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A Trans-Atlantic Cruise
updated: May 07, 2011, 9:00 AM

By Marc Liberts

My wife and I always have had an interest in trying an Atlantic crossing cruise. I did some research, and found out that many of the cruise lines offer trans-Atlantic repositioning cruises a few times a year. The one we decided on does about 5 months in the Caribbean, and then has to cross the Atlantic to do its summer cruising in the Mediterranean. The downside to this type of cruise is the excessive amount of days at sea - in this case, 7 days. The upside of this type of cruise is the highly discounted rates that they offer. My wife and I got 13 nights in a premium balcony for about $1,299 per person, not including tips, alcohol, and excursions. I thought that we'd be traveling with many first-time trans-Atlantic travelers. I learned that many of the experienced older cruisers like this type of trip because of the good pricing and the lazy days at sea.

We picked Celebrity Cruises because we had previously taken a Celebrity trip to Alaska and loved it. This trans-Atlantic trip was on one of their newest ships, the Eclipse, and we both wanted to sail on her. We also liked the itinerary: Miami - Azores - Portugal - Spain - ending in Southampton England. Our previous Alaska trip was excellent. The food was good, the fellow travelers were interesting and fun to be with, and the service on-board was exceptional.

When you book a cruise, they will offer you airfare packages and pre-cruise hotel packages as well. We booked directly through Celebrity's website, and they quoted us a total of about $2,400 for both of us to fly from Santa Barbara to Miami, and then from London back to Santa Barbara. I checked the airlines, and they were offering similar deals. We decided to cash in our frequent flyer miles, and we were able to do all our flights for a total of $700. LESSON LEARNED: If you like to travel, get your favorite airline's mileage credit card and us it as much as possible.

Also when you book a cruise, you have a wide range of cabin options, ranging from inside cabins without windows, to exterior cabins with windows, to rooms that have balconies, to suites that have lavish appointments and huge balconies. On this cruise, an inside room was about $799 per person. A window room was about $999 per person. A balcony room started at about $1199 per person. We opted for Celebrity's ‘Concierge Class' room, which is a balcony room with extra amenities like bathrobes, choice of pillow, better beds, nightly canapés, and early embarkation. On our previous cruise, we opted for this and really liked it. On this cruise, we arrived at the ship early and didn't need the early embarkation, they never offered us any pillow options, and the canapés were anti-climactic at best. The cabin was new but on the small side. Cabinets and storage spaces were adequate but tight. My wife loved the bathroom, and we both loved that the shower had sliding doors instead of the dreaded shower curtains found on most of the older ships. The balcony was adequate, and we had two comfortable chaise lounges and a table. I really liked the 32" flat screen TV that swiveled smartly and stowed nicely. We loved having a balcony, and I continue to recommend it if you can afford it. LESSON LEARNED: The benefits of ‘Concierge Class' probably don't warrant the extra few hundred dollars any longer on Celebrity Cruises.

If you have not cruised before, know that Embarkation and Disembarkation are issues to consider when 2000+ passengers are trying to get on or get off. Also, if you are traveling by any other means than car to get to the ship, I recommend you plan on traveling to the departure city at least one day in advance. It is advantageous to get to the departure city the day before, get a hotel, rest, get a good night's sleep, and be close to the port in the morning. All of the cruise lines offer pre and post cruise packages which usually consist of a hotel and transfers to and from the ship. The nice thing about these packages is that once the transfer picks you up at your hotel, it is the last time you have to touch your luggage until it meets you in your cabin. We opted to fly to Miami the day before the cruise, and we were booked into the JW Marriott hotel in Miami. The transfer bus picked us up at 11:30AM, got us to the ship at noon, and we were on board at 12:20PM. However, I've done it before on my own, taken a taxi, and had no problems. LESSON LEARNED: Do a pre-cruise one night package the night before and let them get you from your hotel to the boat and let them carry your luggage.

I've found that the embarkation process gets better and better every time we cruise. The embarkation process usually starts at Noon, and usually ends at 4:00 PM. The lines are shortest from Noon - 2:00PM, and get progressively longer as the afternoon grinds on. The later you get there, the longer you can expect to wait in line to be processed. We always arrive before noon, and we usually get through the process in 30 minutes or less. This experience was no different. We have been booking ‘Concierge Class' cabins which provides for easier and faster embarkation and a special lounge and special high-speed lines to use. However, every time we arrive early, we find that we never need them, as we are usually in the first few dozen guests to be processed, and the wait is usually less than 15 minutes. LESSON LEARNED: Get to the dock 30-60 minutes early.

