kruzseeka

After all these years wouldn't that have been lovely? 🤗 Good planning to get your tickets ahead of time. The queue at the station can be quite long. Have a wonderful time - let us know how you get on.

We had a very wet day on one occasion in Stavanger and went to the Oil Museum just for something to do. It was surprisingly interesting - if you've not been before it may be worth a visit.

That's pretty much what we did on our first exploration. The first village is Riomaggiore. There is a well paved walk in the cliff side called the Via dell 'Amore which it says is just over 1Km long. If you can manage that it's lovely and worth doing and takes you to the second village Manarola. Oops! Just looked it up and it's closed until 2024! So the train it is to Manarola! But, I wanted to alert you to the access to Corniglia which could well be an issue wrt your knee problem. The train station is more or less at sea level - the village is perched on the top of the hill. It's quite a climb! There are steps, over 300! Although it's a pretty village it doesn't have quite the same 'feel' as the others which are clustered around harbours so you may want to miss that one out. https://www.italiarail.com/train-station/corniglia-train-station-cinque-terre-guide In which case you'd get the train again from Manarola to Vernazza perhaps the largest and prettiest village of them all with beautiful views and photo ops. We usually spend more time here. The cliff side nature of the villages runs out by the time you get to Monterosso which has a small beach, prom and cafes. But nice easy strolling. Using the Cinque Terre card you buy at the train station in La Spezia you use the train like a hop on hop off service. Last time we went you bought the Cinque Terre card at a separate booth from the ordinary ticket sales - just have a look around in the station entrance to see if there is a dedicated sales point. We got a taxi up to the station in La Spezia the first time we went (it is walkable - uphill though fairly gentle) to get a head start to make the most of the day. It's an easier walk from the station through the town downhill to the waterfront on the way back. This is a trip I'd looked at - wish we were going now. Have a great time.

Yes thanks we're fine. We did our first 'return to cruising' a couple of months ago on Aurora but ended up in quarantine for 6 days! We were well looked after though and enjoyed Norway until our activities were curtailed. Not put us off but we've nothing else booked until next year but I'm on the look out. Hope you're OK too - when's your trip? Have you done Cinque Terre before? Happy to pass on our thoughts to perhaps make the most of your time there if you're not familiar with the area. 🙂

Hi happy v 🙂 We're big fans of doing the Cinque Terre from La Spezia. Last time we even got the ferry from Vernazza to Porto Venere then the local bus back to La Spezia. Fabulous. Needs a bit of planning plus the local train/ferry/bus timetables but very doable (with safety margins built in! ). If you think you might want to do it or just the Cinque Terre, I can tell you more of our experiences. But a great stop. 👍

And much appreciated too. I was aware of another option at booking but never gave it much thought homing in on the 'Select your own cabin' as I knew this is what I wanted to do. But it's clearly a trap for the unwary - one which they may come to regret. Thanks for the clarification.

If it is something for which you have paid extra, surely at the least, there should be some expectation that the difference in cost between Saver v Select should be reimbursed. It is generally hundreds of pounds more and within a range that I would think would be significant for the customer. If they really wanted to be petty they could withdraw the free shuttle bus perk as far as I'm concerned! As has already been said though it's the spirit in which this is being handled and P&O should be able to recognise that being deprived of the cabin you have chosen (bought) for whatever reason is going to upset passengers especially if they end up in a cabin where you definitely wouldn't choose to be (under the gym, jacuzzi etc). This is in addition to the financial loss of paying for something which you don't get. I can understand the T&C's must cover various contingencies for the Company as cabins may be out of commission for any number of reasons - though I suspect they could have anticipated this situation and taken any cabins likely to be needed for isolation out of the picture from the get-go or at least acted much earlier to stop booking them and offering passengers who had already booked some choices w.r.t a change of cabin well in advance of sailing. (One week out seems disgraceful - unless now they are having much higher numbers to isolate than they had anticipated with the change in testing procedures?) It all comes down to good will and in this situation it is sadly lacking. P&O are really shooting themselves in the foot with this imo.

Yes I would have to settle for the smaller one too and would be adequate for us. When catering for more there's always the backstop of the oven! I'll just have to wait until stocks become available which I think may be a while! Thanks.

Thank you very much - yes it has been helpful. We went to JL today to do a bit of research and they had that model on display (though not in stock - I think there has been quite a run on them!) so I can visualise what you are describing. One lady was ordering one and her friend already had one and was waxing lyrical about it. I think that's the one I'm most interested in getting after hearing such positive comments but i think it may be a waiting game until new stock arrives! Thanks again for your reply.

Also been very interested in this topic. Like you there are only two of us and I have been wondering how it's possible to cook different items at the same time - but a friend tells me that you can get fryers with two compartments which I think may suit me better. She swears by air fryers too. (It's a Ninja) I'll be interested to hear comments on any advantages of separate trays/compartments from those who have experience of using fryers with or without this feature.

Sometimes I think limited availability may not be a result of lots of pre-bookings but perhaps a reflection of what the excursion is and if there is limit on numbers for the activity eg Rib Adventure so from the get-go there won't be a lot of capacity. We once did an Everglades trip on an Airboat. It was fully booked but we went on the waiting list then they notified us they had been able to book an extra boat (albeit at silly o'clock). However we were very pleased to accept and it was fabulous but the numbers were determined by the capacity of the boat and how many boats they could book.

