Harters

In real life, I'm a military history researcher and author, specialising in the Great War. My trips to the coastal area have always been in connection with that, often to take photos for one of the books. Niewpoort would be the place to visit for anyone with a general interest in the War. The Western Front started on the shoreline there, extending in a continuous trench line all the way to Switzerland. And there's military cemeteries all over the area - always quiet, peaceful places to visit, even for those without a burning interest in the subject. I think there are still remnants of artillery emplacements near Nieupoort. These were actually British naval guns brought ashore and installed as long range siege guns, targetting German strongpoints. It was a specialist unit known as the Royal Naval Siege Guns. My pal, Mick, is an expert on the unit and the men who served with it.

Correct. I don't think it's an issue that interests many Britons. A recent survey has shown that only about 30% of us now tip in restaurants and the practice has pretty much died out amongst the under 30s. I was chatting with the owner of our favourite Asian restaurant (which doesnt have a service charge) just after this survey came out. He reckoned it was pretty accurate. Though it's always interesting to note when a restaurant menu not only mentions the service charge but, also, mentions how it is divided - whether just front of house or all members of the restaurant's team. By the by, the restaurant owner I mentioned said that, when tips are given in cash, they all go to just front of house. But, when they are paid by card, they are divided amongst all staff - FoH and kitchen. We usually pay by card.

Service charges are not something I bother about. It's simply part of the cost of eating out. How a business and its employees agree pay rates and conditions of service is a matter for them, not for me a a customer. I'd be much happier if, in the UK, we didnt have old fashioned cash tipping or service charges as extra payments and everything was included in the menu price.

ToxM - yep. Sofitel is an OK price and very convenient. Stayed there before when flying BA to the States. Their restaurant is OK but, last time, they had the disreputable practice of adding a service charge, then leaving the tip line open. It can only be to catch out unsuspecting foreigners who may not understand that the service charge IS the tip, so end up tipping twice. We're staying at the Plymouth in South Beach. It's not too far from where we stayed on a full Florida holiday a few years back (when we included a 4 night cruise on Norwegian). Looks fine for a couple of nights.

Gibraltar was a port on my recent Oceania cruise. I had hoped to visit the War Graves Cemetery, to pay my respects to three men from my borough buried there. They all died of illness whilst their units were on garrison duty. Unfortunately, we were only there for a few hours and I just didnt have time.

Thanks tine-tine. My particular interest in this is that I am founder member of the In From the Cold Project. We're a voluntary group, which works with the War Graves Commission, researching the British & Commonwealth dead of both World Wars to find those who slipped through the net of official commemoration. So far, we've had 7873 "finds" accepted for commemoration with more awaiting decisions. I'm surprised that such a large number as here may have slipped through our net as well so am just checking with a colleague if we've come across the ship before. As you suggest, downplaying the disaster may have been a contributory factor why names didnt go forward. I don't want to send this thread off on a tangent but will come back and let you know what's what when I know myself.

Absolutely. Our TA, who you might find in a red ditch if it goes wrong, sorted stuff out within minutes. Day 1 - Fly MAN - LHR. Overnight stay at the Sofitel Day 2 - Fy LHR - MIA. 2 nights in nice looking small hotel in South Beach. Day 3 - chill out day Day 4 - We're off cruisin'.

You've just given me a job for the day. In real life, I'm a military history researcher and author, specialising in the Great War. What intrigues me about the Iolaire is that the vast majority of casualties do not appear to be officially commemorated. There may be a reason for that (other than administrative error) - but research to establish that will keep me occupied for a goodly while today.

Although possibly not if you're British. By the by, my mother and my mother-in-law were probably the two worst cooks I've come across. Although both had the misfortune to start their cooking in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, with food rationing still in place for several years (I think I would have been about 4 when the final things came off ration).

June is often our best month. It's when we usually have a UK holiday.

