Britboys

P&O has renamed them Entertainment Manager now and I think I read somewhere a while back that they are being encouraged to be less hands-on with the entertainment and more office-based managers...

Thank you. I don't have any knowledge of that show and the only one I can find on searching is from 2011...

Great to hear how happy you are with your Yaris. I just ordered one on Thursday!

Indeed, as someone who is approaching my mid-sixties, I put myself in the same boat, if you'll pardon the pun. I've only experienced LGBT+ meets on two P&O cruises, the last two I've done and they were on Aurora. The meets were held in the Uganda Room adjacent to the Crows Nest. This seemed to work well but there were still only 8 - 10 of us attended. Prior to that I did a Round-Britain cruise aboard Queen Elizabeth and my cruise buddy and I seemed to be the only two who turned up for the advertised meets in the Commodore Club. Tbh, I think these meets are probably much more successful on the large, American ships. I may be completely wrong but I have a feeling that Fred Olsen is generally not very attractive to LGBT+ cruisers. Many of my LGBT+ friends seem to prefer Celebrity or NCL - whatever their age.

The link to Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz is one possibility. Probably on one of two fronts - the the film is pretty camp and thus may have been popular amongst gay men in particular and also that Dorothy was played by Judy Garland who became a gay icon. The other possibility is that it came from Dorothy Parker, an American poet/writer/satirist who was also a socialite with a very bohemian set of friends, including gay men and lesbians.

British cruise lines in general have been slow to offer/advertise LGBT+ meetings. P&O has only been doing it consistently in recent years and there seem to be fewer of them on the smaller ships that attract a more 'mature' passenger. I can't speak about Friends of Bill W but would guess that the take up at an LGBT+ meeting on Fred Olsen would be pretty low.

Imho, things are still a bit too inconsistent on Ambassador for me to think about referring a friend....

I wouldn't be surprised if they've cut HQ staff to the bone and if so, no surprise that things like this happen...

Sadly this seems common among the uk-based cruise lines...

Hopefully Pauline has lots of happy memories to dwell on too.

Thank you so much. That's great news!

I believe they were installed on Aurora the last time she had a major refurb. Sorry, not been on Arcadia for a long time now...

Depending how many ships are in though, the Holiday Inn public areas can get really busy...

Thanks for that. I booked through an agent. Not really bothered though as travelling solo you have to pay double anyway...

Had a busy day yesterday doing a test drive in a Toyota Yaris. Was very impressed so have put a deposit down and should get it delivered at the end of September. My Corsa is now 12 years old so has served me well. Been cloudy and muggy here today. Got some financial stuff sorted online this morning and - eventually - managed to check in for my Aurora cruise. What a palaver. Tried to do it on my phone knowing a photo was requested. The front page was ticked indicating I had completed all my personal details but then another part said it still needed passport details and I couldn't print luggage labels until this was done. After re-entering it several times, I tried printing and it said it was downloading for ages before saying 'error'. Switched to the laptop. Still wouldn't let me print but it said you can do it from the Booking Summary page. This time it printed! Then tried to print Boarding pass but it was the wrong size so didn't print everything on the page so had to muck about to re-size it. Why is P&O IT so rubbish... I need a holiday now...😂

My next cruise is on Aurora in an outside cabin. I haven't received an invitation to bid so am guessing the ship is pretty full...

We won't ask why you know about this Kalos...🤔😉🤭

I don't know whether they do it any more since it changed hands but for anyone with a fair bit of time to kill, it would probably be worth calling them to see. With the number and size of ships using Southampton now, they probably wouldn't want to advertise it as they might be overrun - like the paid-for airport lounges often are now.

I will happily feed back to this forum upon my return.

Next month...

I'm calling at Nordfjordeid on my cruise this year but I don't think Iona goes there. It's definitely in the fjords so I'll let you know how it compares with Olden...

Yes, I realised you were being tongue in cheek 😀

Dry here which makes a nice change as it seems to have rained at some point forever... Plenty of sunny spells and 18⁰c. Been out to a car dealer this morning to start the ball rolling on a new car. My little Corsa has been brilliant for 12 years now but feel it is time to move on before the old thing starts playing up - quit while I am ahead. Booked a test drive for Thursday morning...

I don't take selfies in the original sense of the word - i.e. photos of yourself. Don't really need to take photos on board and ashore I have both my camera and the phone...

Personally, I find it easier and preferable to carry the paper copy around. It is usually tucked into the book I am reading. I have no desire to carry the phone around all day too. We are all different and I fully accept you would find it better to use your phone.