Zombatar

Never heard of either of them!!

Peter

Easy answer, don't travel with P&O again. After the fiasco of our Adonia suite being cancelled we decided not to travel with them again. Then we went on Silver Sea..... no tips, total butler service, fantastic!

Peter and Jenny

All the ship with a bit of luck...it is definitely looking a bit tired!!

Peter

Have none of you noticed that Pamela17 has not answered you lately? Surely by now you have realised that this is yet another wind up? Just like the guy the other day who asked if he needed to bring his own pots and pans on a P&O cruise!!! If you missed that one I apologise but I think I managed to get it deleted!!

Peter

We have never used Holiday Taxis in the UK but our favourite TA always books our transfers overseas with Holiday Taxis who then co-ordinate it with local taxi firms where ever we are going. Mostly it works very well. As for the cost quoted by LDVinNC that seems very excessive to me. We sometimes use a local taxi service (No good for you guys I am afraid as we are I'm Cornwall) and we get charged about £400 round trip but that is for a six hour each way trip from St Austell to Gatwick.

If we were going London to Soton I think we would opt for the Merc!!

Peter and Jenny

The Wind had a ship photographer on board?

 

 

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On the penultimate day their were some pictures of the cruise (can't remember where we saw them) showing shots from the whole week including many of the formal night. I said ships photographer but it could have been any member of the crew whom took them. Not one of us though!!

Peter and Jenny

Zombatar,

Did you ever post any pictures of your time on the Wind?

If so I guess I missed them. I wanted to see your custom tux.

Also I hope you brought the absentee butler to the HDs attention.

 

As for me, with the exception of one butler, who was a little off balanced and lurked in the hallways and wanted to talk about her troubles, we have had positive experiences. Some butlers have been extraordinary. Others less so, but all have been attentive and helpful.

Sorry spin but I didn't have a camera or phone with me and was studiously ignored by everybody including the ships photographer on our only formal night. I will post a pic of the Tux this week but a pic of me in it with drink in hand will have to wait until September when we are in Queens grill on Victoria. Suspect it might raise a few eyebrows then as well !!!

Peter

A very interesting thread. We returned mid December from our first SS cruise on board Silver wind. Far from getting things polished or rearranged we saw our butler exactly three times. Once on the afternoon of our embarkation where he asked what soft drinks we like in our fridge and gave us a bottle of prosecco to celebrate SS being an Italian cruise line. Next time we saw him was in the middle of the week when he was off ashore. The he was there on disembarkation day asking us to vacate the cabin as soon as was possible because he had a lot to do!

Wont be bothering SS again, off on Queen Victoria next.

Peter and Jenny

We boarded Silver Wind last December in Barbados at about noon and had lunch in La Terrazza by which time the cabins were ready.

Peter and Jenny

Do what I do, use a spam filter on the e:mail. What comes through the door goes straight into the recycle bin.

Peter

We have been on quite a few different size ships. Our smallest was Silver Wind, a mere 245 pax and the largest was Independence of the Seas carrying lots more than most P and O ships. Silver wind was too small and IOS was too big. However IOS worked very well for families. The children's pool area was very good as was the climbing wall and the ice rink with fantastic ice shows. If P and O ramp up the attractions for families with children than they just might have a winner. If they stick to the bland and boring model they have used on Britannia then they are backing a looser.

Peter and Jenny

Same with us. All we got was the deposit returned. Since then we have given up on P&O, we are just back from seven days round the Caribbean on Silver Wind and are off on Queen Vitoria in the autumn of this year. P&O has lost our business but we all know that they couldn't care less.

Peter

I think if your policy says "worldwide" with no qualification on the headline page, then that's what it means - no exclusions (apart from the obvious countries where the Foreign Office advises you not to go). If they want to exclude anywhere, they have to say something like "Worldwide (excluding USA, Canada and Thailand".

 

I'm not sure what Thailand has done, but it was one of the potential exclusions on my last worldwide policy.

