Harters

Comes as absolutely no surprise. Based on playing on an American led food forum, I think many Americans can find Northern European food not to their taste. It must make it difficult for them when they visit. What might be really interesting is if O did an "American Night". I wonder what would be included. And would I recognise it as being American and would it appeal. Perhaps more to the point, would Americans recognise it as being American. 😀

Offal has always been an important part of British home cooking. But, until recent decades, not so much in restaurants. I suppose it's the sort of thing that, if you were having it at home regularly, you wouldnt really want to be ordering in a restaurant. I reckon chef Gary Rhodes was the pioneer who popularised Modern British cuisine, in the late 1980s, although, to foreigners, Fergus Henderson whose Modern British career started a decade later is probably better known. FWIW, this is the menu of one of several bistro type places within a few minutes of home.It's representativeof the sort of food you'd expect in a neighbourhood place. https://no4dineandwine.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/March-menu-23-1.pdf

Almost guaranteed to be what foreigners think as British food, rather than what we actually eat. Any foreigner who has visited the UK in recent decades and actually got out of London will have encountered the richness of our cuisine, both traditional and seasonal. I find it genuinely funny that the decades old stereotypes about my country are still trotted out. Like ToxM's husband, I'm a northerner. Fish, chips and mushy peas are hard-wired into our DNA. I live about 30 minutes drive to the small town where there's the first record of fish & chips being served, in 1863.

It's food that doesnt travel well. Just like American BBQ.

Interesting in itself that Tripadvisor, which owns Cruise Critic, allows discussion about cruise travel agents on TA, but not CC. But we digress from helping the OP.

Oh, that's good news for whenever our next cruise might be. I like Lyres, almost as much as Seedlip, for those times when I fancy a non-alcoholic "gin" and tonic.

My advice would be that, if you have the slightest doubt about their reliability, then choose another company. It really isnt worth the worry. From what you say about the lack of internet reviews, the sparse info and seemingly indifferent customer service, I wouldnt touch them with the proverbial bargepole. Search this sub-forum and you'll find many threads which recommend transfer services.

Although CC does it for you with this helpful article: https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/articles.cfm?ID=3850

A fixed gratuity is included which accounts for cabin and restaurant staff. It's added to drinks as you order them. I also don't drink. I've only cruised once with Oceania and my recollection is that the soft drinks were pretty much just the well known sugary American ones. Certainly nothing as nice as as our local Fentimans, I'm sorry to say.

Faced with a similar dilemma for a cruise we had planned last year *, we opted to go a day early. Apart from the risks of delays with a "same day" flight, it meant an extremely early start from home. Extra cost (mainly the overnight hotel at LHR) was worth it as a "no stress" solution.

Just call me Sherlock.

I had time on my hands this afternoon (the benefit of being retired) so have done a bit of searching on the forum. I find mentions that both Riviera and Marina have berthed in the city centre, so no technical problem there about turning. I've also looked at several cruises this year which go to the city. There is a pattern. Those cruises which are only there for the day seem to berth at "Bordeaux (Le Verdun)", whilst cruises which have an overnight stay berth at "Bordeaux" which I am now sure in my own mind means the city centre. Makes sense - if the cruise schedule only includes for the day, then you don't want to waste what time on what I understand is a four hour sail each way on the river.

Emailing the port authority would be the best way to go. We had planned to be on Sirena last year on its cruise which included Bordeaux(but caught Covid two days before the boarding date so were unable to go). It was an overnight stop which seems to be a regular schedule for O here and I wanted to plan our time, devising our own walking tour and finding somewhere for dinner. Knowing where it would berth was important. Emailed the port authority (writing in English and French) and got a reply within a few days (in English) confirming Sirena would berth right in the city centre (which I assume is O's description of "Bordeaux"). I had previously searched the port authority website to try to find the answer but it only mentions that a ship is berthing, without the detail of exactly where. Might be worth searching this forum for mentions of Bordeaux just to see if there's a pattern for the likes of Riviera. FWIW, Riviera is doing a version of Sirena's cruise last year and is visiting the city on 6/7 June, the schedule only mentioning "Bordeaux". Whilst the river is obviously wide enough for Sirena to turn, I've no idea if it would be OK for a larger ship, such as Riviera. I'd be interested in the answer, as it's possible we may look to book this cruise at the last minute

Would this not depend on what regulations (if any) apply for the country of disembarkation? For example, if leaving the ship at most (all?) European ports, there will be no quarantine requirement. So, in practice, I could fly from here in the UK to, say, Barcelona for the weekend and fly back, having had a lovely couple of days, Covid positive for the whole period and not breach anyone's regulations.