Yes we came back off Aurora two weeks ago and all dining options were available. However we too had the e-mail prior to sailing and nothing was bookable in advance - it just said book on-board so hopefully it will be the same situation for you. I guess they are covering their backs as the situation may vary from ship to ship or even on the same ship from week to week. Hope you have a good trip and everything is open.

Don't know how big the safes are on Ventura and Iona but just got off Aurora and a guesstimate would be around 9" x 10" x 16" (H x D x W) internal dimensions. The door opening would be a little smaller. Hopefully someone can be more precise but my feeling is that the safes are very similar in size on the P&O ships we've been on.

Still begs the question about those who already have purchased appropriate insurance before booking their holiday which then turns out will not cover the changed destination. Passengers may not be aware their insurance does not cover the change, P&O have put passengers in that situation because of the change what are you supposed to do? Buy a new policy which does cover the new port?

That's interesting. I was told categorically on two occasions by Reception that it was in hand so I should have been reimbursed by now. I'll follow up again. Thanks.

That's quite a thought. What happens if you have bought the appropriate insurance for the ports you were expecting to visit but your policy doesn't cover the change of destination? Given P&O make such a point of insisting you have suitable cover how do they square making changes to a different country which may not be covered? I've just done a search and whilst some insurers would include Morocco with European cover the implication is some won't! I wonder if they will inform passengers of that possibility?

Talking of port guides Tom's Port Guides are very comprehensive. Of the ports you mention, there's only Copenhagen available and may be of interest to you: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.tomsportguides.com/uploads/5/8/5/4/58547429/copenhagen-09-30-2012.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwifv-rbqs75AhUHhFwKHSE3BzMQFnoECBQQAQ&usg=AOvVaw35JGRRzyJUqLiGfivBbcQU

About 2 hours notice but I was told I had to move to an isolation cabin with immediate effect so I had no choice but miss the excursion. My OH who at that point was negative was told he could stay in our original cabin and could get off the ship but not go on an excursion. So neither of us could go. This situation is not the usual cancellation policy. Technically we didn't cancel - we were following orders! They were quite clear we would get a refund for the excursion and the agent I spoke to at P&O said she'd fill a form in and certainly didn't question the refund. I just thought it would have been actioned by now although I've read plenty about how long it takes for monies to be paid back.

Do you remember how long it took for the refund to go back on your card? We paid for an excursion prior to departure but were unable to go (isolated). We were assured by Reception that it was in hand, I also rang P&O on our return but are still waiting three weeks later.

Sadly some idiots around. https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/20636460.major-heath-fire-studland-believed-caused-barbecue-campfire/ And even dafter........ https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/20637320.studland-fire-no-parking-signs-ignored-ferry-road/

And his impression in a crew show of Freddie Mercury in a rendition of 'I Want to Break Free' was brilliant - complete with high heels and fish nets!

Clearly overwhelmed. They can probably cope better on one week turn-around cruises like Iona as most will be getting off as, or before, they develop symptoms but longer cruises are presenting more cases with possibly insufficient quarantine cabins. I don't envy them the problem.

In our case no one other than staff who were masked up (housekeeping and medics) came into the corridor of isolation cabins. The corridor was closed off at both ends so passengers couldn't wander through. We answered the door wearing masks and also to put trays out. They transferred us to our isolation cabin with the help of housekeeping followed by a member of staff with a tank on his back and a 'wand' which discharged a fairly dense cloud of antiseptic/antiviral(?) spray. They were careful to spray the lift after we left too. That's what makes me question if you would be allowed to stay in your original cabin if everyone else in the vicinity was Covid free (at least as far as they were aware). May be different protocols on different ships but on Aurora we were definitely in a dedicated quarantine area.

I felt very unwell one night so rang the medical centre first thing next morning. They did a test which was positive so I had to isolate with immediate effect. DH was - ve at that point and was given the option to isolate with me or not. He could have stayed in our original cabin and was free to move around the ship and get off but couldn't go on any trips or use the buffet. He came with me - and was positive next day anyway. I think the isolation cabins are all together and you would be moved. Our corridor was closed off to stop random people walking through and very prominent 'Isolation Cabin No Entry' signs on all the doors. I don't think you would be allowed to stay in a cabin in an area of unaffected passengers. I could have 'got away with it' if I hadn't reported to the medics and I'm certain many did adopt that approach - the Capt made mask wearing around the ship mandatory for the last couple of days and admitted there had been a significant increase in cases. But we felt pretty washed out and wouldn't have been happy going around the ship. We had a balcony to sit out and appreciate the views, we could just flop when we felt the need and very attentive room service with meals delivered to the door - although we hadn't much appetite. We were looked after very well indeed. The only improvement for us would have been a stable TV signal. It would have been great to watch the Commonwealth Games for instance. We didn't even have a decent Sky News signal when berthed in Southampton! I don't understand that. However we were very grateful for how we were looked after and have no complaints and a FCC which we have applied to a new bookng 👍

We also enjoyed a day at the Parque Maritimo Cesar Manrique in Tenerife - walkable from the port .