Harters

I would always do this, even departing from another European port let alone an intercontinental flight. For our recent cruise, departing Miami, we gave it three nights from leaving home. As everything went well, it did give us a nice relaxed day in Miami prior to boarding day.

My partner's recent experience, on Vista, with that entirely agrees. In three O cruises, this has been the only dish we've ever complained about to a restaurant manager. And he insisted, whilst almost shrugging, that the underspiced, lumps of gristle were prepared in an exactly traditional manner. Utter nonsense. My summer roll starter was also a very poor version - a "claggy" texture with, seemingly, no use of herbs. We've had issues in Red Ginger on both cruises where it was a speciality and we've decided that, for next year's cruise, we'll not bother booking that one.

The two rental companies consistently recommended on the Tripadvisor forum are Cicar and Autoreisen. And, you're right, I'm pretty sure one allows you to take it to another island, while the other doesnt. Can't recall which is which though. I think the late evening ferry on a Sunday is intended to serve the Gomera people who work in Tenerife during the week, giving them as long a weekend with family as possible. Love the story about fairies.

There's two ferry companies, each operating three sailings a day. Basically, there's two in the morning, two early afternoon and two early evening. Takes about 45 minutes. You obviously could stay on Gomera overnight but I think you could cover the major sights in the day. We actually did an organised tour, with guide. It was interesting to actually see the island - we'd been going to the southern resort area for nearly 30 years, looking out to it from the beach in Tenerife (and you can see the lights of the town at night)

We visit southern Tenerife each winter for three weeks. That's effectively a beach holiday and the south of the island will have little to interest you. However, the north of the island is very different. it has a different climate and is more verdant as a consequence but is also close to the "moonscape" of the Teide national park. So, you have a good mix of nature and scenery. Depending on how long you have available, you could also do a day trip to La Gomera which is very different - basically a big rock in the Atlantic, so has little by way of tourism, so generally shunned by we North Europeans. Tenerife's bus service is excellent and would be a really good way of getting round the island (although hiring a car would be a more convenient option - and certainly easier to get to the south for the ferry to Gomera).

I presume something similar to the "blocking pouches" you can get for car keys, to prevent some crim accessing the signal. Please don't ask me any more techie detail as I dunno. Never been scammed on a card - but have had money stolen when the crims fitted a "Lebanese Loop" to the ATM in the village. Fortunately, absolutely no hassle from the bank in refunding the loss when I rang them to say that the ATM had retained my card. It hadnt, of course. It was the Loop that had retained it and somehow they had observed me input the PIN.

We've been pickpocketed twice. Once in Paris at the main train station when we were arriving from the airport, for a long weekend - cash, plane tickets and passports all stolen. Luckily not the credit cards. Second time in Tenerife - also first night, but they only got away with the €200 my partner had in her handbag. Perhaps needless to say, we are a lot more careful now - only taking out a smallish amount of cash and only one card (everything else stays in the hotel/apartment safe).

Always a very easy and straightforward experience, according to my nephew. When he was at university at Bournemouth, he used to use the airport on occasions when flights seemed a value for money alternative to the train (or driving). Obviously depends on what route you want to fly.

I've no idea if Greater Manchester buses take cash or not - havent used one in probably 30 years.

Interesting. It may be a particular London thing. I don't know anywhere in the Greater Manchester area that is card only. Of course, almost everyone is paying by card anyway.

Me neither. We had the paper copy for our 2017 cruise but everything was electronic for the 2023 one and the one earlier this year. I havent missed it at all - everything I needed was online. But it is what it is - and it's no doubt correct for O to treat its customers outside North America the same as those inside.

I only travel with Avanti West Coast. Their luggage policy is here: https://www.avantiwestcoast.co.uk/travel-information/onboard/luggage Other operators may have different.

My partner has stayed at that hotel several times (it was her employers recommended place for staff visiting head office). And I've stayed once. Both of us reckon it's fine. But, so long as you steer clear of PI Hubs, room size at a PI is fine and is probably better value for money.

Very interesting question. I play on a food/restaurant forum where most contributors are North American (about as overwhelming in number as this CC forum). The question of "what are you eating on Xmas Day" is asked pretty much annually. I'm always fascinated by the thread. Here in the UK, most people will eat turkey for lunch. It's traditional (at least for the last 150 years or so). But it's also boring and repetitive. Much more fascinating is the variety of meals that Americans eat - reflecting their widely different family backgrounds and what may have been a traditional meal in their culture (and as a change from the traditional turkey in the just past Thanksgiving).

We were in New Orleans one Halloween and thought about doing that tour but didnt get round to it.

And wouldnt you just love to have that sort of warmth in June. As it is, temps this afternoon in North Cheshire are in the mid teens. I needed to wear a jacket earlier while pottering round the garden. And the central heating keeps clicking on.

By 10/9, most kids should be back at school, so there may be some reduction in numbers. Of course, kid-free folk know that so may pick that time to visit. I don't think I've ever been to the capital and it not be busy.

I suggested it several weeks ago on an earlier thread. It is what many tourist hotels in Spain did during Covid restrictions. And, yes, the response from some other contributors did suggest blasphemy on my part. I still havent read a better solution on here.

It is in my part of Europe. It started to become increasingly popular from the mid 19th century onwards, gradually replacing beef (which was still heavily advertised in my towns local newspaper editions in the run-up to Xmas during World War 1)

If staying nearish to the Tower, I'd recommend one of the early evening Jack the Ripper tours, which tend to start at Aldgate East Underground station. Interesting and good fun. That puts you in the heart of Whitechapel where you'll find a goodly number of South Asian restaurants. Most are mediocre , especially those on the tourist trap area that is Brick Lane. But some are much better - if interested in Punjabi food for dinner, check out Tayyabs and the Needoo Grill.

It's mentioned quite often on this forum that folk have tipped their cabin attendant over and above the auto gratuities. No doubt, pool attendants will have heard about this from their cabin colleagues and, presumably, reckon they can get a slice of that action.

We found Martini's to be consistently very cold. Too cold to sit and enjoy a drink or two. It was the only public room on the ship that was like that.

Ah. That makes much more sense. Such a contract would probably be illegal under UK competition law I remember, when I think I was a young teenager, the UK did have government imposed price controls on quite a wide range of products. So long ago, I can't recall its name. Think it was scrapped in the late 1960s - I have a vague recollection that it was "a big thing" but I was too young to really have any interest in it.

That's interesting and actually surprised me. I would never have thought the law in the States would constrain how a company trades in that way. Is it only cruises that cannot be discounted, or are many other things "price fixed" by law? Flights, escorted tours, cars, TVs, etc?

As we've both said before - it is what it is.