Splice the mainbrace

2c and clear here as the sun comes up. I’ll probably go for a walk again, I’m trying to go every day when the weather is ok. We have a few queries about the cruises we booked yesterday so we’ll email our TA agent today to amend / clarify.

That's good about Manhattan, we've been to New York on QM2 twice before and docked in Brooklyn and got into Manhattan once by taxi and the other using the ferries. We tried to get a taxi back from Battery Park to the terminal and the driver hadn't heard of it and we had to direct him there (this was in 2009) 🤣

I had a cholesterol blood test at work in my mid 40s and is was 6 so I went on statins then some 16 years ago, no problem as far as I know. I'm only on 20mg. When I changed to Nationwide Flexplus account it didn't cost me any more as it's the only medication or condition that I have.

No I'm not on social media apart from this and a few other forums. The time that we sail is Southampton Boat Show week so hotels may be in short supply or expensive for people wanting to stay the night before the cruise, or stay further out and drive in on day.

We transferred a P&O cruise today from September 2024 Arcadia to USA and Canada 30 days to January 2025 as part of her World Cruise 23 days from San Francisco to Sydney, it was a bit more expensive meaning that we could transfer according to P&O terms and conditions. We also booked to replace the P&O North America cruise with a Sky Princess one with a similar itinerary leaving mid rather than early September. The cross Pacific via Hawaii and South Sea Islands has been on our bucket list anyway, what swayed us into arranging it now was that the Princess USA/Canada cruise had advantages over the P&O one. Price is only £500 pp more expensive than when we booked with P&O but a mini suite not a balcony even with us adding drinks package inc wifi, 1 day longer cruise and goes 12 days later so autumn colours could be better (no guarantees). Took about 40 mins on the phone to sort it all out.

In 3 weeks time we fly out to Cape Town to join QM2 to cruise to Sydney. We have booked flights independently and have built in a long transfer time at Heathrow and landing the day before embarkation, so have taken precautions minimise late arrival for embarkation. However we will be flying at the end of January, if there are severe flight cancellations and delays because of weather, strikes etc and we are late for embarkation I would like to be prepared to inform Cunard that we are late and would like to join the ship at the next port of call (Durban). I know that I am being over cautious but I would like to be prepared just in case. I've looked on Cunard website and have found a telephone number if arriving late for embarkation in Southampton but not general Emergency UK contact number does anyone know of a number for this kind of eventuality? Also has anyone had a similar situation where they had to board later in the cruise after missing the start of it?

Today we are going to try a transfer a P&O cruise from one in September 24 to a January 25 one. My understanding is that as long as the other cruise is the same price or higher that it is allowed. Has anyone done this previously?

3c and was sunny here but since sunrise the fog has developed. Nothing much planned for today apart from watching some fa cup matches and following the scores on tv this afternoon as they develop.

We’ve stayed at that Radisson a couple of times when having an early morning flight, very convenient with undercover walk ways to the terminals.

4c cloudy and calm here this morning, colder but dry weather forecast going forward but not excessively so. I went for a 3 mile walk yesterday it was nice to see the hazel shrubs lambs tails out already and the occasional daffodil blooming planted in the road verges.

The MIL is coming round for lunch today, we’re going a bit lighter today with salmon, new potatoes and broccoli.

Happy new year everyone. Nice bright calm start here and 5c. Quiet night in last night watching films and then the midnight London fireworks, then FaceTimed our sons in Southampton and Sydney (Oz) to greet in the New Year. I will bring in some outside lights today only because we are expecting our window cleaners this week who may trip over the wires. We will bring our decs down on Friday, we are more in the later up and later down camp than some, I’ve heard on the radio some take down on Boxing Day I’ve never heard of that before. It’s a bit like Christmas records on the radio, it’s apparently ok to play them on the radio from December 1st but after Boxing Day it’s a no no, what happened to the 12 days of Christmas? We go away 4 weeks tomorrow for our QM2 Cape Town to Sydney cruise so we will try and shift a few pounds in weight before we go away, my clothes were a bit snug after our last cruise and I am about the same weight now so need to lose some, target 6 pounds.

We’ve had dishwasher problems this week. After 15 years our dishwasher finally failed on Boxing Day, I researched on line and ordered another from John Lewis the same day and was pleasantly surprised it could be delivered and fitted today. This morning the fitters came and couldn’t fit it because of the way that our original kitchen fitter had attached the integrated door, it appears to be stuck not screwed on and they couldn’t get it off. So old and new dishwashers are now in the garage, I’m trying to contact the original fitter (if he is still doing it) to come up with a solution, if not I’ll contact another fitter. Very frustrating 🤬

Paynes Just Brazils or other brands of chocolate covered Brazil nuts are very difficult to get nowadays. I particularly like the dark chocolate ones.

We fly from Manchester to Cape Town via Heathrow to join a cruise at the end of January. I will be anxiously looking at the weather forecast in the week leading up to it because the domestic flights are normally the first to be cancelled in adverse weather conditions.

