yorkshirephil

We have been cruising nearly 30 years and a lot of the shows are pretty much the same now as they were back then, that is with a few lines so not just P&O. They do put in a new one every now and again. It is the same with guest acts, the cruise lines seem to draw from a pool of regulars, which is fine if you enjoy the act.

I can't say I have noticed any whilst aboard, but that could be because we tend to do longer cruises so maybe us oldies are not their target audience. I have checked a few out if going on a ship for the first time to get a feel for the ship but find they tend to be a bit; me, me and breathe their own smoke. I do like Cruise Mummy as she also tends to say it as it is, plus her site has lots of handy info.

Good moaning all, its cold again, 7oC when we went to Junction 32 this morning, it isn't much warmer now. It is forecast to warm up next week so it will probably rain. We are off to Wales tomorrow to stay with friends so looking forward to that. Have a good weekend peeps and for all those cruising have a good one.

Tips are included in the price of a P&O cruise. The drinks prices are considerably less on P&O than Cunard plus their is no added tax/tip on each drink with P&O. The example you have given for drinks may make the drinks package worthwhile especially if there is an offer on the drinks package (currently 10%), however you would need to drink that every day to make the package work for you.

If I was a betting man I would say the P&O response is wrong, going by their website and my experience with P&O you could have three formals? Whatever you decide have a great cruise.

That is not what it says on the web site, however they get it wrong there sometimes. Arvia and Iona: 2-10 nights – 1 11-14 nights – 2 15-19 nights – 3 Rest of fleet: 1-6 nights – 1 7-10 nights – 2 11-13 nights – 3 14-19 nights – 4

I am surprised at only one formal on an 11 night Arcadia cruise, however this seems to be the trend going forward. We had fewer than expected formal nights on our 19 night Aurora cruise last year.

I wore chino's and smart shirt on Aurora in September. Our lunch was quite casual with a few dressed up.

You should be OK with those, staff on the MDR door don't seem to bother too much with shoes, especially as people may wear certain shoes for medical reasons. If in doubt wear the shoes that you will use with your suit, with the option of changing them after dinner

It feels more like winter today, it is dry but an icy wind. Not the sort of day for wandering about with dicky gnashers, I put mine in my pocket to keep them warm. Happy anniversary @purplesea, enjoy your meal out.

I wear plain black lightweight trainers on casual night sometimes, they are great for taking on fly cruises where the weight allowance is restrictive. They do not really look like trainers but are comfy. A linen suit on formal night is fine too, enjoy your cruise.

Why indeed. In some cases it is just differences of opinion or meeting expectations, we have been cruising for nearly 30 years with various lines and I don't think it is much different now to what it was when we started. When we were new the experienced cruisers were saying things were going down hill, or prices were going up and things were not getting any better, blah blah. I see posts from new cruisers who think the cruise lark is brilliant. They may be making negative comments in years to come. Of course there are the people who just like to moan regardless plus those who think a good moan to the cruise line will get them some compo. At the end of the day this is a cruise forum and discussing experiences is what it is about, good or bad. I have learned lots of good things on here and other sites that I didn't need to learn the hard way; through experience.

I am not convinced that my proof of shareholding is of any value after the first application in my scenario. I sent a photo of my share certificate which was accepted. When the OBC is extended beyond 31-12-24 I will be applying for Jan 25 OBC. I will use the same photo if proof is requested, however I could have already sold the shares prior to applying. I assumed that they look at the shares register to see whether you still own the shares. Maybe for people who have them in a portfolio or ISA will need to sent updated account proof? It will be interesting to see how this pans out with the different scenarios.

There was a thread long ago where someone asked the question about buying shares getting OBC applied for the year and then selling them. I did a quick search but can't find it. Carnival must not have been too worried about it or they would have reverted back to 90 days/balance payment. Maybe they think that if people have the extra OBC they are a bit less likely to cancel? Not sure how the stocksperk app will monitor this going forward or whether it is even in their remit?

Yes you do. I think when I did mine it took five days, two of them being a weekend. This was the message I got after registration;

Lets hope they don't start building cabin walls with them or my magnetic hooks are gone.

Wet and cold here, not nice. Barnsley for breakfast and a trip to th'ASDA looks like being the highlight of the day. Today's theme seems to be dentistry, the last time I went he asked me if I wanted helium, "does it hurt less?" I said. "No but it sounds funny when you scream" was his reply. Then he asked about fillings, "chocolate will be good" For those folk not going to the dentist enjoy your day.

I have noticed that if you book select on the 2026 version it is £592 with the early bird discount.

Spring is in the air here, sunny but quite cool hers, it doesn't seem to be putting the greenfly off, as I have had to spay the roses this morning with some of the new shoots infested. I won't be casting a claaht even though the May flower is aaht. We have family coming for breakfast later so a nice walk with their dog after will be nice, we checked out some of the lanes and fields yesterday and they are drying out well with the wind and sun recently. Have a nice day all.

I got these from Amazon, I like the way that they pivot and they are quite strong (40lb) when compared to others. They are great when using laundry on long cruises as we hang the clothes items we don't put in the dryer from the ceiling under the air vent which dries them quickly. Plus they are strong enough to hang heavy coats from the wall.

On the two cruises we had we had the option to share or not for breakfast and lunch in the mdr. You can request a table by the window if it is available in the area where the servers are working. Is this the info you need?

No such thing as standard rules as we all see things differently and have different opinions. I book and then watch the price, this has helped me form my policy going forward and try and gauge the best time to book to suit our needs. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't and I accept that.

It also depends how you look at it; anyone who had booked the same cruise while at home at the same time would have still been £2000 down and without the extra OBC. Swings and roundabouts. For me having OBC to the value of what we usually spend onboard makes it all inclusive, albeit I would prefer to have the lower cruise price without OBC. We have a fairly simple policy, bucket list cruises we book at launch and try to do it while onboard, anything else we wait and take our chances. We also check for offers for repricing booked cruises while onboard.

There can be various offers, lower deposit, extra OBC and discounts. If there are cruises you are considering make a note of prices as some offers are no better than what a TA at home can give or the general P&O sites.

We liked Caybeach, the apartments were clean and tidy with the cleaner coming round 5 days a week and regular bed changes. We had an apartment that was set back from the road and had sun all day. There is a restaurant for those who don't do self catering with a snack bar and a lovely large pool. They have entertainment in the evenings we did see a good saxophonist one evening but tended not to go very often, preferring to go for a walk in the evenings and stop off for a drink or sit on the prom watching the world go by. We found the Jet2 package for this stay was almost the same price as booking the stay and flights separate.