ESCAPE 10/25/15 Hamburg to Southampton 3 Day Live-ish Review

[Still Dreaming]

Love your review

[CoffeeGoddess]

As I posted in an earlier post. I love the 20th street location in Miami.

It is a fantastic gastropub. And I can't wait the 31 days until I get to try FR for myself on the Escape. Just too bad the Lobster grilled cheese is not on the menu in FR.

 

Just out of curiosity, what have you tried so far?

Let's see, I had the fish tacos, bulgogi tacos, kimchi fried rice, yaki soba, and the Ruben dumplings. Everything was great and they recognized me as I would come up the hall.[emoji75]

 

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[CoffeeGoddess]

Thanks for all of the updates. How much are the wine tasting events?

I have no idea. This was a special thing from our meet and greet organizers.

 

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[CoffeeGoddess]

Thanks for posting the spa price list. Have you seen or heard if the spa has been getting lots of traffic? I'm trying to decide if I will get a pass for the week or just try to get a day pass on a port day.

It was really busy when I went before dinner but I practically had it to myself when I came back around 8pm on our sea day.

 

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[CoffeeGoddess]

Thank you for the pics of the studio lounge & studio! :D

 

One thing I noticed was that the mini fridge was missing! I enjoyed getting some chocolate milk or sandwiches or veggie sticks on the Epic. Are there no refrigerated items in the studio lounge anymore? (Though it looked like there might have been more non-refrigerated snacks? I only remember cookies on the Epic.)

 

Yay for the mood lighting in the rooms! I loved that about the Epic. :D

 

Btw, do the studios also have a USB port near the bed (it looks like there may be one near the phone, but I couldn't tell...)?

 

Thanks! :)

I don't remember a usb port and I can't really see in my pictures. The snack trays were largest than Epic and Getaway but I did not see any refrigerated items up there.

 

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[CoffeeGoddess]

Well this is it until I get back home. Here's a picture of Bong balancing a drink.

 

 

And a farewell picture from yesterday after I disembarked and headed to the Red Line shuttle.

 

Thank you everyone who commented and read my review. I will be posting about getting to London, transportation around, and other stuff from my stay but after I get home. I will still be Instagram-ing though even if it's sporadic since I need to find wifi to do it.

 

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[BigEasyCC]

Thank you so much for the great review!

[cruiselife4me]

Thank you, thank you for the fantastic review. You were blessed to be able to experience both rooms.

 

Mary

[DeBlonde1]

Here's the studio lounge. It's all on one level and there is no bar in it. They still have the wine dispensers though.

 

 

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That's a huge disappointment. I wonder why they took the bar out? It didn't take up that much space. Maybe it wasn't worth the cost since they only had it open a couple hours a day? I know on the few NCL cruises I have been on, the studio lounge was packed with solos every single night and is a great place to meet up or wait for others to go to dinner. Almost makes me second guess my upcoming Escape cruise in an overpriced studio. LOL Oh well! Guess we will have to find a new meet-up place. Thanks for the photos!

[TrumpyNor]

We just had the meet and greet where they actually gave us a champagne toast.

 

Just for the record; the champagne and the hors d'aeuvres was not from NCL but from one of the CC organizers of the Meet & Greet. :)

Edited October 29, 2015 by TrumpyNor

[Kdiamond55]

And he just gave me a larger drink of my favorite mojito. I know why people like him.

 

 

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That's awesome! Bong is so great!

[KeithJenner]

Just for the record; the champagne and the hors d'aeuvres was not from NCL but from one of the CC organizers of the Meet & Greet. :)

 

 

I didn't realise this until just after I was talking to that person today. I have to track them down and thank them sometime this week.

[fabnfortysomething]

great review and was great to meet you

[CoffeeGoddess]

I didn't realise this until just after I was talking to that person today. I have to track them down and thank them sometime this week.

 

Neither did I until I was actually off the ship. They really did go all out this time and deserve a great big thank you!

[CoffeeGoddess]

Alright, I finally have all my photos up on Flickr so let's finish this puppy up!

 

From this point forward is a short review of my time in London with some pictures. Here's a picture of the Southampton dock area when we docked on 10/27. That's the cruise terminal roof down in the lower right corner, the buses parked in the center parking area, then a wide expanse of nothingness and finally more docks. If you look about the center of the picture and see the red brick gabled buildings with a white gabled building to the left, that's about where I needed to walk from the cruise center to reach the closest stop for the £1 shuttle for the Red Line ferry to the Train Station.

 

 

It really wasn't a bad walk since I cut through the parking and then there is a sidewalk all the way on the road. I may have even been able to cut through another parking lot but wasn't too sure and didn't want to get trapped so I stuck with the road. Here's the what you can see from the stop:

 

There's a bench and it's just like a normal stop. I had my £1 coin ready but when the shuttle pulled up it didn't even stop for us since it was packed. There were three other people waiting with me and it was 1/2 an hour to the next shuttle. Two decided to walk and then a taxi pulled up to grab a coffee so the last guy and I decided to share a cab. It turned out to only be a little over £5 to get to the station so it wasn't bad at all.

