John Bull

Invergordon is certainly the simpler of the two, and offers a wider range of tours. It has two cruise berths, and altho the town itself has nothing of interest to visitors, as a base there's a range of scenic tours. Simplest, just a 30 minute drive away, is Inverness. And just 15 minutes beyond, is Culloden Moor, the final battle which in 1746 put an end to the Jacobite Rebellion. Most extensive for a port-of-call day would be either..... a circular road trip from east coast to west coast alongside a number of lochs to the Kyle of Lochalsh, then west to east past Eileen Donan Castle, hills & lochs to Loch Ness and turning north to run alongside Loch Ness past Urquhart Castle and back to Invergordon. That's driving time of 4 to 4 1/2 hours, almost all scenic, and would allow another 90 - 120 minutes for a visit to Urquhart Castle and a number of photo-stops. https://goo.gl/maps/uznZ1UnLvxGTA2Uz6 Or 3 1/2 drive-time for a circular tour taking in the foothills of the Grampian Mountains and the famous Speyside whisky distilleries, and time for short diversions to Culloden Moor and a number of castles/fortified country houses. https://goo.gl/maps/uznZ1UnLvxGTA2Uz6 Or for something simpler, John o'Groats is about 2hrs 15 mins (e/w) to the north or Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness is about an hour (e/w) south. And many more road-tour options. Roads mainly have very little traffic. I've only seen the Orkneys from the mainland and know nothing about them, but I do wonder whether the scenery is a little more sparse and the places to visit quite limited. Hopefully others will contribute to tell me the error of my presumptions 😉 JB 🙂

My experience of tendering anywhere, including Santorini, has always been that the last tender leaves 60 minutes before the advertised sailing time, though clearly others have experienced a 30-minute deadline. Two hours is a nonsense except perhaps for exceptionally long tender rides That's the time you have to be at the tender pier, not on the ship. And if the line for the tender hasn't been mopped-up by last-tender time, they will continue running until it's cleared. I've even seen passengers sheepishly joining the back of the tender line after last-tender time - but they're seriously pushing their luck.😮 Last Tender Time will be in the previous evening's ship's newsletter, and displayed at the gangway. (that's ship's time, which isn't always the same as local time, but I don't think the times will be different at those ports.) Yes, passengers will be clicked aboard, the crew will know if/who/how many are unaccounted for. Whether the ship will wait for those who've not arrived on time will depend on a number of factors, including availability of a pilot, sea & tide conditions, minimum time required to get to the next port, etc. Of no concern to those who return to the tender pier by boat, but the line for the cablecar can stretch for up to a couple of hours, and the time taken to walk down the zig-zag path is about 25 -30 minutes (not unsafe or arduous) JB 🙂

Mebbe you've been using the wrong search words? Try something like "coach holidays in the UK". The big national players in the UK include https://www.shearings.com/coach-holidays/uk https://www.leger.co.uk/uk (Leger & Shearings are part of the same group) https://www.johnsonscoaches.co.uk/holidays/ https://www.majestictours.co.uk/ Those big coach operators can take you on any of their tours from any of their hundreds of pick-up points - you are collected by a coach which might be heading out on a tour to anywhere in vaguely the right direction and taken to one of a number of large motorway service areas, where you are switched to "your" tour coach (which will have started from elsewhere). Those tours tend to be available any week in the season. The flexibility comes at a price -depending on the locations of your start point & your vacation hotel the first and last days will probably be taken up with travelling. If you book from a London location it will be easier because of the number of coaches which start in London. There are also local tour operators. They don't tend to use transfer coaches, tho they might use their own minibuses for outlying pick-up points up to about 20 miles away. For Southampton, best-known are https://www.angelaholidays.co.uk/ https://www.lucketts.co.uk/holidays/summer-holidays/ I've driven UK tours for both of these operators, they provide good value and tour groups are very friendly, ending up as almost one big family. The majority of passengers are retired. Because these regional operators are essentially providing holidays for a local market, the problem is likely to be tying together a tour which appeals and a date which suits. (If you are flying or porting elsewhere, respond with the location - and mebbe dates - and I can suggest local operators) The vast majority of coach tours are based at a single resort hotel, with day trips from the hotel to local sights. .Accommodation is almost-always on a half-board basis, coaches are normally 44 - 49 seaters, always air-conditioned, with bathroom, no-smoking, sometimes with wi-fi. JB 🙂 .