Not even high end. A tandoor is really only going to be used for breads and kebabs in whatever level of Asian restaurant. As for Jacques (which we enjoyed on Marina in 2017), let's be frank, M. Pepin is now 87 so his personal connection with Oceania is time limited. But I doubt whether the name "Jacques" is trademarked by him, so there's no commercial reason why O cannot keep that as a restaurant name if it so chose. I'll reserve judgement on Ember until I try it next year. Whilst I can guess that O's motivation is intending an American influenced restaurant as a draw for its overwhelmingly American customer base, I'm not sure that to have another one, along with Polo, will prove to be the best of ideas. Of course, for me, an American cuisine restaurant is "foreign cuisine", so potentially quite an exciting prospect, even if the current online menu is a bit limited in its appeal (but then, so is Red Ginger's for different reasons).

Now there's a subject for the Cruise Foodies forum - the International Scrambled Eggs thread. 😀 On the other side of your coin, I've never been keen on how they seem to be generally made in America - more chopped omelette than scrambled.

Yep, I did know that, LHT. My more general point was the different styles between CC and TA, even though they are under the same ownership. That said, as a general rule, I'm not in favour of posts being deleted. I'd rather the aggressive (or whatever) posts remained on view, so that folk can form their own view of the poster. I've never reported a post on CC and can only recall two occasions on TA - one that was overtly racist and another that was urging a minor to do something that was illegal under Spanish law.

Leiden and Den Haag immediately spring to mind as very walkable, and interesting cities. On a smaller scale and closer to Amsterdam, Edam (home to the cheese) and the adjacent town of Volendam will give you a better flavour of the Netherlands.

Plenty to see and do around the waterfront that would keep most folk occupied for a day. I wouldnt bother with any organised tour here. Just go for a walk round the sights of our region's second city.

The weather here this August has been awful. More mid-autumn than a summer. Cold, wet and windy. Our heating has clicked on several times already. Goodness knows what it must be like further north. Thankfully, I'm off to Spain shortly for a couple of weeks.

Me too. Tripadvisor owns Cruise Critic yet the moderating could not be more different. On TA, posts are removed from view simply by sufficient contributors reporting them (some get reinstated once a moderator has looked at them). Suspensions and permanent bans are not at all uncommon for repeat offenders, who are offensive and/or bullies. I play on a particular TA forum and see post deletions several times a week. When I started to use CC some years back, I had assumed that there would be a similar culture here. Unfortunately not.

Thanks for the info. Disappointing for you. Looks like Visit Liverpool has taken heed and amended their wording from whatever was there when you were planning your visit. Certainly their listing for Red Brick makes no suggestion that it's an art/craft venue, describing it as a "vintage warehouse".

The only problem I have with Open Table is the very limited number of restaurants listed. For example, for my nearby town, it lists just 4 places (none of which I've ever heard of, let alone eaten there). Whereas, Tripadvisor lists 467 ( of which, of course, there are many I'll have never heard of). Most reviews posted on various sites are fairly worthless, as the contributor rarely mentions the actual food eaten and, generally, restricts their comment to how "awesome" or "awful" the place was. I like to write about my experience. FWIW, here's my latest Tripadvisor review about our favourite Asian restaurant (I have the same user name there, as here). https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g528793-d12817635-r912405267-Bombay_to_Mumbai-Stockport_Greater_Manchester_England.html

Any particular reason, Hanoj? Reason for asking is that with the city being only 35 miles away from home, we visit fairly often. Have a trip planned for next month to visit an exhibition at Tate Liverpool. FWIW, I've never done any "Beatles tourism". (EDIT: Just read your post on another thread that at least some of your disenchantment with our region's second city was related to the port security arrangements).

Since we're amongst friends here (at least, friends of O), we should be able to exchange negative comments as & when needed. And, in truth, I think that's what happens now. I've only done two cruises with O. First one back in 2017 when you'd never read a negative comment. Now, folk are more prepared to say when something was less than stellar. And so we should.

Cruise related hype is nothing compared to the restaurant hype on Tripadvisor. By way of explanation, look up a restaurant in your own locality which you know to be only mediocre. My bet is the overwhelming number of reviews will have rated it excellent or very good. Makes them meaningless (and I say that as someone who posts Tripadvisor reviews on an almost weekly basis).

My apologies - I'd failed to take note of your location.

Thanks LHT & EJL. We need to contact our TA about a couple of other things, so will ask her if she is able to book this for us. I'm guessing O has a glitch on its UK version website.

It didnt display the third excursion in the cart. But, nope, no CC option.