 

I waited for my train and had a nice ride in the first class section to Victoia Station. A tip: check for early bird pricing for the trains. I went through Southern and about 4-6 weeks out you could get a great online price which is why I did an upgrade to the first class cabin even though it didn't' really get you much, just a nice quiet area.

 

I bought an Oyster card at Victoria Station and then went and found the bus that would take me to the Queenway bus stop. I did have to ask some of the security people since I was a little turned around but they pointed me to the stop just in time to catch the bus. While there is an underground station right at Victoria, there is no lift or escalators and I did not want to muscle my luggage down the stairs and then up them again. Hence the bus which was easy to get on with my luggage and not too crowed that time of day so easy to keep with me.

 

I had booked a small single room at Vancouver Studios that is between the Bayswater and Notting Hill area so it was a quick ride from Victoria to the closest stop right by Hyde Park. It was only a few blocks of walking and I was at the hotel. Now, I got a really good rate on this room and I knew that there was no lift but I figured it was only once that I needed to lug my stuff up the stairs so it shouldn't be too bad. Turned out I was on the top floor which was the 4th one. Now, in Europe, the ground floor starts at 0 not 1 so that was actually 5 floors I needed to go up. It then turned out that there were in-between levels so it wound up being more like going up to the 7th floor in the states. Thankfully I asked if they had a guest laundry and they did, in the basement. So I took my luggage down there first and put most of my clothes in the wash. It made it much easier to get it to the top floor but I was still wheezing.

 

Here's the back of the hotel from their courtyard which gives a good idea of the height I was hauling:

 

The room itself was small but nicely furnished with a single bed, a small table with one chair, a closet with a safe, a kitchenette with an electric kettle, a tiny little shower that was about the size of the studio showers, and a separate room for the toilet and wash basin.

 

Here's the living area.

 

They provided instant coffee, hot chocolate, tea, and biscuits daily for you. They also had a double set of plates, cups, and silverware in the kitchenette for use.

 

Here's the tiny shower:

 

And here's the little room with toilet in it:

 

The fun part of getting up to it was that it had standard stairs up to the 2nd floor then it went to these half size winding stairs with a rope for a railing to get to 3 and 4. I did not take a picture but there are several of them on Trip Advisor page for the hotel.

[CoffeeGoddess]

I didn't do much that first night since I didn't sleep well the last night on the ship and just wanted to crash. So I grabbed some to go stuff from a little store and stopped at the Boots pharmacy to replace my face wash that had spilled in my carrier. I also noticed my throat was starting to get a little scratchy but figured it was just the cold weather.

 

I was up bright and early because even though I had brought ear plugs to use (and a good thing because I faced the street and there was only a single pane of glass so it was kind of loud) I had taken them out in the early morning a awoke to someone singing scales in full operatic voice. That was to happen every morning so pro-tip: always bring ear plugs!

 

Today I had scheduled to participate in a free tour starting at 11 so I showered, got breakfast, and then took the bus to the closest stop Piccadilly Circus. I was able to get the first top seat in the double decker so got a nice view during the ride.

 

Score on the front seat!

 

A nice view during the drive:

 

Unfortunately I only had access to my email and the internet when I had wifi and thought I had put the correct address for the starting point of the tour in my phone calendar. I found out later I was about three blocks off somehow so, yes, I missed the tour. I did have Rick Steve's pocket London book though so I decided to do the Westminster tour in it but backwards since I was close to his stopping point. First though I stopped off at another Boots since that scratching in my throat had not gone away and I needed some drops.

 

Horse guards getting mobbed. I did not cross the street since it was packed over there.

 

Parliament and the tower with Big Ben in it:

 

Westminster Abbey:

 

Westminster Abbey detail from the Dean's square:

 

Westminster Abby was not open to tourists when I was there and I would have had to have waited a few hours to get in so I moved on. I had made a reservation for a High Tea at the St. Ermin's Hotel and it was getting close to that time so I headed over.

[CoffeeGoddess]

St. Ermin's Hotel entry. There were gardens along both sides of the drives since they have their own bees and plan quite a few flowering plants for them.

 

The interior was beautiful with the tea lounge being right up the stairs. The Honey Tea was great and they had a nice selection of tea with it. Service was also good and I really enjoyed taking the time to enjoy the tea and get inside from the cold weather.

 

 

 

 

The sever took a picture of me to text to my mom. I sent here a text a day to let her know I wasn't dead since she worries. And yes, I did state that I wasn't dead in the texts.

 

After the tea I had wished I had worn a thicker shirt or sweater since it was getting pretty cold out there for this desert dweller. So I figured out how to get to the closest underground stop to Harrods from there and head out.

[CoffeeGoddess]

There it is! Warmth awaits. And lots and lots of people,holy cow was that place packed.

 

 

After buying some tea I was looking for a restroom and saw signs to a Champagne bar. So I decided to head on up there. It was right off of a women's wear section that probably had dress in it that cost about the same as my Mini Cooper. I got a nice glass of the house rose and then decided it was time to head back to the hotel and find some dinner.