Southampton (note the spelling) is about 80 miles from central London, and the best advice depends on your location in central London (or airport-land?), and the numbers in your party. And mebbe the date / day-of-the-week. JB 🙂

County Hall is an excellent location - London Eye, river cruises, & the riverside walks of the South Bank are close by, 5 minute walk from Waterloo station, and at the other end of the adjacent Westminster Bridge are Big Ben, Whitehall etc. Historic in its own right too - it was the headquarters of the (former) London County Council. Family rooms at the Premier Inn County Hall are for two adults and two under-16s, but family rooms at the Marriott County Hall don't appear to have that restriction. JB 🙂

For door-to-door tour-transfers from your ship in Southampton to your hotel consider the International Friends' cruise tour-transfer via Salisbury, Stonehenge & Windsor. https://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/southampton-cruise-tour-transfer-to-london.html The £99 per adult fare doesn't include admissions. Do buy your Stonehenge admission tickets with your coach tickets (there's only a distant view from the coach and buying at the gate is subject to numbers & could leave you sat on the coach for 90 minutes while others go visit) You might want to decide on the day whether to pay for admission inside Salisbury cathedral (not available sundays) and Windsor castle, depending on time available, weather etc. - you can see both of them up-close from outside and - unlike Stonehenge, which is in the back end of nowhere - they're both in historic & interesting surroundings. But that tour-transfer will take up the whole of your arrival day, leaving only a trunkated evening in central London - if your flight is next-day before late afternoon / evening you'll not have any time for sight-seeing in central London next morning. In that case I suggest you get to London by quickest means, which is by train from Southampton Central (the furthest cruise terminal is no more than a £10 / 6 to 8 minute taxi ride) to London Waterloo station. Train journey about 90 minutes, so you could be in central London by about 11 am https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ After dropping your bags at the hotel, consider a round-trip on a ho-ho (about 2hrs 15 mins) or a walk from Parliament Square (Big Ben, Westminster Abbey ) up Whitehall past Churchill's War Rooms (only worthwhile if you go inside), Banqueting House, Downing Street (Prime Minister's residence), Horse Guards Parade and other iconic sights) to Trafalgar Square. If you can't decide which or want to do both, mebbe take the ho-ho from Waterloo (stop 4 on the linked map) & hop off near Trafalgar Square (stop 2) to walk down Whitehall to Big Ben & back to your hotel. https://www.tootbus.com/en/london/map In the evening - if you're still awake 😛 - mebbe the nightlife of Leicester Square or Covent Garden. If you choose the cruise tour-transfer mebbe a hotel near Paddington station for a fast direct train to Heathrow next day https://www.heathrowexpress.com/ If you choose by train, a hotel near Waterloo station and a pre-booked private transfer to Heathrow. Post back if your flight is from Gatwick. ------------------------------------------------------ I'm assuming you're from North America. The vast majority of hotel rooms in the UK and in Europe generally are twin or double, few have family rooms. Apartments might be difficult to book for just one night. I'm a country boy, not a Londoner, but if you don't get any suggestions here, you might want to try TripAdvisor. JB 🙂

A number of options, the usual ones are Dubai (a rather uneven split), or Kuala Lumpur or Singapore or Hong Kong or Bangkok When we've flown UK to Aus we've broken the journey at the intermediate stop for 24 / 48 hours, at no extra cost JB 🙂

That's absolutely the starting point. Tip zilch if the guide's not up-to-scratch. Brits would probably tip a good guide a total of about £10 for a half-day, £20 for a full day. So for a tour with just four people that's £5 per couple half-day, and £10 per couple full day Minibus £1 to £1.50 each depending on numbers, ship's bus tour £1 each or per couple. But, to emphasise, it's entirely up to you, there's no automatic expectation - you tip whatever you feel its worth. And if a guide in the UK reminded me of an expectation, the tip money would stay in my pocket 😝 BTW one of those full day tours is double the price of the other - that'll be down to entrance fees etc, and shows how a percentage tip doesn't work - £10 pp for one guide & £20 pp for the other??????????? JB 🙂

