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the penguins

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About Me

  • Location
    uk
  • Interests
    travelling and chess
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Holland America
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    antarctica

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  1. Your tipping principle is incorrect - there is no upper limit drink more and the staff get more.
  2. Yes from the menu posted above- Post 28
  3. I meant to add a note to give you an indication of the space issues in the UK. Arsenal is one of the UK's leading Premiership Football Clubs with a modern stadium in London. Spectator Capacity: over 60,000. Public car parking spaces: Zero. Disabled Car Parking for visiting (away fans): 6 Our Grandson lives in Dallas and his local hockey rink has more car parking spaces.
  4. wow - ok where to start: 1) Southampton is the UK number cruise port. 2 Cruising is still relatively small in the UK and the cruise season is short with no likely hood of it being extended. There will never be the demand for all year round cruising - Royal tried and failed with Independence of the Seas and MSC are I believe going to try. As a private company with no shareholders to keep happy and a different attitude to profit (they kept a least one ship cruising throughout Covid when all the others lines stopped) MSC might succeed only time will tell. 3) A brand new Cruise Terminal would be very expensive - a cost that would be passed directly to passengers. 4 Passport Control is handled by the UK's Border Force (just like at Airports) and has nothing to do with the Port Authorities or the Cruise Lines. 5) One thing the UK lacks is land space and what there is is expensive. Southampton Port would find it impossible to expand it's footprint to add for example the much needed car parking. 6) Southampton is very welcoming, the staff friendly and efficient - all they ask is that passengers stagger their arrival times i.e. arrive at the times they have booked, and the process works well.
  5. over 50% of passengers arrive at Southampton by car and are often held in along line at the main gate, then funnelled into a holding area before even being allowed to onload their bags before quickly moving their cars to the long stay car park. Passengers arriving by taxi/bus/on foot drop off bags at a single point and then walk to Terminal Entrance. The entrance area inside the terminal doors holds approx 60 people after which you are funnelled down one corridor to passport control - the corridor is split into 2 lines (suites/disabled and everyone else. At the end of the corridor the line merges for Passport Control (usually just 2 Officers) and then splits again as previously for security before finally entering the check in area. If everyone arrived at once the line outside the terminal (no seats or cover) would be, to use my word, "chaos". If people arrive at their allotted time from dropping off you bags to being in your cabin will be under 20 minutes. Lighting and wifi in the Terminal are also notoriously bad and it greatly assists the staff if you have everything printed out rather than on just on your mobile device. Your check in times will be checked, probably more than once, as you move towards the Terminal entrance and if you are early you will probably be directed to a holding line - no seats and no cover.
  6. If we ignore the fact that you can also get some alcoholic drinks at the Elite breakfast the reason X's system works better for us is as follows: We are Elite plus and Diamond plus and we drink no alcohol. On Royal we get either 5 or 6 (can't remember which) free drinks spread throughout the day. On X we get unlimited speciality teas/coffees/chocolate hot and iced all served in the Cafe Al Bacio - no need to go to a separate lounge with a limited range. The drinks are also available "to go". During "Happy Hour" we can pickup unopened cans/bottles of water enough to last 24 hours, plus sodas including ginger beer, tonic etc. Also fruit juices from the bar on the way in to dinner. Also speciality coffees in the MDR. Fresh fruit smoothies at the Elite breakfast. As I said X's system works much better for us. Choice is good - just embrace the differences.
  7. And Southampton. If you chose to arrive outside your allotted time just accept that you might have to wait. If everyone turned up at the earliest time it would be chaos.
  8. Might be better for you but for us X's system is much better. Choice is good.
  9. I am sorry for your loss. Your cabin mate will (should) be able to accompany you to the breakfast - check with the Captains Club Host on the ship. I have never understood the supposed "boiling" of the laundry - every uniform is washed on the ship without any issues. We use the laundry on every cruise and on the odd occasion when an item has been damaged or lost we have always been refunded the full cost as an OBC. That said we don't put any particularly important items i. As it's "wash and fold" we always put a note on the form in big letters saying " please return the items on hangers, thank you" (don't forget the please and thank you) and the laundry has always come back as good as pressed. Have a great cruise.
  10. sorry can't get the pics I intended to send to attach and it's done the jeep twice.
  11. we are not snorkellers (or indeed swimmers) but it seems a shame to go all that way and not to explore inland on at least one of the islands and our choice would be Moorea. The scenery, especially the flowers, is amazing. We went with a private guide who advertised "air conditioned" tours - turned out to be an open backed truck - amazing experience.
  12. Elite breakfast also includes mimosas, sparkling wine (champage) and bloody Mary's. During 5 to 7 pm you can pick up enough free water and sodas to get you through the next 24 hours. Internet minutes you can use any time any day - much more flexible than Royal's system especially on longer cruises. One bag Laundry per person.
  13. On Reflection TA in October last year we had no towel animals. However our Cabin Steward chose to make animals on a number of different days for the two little girls in the cabin next to us - there were just 4 kids on the whole ship. As I said CS's are free to make animals it's just no longer a requirement.
  14. The joy of being retired we could just stay on.
  15. On Silhouette 2022. We booked 8 nights Norway (nearly 2000 pax.) A few days in we learnt that the next sailing (12 nights Baltics) only had 800 pax. We decided to stay on and, after a bit of back and forth with Miami, agreed a price for an inside with a £400 per person discount and a free upgrade back to the balcony cabin we were already in. The following sailing was fully booked with 600+ kids.
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