On our previous Celebrity 11 night Alaska cruise, we found a wide variety of travelers of all age groups, with an average age of about 55. On our 7-day Mexico cruises, we usually found the average age to be about 35. On this cruise, I would estimate that the average age was probably closer to 75. Mind you, these were fairly spry, well-traveled, energetic 75 year olds. There were very few old folks using walkers or wheel chairs. Still, if you're in your 40's, you're basically traveling with people your parents and your grandparents' age. I came to learn that most of these older travelers were highly experienced cruisers, many of whom were frequent and repeat Celebrity cruise customers. Celebrity has a loyalty program, and most of these travelers were in the highest tier of the program. The best perk of being in the program, and especially of being a high-ranking member of the program, is the complimentary cocktails they get for a few hours every night, special parties every day, and behind-the-scenes tours. My wife and I are in the middle tier, and we were invited to three specialty parties for our tier, which included a drink or two and some nice snacks. We also got a coupon booklet that we used for discounted laundry service, and a bunch of match-play coupons in the casino which I used. LESSON LEARNED: If you cruise, stick to one line and get to the highest tier of their program to enjoy the best benefits.

A few weeks before we booked our cruise, we received an email from Celebrity informing us that for the first time, they would be offering a series of all-you-can-drink packages at various price levels. My wife decided on the second highest package which included all beers under $5.00, all alcohol under $8.00, all bottled water, soda, and specialty coffees, for $500 for all 13 days of the trip. I warned her that I wouldn't mind spending that money, as long as she was sure that she would be drinking at least $40.00 per day of booze, soda, coffee, and water. I would estimate that she probably consumed less than $500.00 in total beverages, and I think we lost money on that deal. I am sure that if I had gotten the package, I would have made them sorry they offered it. LESSON LEARNED: Choose your beverage package carefully.

If you are a wine lover like me, Celebrity has an outstanding wine selection, and they have an entire bar called "Cellar Masters", that is devoted strictly to wine. "Cellar Masters" has 6 wine dispensing machines, each with about 10 wines in it. The machines are self-service, and you can choose between a 1 ounce taste, a 3 ounce treat, or a 5 ounce glass. Each wine is priced differently, and each pour option is priced differently. You have to buy a pre-paid card from them which you stick into the machine prior to making your purchase. The best deal was to buy a $100 card, and they would give you $115 in credit. I think I tasted each and every wine they offered, and I had a few glasses as well. I was able to make two $100 cards last my entire trip, and I did most of my drinking there. I also decided that I would buy one bottle of wine to have with dinner every other day. The average price per bottle of wines that I picked was about $50.00, and my total wine tab for the trip was about $700, or about $60.00/day. Again, being a wine lover, I was very satisfied with the wide array of wines that they offered from all over the world, and I was able to enjoy myself despite the expense. LESSON LEARNED: If you are a wine lover, Celebrity is the cruise line for you.

Most of the cruising my wife and I have done in the past has been shorter trips to Mexico, Alaska, and the Caribbean, usually on older ships. So, when given the opportunity to try a new and well-reviewed Celebrity ship, we jumped. We were not disappointed. The ship was beautiful. If you want to take your first cruise, start with this ship. If price is no object and you want ultra-luxury, try the ultra-premium lines like Crystal, Windstar, and Cunard. If you are cost-sensitive, this ship is your best bet. We've been on a bunch, and this was second to none. We loved the public areas and bars, including the Martini Bar, Cellar Masters, Sky Lounge, and many others. The ship also has a lawn club featuring real grass where you can play croquet, bocce ball, and practice your putting. The ship is beautifully appointed in understated elegance. LESSON LEARNED: Opt for newer ships.

