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I have no particular experience if bringing wine home, so cannot help there. Just thought I would point out though that your last port of Leixoes is the port for Porto - it is perhaps about 4 miles away, but not sure. You can take public transport to Porto, which you would need to find out about, or the ship will run various excursions, some to Porto.

Yes, I am pretty sure you are right on that as I had mentioned above. We have recently seen the T&C's on the P&O website as well, but not got link to hand and busy today.

Can get storms at times, but have had a number of hols at that time and most of the time it has been nice warm weather. We have had storms on about three hols, but only one of about a day in a two week hol. Weather gods do tend to have a mind of their own though. We tend to avoid the bob at that time of year though, admittedly that can often be bad then, but in the Med we have done well, unless we have just been lucky. We have had worse weather at the end of Oct and into November though.

We had tried that in the past and we were not allowed.

I do not think that is the case, I think we have changed to an earlier date in the past, but had to be to another select fare, cannot change to a saver fare and cannot be more than a year after the original booking.

No you have to transfer to two separate bookings before balance payment date. Need the cruises to be of a higher price and more than a year after the original booking start date and they have to have been select bookings, not saver. We are in that situation ourselves, having booked a cruise with another cruise line about a month ago which clashes with b2b Azura bookings. I was pretty sure they were the rules as we have had to adhere to them in the past, but did ask about a week ago and had those criteria confirmed, especially having to be two separate cruises, (though of course could be more b2b's). Our Azura cruises are not until late next summer, so we have a while to think about what we want to book instead. Of course you can change the cruises one at a time and leave the other a bit longer, as long as you do not pass balance payment date. Could always double check yourself, but think it was correct about a week ago. Edit One other point is that you can only transfer a cruise once, so important to check you choose a cruise you are sure about.

Thank you, that is very kind. We have had a lot on our plate recently, so I was taking the easy way by asking, but with no reply, DH had been able to look up the buses. We even took to Google Earth, so we could see the route, once we discovered how near it was and I meant to answer my own question here for future reference of others. You are right getting there looks easy enough and could even be walkable back to Casements Square if any problems arose, though not an attractive walk and pavements are narrow, so not a preference of ours. DH has managed to find up to date bus timetables, though as we are there on a Sunday, buses would only be about every half hour or so for us. We have previously used the buses and been able to get a day ticket very cheaply to cover most routes, but a taxi may be best in this instance. We have also looked into museums, but they are closed on a Sunday, as is the Moorish Castle, which is the only attraction up the Rock which we have not visited. You are right about subsequent visits belong a bit of a struggle to find something to do, but we will leave the ship for a stroll to somewhere. The beach area and marinas may well be our go to area this time, though we are also toying with doing a dolphin watching boat trip as a ship's trip. We looked into the dolphin boat trips and none are offering that Sunday morning to book direct and our ship leaves mid afternoon. If I remember on return, I will give feedback here. We will be going soon, so need to start packing 🙂

Everyone will have a specific disembarkation slot and if you ask for self disembarkation, it will be early as others have said. After that a lot of people will constantly be leaving the ship with just hand luggage. Someone going through with more than the usual hand luggage will likely delay the movement of passengers off the ship at that time. What P&O will do if you turn up then, I do not know, but you will not have been allocated that time slot, so in theory they could well ask you to wait until after the other groups have disembarked. Does not seem to be a good idea to test that system imo if you want off the ship early. I suggest you look at the route to the station from Ocean terminal on Google Earth street view and distance it on a map, to confirm if walking to the station is a good idea for you. With four ships in port, taxis may not be so easy to find and roads in Southampton do get gridlocked at busy times, though an early self disembarkation may assist with missing the worst of the busy spell.

We tried horchata in Valencia a number of years ago. The ones we had certainly fitted the bill as we were a bit peckish at the time, but eating anything like the fartons pictured with it could have provided enough calories to match our total normal daily intake. The drinks were just nice at the time, but very thick and sweet, though must admit the one in your picture looks more like a drink, so they must vary. Good to try different things when going ashore. We have taken to having lunch out in ports quite a lot now and the Med is a place where that can be affordable.

