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Would not recommend the norovirus craps.

I am envisioning a scene from an old Western movie where the cruise lines are standing around the O.K. Corral waiting to see who fires first. They are nervously watching each other, waiting for a flinch. Once one cruise lines drops testing or vaccine requirements the others will quickly follow. Who will flinch first?

I was actually in a Viking Crown Lounge when I learned the news

I’m just here for the comments

Wow, a lot of mean spirited replies. The OP obviously had a bad experience. There is no reason to attack them or call them fat and a liar.

This is a fan site and great for information so I'm not sure what hope to gather from this besides a vent session. I'm sorry you had such a crappy vacation. Part of being a traveler and especially for a solo traveler is to be flexible. It's no one else's responsibility to entertain you besides actual entertainment. I'm someone who moves between an introvert and an extrovert, depending on my mood or situation. I'm half horrified/half impressed when anyone on the crew makes it a point to remember my name. I know when I travel alone I have to manage my expectations. I count myself lucky when I meet people on a solo trip and get to share my time with them. I also know as a woman ANYWHERE I have to speak up for myself sometimes. If i'm not "seen" I make myself seen. I agree the spa people can be annoying but no one makes you buy anything. "No" - as many times as you need to say it. A lot of your issues could've been avoided if you spoke up for yourself. This is a life lesson - people will get away with what you let them. St Thomas is a beautiful island if you leave the dock - you may have not done an excursion to get the best out of your time there. You booked Harmony mostly because of an escape room? Solo rooms are sometimes not worth the cost, you are not actually paying for two people but you are paying a lot. I'm sorry you got covid on your trip, 100% sucks.

Literally just danced around the house with my wife. Also...the CDC just VOLUNTARILY gave up power? There's gotta be more to the story. But I will be in my mental Viking Crown Lounge celebrating!

Let's hope no pre cruise tests

@Pattycruise Thanks for trying to help the OP with your comments and suggestions. Class act.

It is amazing how different each individual's experiences are on a cruise. I was on the same cruise as a solo and had an absolute blast! Other than some major hiccups with the Kennedy Space Center excursion on the disembarkation day (not Royal's fault), it was nearly a perfect cruise for me. I interacted significantly with the dive shop people on board, as well as the St. Thomas dive operator and found them to be exceptionally competent and great. The pools did get crowded at times, but I never had a problem getting into them and did not witness any spilled drinks that looked like vomit. The slides were open quite a bit, not just a couple days. I ate at Izumi, Wonderland, 150 Central Park, Jamies, and Johnny Rockets as a solo and never felt like that affected my experience or treatment by the staff. Getting into shows with a reservation, I showed up about 30 min early and never had an issue getting a decent seat for any of them. I think the escape room closure and the hard sell in the spa are fairly well documented. I never experienced the issue with the kids, but I did hear from multiple people about a small group of kids that were just absolutely terrible to other cruisers and were out of control, but it was only a couple of them. At disembarkation there seemed to be a number of people getting off from the lower deck that I am assuming were the Covid positive people, but it did not seem like a lot of people and the setup on the pier did not seem to be that big. I know in the Facebook group there was a large number of people who tested positive upon returning home, but I think that seems to be standard across the board these days.

It sounds like your first cruise ever? My first cruise I knew nothing of this discussion board or cruise critic. I got off the ship and was angry because I’d saved for so long and didn’t have the experience I thought it should have been. You cruised during Covid, which compounds those issues (like the cancelled escape room). As a female who stands nearly 6ft tall and has done a fair number of solo cruises I’ve been overlooked by staff, I’ve had people just step in front of me on a line (no, they weren’t with the people in front of me) and other things that are just unfathomable because I really don’t think I’m that invisible. It’s disheartening but don’t let it ruin your time. instead of saying I’d never cruise again I decided to educate myself, by reading boards like this, and take it one step further, I share my experience and knowledge here and to people I meet onboard. I can’t help you with the post cruise Covid quarantine but I’ve no doubt you were told information that unfortunately you cannot prove. I would reach out to corporate and not include your other disappointments, instead I would be writing about what’s most important, reimbursement for your hotel/food/expenses that they said would be covered, and include your receipts. Also, if you were quarantined in your room you are entitled to a prorated refund for each day in quarantine onboard.

