Jennizor

I spent the day up at my daughters, looking after her three boys, while she did a shift at the vets. I came home and did my daily dead heading of my summer plants. Sorry if I am becoming a bit boring talking about the deer who regularly visit us but this is the latest meal one has enjoyed. My lovely pink and white trailing begonia is no more.

2 minutes ago, nyckfocus said:

Can I use my OBC/pay for drinks the first few days then buy the drinks package for the last few days or can you only buy it for the week??

No, you can only buy it on day one or two (unless things have changed recently).

Hooray, it’s raining here in Bolton. I know it won’t make a huge difference to water levels but at least we won’t have to water the garden with waste water from the house. The deer are still eating some of my flowers. My next door neighbour doesn’t normally plant bedding plants but this year she put in a lot of geraniums. Overnight Saturday/Sunday they ate every one, then jumped over into mine and finished off with my remaining ones. 

Our last Britannia cruise was December 21 when things were fine. I wonder what has happened to change that?

10 hours ago, david63 said:

Late sitting can also be at 8:45 on the first night and on some nights, especially formal, second sitting although 8:30 is quite often delayed.

Sorry David, on all our recent cruises our second sitting was on time every day. I remember years ago there were some nights when dinner was late but not the norm.

I received the email this morning concerning our 15-29 September cruise. Fortunately it doesn’t affect the excursions already booked apart from the one in Split which is just set for a day earlier. The booking confirmation has not been updated but I will keep my eye on it.

13 hours ago, Neecy1 said:

Yes I remember that bar. Skiathos is such a beautiful island. We used to take off then land again at Thessaloniki to refuel. Not sure if that still happens. 

Yes, we had to go via Thessaloniki but like you not sure if it still happens.

3 hours ago, Neecy1 said:

Skiathos. Holidayed here a good few times. Can't believe they still allow people to be that close. Madness. 

We went to Skiathos several years ago. Brilliant holiday, tiny airport though. On our return journey, after we checked in we were told to go to the bar across the road as flights announcements were made there. There was a great atmosphere there and lovely way to finish off the holiday.

The lights look lovely Graham. I would not have any though as I would just be lighting the garden for the deer who keeping my plants (a few were eaten last night, grrrh).

My M&S credit card had a limit of £8000.00 and I use it for nearly all purchases, including all cruises and other holidays. I pay the balance off in full each month. I recently paid the balance for our Eastern Med cruise in September (5k). The points from that will be included in my Nov statement. I get vouchers with each statement and judging by the amount I received with my August statement today (£41), I should have an even bigger amount, just in time for Christmas. They can be used for groceries, clothes and home purchases. Works well for me.

I have to agree with you Michelle. My daughter has three boys. I have a constant pile of school clothing to sew name tapes into. As lots of stuff can be handed down we have decided that we only need the surname on the name tapes (about an inch less sewing). Their surname is Zorlutuna (dad is half Turkish) so they are easily identified. Biggest issue at the moment is that Max, the eldest, is growing about an inch every month, well taller than me and only 13. Already got a pile of uniform for next term. 

In these current times, with the cost of electricity rocketing, we have decided to stop using our tumble dryer as much. To be honest I sometimes think I’m just being lazy. Pegging washing out on the line at this time of year is something we can easily do to save energy. My problem is I wash everything after one use. I am going to be firm with myself and stretch to two. It’s not just about the cost, it’s also about preserving energy. My daughter has three young boys and stopped using her tumble dryer earlier in the year. She bought a wash hanging rail and they fitted it in the utility room. She also does not have the heating on as much as they used to. Their energy bills have dramatically reduced. I have to say though, the ironing takes longer as the clothes are more creased. 

On our last two cruises, Britannia Sept 21 and December 21, the staff were constantly sanitising public areas. We joked about it being a good chance of a catch up for the staff as they were generally in twos and chatting all the time.

Thanks David, that very helpful. We will book as soon as we get onboard. Fingers crossed we will get in. You too, Megabear2.

