gadabout60

It’s probably just me but I wouldn’t welcome commemorative plates of any size. I am at a stage in life when I want to get rid of the junk and not add to it!

Just wanted to say how much I am enjoying your posts. You two really make the most of your cruise which is fantastic to see. 

21 hours ago, Josy1953 said:

A  calm day planned here.  I took the children to school, then went to the oatcake shop to get our last oatcakes before we go away.  The children are looking forward to tomorrow when they finish for the Easter break, my guess is that being teenagers they will spend most mornings in bed for the next 2 weeks unless my sister wakes them up when she goes round to take the dog for his walk.

 

 

Josy, it sounds like the children have done amazingly well since losing their mum.

7 hours ago, superoma said:

They don’t have cell phones 

Oh I see! I can’t imagine travelling without mine - easiest way to keep in touch and necessary for emergencies

Can you not get an Uber if the shuttles don’t go where you want?

I get that and fine if it’s a longer cruise but if it’s only a week it’s difficult

3 minutes ago, happy v said:

I think the main difference is my invoice states coach travel to and from the ship is included. Passengers on Eavesway will have received extra OBC and P &O have no idea how they are traveling.

Understand this but either way the ship has sailed! Even if P&O can fly you to Norway quickly you still lose a few days of your cruise

36 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

I understood that Eavesway were dropped as an official partner of P&O in favour of Intercruises a few years ago.

 

On Intercruises website under FAQs there is this question

 

What happens if we are delayed getting to the ship?

We allow the coaches a cushion of about three hours between estimated time of arrival and ship departure time for just this eventuality. As we are the official coach connection service for your cruise company, there is a facility for the ship to delay departure for a period of time.

There is no such question and answer on Eavesway.

So it would appear going with Eavesway there is no guarantee that the Cruise ship would wait

Was this not longer than 3 hours so no guarantee with Intercruises either.

Very unfortunate situation though as someone else commented fortunately rare (though no consolation if you are affected)

47 minutes ago, mercury7289 said:

Not that I am suggesting an extra payment,merely illustrating a point. Premier prices are already being paid by guests on the Adult ships

I think that should read some guests. There are cheaper deals to be had as Selbourne has illustrated 

Also add in desserts that you can’t resist instead of being bland and watery and decent cheese

my last cruise was on Britannia last year and food was ok to good - but still not what it used to be!

there is of course now an option to upgrade in mdr but it is only 1 item for each course throughout the whole cruise

agree of course that food is subjective but Selbournes posts have resonated with some P&O cruises of recent years 

1 minute ago, zap99 said:

The bigger ships have a plethora of dining options. Many folk don't worry too much about the MDR.  We have a look at the menu as soon as available. If it doesn't look attractive, we eat somewhere else.

Which is why I said it was less relevant on the newer ships but certainly an issue on Aurora and Arcadia which are the ships on longer voyages as well as the ships with less options 

You can trust any picture any more unfortunately 

Maybe Graham has been eating bangers and mash for years and has been photoshopping the delicious food!😂😂

55 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

It maybe that like myself and many others she takes her rings off to do things where they may get caught on something and then forgets to put them back on for a quick photo.

I think that speculation about their marriage is no-one's business but their's.

I do agree Josy.

it just seems bizarre that this photo was rushed out seemingly to counter the huge amount of speculation last week and they do it in such a way as to add to the speculation 

9 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Unfortunately it has gone pear shaped as some US news organisation suspect the photo might have been manipulated, and have pulled it from their news feeds.

Such are the perils of being a newsworthy royal.

I don’t know enough about manipulating photos but as rumours have abounded about the state of their marriage it seemed a bit unwise to me that she was not wearing her rings. 

1 hour ago, Bazrat said:

No idea what cruising was like 15 years ago being a relatively new cruiser, paying extra so you can return to some past days is not something I would agree with, the food we have had on various cruise ship’s across various lines as always been good but alas we are not foodies but like decent food.

But Selbourne has reported that only 20% of mdr food was very good - the rest was mediocre or worse.15 years ago 80% would be very good - better cuts of meat, much bigger choice of veg, flavoursome desserts, decent cheese etc. Personally I would rather a cruise line gave us decent mdr food rather than cut prices to a ridiculously low and unsustainable level. I am not a foodie either but on a 60plus night cruise like this one I would have started to find the mdr a trial

Cruising on some cruises with P&O is interesting. Standard food offering in MDR and buffet is universally agreed not to be great but some very cheap cabins sometimes to be had.

I for one - and I suspect many Aurora passengers would agree -would be happy to pay say £10 more per day and go back to the P&O dining experience of 15 years ago.

perhaps not so relevant on the newer ships but certainly on cruises like this one 

Don’t they often have food pop ups in the Lido? I would have thought that a noodle bar was just that

5 hours ago, Thedonkeycentrehalf said:

We saw him on Ventura last year.  I go to see a lot of comedy and am not really a fan of either impressionists or cruise comedians but, given the boundaries of the routines they can perform, I though Jon was okay and worth seeing.

Think his wife is Tracey Clegg who was a P&O cruise director (not one I was a fan of)

I also did Latin (and Ancient Greek)

currently revisiting Latin at u3a and Duolingo 

1 hour ago, Presto2 said:

Haven't shared this on CC yet but as.some of you know we returned from our Caribbean cruise last weekend. Sadly hubby came down with sniffles on the plane which turned out to be Covid. He then lovingly passed it on to me so we have looked like an advert for Kleenex since we got home. Just about getting over it.

Am only sharing this to say that we don't blame the cruise line at all .. their attempts to fight off bugs and germs was faultless this time. To me it is called Winter in a place with 3000 other people .. and a long flight.. so you take your chance in terms of picking up winter bugs and germs. 

No fun catching anything but we'd have done the same at work too am guessing 

This isn't aimed at you Sebourne but anyone who may blame any cruise line anywhere.  Hope you get over it quickly and Mrs S avoids it and stays well. 

Tip ... a good brandy ... take it at the same time as the Paracetamol and you'll sleep like a baby x 

 

I got COVID on my return from Barbados after the transatlantic on Britannia last October / November.  I was really quite poorly with it for 5 weeks - I think as it had been 11 months since my last vaccination (am slightly too young for this winter’s vaccination)

Due to the timing I think I got it on the flight.

I don’t blame the cruise line on the whole but I found hygiene on the cruise to be poor. This was my first post COVID cruise and I was surprised that there was no-one at the doors of restaurants / buffet to enforce/encourage handwashing or gel use. The vast majority of people did not use the sinks or gel as far as I could see. There were also issues with out of order and malfunctioning lifts which meant that lifts were generally crowded which would have helped the spread.

On the subject of Antarctic and Arctic exploration can I recommend Erebus by Michael Palin. Read this for my book group and was fascinating 

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

When was that? We were on Britannia in July and it was never mentioned or promoted. I had assumed that it was just a trial on Ventura. 

On the transatlantic mid October to beginning of November 

On Britannia the pay for menu was on an insert inside the main menu

On 11/9/2023 at 12:24 AM, indiana123 said:

6 hours ago, lincslady said:

Apologies if that is my fault!

No need to apologise - you mentioned it after it has been aired

5 hours ago, indiana123 said:

Hope you are ok with it, and it is a mild one.  Same thing happened to me in September.

 

Take care.

 

 

Thank you - I have had a rough few days and the cough is really nasty