lancashire_cruisers

I just got the same email. I love Christmas and the build up but August is stretching it 😂

Yes on the day of the operation. I go back on Tuesday to ramp up the exercises.

Thanks Graham. We have a cruise booked in a few months so I’ve got something to aim for 🙂 I may even do a live from with lots of food pictures 😂

Post away Graham. As I’m currently recovering from a shoulder replacement I’m pretty well confined to barracks so I love seeing and reading what people are up to. ❤️

I also remember Degsy as I used to call him, much to his annoyance! We crossed swords on multiple occasions but he was ok really.

Such terrible news. My heartfelt condolences to you and the family, please take care of each other ❤️❤️

Have a great time!

Some people just love the histrionics and complaining for the sake of it. I’ve cruised mostly on P&O but also on RCI, NCL, and Carnival over the last 21 years and never had a bad cruise. I can’t say everything was perfect but nothing that would make me consider complaining. I’ve said previously that every new ship goes through this baptism of fire and now it’s Arvia’s turn for the pitchfork and flaming torch brigade 😂. Hopefully it’ll settle down but it’s becoming quite tedious hearing the same stuff over multiple threads, even ‘live from’ reports were hijacked.

Probably going to be shot down in flames because this tends to be how some threads on this forum go these days 🙄 For context we have cruised with P&O (along with others) since 2002 and reading some posts I think some have their rose coloured glasses on. I’ve certainly experienced not being able to book specialty restaurants on the older ships including Azura on multiple occasions but there’s always been somewhere else to grab a bite to eat. I honestly can’t believe that on the new big girls you can’t find anywhere to eat, it might not be where you want to eat but you’re not going to go hungry! I think the mistake P&O have made with Arvia and Iona is to try to be all things to all people when IMO they should have been more radical and done away with the MDR completely (cue clutching of pearls 😂). I just think along with card rooms and libraries the MDR has had its day.

We also had the call of shame. DH had put my name on his case (why I don’t know) and he’d packed his full kilt regalia including an imitation skean dhu which was totally plastic with no blade. In rummaging through the case to find it and then repacking afterwards one of my brand new shoes went AWOL and never made it onto the ship! Needless to say DH was very grateful that his skean was a replica when I found out ! 😂

I suppose you could ask, we just had to make sure they were empty and had someone keeping Dixie 😂😂

I mentioned it purely for the toilets, not the food.

As a vegetarian of nearly 45 years the veggie dishes sound delicious!

@Eglesbrech if Indian isn’t your thing then there’s the Art House restaurant in central Liverpool which has an excellent reputation, Panoramic 34 on the waterfront (not far from the Malmaison hotel), the London Carriageworks near the cathedrals and Philharmonic pub, which is renowned for its ornate male toilets, and if you like Chinese food the Yuet Ben in Chinatown is good (we have the oldest established Chinese community outside of London). If I think of any more then I’ll let you know.

I did say it was pricey! 😂

Absolutely my pleasure. I live not far from there and we've got another good restaurant called Solo and a lovely wine bar called Arthurs right by the train station.

If you don't mind being slightly out of Liverpool I can suggest Moor Hall in Aughton near Ormskirk. Quite pricey but 2 Michelin stars for the restaurant and, I think, 1 Michelin star for the less formal restaurant. It's about a 20-25 minute drive to Liverpool or a direct train from Town Green station.

Sorry you didn't enjoy your cruise but a simple view of the deck plans should have shown that there was no library or card room on the ship! From Ventura and Azura onwards the library has been much reduced and on the older ships it just seemed to be a place where people could have a siesta!

Unfortunately there was more to it than that! It was inferred that you were a certain ‘type’ of person if you sailed on those ships amongst other things. It was horrible and certainly reflected badly on some of the old guard. Indeed any issues I’ve had onboard a P&O ship have stemmed from the behaviour of those older cruisers and mostly because I had the temerity to cruise with my then young daughter. Thankfully things are much better now and the bigger ships are ideally suited to families and multi-generational cruisers, where you can avoid the ill-mannered and rude individuals.

I think I'd stopped posting then so can't remember it but it was probably as brutal as all of the others 😂. At least people have stopped going on about Canberra!

ICF I for one have really enjoyed your live from and hope to see more of them in the future. For what it's worth the newer and bigger ships always get a pasting on here. You should have seen the furore when Ventura and Azura were launched! 😄

We've also got that plate along with ones from Oriana and Oceana. Do you remember the cappuccino cups that they also did I think we've still got a couple of those knocking about somewhere.

Looking forward to updates from ICF as we have a cruise on Iona booked later this year (recovery from surgery dependent). I’m not sure why some posters feel the need to be quite so snippy though 🤷‍♀️

There used to be a little road train in Alesund that took you up to that viewpoint, a bit more heart friendly! We also visited the aquarium when we went there a few years ago, not the biggest but the view from the outside part where the penguins are was breathtaking. Great review and your girls are adorable.

I was going to mention the electric brae😀 it really is quite something.