Yeah I apparently never got that “girl” gene. For a week long cruise I bring 4-5 brushed cotton dresses that can be rolled up in a ball and then shaken out wrinkle free, 2 pr of capris, 3-4 tops 2 bathing suits, yoga pants & couple camis for bed, underwear, my toiletries and makeup fit in 1 qt size ziplock bag, brown sandals & grey sandals one color or the other goes with everything. I can easily get that all in a carry on with room to spare.

and no vaccines!

Okay...I figured I'd post details here for those who are interested in how this works...or doesn't. Of course, realize that this is purely anecdotal. Every instance of a RoyalUp bid would be completely its own situation and timing, amounts, results may all vary. But here is my story: We're booked on the Vision of the Seas, 8 nights out of Barcelona--August 5. We originally booked this back on September 2...booked an Ocean View cabin--#3608, primarily to save money as it is only part of a larger 30 day trip. We got it for approximately $2000 total for two (inc. fees and taxes) and a balcony cabin would have cost substantially more. Usually, I make the determination of category based on price differences...if it's a moderate amount to move up, we'll book at least a balcony. This one was considerable, so we figured "just get us on the ship". It is port extensive with zero at sea days so, mainly, we're using the cabin to sleep and change clothes. June 13, we checked on the RoyalUp thing...and the minimum bid to move to a balcony was $100 pp. I figured that, if the price difference had been under $150 pp at the time of booking, we would have booked a balcony. Nicer view, but, more importantly, more spacious room. I figured they'd get a lot of bids at the minimum, so I went a little higher. $135 pp. I might have been bidding against myself...but figured a few extra dollars doesn't matter that much. I also looked at the then available cabins--and the only category with decent numbers available was "Spacious" balcony. Here we are on July 18. Cruise is 18 days away...and I received notice that we had been upgraded to a "Spacious" balcony--#7110. End result is this 8 night Med cruise in the spacious balcony cabin is costing us $2270...not bad. If we hadn't gotten the "RoyalUp", we would still have been very happy just being on the cruise. Only issue left is that the online luggage tags still show the old cabin number. I am expecting that changes soon.

Every cruise line is not for everyone. I don't know if the OP is "lying" but everyone perceives things differently. My first cruise was solo on NCL, I won it from a holiday raffle at work. It wasn't what I expected, and nobody was friendly, so I spent most of the cruise on deck reading books. The good thing about that cruise was all my stuff was paid for, so no need to figure anything out. I didn't cruise again for years and when I did it was river cruises. I started back again in 2012 on CCL and after a few sailings, hated it and gave up. My first Ryal cruise was pretty horrible, but it was because of my travel companion, I wrote that experience off and did Royal my way and loved it. I will say as a solo woman, who is mostly an introvert, I would be okay with being looked over. However, I am short, plus sized and have purple hair, so crew members always remember me. I have had people cut in front of me, invite me to dine/hang/swing with them, and ignored on a few occasions. I remind myself to be assertive. There are always misbehaved children about, doesn't matter if it is a cruise ship, hotel, or grocery store. I am an adult; I use assertive language and don't let them bother me. Everything needs to be put into perspective, I could sail Harmony six times in a row, and nothing would be the same.

The point of pre-cruise testing is to keep people off the ship who knowingly have COVID. While I'm sure the test catches some people unaware, and false positives can be retested before embarkation for a negative result, without the required test there would be people who know they have COVID, but have no qualms about exposing others so they can have their vacation.

Some people shoplift despite it being both illegal and immoral. Just because some people do it doesn't justify it. You did the right thing paying for something that you know requires a payment.

