Bloodaxe

On 4/6/2024 at 2:18 PM, Anchor Light said:

Yes, he's amazing. It should be noted that he was trained by the 'old guard' who unfortunately have moved on.

Totally agree, Many years ago he actually told us how much he had learned from Philip his mentor.

4 hours ago, grapau27 said:

We have

Robins.

Blackbirds.

Thrushes.

Wrens.

Wood pigeons.

Finch's 

Blue tits.

Sparrow's.

All nesting around our garden.

We also have a hedgehog and a couple of wild rabbits.

 

Excellent, All the more reason not to trim hedges at peak nesting time

41 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Our last house had a conifer hedge and in the 40 years we lived there we never had any birds nesting in it, we often had blackbirds nesting in the hawthorn hedge, but never the conifer one.

Robins, Blackbirds and Sparrows are regular nesting in ours well way from the house.

It's very dense and helps to protect them from the Sparrow hawk and Magpie.

15 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

The sides just have a tiny bit taken off.

It is the tops which are over 15 feet high that are trimmed.

The birds nest inside the conifers are unaffected.

I am very bird friendly and we have numerous varieties of birds in our back garden and the conifers are a big source of food like aphids etc

 

That's fine but the Birds are still going to be affected if sitting on eggs or feeding young, no offence intended Graham just my thoughts, pleased that you care for the birds has we do.

6 minutes ago, Bloodaxe said:

 

That's has maybe I still say it should not be done in nesting time, plenty of time before August, not just my opinion shared by the R S P B.

No need for the capital's. I have my opinion you are entitled to yours.

. 

1 minute ago, grapau27 said:

 

That's has maybe still say it should not be done in nesting time, plenty of time before August, not just my opinion shared by the R S P B.

1 hour ago, grapau27 said:

Good morning.

It is a lot milder 12°C and sunny here.

Our tree man came yesterday and trimmed all of our conifers in our back and front garden.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day today.

Sorry but it is not a a good time of the year to trim trees, we never touch ours until we are sure the young birds have flow the nests.

Autumn is the best time anyway to cut back the Summer growth and any dead wood

22 minutes ago, twotravellersLondon said:

 

 

It's changing now.

 

For 2024 cruises it's a private car up to 75 miles of the port each way or a shared chauffeur service up to 300 miles.

 

For 2025 cruises it's up to 75 miles of the port each way or a shared chauffeur service nationwide.

 

But we don't think that they do all of the islands.

 

 

Correct, excludes places like the Isle of Man and other off shore Islands

2 hours ago, Adawn47 said:

I did look into them but I think the maximum distance for free pick up was 200 miles and roughly calculated the were further away than that.

Avril

Not any more Avril, it is 300 miles this year and unlimited in 2025 for shared pick up, usually 2 couples max.

We are further away than you and ours is included this year.

4 hours ago, Adawn47 said:

I'd not thought about Virgin, but then again I've always used travel insurance companies. so that was where I was looking. Habit I suppose.

I could look at a few days away here and search cruises for 2025. I can then look into Nationwide after their move.  We'll see.

After the last  couple of years we just need something to look forward to.

Avril

Avril have you thought about Saga Cruises, much more expensive than P an O but more up market, prices include home pick up and insurance on the love!y smaller adult on!y ships.I think you would love them.

I was surprised with what the included insurance would cover, we used them last year and are booked for this and next year.

They suit us fine since we no longer wish to fly to join our favourite line Azamara

11 hours ago, uktog said:

Heads up from Journey- not yet sure the reason why, breakfast in discoveries is now a full buffet not a la carte. Maybe it’s because the ship is absolutely full 

Would not be happy with that, been on full ships many times and always enjoyed our breakfast in Discoveries, seems like another step in the wrong direction.

26 minutes ago, Tabicat said:

Our last cruise involved a shared car (people carrier)  We were the first pick up and the driver told us there were two more to pick up on the way, both in the same town.  Well we got to the first one and waited for about twenty minutes before we told the driver he should phone.  He did and was told by the lady inside the house that she would be out shortly.  It was a further fifteen minutes before she emerged and then she made him undo her case as she had forgotten to pack something.  Then we had to pick up the next lady.  Luckily she was ready, but decided en route that she wanted to stop for a "comfort break" 

Next time we will pay the extra for a car to ourselves

Hardly Sagas fault, no accounting for some peoples actions.

3 hours ago, DohaBreeze said:

That's really good to hear. We made our own way last year - the day before as we were arriving and leaving from the same port. Didn't feel we could do that this year as we leave from Portsmouth and arrive back in Dover. We have a long journey from North Yorkshire and am hoping for a pleasant journey down on the day 🙂

Last year's sheared transport we were picked up in North Yorkshire at 0830, arrived in Dover by 13.30, return home very similar, great service

Not a Britannia member but I have booked this evening, 

Brochure came through the door this afternoon, could not find the prices on line so thought I would try ringing to ask.

