Harters

Not when you have Google, JB. All is quickly revealed.

I'd forgotten that we have had lunch at this place in town, having caught a mid morning ferry back from France and before setting off north. Basic "pub grub" type food but my recollection is that it was better than you'd get in the chains. https://www.cullinsyard.co.uk/

Indeed. I've seen "1 walker" excursions saying it involves two hours walking. Beyond us these days. We read the descriptions very carefully.

Ah, bless. There's nothing like stereotyping, is there? So, Americans, eh? Where to start.......😀

Almost everywhere accepts cash. You may come across the occasional place that is "card only" but it's unusual.

My partner's name for tinned tuna.

Me neither - until this thread. Love it. Never realised there was a collective noun for such folk. My late father in law would have been a classic - he cruised with P & O and ate steak for dinner many nights because all the other choices were too fancy/flavoured for him.

I do not usually diss other people's food recommendations - we all have our own tastes and likes/dislikes. But, let's be honest here, Table-Table is probably the bottom end of Premier Inn's several restaurant chains. It is the antipathy of the non-touristy little local joint that firstjourney is looking for. Go if you cannot find anything better in town - but looking at Tripadvisor restaurant listing will probably find you several better. And, yes, I have eaten in this particular Table-Table when we stayed at the Premier Inn some while back. In more recent years, we've stayed at the PI on the outskirts of town and have once eaten at their adjacent Beefeater restaurant which was, at least, OK.

Talk to your butler when you get on board.

Indeed. Lots of people love the daily port visits. But not us. Our recent transatlantic convinced us (if such was needed) that the ship is the holiday, not where it goes. It's why next years cruise may be our last - we're paying a lot of money (over a land based holiday) to visit places that we're not overly fussed about visiting.

We've just been on Vista's TA and we loved all those sea days. For our next cruise - which is a port intensive one - we'll regard some of the port days as though they were sea days. That way, we'll finish the holiday relaxed and not frazzled from dashing about every day for a fortnight.

Looking at Oceania's website, it looks like we're tendering. If that's wrong, then the port is about 6km away from the city centre.

My apologies to the OP who I wrongly described as an American, not a North American. And, yes, I do know the difference between an American and a Canadian - hockey, zed not zee, Commonwealth member, etc. Or, as I once read, a Canadian is an unarmed American with health care. 😀

Which we did in 2022. JB mentions many of the "out and about" places but you could happily spend a day just mooching about in town. If doing so, my solid recommendation for lunch would be fish & chips at Bennetts (at the Town Bridge). So good it could be northern.

I'm not at all sure that I know what this is. Makes me wonder if my accent is similar to someone from Norway or Slovenia. Do we all sound alike to Americans?

That is how switches always are here in the UK. Off is like this .... /

We each had a whole pizza - the mushroom one and the vegetarian one. I also had the starter of burrata, tomato and Palma ham which, in Waves defence, was excellent

Having had the pizza in Waves on Vista the other week, this isnt something I'd be holding my breath over. We found the pizza OK but no better than OK - think good quality supermarket pizza, rather than your favourite pizza place at home.

Choice. We've found nicer places for "fly and flop" holidays and on shorter flights. Mallorca is a favourite. But we are doing a longer flight in the autumn to return to Cyprus - we're trying an upmarket all-inclusive resort, just to see how the hotel side of things compares with an Oceania cruise. It's about half the price of next years Vista cruise so, if it's as good as we hope, our cruising days may be coming to an end.

FWIW, Malta was my first ever overseas beach holiday. That'd be in about 1970. Not been back to the island since.

I understand this. We were as underwhelmed with Red Ginger on Vista as we had been on Marina. I doubt we'll bother making a reservation for our 2025 cruise. In terms of hitting the mark on expected flavours, it lags behind the other three specialities

Hi there. Pleased to read you enjoyed Masters.. I'm afraid I'm not going to be much help here. It's some years since I stayed in/near Dover as I've not been crossing to France recently. But, I've always regarded Dover as a food desert I'm afraid. The best I can come up with from personal experience is Rocksalt in nearby Folkestone. I know it's changed hands since I was there but a look at the website indicates it's still very much a seafood restaurant, playing heavily on local produce and locally landed seafood. Will you have a car for your stay? That would obviously open up a wider selection within a easy drive but not great if you're having to rely on public transport or a taxi.

I must have misunderstood your post. I'd assumed that when you referred to the lounge being "before" the laundry, you meant it was a bit further down the corridor, not in the same space as the laundry. The Concierge Lounge, on Deck 9, is a few metres from the laundry room - which is just a room for laundry. I've no idea what scenario would have you walking through a door into a lounge which led to the laundry. If there is such, I dont know where it is.

Oh, I so wish. In my dreams I see myself as some sort of "spook". Sounds much more glamourous than being part of the admin team at a local probation office. I do have an e-pal who did work for the spooks though before he retired - at GCHQ at Cheltenham.

That's the Concierge Lounge. If you're in a Concierge cabin, your key card will open the door. Available for snacks, drinks, newspapers and, of course, the concierge.