@FluffyBumples It sucks that your first cruise experience sucked. One suggestion I would say is do not write off cruising due to a single cruise experience. The cruise experience will vary from itinerary to itinerary, sailing to sailing, and ship to ship. Perhaps RCL was not the cruise line for you due to the variety of passengers you find onboard (I find this to be an advantage as I mainly travel with a multigenerational group). Maybe going with a more adult centric line eg celebrity or virgin voyages maybe more what you are looking for. Or go with a smaller cruise line that is even more exclusive such as regent or silver seas. Or if RCL is still something you want to to stick with maybe spend more time in the adult only are the solarium. I know that I learn something from every time I cruise and use it to help craft a better experience for the next sailing. I can definitely tell you that even if you were to go on the exact same cruise and the exact same time next year the experience will be different (could be better could be worse).

In the US testing is a requirement from the CDC and part of the framework that all major cruise lines opted into. Like other protocols no single protocol by itself will eliminate all risk or the possibility of becoming infected with CV-19. Each protocol has varying effectiveness with some protocols having more impact than others. Collectively they reduce but they do not eliminate the possibility of testing positive.

Your time is what you make of it - and if you say you had a poor experience, you have to assume some of that blame. Saying things like "no one could tell me how the dining package worked" tells me that you weren't asking the right people. Did you even look in your app? I find that to be very self explanatory for booking shows and dining venues once on board. Yes, pools are crowded. Yes, chairs are hard to come by. Did you try the solarium? Did you wake up early to stake your claim on the chairs? (its all part of the game) Cabin steward harassed you about muster? It sounds like you didn't follow instructions, didn't watch the videos, and didn't check in at your station. The cabin steward came to your room to ensure compliance per Coast Guard regulations. The ship can't leave without muster being performed for all guest. You should have been scolded, not praised for waiting to be tracked down for that. Did you review the Cruise Compass paper that was left in your stateroom to tell you what was going on and when? Yes, bars fill up on sea days for trivia and in the evenings for sing-alongs. Theatres get busy (but your reserve a show so you get a seat) and if you want a good place to watch the show, arrive early. But unless you are sitting behind a support column, you aren't really going to have a terrible seat. Arriving early is part of the game...get a drink and talk to others. Be a traveler, not a tourist. St. Thomas cruise port - yeah, its a pier with some shops...about 1/3 of which are shuttered. But you failed to mention whether you left the pier, hopped a taxi and explored. If you took an excursion here and had a bad experience, did you talk to the excursion folks and inquire about a refund? Unless there was a crew switch-over in 3 weeks on the Harmony, I find your comments hard to believe. On the Jun 5-12 sailing, I found the staff to be friendly, courteous, and happy. They often went out of their way to engage me. Now maybe I have a bit more experience understanding the personalities that tend to be attached to folks that come from SE Asia and India from my decades of working with folks from that part of the globe, but they went out of their way to engage me. Courtesy is a two-way street. If you smile, say hello and ask how their day is, you become one of those people they engage with. If you bark out your order and don't say "please" and "thank you", then you get what you give. As far as Sorrento's, I find the line to move fast, the pizza to be decent (for quick service on a cruise ship) and the staff to be as courteous as needed for slinging pizza to thousands of guests a day. All in all, sounds like you may be a little reserved in nature, perhaps a little shy. Sounds like you had expectations of a all-inclusive, wait on you hand-and-foot experience that cruise lines like RCCL do not provide. I would hate to cruise solo on my 1st cruise with no friends / family with me (as an experienced cruiser, solo might be alright [don't tell the wife ]), especially if I were not an outgoing person.

Honestly, this happens to me a lot. Maybe it's because I am 5'3. Maybe it's because 9.5 out of 10 times I'll just shut my mouth. People on vacation and cruise ships are just rude. You're not invisible. I even had a friend say, you need to stick up for yourself more. I don't disagree, but is it worth it at Cafe Promenade? "Excuse me, I was next, okay, I will have my 3rd ham & cheese sandwich" ... I just don't want to bring myself to that dark place to be that angry over it. Go ahead, everyone knows what you did, enjoy your sandwich 3 minutes before mine.

