Monaco to Nice to London Heathrow

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Well, it is officially the end of Crystal Serenity's 2019 World Cruise. A day that has been coming for 89 days. To Crystal's credit, disembarkation and everything about it was handled very well. There is no question that commercial air travel after this kind of luxury is going to be a shock but they did a very good job in our opinion. Our van was there at least 20 minutes before 10 am but that was fine because we were in Galaxy Lounge 30 minutes early. The WC social hostess came to us where we sat and told us we could go out to our car now. We got out there with the understanding that we had to locate our luggage staged with 5 Blue. It wasn't there, but Clay had seen it in a cluster behind a van. We walked over and someone had placed a sign with our names under a rear windshield wiper above the luggage. Perfect and civilized. Since we were so early our driver suggested the Middle Corniche along the French Riviera to Nice airport. He said it only took 7 minutes more than the planned highway run. It was nice and we saw different things than yesterday from the train. We arrived at the airport and the BA check in desk an hour before we could check in. There were Crystal reps and porters with big luggage trolleys waiting for us there which was above and beyond the call of duty in our opinions. The bad news of the day is that the porter tried to snatch the suitcases out of the back of the van and yesterday's new $39 suitcase became today's one-handled trash. Oh well, we tried but the new suitcase didn't even make it to the first flight. The good news is that it is none the worse off after the first flight. We decided not to buy another new suitcase here at Heathrow to replace it. It will either make it the rest of the way with one handle or hopefully with none if the other one gets snatched off.  So Crystal handled us right to the BA line. Everything was well done and we don't know how Crystal could have done a better job. Then there were the 50 or so Crystal cruisers who were on our flight who a good portion complained loudly to anyone in earshot repeatedly about how poorly they were being treated. It was ridiculous. People who had been walking all the time were suddenly in wheelchairs or demanding them and insisting as they were disabled that they go to the front of the line. It was embarrassing to witness. Crystal did a great job. In the face of the sold out flight of entitlement, so did BA. Clay and I were one row apart on opposites side of the aisle but could still talk to each other and share things so that was fine. I don't think any of us in the 2 exit rows would have chosen to sit there, but BA assigned us there as the Club Europe (Business) section was sold out as was the entire plane. It was smooth, on time and a short flight. We turned the clocks back an hour in flight. We were surprised that BA served a meal on such a short flight. Clay and I had shared a store-bought ham & emmenthal sandwich, a Coke Zero and a large bag of peanut M&Ms at the gate before boarding after 1 pm. BA Club Europe class got beverages, chicken or bulgar salad, bread & butter, roast beef with cole slaw and a chocolate mousse. Mine was bulgar with soft cheese and root vegetables and dandelion greens. I didn't eat the roots, weeds or rare beef with cole slaw and with the earlier lunch was quite full. Everything I ate was good. Clay said the chicken was not good and he only ate the salad and he was hungry. We did not get a gate at Heathrow on landing. They unloaded us on buses on the tarmac and then unloaded us right near immigration so that worked out. It was cold and gray here but not unbearable for the short transfer. Where BA dropped the ball was not handing out landing cards on the jet so we could fill them out at our tray tables at our leisure. We got them in the immigration hall and it was chaos. Fortunately our Club Europe boarding passes got us Fast Track access and a very short line. (In hindsight, the woman who checked us in told us to go to the airline's lounge instead of the gate to wait and we didn't because the only lounge entry we found near the gate had a menu of admission prices. Probably the boarding passes would have gotten us entry. We might have saved the 12.40 Euros I spent on our lunch plus not had to witness as much bad behavior. But then maybe it was going on in the lounge too.) We got our priority-tagged luggage right off the carousel on arrival and pushed it directly to the Sofitel Hotel at terminal 5. We think we probably paid double Economy fare per person for Club Europe, but the roomier seats and extras made it a good value plus the extra luggage allowance. The Sofitel was a splurge as well at over $200 for the night but it is a nice room, quiet and the most conveniently located place we could possibly stay. We realized that our morning flight tomorrow leaves from terminal 3 and it is not walking distance. There is a free train from terminal 5, but you can't use the complimentary luggage trolleys from door to door on the train. We went to the hotel's ground transportation desk and booked a taxi for 6:30 am tomorrow. He suggested a van for the amount of luggage and we agreed. He said it would be about 26 pounds and we could pay the driver with a credit card. So that's the plan. We found really high prices for dinner at the Sofitel. $30 for butter chicken. So, we walked back to terminal 5 and bought dinner at Marks & Spencer for $9.38. Clay had a bag of chips, pasta salad and a Diet Coke. I had a cup of porridge made with the tea kettle in the room. We shared a 2 pack of egg custard tarts for dessert. I think we're both satisfied. Here's hoping things go as smoothly tomorrow flying through Chicago's O'Hare to get home.

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