RA10

Wow, Navy Panda. I am so impressed by your analysis. Not only have you kept the data from last year but how you do the comparisons. Genuinely interesting !

Thank you for your suggestions, Terrierjohn and sweep2907. It was more about the toiletries etc that we were interested in putting in the checked luggage. We will take the advice of carrying small travel sizes for them. Thank you.

Thank you for sharing some very useful info. Helps with our planning. Can anyone advise how the luggage check-in is handled on the return flight? I know we get luggage tags the day before and we put them on our suitcases and leave them out at night. Do we see them again before they are checked in with the airline or are they sent off directly and we collect them when we get to our home airport (Gatwick for us)? The reason I ask is if there is any opportunity to add the remaining stuff we had kept for the evening to the suitcases or do we have to keep it all as hand luggage. Thank you

Hi Sweep. Thank you for your review. Some useful info I am picking up from this as we are on the Azura in a couple of weeks. I have a question regarding your booking for Sindhu. You mention that you booked in advance and paid deposit. You say that they didn't charge for main courses. Was there a special offer where you didn't have to pay for mains? When we went on Iona in the summer we had a 20% discount for booking in advance but don't see that on the Azura this time. Thanks.

I think it was £40 for 2 hour session fin the spa (Sauna, steam room, hot tubs, relaxing rooms etc.) We only had a massage. On another cruise line, we got free session in the spa if you had a massage but not on Iona (or other P&O ships I guess).

We cruised on Ocean Village in Aug 2008. It does not show up in past cruises on P&O website. We have not sailed Princess yet so not set up an account with them.

We received the same email today. We are sailing tomorrow. Very disappointed. Not sure what we can do. Even if we had bought the optional extra for "missed port" in our insurance, I guess it wouldn't have covered this situation as technically they are not missing a port. Not sure whether it would be worth complaining.

Thank you for mentioning this Jazzytelly. We do like the occasional omelette, so great to know we can ask for it in the MDR.

I have realised that I have had 710 and Limelight Club mixed up in my mind. I have now worked out that Limelight Club is the one with named artists such as Gareth Gates etc. It is a paid venue, includes dinner and can be booked. Can someone please remind me what 710 club is like. Is it bookable? Chargeable? Do we have to queue up? Are the acts the ones that also perform elsewhere on the ship?

ICF, thank you for all your updates in this thread. I have read with interest your updates and comments/queries from others. This has helped us be better prepared and have some idea of what to expect on our cruise in next couple of weeks. I can se that not all of us can be as lucky as you but I thinks and hope that on balance we could have a normal enjoyable holiday with minimal stress.

Thank you TigerB and Jennizor. As we want to avoid the hassle of booking etc using the app, I think we will just book the Chef's Table before sailing, as celebration night is the the day after departure. We'll book Sindhu for 3rd night. By then we'd have some idea of how the booking system works for MDRs and entertainment via the app.

I have read mixed reviews on Chef's table. I understand that it's part of the buffet restaurant which is sectioned off for Celebration night and is set up for table service with table cloth etc. My interest is that we can book it in advance before we board. Does anyone happen to know if it's the same menu as the MDR or something different?

I was looking for something similar for my wife. She has issue with queuing for prolonged periods. When I saw your comment it gave me an idea. I googled for it. I have come across one in Superdrug. It's called "Aidapt Folding Seat Cane." Hope that is of some help to you. I will show it to my wife to see if she likes it for when we are next travelling. Unfortunately it seems to be online only, so we cannot pop into Superdrug to take a look.

Just mentioning something that is probably obvious to most, that holding share just for the shareholder benefits alone is risky. This is a quote from HL "Shareholder perks are not reason alone for buying shares in a company. Over time, shares and any income they pay will rise and fall in value, so you could get back less than you invest. If you're not sure if an investment is right for you, please speak to a financial adviser." In my case I lost about £30 immediately after I purchased the shares. After that it fluctuated quite a bit and currently I am about £34 down. As with all shares, I am taking a long term view on growth and dividends. At least currently we are seeing quite low share prices and hope is that things can only get better. Of course, if you take a lot of cruises with Carnival owned cruises companies then you could recover some of your potential losses quite quickly. Some people on this board have had more in benefits than initial outlay on the shares.

That's good advice. I'll check with the agent for confirmation of the OBC. The email from P&O does say "Your shareholder benefit has been applied and a revised booking confirmation that will show the added on board credit has been sent." I would have thought it is good enough but the email goes on to say "As you have booked via a travel agent, you will need to refer to them for the revised booking confirmation.". Less hassle spending some time on the phone or email with the agent now rather than queueing up at Customer Services on board, on the slim chance there is a discrepancy.