+1 for being well written. That's about it. Their first post is a long complaint. I suspect it's another person thinking this forum is in someway related to Royal Caribbean and they'll get some sort of compensation. Got COVID on the cruise. There is no proof of that. How long was the cruise and what day did symptoms appear. Could have been flight, work, grocery store, or yes, the cruise. 100+ have COVID because the poster "heard" employees saying "there's another one, that makes 30" and it was early on in the cruise. I want to see the posters mathematical equation that gets them to 100+ by the end of the cruise. Okay, rant done, I have been missing from this site for a while and really have no place to play along being "mean" but really... After everything we all have endured personally during COVID-19 quarantine / lock down over the past 2 years: lost loved ones, watched our essential family and friends keep working and now with massive fatigue, our own mental health from it all, no vacations, etc ... even if the complaints are valid - are we really still here in life - complaining that Sorrento's pizza sucks? That people are inconsiderate? That lines suck? This makes my heart hurt. We need to appreciate more.

I'm on the Allure in September. Nice that it's full. The Independence Friday and the Symphony next month should be fun. I generally do not like people/crowds, but on a cruise ship I know how to get by: Few excursions - if any, no MDR, free drinks in the casino (tip well early in the cruise and a waiter tracks you down), good food in Playmakers (tip well on first visit and they serve you quickly throughout), Windjammer very early for breakfast, enjoy the nice balcony/suite with someone who cleans it twice a day and cribbage in the Solarium. My favorite cruise activities usually involve doing little to nothing. At home, I'm always doing my "tasks".

Here's a month-long megacruise that I constructed, for Brilliance of the Seas next October and November: 7 nights Rome to Athens on 10/30/23 7 nights Athens to Barcelona on 11/6/23 14 nights transatlantic on 11/13/23 5 nights out of Tampa The whole month of November is spent on the ship!

There are no doubt issues with pre-cruise testing. However, the alternative is generally worse. Many, many people get Covid sometime during a cruise. There are several factors involved including ports. When people get off at ports, they may become exposed to covid-positive people, whether residents of the port city or other tourists. This may be one of the biggest reasons that cruisers still get covid during or after the cruise. Now, the 2-3 day pre-cruise testing is not a perfect science either. For example, the typical incubation period for the virus is said to be 5 days. So you may test negative prior to boarding because the virus has not multiplied enough to be detected, but a couple of days later, you may have covid. Another reason thatmany cruisers are getting covid during or after the cruise. People misunderstand what the term "science" means. Science is NOT always fact. Theories in science are the result of multiple testing under strict conditions and close observations, but this does not mean that the result becomes law, or indisputable fact. For example, the theory of relativity has been tested with math. Newton's Law, which explains the gravitational constant, is indisputable and is scientific law or fact. So following the science does not mean that for every one way of doing things, you will get absolute results EVERY time. Back to testing. It is anxiety-ridden and stressful. But in my humble opinion, it helps in the number of overall covid spread. It is not perfect. It sucks. But it is what it is.

If I was quarantined for 10 days, I would miss exactly 2 weeks of work. (Although not if the quarantine started while on vacation. I didn't read the post. Frankly, if people get so wigged out at the "complaint" posts, I wish they'd just ignore them as they'd just sink lower in the feed and disappear, but since y'all dug it up from way down in the list the damage is already done, lol).

This is a very confusing sentence.

Uhhhhhhhh.....What is in those bags? Well, they are on the beach, so it's obviously dried seaweed for recipes.

I apologize for the insensitivity of some of the replies you received. Most of us are better than that. But managing expectations is difficult, and the larger ships are a different experience from smaller ships. I have found Johnny Rockets the least enjoyable eating venue, usually because it is so crowded. You traveled in peak season, which is another factor that contributes to crowds. All I can say is that cruise vacations, like large theme-park vacations, do require preparation to maximize your experience and minimize your misfortunes. Better luck next time, wherever you choose to travel. Also, you might want to look at tips from solo travelers.

