SarahHben

Oh my goodness! Good news that you had no fractures but I expect you’re going to be very sore. I hope you feel better very soon

I’m glad you had a good time 😊 Where are you off to next?

How exciting 🥰

Thank you 😊 We decided last. Night that Holiday Inn in town was too expensive, over £200, so have booked Holiday Inn Fareham instead. We’ve stayed there before and it’s close to Port Solent shops and restaurants. Our first choice would have been HI Express near the cricket ground if it wasn’t for cricket being on that day and likely to be busy, they do a good breakfast 😊 Are you staying there pre-cruise?

Thank you all 🥰 baby was 12 days late and our daughter was worried he'd be a whopper but he was a perfectly respectable 7lb. His older brother hasn't plucked up the courage to get too close yet, he's appreciating him from a safe distance 😂 Thanks for info on Holiday Inn. If we were to have a late embarkation time on Britannia, we had 3:30pm on Ventura last year, do you know if they allow people to stay in the hotel lounge area? We're torn between Holiday Inn Express - much cheaper and great breakfast but will need to arrive mid afternoon to get a parking space and then there's not much to do locally, or Holiday Inn ...paying quite a bit more but have places to walk to.

Hi everyone We've had an exciting weekend, baby grandson was born Friday morning, he missed being a 29th Feb baby by 1 hour, he's totally gorgeous 🥰 We've also started thinking about our end of May cruise, we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express M27 Jct.7 the night before our first 2 cruises. We have a room booked there again for this year but wondered if it's worth spending extra to stay in the main Holiday Inn in Southampton? The cost is twice as much but there is cricket on at the Ageas Bowl on the night of our stay again and last time that made parking at the hotel very difficult. Any opinions welcome.

Thanks, I'll tell Mr B to cycle carefully, too energetic for me, I'll just enjoy taking photos from the train ☺️

Morning all. I haven't been on here much lately other than reading the occasional 'live from' post. I hope everyone is well. We feel very ready for a holiday, with various health issues in the wider family, brother has just got out of hospital after an operation, mum is waiting for an operation date for her back but in the meantime is still not very mobile. Our daughter is heavily pregnant, 9 days overdue at the moment so we're at a constant state of readiness to drive her to the hospital and look after the almost 4 year old. We're hoping baby doesn't make an appearance on 29th Feb 😏 It's balance due time for our Britannia cruise at the end of May so I can start getting excited about it now ☺️ Mum and dad have had to cancel due to mum's current mobility issues and pending operation so although it's a shame, it will be nice just being me and hubby. It does mean I'll be doing the Flam railway trip on my own as Mr B is cycling down, I hope it's impossible to get lost and board the wrong train coming back down again 😂

Sorry to read that you’re still having issues, I hope those situations improve for the rest of your cruise

My husband and I booked the Retreat on our 2 weeks Canaries cruise in Ventura last August and both agreed that it ‘made’ our trip. The outside decks were very busy but there were only a dozen or so people in the Retreat. There’s both sheltered and unsheltered areas. Blankets are available for if it’s chilly. Food wise we didn’t have breakfast there but often had lunch there, if I remember rightly it was a salad every day. Then they offer a light afternoon tea later. Tea, coffee & chilled water are always available and if you want any other drinks the waiters take your cruise card and go to the bars to get what you want . Bear in mind though we went in August and had warm/hot weather. We didn’t use the retreat on our 1 wet day.

Morning. It’s been an interesting week here. Mum’s not been good, it took both my sister and I to get her out of bed, bathed and dressed on Tuesday morning. She then had a call from her physio, told her how everything was getting worse and the physio told her to go straight to A&E. We spent several hours there with her going through various assessments and she was eventually sent home with a change of pain relief and an order to return if she gets either numbness down below or loss of ‘control’. Shes got an MRI in two weeks, but doc thinks it’s Spinal Stenosis and at least one slipped disc. My sister and I persuaded her to let us make a temporary bedroom for her in their dining room so we’ve been rearranging furniture and my husband moved the bed downstairs and she’s been relieved to not have to manage the stairs twice a day. They are going to cancel coming on Britannia with us in May, fortunately not a big deposit to loose. Five weeks until our Grandson number two is due so we really need mum settled and improving by then or I may end up in a frazzled heap. 🥴 Sorry to ramble on, that was quite therapeutic getting all that off my chest 😂

