John Bull

😀😀😀 I originally wrote "say hi to Greyfriars.......", then I checked the web to whether it was Bobby or Bobbie and saw the protestations about wearing-out the little lad's nose. So the devil in me changed it to "pat his nose" just to wind up the natives. Seems I succeeded😛 And it does show how many folk get to know his story All in fun 😏 JB 🙂

Royal Caribbean certainly used to sell drinks packages mid-cruise at the pro-rata daily rate but it had to be for the entire rest of the cruise. And there were a minimum number of days - like @wcook I rather think that's around 4 days, for a 4-day cruise it might not even be possible to book a cruise-long package. If you're wine-drinkers I suggest you try the house wine before deciding on a wine package - the house wine is cheaper than any packages. I doubt anyone has ever had a problem using up $200 credit on a 4-day cruise 😏 JB 🙂

Scotty. By train it's more inconvenient for you because your date, 26th May, is a sunday and there are fewer services on a sunday. The only option around 8am is the 8.26 at £93 and that goes via a cross-London change - I take the same negative attitude as you to that route Altho it's an hour later the 9.15 via Birmingham is the obvious choice. For that train the ridiculous ticketing shows the walk-up fare is £111 but the more-restricted Advance ticket is £202, Try explaining that @Globaliser and @Cotswold Eagle 😃. Split-ticketing is also more-expensive& the Avanti West Coast route isn't an option. And Globaliser's £66 5-split ticketing probably won't work for your sunday date All of which makes it simpler for you, Scotty - at Southampton Central station buy through tickets to Edinburgh for the 9.15 train at £111. Again, because the pricing makes no sense, can others please check that I haven't goofed. .The direct tram from Edinburgh's Waverley station to the airport is frequent & inexpensive, and IIRC luggage should be no problem. Or your rental agency may be able to switch your pick-up to a city centre location. But I still think a switch to the 4pm flight is the safest and easiest option. Whatever you choose, don't delay in case the 4pm flight books out. JB 🙂

Some hope of returning to the original reason for your thread, Scotty - we're in the middle of a theoretical ding-dong 😏 But a hopefully helpful post on its way in about 10 mins JB 🙂

I've always accepted that not all complexities are nonsense - ever since I was a kid it's been more expensive to take a train that arrives in London before 10am on a weekday. Whether you say that's to avoid over-crowding at commuter-time or supply-and-demand or screwing-the-commuter or whatever, there's a reason. Low prices to encourage travellers to use train times at quiet times makes sense. But some commuter-time trains into London are now available at Advance ticket prices at well below half the cost - that encourages day-trippers who know about Advance fares - £22 single vs £54 single - and want to get to London earlier to book those commuter-time trains, adding to the over-crowding at that time, which make a nonsense of the afore-mentioned reasons. 🙄. And presumably those commuters who find it worth the effort will book Advance tickets for each day because that's cheaper than a season ticket 🙄. Hugely higher fares on long-distance journeys for those who "don't know the ropes" have no logical reason and are another nonsense. Logic says that fares should be cheaper for long distances - more income for a single transaction, more competitive against road or air, etc. So there's no logic in a higher ticket price for a complete journey than for buying at the same time different tickets for various short sections on the self-same trains running at the same time on the same day - the pricing is clearly screwed-up 🙄. Then there are RailCards. They cost about £30 for a year and give about a third off most journeys (not all journeys, that'd be too simple). Probably another wheeze instead of a season ticket for those who qualify and who go thro the ropes. But no use to visitors who make only a few short journeys Lots of other complications including those due to different train operators, who have competition on some routes but have a monopoly on on most routes - a private operator having a monopoly on essential services. And all this on tracks which are owned & maintained by the govt. If you believe that ticketing isn't unnecessarily complicated, you surely heard the national sigh of relief when it was mentioned yesterday that it was to be made simpler, altho that was also promised a while back by a party with a different-coloured rosette.. Look what a mess the privatised water supply & sewage monopolies have made of those services - fat salaries and bonuses for the bosses, fat dividends for shareholders, and services which through under-investment are falling apart with hosepipe bans after a few dry days, and un-treated sewage in our rivers and seas and on our beaches after a single day of rain. I regard privately-owned businesses as a good thing when there are competitors, I regard them as a nightmare where there's no competition. Which kinda shows I have no particularly strong right or left political views, and at the General Election I will probably vote for Screaming Lord Sutch, the Loony Party, or Lord Bucket-head. "That was a Party Political Broadcast on behalf of the All Politicians Are a Waste of Space party. We now return to our scheduled programmes" JB 🙂.