SPLIT I suspect that the "amazing waterfall" near Split is in Krka National Park. It's an hour by road from Split, and I fear you would be under-whelmed - we visited on a road-trip and felt it a waste of a day. It's a great place for locals to take the family for a picnic, but IMHO not worth the trip for a tourist. There's nothing else of interest in the Park for anyone on the restricted hours of a port-of-call visit to Split - boat trips above the waterfall start too early in the day. You access the waterfall by a short boat trip from Skradin, but other than a path alongside the waterfall it's just a photo-opportunity. Ignore photos which show kids enjoying paddling below the waterfall - that's now forbidden. The main attraction of Split is the old part of town including the Diocletian's Palace, as per Cruiseom's post. From the cruise berths it's a ten-minute waterside walk past the ferry berths. A simple, interesting, & economical day. The historic waterside town of Trogir is an 18-mile bus ride, about 45 - 60 minutes. Perhaps now a little too touristic, and some folk complain that it's over-crowded, but we enjoyed a couple of days there. Or rent a car and drive the coast road (route 8 ) perhaps as far as the Bosnia border, for glorious views of the islands & Adriatic and a taste of rural Croatia. Or for a lazy beach day it's a ten minute walk over or around the headland to Bacvice Beach. ....................................................... KOTOR Don't miss the sail in or out thro the channel to Kotor. There's just one cruise berth, big enough only for small to medium-size ships. It's literally across the road from the walled city. Other cruise ships moor in the channel, and tender to that cruise pier - the channel is very well protected, almost like a lake, and I can't imagine any risk of tenders being unable to operate. Attractive & historic little town, we loved it. Altho it's quite a small town & there were three cruise ships that day it didn't feel crowded. Consider a small-boat ride to Perast and the two tiny islands (one man-made, with a little church Our Lady of the Rocks, and an interesting back-story). On sale in the underpass between the cruise berth and the old town, or possibly bookable on-line. Particularly enjoyable on an overly-hot day. Local buses and the ho-ho buses also go to Perast JB 🙂

Thanks for the update - long after other lines were offering all-you-can drink, P& O continued with just discounts on wine packages ,but I should've either checked or said something like "as far as I know". But I'm too lazy to do either.🙄 And thanks for the reasoning for why my cousins in Doncaster can drink me under the table 😁 JB 🙂