Food used to be one of the primary attractions on cruise ships. In the old days, most of the dining was done in the main dining room, and the food was usually considered exceptionally good in all respects. Midnight buffets were the norm, and food was always very high quality and plentiful. Over the past 20 years, the food has declined in both quality and quantity over the years in the main dining room. I was genuinely not impressed with the food on our last two Royal Caribbean cruises, and the food on Celebrity was only slightly better. My wife, who isn't as much of a foodie as I, reported that she liked the food but didn't love it. I would equate it to above-average banquet or wedding food. I realize that it is challenging, expensive, and difficult to wrangle up 1000 high-quality meals twice a night. However, the plain truth is that the food in the main dining hall can only be described as average. If you eat in the main dining room, you will get to know your waiter and assistant waiter quite well. If you are lucky, you will get good ones, and a good wait team can make the whole experience far more enjoyable. We've had great wait teams every time, and this time was no exception. Our waiter and assistant waiter were excellent and informative. The ship did have a large and good buffet which was open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I found the food to be consistently good there, and the number of choices at every meal was impressive. Gone are the days of the endless midnight buffets - replaced by two brunches (which were very good). In my opinion, the trend in cruising is to drive you out of the main dining hall, and into the buffets or specialty dining restaurants. This ship had four specialty restaurants you could try for a cover charge of $35.00 per person. The trend here is the rising price of the cover charge. When the first specialty restaurants came out, the cover charges started at $5.00 per person. The next time we cruised, it was $10.00 per person. Subsequently it was $20.00 per person, and now it has gone up to $35.00 per person. I am happy to report that the two specialty restaurants we tried;"Murano" (a French-themed restaurant), and Q-Sine (a modern tapas-style restaurant), were both outstanding, and both featured really excellent, high quality food with over the top service. Unfortunately, at $35.00 per person, the prices start to add up. LESSON LEARNED: The best cruising food and dining experiences now take place in the specialty restaurants, if you can tolerate the expense.

On-board entertainment and activities is not usually a factor for my wife and me, because we have never had more than 2 consecutive days at sea in the past. On this cruise, we had 6 consecutive days at sea as we made the Atlantic crossing from Florida to the Azores. Celebrity did offer a large and wide array of activities, including lectures, spas, pools, dancing lessons, game tournaments, casino, and wine tastings almost every day. My wife took advantage of the spa, and I did wine tastings every day at sea. We both enjoyed the activities we participated in. In addition, the ship had a large library which was always busy, a large card room which was usually full of bridge games, and a large and modern gym that was always being used. Every night, there are two evening shows in the main theater, featuring, musical shows, comedians, or some sort of other large-scale entertainment. Most of the passengers I talked to reported that the entertainment was adequate or better. The ship also has live musicians playing music in the main public areas or specialty bars every day. Overall, we agreed that the entertainment was adequate. LESSON LEARNED: The best activities were the wine tastings and spas - both of which cost extra.

For me, the point of cruising is to have your nice hotel and restaurant take you to interesting and exciting destinations every day. The boat will typically arrive in port around 7:00 AM, and then depart anywhere between 4:00PM and 7:00 pm, giving you a decent amount of time to roam around, eat, shop, and explore. All cruise lines offer extensive selections of guided tours and excursions, or you can go off on your own and explore. The main advantage of a ship-sponsored excursion is the fact that if the tour is delayed for any reason, the ship will wait for your tour to return, no matter how long it takes. If you go off on your own, the ship will leave without you if you don't or can't make it back. As we have been on late ship-sponsored tours in the past and enjoyed making 2000 people wait for us, we always opt for the safety of a ship tour. I can also report that I've never been on a bad one. You do pay a premium for the tour, but I think it is worth it for the peace of mind you get. Tours range in price from $30.00 per person on the low end, to hundreds of dollars per person for things like scuba diving and or helicopter tours on the high end, with many other options in between. After the 6 days at sea, we made our first stop at the Azores. We opted for a Celebrity organized excursion, which was a bus tour featuring a visit to the volcanic geysers, hot springs, and volcanic vents, followed by a visit to a quaint village in the hills. Our next stop was Lisbon, Portugal, where we opted for separate Celebrity organized excursions. My wife did a tour of Lisbon and its highlights, while I opted for an off-road tour of a sea-side fishing village and an off-road drive in the hills above the city. We both enjoyed our trips. The next stop was Vigo, Spain, where we again opted for separate Celebrity organized excursions. My wife took a tour of Vigo, while I took a bus tour of the wine growing region outside the city. Both tours were very good. Our next stop was Cherbourg, France. We again opted for Celebrity organized excursions. My wife did a tour of the D-Day beaches and the D-Day Memorial and cemeteries, and I did a tour of the outlying countryside, featuring visits to two quaint sea-side towns, a 13th century church, and the ruins of some German artillery batteries. We both enjoyed our trips. The average cost per person for all of these tours was about $50.00 per person. LESSON LEARNED: Bite the bullet and pay a little bit more for ship organized excursions due to the fact that they are always good, and the ship will wait for you if you are late for any reason.

