FionaMG

Okay after all the hubbub we are on here. I have a lot to catch up on. This sailing has 6720 pax so getting things squared away has been a hassle. I almost got all the times but Izumi was not happening.

This was my first London experience and sailing from Southampton
we flew in on Wednesday so we could have a few days in London prior to heading to Southampton.
Flight: virgin from JFK to Heathrow 8am flight-landing essentially 8pm. Immigration? Look at the camera-no line….Customs? No one present to ask a question.  Luggage was already in the terminal on the belt.  I’ve never had an easier time!
hotel-we stayed at comfort inn Victoria . It was clean, the room had a full and a twin.  No way I can sleep in a full with hubby, we are tall and not thin.  The room itself was nice , the beds too firm, pillows very soft! And the room was hot despite the ac unit being on.   Was the ac fixable? Could be, but we didn’t bother, we opened the window and put a fan on.  We were a “good walk” from Buckingham palace and Westminster Abby -(opposite directions) we took the tube from Westminster Abby to Kensington palace to check out the park and Sunken garden.  The tube was relatively clean and felt safe.  No crazed looking people like NYC.  Our hotel was across the corner from a pub. Oddly the pub closed at 11-seriously, even on a Friday!
we were walking distance to the train station and the Apollo theater.  We purchased tickets to Wicked.  There are NO last minute deals for tickets (unlike NYC TKTS Booth). Tickets were substantially less price wise than NYC Broadway.  We are at a small Italian restaurant and really enjoyed the food,(lasagna annd chicken”parm”)  and the pricing was good . Ill Posto Ristorante /pizzeria.  The man at an adjacent table had pizza and he couldn’t get over how good it was.  I would go back. 
 
departure to Southampton.  We were warned months ago by UK residents in our Facebook group sailing that there was potential for train strikes.  We chose to book a bus, as recommended by the UK residents so we wouldn’t have the worry over a strike.    We purchased tickets from National Express website a few months ago and upgraded to “reserve your seat” and paid for an extra piece of luggage. (Ticket price includes a large luggage and a backpack size carry on) the cost was 22 pounds with reserved seats and extra luggage-TOTAL!. I looked at ticket pricing the night before the bus trip and it was at 16 pounds for one ticket without reserved seats or extra luggage so book early!  We checked out the bus station prior to our departure day.  Very easy to find the National Express bus area. The bus station has food-nothing glorified.  Don’t look for an egg sandwich -it’s not happening.  
‘Bus:  the bus begins boarding 15 minutes prior to departure.  Gates (door outside) closes 2 minutes prior to departure snd does not reopen-even if you pound and beg (witnessed this). There are chairs at each gate-not enough to hold all the passengers.  The public restrooms-well they are public, not the cleanest. 
passengers line up for the bus early….because they don’t pay to reserve seats….who wants to sit next to the toilet?
the driver checks your ticket and counts your bags and loads them. 
reserved  seats have a seatbelt across them and a reserved sign.  No mistakes if you took those seats!
Overhead bin space is very narrow-maybe the height of a bottle of water. Leg space is minimal.  So if you go get on the bus with an oversized bag -if the driver overlooks it-expect to hold it or place under your legs. I do not know if you have the option to purchase extra luggage space when you are boarding.  
our bus had issues where it became overbearingly hot….not warm…HOT. I run hot but others started yelling about the heat.  The controls are above the front area near the driver and a passenger made the adjustment per the driver.  Later it became cold-I LOVE the cold….but it was ridiculous.  Same passenger fixed it-to which we had adjustments made twice more hot then cold.  I told hubby he now knows what menopause is like!
when we arrived at the bus station the passengers couldn’t disembark quick enough.  I thought maybe they got a prize for getting off the bus first, or there were limited free drinks on the sidewalk.  I was row 5 and was one of the last people off the bus.  I’m from NY and even subway riders aren’t so rude. 
 
