seahorse001

On 5/6/2024 at 1:25 PM, Photo Andy said:

Reporting from Iona today Bank Holiday Monday in Stavanger. 
Ship looking great, food good, plenty of choice, always hot and passengers seem to be having a great time. Sailing north on the North Sea yesterday (Sunday) lovely and sunny, passengers sitting in the sun, exercising and generally having a great time. Last night was formal night and most people smartened up, what ever the age young and old, people know how to smarten up. 
Now for the downside I observed 4 people not washing hands entering restaurants, or exiting toilets. One man in the restaurant helped himself with his hand in the cheese crackers! No outbreaks yet, just hope our immune systems are working well.

Olden tomorrow. 
We have enjoyed our first few days on board, we have booked another cruise onboard, just where we want to go. 

Nice to see you are enjoying your cruise Andy long may it continue.

Re your hand washing comment- I experienced this on Arvia & Iona. In fact I would say the majority DID NOT wash their hands when in ANY dining venue 🙈. I witnessed this many many times - hardly nobody washed their hands & no staff were enforcing it 

On 5/2/2024 at 4:40 PM, lambinator1982 said:

I am on Arvia for the 14 night Med cruise on 26th May(K411)

 

They are selling a shore excursion which is a transfer to PortaAventura. Where you can experience Ferrari Land and ride Europe's fastest Rollercoaster Red Force.  

 

The problem is that after we purchased this transfer and paid for park entry tickets (not included) I later found out that Ferrari Land does not open until 4PM. The duration is listed as 9 hours and starts at 8:30am. If you do the maths we are due back at 5:30pm - the same time as sail away. Google says will take an hour and fifteen to get back - so If lucky will get 15 mins to enjoy Ferrari Land. Looking at PortaAventura's website 4PM is the earliest they open 

 

I called the call centre (about an hours wait) they basically said their tour operator advised them that there will be time to experience both parks, so they have sold it to their customers. 

 

Sorry I just noticed it's May 😅

On 5/2/2024 at 4:40 PM, lambinator1982 said:

I am on Arvia for the 14 night Med cruise on 26th May(K411)

 

They are selling a shore excursion which is a transfer to PortaAventura. Where you can experience Ferrari Land and ride Europe's fastest Rollercoaster Red Force.  

 

The problem is that after we purchased this transfer and paid for park entry tickets (not included) I later found out that Ferrari Land does not open until 4PM. The duration is listed as 9 hours and starts at 8:30am. If you do the maths we are due back at 5:30pm - the same time as sail away. Google says will take an hour and fifteen to get back - so If lucky will get 15 mins to enjoy Ferrari Land. Looking at PortaAventura's website 4PM is the earliest they open 

 

I called the call centre (about an hours wait) they basically said their tour operator advised them that there will be time to experience both parks, so they have sold it to their customers. 

 

Hi. Where are you docking & what month?  Port Aventura is just outside Salou? Been there a few times. TBH I don't think you would have time to see the two parks anyway. They are fairly big but not as gigantic as some.

First of all I think the parks hours change in the summer months too close later, so maybe check again ? 

Could you maybe go & just concentrate on one park? Shame to miss it - great day out 😊

Hi all

I am looking at booking a cruise on Ventura - Southampton to Southampton ( 14 night Spain and Portugal)  In August.

Was wondering if anyone has stayed in an inside cabin on Lido deck (15) and if there are any pluses or minuses for this location in the summer months?

Thanks 

On 4/25/2024 at 8:21 PM, gsmt47471015 said:

I have the utmost sympathy for your enforced delay , however it is not just Aurora , we got off Arcadia after 99 nights and its fair to say that infections were plentiful ( of all descriptions)and increased in the last three weeks of the cruise , it says something when the Captain announced that anyone not adhering to basic hygiene requests would be put off the ship, and indeed 

they were, we never used the lifts and never once touched any grab or handrails during the whole voyage ,even when the ship was rolling all over, and still succumbed in the last few days and got off the ship with infections of varying descriptions which we are still suffering with. Honestly I do not know what the answer to this problem is but feel that earlier ,and strictly enforced standard hygiene practices perhaps would have minimized the spread , it must be stated that as passengers were flying into the ship and embarking at numerous ports this will not have helped ( passengers next door to us were isolating with sickness etc within an hour of embarking) 

I do wish you a speedy embarkation and hopefully a healthy cruise😃

Oh dear. All the P & O ships I have been on have NEVER enforced washing hands anywhere on the ship. I personally witnessed people entering the buffet going in and out with food & not washing their hands.Also in toilets .In MDR there is hand gel on reception. I guestimate 10% of people used it & staff did not challenge them. SOME passengers are disgusting 🤮

4 hours ago, Denarius said:

Riviera river cruises also charge no single supplements for cabins on the lower deck; the single supplement for cabins on higher decks is 50%.

