Bigdasher

You would have driven past my house ( on the way down to Sumburgh)...Anyhow, car hire, Grantfield Garage ( with whom I have no connection) are very good. They are a short walk from where the Ships dock, and are so accommodating. So pleased you saw the puffins and St Ninians Isle. BTW, don't overlook the visitors centre in Hoswick, they do a proper pot of tea and a fine piece ( cake)

Here's my 2p.

Fly to Edinburgh. Spend a few days there - fabulous place for walking around, great museums, do a ghost walk, take an open top bus. Good hotels and its a beautiful introduction to the UK. And there is a world class art gallery. Don't be conned into getting a tram or taxi (££) into the city centre, get on the Bus, dead inexpensive and a nice journey.

Then to London. You are strongly advised to take the Caledonian Sleeper. Tartan Blankets, little guests carriage ( with drinks) good company. Then to bed, to be woken the next morning by your steward with a coffee and some shortbread. You arrive in LOndon, right into the heart of London, no taxi fares no hassle.

Spend a few days in London, ( can't stand the place personally)...but then get a train out towards the West, to Bath. From there you can do a coach excursion to some lovely Cotswold villages, or even Stonehenge. Back to London, fly out to Rome.

NOw driving. Even as a Britisher, driving in the south of England is mental. They are merciless...please noooo. Think of your worst driving experience, now think of doing it with the wheel on the other side of the car, roundabouts that go the other way, and all this with ....a shift stick.

Finally Ireland, you can do that another day...if you want to be daring go to Wales. Its not far from Bath, and a few days in Swansea or the Gower Peninsula might be very cultural. And you might meet some that speak Welsh, with all the lovely double L's. And Wales is famous for lots of people, Richard Burton, Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Catherine Zeta Jones...

Remember less is more.

Dayle

I'll post what happens in a couple of weeks. Now MrsPoppadom, having looked that the Dolphin Mall, there appears to be a very good fishing shop on site. So for the last night of our stay we are staying nearer the airport, so that "him indoors" can visit me....

I used the official website (esta.cbp.dhs.gov, and paid $14 for each of us - ot was a group application. But the good news is that I just checked ( panic!) and we are all approved. Another thing off the tick list, but been reading a airport review site and seriously thinking now that 90mins may not be enough time to do the immigration thing, get bags and meet taxi man on time. Miami airport sounds totally chaotic. Any tips to get through faster appreciated. Nose bleed?, fainting?....

Mrs D

Thank you Rumps and Popps. I looked at GOES, but it involves an interview and as we are leaving next Friday, it would be cutting it fine.

Popps, I didn't know about the automated machines. I have allowed 90 mins now with the taxi man to get through. It will be sods law that we are just waived through, and that being the case I ( we) will have a coffee, and my daughter her much longed for Cinnabon ( hope they have an outlet in the airport).

The Dolphin Mall. I am not a lover of these supermall, so something smaller would have been fine for me, but the hotel in Sawgrass is booked. Next year we cruise from Fort Lauderdale again, and most likely will do the Miami flight again and I can go there then.

I spent most of yesterday doing the ( insert expletive) ESTA forms ( there are four of us) and then the RCL online booking. Have to wait 3 days for the US authorities to tell us that we pose no danger. I am just thankful I did it yesterday, I had no idea that it is hoop jumping. I thought that you filled your form, pay your money and get the OK. And in two years I get to do it all over again.

2 years ago, we were flying to San Francisco, and I wasn't aware that the card you filled in on the plane business had stopped and the ESTA had started. Ended up stuck in Frankfurt Airport and paying a fortune for it to be expedited at a desk the US Government rep has there. Good job I have low blood pressure. Catching the connecting flight was literally skin of my teeth.

Best get some precrusie cleaning done. Blue skies and snow in Aberdeen, but my lum is reeking so I'm a happy quine!

Mrs D

Thank you so much. Got the travel insurance marked off my to-do list. I went with a company called Just travel cover ( codotuk) and it cost £70ish for 2 weeks cruise and USA

Had a good think about my husband ( and no it didn't involve the impending valentines day!). He last had an asthma attack several years ago and uses an inhaler infrequently - so being pragmatic, I don't consider he does have a medical condition. I have to use a inhaler on the odd occasion, but seriously me asthmatic? - nah. So for him, the daughter and the boyfriend, it came to £60 with Leisure Guard Lite ( as recommended by Money saving expert Martin Lewis). Hopefully no one has any horror stories, if so please tell me, as I have time to cancel.

Taking all your hints and tips on board, as I have booked another cruise for 2017.....

Mrs Dasher

and my next question is...

