D&N

I couldn't contain my curiosity. I contacted a big US agency who's mailing list I was on about 20 years ago. I can't name them here but they claim to be very big in cruising. The price obtained for a cruise I know the UK price of and converted from USD to GBP at this evenings commercial exchange rate was 17.5% more than the UK price on September 25th. That takes account of differences in onboard credit and includes port taxes etc. Edit: Sorry I didn't specify the grade just the category and I note they've quoted the grade below the one I'm comparing so the percentage difference may be bigger.

If you follow the link in that article to: https://cruise-arabia.com/2021/05/08/new-dubai-harbour-cruise-terminal/ there is a note that suggests all Carnival ships will call at the new terminal in future. "The new Dubai Harbour Cruise Terminal is part of the new Dubai Harbour waterfront community between Dubai Marina, The Palm Jumeirah and Bluewaters Island. It will be used exclusively by cruise lines belonging to Carnival Corporation, the largest cruise company in the world, which owns nine cruise brands (Costa Cruises, P&O, Princess Cruises, AIDA, Cunard, Seabourn, and Holland America Line are the ones that cruise from Dubai)."

As long as they are high enough up that the dancing can continue underneath. And that they have safety equipment that prevents them hitting the dancers if they fall. 🤣🤣

Our local hypermarket's Christmas/New Year Comté offerings were published recently. We're looking forward to tasting a few of them. We get a chance with the 15 month next week albeit at a slightly higher offer price than what is advertised for the festive season.

What about the entry concerned you? I'm no expert on that site, but as far as I could see they don't seem to be behind in posting accounts. I've never used them and probably won't need their services. Just intrigued as to what you felt might be wrong.

"I don't think those of you in the UK should feel left out." From the figures quoted it certainly doesn't seem that those in North America are being offered a better deal than UK customers. Has anyone actually carried out a costed comparison between US and UK offers? I suspect that when you read of US offers with drinks and speciality dining included, that if you took the UK price and added in the cost of those 'perks' you might come up with a very similar total. I would only consider booking through the UK, but if it did bother me I would do the research.

The new carpets are nice. We didn't have any problem with the previous design. Biggest concern with corridor carpets is that they are in good condition and unlikely to be a trip risk. The starburst pattern carpets in the lift foyers were quite good for photos. I doubt we'd be taking many corridor portraits.

I see one of the contractors doing renovation work on the Spa Whirlpool has posted a video on YouTube.

It also appears on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cunard/videos/1040206767295744 It's an AVI file which can be downloaded with suitable software. Although I'm not sure what copyright issues there might be.

We normally watch Strictly live or on catch up if we've been out. We like to see couples perform dance steps that are actually recognisable to folk that take/have taken dance lessons. That means we rarely agree with judges scores, which seem to overmark showiness with little real content. We have no interest in the suspense of the results show. We still watch it but almost always know in advance who are in the bottom two and who has been eliminated. The Blackpool result should almost be available in real time as being an outside broadcast, the BBC send a satellite feed back to the studio. There are folk with sophisticated receivers who can pick that feed up and report it to a spoiler thread on Digital Spy.

We had booked Geppetto in Nice tonight. I knew the trains weren't running due to points replacement in the next town's station. I knew the buses were on a reduced holiday service for Armistice Day and the weekend night service wouldn't be on to get home, but hey what's Uber for? Despite my 40+ years in the transport industry I forgot that SNCF never put on replacement buses here and the holiday bus service would be full of train passengers. We waited 40 minutes with buses showing "Complet" passing us and decided to give up. We cancelled and rebooked for next Saturday. Luckily there's always a bottle of Cremant in the fridge and home made pizza in the freezer. And the girls were happy to have our company. Coco even purred when her Mum petted her a few minutes ago.

Photo from a bit over a day before their Mum returned from Scotland, they had realised that this was the best heat source in the house. Coco-Canel has been a bit puzzled by this woman who turned up on Friday night and goes about as if she owns the place. She wonders why Ursel is so happy to go to her to get petted. Next week she'll realise that her Mum spends hours and hours on a weekday afternoon sitting reading her Kobo. and that her lap is ideal for sleeping on.

My post didn't suggest there had been changes. Can you quote where I said that and I'll make a correction? Reports on this forum from the cruises affected last season indicated that measures were taken for a diving team to inspect and take any action required. I remember reading that there may have been delays to that being carried out due to unfavourable sea conditions. However even after it was carried out, QE's hull was still considered to be unacceptable. Unless paying to have that carried out can guarantee access then there is no point in doing it. As I suggested in my follow up post, maybe where there is concern for eco systems they would be best to restrict access to ships that only cruise in that area and don't have the opportunity to pick up foreign organisms that could modify or destroy the local eco system.

