Nikkoo

If it’s just the 2 of you you’ll struggle to get anywhere with 6 cases. Public transport is ok with 2, maybe 3 but more than that is a pain. A lot of tube stations don’t have a lift also, so lots of stairs!

I thought there was more of you to be honest but something like this, found after a 30 second search...

https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p8049136?adultsCount=2&noDates=true
 

is a 5 min walk from tower bridge and looks nice enough. LOADS to choose from and I picked this almost at random, I’m recommending the site not this particular flat!

Have fun what ever you do, London is my playground and am here everyday for work!

Nikkoo

Hey,

I have to say I’d avoid premier inn and travel lodge in the city. They are older buildings that are noisy and run down. Most are not even that cheap either! The tower bridge hotel mentioned is nice, stayed there last Christmas. Citizen M also do some nice rooms at reasonable prices. If there are that many of you I’d consider an ‘owners direct.com’ place on the outskirts near a tube or train line and commute in. If you stay on the outskirts you’ll find a transfer in a mini bus that can take you all and your luggage. We live 180 miles from Southampton and are paying £500 for 6 of us and our cases next August. That’s for a return, not one way. 
 

hope this helps,

Nikkoo

2 minutes ago, cmdrfrag said:

I think I agree with you there, the booking we have for Allure next year when it first went up was around £1000 PP but I added it to my watch list and over the next few months saw the price fluctuate quite a bit.

After about 4-5 months of the sailing being available it dropped to £625 PP with the drinks package included so at that point I went ahead and booked

Guess in UK we have to be a bit more careful with bookings as we cant reprice without incurring a cancellation charge

Wow, that’s a cracking deal! Can you let me know where and when. Might whisk the wife away for that sort of money

Nikkoo

1 hour ago, cmdrfrag said:

Cant say enough good things about Anthem, but some of the prices from sailing out of Southampton in 2021 are very high at the moment which is causing me to stall

Hi, we thought this in the summer for 2020 August sailing. Just booked it last weekend about £5k cheaper in total for the 3 rooms we needed. I see everybody here saying book early for most likely best deals but maybe that’s an American thing, like repricing? We are also looking for 2021 but like you think it’s just too much. Unless you want a really exact cabin location maybe wait and see?

We also hope explorer and or Indy comes to Southampton in 2021 as we had a whale of a time on Explorer this year. Was our first cruise and we loved it

Hooked!!

Nikkoo

Hi,

When we were on explorer in the summer when ever we had photos taken they asked for the room key. We were one family in 3 rooms but had them all linked to one room. At the end we viewed ALL the photos on the screen all from our one card. I would assume that if we had the package we would have got them all? I’m sure somebody knows for sure here, everybody has been super helpful

Enjoy your cruise,

Nikkoo

That’s some great info there, thanks

Nikkoo

While cruising around France and Spain this summer they had a sign up saying France or Spain, can’t remember which, make them charge a 10% tax on drink sales. We had the deluxe package and paid no extra. This was whole in the confirmed waters, not just in port. Pretty sure it was France but can’t remember for sure. With the cost of drinks just having 3 or 4 a day covered us. Was not a single day we were not ‘winning’!!

Hi all,

Just wondering what the best price would be for the udp on Anthem for 14 days?

Go go go Black Friday soon!!

We had booked direct for our first cruise and also with this cruise. We just don’t have the options you have in the states. We tried to book through MEI but could not book on board in dollars so that put paid to that!

We think the bigger ship and longer cruise is going to win out. Flights to NY were going to be a big cost for the 6 of us and we will be better spending that money on the cruise rim Southampton
 

We are really excited and can’t wait to be on board again! Or for the kids to be older so we can go more often without it costing so much!!

Thanks again,

Nikkoo

We booked on board and were told you can reprice once and once only. Normally in the uk you can’t reprice at all. We are looking to change to a totally different cruise not just reprice. 
 

I think the cruise we are looking to change to is now around £4K cheaper than it was when we booked the other and would make our life easier, but would be a totally different adventure. 
 

really wanted to cruise out of New York but this cruise will be £1k cheaper overall and 4 days longer on a way better boat so I think it’s a no brainer, New York will have to wait for us!!

Thanks for confirming my suspicions about Black Friday. 
 

Nikkoo

Hi guys. 
 

we already have our summer cruise booked for next year. We have just seen another that’s a lot cheaper than it was when we booked our current cruise. We have been told we can change without losing our deposit but we’re wondering if it would get cheaper for Black Friday. Being in the uk we can’t reprice... I’ve heard Black Friday deals are more about the add ons rather than the cruise price is this right?

Thanks in advance for any advice. 
 

Nikkoo

Is it sort of like the Atkins diet? Protein heavy? I’ve often thought about this but I love bread and all forms of potatoes so don’t think I’d cope too well!

