paulatsea

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

Not very good I'm afraid.  Doctor noted no improvement on the chest in fact right side is apparently "extremely rattly" whatever that means.  I've now been given another stronger antibiotic and am revisiting doctor Thursday with a view I may need to see medical facilities ashore in Barbados on Friday.  It was mentioned St Maarten has excellent European facilities if nothing improves but I'm going to hope for Barbados in case of the worst as far more flights home from there!  Allianz are being very good although I will not get confinement payout as believe it or not only first 48 hours was mandatory. Thankfully I have had the pneumonia jab and apparently this is helping keep the infection down.  I'd just like to sleep as I've not really been able to for 4 full days now.

 

Thankfully we have a deluxe balcony so my husband has moved to the sofa bed and so far - touch wood - hasn't gone down with anything.

 

Very glad to have lots of active threads on CC at present to occupy my sleepless nights.

Last year I had 2 episodes of chest infections - needed 2 courses of antibiotics for the first and another one for the second.
Very unusual for me.

x-ray showed infection in first case but all clear after antibiotics.

Took ages to shift.

Both cases were after Marella cruises with loads of people coughing - fly cruises.

Doctor said there were some very nasty infections going around last year.

Tested negative for C both times.

Hope things improve - best of luck.

Wondercruise23 - how did the cruise go ? Did you enjoy it ?

1 hour ago, Pink15 said:

Hi Paul

I'm on this soon 😁 and have had Hep A & Thyphoid as recommended by my surgery.

Thanks Pink15 - enjoy !

4 hours ago, Brummijam said:

Not having a go at you Paul but it’s amazing how a smoking habit can determine where you can / can’t go on holiday?
I smoked for fourty years and to be truthful I was in the same mindset.

I stopped ten years ago, Basically I needed an operation and they weren’t prepared to do it if I was still a smoker. These days I truly don’t even think about cigs. I just find it strange now how a habit can control a person.

Not judging you at all mate.

Keep well.😉

 

You are right - it’s pathetic - but I am addicted ! 
At least I stopped smoking cigarettes.

Well done for kicking it.

Decided - I’m not going anywhere that bans vaping/e-cigs  - I use IQOS heated tobacco which is also banned - so sod em all !

6 hours ago, Calton said:

They are completely illegal in Singapore. You cannot bring any sort of vape into Singapore. If they catch you, it's a heavy fine of about a thousand pounds.

 

I'm trying to pack it in. Gone two days now. I'm very grumpy lol.

Bizarre rule - same for Thailand I think.

On 12/31/2023 at 12:02 PM, Calton said:

Hello.

 

I am a vaper and I know you cannot take your vape off the ship or into Singapore in your hand luggage.

 

I was wondering, would it be ok to take in your hold luggage for use on the ship?

I need to know this as well !

Did you find out ?

Agent today said April 

Hi - looking at doing this cruise in Jan 2026.

Can anyone let me know - was it good ? !! ?

Also - this was an adults only cruise ? The 2025 ones say adults only - which is ideal for us.

I looked at visa requirements quickly and it said none required for Singapore Thailand Vietnam Malaysia ? Is that correct ? Seen SG card mentioned above ?

Also looks like no vaccinations required but tetanus diphtheria up to date is good to have ?

I would be very grateful for any feedback as this cruise looks fantastic.

agent I chatted with said 2026 Marella cruises come on sale April ish.

Thanks Selbourne - really good blog.

1 hour ago, Ukulele girl said:

Thank you Selbourne for your very enjoyable commentary on the cruise. I followed your last newsy ramblings for the same reason as this as my sister and her husband are also on board. They are on a lower deck in a balcony cabin and have said that they are not as aware of the movement in bad weather. It is so good to hear the details of trip as my sister doesn't usually use the wifi on board. 

Is there still a table near the library where people leave books they have finished with? It is often a way to share reading material on a longer cruise.

Best of luck with the weather into Bermuda. 

The table in the library was there when I went on Aurora last December 2023.

Next to the main desk.
Lots of books left there to share.

24 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Everyone is nice on here Graduates or not.

Absolutely - we have a common love of the sea and cruising - whoever we are.

30 minutes ago, Cathygh said:

In those days you could get in if you passed the entrance exam I think na dthe interview and there were always colleges who took you if your father went there.

In the eighties I was repsonsible for coaching (in a comprehensive school) what they used to call Seventh Term Sixth Formers. They had passed their A levels with not particularly great grades, for lots of reasons I won't go into here, but had definitely underperformed. Oxbridge set exam in the Autumn Term after A levels and as long as you passed the exam and the interview you got a place. It was a much fairer option IMHO than they have these days and gave the opportunity for kids to go there who wouldn't have got in otherwise. 

