DamianG

I love a ploughman's lunch and that looks a particularly fine example, all the right components and not bulked out with too much salad or an apple (often added in an attempt to make it look bigger than it is).

I paid a rare visit to Greggs yesterday. The coffee machines both ran out and there was just one lady trying to serve the big queue and refill the machines at the same time. When I finally got to the front of the queue the cavalry arrived and a 2nd staff member finally came out to serve customers. I was stood right in front of him with armfuls of goodies but he looked straight past me and said “Can I help anyone?” I honestly think I’m invisible sometimes.

We had no problem at all as a family when boarding at the same (earliest) time together on Arvia in August despite different embarkation time slots.

Quick update on Teddy and the rear left occasional limp that is now into a second month. He went for X-rays last week & nothing showed up so it’s a case of waiting another month before visiting the vet again for a further check. He was anaesthetised for the X-rays so has the usual shaved patch on his leg which is irritating him enormously (hence the sock to stop him licking it). He is full of energy so it’s just a case of trying to make him do the right exercise (e.g., walking & running is okay but no jumping around chasing squirrels in the woods) but that’s easier said than done. His groom was cancelled by the groomers last week so he is very shaggy but hopefully he’ll have his haircut next week. The third photo shows him in his usual position in my spare bedroom office while I’m working!

Farewell @Dermotsgirl @Eddie99 I may not post very often on here but I do read everything and have enjoyed your contributions over the years. Best wishes to you both.

I'm belatedly reading this and so sorry to hear your sad news. Take care.

It's been a wet morning so far, I don't have much hope of them starting on time.

Loved Clarence, his nephew Jake is brilliant too.

I’m neutral on whether there should be a dress code or not but if there is one then I think it should be observed (which it clearly wasn’t on our cruise).

Maybe this explains the “fully booked” but empty tables scenario that’s often been reported (at least until the 15 minute period after being paged lapses)?

I also got a similar call this week and we now consider the matter of all our issues that we had on our Arvia cruise closed. The lady I spoke to was lovely and a credit to the company. My thanks as well for the contact information provided.

I was on a final salary pension scheme but was bumped off it a few years ago (like lots of people including my wife) and it has made a huge difference to any retirement plans we had. Glad you got it though and we don’t begrudge anyone from our organisations who got what we won’t.

If they had done that on Arvia during our school holiday cruise the MDR's and Crows Nest would have been half empty and we might not have had such long waits for a table! 😆

Yes, we ended up with a fixed dining arrangement in one of the MDRs and a chap on the next table wore a t-shirt, jeans, trainers and baseball cap every evening (except for the formal night). We sat next to another group wearing t-shirts, shorts and trainers in the Crow's Nest. The dress code was posted in the Horizon everyday but was not enforced in any way. Maybe your cruise will see it observed better (being outside school holidays).

Just like our recent cruise on Arvia then!

I took Teddy for a walk at lunchtime and just as we got onto the next street I could see an old lady approaching up the road on a mobility scooter. I didn't want to Teddy to react or bark so I held him back whilst she passed, only for her to stop in the middle of the road then start barking at him to get his attention! Naturally he got upset and started barking back at her then she shouted "What's his name?" I repeated it several times but she couldn't her me until eventually I shouted "TEDDY!" at which point poor Teddy thought I was shouting at him so sat down with his ears pinned back looking really sad like he'd just been told off. Meanwhile the lady drove off singing "How much is that doggy in the window?" If I see her again we're definitely going to turn round and walk the other way.

Wow! I’m feeling tired just reading about it! Fantastic pictures, thanks for taking the time to post them all & the updates. Relaxing today?

Just thought I’d share the weather forecast from BBC Look North this evening.

I think that P&O is confused about its own identity at the moment, for example posting a dress code in the Horizon every day which was largely ignored on Arvia when we were onboard. I agree about the activities for children on board as well, a half hearted attempt on Arvia in my opinion.

I'm flattered to get a mention! 👍 Great write-up, succinct and tells the story of your cruise. Oriana used to be our favourite but Aurora was a close second and we would sail on her again in a heartbeat if it wasn't adults only these days. We liked Iona and had none of the issues that we faced on our recent Arvia cruise, hopefully you'll enjoy it too. Best regards Damian

Gavascon is only included in the Deluxe Package 😀

On our recent Arvia cruise we signed up for the Classic Drinks package (for myself, wife and son aged 13) on day 2. It wasn't worth it for us on day 1 as we took some drinks of our own and used the sail away drinks voucher. We didn't have a lot of onboard credit so that wasn't a factor in our calculations. We thought very carefully before taking the package but ultimately it worked out for us paying for 13 days onboard (therefore missing the extra 10% pre-cruise discount) but including our Peninsular Club discount. On a typical sea day we would have teas and coffees from Vistas, wine with our lunch, another drink mid-afternoon, Proseccos in the cabin whilst getting ready for dinner, a pre-dinner drink, something with our dinner then one final drink afterwards. We also had plenty of bottled water. Our son didn't go crazy with his drinks package (included with ours) as it was restricted to Pepsi or lemonade on tap, or hot chocolate. He didn't have the latter and got fed up of the same drinks every day. Naturally we had less drinks on port days but there were only 6 of those in 14 days. We too made a conscious decision to have less long lunches in port apart from one day. My only criticism of the drinks package was the limitations, both for our son and us. Even we got a little fed up of the restricted choice of the Classic package, not so much the cocktails but more the wine list especially as some included were not available. We have an included drinks package on our next cruise with MSC (a new cruise line for us) which appears to be more inclusive in terms of drinks offered. For our next P&O cruise we have substantially more onboard credit so if the offerings are the same at that time we will probably just pay as you go.

Thanks for the update and photos @Purdey16 all looks great so far. We had a pleasant late afternoon watching the ships depart from Southampton and I took the below photo of my laptop screen capturing 3 out of 4 on the Solent.

I have no idea, just thought I'd take a look at the future cruises online and spotted the gap.

Looks like Britannia has a gap in its schedule 6th to 20th April 2024 so likely to get a full repair then?