I can get at least 8 days in a 20in carry-in and backpack, and I am a plus size woman. Usually, 3-4 packing cubes, small toiletries bag, 2 pairs of shoes and my fan are what I always bring. Clothing includes underwear, 4 dresses, 2 shorts, 2-3 blouses, 1-2 pants, 4 t-shirts, pjs, little folding bag, and a bathing suit. I mix and match and usually bring dresses I can wear all day. Any drinks I purchase around the hotel, which go in the foldable bag.

Mariana ( correction from Maria) brought our bags and rang the doorbell we didn’t realize we had at about 4:30 before sail away. Honestly, from the line and chaos and endless baggage carts of luggage I figured we’d be closer to 6 or 7 for bags to show up to the room, so that was a pleasant surprise. We enjoyed sail away around 5 from our private loft deck and could hear the sail away festivities from deck 15. After we cleared the Atlantic coastline, we started unpacking and getting ready for dinner. Night 1 dinner : IZUMI HIBACHI TABLE We arrived and were seated immediately at 1 of 3 hibachi tables inside Izumi. The “show” and dinner were both fantastic, our chef and the other two were having a great time, and the mood in there was super fun. There were only three hibachi tables that seat 8, so I can understand how it gets booked up. Dinner and fried rice were delicious, lots of garlic, flavor and the beef and shrimp were really good. The dessert was weird / it was advertised as “crispy sesame balls” but what arrived was like sugar cookie dough rolled with sesame seeds. We were so stuffed, I didn’t bother to ask for a different item — and since we have the UDP, it really didn’t matter, but It was gross enough that I would have said something if I had arranged and purchased Izumi as a stand alone. **FIRST STRANGE/REALLY BAD EXPERIENCE OCCURRED IN IZUMI**about photography… After we were seated, an RC photographer started making the rounds among the various groups seated, and I didn’t think much of it other than these photos would be showing up with our embarkation ones in the gallery linked to our room at some point when we are browsing on a sea day. WRONG! The photographer returns when we are winding down from dinner with printed copies of the photos she took and tries to sell the prints for $35 per single photo, and around $59 for the one photo in the leather bound booklet that has the Izumi photo on one side and the Harmony picture on the other. I asked about purchasing them later ( based on a pre-booking cruise planner photo option we didn’t do that said you can get 10, 20, 100 digital prints etc. ) and she coldly informed me that specialty dining is EXEMPT from any sort of photo package, and does not offer any bundle discount and the photos are only available right now tonight and cannot be accessed later in the cruise. I asked her what that means if we are eating in specialty dining every night of the cruise ( which we are — UDP) and was told in specialty restaurants, every night is it’s own unique offer to buy prints. Wow. So.. basically we paid for unlimited dining and won’t get any pictures from any non-main dining room restaurant , except on a nightly basis at an egregious cost of $35 PER PRINT? Totally unacceptable. Thank goodness I didn’t book a package in advance for a certain number of prints that I would have presumed would include our dining nights in specialty restaurants, but would have only included an embarkation photo. What a bummer, I would happily pay an acceptable price for a set of photos that were good, but I won’t pay a ridiculous amount for a first night photo when I haven’t seen the other 7 days. = TOTAL FAIL After dinner we walked around some more to check out the spaces at night. When we were meandering on deck 8 revisiting Central Park, the Rising Tide Bar was ready to launch and my kids convinced me to “ride” it and they would meet me at the bottom. It sort of reminded me of the Haunted mansion stretching paintings elevators at Disneyland, but maybe slower ? We finished our evening with a proper churros dessert at Sabor to make up for the tasteless sesame dough balls, so maybe I won’t have pictures from our unlimited dining but I will definitely take advantage of going somewhere just for dessert! We are ready for CocoCay in the morning, and excited for some Waterpark and chill time. Until tomorrow!

