gumshoe958

You will have to ask your cruise line, as some allow it and some don’t.

That kind of depends where on deck 12 you are.

Probably cheaper to get the work done in Spain than in the US.

Welcome to the crazy world of Britain’s railways! Ticketing is extremely complicated and not at all customer friendly with a bewildering array of options - sometimes dozens of different fares for exactly the same train. But to cut a very long story short, different lines are run by different operators, all of which sell tickets for any journey by any operator to try and ensure there’s a joined-up national network. So yes, LNER will sell you a ticket for SWR even though you’ll never set foot on an LNER train. Why some operators accept bookings from overseas and others don’t, who knows. But it’s silly and unhelpful and feels very regressive in the era of Apple Pay and Google Pay.

How old are your children? If they’re 10 or over, and you all have biometric US passports, you can all use the automated e-gates to clear the UK border, which should speed things up. If they’re under 10 or you don’t have biometric passports you’ll have to see an immigration officer which may slow things down if there’s a line. The other unknown is baggage reclaim, but even on a bad day (not unknown at LHR) I’m still confident you’ll comfortably make the 2:20 coach. The coaches stop right outside arrivals at T5 so there are no long walks involved and there are a couple of cafes in arrivals once you’re through customs if you find yourselves with time to kill. Sensible move to buy the Change & Go upgrade though.

I agree. The primary reason Royal is contemplating a new class of smaller ship is to serve home ports that can’t handle Quantum, Oasis or Icon class. It’s not so they can offer ‘interesting’ ports of call or longer or more diverse itineraries. That’s Celebrity’s job.

The easiest way is the direct National Express coach (bus) from Southampton to LHR. However the times aren’t ideal for you: there’s one at 7:30, which I’m not sure you’d catch even if you’re off the ship early, and one at 9:45 which doesn’t arrive at LHR until 12:00 which is very tight for your flight. So although it involves a change en route, I’d advise catching the train from Southampton Central to Woking, then the Railair bus from there to LHR. That runs every 30 minutes and the 8:30 train, for example, would get you into LHR by 10:45.

48 minutes from plane to bus is tight. US flights normally arrive at one of the T5 satellites B or C, which means waiting for and riding a transit to the main terminal. Immigration is usually pretty fast if you use the e-gates (as most US citizens can) but there can be lines if you time it wrong. So while it’s doable if all the stars align, personally I’d aim for the bus half an hour later which then gives you more time to change between bus and train at Woking.

It’s any continuous 24 hour period you choose, starting from the moment you activate it. When you get on board and on the ship’s wifi you can either activate via the app or go to login.com to set up your account and choose whether to redeem your Diamond voucher for just 24 hours, or put the value towards a longer period - up to you.

Yes, seek advice from Royal. Your brother’s past may not be an issue at home, but some countries may take a different view and refuse entry to someone who’s previously been arrested for a sexual offence.

I’d be prepared to bet plenty of people bid on every category they’re offered, regardless of whether they really want it. Just because they think they’re getting a bargain upgrade, even if they’re not.

The algorithm just offers you the next six or so categories immediately above yours. Logic doesn’t come into it.

You don’t have to reserve as there’s always a standby line but if you want to get in early to get good seats yes, you should. You can reserve for all shows in the main theater, the Aqua theater and the ice rink. Until recently reservations opened around the start of the month before departure (eg start of April for a May cruise) but there’ve been reports lately that they’ve been opening earlier than that. There’s no consistency, you just have to keep checking.

London isn’t great for Christmas markets tbh, but what few there are (Trafalgar Square, South Bank, Leicester Square, Covent Garden) should be open by then. Christmas lights will be on by then in the major West End shopping streets (Oxford St, Regent St, Bond St). There’s also the incredibly popular Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park which you have to pre-book (not free). Finally I highly recommend the Kew Gardens Christmas light trail which is always beautiful and, while very popular, feels a world away from the hustle and bustle of central London. Again, you need to pre-book.

I think it comes down to your attitude to risk. If Anthem’s on time and you’re among the first off, you’ll make it. But there’s very little room for manoeuvre and even a 30 minute delay in disembarking would scupper you. I’d be minded to go for the 4pm flight. Yes, it’s a pain having to hang around Southampton but you don’t want to spend your whole cruise worrying about disembarkation day. And the 4pm flight would get you to EDI at roughly the same time as the train.

The EI124 arrives DUB at 10:25. The earliest LHR flight you could reasonably catch leaves at 12:00 and arrives 13:25. So once you’ve got your bags and gone landside you’re probably looking at a 15:30-16:00 arrival at Southampton, and that’s as long as all the stars align. Sorry, but I fear that’s a non-starter. With the earlier EI122 you’d have a very good chance but even I, who quite enjoys the thrill of the chase, wouldn’t dare try this one.

If your ship is due to dock at 10:30 you won’t be allowed off until 11:00 or later, so there’s no way you’ll make a 10:45 train. It’s a very popular train with limited space so I’m not surprised that the departures when the ship’s in dock are already sold out.

Air Canada flights arrive at Terminal 2B at LHR, the satellite terminal which is indeed a long walk to immigration and customs. Aer Lingus flights arrive at Terminal 2A, the main building with significantly less walking and - crucially - no immigration checks. If @Jack E Dawson has an option to fly directly from Dublin to Southampton, though, that would be a no-brainer in this situation. Just have a Plan B ready via London in case the Chicago flight is late or the Southampton flight is cancelled.

You will have to clear immigration at Dublin before proceeding to your connecting flight. Thanks to the Common Travel Area (CTA) agreement between the UK and Ireland you won’t have to clear immigration again at Heathrow, but you will have to clear customs. 99.9% of the time that’s just a walk-through though - no queueing involved unless you’re extremely unlucky and get stopped.

That’s the trouble with Google. Type in “Do I have to wear a mask on a cruise ship” and this is what you get: Click the link and you’ll see Google has just taken a selective quote from a similar question on CC 6 months ago, and presented it totally out of context. You can see why people get confused.

It’s a frequent question. No update.

Utter rubbish. He’s probably reading something written 3 years ago.

I absolutely think it will happen. But will these new smaller ships just be new versions of Radiance & Vision which are popular with many on CC because they feel more like ‘classic’ ships without all the bells & whistles of Oasis & Icon? No, they absolutely will not.

I think Royal are perfectly happy visiting a very limited range of ports. The market they’re now chasing doesn’t care about quirky destinations. The ship (and Coco Cay, obviously) is the destination. The issue is the home ports. They need smaller ships if they’re to continue operating in markets like Tampa and Baltimore. And I agree with @HBE4. Discovery class will be like a mini Icon, not a reinvented Radiance or Vision.

There is no Broadway musical on Odyssey. Just in-house Royal production shows. @leaveitallbehind has already answered for Symphony & Liberty.