Overall, this was a very enjoyable cruise. That said, I must warn that this route is not for those expecting glorious weather. I was well aware that booking a North Atlantic cruise in September could lead to a bumpy ride and I was not disappointed. More of that later in the review.

My pre-cruise arrangements were made by myself. I flew from EWR-LHR on Virgin-Atlantic 3 days before the cruise. I had originally been booked on Air India but the route was discontinued and re-assigned the booking to V/A. Had it been my choice I would not have flown them. Their economy section is very tight, the food was lousy and the beverages were served from 150 ml cans which is less than 6 oz

I also booked my hotel for 2 nights in London thru Hotline and stayed at the Holiday Inn Camden Lock at a bargain rate of $55.00 for night. The hotel was very comfortable and I was very happy with my accommodations. I used Dot2Dot to transfer from the airport to the hotel. It works like Super Shuttle in the US. The rate was GBP 23.50. Another bargain was had when I booked tickets at the National Theatre for 2 evenings which were a mere GBP 15.00 each thanks to Travelex underwriting certain performances. The National does amazaing work. I even got there early one evening and enjoyed a country music concert in the foyer. Read more