Golfwidow100

Another thing to consider with drink packages is how many port days there are versus sea days. Also if you do decide to buy, there's the option of purchasing on day 2 (unless this has changed during the last year) We tend to find that during the first few days of a cruise (we usually go from Southampton so these are sea days) we would possibly break even, but overall it's better value for us to pay as we go.

We have self disembarked several times from different cruise lines/ships when on fly cruises to the USA/Americas and on every occasion we have each had a large suitcase, soft cabin bag and backpack. We self disembark to maximise our time prior to going to the airport and usually hire a car to do some more sightseeing. We do enjoy the formal nights and dressing up for dinner so for us it's not an excessive amount of luggage. Sailing from/to Southampton we usually have far more!

We booked an overnight with parking at the Hilton Aegeas in August and left our car there for the duration of our 3 week cruise. The cost was slightly less than parking with CPS and the benefit (apart from the B+B aspect) was the ability to self park in their main car park. Included in the cost was a taxi to and from the terminal. We pre-booked on arrival and it arrived the following morning on time. On our return to Southampton, we rang the taxi company to take us back to the Hilton. I would definitely use the stay/park there again without any hesitation.

No unfortunately there are no showers at the gym and no other sauna or steam rooms apart from in the thermal spa area. We didn't bother booking the spa (pre Covid we always did for the full length of our cruises) as we didn't think it was worthwhile due to the restricted access that was still in operation on our last trip (Aug/Sep 22)