gumshoe958

Agreed. Or just stay in London and get the train down to Dover on embarkation day. They run every hour from St Pancras station and take just over an hour.

That’s not an easy journey by train as neither Glasgow Airport nor St Andrews are on the rail network, so you’d need to catch the airport bus into Glasgow (every 12-15 mins), then a train from Queen Street station to Dundee (twice an hour), then a bus to St Andrews (every 10 mins). All of which takes around 3 hours. An easier option would be the airport bus into Glasgow, then the hourly X24 bus direct to St Andrews. Which also takes about 3 hours but with one simple transfer at Buchanan bus station. The upshot is it’s a long journey on public transport, however you do it. By car it takes between 90 minutes and 2 hours so that would be faster, but a cab or private transfer wouldn’t be cheap, as you’ve discovered.

No Uber anywhere near there. And Invergordon is a small place so taxis will be limited. You’d be advised to pre-book any journeys you need if you’re not planning to take an organised tour.

Most convenient for the cruise terminal is the Best Western Plus Dover Marina Hotel. But it’s still a mile/20 minute walk so you may want a taxi - the receptionist would help get you one. There are a few other hotels in Dover town centre including a Travelodge and Premier Inn but they’re all pretty basic. It’s not the nicest of places - the castle and famous white cliffs are its saving grace. Most Brits would only ever go there to catch a ferry to France.

Pre-book to be safe.

Yes, I received that email two weeks before final payment and again one week before. I guess it may depend on your email preference settings. If you’ve opted not to receive emails from Royal at some point in the past, they probably won’t send a reminder. Or of course it could go straight to spam. But they definitely do send reminders.

At La Spezia, as with a few other European ports including Zeebrugge, you’re not allowed to walk around the dock area and must catch the port shuttle from the ship to the terminal. Lots of useful info in this thread from last year:

Assuming you have a biometric US passport (one with a chip that can be read by a machine), immigration should be quick as you can use the automated E-gates without the need to see an officer and unless something’s gone wrong there are rarely long queues. Customs is just a walk through, no time at all. So the big unknown is baggage reclaim. But from plane to landside I’d estimate on average it takes about 45 minutes, give or take.

I doubt very much that your second attendant spent her evenings relaxing. Knowing Royal they hadn’t yet replaced your first attendant so when he left the second had to service his cabins in the morning, then hers on another deck in the evening.

Taxis pick up from right outside the cruise terminal.

It’s doable if all the stars align. The airport’s less than half an hour’s drive, and it’s a small airport so you can check in up to 45 minutes before departure. So in theory as long as you’re off the ship by 7.45 you’ll be fine. But there’s hardly any margin for error and you’ll miss the flight if there’s even a short delay to disembarkation. So for peace of mind and to avoid spending your whole cruise worrying about whether you’ll make it, I’d be minded to book a later flight from Heathrow. There are plenty of them to both cities.

On Wonder’s eastbound TA last year the time change was either at 2pm (1400) or 3pm (1500) - can’t remember which. It definitely wasn’t noon though. Or 2am. And it was timed to avoid meal times. I believe the reason they did it in the afternoon was to prevent the crew losing an hour’s sleep every other day.

Even worse - although not included in this itinerary: Paris (Le Havre) which is 120 miles! About the same as LAX to San Diego.

My instinct is that the trouble has now peaked. This weekend was always going to be bad but I suspect things will begin to calm down now.

There are many ways you could go, and you haven’t said which hotel but assuming it’s the Park Plaza or nearby Premier Inn, my choice would be to head due south through Covent Garden via Monmouth St & St Martin’s Lane to Trafalgar Square, then head east to the river, crossing by the northerly of the two footbridges next to Charing Cross station (for the best view), then turn right along the South Bank of the river past the London Eye observation wheel.

There are two stations serving central Portsmouth - Portsmouth & Southsea and Portsmouth Harbour. Most fast trains from London serve both. The first one, Portsmouth & Southsea is slightly closer to the cruise terminal but whichever you choose you’ll probably want a cab as it’s well over a mile away. Alternatively, there’s a National Express coach from Victoria Coach Station in London at around 11 or 11.30am every day which runs direct to the cruise terminal in just under 2 hours.

Perfectly safe. There’ll be a lot of people around. Bars and restaurants will be busy. Central London is vibrant in the evening, unlike some American cities’ downtown areas. But if it’s raining or you don’t feel like walking, the 68, 168 and 188 buses all run very frequently from Southampton Row, just east of the museum, and will take you over Waterloo Bridge direct to Waterloo station.

Ok, that’s about a 15 minute walk to Westminster tube station. It’s located in the heart of London’s government district so at that time on a Saturday morning it should be very quiet. Therefore your best options (from lowest to highest in price) are probably: * Tube, as above (District line from Westminster to Barons Court then Piccadilly line to Heathrow) * Taxi to Victoria Coach Station, then National Express coach to Heathrow (book in advance) * Taxi to Paddington station, then Elizabeth line or Heathrow Express train * Taxi, Uber or private transfer all the way

Assuming your hotel is close to Westminster tube station, Heathrow by tube with luggage is actually reasonably simple as there are elevators at both ends and a step-free, cross platform interchange between the District & Piccadilly lines at Barons Court. That’s the cheapest viable way and should take about an hour. Easiest would obviously be a taxi, Uber or private transfer but these days you’re looking at between £50 & £100 for that, and are at the mercy of London traffic. It could easily take an hour, maybe more, maybe less. @spirit rev if you tell us which hotel you’re staying at we can give you more accurate advice.

At some of those ports (Newhaven, Invergordon, Douglas, Dun Laoghaire, Cobh) you will dock within easy walking distance of local bars, cafes and restaurants. But in all cases except Douglas you would need to use local buses, trains or cabs to visit the actual city served - Edinburgh, Inverness, Dublin, Cork - where there are far more choices. The docks at Kirkwall, Belfast & Portland aren’t easily walkable to anywhere but in all cases the cruise line should provide a shuttle bus (maybe with a charge) that’ll take you into the nearest town centre.

It eliminates a venue and its associated costs such as tech support & bar staff. One big comedy show costs a lot less to put on than ten small ones. It potentially saves money by replacing a headliner show in the theatre. And it opens up the possibility of rotating one comedian across more than one ship if they’re only doing one show per cruise, thus reducing the overall number required.

Yes, as the OP noted. But their point was that the nightly shows in The Attic - always popular due to their intimate comedy club atmosphere - seem to have gone. Which looks ominously like yet another cut.

Yep, the app shows no sign of any comedy on Harmony this week apart from one night in the main theatre. Hopefully it’s just a glitch, but presumably entertainment isn’t immune from the cost savings we’ve already seen in housekeeping and dining so maybe comedy in The Attic is going the same way as Jazz on 4.

The Seagate Bus Station stop is closest, although it’s still a 15-20 minute walk. Or you can hop on a city bus, or try and find a cab.

Wow. Royal cancels Christmas. But don’t worry, you can celebrate in October or February instead. Seriously, that stinks. Not even offering an alternative Christmas cruise on another ship.