Wind as moderated somewhat after being strong all day yesterday, our neighbours are having to redo their outside Christmas lights. I met up with ex work colleagues yesterday for a Christmas drink and it was exactly 5 years since I retired ( I don’t know where the time has gone). The work place has changed so much since covid with very flexible working days in the office and when hours are worked. Also they now ‘hot desk’ where you don’t have your own desk, to me part of making going to work more bare able was having a desk that was yours arranged to your own liking with personal items permanently around you. One negative thing that retirement has brought me is laziness, when I worked I planned and did at the weekends tasks in my free time, now I put things off knowing I could do things at any time but often put it off and off 😃 Oh another thing is that I worry more about things as I have more time to think about them, when working it was very busy at work and at home where there was little time to think and contemplate things. Everything else though 👍

Nothing planned for today, maybe a walk later if weather stays ok. Dry, cloudy and currently 10c. We watched the first of the Lord of the Rings trilogy films yesterday and will watch the others this week, it’s not a relaxing watch though it’s battle after battle leaving me quite up tight afterwards. We are going to our eldest son for Christmas Day lunch again this year who lives locally. We are having a Christmas meal here tomorrow with MIL, Turkey crown and all of the traditional accompaniments tomorrow. We love cooking so like to cook a Christmas meal at some point in the season, even though it gets a bit fraught as serving up time approaches 🥵I’m in charge of the turkey and roast potatoes and the wife does everything else.

Nothing to eat or drink?

I agree about Layton background in dancing and that most of his routines are twisting the dancing to suit his showbiz style, I’m afraid that it leaves me cold watching him being a contestant but very good as a performer. I read that he hasn’t done a ballroom dance for several weeks, as opposed to Latin. He has not been doing well in the public voting with Ellie then Bobby doing better, Annabel has been getting a lot of the public vote so it will be interesting where her votes go to now. I don’t think Layton will win.

I believe that Nathan Jones is still available after setting the Saints on the path to relegation last season😡 I’m sure that he would get a good welcoming 😂

The outside lights going up are weather dependent and I had to concentrate on tidying the garden today as our garden bins go for the last time for a month on Monday. Our Christmas tree doesn't get in the way much to vacuum around it, it is going up a bit earlier than we normally do because the MIL is coming around this Sunday for lunch and it will be nice for her to see it then.

Thanks for confirming the menu alternatives, we didn't want to ask the waiter as there was always something on which we would happily chose. I don't know if there was an anticipated problem one night because early in the cruise the head waiter was heavily promoting the Indian themed night in the buffet, which was excellent.

I managed to get up most of the fallen leaves from the garden which fell while we were away. Used the mower on a high setting to suck up them up on the grass but racked up others, the garden looks a lot tidier. We've just put the tree up and put the lights on, as is tradition I now have to retreat and not interfere with the decorating of the tree or comment in any way (like packing before we go away). Another tradition is a whisky coffee and Christmas songs playing on a TV video channel while the tree gets decorated. The weather forecast is showing for this area mostly dry on Monday so I'll probably do the outside lights then.

We’re back safe and sound from our Queen Victoria cruise to the Canaries. The drive up from Southampton to Cheshire on Wednesday was easy with good dry roads and light traffic, although between Swindon and Gloucester was thick fog. This was our second cruise on Queen Victoria in 5 months and found the overall experience very good. Some notes below: - at the Mayflower terminal check in and embarkation was well organised. We arrived at the terminal at 12.15 just as Queens Grill passengers were being called, the waiting area was full with QG, PG, Diamond and Platinum (which we are). We didn’t have to wait for check in as there were several desks available, then we had to wait for only about 10 minutes to be called. For security there was another 10 minute wait but we were fortunate that we were one of the first of the Platinum category and we’re on board by 1.00 pm, it would be a longer wait for those at the back of the queue but I guess that all priority boarding would be on board by about 1.15pm. - The ship is in good condition and the Christmas decorations enhanced the interior. Some minor observations were that our balcony furniture was peeling off its coating, the cabin toilet flush was hesitant at times once taking 10 mins to flush after giggling for that time. At times there was a drain smell in different parts of the ship. - The staff were very good from waiting, bar, reception and cleaners. They were cheery, polite and efficient. - The quality of the food was good both in the mdr and buffet. However in the mdr in the evening there was only a choice of 3 main course non veggie on menu choices but every night there was something that I wanted, I presume if there was nothing that you wanted a steak or salmon etc could be provided? The steaks were not very good though, on the first night I had steak Diane and it was very thin like a what supermarkets call sizzle steaks, it was tender though. My wife and 2 others next to us ordered sirloin steak on another evening and all were not cooked to the correct preference. Medium/rare was medium/well done and medium was well done, the replacement that my wife got was full of sinew, again the sirloin steaks were thin. The evening menu choices were a bit strange at times, no curry’s then 3 nights in a row, lamb one night then another lamb dish the next and the same for venison at another time, I like both but 2 nights in a row? - We only went to 2 shows, one was a Christmas theme which we enjoyed. The Queens room had a band and ballroom dancers most nights, but other musical acts also performed there including a superb 60s style band on the last night. What is the silent disco all about though, it’s hardly silent with participants singing along loudly and mostly badly😂 - Disembarkation was very straight forward, we had a time of 8.20 and got straight off. We found our luggage easily, walked to the cps parking area and were on our way within 15 mins. Overall a very good pre Christmas relaxing cruise, now back to tidying the garden from all of the fallen leaves and putting up the Christmas decorations.

We’re just coming back up across Biscay from our Queen Victoria Canaries cruise. The ship is a bit rocky today but only 3 to 4 metre swell which is a lot less than people have experienced during November but more than we had on the way down 10 days ago. It’s been a very relaxing enjoyable cruise and we dock in Southampton on Wednesday. I know that this is a P&O forum but I’ll put some overall summary thoughts about the cruise and Cunard when I get back because some who read this thread cruise on Cunard or may be considering it.