Ardennais

We sailed for 17 nights on Aurora in August 2015 with our then teenagers as it was then a family ship. We then did 17 nights on Aurora in August 2018 and by then it was adults only. To be honest, it didn’t feel any different!

Exactly, so best to ‘declare’ the walking stick on the questionnaire.

Well I’ve just filled the questionnaire on behalf of my mother for a Cunard cruise next year. Very straightforward thus far - they will apparently contact me if they need any more information. I have declared her walking stick and rollator (which she uses infrequently but is a good back-up, just in case). I have also stated that she does not need assistance, and have ticked that she doesn’t have a carer at home. I have also ticked that she could board a tender independently.

One Slimline tonic can last me a few hours - I often carry my glass from venue to venue.

Really enjoyed your reports Selbourne. Many thanks.

Easier to change the limit to 20 than construct speed bumps! Getting used to the new speed limit now.

It doesn’t sound good. I think we’ve dodged a bullet as we were booked to go on this cruise. However after our so-so cruise on Britannia in April, and the fact that 3 of the ports would be repeats from that cruise, we decided to cancel and forfeit out small deposit. Hope things improve for you.

I also received several emails from P&O and also from Cunard for upcoming cruises.

Josy - I don’t ‘know’ you but I know that you cared deeply for your precious niece. So sorry to read the devastating news. Condolences to you all.

Reminds me of The Royle Family episode when Antony brings his vegetarian girlfriend home for the first time and Nana thinks that wafer thin ham would be ok.

I think they make more profit on the shorter 7 night cruises. On our 35 night Ventura cruise, the so called ‘high end’ shops were deserted. They had all sorts of table sales later on and the staff seemed quite desperate to make any sales.

The discussion is about shore excursions, not speciality dining. Regarding pre-booking shore excursions for more than one cabin, I had to book one cabin, checkout and pay and then repeat the process straight away for the other cabin. The discount was applied according to loyalty level. On our last cruise with our grown up children, the eldest was a lower tier than the other two and it appeared automatically. I would imagine that the same thing would happen if I were to book any excursions onboard.

Forgot to add, hope it hasn’t affected your shoulder. That’s the main thing, cars can be repaired or written off!

That happened to me years ago. The damage was spread over the driver’s side like yours. I had a fairly new VW Passat at the time and although it was repaired and the offending driver’s insurance paid for everything, the car was never the same afterwards. It seemed to pull to one side and the garage couldn’t find anything wrong with it. So I sold it pretty soon.

I seem to remember a charge of £2.50 on Iona earlier this year. It’s a shame that they don’t deliver hot drinks now. My coffee was always hot.

We went to the cinema last night to see The Great Escaper. Really enjoyed it.

On Iona, I could actually see people sitting by their dressing tables when walking around the deck as it was getting darker. Not for us either!

It’s not that simple and it’s not about making people feel unwelcome. Tourism has to try to be sustainable. When high percentages of dwellings are second homes or holiday lets (like Tenby, Abersoch and places in Cornwall), it can play havoc with the housing market. The parking problems in Snowdonia have been well documented over the past few seasons, and that also causes problems. There isn’t a simple answer, but legislation is sometimes justified.

Have a great cruise Selbourne and also Tiger.

I prefer Aurora, but it is more expensive! Oslo is lovely. Two photos from a sunny Oslo in June 2022: Viegland Sculpture Park Leaving Oslo. I was mesmerised by the shimmering waters.

I can see that such a situation would be insensitive, but that’s just down to the couple you mention. Otherwise, I really can’t see a problem if travelling companions, not couples as such, want to attend. I mean, they might not want to do everything together, or one might not be as mobile, hence the other one looking for companions for port visits.

Does that make a difference?! People are people.

Why is it a bugbear of yours?

There’s something to suit everybody there. We had a great meal at LaLa Latin Soul Food.

It’s well worth going inside - only costs a a few euros and you only need half an hour max. The inside visit really shows how impractical the design is, but it’s fascinating nonetheless,