Harters

22 hours ago, Dinje1 said:

That's news to me and Oceania.

It may be news to you. But it certainly isnt to Oceania whose International Sales VP, Jason Worth,  trumpeted the change in the UK travel industry media back in January. 

On 5/31/2024 at 9:38 AM, SquishTheWhale said:

I'm about to just give in and stay on board as we have done previously when stopping here

We have Le Havre on our 2025 cruise and I think that's the conclusion we've also come to. It's a very port intensive cruise and this will be the last day, so chilling out will be no bad thing. 

The Normandy beaches don't appeal. My interest is in the Great War and I'd hoped to find things of interest (my local territorial battalion landed there in September 1914 and several members are buried in the town cemetery ). But it seems WW2 bombing pretty much obliterated the town. I'm going to do some more research and see if any of the places mentioned in the battalion's war diary still stand but I'm not hopeful. 

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

many actively discourage credit card use by adding a surcharge if you pay with a card.

Since 2018, it's been illegal in the UK to add a credit card surcharge. Applies whether the purchase is online or in person. 

3 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

Travelodge was available, so I booked it. It was only one night, fortunately. I do not recommend it. 

Travelodge hotels are a mixed bunch. I used to regularly stay at one in the Brentford area of Greater London which was basic but fine for a night or two. But I stayed at an absolutely awful one in Llandudno a couple of years back - needed lots of maintenance work and didnt even have the usually poor cafe/restaurant. More recently, I've stayed at one of their "new design" hotels at Hexham and found it really nice - better than a PI even.  

All five of Ivan's comrades are buried at Upavon. Four of them, Clayton Brown, James Ferguson, John Holmes and Cecil Smith are buried in graves adjacent to Ivan. Patrick Murphy is buried in Row F. 

I've done some more digging this morning and think I can see what's what.

As far as I can tell, from the CWGC website, is that the only war grave burials are at Upavon Cemetery. This is the place listed on Ivan's CWGC page and is the official name for the cemetery. I think a confusion has arisen with the Canadian VA info in that, at some point in the past (probably post First World War), the CWGC seems to have called it "Upavon Churchyard Extension). You often see battlefield cemeteries in Belgium & France having "Extension" in their name - usually a plot of land near to the village church. I have a great uncle, Benjamin Hartley, killed in 1916, buried in once such. It's known he's in nthe cemetery somewhere but the actual location of his grave has been lost, so he's commemorated on a special memorial. 

My digging finds that someone called Carl (a relative of yours?) has uploaded photos of Ivan to the Find a Grave website. And that my old pals from the War Graves Photographic Project have a photo of his grave.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/39064178/ivan-thomas_hugh-evans

https://www.twgpp.org/photograph/view/3968125

I'm  sure you'll find visiting a moving experience. I know I did when I visited Benjamin's burial place and the grave of my maternal great uncle, killed in 1918 liberating a village in Belgium. 

NOT FORGOTTEN

44 minutes ago, edinburgher said:

as even although much easier flying west it still takes a couple of days

When we were thinking about the transatlantic, I asked on the Oceania forum which direction folk recommended east-west or west-east. And there was an interesting but clear response. Every American suggested east-west, whilst every European suggested west-east. When you read the responses closer, it was apparent that what folk meant was that the best route was the one that ended more in your own time zone (which was my initial supposition). On the several occasions over the decades that we've holidayed in North America and  flown home, I've been totally wrecked, not just from the jet lag but losing a nights sleep as well. I doubt we'll do that sort of holiday again - our aging bodies just resent it too much. 

Ignore the comment about only one WW2 Canadian burial. The CWGC download was playing up. 

I now see there are seven with a Canadian connection, including one from Manitoba. 

4 hours ago, John Bull said:

sufficiently to show how to get into the place, but there's a small "cemetery" sign

With that many burials, there's also likely to be an official CWGC sign pointing the way.

Just curious here, Jessica (I'm something of a CWGC geek, as you might have gathered). I see there's only one WW2 burial there who has a connection with Canada - Cecil Smith. Is that your rellie, or was he serving with British forces? 

2 hours ago, Vallesan said:

Whilst cruise passengers might be good for trade in some areas it must be very difficult for small towns

I think it's the old problem. If your livelihood is dependent on tourism, then tourists are a good thing. But, if not, then they are a pain in the arse. 

I mentioned Soller upthread where the recent protests have focussed on two elements of over tourism. First is crowded beaches. Second is traffic - I gather the local councils are considering closing the tunnel under the mountain which links the town to the route south across the island. The closure would be at busy times, intended to deter visitors  - the other driving option is a road, with lots of hairpin bends over the mountain (not for the faint hearted).

1 hour ago, edinburgher said:

Arriving a day or two ahead is by far the safest and most stress free option..

Particularly for my last cruise, which was a transatlantic, so limited opportunity for catching up. 

So, we flew to Heathrow on the Sunday. Had to do that to be certain of......catching the Monday morning flight to Miami. Which meant, as everything did go well, we had a nice Tuesday in Miami......before boarding on Wednesday. 