To clarify why @Globaliser has mentioned five tickets but just two trains 😕😕😕 That's taking split-ticketing to the next level. Three tickets for three parts of the first train journey, two more for two parts of the second. No need to get off & back on at the intermediate stations, just as long as the routing goes via those stations Sneaky, but perfectly legal and there are websites which specialise in it. Shows how ridiculous the fare pricing is.🙄 But one of the political parties appears to have picked up this thread, seen my comments, and today announced that their election manifesto will include re-nationalising the trains, simplifying fares and ensuring that everyone gets the cheapest fare without all the faffing around. If they win the election (some time late this year or early next year) expect that to happen within the next 10 to 20 years 😏 In the meantime please address your train enquiries to @Globaliser cos JB is spending too much time lying down. JB 🙂

I knew the story of the artillery shell-hauling bear, didn't know that when he was de-mobbed he went to Edinburgh Zoo & has a statue there. Photos on the internet suggest his nose has been patted as much as Greyfriars Bobby's. JB 🙂

I wish 😃 Because I had @scottie99's predicament in mind I automatically checked out the trains to Edinburgh at around Scotty's time (8.15) because he / you / someone (re-reading, it was Scotty 🙄) wanted to get to Edinburgh soonest. Because later trains are cheaper (no commuter trade) the straightforward change-at-Birmingham-New-Street 10.15 off-peak option is cheaper (make that less-expensive) at £111 than the 8.15 Advance option at £156 🙄 Due to the nonsense of ticket pricing, split-ticketing actually works out at a few £ more for the 10.15 🙄 And there's no suitably-timed Avanti West Coast option from Birmingham 🙄. So a straightforward through-ticket is the way to go. Make sure that you select the single-change 10.15 train - the same train is also offered at the same price but getting off the train at Reading, into London Paddington, then tube across central London to London Kings Cross for an east-coast train to Edinburgh.🙄 No need to rush off the ship ahead of the herd. And being an off-peak option you can buy tickets at the station in case a flight option re-appears in the meantime. Should you require any further complicated answers, you only have to ask 🙄 But I must end now because I need another lie-down, and because I've used my full quota of 🙄s Have a great trip, and in Edinburgh give Greyfriars Bobby's nose a pat JB 🙂

That's a downer 🙁 Being forced into booking late, other flight options are almost-always more expensive. Due to the nonsense pricing on UK trains I did check the cost of your same route & train times but using separate bookings from Southampton Central to Birmingham New Street (8.15 to 10.51) and from Birmingham New Street to Edinburgh (11.03 to 4.16pm) known as "split-ticketing". Separating the tickets costs £47.30 plus £73.70 = a total of £121 versus the one booking for both at £156.40 - a saving of £35 per person using the same trains and operator (Cross-country). Even better.....That same first train to Birmingham (8.15 to 10.51) at £47.30 and a different train & operator (Avanti West Coast) from Birmingham New Street to Edinburgh (12.07 to 4.18) at £47.00 costs a total of £94.30 - a saving of £62 per person. Altho that means over an hour between trains at Birmingham New Street there's much more leeway for the first train being late, and because the second train is run by a different operator (Avanti West Coast) and on a much more direct route it actually gets to Edinburgh two minutes before the 11.03 as well as the big £££ saving. All prices for all options are for Advance tickets and are only good for the train times that you book, so you do need to be on that 8,15 from Southampton. To be sure its best to disembark unassisted (haul your own luggage from your cabin), usually 30 minutes before regular disembarkation starts. The expensive Advance through-ticket is good for a later train on the same route from Birmingham if the first train is late - the next Cross-country train from Birmingham is an hour later. Split-ticketing doesn't have that advantage, but the cheapest option does allow leeway for the first train to be over an hour late. Advance fares start to go up as the travel date gets closer, so don't delay too long. But don't jump just yet - perhaps some kind soul who knows the UK train system better than I, like @Cotswold Eagle or @Globaliser can check my workings in case I've blundered. The only options offered by split-ticketing sites that I've checked go via an awkward London change and save very few ££ Now I'm gonna take two dozen headache pills and going for a lie-down 😏 JB 🙂

