jh1809

From what david63 said, maybe you have to miss three or more ports on your cruise to get compensation from P&O. IIRC, you've missed two ports so far, so maybe if you miss one more you'll have hit the jackpot. But if so, will it be as much as you'll be getting from your insurance, and if P&O do give you something will your insurance still pay out the full amount of £300 per port?

The difference suggests that a lot might depend on who the head chef is, since presumably all P&O ships have the same basic ingredients available and - one would assume - kitchen staff of comparable skill. Though having now seen the post that P&O have said that they are trying out a new menu on Aurora (but have had lots of complaints), perhaps that's the reason. Hopefully the trial will have been binned before I'm on Aurora in May.

Perhaps they think that some of their diners won't know that? What did catch my attention from looking at the recommended wines is that they seem to think that Glenfiddich is a wine.

The photo of the "Tsunami Hazard Zone" sign intrigued me. I wonder what they expect people to do in response to the sign.

Yes, I'm with you rather than with Dermotsgirl.

Judging by Selbourne's post today in "his" thread", it looks like they may have recently changed things so that you can pre-book Sindhu before the cruise: "For dinner we had booked Sindhu. One of 4 bookings for the restaurant that we had made pre cruise. Pre booking is beneficial as you get 20% discount, plus loyalty discount and the pre booking charge is then deducted from your final bill. However, it gets better in that because you’ve pre booked you also then get a further 20% discount off your final food bill which is then further subject to loyalty discount. It’s a great offer that P&O don’t really promote."

Great photos! I'm relieved to see from your snack's packaging that, in spite of its name, it was 100% cheese and thus, presumably, 0% goldfish.

I remember visiting a bar in the French port of Caen with friends about 35 years ago. The middle-aged patronne of the establishment demonstrated her ability to make absolutely filthy depictions of male genitalia from the bar towels. We were very impressed. I don't suppose you'll get anything like that on a P&O ship - at least I hope not!

Selbourne, looking on the bright side regarding the annoying hawkers, at least you weren't kidnapped by a Columbian drug baron.

I would be happy with the lamb jalfrezi for lunch and the haddock for dinner, but apart from that I agree it's slim pickings.

How disappointing! My poor eyesight is to blame.

"The desert was very poor though..." Too much sand in it?

Roast hare? That's different! I would have to try that out of curiosity.

I notice that the dinner menu seems to have departed from the usual format. There are no recommended dishes, and the usual "always present" dishes such as the Caesar salad starter and the chicken breast main course are absent. Not that that would have been a problem for me, as some of the offered options look potentially very tasty.

"Buffet" and "calm oasis" are not compatible things in my experience.

Me too, so long as it's filleted, as I see this was. So I'd have the tandoori for lunch and the trout and lasagne for dinner, and would no doubt be very full but very happy.

I remember that in that song, when at the end it finally stops raining the protagonist suddenly feels a whole lot happier. Hopefully it will be the same for Selbourne.

I used to have some done in my cabin on Aurora or Arcadia towards the end of my cruise sometimes, but I haven't seen any since Covid. Now that the cabin stewards have been assigned to other tasks in the evening such as cleaning the public areas, it may be that they mostly don't have the time to do it.

Reminds me of the schoolteacher in Yorkshire who noticed over lunch that the classroom rubbish bin was missing. As the first pupil re-rentered the room after lunch, he asked him: "Where's the bin?" He got the reply: "I've been 'ome for ma dinner. Where's tha think I've bin?"

I'm on that cruise too. I'd be surprised and disappointed if Tallinn or Riga were cancelled, and absolutely staggered if Helsinki was.

That's interesting, as I'm pretty sure they didn't have them when I was on her in August. So perhaps P&O are gradually bringing them back.

I noticed when I was on Arcadia in August that one or other section of the promenade deck seemed to be roped off more often than not. I wonder whether the apparent increased frequency is because maintenance is taking longer than it used to, perhaps because they have fewer crew members doing it.

I'm beginning to think that some powerful sorcerer must have put Aurora under a curse for some reason, the way things have been going! It's a shame that what should have been a memorable cruise for all the right reasons instead seems to be turning into one that you will be eager to forget.

Hopefully "Kiev canal" should be "Kiel canal"! Ukraine isn't really a holiday destination ATM. 🙂

For once, the basis for the chef's recommendations for dinner is obvious, whereas usually it seems pretty arbitrary.