The time of year is difficult in the northern hemisphere, the choices are weather-dependent so limited to the Caribbean or Canaries - or the Red Sea if any cruise line reinstates cruises there. Weather in the western Med can be decent in November, but it all has an out-of-season atmosphere. And I would not recommend a sailing from the UK - the Atlantic, especially the Bay of Biscay, and even the English Channel, all have a tendency to cut up rough at that time of the year. And they involve many more sea-days hence fewer ports-of-call. So you should be looking at a fly-cruise. The Canaries are as close as you can hope for decent weather, though it's not guaranteed. And a cruise-line organised charter flight solves a few problems............... - Both P&O and Marella offer direct charter flights to Canary cruises from UK regional airports, so no flight complications or stop-overs . - Your Fly-Cruise is a single package, if either the flight or the cruise cannot go ahead you are entitled to a refund of the entire price. - everyone on the aircraft is on the same cruise (on Marella shared with some on TUI land holiday packages) so you feel that your holiday has started as soon as you board the aircraft. - the transfer from airport to ship is a fully escorted and well-drilled operation - no worries about fixing (and finding) transport. - whereas usually passengers are unceremoniously kicked-off the ship around 8.30 to 9.30am on the last day, P&O and Marella passengers have the run of the ship until their return flight transfers are called - even if they're delayed. No service-charge add-ons on P&O or Marella either. P&O don't include all-you-can-drink packages, but their bar prices are the same as provincial pubs. Marella's all-you-can-drink package is now included in all their cruises - not a comprehensive package, and my record is 12 Pina Coladas in one afternoon yet I could still have steered the ship if asked, so either I can hold my drink (I can't) or their cocktails are weak. But on our last Marella cruise our total on-board spend was under £4 !!! (tourist tax, Croatia) I recall a really crowded cruise with Royal Caribbean, but no crowding on any P&O or Marella, other than (same as Edinburgher) in the evening in Marella's main bar, the Squid & Anchor, and a P&O bar on comedy nights. So for a seven-day break look at P&O or Marella for a chartered fly-cruise. But whereas there are some great late deals on fly-cruises, flights from Scotland usually book-out early and no convenient alternate airport, so bear in mind Billish's comment about booking in time to avoid the cost & grief of a long drive to Manchester airport or a flight to Gatwick or wherever. If your pocket and home commitments can stretch to a two week cruise, consider the Caribbean - guaranteed weather and a great mix of islands. Marella also offer 7-day Caribbean cruises, but that's a long way to o for just 7 days.. Again, P & O or Marella fly-cruise, same advantages & even smoother transfers - with P&O you don't go thro luggage carousel, immigration, etc at the destination airport - you go from aircraft direct to transfer bus, and your bags which you last saw in the UK will appear outside your cabin. Marella's ships are hand-me-downs, retired from other lines & re-furbished so don't have all the whistles & bells of new ships. But in our experience a more intimate and friendly atmosphere. Oh, yes - and plenty of Scots. Pros & cons for both lines, but for a Brit's first cruise I's strongly recommend a P&O or Marella fly-cruise. We're not allowed to name travel agents on this forum, but google "cruise specialists UK" rather than the usual high street travel agents. And phone them. They're a mine of useful information, and you'll get to figure which is the most helpful. When you've decided which a cruise - no matter via which agent - phone the agent that you prefer and ask them to match or better the price you've been quoted. (Bear in mind that Marella is part of the TUI / Thomson group, so they're likely to know more about Marella, but also likely to be biased in favour of Marella) JB 🙂 Edited to add - Yes, Billish, just seen he posts by JimmyTheSaint and Velvetwater, and responding as predicted 😄 Clearly Jimmy had a bad experience with Marella - but even super-luxury lines like Regent Seven Seas or Silversea get the occasional bad review. Not doubting Jimmy's experience, but I always ignore both gushing and diabolical reviews and look for the average. Other comments on this thread are at the very least moderately positive and on average Marella doesn't do too badly elsewhere either. And, Velvetwater, anyone who sails NCL without being pre-warned about their industry-wide reputation for nickel-and-diming will get a shock at the end of the cruise when they receive their on-board bill - something like $18 per person per night service charge, plus 18% service charge on already-overpriced drinks. And hellfire you can't even take your own water on-board, you have to buy their over-priced bottles of the stuff. Each line has its pros & cons - those with too many cons go bust.

This is all getting very silly, and this is my final post about irrelevant phraseology. It was the Eagle who chose to disagree with my use of "visa waiver", saying "You can't have a visa waiver if you don't need a visa in the first place" - and you concurred. But nowadays to visit the States we Brits do need a visa waiver (the phraseology of US Homeland Security) even though we didn't need a visa in the first place. And that makes perfect sense - they're now being more careful about who they admit but they'll settle for a less-complex visa-waiver instead of a visa for citizen of "safe" countries. Canada mentions UK citizens as "Visa-exempt (eTA eligible)", another phrase with the same meaning. True, the EU doesn't mention "visa waiver", it mentions only "travel authorisation", but that's the self-same phrase used in the acronyms ESTA as well as ETIAS and eTA and doubtless half-a-dozen more around the globe. ETIAS doesn't exist yet, and I've yet to see a name for the proposed UK equivalent other than its acronym is likely to include ETA, but I have little doubt that all will be referred to - rightly or wrongly - as visa-waivers. But importantly it doesn't matter what they're called as long as people know whether they need one - and klfrodo must be laughing their socks off at this irrelevant little spat kicked-off by their simple question 🙃. And as I said at the start, this is my final post about irrelevant phraseology. JB 😋😉

Katakolon is for Olympia, plain & simple. https://www.katakolon-express.com/katakolon/ Rent a car (good value for four), or book on the Katakolon Express coach, or ship's tour (ships' tours are always over-priced but Marella's are consistently better value than others'). There's a naff beach and, as Rebel Rouser's post, one street in Katakolon, and nothing / nowhere in range that we've ever found worthwhile other than Olympia JB 🙂

