SeaJane

59 minutes ago, zap99 said:

We had ours 2 weeks ago. Surrey isn't north, unless you live in Hampshire🤣

We had ours last week - we were invited to a Saturday clinic in September, but were away. I enquired about the pneumonia jab and the nurse immediately offered to give me that as well whilst I was there.

We also found the prices jump as you go through the cabin options and when you opt for select as opposed to the headline price. Additionally the price of the cruise we were looking at increased by a further £700 as we viewed it! 

I agree with everyone else you are doing the right thing by going. The dismal wet weather here is making everything seem so much worse. Enjoy a relaxing time in the sun for however long you are able. 

2 hours ago, Adawn47 said:

We booked in October 2019 too, but online with P&O as we normally do. The current cruise price now is astonishing.

Avril

We were only able to book onboard as they delayed launch due to having to reschedule Oceana’s gulf programme which meant we were on Arcadia when the new brochure was released -  we have otherwise normally booked direct online. I agree the current prices are crazy.

1 hour ago, Adawn47 said:

We might be on the same cruise Jane. October 9th 2021.

Avril

That’s the one! I must admit that at the moment we are not sure whether we shall be going, but of course are hopeful. We booked onboard in October 2019 so only paid £50 deposit each so we’ll see how things pan out when cruising restarts. 

12 hours ago, Britboys said:

I would have been with you on Aurora!  I also often cruise P&O in October but looking at the itineraries for 2022, I will have to look at another time of year as both Aurora & Arcadia have - for me - very dull itineraries next October.  The one that would have been happening now had four ports that I have not visited.

We are booked on Arcadia for October 2021 although all the ports are ones we have been to at least once before. Like you there would have been some ports new to us on this year’s Aurora cruise. We usually book at launch, but we are not sure whether we will book when 2022 goes on sale or wait and see how things pan out.

2 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Lazy birthday morning.

I put the radio on and a Beatles song When I'm 64 came on.

Quite appropriate today.🤫☹️🍺

Happy birthday Graham - enjoy your day 🥂🎂

12 minutes ago, janny444 said:

Hi....one of the cruises is for October 2022....that has  more sea days than our other choice.

Arcadia’s Med cruise for October 2022 has more sea days because she is going as far as Rhodes and Crete and therefore needs the sea days to cover the distance. Aurora has a more westerly itinerary so will not be so far from home. 

44 minutes ago, janny444 said:

Hi....the longest cruise that I have done is for 14 nights. I have seen a couple of 19 night cruises for 2022 and one of them has considerably more sea days with 2/3 days at sea days together a few times. My query is ....with so many sea days are there usually more activities provided on board while at sea ?

We usually do an 18 or 19 night cruise each year around October time - we should have been on Aurora now! We also enjoy relaxing on the sea days as Ardennais has said and spend time sitting in the sun and reading. However there is also plenty going on if you prefer the activities such as quizzes, dance classes, bridge etc. as well as lectures and films being shown. 

My first cruise experience was a Mediterranean school cruise on Nevasa in the early 70s and I have fond memories of the excitement of visiting so many wonderful different places.

Over the years DH and I usually had land based holidays although we always enjoyed sailing and being on board boats. Friends suggested we try a cruise, but we didn’t think it would be for us! When I finally gave up work in 2012 we decided to give it a try. We chose 7 nights to the fjords on Adonia on the basis that at least we would be going to somewhere beautiful and a week would pass quickly if we didn’t take to life on board! Like many others we were immediately hooked and as soon as we got home we booked our next cruise for only a few weeks time - 20 nights on Arcadia to the eastern med. Since then we have cruised once or twice a year and are sincerely hoping that we shall be able to again someday. 

20 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Well it’s nice to know that I’ve been missed 😂. I still look at the site from time to time to catch up on news on cancellations, Iona etc but stopped posting some time back. I genuinely tried  to cancel my account but, try as I might, I couldn’t find a way to do it. 

 

I should perhaps apologise for departing so abruptly and, although more people are understandably more interested in discussing school dinners than those of us who have populated this board for many years (major thread drift is still alive and well I see 🙄) I would like to reassure Graham and others who have very kindly asked after my welfare that I am absolutely fine. I am currently sat in a holiday cottage in Cowes and we have just watched Aurora sail past outside, which made me think of you all, hence spotting this thread with my name in the title. 
 