Gratuities are a time-honored tradition on cruises, and you have a few options to handle this. The cruise lines will provide you with printed information about suggested gratuities for your cabin steward, assistant cabin steward, waiter, assistant waiter, and head waiter. Generally, they suggest something like $2.00 per person per day for the cabin staff, $4.00 per person per day for the wait staff, and roughly $1.50 per person per day for the head waiter. So, on a 13 night cruise, your suggested obligation is roughly $225 for 2 guests. These gratuities can be pre-paid before you depart or you can pay them in cash on the last day. We always opt for pre-paid gratuities so we don't have to worry about it. My parents always opted to tip in person because they liked to provide extra rewards for good service, and less if necessary. I've also seen folks pre-pay the tips and then provide extra to their favorite staff if warranted. The folks we dined with every night pre-paid theirs and then hit up our waiter and assistant waiter with extras, and I really liked that. LESSON LEARNED: Pre-pay the suggested gratuities and then bring some extra cash to reward staff members who provide great service.

If you are enjoying your cruise and are thinking about booking another trip, one really nice perk that they offer is great deals and incentives on future cruises. They have an entire office of cruise staff specializing in helping you book future cruises. The main advantages they offer are a 3 category free cabin upgrade within any class of service. So, if there are 6 classes of balcony rooms, you can book a middle class and get bumped up to the highest. Also, they were offering $300 of on-board credit, which is also really nice. All you have to do is give them a $300 fully refundable deposit and pick your next trip. We opted for a 14 night grand Caribbean trip next April tentatively. LESSON LEARNED: If you want to book another cruise, do it on-board during your trip and take advantage of the cabin upgrades and free on-board credit they offer.

Disembarkation is an important consideration. If you have early flights, they generally try and get you off the ship as early as possible. On the last night of the cruise, you are required to pack your luggage up and leave it in the hall. Porters come in the middle of the night and collect the baggage. You are then assigned a departure time, and then required to meet in designated waiting areas for your departure time to be called. Once called, you exit the ship and go into a huge baggage claim room with thousands of bags and hundreds of fellow travelers to collect your bags and start your trip home. The ship does offer a self-Disembarkation option where you carry your own bags off, and you get to be the first ones off the ship. We opted for this, and it was great. We walked off with the first passengers at 6:30AM and easily found a cab. You can linger on the ship until around 10:00AM, you can have breakfast, and if you don't have any time constraints; that is a perfectly acceptable option. LESSON LEARNED: Do early self-Disembarkation.

We originally booked this trip for a number of reasons: We wanted to try the Atlantic crossing; we wanted to go to Europe; and this was the cheapest way to do it. Even though the basic cruise fare was $1299 per person (about $2,600 for both) for the journey, there are a great number of hidden expenses that you need to be aware of. We pre-paid our gratuities, pre-cruise hotel, and all of our excursions at a total cost of about $1,200, bringing the total cost up to about $3,800 before we even departed. First, all alcohol, bottled water, and soda costs extra. The only free beverages are water, iced tea, and some juices. If you're planning on drinking beer, alcohol, or wine, plan on it costing as much as you would expect to pay at a good hotel or restaurant. For us, the total bar and wine bill was about $1,200. We did two nights of specialty dining, which cost about $200. Also, on-board activities such as spa treatments, photos, gifts, wine tastings, and certain classes can also cost extra. For us on this trip, the cost of the spa stuff for my wife, the photos we purchased, and my activities were about $300. Also, we opted for the pre-cruise hotel the night before, which was an additional $300. Our pre-paid gratuities ran us about $250. Finally, the cost of our excursions was approximately $400. So, the trip that initially looked like it would cost about $2,600, actually ended up costing over $5,000! We could have easily decreased our alcohol and wine consumption and saved $1,000. We also could have cut out the spa and wine tastings and photos and saved another $300. We also could have omitted the specialty dining and saved yet another $200, for an overall savings of $1,500. However, it was those experiences that really put the experience for us over the top. LESSON LEARNED: Know and understand what the extra costs and fees are, think about what you like doing and what you want to experience, and budget accordingly in advance.