Totally agree. The Nat West policy used to say "Overseas" and then defined overseas as anywhere not in the UK. The we got a new insurer who defined Worldwide as anywhere okayed by the FCO. Thailand is still okay I think. Not that I go there too often!!

Peter

Just checked our policy, which is a bank account policy, and we are covered Worldwide which is defined as any country in the world which is not on the FCO exclusion list. So that's okay then.

I looked down the list of Hazardous activities (cover available at an extra cost!!) and the one I could not find was zip lining (they did however cover bungee jumping !!). This appears more and more on cruise lines excursions but it is not covered by travel insurance, so if this is your thing please be aware.

Peter

Don't worry any minute now Dai B will be along to point out how wrong you are just as he did to me when I said Adonia was up for sale. After it was sold I suggested he apologise but surprise surprise it didn't happen!!!

Peter

Can tuxes be rented on all of the ships ?

Don't think so.

Peter

We are on Silver Wind the end of next week for seven days out of Bridgetown. Our formal night is the second night of the cruise.

On a recent trip to Singapore I had a Tux tailored for me and was planning to wear on our cruises from now on. I know where I am on cruise lines we have already used but a bit uncertain about what reaction I will get on Silversea. The tux is conventionally tailored but the cloth is blue silk with a gold Chinese style pattern woven into it. Naturally I will wear it with black tie and black formal trousers. The lapels of the tux are black as are the buttons. I would attach a picture but as yet I have not managed to work out how to do this.

The question is am I likely to be told I cannot enter the MDR as this is not a conventional black or white tux (this is what my good lady is afraid of!!) or will it be acceptable. I really would appreciate your views and advice.

Peter and Jenny.

Wow, seven pages of this and not one of you has mentioned what may actually be the real reason behind this. Carnival (not P&O) make the rules here and tell P&O what they are going to do (just the same as they did with the sale of Adonia). So all they are doing is making the initial moves to being P&O into line with their other cruise lines. Pretty soon there will be a total ban on taking alcohol on board, then the bar prices will rise to the same as the other lines and finally you will pay on board in US dollars rather than GB pounds exactly the same as they do on Cunard.

Peter

We did! Coming soon, to a thread near you... ;)

 

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Nazca lines!!

Ever read the novel "The Hatching"?

Scary!!

Peter

OK lets be realistic about the cases. Maximum you will be allowed is 23 kgs that's the max people are allowed to pick up now. Coming back from Cape Town by air I cannot imagine you will be allowed more the one 20 kgs bag but you should check with your airline. We are flying with Virgin in two weeks to Barbados and we are allowed two 23 kgs bags each but that is because we are flying Premium. Of course if you are business or first you will get that much more.

Peter and Jenny

Two weeks to go. We fly to Barbados two weeks today and board Silver Wind two weeks tomorrow. Looking forward to it a lot now especially 32 degrees of warmth (that's 90 for you other guys!!)

Peter

If Silversea didn't have formal nights we would not cruise with them. For me that's a very important point. Back in the UK it is very difficult to "dress up" to go anywhere so our cruises give us the opportunity to do just that. Some years ago, before I retired we had this discussion in the office. Those in favour of dressing up were almost all ex military and those in favour of shorts and t shirts 24/7 were mostly thirty somethings. The younger ones saw no point on going on cruise at all !

Peter

Thanks to our Adonia cancellation we looked around for another small ship. We are going on Silver Wind (only 375 pax) and we got a bargain price from our TA. Flying premium economy with Virgin to Barbados, a night in the Hilton then seven days in a balcony suite on Silver Wind and then a further three days in the Hilton before we fly home and we are still paying less than the quoted price for 11 nights on pursuit. Two weeks to go and I can't wait.

Peter and Jenny

OK everybody I shall be on Silver Wind in three weeks. Trust me there will be pictures and most definitely drinks in hand . If the thread is still here, trust me I will post them!!

Peter

I had mine tailored in Singapore. It is made from blue silk with a gold Chinese pattern woven into with black silk lapels. I shall be wearing it next year on Queen Victoria as well as this year on a variety of other cruises. I can't wait to see the faces of the great and good who think everything should follow the rules!!

Peter