Waju

Happy birthday today to Pauline (@grapau27) I hope you have a lovely day!

@Selbourne Another thank you from me, I have enjoyed reading your stories with my morning coffee.

Ok, so I came across a site earlier called cruise prune - I think it’s a great idea (but not enough to make me want to pay for it 🤪) Maybe someone will be interested though

Are we allowed to add external links on Cruise Critic? I've just across a website that may be useful to some - it's absolutely nothing to do with me and it's not a travel agent but it is cruise related 🙂 sadly you do have to pay for it's services so I won't be subscribing as I'm from Ooop North but the concept is great!

@Selbourne - do they still show films in the Playhouse or is that not your thing?

I hope we get lucky and not masses of kds!

Another quick question if I may, I can only find two black tie/celebration night for the two weeks - is this correct now, just one a week?

I really hope it’s like that when we go😊

Oh no - I'm getting worried now - we like a quiet'ish' spot if we can find one but I'm not inclined to pay for The Retreat!

Did you have to pay extra even though the hospital confirmed no further treatment was needed - I think that's shocking. I phoned my insurers the other day to report a smashed up foot that now has 13 screws and two plates to hold it together - no extra charge. I was delighted. Some insurances are getting silly - I have landlords insurance on a little property that increased from £70 something to £270 something a couple of weeks ago and last week my husbands car renewal had risen by £150 - no changes or claims - how does this happen? I hope you get sorted quickly so you can have your cruise.

Haha thank you, I'm a Northerner so I hope not (joke!)

Thanks again for your help - think we might try for the adult only pool if we can!

Thank you Leomins - you know when booking the MDR or theatre do you know if it's possible to book for us and our friends together ie 4 theatre seats together or a table for 4? To be honest I hate the idea of having to carry my phone around with me (that's probably just an age thing though!)

Thank you so much for your very detailed information, that's really useful. Is there a quiet pool that would be nice to sit round? I hope you have a lovely cruise in a couple of weeks. Will you be telling us all about it?

My favourite ship on the P&O fleet is Aurora but yesterday I just 'accidently' (😀) managed to book a Med cruise on Arvia! I think I've said before, we tried Iona once and were surprised that we quite liked the larger ship. Would those of you who love Arvia have any tips to pass on? Nice spots for sitting in the sun, booking restaurants on the 'app' thingy, where doesn't get too busy etc? Thank you!

Can I ask how you find these bargains around final balance date? Do you choose your cruises first and then keep checking at the 'right' time? or are you just lucky that they pop up when you're browsing the cruise websites? I wonder if there is a website that would notify you of price drops? I did once get an email from P&O with an absolute bargain cruise but by the time I had asked my husband it had sold out 😒

@Selbourne if you can get hold of any, I always find toffees are wonderful for a sore throat - please be careful with your teeth though - you don't need broken teeth on holiday!

Although I’ve not been on Arvia, the main difference between select and saver fares as far as dining arrangements are concerned, is that saver fare dining time is 1st or 2nd sitting and us chosen for you by P&O whereas select fare gets freedom dining. As Arvia is all freedom dining it doesn’t really matter! If you visit a port that has a shuttle bus the select fare payer will use it free of charge but the saver fare payer will have to pay for it,

Just looked and the cheaper one was called Stress Free Parking but be careful they could park it 20 miles away - like I say I didn’t research it.

I looked at CPS the other day and it was £220 ish for 13 days 😳 in September. I googled and found one for just over £100 but hadn’t heard of them before and didn’t research it any further. A few people on here use the multi storey at West Quay shopping centre and have no worries/qualms about doing so - we may try that one next!

The temperature of Wetherspoons breakfast is one of my husbands pet hates. When I order I always ask for it to be extra hot otherwise he will send it back and usually they will tell the kitchen but on our last visit the young lad at the bar just said it comes how it comes we can’t change it 🤣. Luckily it was ok but they do seem to have a problem getting it to the table hot!

Excuse me for butting in - would anyone have any idea how much a bog standard inside cabin might have cost on this cruise? Very rough amount will do as I know it will have gone up and down - just curious 🙂

Oh I see, yes I’ve never heard of one on the last night either so maybe just the one! Anyway enjoy your cruise, I love Aurora.

That was amazing, thank you! Please tell me this is what you do/did for a living? Your writing is fabulous.

I would say two, do you have (at least) two sea days? It would be very unusual to have a formal night on a port day. Hope that helps.