jh1809

Thanks. As I said, I booked on-line on P&O's website, rather than using a TA, mainly because I'm something of a phone-phobic who hates using the phone.

I booked this cruise on P&O's website on the 16th, opting for the Select fare. I'm sure I asked for Club dining, but on the confirmation email that arrived the same day I've noticed that it says Freedom dining. I can't see anywhere on my cruise personaliser that would allow me to change it (even though I could change my bed configuration from queen to twin if I wanted to). Am I missing something, or will I have to undergo the palaver of ringing up P&O? Or, as it's hardly urgent at this stage, would emailing them get them to change it for me? If so, which email address should I use? I did wonder if perhaps they are planning to phase out Club dining on Aurora at some point before summer 2026 and if that might explain it. Has anyone heard any rumours?

To add to that, P&O's prices for wine by the glass are very fair, with a 175ml glass costing about a quarter the price of a 750ml bottle and a 250ml glass about a third of the price, rather than having a big mark-up as you sometimes see in restaurants ashore.

Agreed. I don't like it too hot, and wouldn't go to the Med any time between late May and mid September.

If there are going to be four ships disembarking that morning, then it might be a wise precaution to reserve your seats on the train in advance so you don't risk having to stand all the way up to Waterloo. A train at 9:30 is after the commuter rush, so wouldn't normally be that busy, but with four ships in it might be different.

As an introvert, the thing that annoys me is so many of the entertainers encouraging the audience to sing along to some of the songs and even to stand up. All I want to do by way of audience interaction is to applaud and laugh as appropriate. Anyway, my singing is truly dreadful.

I couldn't resist booking Aurora's 24-day Med cruise in Sep-Oct 2026. Quite a few intriguing ports that I've not been to before.

I eventually managed to pre-book one meal in Sindhu and one in the Beach House for my cruise on Aurora in about a month's time. I'd already booked my excursions and wi-fi. What I'd totally forgotten is that, unlike the £65 or £85 of OBC which is all I usually seem to get, this time I have £305 for 14 nights. As a solo traveller who is normally only a modest drinker, I might struggle to spend it all. It looks like I may have to up my alcohol intake. Alternatively, how many bars of Toblerone can you buy for £305?

Since AIUI it's a travel agent's brochure, I imagine that posting it would fall foul of Cruise Critics rules and would get taken down pretty sharpish.

Me too.

I've considered trying FO, but a couple of things have put me off. Not only are they considerably more expensive than P&O, but I'm a solo traveller, and for most of their cruises their single supplement seems to be not far short of 100%. Also I live in SE England and don't drive, and many of their most interesting cruises seem to leave from Liverpool or Newcastle. Whilst that's great for people who live up north, it's not attractive for me. I tried Saga in summer 2022 but - though considerably better than P&O - I didn't feel it had been worth playing almost twice as much. I'd have been quite happy with an outside cabin, but they make a great thing of all their cabins having a balcony; then of course you are paying balcony prices. As my cruise was to Greenland (I was attracted by being able to cross that off my bucket list), the opportunities for me to use my balcony were unsurprisingly limited. They also make a great thing of having lots of single cabins, but in spite of that there's still a substantial single supplement. I'm trying Ambassador next year. They seem remarkably cheap for what they appear to offer. I'm also going on a cruise with Noble Caledonia. I've been on ships they've chartered before now, and they've been very good, but this will be the first time I've tried one of their two "in house" ships, which are more expensive. The cruise I've chosen, though dear, was less eye-wateringly so than most on those two ships (helped by a "no single supplement" offer), and it looks like it should be very high quality.

As has been mentioned, I'd be very wary of the possibility of engineering work on a Sunday. Rail replacement bus services for part of the route are no fun, especially if you have a lot of luggage. The National Rail Journey planner may help with determining the quickest route from Purley to Southampton, but it won't tell you about things like the possible trickiness of boarding a train at Clapham Junction that was mentioned above: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ You'd need to check it nearer the time, though, as I don't suppose the summer timetable will be up yet.

A 250 mile glass is definitely a large one! 🙂

From those ports, it doesn't sound like you will be to be going into the Med but going down the Atlantic coast, so probably less warm and more unsettled than in the Med, maybe similar to southern England in early September. I'd think that temperatures in the 60s F would be most likely, possibly warmer if you're lucky. By that time of the year it's likely to be less settled than in high summer. Of course the further south you go the better it's likely to be.

Perhaps it because AIUI Cunard has a lot of American passengers, and they've found that the Yanks won't put up with it?