The problem is not the French people (honest😏), but the French language. English is the world's second language and many fellow-passengers will have some grasp of English - perhaps even a grasp of American 😛, but if you don't speak French you'll find inter-action with them often stilted and wearing. But in the Canaries you'll have the edge over them cos English is widely-spoken 🙂 JB 🙂

Sorrento is merely pleasant and unworthy of time, but it's en-route to the Amalfi coast whether by road or a ferry+road or train+road combination. Ravello is as high a view as you'll find of the Amalfi coast - it's only ten minutes off the high coast road and no problems. Positano is the village / harbour that everyone wants to visit - but the most problematic. - Buses aren't permitted off the high coast road and down into Positano. So ignore "Positano" offered on bus tours, including ships' bus tours - for them "Positano" means a photo-stop on the main road.🙄 - parking is difficult, usually impossible, without guaranteed parking somewhere vaguely near the harbour. Without that guarantee - offered by some van or taxi operators with connections to a Positano property - "Positano" means a rather pointless drive-through or even skipping a promised visit "due to time constraints" - of which there are many. At Amalfi the high coast road comes down to sea-level. Much bigger and nowhere near as atmospheric as Positano or Ravello, and quite crowded but no great problems and worthy of a refreshments breaks. And a busy ferry-port between ports to Salerno and to Positano & on to Capri. Simplest & most-achievable tour would be via Sorrento to the Amalfi coast road (views from the road are very much part of the attraction) with stops at Amalfi & Ravello then little winding roads across the spine of the peninsular (missing a return on the coast road & Sorrento but also missing the traffic mentioned by Eurocruiser) & back to Naples. Something like this https://maps.app.goo.gl/rZ3Fh7dJXcfNJfhd8 Positano is best-visited by ferry - if it's possible in the limited hours of a port-of-call day that probably means a road+ferry combination tour. But we've only visited the Amalfi coast as a 3 - 4 day stop at Ravello on a road trip so can't help with tour operators. Bruce mentioned Rome in Limo. Despite the name they cover much of Italy's west coast etc and have an excellent reputation https://www.romeinlimo.com/naples/ JB 🙂

Unassisted disembarkation from RCI is usually 7am or a little earlier. That early in the day cruise terminal formalities are little more than a walk-through and you should be able to jump into a taxi without delay. It's a sunday 🙂, no rush-hour traffic and the journey should take little more than 15 minutes. You could be at the airport from about 7.30. But for a variety of reasons that 30 minute leeway could be lost. Since Loganair changed your flight time I'm assuming they would re-book you at no extra cost, and there's that same-day 4pm flight - they're currently showing availability, Especially because a re-booking doesn't mean an overnight in Southampton for a flight on the monday, I'd strongly suggest you do that - even if you did make that 8.45 flight you'd have the risk on your mind from now until then. No left-luggage facility at train or coach station, and this is the first I've heard of it at Premier Inn, But there definitely is at Maynards food & news shop on Civic Centre Road opposite the front of the Civic Centre. Adjacent the Civic Centre is https://seacitymuseum.co.uk/ which focuses on Titanic, Or a 7 minute walk down the main shopping street (called Above Bar) takes you to the Bargate - the entrance to the old part of the city - and the city wall. Beyond are the city's few historic places (much lost during 1941 blitzes) like https://tudorhouseandgarden.com/ https://godshousetower.org.uk/ and https://www.solentsky.org/ and some good historic pubs like the Duke of Wellington and The Dancing Man. Southampton's not a tourist city, but there's more than enough to interest you for a day. JB 🙂