Southampton-we chose to stay at Ibis.  It’s clean and breakfast is included.  We walked from Southampton bus station to the hotel-about 10 minutes.  Check in was speedy.  The room is quaint.  2 twins again (or it would have been a full)
‘we went to The Standing Order aka Witherspoons to meet fellow cruisers and have some libations and food.  It was inexpensive!  Don’t forget you don’t have waiters come around, you order via the app or at the bar. 
there is a Boots pharmacy a very short walk from the Ibis hotel. The cruise port appears to be a 10 minute walk. If you didn’t want to go to the standing order (highly recommend) the Inis has food and pricier drinks and they only accept card.  . There’s a McDonald’s down the block and a TGI Fridays as well.
 
 

Well I made it to the station, much worse for wear than I thought 🙃 😅
Unfortunately bff's mom was weak and had a spill. She is okay and didn't break anything but she cancelled. I've never dealt with a no-show so that's going to be a new experience. 
We checked bags, omg so many bags for 7 people. The blind gent can barely see, like he only recognized me because of all the purple. My mother is already having mood swings.
Also the new vintage is a lot. She ranks on carnival and she brought a speaker to play music 😵🤯 I think it is so uncouth to play music for others to hear in public spaces......plus I'm a grunge girl 😈🤟

That’s a lot of our meals that she can’t fully customize, lol. I make her keep the onion ring that comes on the burger at Playmakers just so she can pluck it off & give it to me. 🤣

Go into your cruise planner and click on your initials top right. Royal Gifts is in the drop-down menu.

I just tried this as I wanted to grab a price without bothering my TA on a weekend. It's a 48 hour+5 hour hold.  We'll see if I can transfer a hold to a TA or how that works.

Hoping things will get better as soon as possible. Stay safe.

I liked the salmon on both the old and new menus but prefer the new (current) one.
I also loved the banana split, which sounds daft because it's just a banana and ice cream, right? But the ice cream was really good, much better than MDR ice cream and they put some sort of crispy caramelly stuff on top that was just wonderful. 😋

Lamb Shank is a good night for sure!  That's a good one.  I get two each night and I would get the Lamb Shank and the Chicken Chettinad and feel a little slighted that I was missing the Med Steak.  My wife would certainly get the turkey and I would sample from her plate for her safety. 😉

It shows you how subjective the food is; to me, that is one of the better menus. The Mediterranean steak is different and better according to DH and DS. The chicken chettinad is a bit spicier than the other Indian dishes I tried.

It shows you how subjective the food is; to me, that is one of the better menus. The Mediterranean steak is different and better according to DH and DS. The chicken chettinad is a bit spicier than the other Indian dishes I tried.

Hi Al,
I'm not Andonini but I can offer some suggestions.
I have stayed at the Holiday Inn, which is the closest hotel to the port, just a very short walk: https://www.ihg.com/holidayinn/hotels/us/en/southampton/soahp/hoteldetail
And also the Premier Inn Westquay, which is a couple of minutes farther: https://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/hotels/england/hampshire/southampton/southampton-city-centre-west-quay.html
Both are fine. The HI is usually more expensive but I preferred it because it had a much better selection at breakfast.
If you fancy something with a bit more character, you could try Pig in the Wall, a boutique hotel built into the castle wall, which is also within easy walking distance of the port. Some Cruise Critic roll call buddies of ours stayed there and really liked it: https://www.thepighotel.com/in-the-wall/
 

Here in the very south where I live, which relies on "sun and sand" tourism, yes, you are correct, things do start shutting down at that time of year. However, there's a lot more to southern Portugal than that. Lisbon itself is actually classed as being in southern Portugal and being a big city it never shuts down. And in between Lisbon and the Algarve, you have Évora, in the Alentejo region, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site and, again, because it's not a beach resort it doesn't shut down either. That time of year can be very interesting in this region, especially if you're interested in wine, as wine tourism is big there and this is the time the grapes are harvested.

