You will have to let us know how your upgraded flight goes as well.

I had a look at the Hilton in Manchester and they could not offer us a price for B&B for so far in advance.  When I asked for a price for the room for next week with B&B it was coming in at £109 per room. 

So, since the Radisson is closer I think we will just be opting to stay there the night before the flight.   Intend to just pick up a large hire car for the drive to Manchester, quite frankly the deals on rail travel are rubbish. 

Rgds.

SR.    

N817 -- P006 -- J015 -- E103                               

Keep an eye out for offers - I got a room at the Hilton at Gatwick for this year in the January Sale and paid £69 including tax for 2 of us - £9 of it was tax and £30 was the cost of the Hilton Breakfast (included in the price and not deductable) so the actual room price worked out to be £30 - not bad in my books!!!

Feebee_71

http://picasaweb.google.com/Feebee71

It seems the next thing to do is wait until the travel doc's come through - so I will know what terminal the flight is departing from, then I can book the appropriate lounge.  We did our first cruise through Gatwick and wish we had known then what we know now, the lounge would have been a brilliant get away simply because it was very busy the day we left.  

My dad's coming along on this one (his first cruise)..   He has a terramundi pot that he has been saving in since he found out he was going.  I'm not sure how much is in it but I've been assured it's now so heavy that it's getting put out of sight...    This should be interesting...   

Rgds.

SR.    

N817 -- P006 -- J015 -- E103                               

Knowing how much you found in your Terramundi pot before your cruise last year it will be likely that there is a lot in your dad's pot and he has still got nearly a year to the cruise!!

I think I will have to get a Terramundi pot to save for Arcadia next year.

Feebee_71

http://picasaweb.google.com/Feebee71

We're on this cruise, flying from East Midlands.
We did the transatlantic both ways on the Oriana Christmas Cruise 2007. Really enjoyed the sea days. We were on Ventura earlier this year so we're going from the biggest to the smallest with Oceana in between, but we've never been on Artemis so really looking forward to a different experience. Glad to going back to St Lucia as we went on the Cosol tour when we were there. It was brilliant so we're definitely booking again for next year.
Less than 50 weeks to go. See you there!!!!!!!

Yes, it's now down to 40 something weeks to go for this.  So it's coming round very quickly.   Will also be curious to see how Artemis compares to Ventura, the one thing I'm looking forward to is not having to get 3000 people off at port, so Artemis might be a welcome surprise. 

I also think this is the second time the Cosol tour has been mentioned in here, what's so special about it?

One of the papers has just carried an article about Montserrat.  Does anyone know if there are any tours from Antigua that we can take?  We did the helicopter tour a few years ago to see the volcanoe but this year I was wondering if there were any way we could go for a wander around the deserted part of the island.  Looks fun. 

Rgds.

SR.    

N817 -- P006 -- J015 -- E103                               

In our opinion Cosol's tour was the best value for money trip we've ever experienced and a bargain at $65 each. Much cheaper and better value than P&O's own tour.
We were well fed and booze was free flowing. Cosol gave knowledgable but amusing commentary all the way round. He chose several great spots to allow us to get out and take photos. We had a breakfast of local foods and the booze started there. He stopped at a local bakery and ordered hot bread & cheese which he picked up and fed us on the way back. In between we visited several highlights of the Island and a sea taxi took us to a beautiful beach between the Pitons. Have a look on his website to get some idea of whats included. Also, go on to Trip Advisor and Cruise Critic and read reports on there. I think you find very few critical reports.

We've never been on Artemis either so really looking forward to a new experience. We like Carol W's idea of a CC meet and look forward to  putting faces to names so hopefully there will be a good crowd there.

Bill & Susan

Thank you for that, I did a search and found Cosol's web page. 

Never booked an independant tour before and think, based on your review, it might be time to try one out.  I liked how it sounds like there were plenty of stops and a good supply of 'refreshments' on the way. 

Much appreciated.

Rgds.

SR.    

N817 -- P006 -- J015 -- E103