They still do their own entrance exams as school exam results don’t mean much anymore.

47 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Great daily summary @Selbourne.

I loved your answer to those snooty graduates.

I hope you have smoother seas and avoid the storm forecast.

Graham 

Reverse snobbery. Snooty graduates  ? Please.

15 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

It’s called the old boys network, and it’s still very much alive. Likewise with certain schools. Impossible to defend, of course, but a fact of life. Like Freemasonry. I was expecting a really tough time at an interview once, back in the 70s. As soon as we got on to which degrees and which university though, magically everything changed.

Because they are (were) the top universities - proven track record.

Obviously makes a difference in an interview as they are (were) the hardest to get into.

Absurd to object to anyone from anywhere wanted to arrange a meet up with anyone they want to.

Freemasony has nothing to do with anything in this context.

Simply people with common interests.

The open top hop on / hop off bus trips in Madeira are excellent - the regular red bus or yellow bus ones. 
Last time in Madeira we decided to go out on our own and right outside the ship was a yellow open top bus waiting with P&O signs next to it.

We just got on and you could pay using onboard credit. It was just the regular yellow bus but boarding at the port was just for our ship - and it came back to the ship.

It wasn’t a booked excursion.

thanks for updates Selbourne.

10 minutes ago, galeforce9 said:

That’s what we do. Lift the bed frame 

Use the luggage as large double trays for the buffet.

27 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Yes I am but just the basic one. Haven’t used it for much yet other than this blog but seems fine. Logging on all the time due to it dropping due to inactivity is a bit of a faff, but once on it’s pretty good. 

Thanks - In case you didn’t know Selbourne there is an option box on the WiFi login page(and the main myholiday page) to “remember me” so you don’t have to keep entering all the details.

I saved both these pages to my Home Screen and then you can just open them and press enter. Details are already set.

Are you on a WiFi package Selbourne ?

If so which option ?

Starlink went live on Aurora at the end of our last cruise and I tried the “ultimate” for a few days and it was very fast - as good as at home - but I didn’t try “standard” on Starlink - which I expect is easily good enough ? 

thanks 

Also hopefully some sunshine and drinks will help you feel a bit more cheerful re the things going on at home. Hope it works out for you - let us know !

14 minutes ago, Wondercruise23 said:

Thank you Harry, Connor and Tring.

We are due to sail on the Azura for 2wks round the Canaries, so will be receiving around £2,500 back and will only have to pay for excursions, which is really fantastic! The catch being that we have an inside instead of a balcony, which we are quite unsure about as we've only ever had balconies before, so are hoping it will be OK.

It sounds really terrible, doesn't it, to say that we're considering not going, so we are really trying to talk ourselves into it!

If we do decide not to go, I just wondered if they would then hold back the refund so they didn't lose out on the money that we would otherwise have spent on board, as in our experience, P&O have always been quite shocking for their money-grabbing ways.

 

Go !
You might be able to upgrade to a balcony again on board if there is a no show perhaps ?  - even at a cost it would be worth it ? 
I expect you would be first in line given the circumstances ?
if it was us we would be very disappointed not to have a balcony like we usually do - but for free we would go anyway and and make the best of it.

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Well I’d love to start with a positive, but it’s disorganised chaos at Mayflower. Arrived at 12pm with 12.30pm priority boarding. Still stood outside in the cold at 1pm. More later….

When we went on Aurora on the December 1st  canaries cruise (dec 23 last) they let everyone in almost straight away to check in and we just sat inside waiting for our turn to board - like the old days ! So no queuing outside.

Priority boarded first and then by a combination of arrival time/peninsula status and not necessarily what was on the boarding pass !

It worked very well.

Good luck - thanks for sharing your adventure with us.

13 minutes ago, john watson said:

I was thinking it is a thread about which would be the next P&O ship to be withdrawn and Arcadia and Aurora were cited

 

.Regards John

Yes  - and they are both adult only ships 

9 hours ago, daiB said:

We have been on 4 long Ventura cruises to the Caribbean and can confirm that there are very few children go on these cruises. One year there were 3 children and on the others around 10 to 15. Now personally I like children on cruises as I was a teacher. So Ventura does not need to go adult only as it is not as problem.

Not a problem for you - but it is for me.

If you like children on cruises then family ships are for you - and there are several.
This is about replacement of adult only ships.

7 hours ago, zap99 said:

Can you imagine one of the big ships as adult only. Full of grumpy folk tut-tutting about the good old days. 🤣

Sounds good to me. I would be on it.