Valfan

I was on Iona last week. I too felt like a newbie again as it was 3 years + 4 months since my last cruise. But I had a brilliant time. I'd forgotten how much I loved cruising, and the ship was absolutely stunning. The member of staff when I first stepped onboard told me where my muster station was and said I should watch the safety thing on my cabin TV. But I didn't have to go to the muster station. Then she pointed me in the direction of the priority lunch venue, which was the Pearl restaurant. A few minutes later I was sitting with a glass of wine, chatting to people about cruising. And it was as if I'd never been away from it all.

Where do P&O ask for expensive tests? Their website says: "Adequate tests include over the counter tests, providing they meet the criteria below.... if guests have any remaining NHS tests, these would be accepted." You can't get any cheaper than leftover NHS ones that are still in date.

I'd have settled for a 50/50 chance. I've only had a 20% success rate with cruises scheduled to visit Guernsey - been booked on 5 (from memory at least 3 of them were on Ventura), but only got there once. On all 4 failed attempts we just had an extra day at sea. No OBC compensation was due as the missed port was due to bad weather - although the first time it happened we were looking out the window at a very calm sea, a proverbial millpond, when the announcement was made.

I'm booked on Iona for 3 weeks time. For over 3 years now I've thought about all I'd look forward to on my longed-for return to cruising. Now that it's nearly here, after reading many of these comments, I find myself thinking, "I'm really excited to get back to cruising and try Iona. I wonder where I'll actually go."

I've just clicked on the link and started dummy bookings for 1 passenger for a couple of the dates given, and it is the same price for a solo passenger as for double occupancy for Seaview, Balcony etc. So it looks to be a great deal. It's just my luck that I've recently got fed up waiting for cruising to go back to anything like normal and have booked a coach tour. So I'll be away either during or just a day or two before or after nearly all the cruises included in the Solos deal. There's people who seem to be lucky in life and then there's me!

I've lost count of how many times I've tried getting a smartphone. At least 5 times. I just can't use them. I never got as far as trying "apps", whatever they are. I just knew smartphones aren't for me. So each time I took the thing back, well within the 14 days cooling off period. Usually first thing the morning after buying it, cos I just wanted to get rid of it out of my life. My eyesight isn't up to reading on such a small screen either nowadays. I only have this laptop because a Carers charity received a lot of funding at the start of the pandemic to supply brand new laptops and provide funding for data to family carers (which I was at the time) who were completely trapped at home looking after relatives without their usual hour or two a week online to check emails etc. at their local library. The library near me closed its doors for 15 months when Covid came along.

I added a second cruise months later and got the 10% reduction on both cruises a couple of times over the years. I've not cruised for a few years now, due to full-time caring and then Covid came along. But hopefully the same will still apply for you. Good luck.

It was the post about the one at £29 on eBay that prompted me to look them all out! But when I checked for actual Sold listings, there were just a few that had fetched £2 or £3, so the £29 one will probably stay listed with no takers. It was lovely to have a rummage amongst my P&O stuff though. It made me realize how much I miss cruising, after more than 3 years out of the game.

I went from Gold in Portunus club to Caribbean in Peninsular Club too. Then I did quite a lot of cruising upon early retirement, and found myself in the Baltic tier, which I never expected to reach. I remember receiving lapel pins, though like you I never wore them or saw anyone else doing so. On reading this thread, I decided to have a rummage amongst my P&O souvenirs. So far I've found 8 Caribbean pins, all in little blue cloth bags, 3 Baltic ones in little cardboard holders, and a round blue badge for P&O's 175 years Grand Event.

A lot of people, myself included, don't have a smartphone, have never seen an app, and don't feel confident doing very much online. I also don't have the option to drive miles to get an in person test, as I don't drive either. So I've been in limbo while this edict for passengers to "organize, book and pay for" pre-cruise testing has been going on.

What website can you track the ships on? I know people who are on one of P&O's ships at the moment but don't know where to look to follow their progress. I'm not much of a one for all this technology nowadays, but always willing to have a bash!

On most of my 35 P&O cruises I've had an inside cabin by choice as I don't like a window I can't open. And I'm not keen on heat, so I can keep my inside cabin at a nice constant cool temperature. The twice when I was upgraded to an outside there was a constant game between me and the cabin steward - he kept opening the curtains to see what he was doing and I kept closing them to keep the sun out. The twice when I took a balcony cabin - once to try it cos it was very little extra compared to an inside, and the last time I cruised when it was literally cheaper than an inside cabin - I honestly never used the balcony. Both times I popped outside on the last day just to have a look. I took a photo of it and tried sitting on the chair for a few minutes. But it was cold and windy and there was packing to get on with, so I went back indoors a bit sharpish. I guess I'm just an inside cabin sort of person.

I hope you're right about no tests by then. But, according to my TA (the well known one) when I mentioned the new testing policy to her on the phone last month, P&O expected it to be in place "at least until October this year, and they'll review it and make another announcement then if any change." I live in hope of an earlier change. But, if not, I'm getting very used to this "living without cruising" lark. Someone wrote on here a while back "The longer I go without cruising, the less I miss it". And I must admit, that's me now as well.