ronay2006

The last 2 years we’ve looked for Southampton hotels “unfortunately “ in the Boat Show zone before our cruises and have found our “previous “ favourite hotel...West Quays Premier Inn went from £72 to £265 per night! Absolute daylight robbery. Now we always book a boutique pub in Oxford Street called Cargo who do not rip you off and is in the middle of all the action. Fabulous breakfast and meals too. Roll on September [emoji847]

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Love the photos! While you’re on board do you know if we can buy duty free cigarettes in the shop there?

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Looking forward to your holiday blog. 8 of us are on the Jewel next year. Sooooo looking forward to it[emoji41]

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Day 1 Sunday

Got up early to watch the Jewel arrive

 

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Thanks for the info but I won't be buying on-board to bring home. Just enough to see me through the 18 night cruise and 3 days in Singapore before we fly back to the UK.

Thank you for replying Mike. You must be going on the longer voyage than me next year. I'm not really looking for duty free prices (although that would be a bonus) just wondered if I could buy cigarettes on-board instead of looking for tobacco shop in Sydney. We're there for 3 nights before the cruise :cool:

Hi.

We will be sailing around Australia (Sydney to Singapore) in 2018 Does anyone know if we will be able to buy cigarettes on board this sailing?

Thanks for "most" of the replies.

You always get one :mad:

Good to know I can buy onboard so won't have to bring any from home.

I'll buy in Rome if I come across a tabac though.

Going on a cruise from Rome back to Rome in September to just EU countries so will I be able to buy cigarettes on-board or would I be better bringing some with me?

We are staying 2 nights in Athens before our cruise in August so was wondering if Piraeus was ok for a wanderer,meal or drink or would we be better going back into Athens? We have an overnight there when we board.

That IS cheap hammers!

I will wait & see when I get there but was wondering if they sold "our" British type cigs eg equivalent to Superkings Black etc Just need to guess, I suppose, what's their equivalent.

Thanks Sue.

I'll let you know how I get on on our return, 27th November.

I'd like to know too .... but I can only say I have bought many when in Greece, Spain, Portugal etc when I have been travelling also in non-Eu counties BUT perhaps I have been breaking the law!

Never stopped then. But have been stopped by customs coming from Tenerife....& I only had my 1 carton allowance :) We have been going for the past 10 years & only stopped once.

Thanks Richleeds but I will not be taking them off the ship until I disembark, 3 weeks later, in Southampton.

We are on Arcadia to the Caribbean in November & I was wondering if anyone has bought cigarettes there?

I know I am only allowed 1 carton duty free but thought I could get 4 from there as it's Portuguese.

Sorry to intervene here but I've just checked 2 cruises we've booked and although they are almost a year apart they have both gone up more than £1000pp. The one with P&O this November is £1235pp more (booked 18 months ago) and one booked with Celebrity is £1010pp more (booked in June this year but not sailing until September 2015) So we will Always book well in advance!

We have used the baggage handling company for every cruise for the past 4 years & they are excellent.

We fly down to Southampton from Edinburgh the day before (stay at a Premier Inn) with only hand luggage & no big cases to lug around. (we then head for Asda to get a few bottles of wine & bubbly to take onboard)

They arrange a day to pick up the cases from your home & the next you see them is outside your cabin door. We have never had a problem.

On return, after clearing customs, they will be just outside the terminal to take your cases from you & give you a day they will be delivering them back to your house.

Perfect.....get home with no washing....until they deliver, normally 1 - 3 days later.

You can bring your wine & spirits/mixers onboard. From our port in Southampton we bring some champagne, wine & a couple of bottles of spirits along with our mixers to drink on the balcony. I would advise you to bring this in your hand luggage though.

You can also bring them from any port you visit if you need to "top up"

We are going on a 24 night Caribbean in November so will buy my rum there :)

We had a "free" drinks package on our last cruise with Celebrity (our first with them) & enjoyed the cruise so much so we booked another onboard for next year (again with the free drinks package) but we still like P&O BUT if they stop us bringing our drink on for our balcony use I'm afraid we will go to other lines.

We were on the Eclipse to Scandinavia/Russia 24th May to 7th June & NEVER ever saw anyone in the lounge at all & we went to the Enssemble Lounge almost every night.

A very lonely looking place - but a lovely dog outside.

Thank you WestLakeGirl.

Only been on 4 P&O before so hopefully we will like Celebrity.

Eclipse seems an amazing ship.

R

First time on Celebrity (Eclipse next week) & wondering how you know when your cabin is ready?

R

Thank you all for your replies.

I will take a mixture of clothing & as some have said just layer if need be.

Really looking forward to trying Celebrity (on Eclipse) as I've read a lot of good reviews.

Normally go on P&O but the itinery & free drink package on Celebrity made us try another line for a change.

R

Hi.

I know the whole worldwide weather is changing (& every year will be different) but can anyone give me an idea as to how warm it may be the end of May beginning of June?

We are on the Eclipse on 24t May (first with Celebrity) going to Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, St Petersburg etc & just need to know whether to pack all jeans/trousers for day time or summer wear.

We booked 18 months+ ago.... Vantage fare....Now a Joke but due to the information on this forum we are £550+ OBC better off so not so sad!

R

Just to set the record straight.... P&O cancelled my booking & rebooked the same cabin, dining option etc with NO Cancellation/Admin fee. They just adjusted the final price & extra OBC.

Received both the TA & P&O invoices to-day.