Thejuggler

2 hours ago, Britboys said:

Sadly, it really seems that P&O use the complimentary upgrades to their own ends, rather than as a great boost for the passenger. With so many cabin grades now, it does seem quite easy to effectively have what you might consider a downgrade but because of the gradings, it is considered by the company to be an upgrade...

That has always been the case and why there are so many cabin grades.

With dynamic pricing on popular cruises they can try and resell already allocated cabins at higher prices and 'upgrade' the original passengers to higher grade cabins which may not be popular.

A seaview suite right at the front may be such a cabin.  If I'd booked a balcony, a seaview cabin of any type is a downgrade.

On three cruise lines we have been told to simply not put our cases out if we are self disembarking.

I usually wait until I am allocated a disembark time and if its early enough we'll let others move the luggage!

If you want a seafood restaurant in London the go to is Scotts of Mayfair.

Passport renewals are taking far less than 10 weeks, the background check work is now largely automated. Existing passport means most checks are already done, the new photo can be checked for suitability before sending (worth paying a few quid to have it done at Max Spielman or similar as they will access the passport photo check system in store to check the quality).

New passports take longer because a new application needs more human intervention.

Yes, twice but it was over 10 years ago.

Norway forms filled out in the store, on departure there was a member of Norway revenue and customs on board ship who paid you back in cash!

Iceland.  Forms filled out, placed in envelope with receipts which was posted into a box at the cruise port terminal in Reyjavik.  The money was credited to credit card many weeks later.

From looking at this more recently it looks to be more app based now.

Its many years since we booked through an agent, but when we compared availability in store the agent had more choice than was available as a direct booking, including access to cheaper GTY fares.

Fee free foreign exchange credit cards all the way with a fee free cash withdrawal debit card in the wallet (in my case Starling bank) should there be an emergency where cash is required.

For a general idea Celebrity publish cruise excursion brocures for all,ports on the website.

Visiting a port more than once isn't much different to a city break over a few days, but a single cruise visit can be good inspiration for longer trips.

We first visited Lisbon on a cruise and went to Cascais for a week a couple of years later going into Lisbon 3 times as we saw so little of it in a cruise day.

We've been to Barcelona 4-5 times, Valencia for a 3 night stay and this summer we are off to Alicante for a few days. We also had Palma on the shortlist, but chose Faro instead, which isn't a cruise port, but looked interesting as most tourists only see the airport.

I really wouldn't recommend ever using trainline.

They may charge a fee and if things go wrong you are dealing with a third party seller, not a train operator.  They have also been known to sell tickets for none eligible routes for the price being charged.

Buy tickets from a train operating company website - all charge the same.
 

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/travel-information/find-a-train-company/

South Western Railways are the main operator between Waterloo and Southampton and booking direct may get you some extra benefits.

https://www.southwesternrailway.com

This is why I will generally connect via Dublin for US flights,  much less stressful to pre clear before the flight than have the huge lines in U.S. airports which can add hours.

We flew to Newark last year and were in our Manhattan hotel within an hour of leaving the aircraft.

As its over 12 months before date of departure it may be too early to buy a policy.  At this stage all that is at risk is your deposit, so its not a major issue.

Rome2rio website is great for these sort of questions.

https://www.rome2rio.com/s/Dun-Laoghaire-Port/Dublin

Never had a problem on public transport in Dublin.  Buses, trams, DART and train all work well.

We did a similar trip to that on Celebrity.  Saw orca from the ship.

Just a shame that trip doesn't go to Faeroe Islands, rather than UK ports, as we found them fascinating.

We much preferred Akureyri over Reyjavik.  Much better trips, including standing across the continents where the US and European plates meet.

 Crew did a crossing the line 'blue nose' ceremony one evening as overnight we were to cross the Arctic Circle.  All passengers received a certificate with the date and time it was crossed.

We did a cruise over the week of the Diamond Jubilee.  Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

Copenhagen visit was on June 5th a Danish national holiday, the day after we stopped in Helsingbord.  6th June is Swedish national holiday!

Your cruise 25 years ago would have been a different experience to those of today.

There are now far more cruise ship cabins to be filled on much larger ships  so pricing is now far more competitive and prices on P&O have barely changed in the 15 years since we first cruised.

You need to consider how they are saving money and whether it affects service and quality of offer as fixed costs of running a ship haven't reduced in that time.

Weather is always a lottery.

We've had 21 degrees in Oslo in June and 10 degrees with torrential rain in August in Alesund.

I'd avoid early May, if the fjord areas get a lot of snow some ports can remain closed as they are seasonal operations and if the local roads don't get cleared trips are cancelled.

I'd be surprised if an excursion which mentions the castle doesn't include entry.  Do Carnival have excursion details on their website?

However if there is an option for an 'on your own tour',  which is probably no more than a bus to the centre, check out the price of castle entry tickets as it may be cheaper to DIY anyway.  Most buses drop off by the castle, but its easy enough to find.  Big stone building on top of the lump of volcanic rock!

I would start with the insurance offered by Viking and the company which underwrites it.

Also if applicable check your home insurance for limits on how long the property can be vacant for.

12 hours ago, jh1809 said:

Last year I took out annual travel insurance with the company that P&O recommend. That may have been a big mistake. This year, taking out travel insurance with a different company (I'm not sure if the forum rules allow me to mention their name), I'm paying only just over half as much. It's true that this year I only needed cover for Europe, whereas last year I needed worldwide cover, and I suppose the risk of insurance claims from Covid has greatly reduced. But to set against that, I've just been diagnosed with high blood pressure and of course had to declare that.

So you changed the cover of the policy, significantly reducing risk and you think you were ripped off by P&O recommended insurer?

Not sure those dots can be joined.

The devil will be in the detail which is lacking in the original post.

What type of insurance for a start?  "first year of inception" sounds very specific to a particular kind of insurance.

If the person has retired to Turkey they will need Turkish health insurance and as a new resident a 12 month exclusion period for claims may well be standard.

18 months out, even though its a school holiday cruise, I suspect its a P&O booking system matter, not that all 4 person cabins are fully booked.

Super deluxe cabins sleep 4 and they are available, but P&O may be 'drip feeding' multi occupancy availability or 'fluid pricing' reasons.

3 hours ago, crazy cat lady 83 said:

We are flying out to Malta on the 6th April from Gatwick. Nothing for us on CP yet. We haven’t flown since 2018 and I remember 14  Weeks before staying up to midnight to get our seats booked to ensure we were sat with our children. Am I remembering correctly that it is £25 pp to reserve your seats?  Thank you 😊

A friend was a check in agent for Jet2 a few years ago and she let us know that anyone booked with children is automatically pre allocated seats together so you won't be split up.
 

This is borne out for us, having done at least a dozen Jet2 flights as a family of three and always having a row for three, despite never pre booking.

20 hours ago, Dinglebert said:

 

Jet2 often have reasonable food deals prior to flight which are not available when onboard. 

From pre booking options for my non cruise Jet2 flight in a few weeks its £11 or £11.50 for a typical airline tray meal (15 different dishes which amazed me ) and they include a tea, coffee or water.

Sandwiches or pizza 'twist' (?) about £5.

Smaller adult only ships are always more expensive.

However P&O are spending significant sums advertising cruises from £86 a night (less than 15 years ago) which is all about 'bargain' pricing.