A little about us: This is our 15th cruise, our fourth with Celebrity, and our third on the Solstice class. We are a couple in our 40s from the East Coast of the United States.
We took a United flight from Dulles airport on Thursday, two days before the ship departed. We stayed at the Hilton London Paddington - great location. We had one day to take in the London sights so we took advantage of the HOHO bus. Our first stop was at Leicester Square where we waited about 20 minutes at the tkts booth and got two 1/2-price tickets to see We Will Rock You. We then got back on the HOHO bus, and stopped near the London Eye, where we paid a little extra to get ahead of the very long line and had a magnificent view of the city. We then took in many of the classic London sights. We stopped at Harrods's for a late lunch, took on a few more sights, then ate dinner near the Dominion Theatre and enjoyed the show.
On Saturday morning, we took a cab to the Waterloo Station to board the Southwest train. Months earlier, I had learned through the cruisecritic sight about the phenomenal 1.50-euro deal per person on the Megatrain from Waterloo to Southampton. We left London at 9:39 am and arrived promptly at 11:17 am. Could not have been easier. We took a cab from the South Central stop to the port (a 5 euro cost), left our two bags with the porter, went through the Celebrity line in about 20 minutes and waited another 20 minutes to board the ship.
Great balcony, quite spacious, perfect location by stairs and elevators.