DamianG

On 5/22/2024 at 1:09 PM, Megabear2 said:

Oh happy day!  I've just had an email from Cunard to tell me the icing just went on my cake BIG time!!!!  

 

"We are thrilled to announce the world-renowned Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli will be performing. The maestro will be joined by legendary Liverpudlian TV personality and DJ, Craig Charles who will be teaming up with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra for a unique collaboration. Craig will keep the party going until the grand finale, when Queen Anne sails away as light falls."

 

Can't contain the excitement now, my 80's hero Midge Ure on board and now my ultimate present in Andre Bocelli.  

What a result! We saw Midge Ure at Let's Rock Leeds a while back and he was excellent. Bocelli will be amazing.

48 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Go on Brian's cruise. A single hold all will be fine.🤣

Has your autocorrect changed that from singlet hold all? 😉

12 minutes ago, mrsgoggins said:

Good morning all

 

I watched Eurovision until the start of the voting but, it made me feel very old! I don't much care for all the technological marvels that 'aid' presentation of many of the songs. I like Ollie Alexander and thought the 'Dizzy' was okay, but I wasn't at one with Graham Norton in thinking that the staging of it was magnificent. Too weird for me, as were lots of them. Croatia was also my favourite.

 

I'm having lunch later with the husband of my late best friend (60 years of unbroken friendship), their daughter and grandson. I've been included because I'm alone as DH is in Belgium with our son and grandson at a car event. It will be bitter-sweet because I am helping to plan their holiday to Florida next year, as it was what my friend had wanted to happen and they are keen to carry out her wishes.

 

We have been back from holiday for a week and the pots containing spring bulbs need attention, so a visit to a garden centre to buy geraniums is called for.  They are my favourites because they provide lots of colour for months, are very easy and require minimum attention apart from dead-heading.  'Easy' is definitely my key word when it comes to the garden 😁.  Here's to a pleasant day to all 🥂

We completely agree about the UK entry, good song but the staging spoiled it for us too.

Good morning all, still up early despite a late night (for us anyway) waiting for the Eurovision result. Croatia was my personal favourite but happy for the Swiss win and thought that France were unlucky not to be third at least. Overall I'm just glad that a political public vote didn't win.

On 5/9/2024 at 12:05 PM, brian1 said:

LOL,I realised that too late last week,didn't even bother to research trains from Liverpool st.Plus we only pay from zone 6 having a London freedom pass.We live 2 stops from Upminster in Hornchurch.My OH took her brother to Reading yesterday, just changing at Whitechapel, for a day out.That journey didn't cost a penny.

My boss and a colleague I've known for 17 years also live in Hornchurch. Small world.

Thanks for all the comments, we've been to Sevilla and Jerez before, both really enjoyable and thoroughly recommended. And yes, we did the Tio Pepe tour!

If we ever do plan our adventure to Cadiz there are lots of interesting travel options, such as fly from Leeds to Faro then catch a direct bus!

One day Rodney, one day....

15 minutes ago, SarahHben said:

I think for us it would be a close call between Cadiz and Geiranger for our favourite all of the ports we've been to. Mind you we've only done 2 cruises so far, have 3 more booked though 😁

I understand folks wanting new ports to visit and we do too but we never tire of Cadiz. Despite having a constant flow of cruise ship visitors it retains its Spanish seaside charm without being “touristy”. 
 

We hope to visit for a land based holiday sometime in the future with getting there being part of the adventure (given the lack of direct flights from the UK).

5 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

A discussion on another thread has reminded me of a bit of nostalgia. Do you remember going to new ports and the welcome you got back when ships were seen as a very welcome addition to the local economy.

 

The first time we went to Cartagena we were given a flower from ladies in costume and there was a band.

 

Frederica we had music, costumes and were given sweets.

One port in Iceland, I can’t remember which, gave us some sort of soused fish. I don’t recall the port but the fish was shall we say unique.