Overall, it was a great experience. The days at sea turned out to be relaxing, fun, and full of activity options. The food was generally ok, and the specialty dining and buffets were great. The cruise staff was excellent, and the excursions were great. I still highly recommend the cruising experience if it fits within your budget. Our cruise ended in Southampton England on Friday April 29, 2011, and we decided that since we had traveled all the way to England, we wanted to stay in England for the next three days and fly back to Santa Barbara on Monday. The cruise offered some post-cruise packages, but we decided that we wanted to try it on our own. There are many advantages to booking your post-cruise travels through the cruise line, including all transfers, baggage handling, and airline reservations (for additional fees of course). I did my research, talked to all the Brits I knew and met, and decided on a hotel, which I booked in January of 2011. The Rubens at the Palace, which is right across the street from the back gate of Buckingham Palace, was highly recommended, and I found a deal on their website where, if you paid for 2 nights in a mini-suite, you got the 3rd night free. Overall, the price came to about £200 per night, which is about $300 after the conversion rate is applied. We don't usually spend $300 per night on a hotel, but we decided that since were in London, we would treat ourselves. We had also heard that the standard rooms at that hotel were small, and we figured that we would probably enjoy the extra room after being cooped up in a small cruise cabin for 2 straight weeks. Since we were on our own once we left the ship, we also had to figure out how to get from the dock all the way to London. I did some on-line research, and determined that taking a train would be the fastest option, and taking a bus would be the cheapest option. We opted for the train, but were worried about our luggage on the train. On British trains, they have coach and first class, and I bought first class tickets from Southampton to London, hoping that there would be extra room for the luggage. Coach tickets would have been about £70 total, and 1st class was about £128 for 2 tickets, good anytime during the day. We bit the bullet and bought 1st class tickets. Right after booking the hotel and buying our train tickets, we learned that Prince William and Catherine Middleton had thoughtlessly planned their Royal wedding on Friday April 29, 2011 - the day we were to arrive in London! We heard that the room rates had tripled, and that they were expecting over 1 million visitors and tourists in London for the event. We felt some panic at the thought of trying to get to London that day, and then dealing with the throngs and hordes of locals and visitors. We considered going to Scotland or Ireland instead, to avoid the crowds, but we later agreed that the wedding would be a once-in-a-lifetime world event, and we wanted to participate in it if we could. So, we confirmed our hotel reservation and the price, re-confirmed our train tickets, and prayed for the best. I still was worried about all the potential difficulties the entire time.

So, we got we got off the ship quickly and easily with our luggage in hand at around 630AM, because we wisely had opted for early self-Disembarkation. We had to carry our own bags off, but that was easy. We were some of the first to leave. We then walked to the curb and there was a taxi waiting. We took the taxi to the train station and got there in 5 minutes. Our original train tickets were for an 8:30AM train to London, but I bought an 'all day' ticket, so we instead got on the 700AM train when it arrived right on-time. LESSON LEARNED: Book an ‘anytime' ticket so you can get on any train you want.

The problem was that I didn't know which stop to get off at! The train we boarded was going to London and ending at Waterloo Station. I had originally planned to get off at the stop right before at Clapham Junction, and catch the tube there. But I figured that Waterloo Station was really close to where we were staying, and it would be an easy tube ride from Waterloo to our stop at Victoria Station. The train was right on-time, fast, and first class was slightly more comfortable and roomy than coach. We were surprised to find that the Southampton Station was nearly deserted, and when we got on the train, it was nearly empty. The train we got on made about 8 stops, and at each stop more and more Brits boarded the train, many wearing and carrying flags and memorabilia, obviously intending on participating in the Royal wedding. The train arrived in London at Waterloo Station right on-time as well, at around 8:30AM. LESSON LEARNED: 1st class train tickets are over-rated and over-priced. Go coach and save your money on the British trains.

