Snow Hill

Using Ninja iFoodi it a lot, oven not been on for 10 days now, best home cooked chips ever, plus we have tried some of the recipes in the book we published to compliment the cooker.

With all these changes to availability of restaurants, change in menus etc, does anyone know what P&Os current offerings for coeliacs (gluten free) is? We used to get sight of next days Evening Menu the night before, so could chose options, is this still the case? What about specialty restaurants are there still g/f options? The buffet was always the worst place to eat for coeliacs as food could easily be cross contaminated by uncaring passengers, on the last pre Covid cruise you had to ask specifically for g/f options in buffet, is this still the case?

Finally finished the stripping of the walls in one of the upstairs rooms, took me longer than expected as steamer plate split yesterday, and I was remove a layer of wallpaper and a think lining paper, which seemed to be stuck on with super glue. Tomorrow a bit of filling work and blocking some stain marks on the plaster so doesn’t come through the new wall paper. Taking my OH for her Covid Booster & Flu jab tomorrow after seeing GP yesterday who believes as suspected she is suffering from Long Covid, a lung X-ray has been requested, plus she is seeing practice physio on Tuesday to work on an exercise routine to aid recovery, could be a long haul back to her previous level of health.

Hive of activity here this morning, recycling refuse collection day, so green bins (garden waste), Purple bins (plastic, metal & glass), blue bags (paper & cardboard), small grey bins (food waste) all emptied by 7:30, now the mechanical footpath sweeper has just been along clearing fallen leaves from paths, (we had the road sweeper yesterday) . All very efficient from the council.

I think this is part of Carnival/P&O commitment to reduce the amount of single use plastic rather than cutbacks.

No sure why they would want pull down beds as ships adults only. Some would say Iona & Arvia are not that attractive either, but that’s the way of new cruise ships today it would appear.

My ear worn for today, don’t no why. 😬

Not interested in watching what is an edited program to get maximum audience watching, prefer to listen to friends who been on a cruise, both who in their 60s.

We have some friends who have been on 2 Virgin Cruises in the last 6 months, they fully enjoyed the atmosphere on board, no dress codes and freedom to dine in any of the restaurants without additional charge. We are looking at Virgin as a possibility for a cruise in 2023 or 2024 not only based on the above,reasons, but we would like to try a different way of cruising that that offered by P&O.

There could be it’s on the list of potential sites. https://friendsoftheearth.uk/climate/england-oil-and-gas-map-where-could-fracking-happen

Why not get yourself a metal cafetière in which to brew your own fresh coffee.

12 years for us, never been to tea dances, dancing lessons, only did one lecture and that was by Ian Ridpath which we enjoyed. We can’t miss what we have never partaken in. We try to book cruises with the minimal number of sea days, as we prefer to be visiting places rather than wandering around ship looking for something to do. On sea days we tend to sit on the balcony reading a book I have brought with me to pass the time between eating! Or find a quieter area on board to soak up the sun, (if it is warm that is), we don’t sit by the main pools generally as find it far too noisy.

My niece runs a hospitality business the supply and staffing issues are still at the top of concerns list for her, she closed one outlet when the lease was up as she was unable to get the staff, plus the chefs have had to adjust menus to cope with shortages in various ingredients. These supply chain issues will also still affect P&O as majority of their sailings are out of the U.K.

My BiL had a chest infection after you know what, it took a while but the antibiotics eventually cleared it up, so persevere with them, they do work.

I think we have been once to MDR for afternoon tea, but if we are ashore tend to eat there so no need for afternoon tea when we return to the ship.

We had rats climbing our feeder, one particular daring rat use to climb up a shrub and leap from branch on to feeder, caught both the climbers & leaping rat on my trail cam. Solved problem by installing a squirrel baffle below feeder and cut off the branch. Neighbour dealt with rats which had nested at the back of his wood store.

You shouldn’t need a stamp as the EES system will live by then, how it will work for maritime ports has not yet been released. There was talk a few months back that cruise passengers in the main are only in port less than 12 hours, so EES won’t need to apply, as now most don’t stamp passports. Overnight or 2 days might need a different process. The meeting due to take place this week with EU countries with a maritime border may detail what cruise, ferry and other sea going vessels crew & passengers will be required to do on entry & exit. As for fly cruises EES will apply for the EU Country you arrive and depart from. Then from November 2023 we have ETIAS going live similar to the US visa waiver system, applied for before you embark, last for 3 years, cost €7 per person, under 18s and those over 70 won’t have to pay the fee.

Correct, countries outside the EU have no say in the process, similarly the U.K. s proposed version of EES will be a decision for U.K. only, if and when it comes into operation as no date has been given.

There is a conference next week hosted by Frontex, EU border agency, one item is the handling of Cruise Passengers at Cruise Terminals. This conference is for EU members only where they have a maritime presence. https://frontex.europa.eu/future-of-border-control/research-and-innovation/announcements/frontex-holds-conference-on-the-entry-exit-system-ees-in-the-maritime-domain-1PSDq6

I have same with one of my BP tablets it lists as a common side effect a dry tickle cough and sinus inflammation. If they are going to stop everyone with a semblance of a cough boarding then they will lose a heck of a lot of passengers. Seems P&O are hell bent on dissuading their potential customers from travelling with them, a cough is one of a number of symptoms of Covid, not everyone gets a cough, the top 5 symptoms of the current variant don’t include a cough. https://joinzoe.com/learn/omicron-symptoms For P&O to deny boarding because of a cough over a week ago would appear to be unfair and I would imagine a court may think that way too.

You may well find the details of the T&Cs you booked under via the waybackmachine on the internet archive. https://web.archive.org/web/20220000000000*/https://www.pocruises.com/

My local M&S has stopped selling them as well, only Moss Bros and a local independent store are the only places suits can be purchased locally

When we book our next cruise, whenever that maybe, might have a problem with dress code for formal nights, my dinner suit is way past it’s sell by date, the jacket has a couple of marks in prominent areas which can’t be removed, the trousers are too tight, so it’s been recycled. As I only bought it in 2010 from George at ASDA it’s lasted well, but have no intention of replacing it given that I will rarely wear iit outside of a cruise. I do have blue suit about 6 years old, not dark blue though so guess if forced I could wear that, otherwise it’s my dark blue jacket and dark trousers, not necessarily matching. Ties, I have few novelty ones and a clip on blue bow tie. Neither of my 2 sons own a suit, both are in managerial roles, but company policy doesn’t require a suit to be worn, the only time my son wore a suit was as an extra in a film 3 . years ago and that was provided. P&O will change but it will take time, they will relax the rules, those that want to dress up we still be able to do so, others will chose a different way and still look relatively smart.

The chicken was really tasty, Sunday morning croissants were done well, too early to say how much, if any savings on power, but we are going to enjoy using it. Spoke with my youngest son today he swears my his air fryer, hardly uses his oven now.

The Ninja Foodi Multicooker came yesterday, croissant done in 8 minutes this morning, roast chicken on the go for this evening, very quiet whilst in pressure cooker mode, no rattling like the old Prestige ones.