We usually have one or two week-long holidays in the UK each year and, generally speaking, pick June and September for weather that's as good as it gets. No promises though - we came home early from a September 2020 trip to the Sussex coast as heavy rain was forecast for the final two days.

Hadrian's Wall can be fascinating if you have an interest in that sort of thing. But, if you havent got the interest, then it's just a pile of old bricks. I'm in the former camp. Driving from holidays north of Newcastle back home, we'd often been very close to the Wall but had never seen it. Last summer, we took ourselves off for a three day exploration of it and it was really interesting. Prior, I'd taken a short online course explaining its history, construction, place in the landscape, etc. FWIW, my partner's cousin is employed by Tyne & Wear Museums and has worked on aspects of the Wall at Wallsend. Bill is interviewed about his work on this link: https://culturalpeeps.wordpress.com/bill-griffiths/

Weymouth is a very typical seaside town with some considerable history. It was a departure port for American troops leaving for the D-Day landings. We spent a week there last summer, using it as a base for touring the area. If getting the train there, I'd suggest also stopping at Dorchester, which is the county town and which has a nice pedestrianised centre - including well preserved bits of a Roman town house. As well as Salisbury for its cathedral, there would also be the cathedral at Winchester. As mentioned upthread, the British Isles subforum in the Ports of Call section has lots of info about the Southampton area.

But, on this thread, we're talking about the UK.

We are currently in what is to be a very short heatwave. Yesterday, Wales recorded its highest ever temperature (37.1). Last night was the UK's hottest on record. And the forecasters say that, the UK will probably record its highest ever temperature (estimated at somewhere between 40 and 42) during today, beating the record only set in 2019. But, to demonstate the vagaries of our weather, there may be heavy rain during this evening and tomorrow it's expected to return to normal summer temperatures at around 24.

No-one is going to be unappreciative of being paid extra. 🥲

I think my most touching Armistice Day (not a Sunday) was one year when we on holiday in South Africa. We were in a small town and I'd Googled to find that they had a war memorial, so we went to pay our respects at 11am. There was just one other guy there but it was as solemn a 2 minutes as you could imagine.

And for those who may be around on Armistice Day, there is also a 2 minute silence at 11am. It is increasingly observed across the country. I try to observe it at my village's war memorial and don't bother going on the Sunday (which is , effectively, a religious event and one that only seems to be inclusive for the mainstream Christian religions). Armistice Day is entirely secular.

Just to close this off, our claim has now been accpeted in full (less about £150 "excess") and we should have the refund sometime in the next few days.

The rail union is a national one and it's in dispute with several different train operating companies, as well as the government owned National Rail. But the strikes have only been for 24 hour periods and are currently on hold. That said, there may be further , more extensive, action if the employers continue to be intransigent. At this point, it's impossible to know if there will be action that effects your trip.

Does anyone who has cruised in recent weeks have any information about the incidence of folk being quarantined because they contracted Covid? Or, put another way, just how risky is it that you might spend several days of your cruise quarantined? We should have been on Sirena early last month but were cancelled because we had both contracted Covid. Today, our travel insurers have agreed to meet our claim so we now have the financial resources to rebook a cruise if we wish. With infections rapidly rising (at least here in the UK), we are concerned about becoming reinfected with one of the new variants. The cancelled cruise (and any replacement) was our Golden Wedding present to ourselves and, much as we'd like to do it, quarantine would be a serious bummer. But we need to form a view about risk I know doing almost anything is a risk - contracting it a few weeks back was, almost certainly, at a restaurant where we'd had dinner. But any comments welcomed. TIA John