I have been reading these posts with interest. Guessing some of the responses are from cruisers living in USA? in UK you will rarely find any good deals although they do exist sometimes if booking ahead 

4 minutes ago, sambamama said:

If you check prices, with NCL, at times your studio cabin will cost more than a regular cabin. I had that happen, and I canceled and went to a Cruise out of FL (the NCL was out of NYC and it was winter.) There are no cruise lines I know of that have no single supplement policies. Some lines have solo rooms, like HAL. But it is never 1/2 the price. You can try booking hosted single cruises, and you can Google that. 

Hi

In my experience NCL are about the best really in terms of price & meetups etc. RC/Celebrity very expensive although occasionally you may find a  few late deals.

P & O (UK) are not too bad if you book in advance although nothing for solos except meet up in Crows Nest (not hosted). None of them have reasonable prices for solos. Total rip off.

15 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

If that is true then I imagine that Maleth will now go bust, and leave all their debts behind, and possibly Maleth 2 will rise from the ashes.

yes teriierjohn I suspect you are correct. TBH I'm not holding my breath for the compensation form I submitted for my delayed flight. Megabear- I don't feel sorry for them at all. the bottom line is it was a business contract that they accepted & couldn't fulfill....end of. Personally I had a horrendous delay &  flight with them and I actually felt unsafe. I wouldn't travel with them again even if the fare was free ! in all my many flights it was by far the worse experience and not a good start to what was a super cruise.

On 2/11/2024 at 5:12 PM, latebuyer said:

Someone on a solo celebrity thread had reported princess is charging more than 200% on the sun princess. I checked and this is correct, not on all cruises but quite a few. This is unfortunate. Has anyone noticed this happening on other ships?

Hi

Yes I have seen this hike on Royal Carribbean Mediterranean cruises May to Sept 2024. Not seen it so high with RC before. Norwegian seem to have put their prices up for solos on Mediterranean cruises also  & they used to be pretty good 

Total rip off for solo travellers as usual 

On 2/2/2024 at 1:49 PM, Shingles Mark said:

Good afternoon folks

I am thinking of booking Arriva transatlantic back from the Caribbean in March flying from Gatwick. What happens when we get back to Southampton do they bus us back to Gatwick to collect my car ?

Thanks Mark 

Hi Mark

P & o will bus you back to the airport. If you do not plan to drive to airport ( I use National express buses) you can book with P & O one way back to your nearest town

You need to book using the following link 

https://www.intercruises.com/cruiseconnect/index.php/home

Cheers 

I have cruised on both ships.

Not much between them really Holly 

Arvia has more choice in pay for dining restaurants & a rectractable roof in pool area 

I would choose based on itinerary/price 

Hi

I popped in to future cruises when I was recently on ARVIA (insane q but I went passed when they had a cancellation)

Didn't have a particular cruise in mind but knew date & area I wanted to go too.

My experience was .

*Agent was not interested in me at all 

*I didn't think what they offered was a good deal 

* Rushed me & didn't follow up when they said (telephone call to my cabin )

I must add I am a solo traveller & very few good deals for solos . Assuming we are not lucrative enough re drinks etc & no one is ever interested in us. 

On saying this if you already have your cruise earmarked & a couple it may well be worth your while. Book appointment in advance early evenings & port days seemed quiet 

1 hour ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Does he also have a thread to discuss progress for flight delay claims for Tui?

 

 

im not sure. its a forum the same as this where people can post questions etc. There is specific section for flight delay. why not start a post  for Tui yourself if there isn't one ?

2 hours ago, Yorkie69 said:

It is the lack of information from Maleth or P&O’s to ensure a 9+ hour wait in an airport could easily have been avoided.

apologies for jumping on this thread -  i cant seem to find where it started !

Just to let you l was delayed on  a Maleth Aero flight LGW to Barbados on 6th January . 

I have created a post on Martin Lewis's website (forums- search flight delays section).  The thread is for anyone that has made a flight delay claim with Maleth Aero,  to report any progress/lack of progress with claims.

Thanks 

2 hours ago, PORT ROYAL said:

Feel the best people to answer this question will be the Tourist Board, knowing they have an internal list of quality Guest Houses and small boutique hotels that would fit one’s criteria.  
Here is the link for all questions.  https://www.visitantiguabarbuda.com/contact-us/

 

 

thanks for your reply Port Royal. Yes i have already looked at the tourist board website.. Some of heir recommendations seem to be out of date and the search engine on their site is not too good. I was looking more for personal recommendations by people who have stayed in a place . 