For part of the evening I was perched on the front half of my seat catching up on this forum. When I got up for something they extended their required area. To encourage the bonding process I opted to kneel on a cushion in front of my computer for about 40 minutes until they woke up and started to disagree about who should lick who and in which direction. Ursel then jumped down and I encouraged Coco-Canel to follow suit and reclaimed my chair.

I like TravelTouristVideos. Mainly because we're featured dancing for about 10 seconds in one of them.

Afraid not. Don't know anything about it. We're happy to drink Cava, Prosecco or French regional sparkling for a pre dinner drink if it is better value. And anything cold and sparkling in a spritz. But if I order Champagne I'd expect it to come from the Champagne Region. I imagine sparkling from other parts of the world would probably meet our pre dinner needs.

I know I'll be in the minority here, but I just think they are a waste of space. We never have any at home as the cats are likely to be too interested in them. I'm happy for them to remain in gardens or public areas. I'd probably place them under the bed to get them out of our way, along with the coffee machine and kettle that we don't use. We go to a lounge if we want tea, coffee or drinks.

A complete guess; but with azipods the need for propulsion at rear probably disappears. P&O Ferries new Pioneer has them mounted at each corner, and with bridges at each end like Staten Island ferries and others, shouldn't need to turn round on it's Dover-Calais route

It's not something I've investigated, but are the places involved with the hull cleanliness issue not cruise by rather than calls? Not sure what NZ gain from that other than loss of tourist trade in actual ports. Thinking from a practical point of view those areas where there is concern for the marine environment are better served by a ship that remains in the area all year round. QE will be bringing all sorts of marine life from it's 9 months(ish) trip around the Pacific, crossing Atlantic, through the Med, Red Sea, Indian Ocean etc. You can maybe understand their wish to keep all that stuff out.

I wonder if the aircon issues mentioned are a Vista thing? Our one trip on P&O Arcadia (a Vista) was an Acapulco to Barbados transit in Jan 2006. The ship had only been in service about 8 months. We were late sitting for dinner and the lounges were fairly full beforehand when all the late diners were having pre dinner drinks. Most nights it felt very warm in the lounges, but at other times the temperature was fine or even a bit cool. Regarding biofouling; I thought that the manner reported here of the implementation of that policy was unreasonable. A company can't really plan to offer an itinerary on the basis of; we plan to take you to see this place, but we don't really know if we can because even if we think that the hull is clean the inspection team a week or so beforehand might not agree. And if they don't issue clearance we might have the option of paying a third party to dive under the ship and clean the hull. But that depends on weather and sea conditions allowing that activity to be carried out and even then the inspection team might still consider that the hull is not clean enough. Then we might need to inform clients that we can't take them to see this place and probably give them some commercial gesture as compensation. Given that set of criteria, I wouldn't plan to sell cruises that sail into that sort of area. If the NZ authorities actually want the ships to visit, they could offer some facility that guarantees to clean the hull to standard at a known cost. But it probably suits them better to do without the ships.

Ursel isn't a great jumper and prefers to climb. That mainly restricts her to things she can grip. Carmel was partially sighted, could jump but restricted herself to targets she was confident of reaching. Hazel was good at jumping and we installed a plate glass screen to left of our kitchen hotplates to deter her from landing on very hot surfaces. We called it an Anti Hazel Screen. I don't think she was ever silly enough to jump from in front of the hobs. Coco can jump ........................................

Sorry for questioning your arithmetic. I can see it without the price. It seems to be member only and sold as a: "Pick N Mix 6 Wines" deal. It's on their UK site at £21.39. At your price it seems very cheap considering the shipping distance. And of course if you were expecting Veuve Clicquot or Laurent Perrier I could understand the disappointment. They also do a version made in USA. I thought that might be what they were selling. Apparently some parts of California are permitted to use the Méthode Champenoise description:

The link Hattie posted is in USA, therefore priced in USD. A few minutes ago $20 would equate to £16.17. Around £13? In France I'd generally buy one of the "Cremants" as a better value option to Champagne. Our local hypermarket's own brand Cremant de Limoux Brut is one of our favourites. "Méthode Traditionnelle" is the term used outside the Champagne region for the same process known as "Méthode Champenoise" for wines produced within. In past run ups to Christmas we've had deals where cumulative discounts give us decent champagne normally costing around €30 for around €7. It's also worth remembering that in blind taste tests, cheap supermarket champagnes often beat the big brand names.

Is this not Barbie's year?

With my wife away, my prime task has been to integrate Coco-Canel and Ursel without sustaining scars on their noses. Still the odd hiss but they're getting on very well. When not resting they madly chase each other around, which should be good for Ursel, who's tummy is probably a few inches bigger than she'd like after 3½ months with Carmel who wasn't fit to play. On Coco's ears and tail; the photos of her alone make her seem larger than reality. I suspect the tail may fill out rather than get any longer, and likewise her ears may not grow at same rate as body, which is tiny considering she weighs more than Ursel did when a month older. Ursel is Thai, more old style Siamese, her limbs aren't as long and slender as Coco's.