Harters

Raspberry (but only when in season)

At home, I enjoying going out for the "Full English" - bacon, sausage, black pudding, fried eggs, mushrooms, tomato, fried bread. I'm not a good enough cook to prepare all that at home. Our last cruise was with Oceania in 2017. Then I enjoyed American style pancakes. And was intrigued by the mention of "Swedish pancakes" so I ordered them one day, only to be disappointed that they were just like any other European pancake.

About 40 years ago, on a P & O cruise, I ordered vitello tonnato. I'd heard of the dish before but had never seen it on a land based restaurant menu. Not that it was something that I thought appealed, so probably wouldnt have ordered it in a restaurant. But, hey, this was "free" so it was time to try it. I have absolutely no need to try it again - I'm not a fan of "surf & turf" and this may be the worst possible incarnation. Absolutely vile.

Pie beats cake for me. Cheese & onion pie for dinner upcoming on Thursday evening.

I'm sure the exchange rate will be awful. Considerably worse than the interbank rate. Hotel rates always are and I've little doubt that a cruise ship would be the same. If it was me, I'd keep the money to use when I got back to America and simply lie to the FiL that I'd spent it on the Bilbao tour, or whatever.

Over the 40+ years I've been visiting the States, I've never been treated other than entirely professionally by American border control officers. That said, I have observed what I thought was very rude and aggressive questioning of a tourist of South Asian origin at the border point at Niagara.

A few years back, I visited France & Belgium mainly to take photos for a book I was writing. One particular building was almost literally on the border. Driving down the road to get to it, from my hotel in Belgium, over the course of about 5 miles, I crossed and recrossed the border about four times. The border in that area was a small stream, no more than a couple of metres wide, which meandered about. When I got to the place, I was in France. Took a couple of photos and then decided to walk down the little track at the side of the building to get another view. Doing that meant I walked back into Belgium. Having border controls in such situations would be the height of silliness - presumably in decades past, before the benefits of Schengen & free movement, you'd have had to detour many miles to go through a border checkpoint.

Entirely agree with this. Going to restaurants is our shared hobby. We eat out at least once a week. We've been to 30 different restaurants so far this year - some old favourites, some new places to which we'd return, others where we wouldnt return. I rarely complain and sending food back is such a rare occurance that I can remember the date of one occasion (12/8/72). I enjoy the whole process - from deciding where to eat, through the enjoyment of the meal, to writing a review of it for one online site or another. The experience is what it is. We've only cruised rarely over the years. The last was in 2017, on Marina, and our next one, also with O, is coming up soon. I recently looked at my diary of the 2017 cruise. The food was pretty good but by no means faultless. And that's fine. If I'm eating at a favourite restaurant at home, I wouldnt stop going just because of one meal. And I adopted the same attitude to that last cruise - that was nearly two weeks of dinners and they are bound to get some dishes better than others (and of course, my choices are sometimes better than other occasions). I have no idea whether O's food is the "finest at sea". I simply don't have the knowledge of other ships to make that comparision. Nor do I much care. But I do care about whether I have a nice holiday - I'll see how it goes.

We're in port between 10.00 & 17.00 I've worked out a walking tour of the city centre (using gpsmycity.com) and we'll do that followed by lunch. Restaurant for that booked - they specialise in "arroz" (which is what they locally call paella)

Ports are fine in themselves but you are there for such a short time that you really don't get even a "broad brush" insight into the place. Accept it for what it is. Generally speaking, I prefer sea days to port days. Our upcoming 10 day cruise with Oceania has three sea days and that'll be great. It also has three ports in which we have pretty much zero interest, so we may or may not bother getting off for a leg stretch. Maybe get lunch ashore if there's somewhere nearby.

And there's no passport requirement for British & Irish people visiting each others countries (although passports are advised in case proof of nationality was required by border control staff).

