KaththeTaff

I feel so sorry for poor exactorman. It must be a very traumatising experience to come across a naked man, and in a church of all places.

I would fully expect Royal Carribbean to have scouted the area before allowing their valued guests anywhere the church, and to have physically removed this person before anyone could be offended.  If RC cannot or will not ensure that they can protect God fearing eyes from naked genitalia, then they should avoid visiting dens of iniquity like Jamaica where apparently such disgusting sights are considered normal.

RC have let themselves down by exposing tow guests to this filth. And then so obviously demonstrating their lack of care and empathy afterwards.They should immediately refund all of exactorman's money, and offer two free one week (or one free fortnight) cruises every year for the next decade as recompense.

But I wouldn't blame the OP at all if they chose to reject such an offer. They should go and sail on a line that isn't so obsessed with profit, if such a thing exists. 

I ran out of tablets on Saturday, but I hope to get some more later today.

According to all the info I've read, Sabor is a Mexican restaurant. My DH has read somewhere that on sailings from the UK it serves Indian food. Is this correct? I don't really trust him or his sources! Any information on what is happening at the moment will be greatly appreciated!

We like both lines, but they are about as different as is possible in the mass market cruise line sector!

MDR food is weak on NCL in my opinion. Although it's a very subjective area, I'd say that the MDR food on X is far, far superior to NCL. Where NCL scores higher for food is in the specialty and 24 hour dining.

All we've had are ordinary balcony staterooms on each line, but there isn't that much between them as far as we could see.

The free shuttles 'perk' was wasted on us. We took excursions from two of the three ports we visited, and at the other one no one was charged anyway. The fourth port visit at St Peter Port didn't have a free shuttle perk either, since it was meant to be a tender port!

We didn't book a Select fare for the free shuttles, we didn't think it would be any benefit at all, and we were right!

It was Sindhu a couple of weeks, and I agree 100% with Munchkin, the food there was magnificent!

Many people do enjoy dressing up, on formal nights and on the less formal nights. I wouldn't dispute that the majority of passengers on board do so, but the minority that don't is pretty sizeable if our Ventura cruise is anything to go by.

We only went to one formal night out of the two. On the second night we took a quick trip to the buffet and it seemed a bit busier than on other nights. There were plenty of people out on deck who didn't bother on both nights.

I don't care what others do. In the MDR on formal night I saw a couple of gents near us who I wouldn't have said dressed in accordance with the dress code for that night. Did it bother me or spoil my evening? No!

I think everyone has to accept that our society has become a lot more casual, even over the last 10-15 years. This is bound to be reflected both in what people want to wear while on holiday, and also what cruise lines will allow them to wear. A lot of people don't like that very much. Fair enough, their opinions are as valid as anyone else's. It's the cruise lines that ultimately decide what they will accept, however.

I don't understand all the fuss. My husband wore shorts in the buffet on our Ventura cruise, as did a few other men who obviously didn't fancy dressing for dinner!

We never saw mention of any dress code for the buffet other than no swimwear or bare feet, and I don't understand why so many people seem to care what others are wearing in such a casual environment as a self service buffet.

Maybe I should make it clear that the shorts were a decent length, not swim shorts but proper tailored knee length shorts.

I saw that and have contributed but was surprised how quiet it was

It was the same for cruise. Maybe P&O passengers just don't go in for this sort of thing, lol!

Seriously, when I looked there was only three people on it, just a couple of weeks before we sailed.

I can confirm that the poached eggs are absolutely stunning. I don't normally eat breakfast, but on P&O it has to be the meal of the day. It's no problem just having cereal, or toast, or anything else that you want.

I'm never going to go the buffet again for breakfast. No queuing up, no making your own drink, someone brings a huge pot of tea to you, then toast, all you have to do sit down and wait for everything to arrive. Heaven compared to the buffet!

Only one snag - I didn't like the coffee at all!

The BoB was a bit bouncy on our cruise a couple of weeks ago. It didn't affect us, and fingers crossed that you and your wife will be fine too even if there's a bit of movement.