Yep, that's absolutely the right attitude JB 🙂

Our experience four weeks ago, it may have changed since.......................... Nobody anywhere worried about our Covid passes or the required previous day's negative test until we reached the cruise terminal in Corfu. And no worries anywhere about face-masks, let alone the Italian govt's "mandatory" N95) . There our docs (incl travel insurance) were fleetingly checked, then a Covid test which we did ourselves - "sort-of " observed, Handed the sruff back, then into the next room where we watched a useful video on loop until our names (or was it numbers?) were called asking us to board the port bus. Sounds complicated, but it was quick & efficient and the entire registration at the terminal was no more than about 20 minutes. BTW ........... Face masks weren't worn on the aircraft or airports or outdoors or in any buses or taxis that we used or anywhere on the ship, altho all ship's crew had to wear them. We were unlucky in that we arrived in Corfu behind a stack of other aircraft. Delay in getting an airport bus to terminal and bedlam in the luggage hall - but those who arrived in the hour before us and a couple of ours after us said it was quick & easy. But Corfu airport has a well-deserved reputation - the departure hall is mixed domestic and international and for the flight home the main grief comes after security - a line snaking round the departures hall to the immigration desks at the far end took us 90 minutes, much of that time fending off queue-jumpers. Super itinerary, .......... Historic Koper was right by the port - small but delightful Trieste was pretty boring, we didn't take the 2-hour bus ride to Venice cos we've been there before. Split. Diocletians Palace in the old part is a 15 - 20 minute waterside walk. Dubrovnik We took a taxi from the cruise port to the top of Mount Srd, then the cablecar down to the walled city, then taxi back to the ship. Kotor is beautiful, berthed right by the old town. Great sail-in and sail-away too. JB 🙂

Public transport in S E England (indeed, even throughout England) is London-centric. All public transport options for travel to Dover from a "London" airport is a pain, to Southampton by direct bus (from LHR) or train (from LGW) is simpler. But either airport to central London is very very easy with a number of options. And if you spend pre-cruise time in central London, both Dover and Southampton have excellent links from central London. From London or its airports, most folk travel down to Dover or Southampton on sailing day, altho' Dover is mebbe worth considering a day earlier (to visit Dover Castle), and Southampton much the same for a variety of options. But Rome is as iconic as London, both are well worth several days pre-cruise, though both are expensive. If you're planning to pay for the kids' cruise, mebbe give them the option of adding a few days pre-cruise if they pay the extra cost. JB 🙂

Agreed, G., the EU doesn't (yet 😉) use the terms "visa" or "visa-waiver", it calls the up-coming ETIAS a "Travel Authorisation". Only when checking this out have I learned that ETIAS stands for "European Travel Information and Authorisation System". The only official info I could find from the EU is at https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/schengen-borders-and-visa/smart-borders/european-travel-information-authorisation-system_en The objectives that it gives are the same as the objectives of the ESTA visa-waiver. And BTW, that website mention a start date of November 2023, though I wouldn't put too much faith in that date. But isn't this is all getting a bit pedantic, gents? I'm not sure that this conversation is worth pursuing any further, because whatever one calls an ESTA or ETIAS is irrelevant to the traveller - if you need one you need one, even travel professionals use grammatically-incorrect terms for ESTAs & ETIASs, and checking out an ETIAS visa or ETIAS visa-waiver or ETIAS travel authorisation or just plain ESTA or ETIAS all lead to the same place. Far far more important is the OP's use of "US resident" rather than "US citizen", which does have a bearing on requirements JB 🙂

If the original itinerary was a day in Haifa and two in Ashdod, it's a shame to miss Haifa. But if the second day in Ashdod was at the expense of Haifa - just IMHO of course - that's a better itinerary, cos Jerusalem is bucket-list and we rated Masada as spectacular, especially swimming in the Dead Sea and the panoramic view of it from the fortress. And the tour in my earlier post that we chose from Haifa was excellent too. Coincidentally our second time in Haifa (two days) was a very late switch at the expense of Ashdod, from where we'd planned a two-day road trip. The plunging gardens on Day one (taxi to the top, only to find they were closed due to overnight rain so we walked back down adjoining streets instead of thro the gardens) and Akko by train on Day two - nowhere near as interesting as we'd imagined. But then we're not light-house freaks 😄😉 All part of the trials & tribulations of cruisin' JB 🙂

