bbtablet

Hattie is quite right - I had not noticed that the change to the itinerary here was before sailing. I tried to claim for the pre-cruise loss of St Petersburg too but the insurance would not pay out. For the situation you describe above, Yaldi, the trick is to obtain the standard "missed port" letter from Reception on the day of the change, or at least before you disembark. Apart from a copy of your cruise booking form to prove you had paid for the cruise, that was all my insurance company wanted and paid out £75 x 2 persons (you have to buy Cruise Cover as an extra with missed ports included, of course). I didn't know about needing to go to reception and waited until after the cruise to contact P&O for the letter to confirm that the port was missed and the reason (weather-related), which took several weeks to materialise, but then the insurance company paid out within 24 hours.

Wow! - just WOW!

I find that if I get involved in conversations at the meal table, I end up enjoying a good stimulating chat, but then have no memory of eating the food, which was surely why I went there in the first place?!

Thanks Fionboard - I must have got muddled up - I stand corrected.

I believe you can get "pick n mix tuffies" from Rent-a-Crowd.

I think I remember P&O saying that "although extra OBC given may not show up on your documents/web account, it will be there on your account when you board, and not to worry". Good luck with the email!

So do I after 53 years of marriage.

Two contradictory replies there? Personally I agree with happy v that they have been done away with - it was announced by P&O a few weeks back. If it is still obtainable on-line it will be because on-line has not yet caught up, I suspect.

Absolutely no problems with the "App" on Aurora in June this year.

Except that if you spend it on the markets you don't have to fill in a Health Questionnaire!

Congratulations! - we were similar to you in that it took until our 53rd anniversary year to achieve our Golden Wedding cruise! Hang on in there!

Too much information!

Given the current way P&O are treating their customers I would expect them to say a resounding NO - asking and getting anything else is half-way to SELECT for which SELECT passengers have paid a significant premium. The whole point of SAVER is that you don't have a choice. On the other hand, if you phone P&O Customer Services on Monday you might get someone who is feeling accomodating who will be able to help you. Good luck!

Want to board AND sleep with your companion? - extra charge (non-refundable).

Doh! Now you've done it! I bet those suggestions are already in an email winging its way to Head Office!

Good spot! One for Peter Kay, I think. They'll be serving garlic bread and cheese cake next!

In my experience, the likelihood of a smack in the mouth!

but beware dropping your guard if you have the sniffles and think it might be OK to be truthful now and admit it on the Health Questionnaire - be prepared to still lose all your money AND be barred from the cruise.

and I've always wondered why you named a dam after the humble vacuum cleaner.

I had to check there for a moment. We too are in Suffolk - but U.K. Suffolk, and there is a bridge (Queen Elizabeth Bridge) for us to negotiate if travelling to Southampton. Recently it was closed for a whole day because two protesters managed to climb up into the suspension cables and despite locals aiming fireworks at them they stuck it out until removed by police the following day. On other random occasions other protesters super-glue themselves to the road, thus making it impassable, so our journey is always "will we/ won't we" and we have taken to staying overnight in Oxfordshire to be sure. This has worked well until they closed the main road from Oxfordshire to Southampton last time - we just made it! Glad to see your journey was uneventful.

A cheeky one, I know, but given the constant references to imbibing throughout your fascinating reports, what percentage of this cruise would you estimate you were stone cold sober?

Just remember that if you do a tour to Mount Etna - even to only half-way up - it can be VERY windy up there so take thick jumpers. When we went everyone hid from the wind, which was a shame.

Of course, you could always try pinching a sun-lounger from poolside and carrying it down to your cabin - good luck with that!