Was told someone would call me back, surprisingly the call came around 7 PM.

For the cruise I wanted standard cabins on E Deck were 25% off but D Deck was 30% off, booked D Deck for less than E deck.

2 hours ago, nosapphire said:

In addition to the very concise (and factual) clarification from twotravellersLondon..

Why do so many assume that the only bids will come from existing cruise operators?

Every possibility that an outside investment company decides a ready made cruise line is just what the portfolio needs. Lazard will have notified a variety of companies, not just existing holday/cruise/travel companies (all of which have their own debts to manage).

And there is, of course, always the possibility that Saga decide none of the bids make financial or operational sense - so nothing happens.

 

 

That is certainty a possibilIty, Royal Caribbean sold Azamara to Sycamore Partners Investment Company who were not into travel as far as I know.

They immediately purchased and refurbished another R Ship to increase the fleet to 4.

We have not cruised with Azamara since 2019 for various reasons including health problems.

It was our favourite line from 2008 until then but I am getting the impression that we would no longer enjoy it has much has we did.

We have cruised with Saga since mainly due to home pick up and not needing to fly to the ship.

It is OK but we do miss the International mix of fellow cruisers on Azamara.

It was a surprise to find ourselves sailing with Captain Jason ex Azamara on Saga, he remembered us and we had a nice chat.

37 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

They should stop preregistering,  the £90 is trivial, and offset by cost of staff for long phone calls. 

 

Release all details and prices on line, you can look at every thing and make decision , how much you are willing to pay.

 

Adopt system others use. Open up bookings  using online normal online system or you phone saga  but in stages according to Brittania club status. Say each level 2 days apart.  

They would be more likely to gain new customers like myself if good prices and full details were available to everyone from the release.

They could still offer loyalty discounts and other benefits to regular repeat clients.

5 hours ago, uktog said:

Yep and that’s not really fair if the offering is supposed to be consistent. The menus on quest are the same old ones so it’s not as if anything “better” is being offered 

its a good bet that they will all soon be charging higher price.

I did not realise that you had to decide there and then when you got the call.

I don't usually make snap decisions about anything it's nice to have time to consider things.

Now that I know I will never pre register, just take my chance on a good price or wait for any later offers, lot's of other options out there.

2 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Fairly calm seas today and packing mostly done, so may actually be able to spend some time on deck this afternoon and have lunch on the Patio! The cloudy skies even seem to be clearing. Hallelujah!! 😀

 

Like many with a late flight tomorrow, we have a long excursion booked - a tour of Buenos Aires with a trip to a ranch with bbq lunch, a gaucho demonstration and airport drop off. Should be a nice end to the cruise.

That sounds like a trip we did on our last day many years ago, it was excellent.

6 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

Welcome home.

I enjoyed reading all about your holiday and seeing all the photos. Thank you.

We all have our own tricks to try and combat jet lag on long haul flights.  We would set our watches to UK time after take off when the seat belt signs were turned off, and then only used UK time to try to gradually adjust. It didn't work 100% of the time, but worked more often than not. 

Avril

 

Never found jet lag a problem when flying from South Africa has you don't cross time zones.

Sorry, just realised they flew from Sydney totally different.

8 hours ago, Mackdogmolly said:

I was on the private excursion too and found it quite enjoyable, but hadn’t been warned about the (according to my pedometer) mile and a half walk to the penguin colony, so was quite tired by the time we got back to the van. Thanks for lovely photos, @uktog!

We did a similar excursion in 2008 not sure if it was to the same beach.

Our bus was left near a farm and we went most of the way to the beach on the back of a truck, we also had a meal in a barn.

At the beach were treated to the sight of Orcas cruising up and down hunting seals, unforgettable experience.

20 minutes ago, brian1 said:

Hi all,just booked our 1st cruise for 5 years off the telly.Spain,Canaries and Morocco.Barcelona to Barcelona over 2024 Christmas and new year.Flights,1 night hotel,12 night cruise on Celebrity Infinity, Aqua balcony,grats,drinks and wifi all inc. £6198 for 2 of us.Researching everything already,lol. 

lovely ship, one of  the 4 millennium class, getting on a bit now but just the ideal size in my opinion. 

We went around South America and through the Panama Canal on her a few years ago. 

8 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

My son drives a Polestar 2, gets around 350miles on a charge, there is an increasing number of charge points across the country, he should know he manages the installation of many of them. He uses the Zap App to plan his journey, in his three years of driving electric cars he has never run out of power. Most of the time his car is charged at home, much cheaper than on the road and much cheaper than filling a car with a tank of fuel.

 

I would have probably gone electric when I changed my car in 2023, except the cost to install a connect to my garage which is remote from the house was extortionate, so went hybrid instead and I am extremely happy that I did. I purchased less fuel than I did in 2033 and drove more miles. 

is your car a De lorion.

If you walk up through the main Shopping street you come to the Trafalgar Cemetery which we found to be interesting, just beyond that is the cable car up into the rock.