If the flight is on-time (often early from North America due to the jet-stream) that should mean out of the airport by 10am. LHR to Waterloo by private transfer or tube I'll guess at an hour, but Londoners will know better than me. Let's say 30 - 45 mins average to drop luggage at hotel, get to Waterloo station & catch the next train. Trains from Waterloo to Windsor & Eton Riverside take just under an hour. That'd put you in Windsor by 1pm, which is good enough - assuming you haven't fallen asleep in the meantime 😏 But I'll defer to any Londoner who chimes in JB 🙂

I didn't know that USVI drive on the left - it would be a good quiz question 🙂. Haven't been there but photos & street-views show me that vehicles are left-hand-drive, obviously sourced from the USA, making that anomaly worse. That used to be the case in former British territories in the Caribbean, but vehicles that we used there last year were right-hand-drive. A lot of them Japanese, so possibly sourced from the Japanese home market where they also drive on the left. JB 🙂

I can't find a jealous emoticon, so you'll have to make do with 🤢 😄 Looks worthwhile. Perhaps not worth the grief of a lot of hunting around for a tour, but you know what it's like when you can't have something, even if its quite trivial 🙄 JB 🙂

You've been up there? JB 🙂

Yes, it has its merits. As @Cotswold Eagle says it might depend on the location of your hotel. But also your flight arrival time, since it will take longer than leaving your luggage at LHR or Windsor JB 🙂

Most of the roads, drivers & vehicles in the Caribbean are a great deal safer than 20 years ago !!. Roads are much busier than they used to be - that and the laid-back nature of the people keeps speeds low. Vans purely for transport are generally clean, modern & well-maintained, with aircon & seatbelts, and my experience of drivers is that they're careful and patient. Of course that would be no fun on "experience" transport like open jeeps and converted trucks. I don't know my stuff about 4-year-olds, I don't think any vans or taxis carry infant seats or booster seats but I don't think that's a legal problem. Ask older relatives about the USA in the pre-seatbelt era, and youngsters sat on their parents' laps. Not saying that no child seats is safe by modern standards, but it's certainly safer than the USA (or the UK) in the 1950s/60s. If you get to go up Brimstone Hill please post a photo or two when you get home. @Essiesmom mentioned the sugar train on St Kitts. Yes, when ships are in port it can only be booked with the ship - that'll doubtless be a condition set by the cruise lines, who are of course by far their biggest customers. Last year was the first time we decided to try it, but we backed-out when we learned that it was pot-luck whether we'd be upstairs where we'd been told all the fun was. Perhaps Essiesmom can say whether that's the case. And also whether the van part included a stop at a batik demonstration & Romney Manor. The water-taxi - more like a big water-bus - runs just around the corner from the cruise pier to a pier halfway along the Philipsburg boardwalk. Yes, probably about a 20 minute walk in the sun, but we've only ever used the water-bus or picked up a van at the cruise pier. If you're looking for a new "country", the French side of Sint Maarten (St Martin) is actually a departement of France, same as Normandy & Brittany etc. And its capital Marigot is quite chic and French. Currency is the Euro, but although some outlets don't accept USD, payment by Visa or Mastercard is widespread. Language is French but English is very widely-spoken. Mebbe take a van from Philipsburg then a taxi for the 7 miles from Marigot to Maho beach. There are quite a few reminders of the British influence on Antigua, a lot of disused forts around the coast & churches & & little things like cricket & street names & driving on the left, But the two main easy-to-reach sites are - the blockhouse, fortifications, cannon emplacements & the remaining barracks etc on Shirley Heights - and Nelson's Dockyard. Careening docks & capstan, various 18th & 19th century workshops & stores & offices, a museum and a pub. All very spacious & pleasant, altho' nowadays the setting is a little spoilt by sailing yachts & gin-palaces moored around it - I guess they need the rent money. If pushed I guess I'd say that St John's is much livelier & more interesting than Basseterre JB 🙂