I probably would have been right to get off at Waterloo instead of Clapham Junction if I understood the tube system better, realized that my pre-purchased train ticket would only get me to Victoria if I got off at Clapham Junction, and exchanged my train ticket for a tube ticket, knew how to use the tube system, and if there weren't 200,000 people at Waterloo - all trying to get to Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey to see the Royals before and after the wedding. Waterloo was a disaster, and I had to ask 3 separate official staff how to get from Waterloo to Victoria. Each person I asked gave me a different answer as to how to get to Victoria Station, because we later learned that a number of the tube stations and lines were closed due to the unbelievable congestion that day. We should have gotten a cab. Instead, we soldiered on with our bags, amidst the throngs of people. LESSON LEARNED: In a traveling crisis on public transportation when you have lots of heavy luggage, the easiest and most obvious solution to your problem (a taxi in this case), no matter what it costs, no matter where you are, is the right solution.

Once we determined how to get from Waterloo Station with 200,000 other people milling around - many lost like us, it took a few minutes to figure out that we needed to buy an Oyster Card for £5 each, put enough money on it not to have to worry (£15 each), and then find the Grey Jubilee tube line to take only one stop to Westminster Station to transfer to the Yellow or Green Circle Line or District Line tubes to take only one stop to get to Victoria Station. Then we found out that Westminster station was closed due to congestion, so we had to now go another stop to get the blue line to get to Victoria Station. All this, mind you, and I'm slightly color blind. Being a dumb American, I assumed that some British form of the ADA (American Disability Act) would allow for escalators and or elevators to help us with our luggage issues. Incorrect. The tube system has certain stations that have handicapped access, but not all. We ended up having to drag our heavy luggage up and down multiple flights of stairs amidst throngs of thousands of Brits and lost and confused tourists. I was able to manage, but my wife was unable to get her bags up some of the flights of stairs. Luckily on two separate occasions, helpful Brits helped her carry her bags. Chivalry is not dead in England I'm happy to report. Anyway, we finally figured it out, got to Victoria Station, and walked to the hotel at around 9:30AM. LESSON LEARNED: If you get to London with luggage, the tube system is not your friend - take a cab.

Once we got to the hotel, which was right across from Buckingham Palace, we found fences up around the street and people lining up to see what they could see. Our hotel staff told us that the Princess was staying right around the corner, and would be driving by our hotel around 10:45AM on her way to her royal wedding. So, we dumped our bags and grabbed a spot across the street from the hotel, and she drove right by us at the appointed time! I had two cameras with me, so I hung one on my neck with a wide angle lens set to automatically take one picture per second, and another camera with a zoom lens in my hand to try and get some close-up shots. By the time they drove by, tens of thousands of people had shown up all around us, all very excited and very well behaved. I succeeded with both cameras, and got multiple photos of the bride and Duchess-to-be, Catherine Middleton, her father, and her sister! Priceless memories of a lifetime! LESSON LEARNED: If you have the opportunity to participate in an event of world-wide significance, do it.

After Catherine Middleton and her entourage passed, we found ourselves only a few blocks away from the front of Buckingham Palace, where newly titled Duke and Dutchess of Cambridge would be passing, and having their first kiss. We packed up our gear and tried to follow the tens of thousands of people walking to join the hundreds of thousands already waiting on the Mall at Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately, we were too tired from our ordeal to continue on, and we decided to do an about face and head back to the hotel, where we watched the ceremony live in the hotel's restaurant with a few dozen other well-wishers. The Brits were all obviously touched and moved, and the experience was excellent. I toasted the Royals with a pint of Guinness, my first of many in the UK. By the time all that was over, our room was ready, and we went up to the 4th floor and entered our beautiful suite, directly overlooking the back gate at Buckingham Palace where some of the wedding participants were beginning to exit on foot and by car. We opened our windows, stuck our heads and cameras out and snapped off a few hundred more photos over the next few hours and rested for a while. The hotel also was having a dinner in honor of the Royal wedding, with 5 courses taken from previous royal weddings! At £ 65 per person (about $100 per person), including a glass of Champagne on arrival to toast the happy couple, the menu was: First Course - Suprêmes de Saumon Reine Mary - Poached salmon fillet, with a light Champagne sauce (King George VI and Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon wedding breakfast 1923);

Second Course - Consommé à la Windsor - Chicken and woodland mushroom consommé (King George VI and Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon wedding breakfast 1923);

Third Course - Filet de Sole Mountbatten, Haricot Verts, pommes Noisettes - Fillets of sole with New Forest mushroom and white wine sauce, French beans, and noisette potatoes (Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip wedding breakfast 1947);

Fourth Course - Ballotines de Canard à la Cumberland - Balantine of duck, with Cumberland sauce and duchess potatoes (Queen Victoria and Prince Albert wedding breakfast 1840);

Fifth Course - Bombe Glace Princess Elizabeth - Vanilla ice cream bombe (Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip wedding breakfast 1947).