Usually Syntagma Square - between the Parliament and The Plaka. The National Gardens is a 6 minutes walk, Lycabettus Hill in the opposite direction, a 15-20 min walk. JB 🙂

Torquay harbour is way too small for even the smallest cruise ships. I don't know where tenders offload, I suspect it's Beacon Quay/Haldon Pier, which is at one end of the touristy bit, with cafes & attractions right by. Torquay is a Victorian seaside resort town, close to the harbour and pleasant enough on foot but many of Torbay's attractions are too far to walk Babbacombe Model Village & cliff railway are two miles. Or Torre Abbey is about a mile / 20 minute walk. Or a mile further is the historic hamlet of Cockington (I remember Cockington Forge from when I was a nipper) - a 20 minute walk from the bus route. Torbay has three resorts, the other two are Paignton (3.5 miles)is a much more bucket-and-spade and kiss-me-quick hats resort than Torquay, but there's an excellent steam train + River Dart cruise from Paignton station https://www.dartmouthrailriver.co.uk/tickets/steam-cruise Brixham (9 miles). A delightful fishing village, though tourism is now much more important. https://www.englishriviera.co.uk/things-to-do I'm not a local & don't know the local buses, but they are excellent - for instance they run every ten minutes between Torquay & Paignton (15 minute journey) & Brixham (a further 15 to 20 minutes) https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/south-west/discover-torbay-by-bus JB 🙂

Premier Inn Dover Central (linked to excellent pub / restaurant) and Best Western Plus Dover Marina are both on the waterfront. Best Western a 15 min walk from the cruise terminal, Premier Inn 20 mins. We've stayed at that Premier Inn, excellent budget+, There's also a Travelodge on the other side of the main docks road. JB 🙂

NOW you tell me 😄 Haifa rail station was very handy to the port, the train was cheap, comfortable, frequent and quick.🙂 But Akko station was quite a hike from the citadel.😟 JB 🙂

As illegal immigration and the movements of terrorists, criminals & undesirables have increased over the years & decades, countries have been strengthening their gates. Visas were to be required for many more countries But the US and then the EU and in due course the UK felt that for nationals of selected countries a simpler, cheaper and faster safeguard would be appropriate - what they have all chosen to call a "visa-waiver". Since they have many of the hallmarks of a visa, I don't chide folk who refer to ESTA or ETIAS "visas", but the governments call them visa-waivers. But if you're right, my feathered friend, you'd best tell US Homeland Security and the European Union. And mebbe forewarn HMG not to make the same mistake 😉 https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visa-waiver-program.html https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta https://uk.usembassy.gov/visas/visa-waiver-program/ https://www.etias.info/ https://www.etiasvisa.com/ https://www.etiasvisa.com/etias-requirements/uk-citizens etc ad infinitum JB 🙂

The US ESTA - and when they are implemented - the EU ETIAS and the UK equivalent are "visa waivers" and affect visitors who do not currently need a "proper" visa. Visitors to the UK from some countries have for some time needed need a tourist visa, work visa, etc., and the same applies to those entering the USA, the EU, and most other countries. That will not change, they will still need a proper visa. Covid has delayed implementation of EU and UK visa-wavers, the EU is planning to introduce the need in May next year and the UK in 2024. When introduced they will be 🤞 as simple as visitors to the US getting their ESTA. On-line application to the official site (avoid the scammers who currently try to pass themselves off as part of Homeland Security and charge a fee), acceptance in seconds for most or a few days for some (happened to me, apparently name similar to a felon). then you can print it off. And, as is the case with ESTAs, theoretically no need to carry a copy cos technology links it to your passport. (Technophobes like JB carry hard copies of such things.) More detail at https://traveltomorrow.com/eu-travelers-will-need-to-apply-apply-for-permission-to-travel-before-entering-the-uk/?fbclid=IwAR3i3wMAOM5ssVQLixHc2o01enBx_ffstCT5E_hQ0nr-ni0NzgLwHC-y-d8 (article based on travellers from the EU, but applies to all.) JB 🙂

We had a port of call in Trieste. Croatian tourist tax added to our shipboard account. Under £2, equivalent to a couple of dollars or thereabouts.. Didn't bankrupt us 😉 JB 🙂