 

Closer to home in the early days Invergorden put on a full pipe band and highland dancers (don’t know if that was the local chamber of commerce or Celebrity).

 

Any memorable “welcomes”

In 2005 Aurora had a gap in the winter schedule due to a refit finishing early (imagine that?). P&O sent us a letter inviting bookings for a new “experimental” cruise heading to Northern Europe in the winter with the intention of visiting several cites with Christmas markets. We booked and it was a fabulous experience right from the start. As we departed we were on the promenade deck in the cold & dark drinking mulled wine & there was a band playing shore side.
 

Every port had something extra to welcome us, from bands of different sizes to a full marching band with majorettes waving us away from Oslo.

Onboard Captain Mark Symonds told the story of how P&O gave him some free reign to plot a course for the extra (non-brochure) cruise & him & his officers decided to go against the grain in winter & head North instead of the usual Canaries or Mediterranean. I really don’t care if he embellished the story a little as it just made the cruise even more magical. We had great table companions at dinner as well & it will always be one of our favourite cruises. 
 

As for the idea of Christmas market cruises, the rest is history!

On 5/9/2024 at 12:42 PM, SarahHben said:

I love Cadiz, my favourite port from our cruise last summer

Our favourite of all the ports we’ve been to!

3 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

I’d be a bit worried if I was Lulu!

Lulu often goes nose to nose with Teddy through the hutch grill and they are very relaxed in each other’s company. 
 

Vala is very excitable but it doesn’t seem to have phased Lulu at all!

We have my sister-in-laws huntaway Vala staying with us over the weekend. She is a handful on the lead but well behaved overall. She is obsessed with our guinea pig Lulu who lives in our summer house. 
 

17 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Very cold and miserable here at the home of racing. Took nearly 6 hours yesterday in torrential rain and today it continued.  Who in their wit and wisdom decided to dig up the M25 near St Albans for two junctions in the run up to a bank holiday and to proudly announce it's until Summer 2025!  All very depressing. 

 

For the first time in 50 years my packing for this weekend's racing consists of three winter weight woollies, two pair of boots, my Austrian winter hat and a heavy raincoat. Certainly no hope of glamour this year!  On a more positive note the hotel has switched the heating on, Dutch Decoy is declared to run and the new super horse City of Troy has arrived from Ireland.  I just have to not freeze to death or get washed away before the big event!

Good luck today @Megabear2

Instead of a tall “tower block” ship with dozens of decks let’s copy the Queen Anne design & stretch it instead.

33 minutes ago, kalos said:

 

Same here but a pet hate of mine and most floggers do it ..

 

Take your shoes off if stepping into the shower 🤬It's a  brand new ship .

 

Do they all march around their showers at home in outdoor footwear ? 

 

Ha! I said exactly the same!

9 minutes ago, DamianG said:

Good morning all, I’d like to request a one day pass for the wide awake club! Our dog Teddy accidentally brought a tiny slug into the house last night (we think that it stuck to a paw) & that was enough for our son to make a fuss & refuse to let him sleep in his bedroom. Ted slept on our bed & loves a snuggle so he was either pushed up against me or Michelle all night causing a very restless night’s sleep. I was awake at 4:30am & realised our son’s bedroom light was on so I went to switch that off then couldn’t get back to sleep. I had to be up at 5:30am anyway for my latest trip to London & it’s been a long day already. Looking forward to getting home around 9pm tonight!

 

We watched the Queen Anne arrival & a few vlogs showing the club class balcony cabins. The ship looks fantastic & we’d love to sail on her one day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec86Q_aND9k&pp=ygUdUGF1bCBhbmQgQ2Fyb2wgbG92ZSB0byB0cmF2ZWw%3D

Good morning all, I’d like to request a one day pass for the wide awake club! Our dog Teddy accidentally brought a tiny slug into the house last night (we think that it stuck to a paw) & that was enough for our son to make a fuss & refuse to let him sleep in his bedroom. Ted slept on our bed & loves a snuggle so he was either pushed up against me or Michelle all night causing a very restless night’s sleep. I was awake at 4:30am & realised our son’s bedroom light was on so I went to switch that off then couldn’t get back to sleep. I had to be up at 5:30am anyway for my latest trip to London & it’s been a long day already. Looking forward to getting home around 9pm tonight!