That’s a whole lot of complaints. +1 for paragraphs though. Are you always so displeased when you go places?

Was the play good at least?

Situated in the room for sail away after exploring the ship. We did have our sea pass cards waiting for us after we left Coastal Kitchen for lunch, and it’s a ridiculously easy walk from our loft suite to the coastal kitchen and suite lounge. Thanks to the good info on these blog forums, I am definitely glad we went with the deck 17 room, and did not entertain a Royal up that was offered on an Aquatheater suite. For this sailing the choices upgrading from a crown loft were the 2bd Aquatheater, the 4 bd villa suite, or the Royal loft with a grand piano — the latter two just way way too lavish for me and the teens! Oasis class general impressions : I can tell as echoed in previous reviews of Oasis class ships THE ELEVATORS ARE A PROBLEM. I can’t even imagine not being an able bodied person to take the stairs if needed - absolutely packed up and down all ways so far, it seems they are short by about half the elevators in both banks. Central Park is ah-mazing. What an awesome concept and kudos to the design team for the idea of live plants and the gardeners who tend the area. The whole ship is enormous and beautiful but the whole Central Park area is a wonderful standout, the kids and I agree hands down if you went with one of the interior balconies - definitely the Central Park vs. Boardwalk. The Casino reeks of stale smoke, we had to pass through there empty to find fhe hibachi place we are eating at tonight and our muster station, and it’s nauseatingly smoky…completely empty with machines off. I don’t want to think how gross it is when it’s open. I’ll be avoiding this area in passing if I can. Suite Class impressions : Wonderful. Mario helped me with the UDP thing for a minute on a busy day around 1:30 when the desk was stacked with confused arriving passengers, and when I popped in again to ask about Waterpark passes since I didn’t see anything in the shore excursions stuff in the room as we returned this afternoon for sail away, he greeted me with a hello by name. Maria in the suite lounge bar, who brought me a glass of chilled wine with lunch approached me immediately upon my return with a sweating glass of beer from exploring the ship waiting to ask Mario about the Waterpark and said “let me get you a fresh glass” Maria ( housekeeper) was in the hall when I was returning to the suite and went over everything about the room and our dining times and the sofa bed before I could even get the sea pass card from my pocket. Wonderful service so far. the Suite : there’s plenty of videos and pictures online of the crown lofts and it’s more spacious in person. Side note we are port side and do face Cape Canaveral for sail away. I was also pleased the depth of the upstairs bed to the railing is more than it seems online, I think I was picturing dropping something off the the side of the bed and bumping my head on the rail, but it is spacious. Here are some pics from wandering around today more later! We had masks waiting for us, different for adult, teen and 12 Also make Note of the super weird artwork piece of the half man half sea creature with a mustache being coddled by a man - my kids noted on the way to the casino, I’m not an HGTV designer but what exactly would be the appropriate room to display this ?? Feel free to tell me in replies

As an update, looks like the cups are back, or at least they are on the Allure. I saw someone post a pic on a Facebook group.

More importantly once you force a logout, it’s tricky to log back in. Friends don’t let friends logout.

After lunch we headed across the bridge again over to the Tower of London. This fortress was larger than I thought and we explored all over the place. We saw some of the carvings that the infamous “guests” left in the walls and eventually saw the Crown Jewels. They don’t mess around in there with their no photography policy. There were many teenagers who got yelled at for simply having their phones in their hands. Traitors Gate Johnny was ready to defend the fortress! We didn’t try messing with these guys… We were in awe as to what was inside here.

Okay, backtracking a little bit here. So where we left off, we had caught our ride up to London to the hotel. We dropped our bags and headed out into the city to explore. We started with a hop on hop off bus tour and headed to the direction of Tower Bridge. We got to see many sights along the way. We drove down Regent Street with all its shopping. Johnny’s ears sure perked up when he heard about the 7 floors of toys at Hamleys! We saw some of the West End and Soho. Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square. Westminster, Houses of Parliament, the clock tower that contains Big Ben, Downing Street, the financial district and on and on. It was a good way to see a lot of the city.