We indulged ourselves in the spirit of the day, and enjoyed the unbelievable dining experience. I tortured the wait staff mercilessly in good fun (to get my £ 65 per person worth), and we had a great time. I apparently was so memorable that the staff went out of their way to say hello to us every time we passed the restaurant. After dinner, we took a leisurely 10 minute stroll from the hotel to the front of Buckingham Palace where the wedding receptions took place, and enjoyed ourselves for a while amidst a few hundred remaining well behaved revelers. LESSON LEARNED: A great hotel in a great location can provide the experience of a lifetime.

On Saturday, we did the tubes again and got to Westminster Abbey (entry fee about £ 20 per person) and walked around and saw Catherine Middleton's wedding bouquet, which had been placed on the grave of the unknown warrior. The Abbey is mind-boggling beautiful and amazing. We saw the tombs of Mary Queen of Scotts, Henry VIII, Charles Darwin, Byron, Tennyson, just to name a very few. We then took the tube to the British Museum (free with a requested donation of about £ 5 per person) and I enjoyed Cleopatra's mummy, the Rosetta Stone, and portions of the Parthenon. Thankfully, the Brits had the foresight to pillage the good stuff from the ancient world and bring it back to London! On the 3rd floor of the British museum is a very fancy and beautiful restaurant where we stopped for drinks and some dessert. We had dinner at an excellent pub across the street from our hotel called the Bag ‘O Nails, where my wife had Fish and Chips and I had a great steak pie with mash. I didn't understand what to do with the little pot of gravy, and I ended up dipping my mashed into it as I ate, which explained the funny looks I got throughout the meal. A cabby found that story funny the next day and clued me in. LESSONS LEARNED: Visit Westminster Abbey, the British Museum, and eat at a Pub.

I am interested in British soccer, and the very nice concierge at our hotel was able to locate tickets to Manchester United vs. Arsenal game the next day, but they wanted £ 500 each (about $800), and my wife wouldn't go for it. Manchester United and Arsenal are two of the top teams in the Premier League, and it would be the equivalent of trying to get Yankees vs. Red Socks World Series tickets or Lakers vs. Celtics NBA Finals tickets.

The next day we intended to take the tube from Victoria Station (about a 10 minute walk from our hotel) to the Tower of London. We got to the tube and discovered that part of the line was unavailable due to maintenance. We had to get off before our stop and were given instructions to walk 5 minutes to catch a bus to get to the Tower of London. We were given bad directions, and a 5 minute walk turned into a 20 minute walk and a 20 minute bus ride. We finally arrived at the Tower of London (entry fee about £ 20 per person) and saw the crown jewels and walked around for a while. The crowd was big but we got our tickets and got in quickly. Many of the buildings dated back a thousand years! The Crown Jewels were unbelievable, beautiful, and amazing to see. LESSON LEARNED: The Tower of London and the crown jewels are both a must see.

We had purchased an all-day pass on the Big Bus so we could ride around when and where we wanted, and that ticket included a free ride on the public Thames River boat service. After a 10 minute walk from the Tower of London to the quay, we discovered that our voucher had to be exchanged for a ticket a the Big Bus office which was a 15 minute walk there and another 15 minute walk back. In the interest of time, I coughed up an additional £ 9 per person and saved the 30 minutes of walking. The boat ride up the Thames was great and lasted only about 20 minutes. We started at the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge (commonly misconstrued as the London Bridge), and cruised up the Thames river, with the boat staff providing humorous and insightful narration all along the way. We were on the public transportation boat which was plain and fine. I realized later that we could have used the same Oyster Cards we had purchased and used on the tubes and buses to pay for the boat. We did see other boats that were private boat tour companies that were obviously nicer and were doing more touring. LESSON LEARNED: The basic boat is fine but do some research into better and longer options if you enjoy that sort of experience.

