aquilegia

You normally buy Oystercards at London train stations and they can also be bought at Heathrow. I'd be very surprised if you could get them at Southampton bus station and they are only used in London anyway. As others have said, the general opinion is that it's better to wait till you get here and just get an ordinary Oystercard. If you go on Trip Advisor's London forum, you'll find there are questions on Oysters practically every day and some of the regular posters there are real experts in helping you make the best use of the card.

Well, it could be Perth UK. But deposits aren't refundable in the UK either, so if you've used the FCC as your deposit the policy seems consistent.

Ditto to #4. If the weather was bad, you were far better off spending the extra hours in port than sailing around in rough conditions just to waste time.

Well, I can't agree with the OP's views on Amalfi. I've vacationed on that coast and it's my favourite town. I certainly agree about the tour though. The main reason I avoid ship's tours (apart from the cost) is the time-wasting visits to factories etc. Another one that's often included on tours from Naples is a cameo factory. Does anyone ever buy stuff from these places? I suppose they must do.

I don't understood the interest in towel animals either and in over 10 years of cruising with Princess I've never seen one. I've not encountered them on P&O either. The only time I've come across a towel animal was a few years ago on the last night of a Viking river cruise. I must say my only reaction was to be perplexed. The stewards have so much work to do, I'd rather they spent their time on more important things.

The credit card provider should be the first port of call. Provided the payment was made to the agent's account, it should be an open and shut case. If that doesn't work, inform the agent that you will be pursuing a claim against them in the Small Claims Court.

I've also gone to Zaanse Schans by local bus and agree it wouldn't be feasible if you want to get back for 1pm. It's a lovely place but, apart from the journey time, the site is large and spread out so you would have to miss so much. Save it for another visit.

Bucket List Bohemians, that is not correct. You don't have to take a ship's tour to go visa free, the situation is identical if you take a tour with an accredited Russian tour operator eg Alla, SPB etc. Unfortunately, a lot of cruise lines, including Princess, like to give the impression that only their tours are visa fee. It's obviously in their own interest to do so but is very unscrupulous. There are numerous posts on this forum from very happy cruisers who've used local tour operators,

Most cruise lines don't have single cabins. It will be single occupancy of a double cabin, hence.

It can be calm or rough. There is no knowing. If you are prone to sea sickness, just come prepared.

It's very odd that there is a known fault that they can't fix in the next 3 months. The OBC doesn't seem adequate for what you are missing. I would be very annoyed if I'd booked this cruise.

Me too! Sunday in Lucca sounds blissful.

I had one this morning. We got off a cruise 3 weeks ago so I just thought they were a bit slow. The offer didn't look very exciting anyway. However, a few hours later I got a secomd email apologising and saying the first had been sent in error.

Oddly, the name of the town is actually St Peter Port.

There will likely be a shuttle from Avonmouth (the port) to Bristol, but I can't imagine there would be one to Bath. But NewWestwardbound has given you good information as to get there by public transport.

I was on Crown 3 weeks ago. It was fine.

While you can't always predict the weather, it's a fact that the sun sets earlier in September so there are fewer hours of daylight.

The weather in the British Isles is always unpredictable, not just sometimes!

We tendered in Guernsey 3 weeks ago. This was on Crown Princess. We didn't attempt to go ashore till after 10.00 am but it still took about an hour. Coming back a couple of hours before boarding time there was a long, long queue on the pier. This despite the fact they had 'borrowed' a small ferry type boat to use as well as the ship's tenders. We waited 40 mins to board a tender and the line was even longer when we left. At least the sea was calm, so we did actually get ashore. It's a port that's often missed because of rough weather.

It's not mandatory in the UK to have travel insurance but it is a requirement of Princess that UK passengers have it and that they enter the company details on the online cruise documentation. I can't recall ever having seen any stipulation as to the amount of cover though. I can't understand why anyone would go off on a cruise or other vacation to another country without adequate insurance. Repatriation costs can be horrendous.

The name plate was there on Crown a couple of weeks ago and our steward had already introduced himself by name anyway and was wearing a name badge. Of course you could have left a commendation for him. You knew his first name and your own cabin number, what more did you need? The less paper junk there is in the cabin the better, as far as I'm concerned.

He can easily avoid the dining room by going to the buffet. Some people prefer to always eat in the buffet anyway and never set foot in a dining room, Ther's no need to rsstrict himself to room service, which on a lot of ships has a fairly limited choice.

Many people in Europe will never even of heard of travellers' cheques. They fell out of favour years ago, so you would have real difficulty finding somewhers to change them. Don't bring dollars either. Just use ATMs but use a debit card, not a credit card. If you want to arrive with just a few pounds and euros for eg a taxi, get them from your own bank before you leave home.

I went to a presentation in Share given by the chef, who explained that the dishes are not meant to be sharing plates, despite the name, He gave the explanation of the name, which was about sharing the ambience, the occasion or some such waffle. I wish they would change the name as it is silly and confusing. You would naturally assume the food was meant for sharing, when this is actually not the case.

I can understand why they've done this. It must be quite galling to have done all your cruises on Princess and not get invited to the MTP lunch because of passengers who 've done a load of P&O cruises. I've been to Elite and Platinum parties where there were people on their first Princess cruise. I'm surprised they still let this one-sided arrangement continue.