T&C Fulham

Maybe the only bad airline is American Airlines. We will never use them again.

KLM will be subject to the EU compensation ruling. AA avoid it - and it shows.

But certainly the airport was not fully recovered last January. Maybe another year has enabled them to sort themselves out.

Have a lovely holiday and forget about any worries.

American Airlines.

T

St Maartan has a cavalier attitude to outgoing flights.

Beware as I read our experience is far from rare.

We were returning from a cruise in early January this year. The aircraft was overloaded and underfuelled. It took them two hours and several thousand dollars to buy enough volunteers off the plane to make it safe to fly to Charlotte.

We arrived in Charlotte too late for our UK connection and the next one was 24 hours later. We were billetted in a rubbish hotel overnight with a pitiful meal allowance.

How much is this can be blamed on the storm damage is anyone's guess - but be prepared to accept that if things go wrong you may find the recovery skills rather lacking.

We stayed in Trapani in May. It is easy to walk around the old town and, depending on time, there is a hilltown, Erice, which is historical and picturesque.

You can get to Erice on public transport. A local bus and then the cable car.

IMHO there are no sites that 'really should be seen' but if you want a flavour of old Sicily go to Erice.

Tony

London UK

The Betsy.

As said above - unique.

I'd ask on the boat.

Rather simpler than relying on a forum like this.

It's funny how people find holidays so complicated!

On 4/16/2019 at 8:32 PM, mklions said:

 

My wife likes the Gordon's Pink Gin

If you lived in the UK you'd know that pink gin is made by the barman with normal gin and bitters.

Buying it coloured by Gordons is a waste of money.

I am sure the bar on the boat can give you a pink gin if you ask.

Flavoured gin is the big thing over here at the moment - to take our minds off Brexit and that dreaded Mrs May. But ordinary gin can be given any flavour you want for a few pence.

On the list shown I saw only two SS ships .... the problem with some journalists is they adopt the motto of ‘Never let the truth get in the way of a good story’ 😀

Agreed. Who could sell an article on cruise line found to have clean ships?

In the UK we are amused by the one newspaper running the royal baby story with headlines like 'American actress has child'.

But back to the dirty ship story. Have you ever read a newspaper article about something you know a lot about and found it true? Takes too long for the fee the journos earn.

Tony

Ex publisher of magazines in the UK!

Do ask Isklaar but in my experience they never leave you unable to get into the centre of interest FOC.

New mirror needed then wripro.

I thought you were going to say your pet dog when its walkies time.

Who says you are not?

Just go to their web site and you won't see the t/shirt brigade any where.

I made this point some time ago. Thank you for reminding us - and hopefully Seabourn.

Those pictures in the advertising are what they believe they are selling to fill their vessels. They are letting those customers down if that is not the experience they find when aboard. If I see a red car in an advertisement and it turns out to be green when it arrives I feel cheated. OK this is a more extreme deception but it is the way some people see things.

I put it on Seabourn not the passengers testing the system.

Agreed.

In theory it should not take even half an hour once you are in your cab.

What is uncertain is how long it will take to find one. The black cabs might all be grabbed and Uber is a moving feast in London.

BUT when we got back from our Norway trip last year the tender service itself was slow. It was being supplied by those Clipper folk that we use a river taxis from Putney. I was told they had supplied one boat and not the two requested by SilverSeas

Quite frankly I'd get off the boat as soon as you can. If you arrive at Kings Cross an hour early you can go to the hotel and have a nice cup of coffee. You have seen the picture of that gangway. I guess we stood on it in a queue for half an hour. It is just one of those little things that can go wrong and there is nothing you can do about it.

Be warned that there is little space for taxis and driver cars to park shoreside.

Be prepared to hunt for your car if you have pre-booked one. And don't expect to see a stream of black cabs plying for hire.

I am not suggesting it is major problem but if you are worried about getting a cabin bag on to the shuttle boat it is something you should be prepared for when you get ashore.

We were travelling as a couple. My wife went in search of our pre-booked car and I stood guard over our cases until she found it.