We watched the Queen Anne arrival & a few vlogs showing the club class balcony cabins. The ship looks fantastic & we’d love to sail on her one day. 

9 hours ago, S_latham said:

We have the basic refresh drinks package. It says we can get the soft drinks which are "on tap". Are these available at all the resteraunts and the buffet? 

“On tap” may be a bit misleading. It means soft drinks poured from the tap at a bar (i.e., those multi drink dispensers attached to a hose). There are no self service options so in the buffet it’s a case of trying to catch the attention of a drinks waiter. It also means no bottled soft drinks are included. Our son quickly got bored of lemonade and Pepsi on our last cruise so we ended up getting him a bottled soft drink on occasions. 

I would like to request Oriana’s Al Fesco (maybe it could serve the Beach House menu in the evening).

Have a great cruise @AndyMichelle I hope that Britannia is well stocked with Peroni and Hendricks Perfect Serve ingredients for you.

We enjoy watching a handful of vloggers who make an income from it and are very good in front of the camera. By all accounts they need a huge amount of followers and views to earn a decent amount, but that doesn't seem to have discouraged the large amount of other folk who seem to think that it is so easy that anyone can do it. 

We've not encountered any onboard during school holiday cruises but I can well imagine that it's becoming more common on the cheaper cruises. As @Megabear2 stated, personally I've found passengers having loud conversations with someone whilst their mobile phone is on speaker mode more of an annoyance.

27 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

No.

I don't bother using their app.

There is a McDonald's,Greggs,Burger king and Starbucks close to each other and I'm not particularly loyal to any of them.

They are a short distance to the beach and convenient to get a snack to take to the beach.

I’m not loyal to any particular brand either. I’m pretty sure you don’t need to use the app though, and I’ll be looking to get the deal before catching the train for my next working trip to London in a week’s time. 

22 hours ago, purplesea said:

Morning everyone,

Hope you're all well or on the road to recovery.

10c and overcast down here, but dry. We've been spoilt the last few days with sunshine😲 and it feeling warm.

Our 48th wedding anniversary today so going out for a meal this evening, but not sure where.

Enjoy your day, whatever you have planned.

Congratulations, hope you had a lovely meal.

20 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Good morning.

The rain is pouring down here.

We called at the beach this morning with our coffee and snacks.

 

20 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Good morning.

The rain is pouring down here.

We called at the beach this morning with our coffee and snacks.

 

 

 
Are you taking full advantage of the current McDonalds offer of a sausage McMuffin and drink for £2.49?

We've booked G626 & G627 - back to back cruises on Iona during the main school holidays.

We've booked an ED grade deluxe balcony cabin which has worked out around £135 pppn. Considering that this is a fairly unique aft cabin during the peak school holidays we are quite pleased with the price and very excited about the back to back aspect allowing us to stay onboard on changeover day (I'll have the launderette to myself for one thing 😆).

Presumably we will get double perks too, such as upper tier embarkation lunch, sailaway drinks etc?

We are looking forward to revisiting Norway for the first time in years, Cherbourg which is new to us, and Northern Spain which we love. 

23 minutes ago, john watson said:

It is not a good idea to participate in the organised luggage carry off by the crew and them try to self-disembark.  This is because once in the baggage hall the staff expect passengers to  leave the area immediately.  The organised luggage will be coming into a separated off area in large pallet type containers and spread out in piles.  They do not tolerate people waiting in the baggage hall who have disembarked before they are told to. This is all part of organising things Only passengers whose luggage has been laid out in the hall are wanted in the hall and the staff keep in contact on progress by radio.

 

Regards John

I completely agree, sadly there were a load of passengers being intercepted on that particular cruise.