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I dare say Gwendy had her tongue implanted in cheek with her comment. Either way, she has a point, there are some cruisers who would feel 'cheated' if they didn't down the limit of their drink package. I'm fairly certain there were a lot of pax 'going for gold' on our last P&O cruise who were six deep at the bar on the Lido deck when the State of Origin was on the big screen (and I'm NOT saying that footy fans necessarily drink more than other people). One of the reasons we avoided the the Lido on that occasion. We did see a few tired and emotional pax on our way elsewhere and there were some obviously seriously hung over people expiring on the pool loungers the next morning. Providing they don't impact my enjoyment of the cruise, I'm not really bothered. Honestly, there are heaps of other types of cruisers who are a pain the the whatsit. Those who are incredibly entitled and rude to crew, those who complain about every little thing, those who spend the entire cruise informing anyone within earshot that such and such a cruise line is better than P&O (why sail with P&O then??!! Takes me all my time not to say exactly that to them), the list goes on. As I said in a previous post, I usually don't go within a bull's roar of 15 alcoholic drinks a day, but still get my money's worth out of a drink package with barista coffees (I'm a big coffee drinker), bottles of water and drinking the more expensive cocktails and glasses of wine.

We did have a bit of a giggle after we boarded the cruise in Miami. We were talking to a few Americans and they were lamenting that they had to get up at some ungodly hour and drive 3 hours to the port. In our best laid back Aussie manner we casually remarked 'We're hearing you. We were 27 hours getting here'. The look on their faces was priceless! 😂 Never say 'never again', Gwendy! The overseas travel siren of the seas will get you every time!🤣

We love the convenience of driving to the port. Saves air fares and accommodation at either end of the cruise. Our last overseas cruise was out of Miami and it was 27 hours between boarding the flight in Brisbane and landing in Miami. Exhausting. Fortunately we had 4 days in Miami before boarding the cruise so we had time to recover.

Well, that would be irritating to say the very least! We've been fortunate enough not to come across overly inebriated yobs on any of our P&O cruises. (Mind you, we steer clear of the Lido deck at peak times). There was one cruise where we came across one of the overly lubricated who seemed to want to attach himself to us but we escaped fairly rapidly the first time and went into stealth mode when we saw him coming on subsequent occasions. 😂 Just as a matter of interest, were you on short cruises? The 3 and 4 day ones seem to attract the party animals. We tend to take longer cruises (7-12 days) which in our experience appears to attract a different demographic or maybe we are just lucky. Mind you, if there are wall to wall (rail to rail?) drunks, what happened to the responsible service of alcohol? 🙄

Definitely sounds like a plan!😉

Woah, Gwendy, that's a bit harsh!😂 (Probably true in some quarters, however 🙄). I manage to get my money's worth on a drinks package without drinking anywhere near 15 alcoholic drinks a day. Several barista coffees (I like to stay well caffeinated), the higher end cocktails and higher end wines by the glass and several bottles of water easily surpasses the daily cost of the package.

The pill or the cruise or both?!🤭

You'll be fine Julie. After all, it's not your first rodeo!😉 Wishing you an absolutely wonderful trip and I'm sure everyone here will be looking forward to hearing all about it!

We don't bother with slippers. Our rubber thongs just do double duty - slippers and poolside footwear. And we're cheapos - the thongs are P&O (alleged) 'freebies' from a past cruise. 😉🤭

Yuck. It's not THAT difficult to wash a few things in the cabin bathroom! I always take a bar of Sunlight laundry soap in a zip lock bag. Takes up no room in the suitcase. I've found that light clothing in particular (undies and cotton shirts and dresses, etc) dry overnight hung up in the bathroom. I remember when we had an ocean view cabin on one cruise I actually draped undies on the flat window sill. OK, it looked like a Chinese laundry 😂 but everything dried quite rapidly in the sunlight coming in through the window. Don't know what the cabin attendants thought, but I would venture to guess they've seen worse than my bikini briefs.🤣

Well, all I can say is we wish we were going on it. What an awesome cruise!

Busman's holiday or Networking?????????????

Those collapsible laundry hampers are a great idea. However, I just take along a pillowcase and hang it from a trouser hanger in the cabin wardrobe and put soiled clothes in that. Find it works a treat and if I don't get around to washing everything for disembarkation, I have something to segregate the soiled clothes from the clean ones in the suitcase.

What a wonderful idea!

Especially if you have the misfortune to be a crew member on a cruise ship😟