GregD

Hubby and The Boss can keep their “it’s too small” butts home!

Well, "The Boss" heard what ship and how small it was and said hard pass.....oh well.

Me sending this thread to "The Boss"

Sure can. There are some beach areas, and more. My kids played at the beach while I went snorkeling.

I booked a cruise yesterday for 2024 and the gratuities are $14.50 and $17.50 so the July 15th thing seems incorrect. Who knows....maybe the intern is at it again.

I'll just copy and paste this blog in April '24

I'm so glad that you guys had a great trip! The Boss wants to sail in that suite too sometime so I guess I'll have to start looking for some deals!!

I have not cruised celebrity yet, but I like the idea. I don't think it changes anything on the base points, just gets you one extra night of points, so for instance if you were in a veranda/infinite veranda room, you earn 3 points per night. If you opt into that program, you would get an extra 3 points at the end of the cruise. So say a 7 day cruise would be 21 points. If you opt in, it would be 24 points.

Pretty sure it does for both

Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst? Those rooms are great. I was in one on Navigator, and Liberty if it does work out you will love it!!

They should all be able to accommodate large parties. I would visit the restaurant of choice on day 1 though to get it set up. This isn't something you want to spring on them the day of.

You can look through the cruise compass section to see if there are some on similar itineraries that you are doing.

In my experience as a party of 5 in the MDR, we were always at our own table, even before COVID, and never had to share. Yes you can, YMMV on the request. The Traditional Dining rooms are typically the same for the early and late seating, and the MTD is on a different deck.

This is exactly the attitude to have! Don’t let anyone make you second guess you choices! Only you can decide if your choose was good or not. Have a fabulous time. Oasis is a great ship!

It was amazing, you can read about it here!

This same thing just happened to me for my Norway Cruise last week. Unless you get a cancellation email, I wouldn't be too worried. If it continues to show up in your calendar, it's booked.

Wednesday morning came way too quickly. Based on news reports and advice from @Lovetocruise2002 we chose to get to Heathrow 4hrs early for our flights. We left the hotel at 5 to give us plenty of time to make the short walk to Paddington and get to the airport in case there were issues. This proved to be fortuitous because all of the elevators were not operating, so I got to play Sherpa at the two stair cases to lug the have suitcases down. (It really wasn’t that bad) This is the walk we did. With everything new, the sidewalks are nice and smooth, and it takes you right to where you need to be. The first trains 5:15 and 5:30 to Heathrow ended up being canceled, so we ended up on the 5:45 and we’re off. So far, stress level low… We stepped off the train a few minutes after 6 and headed to terminal 2 to get fully checked in and turn over the luggage. When we got there, there were lines out the door. That was for check in area B, we needed C which thankfully was still inside. Here is what it looked like inside….stress level rising, but not much we knew we still had time, and the line seemed to me moving okay… What must have been a Heathrow record, we made it all the way through check in and security to the departure lounge by 7:20!! So 1hr 20min from stepping off the train to sitting on my butt sipping coffee, stress level waaaaay down! While waiting for our gate announcement, I wandered a bit and looked at some really fancy watches. The guy at the counter barely acknowledged my presence because me in my jeans and t-shirt definitely didn’t look the type The second one from the left, bottom row was 30000£!!! I almost had to buy this scotch. I live in the village of Scotia, which was founded by Alexander Glen, who was from Scotland, but at 400£ I thought I better not…. Throughout the day, all of our flights were fine, no big delays or issues. We flew back via Dublin, so we got to do US Customs there which was pretty easy, and made our arrival at Philadelphia as if we were domestic travelers. By the time we departed for Albany we had been up for many….many…….. hours. This one fell asleep while waiting to taxi, and didn’t wake up until after we landed. With weary bodies, but heads and hearts full of wonderful memories we arrived home and crashed in our beds…. It was a wonderful trip that I will look back at so fondly. It was an absolute pleasure sailing with @Lovetocruise2002 and her family, they are some of the nicest people out there….except for that one kid while driving bumper cars Thank you everyone for reading and following along to our adventures! Now I wish I had a genie to take care of the mountain of laundry I have to do….. Oh….I almost forgot….this happened too!!

That evening, while packing, we ordered pizza from Pizza Express right by the hotel, I do NOT recommend….it was not good. I’m not sure if I had mentioned earlier, but our hotel is in what’s called Paddington Basin and that are has recently been redeveloped. There are quite a bit of new buildings. The area was the end of a canal that was in use from 1801. It really looks nice in the evening. Paddington Station is also quite nice

Once back in the car we ended up at a shopping center at Starbucks for some frosty beverages. We also managed to grab a small carryon size suitcase for all the extra items we accumulated and to make the packing to go home easier. We had plenty of time left with the car and after our drinks and time in the store with AC we had cooled down enough to be up for more adventures, so off to Stonehenge we went! My stepmom, who grew up in England, jokes that Stonehenge is just a bunch of rocks, and doesn’t get the appeal, so of course we were sending messages back home that we were off to see rocks! It was a nice drive there, and once we arrived, a weather front passed through and the temperature dropped significantly so being outside was much more enjoyable. While being a bunch of rocks, it really is interesting to see, and then when you find out that they moved these stones over 400 miles to get them there makes it that much more impressive. There is more to the site than just the rocks too, so there is quite a bit to see and do. They have a map of the whole area and what is involved. We had some fun with the pictures too We wandered the gift shop and found some fun souvenirs Sadly, our final day was drawing to a close, so we headed back to London. We got the car back to LHR in one piece and headed back to the hotel via the Heathrow Express. The trip back was just as easy and soon enough we were back at the hotel for packing…..worse day ever….again

It was a nice car. I have a thing for Alfa's so when that was sitting in the lot I was really excited. The driving really wasn't bad. My GPS goof was that I was in the wrong lane at one point and basically took an exit instead of staying on the highway. The roundabouts are what required the most concentration to go left around them, and not right, other than that, it was relatively easy.

