Great ship, our second time on her in a year in half. Last year we did the Baltic on her. General tips. We used National Express Bus to get from Heathrow to Southampton. We booked the tickets ahead of time and it worked out fine. We also reserved thru Priceline the Southampton Hilton that included a great breakfast. Only problem with Hilton is its way out of town. 10 pounds to get into town to the ship or for a meal. Still with the cheap rate we had at hotel we were happy with our selection.

Booked a number of tours thru cruisecritic with other passengers. That worked out well. We were on our own in Guernsey, Dublin and Edinburough. Did not go to LaHavre where had another tour booked due to bad weather in the Channel. It was okay for us; it gave us another sea day, our last day of the cruse on this stop intensive cruise. The Grand Princess was stuck in the English Channel which we avoided and arrived late to Southampton. I wonder what happened with those passengers air fares.

We made sandwiches every day while on the cruise for lunches so we did not spend any money while off the ship for food. Read more