Harters

Your travel insurer will also have an emergency contact number in operation 24/7. They should be your first contact so you don't run the risk, as happened to my father in law on a P & O cruise, where his claim was denied because the insurer had not given prior approval to the treatment. We appealed to the company, which was rejected. We then took it to the Insurance Ombudsman who, after several months,, found in the FiL's favour. But it meant, the whole process was a complete pain, not least as he was out of pocket for all those months, with no indication that he would win his appeal.

My companion in life used to be a procurement manager for a major oil company. The unofficial motto of the buyers used to be "We aim to fail cheaply".

One of the great things about the Pigs are their restaurants. At several (possibly all), they have a "25 mile" menu. Yes, the food provenance is that local and seasonal.

Deal would be the nearest "nice place", IMO, followed by Sandwich. Canterbury would be an obvious suggestion. If not staying in Dover itself, we usually look towards the northern coast of Kent - Whitstable & Herne Bay - but they may be getting a bit far away for you. Can't help with hotel suggestions as we usually look for budget friendly chain hotels, like Premier Inn, when we stay in that part of the world.

I also don't know the Marlin but it is in a great location. I've stayed in that area on three occasions, while doing research at the War Museum. By the by, Google says it's "serviced apartments" rather than a hotel.

Excellent review. We're sailing on Vista next year and it's given me a real feel for the ship. Hope they improve the sea day service levels by then - it's a transatlantic with lots of sea days. Bedankt.

We've booked a Vista cruise for next year and I've been having a read of the sample menus on O's website. Have to say that Ember doesnt fill me with any enthusiasm. I've been visiting the States since 1980 and eating at a land based restaurant with that menu wouldnt fill me with any enthusiasm either. Presumably, O knows what it's doing and is addressing a market - but it isnt me. As my school teacher used to say "could do better".

Thanks for your insight. That had never occurred to me.

By the by, pre-Covid, my brother in law drove a taxi. He said that, when he started some 10+ years back, it was pretty common to be given a tip. But, it gradually died out and, when he finished, tips were almost non-existent - even those of the "keep the change" variety, of a few coins.

Youre probably right, LHT. I'd sort of assumed that there were bound to be contributors whose flights between Miami and the UK had been booked through O, but seemingly no-one. Cruise Critic lets me down for the first time 😀

Yes, that was our experience with a cruise we booked, but had to cancel, last year. It was a return flight from Rome which O insisted on routing via Frankfurt, with a long delay there and would not consider a quick, direct flight from Rome to Manchester. It was that experience that prompted my original unanswered question. By the by, the cheapest arrangement I could find to Miami was via Dublin with Aer Lingus but our travel agent has got us BA flights from Heathrow at a very reasonable price. So, we'll have the two nights in Miami pre-cruise as we'd planned but we will stay overnight at Heathrow, as otherwise it would be a very early start from Manc (with no room for delays to catch the Miami flight). We've stayed at the Sofitel at T5 before and it's fine

Only ever a mature cheddar in this house - whether it's going on an American style grilled cheese sandwich (or "fried cheese sandwich" as it might be in English English) or our preferred British cheese on toast (cooked under the grill).

I'd call it a hot dog. I don't particularly like the taste of the sausages, though, so rarely order one when visiting the States.

My first visit to the States was in 1980 and, pre Covid, we visited fairly regularly after that. I don't think I've ever come across an American food that "horrified" me. OK, I might not see the point of putting a slice of tasteless cheese on almost every sandwich. And, I don't generally like coffee in America - it seems to be either very thin and tasteless, or very bitter (I think there's a confusion between strong and bitter). But, generally, I enjoy what I eat when I travel anywhere.

I also can't really remember when I last used cash here. Certainly many weeks ago. But, when visiting a foreign country, I always like to have a small amount of local currency - just in case I come across somewhere that doesn't take cards for low value purchases.

I have only had one experience with Red Ginger. And, as a first timer, you just don't know that what sound like traditional dishes are actually going to be very bland. Not just an underuse of chilli, but an underuse of all spice. Of course, I know now for the future.

Possibly too far ahead for prices to have been negotiated with the supplier. My cruise is in March. If your ports are included in an earlier cruise, you may well find the same excursions are priced there and it'll be sufficiently close for you to work things out, at least roughly.

The Irish Sea can get choppy. We went to the Isle of Man a few years back, using the fast ferry from Liverpool. It's known to Manx folk as the "vomit comet". And with good reason.

Bear in mind that you probably need to allow around 3 hours at Heathrow for a flight to the States. Means you're going to need to catch one of the first couple of Heathrow Express trains.

You'd hope it should be a little better in May. But it's going to be marginal for a three week difference, IMO. And, as ever with our spring weather, unpredictable and changeable.

Thanks for the comments. In the event, we've again booked through a well known online cruise specialist. We havent saved anything significant but it has been an extremely easy process. Told the agent what we needed by way of flights, hotel pre-cruise, transfers. Fifteen minutes later, she was back with it all worked out and, yes, as someone has mentioned, flights cheaper than I could find.

I've already answered the same queries for myself. Your best way forward is to call up the cruise you may be interested in, on O's website, and simply look at the excursions on offer. It will tell you how much your credit, per stateroom, is and all the excursions are priced. So, quite easy to work out how far the credit will stretch. For example, the cruise we're hoping to do has a $1000 credit. Which means I should be able to get four of the most basic excursions within that price. Obviously fewer if we picked an Exclusive" one. But I do have a minor query which will not be an issue for most cruisers. The website available to me, in the UK, prices the cruise and excursions in sterling, as I'd expect, but the credit is still offered in dollars. The query is what exchange rate applies here - the Interbank rate or some other vendor rate dreamt up by O to rip off its foreign customers?

That's interesting. I know North Wales well. Holyhead is only a couple of hours drive from me. It's a major port for the ferries between Great Britain and Ireland. Hadnt appreciated that rough seas would be bad enough to cancel a large cruise ship. Must be even more common for the ferries

As you probably know, tipping here is much less of a "thing" than in North America. And I know that, for many North Americans tipping is almost a cultural necessity. Personally, I wouldnt tip a tour guide here and would know that, whilst a tip would never be refused, it's never essential.

No doubt it depends on your particular medication, if it needs to be taken at particular intervals or a less precise timing. I take some meds with breakfast and some with dinner, so just keep to that routine - but I have nothing that's critical about timing. And, of course, it's only a 5 hour difference for Miami. By the by, we're doing a similar transatlantic next year.