Tuesday was our final day in London, and arguably the day that The Boss was looking forward to the most. Today was the day we had rented the car for our trip to Highclere Castle. If that name isn’t familiar, it’s the castle that Downton Abbey and many other films, shows etc were filmed at. This was a big adventure day too because I got to get a crash course(thankfully only figuratively) on driving on the other side of the road. Planning for this day was quite some work. Getting the tickets to the castle was the easy part. We also chose with our admission, a picnic lunch to go with our tour. What became fun was trying to figure out the rental car. All of the places close to the hotel did not have any available cars for the day we wanted. We also wanted the car for as much as possible for the day. I had set times of 9am-9pm. This also limited choices, because other close places did not have after hours drop offs. Renting from Heathrow became our only option at this point. One added bonus was this gave us the opportunity to have a low stress dry run by using the Heathrow Express to get there and back without the additional stress of first time use, bags etc etc. I can say that using the Heathrow Express is the way to go! For those not familiar, it’s an express train ride from Paddington Station to Heathrow airport. It takes 15 minutes to get to the central station between terminals 2 and 3, and continues on to Terminal 5. The train runs appropriately every 15 minutes. If you know you want to use it, you can pre-book online and if you do it far enough in advance, tickets are as low as 15£ and kids are free. Far cheaper and faster than an Uber. Once at Paddington Station it’s very easy to find the right train. Just follow the purple dots! Don’t forget to…. The train was fast and comfortable. Once at the central station, we followed the signs to terminal two. As you head up the escalators, you pass all the bus stops adjacent to the main terminal entrance. We needed stop 7 which was the shuttle to the Enterprise lot on the perimeter road. I had reserved a premium automatic car since it was only 20£ more than their standard automatic. Which gave me the choice of a Mercedes C class or similar. Waiting for me was this fun car. An Alfa Romeo Giulia. Sadly it was only the Q2 and not the Q4, which has a really fun engine in it. A 2.9L twin turbo V6 with 505HP. Oh well, this one still had some pep in it, and handled very nicely. I quickly got used to driving on the opposite side of the road, and after one GPS good we were off! After about an hour we arrived at the castle and despite the heat, The Boss was thrilled. The Castle is just amazing! We got to wander all around the grounds and gardens. After exploring outside, we grabbed our picnic box. I came beautifully presented Inside Menu Following lunch we toured inside the Castle. Photography is not allowed as the Castle is still the home of Lord and Lady Carnarvon. If that name is any familiar, this is the same family that discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun. There is an exhibit in the castle dedicated to this. Since I can’t show you pictures here, just go watch Downton Abbey. Nearly all of the interior scenes are filmed in the castle and you can see how amazing it is. We could have easily spent all day here, but it was approaching 106 degrees so we needed to cool off. We piled back in the car in search of some frosty beverages and more adventures.

Dinner that night brought us back to St Charles Place, this time for Italian. Some melon wrapped in prosciutto and some pizza really hit the spot on this hot night!

Lunch brought us to a pub seen earlier this trip, and we just had to make a stop! The location doesn’t have anything to do with the history of the stories, it is just themed around them, and there is a collection of items and memorabilia. It helped that the food was good because they were out of some of the beer I wanted…..I made do with a second choice though. The Boss has a chicken salad I had a beef pie….probably not the best choice on such a hot day…but oh well. The kids ended up with Mac and Cheese We were fully sapped from the heat today so we headed back to the hotel for showers and some AC.

Monday morning came and so did the heat. So what did I have on the schedule? A 3 hour walking tour!!! This tour was titled palaces and parliament and we got to see quite a bit of things. We met our guide in green park which currently isn’t very green, and began our tour. Our guide was very funny and charismatic. He had plenty of “true stories” to tell about working with a catering company and has apparently worked at events the Royals were at. He and I were joking back and forth during the tour, as well as the kids, so we all had a great time. This wasn’t a private tour, but we seemed to engage with him the most. Our first “house” we saw was Spencer House….yes, that Spencer. we headed to Buckingham Palace to see changing of the guard. The ceremony was altered due to the weather. Our guide had proclaimed that he had no idea what they just did, but it was very different from normal. We all still liked the pomp and circumstance, it’s not like we know any better. After this we headed into St James’s Park, which offered some shade and welcome relief from the heat. We met some of the residents there, and took in the scenery. We then moved to St James’s Palace As we headed for Admiralty Arch, we passed this monument of the previous King and Queen Mother. Apparently the birds do think too highly of him. Duke of York Column Then we passed Admiralty Arch on the way into Trafalgar Square. We used the water in the fountains to cool off. The water is treated and safe for doing so. We got a picture of the kids with the Lions Fun factoid, the bronze for these lions and plaques on Lord Nelson’s monument were made by melting down the French weapons after they were defeated by the British. At this point it was getting really hot!! We headed down Whitehall and Parliament street. We stopped for a picture with the horses at The Household Calvary Museum We passed 10 Downing St And ended in Parliament Square Garden, which gave us great views of Westminster Abbey The Statue of Winston Churchill and the Houses of Parliament, and the tower that holds Big Ben Thankfully, the tour ended here because we were starting to crisp up in the sun, so we headed off in search of lunch.