14 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

Thank the port and/or City that actually provides the service to better attract the cruise ships

This may possibly be time limited. Mallorca has recently seen protests about the negative effects of over tourism, both in Palma and the town of Soller (where my family members come  from). Whilst they have been mainly directed at the bulk of  tourism to the island which is land based, I doubt cruise ships would  escape any moves by the provincial government to restrict overall numbers. 

8 hours ago, gretnagirl said:

We're not really sure why he wasn't buried in the military cemetery

The big military cemeteries in the UK tend to be near military hospitals but I think Cotswold Eagle's suggestion is right. Looking at the CWGC website page for Upavon, I see there are 99 military burials there (of which 22 are unidentified). There's a photo which shows burials laid out in rows, all with the standard CWGC gravestone. Several are from World War 1 (which is my period of study), including one woman, almost certainly connected with the Flying School that Cotswold mentions. It's a sort of mini military cemetery.

Palma is the only one of these that I know (my nephew and his father originate from the island). The city centre is close to the port area. It's a compact, very walkable city which we've visited several times and would easily keep you occupied for the day. 

There is a very extensive Palma thread on the Spain ports forum:

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2697012-palma-de-mallorca-diy-new/page/26/#comment-67371391

The city centre is quite sprawling in terms of things you might want to see. On a recent cruise, we found the hop on hop off bus very handy for getting round. When there are cruise ships in port, they add a bus stop at the cruise terminal. IIRC, cost is €25.

Upthread, edinburgher mentions Mihas and Ronda. We've visited both when we've holidayed on the Costa del Sol. Definitely worth a visit if the city itself doesnt appeal

On 6/10/2024 at 12:53 PM, John Bull said:

the Commonwealth War Graves Commission https://www.cwgc.org/ hold records and is very helpful.

If you enter the ancestors name into the CWGC website, it will bring up his page which will tell you exactly which cemetery he is buried in (along with other info, such as any inscription the family paid for to have added to his headstone). It will link to the cemetery page which will give full details about location, including map and GPS co-ordinates. 

I'm a founder member of a voluntary group which works with CWGC to identify casualties who were, for whatever reason, overlooked for official commemoration. One of our members did all the work, as a volunteer,  to establish the GPS co-ordinates for all the UK and European cemeteries. An amazing and extensive piece of work - fortunately completed not long before he died. 

4 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

anyone without a smartphone is at a disadvantage

True. Although I can generally manage - I don't carry a mobile phone at all (yes, it does make me one of a tiny minority). The only aspect where I'm currently stuck is with a couple of car parks in my local town, which require you to phone and enter a card number to their system. Dunno why they are outliers on this - the other car parks either  take cash  or you can pay by card at the machine. 

I've never heard of a supplier of goods or services offering a pre-paid Visa as an inducement but maybe it's not uncommon where you are in the world.

If entirely genuine, then it seems to offer a two-fold benefit over OBC. Firstly, it's twice the amount. And, secondly, it could be used to pay for anything not just cruise related. 

1 hour ago, alserrod said:

In march 1977, the deadliest accident in all aviation history took place in Tenerife Norte.

And three years later, there was the Dan-air crash flying Manchester to the North airport, which crashed in the bad weather conditions, flying into the mountain, killing 146 on board. Almost all the passengers were from my area and a local cemetery has a memorial to them.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tenerife_Dan-Air_Disaster_memorial.jpg

Ah. Eggs. One of my favourite subjects. And reveulto is one of my favourite ways of eating them. A couple of restaurants near where we stay in Tenerife serve them  with mushroom and prawns. Delicious.

And I had a lovely surprise in a restaurant in Port de Pollenca in Mallorca last autumn. OK, so the menu in English said they were "broken eggs" with sobrasada. What else could it be than reveulto? Well, it wasnt. What was served were thin slices of fried potato, covered with sobrasada and topped with two fried eggs.  Not reveulto but one of the most delicious plates of food I ate in the two weeks. 

6 hours ago, alserrod said:

There are those who stay at their hotel for several days, rent a car at the end and then return it at the airport

I know of other Britons who stay in the north but, as with most from the UK have flights going to/from the south. Renting a car for a week is often only a bit more expensive (and sometimes cheaper) than a taxi both ways. And, of course, they have the benefit of the car for the week. 

18 minutes ago, Thejuggler said:

6 hours to do 180 miles last Friday.

Just awful, juggler. I once had a similar nightmare on a Friday coming back from London - M40 & M6 crawling pretty much the whole way. I seriously considered stopping and getting a room at the hotel at one of the services. 

5 hours ago, Vallesan said:

If you want a particular cabin I would suggest you book it now.

Agree with this. We were recently on Vista which, as regulars here know, has had lots of reports of soundproofing issues between cabins. Fortunately, we had none. So, we took advantage of booking our next cruise whilst onboard, securing the same cabin and getting the onboard discount. We keep our fingers crossed that the cabin itself had no issues and it wasnt just a matter that we had very quiet neighbours. 

37 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Which cruise line?

Oceania, as I mentioned. I've no other details, I'm afraid.

My partner plays on an Oceania Facebook group and there was recently a post from someone whose flight was delayed. They got to the ship about 30 minutes or so after boarding closed and were denied boarding