Harters

If you look at the UK "ports of call" subforum, you'll find lots of different suggestions for this. It's almost a weekly question there.

All of which I believe are North American. Fine if that's you. No use if you are elsewhere in the world (as i am).

Dangerous trip or what? Those Scilly Islanders, off the coast of Cornwall, are not to be tangled with.

Our Marina experience, in 2017, was in 9086. No noise issues whatsoever.

The bread offerings on Oceania are consistently very good, IMO. I particularly enjoy the grissini in their Italian speciality restaurant.

If you've been looking at the hotel website, rather than a booking website, the price is presumably in sterling .

On the occasion that we cruised from Southampton, back in 2018, we drove down (from near Manchester) the day before. It eliminates any potential stress of travelling on cruse day. We've also done similar when cruising from a port in another country - earlier this year, we had two nights in Barcelona). Driving from the northwest, we looked for a nice hotel somewhere between Winchester and Southampton, but decided on one in the New Forest which was fine. Either way, it gives you a roughly 45 minutes journey the next day. Of course there are hotels very close to the port but not all have their own car park. We used Parking4Cruises who were fine. Their drop-off point was, literally, opposite the cruise terminal.

Yep, the photo looks like the "new design". Assuming it's been redone to the same standard as the new hotel in Hexham that I stayed at, then it'll be fine for a short stay, IMO. Particularly so, as you are somewhat budget conscious and, I guess, are not needing much more from a hotel that's clean and comfortable and provides somewhere to sleep.

Agreed. But you can get mixed results. Their "new design" is pretty good - maybe better than most Premier Inns. I've stayed in the one in Hexham and thought it was very good for the price. On the other hand, the one in Llandudno is very shabby. Both in the last couple of years. I've not stayed in one in central London, as I prefer the Premier Inn opposite Euston, as it's handy for the train.

Me neither. But my nephews and nieces will probably be.

Yep. Can't stand them myself, although my companion in life loves them.

Is an American "chocolate egg cream" different from a British "chocolate Creme Egg"?

You may be missing my point. In 30/40/50 years time, folk may well look at the 2020s with some envy, thinking "those were the days. Much better than it is now".

If memory serves, from when I took a trip, the steam train stops at Greenway. So, if you werent on the organised trip, and had put things together yourself, then you could stop off here and catch the next train on to Kingswear. Dartmouth is a lovely small town, although unsurprisingly a bit touristy, which we're considering as a base for another week-long trip to the area (stayed in Paignton both previous times)

On our last week-long trip to Scotland, we went north along the Western route - Loch Lomond, through Glencoe to Fort William (stopping for lunch at a pub at the Bridge of Orchy), then along Loch Ness to Inverness. We came back along an eastern route - through through Braemar to Pitlochy (a lovely large village, where my partner spent a holiday when she was a child, staying with her uncle who worked there for the Forestry Commission). and then through Stirling back to Cumbria. Fantastic scenery all the way.

Depressing thought if you're right. Remember that, in due course, our present will be someone's past.

Are they not? I thought they knew it as pain perdu which, to my mind, is a much more poetic term than our British "eggy bread" (although it's not common here).

Completely agree with CruiserBruce's opinion about land based tourism. And, please don't spend all your UK time in London - it really is a different country to where most of us live and you will miss so much, even on a short trip, if you don't get out and about.

One of my most memorable plates of food was at a restaurant in Calais. It was on the top floor of an apartment block, almost next to the port. Had the weather been better, it would have been possible to see England, 20+ miles away on the other side of the Channel. So, served as a starter, this "assiette de fruits de mer" brought a plate of whelks, winkles, grey shrimps, three oysters, a couple of prawns and a langoustine. Served with bread, mayo and vinegary/oniony sauce. The rest of the meal was really good, as well. Main course was a monkfish tagine. And dessert a "Traditionnel Calais" - coffee cake, topped with coffee icing and served with an espresso ice cream. A "proper" lunch.

FWIW, I've "skippered" a canal narrowboat across it. Great views from up there.

KInsale is a lovely village/town. We spent a week there a few years back.

Probably crab. Although I'm quite fond of traditional potted shrimps or a classic prawn cocktail. But I'll happily eat most things that come out of the sea. EDIT: I'll happily eat most things.

So far, we've avoided a missing bag. We did have one flight, returning home, where a batch of bags simply didnt get loaded, so they were delivered to us next day. I think we're going to invest in Air Tags before our next trip - a small additional outlay, bearing in mind the overall costs of any holiday.

No need for a tour for Liverpool. The city centre has plenty to fill a day (even without Beatles stuff) and is very walkable. You may hardly leave the waterside. But, if you do want to get away from the city, Busybus runs tours for cruise passengers and have often been recommended on this forum. I have it in mind that they also run tours from Holyhead. My guess is that their excursions from both ports will be pretty similar ones of North Wales so you could think of them both in tandem - do city stuff in Liverpool but Welsh scenery stuff from Holyhead. Holyhead is a small town (or large village) and has little of interest in itself (it exists as the main ferry port between Britain and Ireland).

No, what they are going to do in my case, is look at the tag attached to the bag's handle which gives our surname and mobile phone number. No need for anyone to go into our case, that's why we have a tag on the outside.