Here in the very south where I live, which relies on "sun and sand" tourism, yes, you are correct, things do start shutting down at that time of year. However, there's a lot more to southern Portugal than that. Lisbon itself is actually classed as being in southern Portugal and being a big city it never shuts down. And in between Lisbon and the Algarve, you have Évora, in the Alentejo region, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site and, again, because it's not a beach resort it doesn't shut down either. That time of year can be very interesting in this region, especially if you're interested in wine, as wine tourism is big there and this is the time the grapes are harvested.

I may be mistaken, as I've never done a solo cruise, but I kind of get the feeling that when you're cruising solo it's probably more of a pleasure than a chore to share your cruise on a live report partly because your time is all your own to do with as you please.
I have done a couple of live reviews but I've found it's very hard trying to keep up while you're cruising in the company of others. Finding an opportunity to post the day's report isn't always easy when someone else in your party wants to do this, that or the other and it makes you feel a bit anti-social to be focusing on your device instead of the people you're with. Usually I would limit my posting to the time when DH was making his nightly contribution to the slot machines.
For me, it's been generally more pleasurable to write a post-cruise review as that also gives me the chance to go through my pics and sort them out, but I think if I were sailing solo I would really enjoy doing a proper live review.

Now you will also have to do a live report with lots of pics...

Here in the very south where I live, which relies on "sun and sand" tourism, yes, you are correct, things do start shutting down at that time of year. However, there's a lot more to southern Portugal than that. Lisbon itself is actually classed as being in southern Portugal and being a big city it never shuts down. And in between Lisbon and the Algarve, you have Évora, in the Alentejo region, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site and, again, because it's not a beach resort it doesn't shut down either. That time of year can be very interesting in this region, especially if you're interested in wine, as wine tourism is big there and this is the time the grapes are harvested.

Here in the very south where I live, which relies on "sun and sand" tourism, yes, you are correct, things do start shutting down at that time of year. However, there's a lot more to southern Portugal than that. Lisbon itself is actually classed as being in southern Portugal and being a big city it never shuts down. And in between Lisbon and the Algarve, you have Évora, in the Alentejo region, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site and, again, because it's not a beach resort it doesn't shut down either. That time of year can be very interesting in this region, especially if you're interested in wine, as wine tourism is big there and this is the time the grapes are harvested.

Here in the very south where I live, which relies on "sun and sand" tourism, yes, you are correct, things do start shutting down at that time of year. However, there's a lot more to southern Portugal than that. Lisbon itself is actually classed as being in southern Portugal and being a big city it never shuts down. And in between Lisbon and the Algarve, you have Évora, in the Alentejo region, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site and, again, because it's not a beach resort it doesn't shut down either. That time of year can be very interesting in this region, especially if you're interested in wine, as wine tourism is big there and this is the time the grapes are harvested.

DD and I did this for dinner on our Anthem cruise in July, on an evening when we really didn't fancy the MDR menu. It was really nice and because we went à la carte there was no reason to feel we weren't getting our money's worth, which is my major bone of contention with the speciality restaurants. I would definitely do it again.

It takes you to this page.  It talks about check-in procedures at the port.

I wonder if all the adults in the room have to be 65 or over for the senior discount to apply? Since they all have to buy the package if one of the does.

I may be mistaken, as I've never done a solo cruise, but I kind of get the feeling that when you're cruising solo it's probably more of a pleasure than a chore to share your cruise on a live report partly because your time is all your own to do with as you please.
I have done a couple of live reviews but I've found it's very hard trying to keep up while you're cruising in the company of others. Finding an opportunity to post the day's report isn't always easy when someone else in your party wants to do this, that or the other and it makes you feel a bit anti-social to be focusing on your device instead of the people you're with. Usually I would limit my posting to the time when DH was making his nightly contribution to the slot machines.
For me, it's been generally more pleasurable to write a post-cruise review as that also gives me the chance to go through my pics and sort them out, but I think if I were sailing solo I would really enjoy doing a proper live review.

It seems to come and go entirely randomly. One time when I open the app it will be there and the next it won't, and then it will come back again, so it's completely unpredictable.

I get that too, quite often, but like @ScottD it doesn't seem to affect any of my bookings in any way.