SeaJane

8 hours ago, Fionboard said:

Best act I have ever seen is Paul Ruck's Eric Clapton tribute. He is amazing.

I agree he was brilliant. However when we last saw him he said he would not be performing on ships anymore as he wanted to concentrate on land based work.

@Grandad John Happy Birthday John - hope you have had a lovely day 

@Adawn47 Happy Birthday Avril 🥳🎂🥂 hope you are being spoiled on your special day x

3 hours ago, Caullkhead said:

Any songs for fog? Can just make out my neighbours & st Just has completely vanished now! 

We also had thick fog here in Polzeath this morning. It’s now cleared, but still very grey and gloomy. Sunshine is promised for tomorrow and it’s looking much better for next week too. Just hope the forecast is right for a change! 

58 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Picture on the inter Web today. All the traffic cones to stop parking. Its too wet to repaint the double yellow lines.😂

There is only one narrow road that runs through Polzeath. They repainted the lines on the road leading down into the village before Easter, but were unable to complete the job due to the awful weather. Over the Easter holiday cars were parking on both sides making it very difficult to get through even in a normal car. There is no excuse for the inconsiderate drivers as there are plenty of car parks in Polzeath, but of course they charge ………

20 hours ago, Grumpycruiser60plus said:

Good Afternoon everyone. 

Sunday.  A visit to Eden Project. Weather ( storm killjoy) having an effect meant  getting a little wet once we arrived. So straight to the Biomes. Some pics  below. 

 

So today, Monday  we were off to Rock opp side of Estuary  for a family lunch at The Mariniers. 

 

We had several friends ask if we were eating at Rick Stein places. Short answer, no. But we will & are eating at different Paul Anisworth restaurants.

I have food pictures/ menu also  below. 

 

 

 

 

We are currently staying in Polzeath (a couple of miles from Rock). We’ve eaten in the Mariners many times over the years, but have not been there since Paul Ainsworth bought it - he’s certainly put the prices up, but the food looks delicious. We’ve also eaten at Rick Stein’s St Petroc’s In Padstow on several occasions and found the lunch menu very good.
 

The weather has been windy with heavy showers for the last couple of weeks here and sadly we didn’t get to see the eclipse last night due to thick cloud. After last night’s storm, strong winds and torrential rain today is bright and sunny although still very windy. The sea looks spectacular, but it’s a day best enjoyed from indoors rather than walking the cliff paths! 

2 hours ago, twotravellersLondon said:

 

Perfect identification... we often have a short break and a snack on that part of the walk.

That’s one of our regular walks - we were there on Monday. Our other favourite is around Denbies vineyard as it’s been much drier during this wet weather! 

On 3/20/2024 at 9:34 AM, twotravellersLondon said:

Brightish and pleasantish this morning,,, it is a wonderful time of the year when everything is springing back into life.

 

A stop on one of our favourite walks over the Surrey Hills with the trees in bud... just magical.. even on a day like today,

 

Am I right in thinking this is looking at Tanners Hatch from Polesden Lacey? 

9 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

People really do need to work out what they normally drink on a cruise.   For example, we don't do juices, iced coffees or premium drinks.  Only you know what you normally would drink.  Also, if the cruise is port intensive, you won't be using that much as you will be ashore.  And, if you are ill for a few days, you have wasted quite a lot of money.

Completely agree. We like a few drinks, but do not do specialist coffees, juices or buy water. We always have a bottle of wine with dinner and a few glasses of wine or beer for OH at other times on a sea day. When in port we usually use the local restaurants or cafes. For us the drinks package isn’t worth it. For a family with children having a lot of soft drinks as well I can understand it totally makes sense.

Thank you @mrsgoggins for your interesting blog. Our longest cruise so far has been 22 days and I’ve often thought about a longer trip to visit further afield. Reading blogs such as yours gives food for thought! 

On 2/6/2024 at 10:00 AM, P&O SUE said:

I was going to mention Ian Lavender too, sadly I’ve seen nothing on the news about it as it was all about the King.

We met Ian and his wife on our first cruise on Adonia in 2012. He was a very amusing guest speaker and they were both lovely friendly people. 

We had already booked internet for our October cruise at 15% off plus our loyalty discount. With this new offer we have cancelled and rebooked with the additional discount.

Many thanks for your review - an interesting read.

5 minutes ago, zap99 said:

We book select and CPS. We only live an hour away so can't really be bothered. When we go a few days early we stay in the new forest. There are some nightmare stories about some car parking operators. CPS have proven reliable.

You are absolutely right - we also have a relatively short journey to Southampton in comparison with many CC posters. 

10 minutes ago, david63 said:

Out of interest - how do you know that?

We have a tracker on our vehicle so we know where it is kept. We generally have longer cruises and my husband regularly checks on the location etc whilst we are away. 

We always use CPS. It may not be the cheapest, but the service is excellent and we need to know our car is being kept safe and secure so for us it’s worth the extra cost.

We had this one on Ventura in May. It was the first time we had seen one since our first cruises in 2012.

18 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

So do I. With a passion. But it’s pretty much standard English now, even amongst otherwise respectable BBC presenters etc, and I suspect that within 10 years or the original ‘aitch’ will be seen as archaic.

Me too! It drives me mad and I’ve been told that it is now often not only allowed, but taught in schools. 
I accept that language changes and adapts through time, but “haitch” is just wrong! 

Many thanks again @Eddie99 I’ve really enjoyed coming with you on your cruise and reading about your experiences. 

Happy anniversary Avril and Frank 🥳🥂

Hope you have enjoyed celebrating with your family.

@Eddie99 thanks so much for your great blog. We have friends joining Iona today for her next cruise so I’ve enjoyed getting a flavour of what they can look forward to.

We like both ships in particular as they are adults only. Having tried Ventura, it was not for us so we are back to these two as our preferred P&O ships.

We like the theatre on Arcadia and enjoy meals in Ocean Grill. We also think the flow of the ship is better. However, we usually book a suite and prefer those on Aurora as well as enjoying having a permanent Glass House and a much better cinema.
Overall we have a slight preference for the feel of Aurora, but in the end choose due to dates/itinerary. This year we have booked Arcadia as the particular cruise suits us, but next year we are back on Aurora. 

@Selbourne thank you for your continued posts I’m enjoying following your progress and so sorry to hear about the poor weather you have experienced.

Captain Robson was in charge when we were on Aurora for 19 nights in October and we were very disappointed in his lack of visibility and failure to provide information. He would broadcast as we left a port, but not on sea days and when we experienced 3 days of force 10 and massive seas on the return to Southampton we heard nothing from him. We spoke to a lot of passengers who were inexperienced cruisers and very worried about how the ship would cope with the weather. The Captain could easily have reassured and allayed fears by providing more and better information. Various other captains we have sailed with in the past have made a point of making daily announcements - Robert Camby and Neil Turnbull in particular come to mind.

2 minutes ago, CarlaMarie said:

 

I don't think so. It looks like they've just decided to send her to the Med instead. Interestingly, J510 was due to leave on July 16th - not the 13th which the new cruise will be leaving on. 

So they’ll presumably be cancelling the 3 night (13th - 16th) Guernsey cruise as well.

5 hours ago, Adawn47 said:

We cruised on her when she was Adonia, we thought he was a beautiful little ship.

Avril

Our first cruise was to the fjords on her in 2012 and got us hooked on cruises! We then did 19 nights to the Med on her in an aft suite a few years later which was lovely. We certainly noticed her pitching a lot when we sailed through a storm, but we loved that she was able to visit the more unusual small ports.