Jennizor

Hi Michelle, I hope all goes well for your move and you are able to get straight for Christmas. We are off to the Canaries on the 22nd on Azura. We have done many New Year cruises but never a Christmas one and are really looking forward to it. Season’s greetings to your family. Jennizor X

We are also on this cruise. We have done many new year cruises but never Christmas. Looking forward to a Christmas dinner that I haven’t cooked, I’m sure it will be special.

I can answer some of your questions but probably not all. 1. Exactly two weeks before your cruise you will be able to book speciality restaurants from midnight. You will have a choice but they get booked up very quickly (based on our experience for our two Iona cruises this year). 2. We booked Sindhu, the Chefs Table and the Limelight Club. We didn’t book Epicurian as we don’t tend to eat three courses these days. 3 & 4. Other than the Limelight Club we don’t tend to go to shows. The Limelight Club can be booked two weeks before sailing. Can’t help you who is on in January. We have always had a brilliant experience, even when we didn’t know some of the acts. 5 &6. There will be two formal nights on Iona. If you log into My P&O cruises it will show your itinerary and when the formal nights are. There are loads of people who dress formally and that includes me and my husband. I hope this helps. I’m sure you will like Iona. We were on her in Feb/Mar and July. We really enjoyed her. We are on Azura for Christmas and New Year, counting down now - 5 weeks to go. Have a great cruise. Jennizo

We also saw Gareth Gates in the Limelight Club pre COVID. We didn’t know what to expect but we thought he was great and would go and see him again.

We are on this cruise for Christmas and New Year. When I go into My P&O it says you can book your dining options from 14 days before your cruise. The only other email we have had is about accessibility issues, which doesn’t apply to us. We are on fixed dining so I am presuming, unless we book any of the other options in the 14 day period, we will in our fixed dining restaurant for the two celebration nights. It always amazes me that people on the same cruise don’t always get the same emails about their cruise.

We are also on Azura for Christmas and New Year. Let’s hope that being the festive season the menu may be a bit more adventurous. Whatever, we are just looking forward to being back on Azura, we were last on her in September 22 and had a lovely cruise.

The weather is great in Bolton as well Michelle. Fingers crossed with your sale and hope you get into your new house quickly. Jennizor

If you are wanting a C deck balcony, which we always do, you need to book early as they appear to get booked up very quickly. 8 weeks on Friday and hopefully we will be sitting on the balcony of cabin C254.

Michelle, she’s gorgeous, I wouldn’t be able to stop cuddling her. Jennizor X

Hi Michelle, we are flying on the 15th at 8.00am, not sure who we are flying with yet. I hope we get to meet up on one of the sea days. Jennizor X

Good question, we are flying to the Caribbean in March and don’t know who we will be flying with.

So sorry to read your sad news Sue. Your family and all your wonderful memories will bring you comfort I’m sure. Jennizor.

Thanks for the lovely comment ICF. She is a lovely young woman. She is 34 now and lives in Australia. We all miss her so much. Thank goodness for FaceTime.

Great comments on the food. We are on Azura 9 weeks today so thanks for posting this. We will try and pre-book as many of the speciality restaurants as we can but as it’s a Christmas and New Year cruise it may be difficult.

Wind and heavy rain here in Bolton. A gust of wind has blown a large pot of the patio. The Bottle Brush shrub is not damaged but the pot is almost in half. Going out for lunch with friends at 12 but only a short drive and hopefully we will not be too bedraggled after getting from the car to the pub.

My granddaughter was working on the QM2 when it was the premier. She managed to see a lot of the celebrities on board and thought the whole event was fabulous. Quite a memory for her. She didn’t manage to get any photos with them. She got this one from a Miss World event that she was doing hair and makeup on. She has always been a bit cheeky and persuaded Bruce to let her have this shot.

Thanks Selbourne, brilliant advice. I will see what I can do with our great TA tomorrow. Jennizor

That’s brilliant Angel, just the advice I needed. Jennizor

I am looking for advice on Aurora. As always I like to book early for our cruises and have this Christmas booked on Azura in the Canaries and the Caribbean on Arvia in March. I am currently looking at Aurora (first time for us) for Christmas 2024. Can anyone advise me on mid ship balcony cabins. What decks are best and which to avoid. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Regards Jennizor

We went to the Cookery Club on Britannia, pre-COVID. It was hosted by James Martin, it was brilliant. He cooked two courses which we had to then replicate with his and his team’s help. He was really amusing and we loved it. After we had cooked we sat round a big table and James came to comment on our efforts. It was a great morning.

Have you got a local TUI store? We have one quite close by and went in a couple of times with queries about recent holiday. They were very obliging.

Just returned from 10 days in Madeira. Lovely hotel and staff were great but food was average but we got by. I took the attached picture as it reminded me so much of the atrium on Iona. I’m sure, if you have been on Iona, you will see the similarity.

We have used Intercruises many times from the North West, last time in July. They have always been very good and the drivers have always been excellent. We would not hesitate to use them again but not for a while as for our next two cruises we are flying to meet the ships.

Michelle, so sorry for your grandson. It must have been terrible for him. Terrible for the rest of the family too. I hope he recovers quickly and is not too traumatised by the attack. Lots of love Jennizor xx

Josy, as a teenager, I went to Wigan Casino several times with school friends. We weren’t particularly soul fans, we just loved the atmosphere. As ‘O’ levels loomed, we stopped going and for some reason we didn’t go again. Lovely memories though.