Diff'rent folks, diff'rent experiences 😏 We stayed and eaten at P.I. Dover Central just the once. Good value and perfectly satisfactory for our needs. We've found Beefeaters to be variable, no good ones handy for us altho we've been known to be tempted by the occasional good-value promo. Yes, I had considered mentioning in my post "expect the clientele to be mainly folk who are travelling". And I'm pretty sure the same applies to Beefeater Dover. So now I mention it, but only - as I said - for the first evening. Then the OP can get local opinions for the rest of their stay. TripAdvisor means a lot of side searches to rule out cafes etc, to find menus & prices, and difficult or time-consuming for those without transport to figure how convenient they are. And for visitors from foreign lands it's difficult to differentiate between local hostelries and corporate national chains like Table-Table and Beefeater. We know our local favourites, and when travelling we rarely bother with T/A. But now you've goaded me 😄 into digging into T/A Dover. Their third-rated (the top two are Asian restaurants), and also highly-rated on Google, the White Horse pub is quite convenient in the town just off the main through-road and sensibly-priced. No website but almost-certainly not a chain pub and more likely to have a local clientele. JB 🙂 No commission was earned for this post 😏

We had similar difficulties figuring the transport to Briksdal (including the very limited, un-bookable and reportedly over-subscribed local bus - particularly for the return to Olden 😮) and also for figuring the distance / terrain from the road to the viewpoint, So we gave up on the idea. At Loen we happened upon a boat trip on Loen Lake (it goes by a couple of other names too) to Kjenndal Glacier. I didn't notice the name of the operator, but the details are the same as Olden Adventures - including the lakeside coffee & waffles 🙂. It starts with a short bus ride to the lake from either Olden or Loen, then cruise the length of the lake (about ?30? minutes) to a jetty & restaurant at the far end. Half of the group then goes directly by van 5 minutes up a narrow track to the glacier viewpoint for a stop of about 20 minutes while the other half enjoy their coffee & waffles (& anything else that they care to buy) at the restaurant, then vice-versa. Then boat & bus back to Olden or Loen. An excellent day all-round, we thoroughly recommend. https://www.oldencruise.com/loen-lake-and-kjenndal-glacier/ JB 🙂

No worries - I'm bored today 😀 The problem with storage at LHR is that you need to get from and back to the airport via either complicated public transport or expensive taxi. Hopefully a Londoner can suggest the different ways - they'll probably need to know your LHR terminal, I think there's a direct bus from T5. JB 🙂

This from an internet search, not personal knowledge.: King & Queen Gift Shop, 2 Castle Hill, Windsor, just a few yards from the castle entrance. Opening times are quoted as variously 9am or 9.30am to 5pm or 6pm. It's a 5 minute walk from Windsor & Eton Central train station (trains to London Paddington via a change at Slough, I don't know how easy or difficult the change at Slough with luggage). Or a 15 minute walk from Windsor & Eton Riverside station (direct trains to London Waterloo). There's a taxi rank at that station. https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ Fare £12,80 from Central, £8.50 from Riverside, journey timer about 45 minutes & service half-hourly from either. Best choice of station may depend on your central London hotel location. https://maps.app.goo.gl/FoT5tkUKWy7EE6kA6 I could find no direct contact details for the gift shop. Storage there is booked via a national intermediary https://usebounce.com/s/location/bd46f9b1-54f1-455c-8247-35ec6bdd2f93?backpacks=0&bags=3&query=Windsor SL4%2C UK It quotes £4.30 per bag, but adds a £1.65 per bag fee = £5.95 per bag. It also says no walk-ins accepted (that's probably to protect their fees 🙄 but it's up to you whether you want to take the risk). Payment with booking but promises a refund if cancelled at least an hour before check-in. (back to your card or vouchers, so be careful if/when you apply for a refund) From Heathrow to Windsor is awkward by public transport - even more awkward with luggage. IMHO it's best to book a taxi for the 10 mile / 20 minute drive - last time I heard a taxi pre-booked with a Windsor-based operator was around £30-£35 for a sedan. Alternatively there will be cabs on the rank at your Heathrow terminal, obviously more expensive but I don't know the rates. JB 🙂

A local who's not been around on Cruise Critic for a year or more is @PhilbeachTraveller That may have alerted his e-mail. Hi Phil, hope all is well with you. Can you help out? We've passed through Dover quite a few times heading for France, but we're not locals. There will certainly be a local scene, but since you'll be there for a few days your best bet is to ask around when you're there. For your first evening try the Table-Table restaurant/pub attached to Premier Inn on Marine Parade. Nice atmosphere, decent menu, good food, sensible prices. Here's a local music venue https://www.thebookinghall.com/ Now you know as much about the local music scene as I do 😏 JB 🙂