Thanks for your quick response David. Not sure what you mean about being onboard however. As always we will close our account before leaving the ship at the end of the cruise.

I realise this has probably been covered before so please bear with me. We are going on Azura in September, we got quite a good deal including a chunk of OBC. We have done speciality dining previously and the cost has been just posted to our account. Can we use our OBC to pay for it?

We have always shared a table on second sitting. We have had some wonderful experiences and have kept in touch with several couples. On a Princess cruise to Canada and the east coast of America we shared a table with a couple from Canada and one from Australia. Both men were English born, one from very close to where we live and one from about 15 miles away. It was the best time, we all did our own thing during the day and met up late afternoons to form a quiz team. I don’t think I have ever laughed as much as I did on that cruise. We had lots of other good tables just two not so. We always ask for a table for six and on one occasion there was only 4 of us. The other couple were really nice, he was the image of Ian Lavender. His wife, however, couldn’t keep awake through the whole meal so he constantly talked to make up for her lack of conversation. Eventually, the four of us moved to a table for 8 and it worked fine. The only other time we had a less than brilliant experIence was when on a table for 6 we had a lovely couple and a couple who tried to dominate the conversation, talking all the time about how wealthy they were. The wife turned up several nights very drunk and sometimes not at all.
 

Only two less than excellent tables, and 13 great ones.Roll on September 15th for our next cruise on Azura to the Eastern Med.

Not sure I can answer your question fully. What I do know is that after booking our upcoming September Eastern Med cruise I received a random email from P & O offering a discounted deal. I rang P & O and asked if I could cancel my original booking and rebook the new offer. They let me do that but I couldn’t have the same cabin as there was a wait list for that deck. I booked a similar cabin on a different deck and saved quite a bit of money. It’s worth a try.

I am finding it difficult to relate to some of these comments about Britannia. Each to their own but our last three cruises have been on her - Caribbean (Feb 20 & December 21) and Spain and Italy (Sept 21). Of course the two in 21 were much different to the earlier one but there is no way we experienced anything that was remotely akin to the Butlins holidays I had growing up. We had no dining issues, we did not see any drunkenness or fighting or shorts and t-shirts in the main dining room. We enjoyed the Sindhi and Limelight club. Absolutely loved the Glass House. The staff were brilliant, endlessly cleaning the public areas. Cabin staff looked after us very well. I agree with Megabear2, if this is actually happening now it is hardly P & O’s fault. We are eagerly anticipating our Easter Med cruise in September on Azura, I know she is looking her age but we have lovely memories of her.

Still 27 degrees in our lounge, warmer inside than out. Had an emotional morning. I went with my daughter to her middle son’s leaving assembly. It was really good and all the children enjoyed it. Leo has autism but has been in mainstream school up to now. The school has always been brilliant with him and he has progressed really well. In September, however, he will be going to a more specialist school which will suit his needs for the next stage of his life. Obviously we are all concerned as to how he will deal with the transition but the school has a good reputation. Every change in his life takes time for him to adapt to but I’m sure he will cope with this one in the fullness of time.

Our flight times for 15th September to Malta to join Azura are shown in Cruise Personaliser.

I rebooked my upcoming Eastern Med cruise after receiving a special offer from P&O earlier in the year. The only thing I couldn’t do was keep my original cabin on C deck as there was a wait list for that deck. I changed to A deck and got a decent cabin. I finished up with a much better deal all done over the phone direct with P & O.

Just watched it on Twitter. The best thing for me was that he was very reassuring about the flight cruises. I was beginning to get anxious about our Eastern Med cruise in September but he says they will be OK. I will have to trust him for now.

28 minutes ago, kalos said:

 

Our next door neighbour has a big trampoline in his garden and the surrounding nets were

getting covered in bird poo ,it was a right mess .

He has put some Big Cheese repeller ribbon (bird and deer ).

He cut it into 2ft lengths and let the wind blow it about and up to yet it has worked.

Not sure if it would work for you but it's cheap enough and worth a try .

Thanks Kalos, anything is worth a try.