Hi all

I am disembarking a cruise in January (13th) 2024 would not have much time to see the island. I am therefore thinking of staying on for approx. 5 days and fly home then. I know very little about Antigua and am just doing my research.

My budget is low, can anyone recommend a relatively inexpensive hotel/inn I could book. My requirements would be a pool and breakfast in the establishment in the mornings and somewhere i could walk too for dinner. Not too far out as I will not have a car . I am a single lady travelling solo ,so don't want to be walking  about after dark anywhere quiet. I don't mind a busy part of the island. I will take a taxi back to the airport.

Thanks in advance 

hello

Like everyone i have had BF deals popping up in my inbox recently. I  have been following the prices of  some particular cruises (May 2024 to March 2025)I have had my eye on. I must add I cruise solo so prices are ridiculous for solos mostly.

Tui /Marella have been advertising Black Friday 'deals' with discount codes for some cruises . Now hears the thing - the base price (on the ones I have been watching) has been raised by as much as £400 on some, so even allowing a reduction with a code they are still more expensive that the ones I have been watching!

NCL have some quite good offers and look as if they have genuinely cut the prices of some.

I appreciate that BF can be smoke n mirrors but there are genuine discounts in the retail world. I would be interested in anyone's thoughts- are BF deals really 'deals' ? 

2 minutes ago, Flannel1 said:

Hi there, booked this very trip really recently (>2 weeks ago) and after a week or so we got confirmation that we are on Tui flight out from LGW (N) at 9.50 - if that helps? But then again a lot of people for P and O to get out there from various starter points and prob using other carriers as well - even with LGW?

Thanks Flanell1

3 hours ago, kalos said:

 

That plane has long gone ,better to try for one in January 2024 😉

ha kalos - well spotted my stupid mistake - yes 2024 . HA  

thank you both . JET 2 flys from Stanstead not Gatwick ? Is this correct ?

hi all

I am looking at the A402B Azura cruise to Tenerife on 13th-20th  January 2023. I wish to fly from Gatwick.

Does anyone know what airline P & O use for this itinerary and the time of the flight if possible please?

Thanks in advance 

2 hours ago, blue_water said:

As a follow-up, there are no public facilities at Spring Bay, just the Guavaberry Villas, so you’d want to bring water. Same if you go to the Baths, although there is a restaurant and restrooms at the Top of the Baths.

 

But as you can see on Google maps, you would have the driver drop you at the Guavaberry Villas and Spring Bay while others continue on to the Top of the Baths. It’s just a short walk down to the beach and boulders. 

 

You can then make the 850m walk from Spring Bay to Mad Dog restaurant for a bite and cold drinks, and the amazing views. If time allows stop in Spanishtown to shop, or if hungry stop at the Bath & Turtle (Chez Bamboo)…

 

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Spring+Bay,+British+Virgin+Islands/Mad+Dog+Bar+%26+Restaurant,+British+Virgin+Islands/@18.4499542,-64.435982,378m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x8c057925b0efc5a7:0x75176fec07a7e26e!2m2!1d-64.4459545!2d18.4321559!1m5!1m1!1s0x8c057920365a8e65:0xeb8e343731e6546c!2m2!1d-64.4419483!2d18.4293849!3e2?entry=ttu

hi, thanks for  the detailed reply. My ship is in port from early morning to early evening. As far as I can see from the shore excursion notes the excursion is by sea, so I will not have a driver ? It leaves at 8.30am for 4.5 hours so back to ship at 1pm. I think I will stick the with ship excursion for now as it will allow time to get back, have some lunch and explore more of BVI.

hi blue water

just reading your reply to macfam5 post 

I'm in Tortola in January. My cruise line is offering an excursion to Virgin Gorda at £60 and one to Spring Bay at £75. Both are 4.5 hours .The Spring Bay one seems to imply that you can experience the boulders with none of the crowds. 

I'm a bit confused as to what the difference is ?  wondering if you could shed some light on this please ? thanks 

14 hours ago, Clarey1966 said:

We have booked the Premier inn North for the Thursday night.  Are you flying on the Friday?  A few of us Solos are meeting for dinner.  You are welcome to join us Seahorse 

Hi. No I am flying on Sat 6th Jan at 9.30am (K401B) its the 7 day Caribbean. I assume your crowd is on the 14 day as that seems to be going earlier? Thanks so much for the kind offer of a meet up though , its very kind of you. Maybe we can meet up on the ship solo get togethers ? When I was on Iona they done these in the Crows Nest in the morning, I'm not sure what they do on Arvia. Keep in touch - thanks 

2 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

All the more reason not to pay for a seat, and just accept what you get at check in.

yes . I am not paying for a seat full stop...