Arriving at Miami at about 18.00 on a Friday ,and have am booking a car to take us down to Sawgrass prior to the sailing on Sunday morning.

Having had a horrible 90 minute wait - immigration there couldn't organise a pi$$ up in a brewery- at San Francisco last year, I don't know what time to tell the taxi man to pick us up.

Anyone?

TIA,

D

Thank you for getting back to me. I am well and truly over a barrel on this one, as Mr Bull says, if I break my leg, they will say was due to the bones being weakend ( is that how you spell it, it just doesn't look right) due to the chemotherapy. But the good news is that next year I wont have to declare any of it as my treatment will have been more than 2 years previous.

My husband, on the other hand, uses a inhaler once in a blue moon. Looks like we have to declare that too. At this rate our next holiday is going to be in Pontypool......

have a good weekend,

D

Just a quick question. Doing a Caribbean Cruise in a few weeks and then a week in Florida. Have only ever taken 1 cruise before and for that we took out American Express Insurance. Ten years later it seems to have changed..., do I just take out standard travel insurance, or do I have to have Cruise insurance?

Also have had Cancer treatment ( all clear given yesterday - yay), but if I disclose this the premium for standard insurance goes interstellar. Advice and a bottle of gin appreciated.

TIA Dale

About the time both my brother and I left home to start our own families, both of my parents quit. My father did it quite dramatically. As we were pulling out of our driveway for a cross country road trip, he stopped at the end of the driveway, paused for several minutes, then threw his cigarette out the window. That was the very last cigarette he ever smoked. He went from a two pack a day smoker to complete abstinence in mere minutes.

So your father had never tried to stop smoking before, and he succeeded in quitting the very first time?. That's remarkable..he was very lucky and didn't have the failures that so many people who try to quit have

My mother quit a few years later, but not so suddenly. [/color]

 

Why not - if giving up is so easy?

 

So, no, don't use that "addictive" line on me. I lived first hand how easy it was to not start in the first place despite growing up in a smoking environment, and observed how people with actual will power can quit if they truly want to.

 

Well based on your sample size of two, I bow my head to your epidemiological expertise and knowledge of tobacco addiction. Enjoy life in your ivory tower!

How you got from "smoke free" to "alcohol free" defies logic. If the person next to me has a drink and I do not, I suffer no ill health effects. If he smokes and I don't, I am subject to the harmful effects of the toxins in his second hand smoke. NO THANK YOU!

 

In light of all the clear evidence that smoking kills, how anyone can continue to do so is just so unbelievable!

OMG - yes smoking does kill, but how many more deaths are caused by alcohol?...how many innocent people are assaulted by drunks?, how much domestic violence is caused by alcohol, how many children are traumatised by drunk parents. Then there are the deaths of caused by drink drivers ( such as a family member of mine) Just because there are drink driving laws doesn't mean there aren't drivers who get behind the wheel of a car. We all personally know victims of "second hand drinking" - I however can't think of a victim of second hand smoking who I personally know.

That statistic is quite the red herring. True, reports are that smoking is slightly on the rise worldwide. But only in poor, third world countries. All the developed countries that have a rich enough economy that it's residents can afford to cruise have seen significant drops in smoking in the last decade.

 

Since it's people from the more affluent countries with dropping smoking rates who spend money on cruising, it is no risk to the cruise lines with restrictive smoking policies that smoking is increasing in the demographics that can't afford to spend their meager income on a cruise.

 

Let's keep the facts relevant and not spin them to make an invalid point.

 

 

 

The fact that the first thing you do when considering a ship is where the smoking areas are makes it quite clear why you trot out such dubious statistics in the first place. I pity you that your first decision is on where the smoking ares are rather than on the itinerary or the other amenities of the ship. :rolleyes:

I think you sloopsailer need to understand the how addictive nicotine is and why the smokers first priority would be to find somewhere where they can have their next "fix". The hold that tobacco has over a smoker is intense, and I have seen smokers walk five miles to a shop at three in the morning to get cigarettes and push their hands down the back of the sofa to find change to buy cigarettes. I've seen mothers give birth and the next thing they do is go and stand outside the hospital for a cigarette. Such is the power of the addiction. Its not a filthy habit, it is an addiction.

No it is not acceptable to ostracise smokers like this. If we are going to have smoke free cruises, then perhaps we ought to have alcohol free cruises too. The public health cost of alcohol and its externalities far outweighs that of cigarette smoking, but alcohol drinking is so socially acceptable ( in fact you are viewed as having something wrong with you if you don't drink), whereas if you smoke, you are treated like a leper.

And by the way, I am not a smoker