We got off the boat at Westminster, right under the British Parliament building right at noon, so we got to hear Big Ben chime off a dozen times! Unfortunately, there were thousands of people there, and we had a very difficult time finding the stop for the Big Bus. After being unable to read their dreadful map, a heated debate, and a small argument, I decided to take command and simple follow the next bus that passed on foot to its next stop. After a 30 minute walk, we located the stop, got our tickets, and proceeded to ride on the open-air top of the bus for the rest of the day. We had to get off and transfer to another bus, which bugged me, and the bus stopped for long periods at each designated location, which also bugged me. They did provide headphones which you could plug into your seat to listen to a narration of what you were passing, which I did enjoy. We got off at the Hard Rock Café and had to walk about 10 minutes there and back. It was busy, and we were taken to a basement dining room that was very crowded and noisy. My wife collects Hard Rock Café pins, so we had to make that stop. I would not have chosen to eat there, but she was tired and hungry, so I figured eating there was a no-brainer. The food was what you would expect and was perfectly fine. I don't recommend it, as you can go to any Hard Rock Café and have the same experience here in the USA. We then got back on the bus and rode for a while and eventually got off at Harrods and did some sightseeing and shopping. Harrods was horrendously busy and crowded, but amazing nonetheless. We walked around the food courts, and I realized that we should have eaten there. They have amazing opportunities to eat seafood, Tapas, Japanese food, British food, a French Café, and countless other eating opportunities. I treated myself to a walk around the wine store - amazing! LESSON LEARNED: Skip the Hard Rock Café and do not miss Harrods, and try to eat at one of their food counters.

After having just traveled to Portugal, Spain, and France, I was looking forward to not having to worry about the language barrier in England. However, we quickly came to realize that most of the service workers in London that you come in contact with (subway ticket people, bus drivers, cab drivers, hotel staff, bar tenders, waiters, etc.) don't speak English as their primary language, although they can speak broken English. I'm accustomed to trying to decipher English spoken by Mexicans, and I know enough Spanish to be able to fill in the gaps. However, trying to decipher broken English spoken by Indians, Russians, Eastern Europeans, Africans, and Frenchmen can be quite a challenge. I found that to be a disappointment. When we got off the Big Bus, my wife thought she knew where we were, and where we were going. I asked a member of the staff how to get to where we were going, and I was told in broken English that it was a 20 minute walk in a certain direction. My wife double checked her map and disagreed, so I asked another official bus driver for directions, and received the same basic instructions and directions in broken English. Satisfied I was going in the right direction, I got us moving in the right direction. My wife is a slow walker, and a good 20 minute walk dragged into a slow and eventually painful 40 minute trudge through London. With about another 20 minutes to go at my wife's pace, I decided to take my own advice and we made our way to a hotel where we grabbed a cab for a short 5 minute ‘Mr. Toad's Wild Ride' back to our hotel. LESSON LEARNED: Taking cabs saves time.

In three short days in London, we were definitely slowed down by the hundreds of thousands of tourists in for the wedding, disruptions in tube service, walking, and being lost more than once while walking. Despite those challenges, we photographed Catherine Middleton on her way to the wedding, had an amazing dinner at the hotel, walked to Buckingham Palace, did Westminster Abbey, spent a few hours in the British Museum, did the Tower of London and saw the Crown Jewels, ate at the Hard Rock Café, had an excellent pub meal, spent an hour in Harrods, and rode around the Big Bus for a few hours. I would estimate that despite the difficulties of the weekend, we lost at least 6 hours traveling on public transportation, walking and being lost. If you really want to experience London the right way, I think you need to find accommodations that suit you, learn how to use the busses, and plan on enjoying your long walks. LESSON LEARNED: If you are pinched for time, take taxis. They aren't cheap, but while on vacation I'd rather trade my money for more time if possible.

This was my 2nd visit to London, and I find it to be my favorite city in the world. Paris is great but the French language and running into more than one snotty French person drops it to 2nd place. If you are considering going to London, carefully do your research first. There is a wide range of accommodations available, from inexpensive bed and breakfasts, to über expensive luxury five star hotels. Dining options vary widely from the everyday to the extraordinary. There are number of must-see sites, and hundreds of lesser-known treasures scattered about the city. The only down-side is that London is very expensive, so budget yourself accordingly. And, the current exchange rate is very bad for Americans, so consider that in your calculations. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at marcliberts@gmail.com, and I'd be happy to try and answer your questions.

Bon Voyage and Safe Travels!