Tony

London UK

 Wearing a tee shirt as you describe conjures up impressions of someone who has a problem ranging between arrogance and insecurity, with a whole range of possibilities in between.

So, how should one respond? Maybe pity? Never anger

Dusko. What a mature response. And I am not being sarcastic. I'm close to my nineth decade and have still to work out the right way to regard folk like that. One part of me says be quiet. And the other part of me says what can I do to help people like that.

But the quiet man in me wins. And the other guy will go on wearing tee shirts in smart restaurants until he reaches his nineth decade. But I do think I've had more fun than he will ever have.

We saw one guy go into TK on formal night wearing a tee shirt !

Rather sad. But as a Brit I have never understood this obession with TK anyway.

Tony

London UK

Our experience is that air conditioning is often excessive.

Particularly in the theatre and some of the lounges.

Tony

Brit living in London

At Christmas we flew London Miami and spent three nights there before going on to St Maarten.

We were on the Crystal Esprit for 11 nights.

Coming back we were booked American Airlines via Charlotte. AA overloaded and underfuelled the plane in St Maarten and left two hours late. We missed our Charlotte connection and consequently were delayed 22 hours.

As American Airlines is not based in a EU country the normal compensation of 600 EUR per person does not apply. They offered us 175 USD to be spent on another AA flight during the following 12 months. In theory the offer can be transferred - but not in practice.

We have vowed NEVER to fly American Airlines again.

Have a lovely holiday and keep clear of AA - they are the pits.

Tony

London UK

We did Anchorage to Vancouver a couple of years ago.

There was a transfer from Anchorage to Seward. There must be one back.

Seward is in the middle of nowhere. There is no way they could disembark you there and leave you to your own device/fate.

Tony G - London UK

Or they could just be cold. For some people, 60 means they need a parka. For others, 40 means shorts. If the coat made them comfortable..... 

It was a 'joke' Mr 5000+

We did the trip in July 2017.

Be warned. The weather at that time of year can be grim. We had sunshine most days but the cruises before and afterwards were both dominated by clag and drizzle.

The jacket you get given by Seabourn is perfectly adequate. For the experts challenging whether it is as good as a top line product that you'd buy in an upmarked retailer they are going to know it isn't.

Some passengers seemed so excited with their freebie that they wore it for breakfast and lunch in the salon - and read their books wearing them in the lounge. So it can't be too well insulated.

We took an assortment of sweaters but, as I said above, most of the time the Seabourn jacket was hanging in our suite.

They have quite large Seabourn insignia. We are not insignial folk. We left one jacket on the boat and brought the other back for our housekeeper. I have not see her wear it much....

Having said all that it is a nice Seabourn touch to supply one. I really would not have wanted to have to buy something for a holiday in Alaska that I'll never repeat.

Tony

London UK. Blessed with sunshine for the last few days.

We did it July last year and had lovely weather. Look for yourself.

http://www.tonygamble.uk/Norway_2018/index.html

However, it was a fluke. The locals will tell you that. It can be grim, even in June and July.

We took skiing jackets for safety and left them in the cases all the time.

The secret is layers - and at least something thin and waterproof to put on the top.

We did Alaska two years ago. Again we were really lucky with the weather.

http://www.tonygamble.uk/Alaska_1/index.html

http://www.tonygamble.uk/Alaska_2/index.html

But again, the regulars said how often it is nothing but cloud and rain.

Any help? I suppose not but let's see what the others say.

Tony

Senor Tango.

I forgot to say you should get the VIP package. You have your own dining room, chef and private balcony for viewing the show.

The first shot here is in a more touristy spot. The rest/others are where you need to be going. Frame five is the balcony and frame four our private waiter.

http://www.tonygamble.uk/Tango Shows/index.htm

If circumstances change and you can get an evening ashore do book Senor Tango. It is a bit off the centre of BA but it is much more special than the other shows and worth the bit of extra effort and (maybe) cost.

We would certainly go ahead. A memorable evening.

Tony

London UK

Because agents put some form of hold on a number of suites for their own clients.