1 minute ago, Traveler said:

Nice that the option exist. 

Maybe they will add also optional keto menu. I saw many people looking for it.

Excuse my ignorance, but what’s keto?

We cruised, our first one, on explorer back in August and our eldest had decided she is vegan. The menu was pretty good, she enjoyed it. It was a 13 night cruise and it got repeated after the first week but with 2 or 3 choices for each course she was happy ( minor miracle with a teenager!! ). They were also printed on card and looked like a “proper menu” if you know what I mean...

Just to be clear about my personal preference I have 2 lamb shanks and a steak one night, but each to their own live and let live

Nikkoo

Hi,

The biggest benefit we found was they could use ‘either’ the US or UK offer and give you the best offer, on top of what ever they were offering on the cruise it’s self. We have one booked for early 2021 and it was £300 per person cheaper than if I booked through the uk website. 

They were very helpful to boot

Booked another buy only saved £50 pp but also got $100 OBC per room, 3 rooms!

Check the website before you visit and see how you get on. Booking holidays is fun

Nikkoo

On our recent cruise from Southampton on the explorer they had strong bow dark fruit. It was so nice on the hot days

Do they have that when sailing out of the us?

thanks,

Nikkoo

always

We peaked on day 4 spending 4x the daily value! After that we kept at a respectable 2-3x the daily value

On our cruise every spirit poured was a double. In the uk 50ml is considered a double. Every spirit was poured in the big cup until it over flowed. 

We we had a great time

8 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

@Alby re-pricing for price drops seems to only apply for North American bookings. Sorry about that. There are several message board members here from Europe and Australia who have mentioned in the past that they cannot re-price. For them it would mean losing their entire payment and it would be treated like a brand new booking.

Hey,

We are in Europe and we’re not able to reprice. Even though the price change was considerable, we had 3 rooms! I pushed and pushed on the phone to them and got some extra OBC for each room. No where near the amount I was short but better than nothing. Keep on asking and play the silent game with them, if they talk first you’re closer to getting something

Something to note though... when booking on board a couple of weeks ago we were told that even though we are in Europe we would be able to reprice one time the cruise we booked on board. I hope that’s true

Nikkoo

Just a quick note / suggestion from our cruise just gone, our first ever so I’m in no way an expert, but if you have to drive after disembarking think about that the night before! In all fairness our usual Barman asked me at about 8:30pm if I was driving from Southampton or getting picked up. When I said driving he said “not too much tonight then” which I thought was a great thing. I had planned to stop at 9 anyway to give it a good 12 hours but the fact he asked was a really good and responsible thing. I had not been rolling around drunk or anything but some nights we were in there until 12 or later. I felt like he genuinely cared

We have about 18 months until our symphony cruise! I hope you enjoy yours

We had a white night on the explorer last week but as we knew nothing about it, first ever cruise and no compasses for it, we did not have anything. Was still good fun though

Nikkoo

I’m sure there must be a doctor or scientist on the forum but... I’m 99.9% positive you can’t get sun burnt through glass. You get hot, but the glass reflects the uv which causes the burning. 

Please double check with somebody who does more than build tall buildings for a living!!

Hi guys,

We have been on Explorer for a week now, just starting day 8! I thought I’d give you my point of view on some stuff coming from a very first time cruiser and somebody who swore by all inclusive holidays on land. 

Its good. Very good in fact. 

The food is the best we have ever had on holiday. We went to Chops last night and it was easily the best meal we have ever had whilst on holiday. Even in windjammer I find the food to be a step or two above all inclusive buffets on land. 

The drink... wow. I’m not a big drinker but we have loved having a drink on board. The staff in the Crown and Kettle, Errol and Nower, are great. The live music in the most night is cool too. 

The entertainment is also several steps ahead of land based resorts. We usually go to the first half of one, realise it’s crap and never bother again! This last week has been really good every night. Not sure tonight’s ballroom and latin dance is for us but I’m sure it will be top quality. 

Everything everywhere is clean and tidy. I suppose as you’re mostly out at sea that’s why there are no flies, ants or other bugs, which is another plus point!

The staff everywhere can’t do enough for you, they are so so helpful. Eric our stateroom attendant is also amazingly helpful

A few negatives? The surf and stream WiFi is pants. We are in Marseille today but with it being a Sunday most of everything is closed apparently so we stayed in the boat.  The drinks are expensive and we have zero issue hitting the break even point of the package. 

We have booked 1 more cruise already and looking at 2 more. We are hooked!!

6 days into our first ever cruise and we have booked our next with plans for 2 more before we go on that one. 

Addicted!!

Thanks to everybody for helping us make this leap!

Nikkoo