We have been to Gibraltar more than once and exhausted all the standard tourist attractions, but thinking we may just have a stroll and drink or two in Catalan Bay. Just wondering what is the best way to get there? Are there regular buses from Casements Square, or would we be better getting a taxi? Also wondering how difficult it would be to get transport back or if it may be walkable, not sure if it would be walkable along that road. Our ship leaves at 2pm, so an early dart as is often the case with Gibraltar.

Another point we have found with pre booking restaurants. DH booked one and I have booked a couple of others, all in place for two people. When we go into our login, and look at the itinerary the bookings are only showing for the cruise we had each booked. So the itinerary on my login does not mention the booking DH made (under the relevant date) and his login does not mention the ones I have made. I hope all is well onboard. That was very confusing, as initially looked like some bookings were not in place. I hope it all shows for both of us on the app as only DH uses that as he cannot go anywhere without his phone, but I do not carry mine all of the time. Must admit he usually uses my login and I have usually made any bookings, which is presumably why we have not had that problem previously.

Thank you for the information regarding both Sindu and The Beach House. Can I ask if a pre booking (made with CC) can be cancelled once on the ship, or if a date/time can be changed, subject to availability obviously? If it can be cancelled, is the cost refunded to your CC, or to your on board account?

Out on deck when at sea, you will need some very warm clothes. However, on a calm sunny day, with the help of the 24 hours of sunlight, it can be quite pleasant in Longyearbyen. We have photos of each other sitting in the Jacuzzi on the back of the ship taking in the views, one July several years ago, not that it was in any way sun bathing weather mind. It is certainly very special, just the sheer remoteness, rather than the scenery as such. Magdalena Fjord, as mentioned previously, was indeed a lovely place, we stayed a while with the ship (Balmoral) sitting calmly in the centre of the fjord, surrounded by small ice floes from the nearby glacier. The ships do not go there now though, (well the expedition ships probably will), but I think environmental concerns have stopped average cruise ships going there and it is further north than Longyearbyen, so sadly you will not be going there. The place to see icebergs is Greenland - somewhere worth going in the future, if you can. I am sure you will enjoy the cruise and I wish you good weather.

From what I have read, there was a case of a very bad delay on a motorway a couple of weeks ago because of a big incident which left the road closed for a long time with vehicles trapped on the road for a very long time and people on a coach did not get to the ship. That coach was not an official P&O coach (booked through P&O), so the cruise line had no responsibility to get the passengers to the ship at a later port. Insurance may have been claimable by the passengers for a problem with public transport getting to the port, but will have obviously depended on the insurance policy. A coach booked through P&O would leave P&O with an obligation to passengers and, as mentioned previously, they will wait for the coach, or if a very long delay, do their best to get you on to the ship at another port.

There is a full week between being able to see the itineraries and being able to book them. Sogne said they go on sale on the 23rd.

Strange I have just been looking at the packages, there is a birthday one and I understand the question asked by smj777, but cannot answer it. Regards photographers, it depends on the ship, there are none on Aurora and might also be the case for Arcadia and others, but the bigger ships do have them. I did see photos included in some packages, but the details did mention they were not done on all ships and it gave an alternative of some sort for that if they cannot be done - forget what, it may have been a credit.

We are scheduled to tender into both of these in August. It looks as though we will be fine just going ashore and exploring those locations independently, though our cruise line are offering walking tours of both locations as well. Can anyone confirm that independent exploration will be a good way to go - we do not really want to be tripped. We have seen the Parks Canada website for those locations, so have a good idea what to expect.

October/November does have a bit of a reputation for rough seas in The Atlantic, so that could be a problem, but alternatively could be lovely weather. as others have said. Having said that, Arvia is a big ship and may not rock about so much as smaller ships, which are what we use and should be plenty of things to do onboard. Highly unlikely to be anything like as good as the Med at that time of year though.