Sint Maarten. If you go to Maho beach, privately-run vans take folk there from the port. Be sure to be there sometime between 11am & 2pm when the big jets arrive over the beach at Princess Juliana airport. The beach itself is "OK" but not the best on the island. Yes, Philipsburg is compact & attractive, with a good beach. Large-capacity ferries run between the cruise port and the centre of the beach in Philipsburg. Lots of bars with beachfront sunbeds etc. Try "Big Bastaards Bar" - Canadian IIRC, with a warm welcome & a bucket of cold beers. Good beach furniture, good snacks and good wifi, Safe swimming. So a van to Maho, then back to explore Philipsburg town & beach-time, then the ferry back to the ship would make a good day. An alternative - or an add-on - is to cross over to Marigot on the French side of the island (no border). Basseterre. Excellent precinct of cruiseport shops, bars, etc., clean & safe. Totally touristic,, but I don't recall much of interest in the town. Lots of vans offer clockwise circum-navigations of varying lengths at varying but inexpensive rates, most give the option of finishing with time at a beach - Frigate Bay is popular, though a little grubby compared to Philipsburg. Romney Manor is an interesting little diversion which most vans take for a 20 minute break, But none that I know include Brimstone Fort. Twice on different occasions I asked taxi drivers if they'd take us up to Brimstone Fort, twice they declined without even mentioning a price, altho' googlemaps & photos give the impression that it's a good metalled road. I wish you better luck. Roadtown & the Baths of Virgin Gorda. Yes, a very pleasant boat ride, formations of huge rounded boulders at one end of the beach on Virgin Gorda. Take great care with junior - it's easy for even small waves to sweep a youngster against a boulder resulting in tears. This is a ship's excursion, yes? The ferry is cheaper, but if there's a problem you have no Plan B other than swimming to the next port!! An alternative staying on Tortola is a pleasant van ride to Cane Garden Beach. Clean, safe. St John's Antigua St John's is crowded, traffic-jammed, and scruffy. Not unsafe, but not pleasant. I suggest you negotiate a shared van to Shirley Heights (brilliant) and Nelson's Dockyard. If you want to go into Nelson's Dockyard it's worth an hour or more - some vans don't stop for a break there, some (well, one in particular 😡) say they will but don't, some do. Make sure that you and sharers all agree on whether you want at least an hour there or not. Back via Fig Tree Drive (actually they're bananas) and the west coast with a beach stop. Antigua is best on your itinerary for colonial history. We've not been to Charlotte Amalie. For different reasons I don't rate the towns of Basseterre or St John's - Philipsburg is the best for a local feel of the town. All just MHO as always JB 🙂

I'm struggling to understand why in respect of those ports experienced cruisers like @donaldsc and @MBP&O2/O, and in respect of Florence experienced cruisers like @navybankerteacher, and @wcook, are so dismissive of port-of-call visits. Hopefully others will chime in more positively. Or go to the Italian forum linked by @CruiserBruce to see how many thousands of others have visited Rome or Florence in a single port-of-call day. Yes, if a cruise starts or finishes in Rome (Civi) and you can spare the time & cost, do as we & thousands of others do and tag on a few hotel days to give yourselves much more time in a city worthy of several days and more. But if it's a single port-of-call day, what would you suggest - hang around all day in a bar on the pretty basic waterfront of Civitavecchia ? Or mooch around the shops of boring Livorno ? We've stayed a few days at Lucca on a road trip, very pleasant walled city but not iconic like Florence. It's the sort of place I'd recommend to those who've visited Florence and are looking for somewhere different Added to an interesting day, a short visit to either Rome or Florence will allow a visitor to decide whether a "proper" return visit is worthwhile. And both are usually ports on western Mediterranean cruises so the opportunity of a second port-of-call visit. Even for someone based in the UK (yes, flights are cheap but add parking, hotel, etc etc) visiting those places when a ship visits makes total sense to me. Just MHO as always 😏 I have my tin hat at the ready 😂 JB 🙂