fixed time dining option. Sounding like a broken record, but your dining room is Blu in Aqua. Blu doesn't offer fixed dining; it's always a walk up and be seated system. The other dining rooms are technically space available for you. It doesn't sound like recent passengers have had issues being seated in the MDR, but it's not your actual dining room. If you show up there the first night, they're probably going to point you to Blu. And as just stated, the Blu menu changes every night.

I also agree that's a better idea. The cruise line will have a set tour aiming for the most common flight times. International Friends should be more flexible. I'd rather sit in a pub in Salisbury or Windsor than the Nero Cafe at Heathrow...

To the OP: Sandals are fine. Flip flops are not. There have been 20 page threads on this board arguing about whether a specific sandal was or was not a flip flop. The dress code allows significant leeway and presents some glaring ambiguity. When does a sandal become a flip flop? Is it a sleeveless blouse or a tank top? These are doctrinal matters that must be defended vigorously at least once every thirty days. More often if possible. And then there's always the nuance, like does "smart casual dress code works" in bars, lounges, and the theater mean it's actually required? And aren't swimsuits more or less prohibited (without coverups) in the OVC, not just the main restaurant? Or is that only wet swimsuits? Baseball caps are specifically banned, but what about a Trilby or Fedora? Cowboy hats aren't specifically prohibited but there aren't many people who wear them regularly who'd wear them indoors. Unless they're in the band. Dress codes are so much fun. Dress code threads are even better...

There is that! I was kind of envisioning that for a "real British experience". Along with tiny or nonexistent elevators, uneven upstairs floors, and random level changes from 150 years of renovations... For the OP. There's something of a short distance from "charming" to "oh, isn't it quaint that you'd like a hot shower" at times. The major chains are generally safe, but a lot of them are pretty sterile. And for that local feel not involving a chain, most of the classic places I'm familiar with are likely to be well over your price point. Using the Lotte and Plaza as sort of a benchmark, that's going to be something like Claridge's or the Savoy. Maybe Duke's for the Lotte, although Duke's is only 80-90 rooms. Throwing some names out for Google searches. It's been decades since I stayed at what's now the Clermont (mentioned earlier); it was just the Charing Cross Hotel at the time. Great location, classic feel at the time and sounds like still. Royal Horseguards Hotel. I've never stayed there but met co-workers there. Also a very classic feel. I'd check reviews on the rooms as I have no idea. Downstairs was beautiful. Sheraton Grand Park Lane, which is actually on Piccadilly, not Park Lane. Also a very classic feel, but the rooms trended into that "isn't that quaint" territory at times. That's moving into Mayfair, but very close to Green Park and Hyde Park and Tube stops each way. Short walk to Fortnum and Mason and also to Duke's if you'd like to stop in for a drink. Following on the "be close to a nice place" theme above, the Marriott at Grosvenor Square was a very nice place to stay, incredibly convenient to the Elizabeth Line to and from Heathrow, and just a few blocks from Claridge's. Again in Mayfair but an easy walk to Bond Street, Piccadilly, and the like. The Marriott Park Lane is probably a nicer hotel with a slightly more classic feel, but it's been moving up in price and points over the last couple of years. And it's not 200m from the Bond Street Elizabeth Line station! Never stayed at the Conrad (Marriott points, not Hilton) but it has a great reputation and sounds like the Dilly would be worth exploring as well. Good luck!

What airline? That might help with likelihood of checking the bag early, and give an indication of what terminal and what's available near departures if you have to kill an hour or two.

Once you figure it out, it's brilliant. Unless you think it's vaguely representative of London above ground! But it does take a bit of time to figure out!

If you pull up the actual London Tube map, https://content.tfl.gov.uk/standard-tube-map.pdf, there's a legend in the lower left. The white circles are a direct interchange (in some cases I'm pretty sure there are level changes). The white circles with connected to another white circle are internal interchanges; you don't leave the Tube to transfer, but you'll probably walk. From the Tube to National Rail (or the Thames boats), you'll leave the Tube. It's actually pretty straightforward. Once you're in a Tube station that connects to a National rail station, you look for the rail emblem (the two parallel red lines with arrows). So from the Paddington Station on the Heathrow Express you'd follow the Yellow or Green signs for the Circle or District Line or the Purple signs for the Elizabeth Line. From the Tube you'd follow the red arrowed signs for the Paddington rail station. In some cases you may exit the Tube station. In some cases they share a facility. It's actually amazingly simple. Although the map is amazingly complicated.

Maybe they're not worried about passenger safety. Maybe it's a crew safety issue... It would be nice if they'd just tell people what the issue is. Calling it safety but not going any further just annoys people. But I've worked in environments where as soon as the "safety" word was raised, everything stopped. Risk management becomes risk elimination. It also doesn't help that there's huge inconsistency. If it is a safety issue, it's a safety issue. You don't do it sometimes and not others. Of course if they've had crew injuries that are caught up in litigation, they probably can't say anything. Lawyers... They could be just doing something stupid, but the automatic assumption that everything is malicious has gotten old.

