Bennybluehat

It’s a good job you can take as much luggage as you want when you are on a cruise! 

11 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Michelle😀

After that comment I think you mean “did” take with u lol

I’ve been reading with some amusement & bewilderment the thread on taking a pocket knife with you on your cruise, especially the people stating they take items like cheese and Wd40 with them - the mind boggles! It made me wonder what is the strangest item or items you take with you? ( and keep it clean lol ).

48 minutes ago, FangedRose said:

How about moving Southampton north?

The Solway is just about mid British Isles. Fair for the majority then.😁

Amen to that, but unfortunately if you live north of Watford you don’t exist! Can you imagine only having to get to Maryport to board the ship, I’d be cruising non stop!

9 hours ago, smj777 said:

She said  'Because it was in the 'fridge and would have gone off by the time we got home!'

Go figure.

The security man saw the funny side thank goodness.

He must have a dizzy wife like mine.

I get it, "waste not want not" as they say!

34 minutes ago, smj777 said:

I have carried a swiss army knife - about 4" long on every cruise I have been on. I keep it in my washbag which is in our carry on case with essentials such as medicines, spare underwear, toiletries etc.  just in case our luggage gets lost or delayed.

We have never had it queried at security (although my wife was quizzed about some cheese - why bring cheese? )- Apparently it looks like semtex on the scanner!

So, why did she take cheese??!!

1 hour ago, gazwag said:

I'm not sure I understand why you would need to take a pen knife on holiday anyway, do you sit on your balcony whittling away to make a bow and arrow to shoot fish or something

Ha ha that made me laugh 😂 

How did you find the entertainment? My main concern about Aurora was that it would turn into the new Oriana now that it is adult only. We liked Oriana as a ship but we were probably some the youngest people onboard and found all the entertainment was aimed towards the more mature audience.

Let’s hope things improve as we are booked to go back on Aurora in a few months time. We have cruised on her twice before and on the whole have enjoyed the experience. I know what you mean by the standard of food in the buffet, it has definitely taken a turn for the worse compared to when we first cruised with a P&O. Both the coffee & toast are terrible, which in my opinion shouldn’t be difficult to get right. It’s strange because nothing seems to be consistent when you cruise with P&O, you can sail on the same ship on several occasions and often what was very good previously isn’t as good on the other occasions and vice versa. Other companies we have cruised with are a lot more consistent with standards.

I’ve been looking at P&Os excursions for our forthcoming cruise to north Norway. One of the excursions is a 2 hour visit to the Arctic Cathedral for an evening recital costing £52 each. I’m presuming the recital isn’t just put on for the excursion so has anyone done this independently? We know Norway isn’t a cheap place to visit as we have visited on several occasions but we would be quite capable of making our own way to and from the Cathedral to keep costs down.

38 minutes ago, gazwag said:

The message from P&O does say "your vehicle will be moved ready for your disembarkation"

You are absolutely right, that’s what happens when you quickly scan something rather than read it properly, must ask my boss for a longer tea break!

That’s good to know, I was starting to wonder how on Earth we would get all our luggage moved as we will have more than normal because it is a Northern lights cruise.

We have received an email from P&O saying that on our forthcoming cruise we will be embarking from Mayflower terminal but will be disembarking from Ocean terminal. We have parking booked through CPS & the email says that the cars will be parked at Mayflower for collection. How far is this as we will have a lot of luggage to try & manoeuvre?

My next cruise is 3 days after the brexit deadline to Norway. Whats everyones opinion at the right time to get NOK as i had planned getting it a week before we go but who knows what will be happening at that point?

Depends on how long you are visiting the USA. We did the transatlantic back to back voyage to New York on QM2 & because we left the same day as we arrived we were classed as "in transit" on the ESTA.

On 7/13/2019 at 9:01 AM, Selbourne said:

 

Much as we love Aurora, you hear every drawer being opened and closed in your neighbours cabin. Drives me nuts. On our last cruise, the people one side of us opened and closed every single drawer in their cabin every time they needed anything. It was a 21 night cruise and even by the end they still hadn’t remembered what was in each drawer, so we endured the routine with great frequency. 

I think we must have had the same neighbours last time we were on Aurora! 

Just watching it now on the Western webcam on IOW. Have a great time, how could you not?!

Do you know why she is late at setting off? We’ve been watching the other cruise ships leave Southampton & on Cruise Mapper her status has changed from “moored” to “stopped”. 

57 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

It is the prison cells where they keep unruly passengers, stowaways and the more eccentric members of the entertainment team....Good luck....😀

We have often seen crew members appearing out of doorways in these areas, so my best bet would be crew staircases and storage areas.

Its definitely not pools, nightclubs, gyms, restaurants or a spa. 

We have stayed close to here and not seen or heard anything disturbing.

In my opinion, you have picked a fantastic spot.

Have fun,

Andy

 

Great! It will be like home from home! Personally I don’t mind a little bit of noise from things like scraping chairs or restaurant acoustics, it’s the drawer slammers that arrive back to their cabin at crazy o’clock you occasionally get next door that hack me off!

We have booked an inside on C deck midship and on the plans there is a big void above us on B deck and behind us on C deck. Does anyone know what this is?

The North Sea can be a bit wild at times but it’s the Norwegian Sea we have found can be particularly rough. We have done 2 Arctic cruises now, the 1st on Oriana which was in March & the 2nd on Aurora which was in November. Both trips had their moments where it was a bit lumpy, we had to delay leaving Alta because the weather was so bad but eventually we set off, still with very strong winds and blizzard conditions, which was in March. Both ships handled the conditions well, obviously there was noticeable motion but it’s well worth it to see the beauty of that part of the world.

Maybe it depends on the destination. When I booked the northern lights cruise for Nov 2017 the excursions were very limited until approx a week before because of the uncertainty over weather conditions. They couldn’t advertise anything where snow was required because up until that point there hadn’t been any, then it started to snow in the Tromso area a week before we went so suddenly a lot more options were available.

If you are a coffee lover you really need to make arrangements to take your own. The complimentary coffee onboard is, in my opinion, vile. The Costa coffee which you pay for is OK but the milk they use in it makes it taste a bit weird, nothing like you get on land. I always make sure I take my own coffee with me.

7 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

Somebody on FB has asked if they can go topless on Britannia!!!

Considering we keep getting told the average P&O passenger is 85, we will be glad to see your Sex Pistols T shirt....

Andy

LOL

59 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

Even stranger than that the rules are different for imports of low/ no alcohol and make it more difficult for UK brewers, apparently.

 

I really don’t like low alcohol wines as they are generally too sweet for my pallet but there are some excellent beers and now a really palatable non alcoholic gin which with the right tonic tastes like the real thing.

 

I think that cruise companies will eventually cotton on to the selling potential of these products. They make a nice change from soft drinks and reduce units consumed.

The upturn in sales of low alcohol products has been enormous just like the Prosecco craze of a few years ago and of course the huge gin upsurge. I do feel some of the cruise lines are quite slow to keep up with the latest trends. For example I have sailed with Cunard and P&O recently and both offered a good choice in original gin but neither had any flavoured gin available which has a huge following now. I think the buyers need to keep up to date with current trends for maximum sales opportunities.