 

 

I got back and stopped for some conveyor belt sushi at Yo! Sushi since I was tired and didn't want to wait for anything. It wasn't too bad and I climbed up to my room for some coffee and bed.

 

 

When I woke up it was clear that the scratching in my throat had been the start of a cold. Sadly I knew I would not be able to get to everything I had wanted to do and also would need to cancel the Halloween fancy dress pub crawl I had booked. Well, they wouldn't refund me but I have up to year to use it in London or transfer it to someone. So if you're going to London within a year and want to do a free pub crawl let me know.

[CoffeeGoddess]

Now that I was sick I knew I needed to cut back and determined to hit the big three on my list: Natural History Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, and the British Museum. Since the NHM and V&A were right next to each other a short hop around Hyde park from my hotel I started there. I don't know if it was a school holiday or what but this Friday morning the lines for the NHM were wrapping around several times to get in with a ton of little kids in them. I said "bugger this for a lark" and went over to the V&A. That also had a bunch of kids but not as much and not a lot in the upper levels. So I enjoyed the eclectic mix of art available at the V&A. They had rooms of ceramics, many fascinating trinkets, a glass room, and plenty of sculpture.

 

The tiger had an organ in it that you used the crank on it's side to play. It was supposed to sound like the screams of dying Europeans.

 

They have so many ceramics they have a database search available for people.

 

One of the highlights of the glass collection.

 

I had lunch there and it was very good but by the time I finished my tour the lines for the NHM were still long so I decided to get an early dinner. One of my dance friends used to live in London it a high class area close to Harrods which is near the museums and told me to try her old favorite pub. So I found the Grenadier tucked away in a private mews and had my first pint (using Rick Steves's tip to go for the long handled ales to try a proper English beer) and some excellent fish and chips.

 

 

 

Since I had my RS book I was able to see that the last Friday of the month was usually an extended hours night for the NHM. So I headed back and the lines had dropped off to nothing. They were open until 9pm and were setting up stations in the museum to sell drinks as well all decorated for Halloween. Unfortunately it was really dark in the museum so I don't have many pictures. But this guy greeted the visitors who came in off the side street entry:

[CoffeeGoddess]

Even dark, the main hall was impressive. I'll just have to go back someday and see it in the light.

 

 

They had also set up a temporary ice skating rink and lodge with drinks at the front of the museum. I stopped in before heading back to the hotel for a nice hot spiced wine.

 

Thankfully I had packed some medication so that I was basically operable for the day even with the cold. It did leave me a little woozy and dizzy at times though so I made a lot of stops to sit on the benches and make use of the free wifi to Instagram some of my pictures. Halloween I was still under the weather but sucked it up and headed for the British Museum.

 

My friend, a sculptor who just got her PHD in fine arts, requested many pictures of the Greek sculptures there. I obliged and also used my RS guide to go through the museum. Sadly I did not get through all of it but I guess that just means I need to come back.

 

The grand atrium decked out for the Day of the Dead celebration.

 

Dying lioness detail from the Assyrian Lion Hunt relief sets:

 

I have many more pictures in my Flickr account so you can follow the links in the pictures I've posted or just go here for my London Album:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/coffee-goddess/albums/72157660923630721/with/22420647887/

 

Here's my Hamburg and Escape album as well with many pictures of the ship:

 

After the museum I went for a short walk on Oxford St. and then down to Piccadilly trying to find a bus to get me back. I had prepurchased a Gatwick Express ticket so the next morning I only needed to add a pound to my Oyster card (easy to see with a stop at the Queensway station automated kiosk) and took the bus back to Victoria Station. The only bad part about the Oyster card is that there is a £5 fee for it that you supposedly get back when you turn it in. None of the places, either manned or automated, at Victoria or Gatwick would do the return. So I still have it and I guess I'll just use it again when I go back.

 

That's it, if you have any questions about London or getting around let me know!

[fabnfortysomething]

yes you did indeed hit the October half term holiday for British schools!

[CoffeeGoddess]

yes you did indeed hit the October half term holiday for British schools!

 

Thank you, that would certainly explain it!

[SteveH2508]

The Grenadier is one of London's 'hidden gem' pubs - one of our favorites - good on you for finding it.

[CoffeeGoddess]

The Grenadier is one of London's 'hidden gem' pubs - one of our favorites - good on you for finding it.

 

I would not have even known about it if my friend wouldn't have told me. But I would definitely return, it was just such a homey place and really good.

[CoffeeGoddess]

*smacks forehead* Bayamo! It was dark in there so none of my pictures came out and I completely forgot to post about it!

 

I had dinner there on the second night and it was alright. I only had an appetizer (which I can't even remember what I had) and scallops for the main dish and no dessert and it came out to about $30. Honestly, I wish I would have just had dinner in the Haven or Food Republic instead. I can still remember what I had in those venues and how good it was but Bayamo just kind of faded along with Pinchos (except for that great drink the Bee Charmer). It's sad because I was really looking forward to it since I enjoyed Ocean Blue so much on the Getaway and was expecting this to be right on that level.

 

I will say that it wasn't so bad that I wouldn't give it another try when I get back on the Escape (whenever that may be).

Edited November 12, 2015 by CoffeeGoddess