I’m assuming you/they haven’t settled on a hotel? Why Hell’s Kitchen? There are a number of moderate priced hotels that are within walking distance of Moynihan Train Hall and would be less than $20 by taxi or Uber to MCT. Would you mind expanding your questions? If you’re arriving by Amtrak I’d have some suggestions to look at. I don’t have a lot of experience with Hell’s Kitchen, but I do with the area around Penn Station.

Why did you book Aqua? That’s not a criticism but a question. People have different reasons. Persian Gardens and extra Captain’s Club points are in there. But the biggest advantage to Aqua for most is Blu. Blu is a big part of the cost of Aqua. As I said, you generally will be seated at any dining room, but they are going to tell you the first (2-3?) nights that your dining room is Blu. Before the open seating model they almost certainly would have sent you to Blu. You wouldn’t have had a seat in the MDR.

If you're in Aqua, Blue IS your assigned dining room. Just go to Blu when you're ready for dinner. You generally CAN go to the MCR, but your dining room is Blu.

What are you looking for? $500/night may not be as much as you think in Westminster or Mayfair. It's probably too early to book for June, so I'd be WAG ing pretty much on price, but many of the classic hotels (Conrad, Clermont mentioned above, Marriott properties, etc.) are likely to hit closer to £500 or more (in some cases much more), not $$. Especially in June. There are plenty of decent hotels on the South Bank near Waterloo Station that are likely to be priced better. But they may not have that ambience. You're not going to get into Claridge's without paying 2.5-3X your budget...

It has to be a unique card per individual. Check your cards; most credit card companies now give a different number to each person on the account even though they're the same account. The card itself is probably "unique" even if it has the same account number. My wife and I share card accounts but routinely use Express Transit in NY and also have used it in London. You have to tap in and out with the same card, so you can't "double tap" in and share a card. In that case it may make sense to get an Oyster for her. Edit: See the TFL link in Post #9. It's a wealth of information.

No shuttles. They might exist on some level (as stated, probably without luggage) if you're paying the rack rate a the highest end properties. So figure the cost of the hotel is 100X the cost of a cab to have a free car service. Taxi Fare Finder . com https://www.taxifarefinder.com/main.php?city=NY&from=Hell's+Kitchen%2C+New+York%2C+New+York%2C+United+States&to=Manhattan+Cruise+Terminal%2C+711+12th+Ave%2C+New+York%2C+New+York+10036%2C+United+States&fromCoord=40.760355,-73.991227&toCoord=40.76708,-73.9972445 $12.62 Best estimate tonight. Generically from Hell's Kitchen. It's an expensive city. I don't know how much the cruise industry really contributes financially, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't compare to New York Fashion Week, the opening session of UN General Assembly, or the US (tennis) Open. You're just not going to find the same type of infrastructure for cruising you'd find in say Fort Lauderdale.

Didn't want to imply that you had to use the app for the train. Just that you could. And it's worked well for us. On Amtrak, I'd guess 65-75% of riders depending on the train use a ticket on their phone app. I was a bit surprised last fall at how many people in Germany were using tickets on their phones. But the UK may have been the fewest last summer. A lot of people with the little paper tickets, probably from the kiosk at the station. And we certainly have our little quirks with electronic tickets. For baseball, I can add my tickets to my Apple Wallet and they're read by an NFC reader. The parking ticket also goes into the wallet for NFC, but the parking lot attendants have an optical reader (unless it has a hidden NFC reader), so I end up pulling that up separately in the app. Just keeps it interesting...

It's a bit funny. In the US, paper tickets, unless bought at the box office, are pretty much a thing of the past. Concert, theater, and sporting event tickets are mostly purchased through Ticketmaster, and they're all in the Ticketmaster app. The ticket is actually a dynamic, usually NFC enabled, "token". They tell you that a screen shot is not accepted; a static copy in your Apple (or Google) wallet is. That presumably dramatically reduces scalping. I don't believe you even receive a PDF ticket anymore. The last time we bought tickets for the London theater from the US (admittedly that was 2019), we were required to pick up a paper ticket from will call, also presumably as an anti scalping/fraud prevention system. Last summer we went to the BST Festival in Hyde Park and all the tickets were again electronic on the phone. I've been to a few concerts where I had to pick up a paper ticket, but that's been very unusual. I still have some souvenir tickets of memorable events, but more often than not the ticket just disappears as soon as I attend the event... As to UK train tickets, unless I've picked up a day return ticket from a kiosk, those have all been on the app for the operator as well. Same for DB in Germany.

I’ve always just shown the barcode or QR code in the PDF on my phone. I usually buy tickets once I’m in country and know what the weather looks like and have a better idea what I’m doing (I know you have a short trip). No printer. On one trip to Windsor Castle the staff actually suggested we buy the tickets on our phone while in line and all we needed was the reference number. Skipped right past probably 30 people in line. But yes, globally A4 is much more common than US letter size. Cruise Critic users must be the largest single group who still prints things in the world…. 😀

You know, I'd probably gamble and just go straight to Raw on 5 when you vacate the cabin. You're driving, so other than your checked bags it really doesn't matter. Will Guest Services give you an earlier bag tag? Do you want off earlier (I'm thinking yes. Tylenol only lasts so long...)