I guess that I am annoyed with myself as I let one poster really irritate me. It seemed at the time that those of use who were expressing concern about cruising in the current climate were being shouted down by those who took the opposite view and the debate was becoming one sided as a result. I have also been misquoted by that poster since, but that’s water under the bridge now. With no cruises happening, there was an inevitability that conversations were going around and around, but another poster, who I have a lot of respect for, said that some of my comments had made them cringe and I guess that hurt a bit so I decided it was best to withdraw. 
 

Anyway, that’s what I should have said some time ago to explain my departure and thank you to those who have enquired after me. All is well in the Selbourne household and I hope that’s the case with all of you? Now you can all get back to discussing school dinners 😂 

Pleased to hear that all is well with you. As others have said you have been missed! Hope you enjoy your break in Cowes. A few of us have recently had holidays in the UK recently and whilst it did not replace our planned cruises it has been good to have a change of scenery. 

Thank you Damian for the thread and everyone for your wonderful photos. I’ve enjoyed remembering places we have been and as others have said I realise how many wonderful looking places we still want to visit. Can’t wait to be able to travel again!

34 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

Hello folks from rainy Devon! It was a long and rainy journey but we are safely here in Lynton. The house is lovely and I hope the weather cheers up so I can get some gorgeous photos. Here is our view from the lounge 

Great view even in the rain! Hope you have a lovely time. We’ll be doing a similar journey tomorrow, but in the opposite direction as we leave North Cornwall after being here for 4 weeks.

3 minutes ago, ann141 said:

We have arrived at our apartment in Whitby and the weather here seems to be better than on the south coast.My nephew who is a train driver said his train hit a tree that had been felled by the winds.No one was hurt but obviously delays!

View from apartment

Lovely to have a view of the water. Enjoy your break.

Thank you everyone for your kind words. We enjoyed our walk this afternoon in lovely warm sunshine.

Yes of course I was  - just out of primary school 🤣😇 lol

7 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Congratulations!  And a wonderful place to celebrate your anniversary. Whereabouts are you - north or south coast?

Thank you. We are on the north coast and love the rugged scenery. I’ve been coming to this area all my life as it was a favourite of my parents. We are now lucky enough to own a property here and in a normal year visit 3 or 4 times. 

It is our 45th wedding anniversary today - how did that happen? We are still down in Cornwall, we’ve been here 3 weeks now and have decided to stay until next weekend. Lovely sunny day again today with a fresh breeze so we are going for a walk along the cliff path before a celebratory dinner and a bottle of Cornish bubbly. 

23 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Kalos I keep wondering if I should stop paying for the free calls on the landline which adds £10 to my Sky bill, and go for a sim only deal for the mobile which would give me unlimited calls and texts and a minimum of 1gb/month of data, which would rollover unused data building up enough for me not to worry about finding free wi-fi while on holiday, all for £6/month. That of course assumes cruising ever returns.

A couple of years ago we both swapped our PAYG mobiles for SIM only deals cheaper than paying for free calls on the landline and find it much more flexible as we were going on more holidays. The only people who now use the landline are my SIL and that nice person who keeps calling to tell me about a problem with my computer! 

47 minutes ago, bee-ess said:

Marigot Bay, St Lucia

 

What a beautiful place and lovely photos! 

2 hours ago, DamianG said:

Our 19th wedding anniversary today & the weather is just as good as it was on this day back in 2001. We usually have a meal out but we're still keeping ourselves to ourselves for the most part and money is tight anyway so it's a McDonalds drive through breakfast to celebrate (and before anyone comments it was Michelle's choice).

A very happy anniversary to you both.

14 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

It was quite unbelievable wasn't it.  Held to the dock by 3 tugs.  There was a car on the quay wall and it was just made to look so small.  Stones and small rocks were being thrown up by the sea.  We had tried to go ashore at 10.30 and we never made it.

It was the same for us. We were just about to leave the cabin when the announcement was made. It was certainly an unforgettable day! 

Alicante old town.

Marina in Ajaccio.

14 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

It didn't bother us, in fact that was part of the fun. Frank and I would make a bet with each other to guess which joke he would tell at any given time, the loser packed the cases at the end of the cruise. Neither of us got one right the whole cruise😆

Avril

I agree with you Avril we were quite happy with Neil Turnbull’s humour and like the fact that he makes regular announcements himself keeping passengers informed.  We were on the same cruise as Jean last year and on the day that she mentions in Civitavecchia we particularly appreciated his regular updates on what was happening.