I wouldn't remove the auto gratuities unless the general level of service was unacceptable. I wouldn't even reduce them unless I experienced something that was really bad, such as uncalled for rudeness. I think the auto gratuities are sufficient, and I don't tip extra as a rule, but I would consider it if I encountered something exceptional.

I saw and heard some unacceptable comments and behaviour from a couple of our fellow passengers. There is no excuse for that in my eyes, but some people do think that because they are paying gratuities they can act in an impolite and ignorant manner towards those receiving them.

We didn't have room service on our last cruise, but we've never given a tip whenever we have ordered it.

I always walk around the buffet before picking up a tray. I like to see what is available first. I don't join the shuffling sheep who seem to think that they have to queue up and proceed in one direction only around the plethora of serving counters. That's not how it works! If P&O intended to have one queue for everything the buffet would have one long counter, not separate stations with duplicate dishes on some of them.

I won't elbow my way in or push people of the way, but if there's a vacant area that serves what I want then I'll head towards it regardless of there being ten people standing at another counter waiting their turn!

I fear that your agent can't help rather than won't as there's imply nothing that can be done in this situation.

Why was your St Peter's Port cancelled? We are doing a 2 nighter to St Peters Port at the end of August. Its the only port!

Poor visibility this time rather than the usual wind! The captain said that to take Ventura into the harbour area and operate the tenders would have been outside the safety paramaters for such a big ship in confined waters with other vessels manoeuvring.

I hope that you will have much better luck in August!

We're just off Ventura and the first formal night was scheduled for day three. This remained the case even after cancellation of the St Peter Port call led to day 2 becoming an additional sea day.

If memory serves, it was 17-18 degrees in the afternoon in Akureyri. Hubby had to take his light jacket off because he felt too warm in it.

When we went to Iceland the weather was chilly on the way, but when we got to Reykjavik and Akureyri it was warm enough to wander around in short sleeves, even in the evenings. The weather is the weather, impossible to predict, it could be warm enough to sit outside in shorts, or it may cold enough to have to wear hats and gloves!

So if you get off late, what do you do with all your hand luggage - walk around with it? As for arriving at 11 and waiting for an hour. Why not arrive at 12.30 and not wait at all?

Absolutely, our hand luggage is very light, and only contains the absolute minimum that we need for one night. Mind you, I suppose we don't get off that late, about 0915 to 0930 normally.

I understand why people want to get on as early as they can, it's juts not what we enjoy, having tried it a couple of times and had a long time waiting around.

I also understand why not everyone wants to hang around on board. For us it's linked to the reasons for not getting on early, we like to avoid the rush and crush! Getting off late means there's generally less of a wait for a taxi, fewer bags left waiting to be collected, and one more chance to say goodbye to our favourite areas of the ship.

Thank goodness we are all different!

The start of our holiday comes when we leave the house and get on the train to Southampton.

Are the people who want to get on as soon as they can the same people who want to be first off on disembarkation day? That's what I find hard to fathom, I want a relaxed end to my trip, just like I want a relaxed start!

I have nothing against table tennis. Or snooker. Or darts come to that.

The argument that table tennis is annoying to other passengers isn't really something I can agree with. Where do you draw the line? There's probably some activity on every cruise ship that every individual finds annoying, whether it's passengers who have had too much to drink, a quiz in your favourite bar, loud music around the pool or whatever.

Shall we get rid of all of these, even though some people enjoy them? I don't think so, there would be very little left!

If you're happy to miss the formal nights, why not visit the MDR for breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea instead? You'll fancy a change in the evening after all that anyway!

John could be correct. If passengers ask while on board, another table may well be produced. While I've never really noticed a lot of people using table tennis tables on ships, I recognise that I don't usually cruise in school holiday times. If there's a demand for another table, and there is one available, I would hope that P&O put it out for use.

Sometimes the local authorities advise that passports should be taken ashore. This isn't binding, though. We always take ours, well concealed on our persons, as we don't want any issues should something happen while ashore.