Jennizor

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.

After applying deer repellent granules to my borders and attaching reflective tape to the fence, to stop them eating my plants, here’s a photo I took yesterday evening. I have decided to admit defeat. They are beautiful (the deer not my plants) but I don’t know what else to do. They obviously don’t like climbing the two steps to the patio as all my pots on there are untouched.

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.

Thanks Kalos, anything is worth a try.

We have had 4 P&O cruises cancelled since March 2020 when we came back from the Caribbean on the last cruise before lockdown. We have since been on one last September and the second last December. We are going on our next one on the 15th of September, on Azura to the Eastern Med and have two more booked.We have only cruised with Princess and P&O and enjoyed every one. It’s lovely to hear your positive comments and we would agree with them. Others may disagree but if you come back from a cruise feeling happy, what more would you want?

After a day out with friends I have just been checking things in the garden. For about the fourth day this week lots of flower heads have disappeared. We know the culprits are the deer that live in the woods beyond our garden. It’s been wonderful to see them, more this year than last, but very disheartening after weeks of planning, preparing and planting. They have become more brazen, l chased one off the other evening but it stared me out before begrudgingly jumping back over the fence into the woods. I don’t know what to do about it. Perhaps buy artificial plants next year (I don’t think so). Perhaps I should write to Monty Don to see if he has any ideas.

That’s even more amazing. It’s a great relief when you receive it, isn’t it?

We are going to the Easter Med on Azura in September. My passport was due to expire in Feb 2023 (10 years after date of issue). I had heard lots of horror stories about how long it took to renew a passport so I sent my online application on 6th of June. My new one arrived today after 16 days. Very impressed with the service, regular updating on where in the process my new passport. 12 weeks before we sail so that’s one thing ticked off the list.

No, my patch was Bolton, Blackburn and areas south of Preston. If you didn’t have your own car you had to do ‘bus and walk’ but you were only given local visits. I never had to do that, I loved the travelling as you saw some lovely places.

Don’t judge me for this but I used to be a VAT Inspector. I had a lovely mini sportsman (I think that is what it was). I had to go to some very remote businesses, mostly farms and the roads were quite narrow and winding but I could turn my car on a sixpence, it was brilliant. This was in the 1980/90s and I have had several cars since the but the mini was always my favourite.

Sorry Muckyduckway, I somehow posted a response on a different topic. There is a list of daily events in the middle two pages of the Horizon.

There is a daily listing of all events in the middle two pages in the Horizon.

Hi Laurenish, I must admit I don’t know anything about pre-authorisation. We have been on several P & O cruises and just received an account at the end of the cruise and we paid the balance then. You can also request a statement of your spend at any point in the cruise. I hope this helps.

That looks amazing Michelle. I can almost taste it from here. X