I really apologize if this was a legit post from the OP. Recently, we are seeing a lot of complaint posts from new signups that seem a little over the top to those of us who cruise regularly. This one seemed a lot over the top to me. There is definitely such a thing as "trolls" who post on different message boards trying to get a rise out of people. Again, if this was a legitimate experience, then I apologize as I definitely think it should be OK to post negative experiences here.

Boarding Mariner yesterday we were treated to a SpaceX launch putting another 53 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch was at 10:20am just 10 minutes before my assigned check in time so I watched the launch from the terminal 5 parking garage in Port Canaveral. Today I was walking around Mariner and visited the deck 13 mini golf area. I noticed there are now a set of four poles outside the glass in an area close to where the Starlink antennas were placed on Freedom for the Starlink test on that ship. I don't know for certain these will be used for Starlink antennas but there is that potential. Only time will tell what these will be used for.

Wow. That was unexpected. If I'm king of the cruise world I would immediately: 1) eliminate pre-cruise testing. But give some perks or enticements to those who show up with a negative test in hand. 2) eliminate special quarantine cabins. No reason for them, even if you still want people to quarantine in their booked cabin if they test positive on board. Those things need to be sold, not set aside just in case. 3) taper down to a date where you get rid of the need to quarantine at all. I'm not sure you could do that immediately 4) scrap the 90% rule. Again like #1, give enticement and perks to those who are vaccinated, but let the unvaccinated back on board.

How about a cruise that leaves from Montana! haha

I am batting 100% on Royal Ups. However, I am still in an OV this Friday on Indy. May finally strike out. I never go more than a few bucks over minimum.

If it runs at 114% capacity I would volunteer to sleep on the pool deck if needed. WARNING! I do not own "Pajamas"

Okay okay okay, I found it. As stated earlier, I use duckduckgo as my browser through Chrome. Well, I just went into chrome without using duckduckgo, I put in the address bar "chrome.com", typed in royalcaribbean.com then drop down and "desktop site", and what do you know, the real desktop mode with logout capabilities. THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR EFFORTS!

I have finally arrived home! A week of trains through Spain, France & the UK is complete. 1am in the morning here in Glasgow so I'm exhausted. Had to arrive home a tiny bit earlier than expected - was taking a train at 1130 today however there is a heatwave in the UK which is going to cause significant train disruption so got the last train tonight from King's Cross to Edinburgh and Uber to Glasgow. Will be starting the full trip report soon of Barcelona and the cruise on the Wonder. I'll happily add in bits of the France trip after if you like.

It's interesting the huge spectrum for travelers packing the least, as opposed to folks like me that a steamer trunk would be too small. I cover all the bases. I bring tons of clothes, shoes, and accessories. So for me, I cannot bring less, but I can pack it into the most efficient luggage possible. I Have the largest acceptable hard-sided roll around for a carry-on, and a pretty huge hard-sided, expandable suitcase.

We hopped off the bus at Tower Bridge and explored the area. You know you are in Europe when you see this live in an amphitheater. If you know, you know! Not sure of the significance of the monkeys, but we had to get a picture. We headed into the bridge, and started up the stairs. 206 stairs, and this one made sure to count every one to give us status updates. Once at the top, we headed across the upper walkway. There is a glass floor to let you see down. This one said NOPE to that floor This one loved that floor The views were expansive! Here was a neat view. This is inside the tower, looking up. After the bridge we got to explore the engine room that housed the old steam engines that were in use up to the ‘70s until they were replaced with electric motors.

Some fun things we saw on the way to the bus. Nothing says “we are an international tourist destination” when they have to put this on the roads to remind everyone that the direction cars come is different than everywhere else. We also like to find highly rated local restaurants to try out when we travel. It’s a good thing there are so many…… Next stop Tower Bridge