Thanks for that explanation. Yes, of course, a birth certificate would confirm the details on a photo ID. By the by, until today, the only photo ID my partner has is the passport. She got her driving licence many years back, before it included a photo. She's only got the photo version, today, as she had to reapply for a licence on becoming 70. Unlike many other Europeans, Britons do not have national identity cards.

That really surprises me. A birth certificate provides absolutely no proper evidence of identity of the person boarding.

From the distance and safety of an internet discussion forum (and with a work background in the criminal justice system), I'd like to say that I would have reported him to the guide and put up with the scene and inconvenience to all on the excursion that would have inevitably ensued. In reality, I'd probably have done nothing as it would have been likely to interfere with my afternoon tea (or whatever the next O meal was going to be). And then I'd have felt ashamed with myself, not least whenever I saw this arsewipe on the ship.

I'm never quite sure what's meant by "authentic" in such circumstances. Maybe "traditional"? In which case, based on my two trips to the country, you may have to compromise about lunch, as many (if not most) traditional pubs are drinking establishments and, even if they do food, it may well be limited to sandwiches and the like. As CruiserBruce suggests, you'll probably find a pub on every corner. Be sure that, if you're ordering a stout, you order the locally brewed Murphy's, rather than the internationally better known Guiness. Lovely part of the world - we had a week in nearby Kinsale a few years back, using it as a base for touring the area

Many thanks all. You've been helpful as usual. We have a restaurant reservation for lunch and I can now plan what to do prior to that. We should have a good couple of hours to wander round the city centre. Next job - work out a walking tour (gpsmycity.com).

In this case, it's not a tender port. You mention not being in the first group. Does that mean it's organised in some way and you have to get "permission" to get off, rather than just walking off?

My ship is scheduled to be in port from 10.00 till 17.00. How soon after arrival would it be usual for me to be able to disembark? Apologies for asking - I know I should know this from our previous O cruise, but I've forgotten. TIA John

The most recent brochure I've received in the UK was devoted to cruises to which a short land programme is included in the cruise price. For example, take a cruise ending in Cape Town and you get a 3 (?) day safari as well. Not seen that before in the several years I've been getting promotions from O. I can see how it may well appeal.

When we were on Marina in 2017, my companion's birthday was on the night we had a reservation at Jacques. Almost at the end of the meal, the restaurant manager whispered in my ear that "something was about to happen". Next minute - singing waiters with cake. Which was a tad awkward as she thought I had arranged it - and that's just something we would never, ever, do. I presume the date must have been flagged on their computer system.

It's about an hour's drive. I've only driven from the airport whihc is about 45 minutes, so I've added a bit for the city centre traffic.

If you're happy to go to the northwest of the island, you'll find almost deserted stretches of beach between Puerto Pollensa and Puerto Alcudia. Near to the towns is as busy and touristy as anywhere else on the island but in the middle you could very easily be on your own. It's a lovely spot and I enjoy walking along the beach there. But whether it's worth the schlep is entirely another question.

I've used parking4cruises before and would use them again without question. Reasonable price, easy to deal with, secure parking (they photographed the car as evidence of any existing denst and scratches). Drop-off (and pick up) point was almost directly opposite the terminal. So, drove up to the terminal, handed our bags over to a porter, drove over the road to leave the car and then strolled over to check in. On return, left my partner with the bags at the terminal, collected the car and drove over. All done within a few minutes

You're now including two factors that will considerably bump up your insurance. First, is that you're visiting the caribbean which insurers will generally regard as the same as the USA. And second, you're cruising which always seems to carry a premium. FWIW, we have a string of pre-existing conditions which make getting insurance tricky, as and when we can get anything. Currently with All Clear - with an annual policy including Cruises, but not the USA - cost is £1400.

It's some years ago, but I have it in mind we used the red bus. It was fine and I imagine we'll use it again when in the city in a few weeks. I havnt looked but have you spotted any difference between the two companies - maybe frequency of bus?