Fantastic news! 🎉 How lovely to hear from Frank too 😊

Different models may have the settings in a different place but if you can get to the settings you should be able to connect to your WiFi package on the kindle then once connected you can definitely download books straight to the kindle. No iPad necessary. Good luck

Morning. Does your wife have kindle unlimited? I was whiling away a few hours in A&E yesterday evening and had my kindle with me so took a few pics of what I do. First go to kindle settings and connect to WiFi. Then I click on the 3 bars, top right, click on Shop in Kindle Store and then Kindle Unlimited is an option to choose. I don’t have Kindle Unlimited but type ‘Free’ in the search bar and a long list appears. You can then click on the 3 bars again, click on Refine and chose the genre you want. I hope that helps?

My husband and son are going to watch the Gillingham vs Sheffield United match this afternoon so I’m looking forward to a quiet afternoon until they come back to watch the highlights to see if they can see themselves on tv 🥴😂

We stayed in a conservatory cabin on Iona in 2022. Here’s a link to our cabin video. We had a shower, no bath.

@SelbourneIt’s a shame you had some issues yesterday, I hope things improve for you. We saw the Privateers on Ventura twice in the summer, they were fantastic! Had a brief chat with them too, very nice people 😊

I have a day off childcare & parent care today, Time to catch up on all the housework…. although I can pretty much guarantee I’ll get distracted and end up browsing cruises online 😂

Sorry to read that 😞 hoping the results will be good for you. Good luck with vets appointment too.

Have an amazing time!

@Adawn47 Sorry to read that Frank is unwell, I hope you get some answers and that he's on the mend very soon, look after yourself too! For the first year in our married life we are having a quiet night in this New Year's Eve with a takeaway and relaxed evening watching TV. Life has continued to be manic here, Dad is exhausted but improving and waiting for an appointment with a specialist, Mum is still not good and is waiting for an MRI to check her spine for issues, she can't walk unaided at the moment and she's normally climbing on chairs and all sorts, I've been having to bath her. Then two days ago our Son in law had a cornea transplant, 6 hour operation and a pretty long recovery time, so with our daughter being 33 weeks pregnant we're now helping them as well as my parents. We've had our Grandson here for the last 3 days & nights, gave him back earlier. Mum & Dad think they may have to cancel going on the Norwegian cruise with us at the end of May because of all their health issues and upcoming referrals etc. They've got until balance due date to make up their minds. Wishing you all a very happy and healthy 2024!

Oh no, I’m so sorry to hear about your dad Sue! What a difficult time for you, with that to deal with, your mum to look after & John’s broken arm, puts my problems into perspective. I am lucky that I can share the load with my sister, she lives in Maidstone so not too far away. Thinking of you x

Hello Sorry not been on here for a while but just had an email to say that you and @grapau27 had mentioned me 😊 We've been having a rough time with my parents lately. After dad being unwell for quite a while we eventually had to call an ambulance out for him and he ended up having a hospital stay. At the same time mum's had/having a bout of severe sciatica and can barely do anything, so my sister and I are doing shifts to help look after them both, cook their dinners etc. We're both exhausted and I am not feeling prepared for Christmas at all. We'll be looking after my parents for the next few weeks then my son in law is having a cornea transplant just after Christmas, which with his particular situation will be a long recovery time, (he's been told he could be off work for 12 -16 weeks 😟) and his wife/our daughter is pregnant with baby due mid Feb so will need lots of help..... there's no let up in sight for us at the moment. My husband and youngest daughter were in a 3 car accident on their way home from work this week too, they weren't hurt fortunately but were shaken up and the car needs some work. The driver in the car sandwich came off worse, a white van hit her from behind and sent her crashing into my husband's car. Fortunately an off duty police officer witnessed it and stopped to help. Never rains but pours! Have you been having a bad time with your mum & her health? Sorry I haven't read all my unread posts, there's too many of them. Hello everyone else too, I have missed browsing on here.

I've read through the whole thread this afternoon and thoroughly enjoy reading about your cruise @Selbourne sounds like it's the same itinerary as we did in August. I'm saving off all your menu pics to show my brother in law as he's worried he'll find the food too samey on a 2 week cruise. He wouldn't use speciality dining more than once a week.

Thank you. I'll look out for that on Britannia next May. We had a virtual bridge tour on Ventura in August, held in the Havana Club, it was very interesting.