I understand the plaintiffs, (that is the people who rely on the cruise ship calls for their livelihood), have now appealed, as we were told would happen by our guide last September. it looks like this is going to continue, unsurprisingly. Whether the cruise lines will still be interested in calling there remains to be seen.

Touch the three dots at the top RHS of your post and then a drop down box will let you report your post. You can then choose the appropriate options and write in a final box asking for the post to be deleted. I just write, "Please delete my post which was made in error". An admin will delete the post once they see your report, so may take 12 hours or so for it to happen. You cannot delete it yourself directly.

Just what I had been thinking. If we stayed in a Holiday Inn more than twenty years ago, we got silver service for dinner and a far better menu than we would expect now. Prices were far higher for their meals though, so no different to P&O and is now what a lot of people are happy with if the prices are right. There are plenty of other cruise lines and hotels which provide better service, but at very different prices. Same with everything in life, you get what you pay for.

To get off the ship that early, you would need to self disembark, which means you would have to leave all your luggage in the cabin, (even the cases) and then take them all off yourself the next morning. Works fine for some people, but be aware lifts can be difficult to get into on disembarkation day as everyone is up wanting to get to/from the restaurants at that time. Although highly likely that the ship would arrivein Southampton early as scheduled, there are very occasionally problems because of very bad weather, or perhaps mechanical problems with the ship which would delay arrival. If it is just a ticket to London though, I presume that would not be a high cost to loose in that very unlikely case it could happen.

Regards face cloths, I remember Molecrochip saying that we will be able to ask for them while stocks last, but they will not be replacing those stocks. Hence makes sense to me that they may now only be providing them on request for passengers in suites. They are something we do appreciate, not just for personal use, but mainly to be able to wipe around sink area and keep it clean/tidy during the day. We will be taking some Jay cloths for our next cruise, though will still ask for them. Taking a couple of face cloths is not a problem, but they are much better laundered regularly. Regards food, we we cruise for the ports and destinations, (sometimes along with some warm weather) and we have always found something to eat that we are quite happy with. I do wonder how people eat at home sometimes, but different people have their own preferences and priorities, so I do appreciate that is a very personal choice. The lack of an evening cabin service is something I have found an advantage as we no longer feel we have to make the cabin tidy and everything off the beds before we go to dinner. It can be a lot easier to keep things we will need later that night out and available. The larger ships have no appeal to us though, so have mainly sailed on Aurora/Arcadia, with an Azura or Ventura added for a specific itineraries.

Thanks a lot. That has just made me start a folder on Favorites to save down links, so added these. I have already looked at your links on the net and Google Earth - they are very useful, It is always particularly good to have something to do if the day is a washout 🙂 Halifax is our most southerly point this summer, so hoping for some good weather. Other stops are three in Newfoundland, Red Bay in Labrador and then north for scenic cruising near the entrance to Hudson Bay, followed by three ports in Greenland and one in Iceland after that. So very weather dependant altogether.

We have done a number of fly cruises in the Canaries which went into December and the ports were lovely in the evenings with the Christmas lights on. We especially like Tenerife, which we have been in over night a few times and have also been in the city when the lights were turned on (I think at the start of December). We also love La Laguna at Christmas time - you can take a tram up to La Laguna (about half an hour and a regular service), but will be a fair bit colder up there, so take coats if you go - nice to stay as the lights go on there, very atmospheric. If you go up to Madeira, that is also very atmospheric at Christmas time, especially after dark if you do not have an early dart. Weather generally still fairly good, but not necessarily "lying in the sun" weather. We got drenched in the old town in Gran Canaria once, though not really had a lot of rain at that time. We have only been once with P&O (Azura) towards the end of a trans-location cruise from the Med, so October then, though we like the Canary ports as they are easy to DIY, either in the port itself, or by hopping on a bus - but we know them very well.