Son of Anarchy

As much as we would like to go to Cuba, the way the USA are treating those who have recently been there is putting us off going to Cuba. Relatives and friends in the USA, plus a couple of cruises to the USA on the books.

"For British Citizen, Irish Citizen, US, Canadian and European Community passport holders, a Quick Stamp visa for Egypt will be issued upon the ship’s arrival in Egypt. Therefore you are not required to obtain an Egyptian visa in advance of your voyage. There is currently no charge for the Quick Stamp Egyptian visa." Follow this link: Making reservations - Will I need a visa?| Frequently Asked Questions | Visa overview | P&O Cruises | Complete Cruise Solution Then click on: UK & Rep of Ireland passport holders; Then click on: Visa requirements by country. Just completed NZeTA for New Zealand via their app. Nice & easy

Great result Selbourne. This was meant to be for you both.

Also had second hand, I mean "pre-loved" Louise Vuitton bags and Rolexes on Arvia earlier this year.

Certainly did last month.

Did buy a couple of Ralph Lauren shirts back in the day when he was in the on board shops. Did have OBC to burn though.

I used this email address following issues regarding a cancellation & re-booking and the way it was being dealt with by staff on the phone. Satisfactorily resolved within a couple of weeks. Certainly worth emailing and letting the higher ups know how their staff are inapproriately treating customers. At the least someone needs a bit of retraining. Possibly even regrading to P45.

Re travel insurance, we're opening a Nationwide Flex Account and paying for relevant upgrades for our forthcoming worldie. For pre-existing med stuff, the 99 days and cruise cover, including the monthy fee, the cost overall is what we paid Staysure for 30 days cover for our current policy. And of course the vehicle breakdown cover means I don't have to renew RAC, so a win win. The upgrade to cover the actual cost of our cruise is £200 (gives £15K cover pp). I don't think Staysure had this as an upgrade, the max cover was £5K pp. So will probably go for that as well. Not often that I say this, but hopefully this upgrade will be a waste of money.

Sounds like you've done well there. Especially as you need an accessible cabin. Have a fantastic adventure!!

For the first time since tips were included, we tipped our cabin steward on our last cruise. It was a longer cruise (30 nights), and from day one Jilbert was a star. A couple of times on port days we got him a bag of choccies or similar just as a little thank you, and in case he wasn't able to get ashore. It turned out there was no shore leave for crew whilst we were in the USA. We also filled out one of those Shine cards for him as well.

Bernie Ecclestone now owes the tax man £652M, and doesn't go straight to jail. Lester Piggott must be turning in his grave.

We were on the same cruise. Used Beach House and the evening buffet a few times. Never even noticed the area for ship's staff by the pool.

Hmm...... Officers and entertainment staff using the buffet has always been the norm on the cruises we have done with P & O. This seems to be a bit different, and not for the better.

The Ole Lady has read elsewhere that the buffet is closed on one side in the evenings for ship's officers' dining. With the result that there may be insufficient seating for passengers using the buffet. Just wondering if someone currently on board can shed any light on what the reason for this is? Understandable if there is some sort of technical issue in the crew dining facilities and this is a temporary measure whilst those issues are being resolved. Just intrigued as to why this is.

Seems to have gone way over the last couple of years.

Six of us played Avocado Smash in Andersons last month. Woke everyone up! A few days later, we played Cards Against Humanity in there. Cleared the place out.

Had a quick look. 75 nights on Aurora going round South America looks good. Won't be booking at launch though.

On board booking deposits have changed. We booked Ventura 35 nights TA 2025 last month on Aurora. £600 deposit for the two of us. Did get triple booking on board OBC pp. This may have been a specific extra incentive at that time though.

Those of us that were on the earlier excursions were advised via the bumf in the landing card/customs declaration pack that our processing was scheduled to start at 06:30. We blindly did what we were advised. Although the Homeland Sec people didn't do themselves any favours by turning up very late, at least they processed people so quickly that they caught up to where they should have been, and actually finished ahead of schedule. With the wonderful benefit of hindsight, the procedure could have been managed much better. Something similar to how tender boarding was managed would have likely meant no need for anyone to go to Carmens until called for. At the end of the day, circa 1600 pax on board, so circa 1600 ways the immigration process could have been managed. As it was, we were cleared about an hour before our tour was scheduled to start. We've had to wait of over an hour queuing for Homeland Sec at the airport before, so didn't expect to be dealt quickly anyway. Had Homeland Sec turned up on time, we probably would have enough time for an MDR breakfast prior to going ashore. Hopefully, someone on board will review the system used on the day and ensure that something better is put in place next time they go to the USA.

Well, less than 12 hour till launch. How soon after the 08:30 launch time will the website crash?

For a small fee? 😇

US Immigration was, imho a farcical, authored mostly by shipboard poor organisation/prep. In the run up to Boston everyone was advised via Horizon to attend Carmens lounge within a specified time frame based around excursion timings. The earliest tours were required to attend from 06:30. Those not on ship's excursions were to attend after (I think) 10:00 am, with an expectation that some of those pax may not complete landing formalities till midday. Seemed like a plan. On the day, Homeland Security were late arriving on board by about 45 minutes. By this time the queue from Carmens went as far back, or should I say forward? the the front of the ship. We'd gone downstairs for about 06:15 and were stood queueing in the art gallery. By the time Homeland Security had set up and were able to start processing pax, people had been stood waiting for over an hour. We eventually completed landing about 10:00 am, in plenty of time for our tour at 11:00. Clearly not P&O's fault that Homeland Sec didn't turn up on time. P&O's decision to have people stood in corridors was. The whole process could have been managed so much better. No assistance from staff, other than as time got closer to the earliest tours staff invited them to the front of the queue. As much as Homeland Sec can and should be held to blame for not arriving on time, in fairness to them, by about 10:30 it was announced that it they were ahead of schedule, and it was last call for pax not on tour. In summary, Homeland Sec turned up late, but progressed pax quickly. People were standing queueing unnecessarily of over an hour. Once were in the USA, we were in and didn't have to do that again.

In January/February, Horizon showed that Afternoon was on the MDR on at least one of the sea days, didn't go though. Got off Aurora last week. Afternoon was available in the MDR on some sea days. Went once, no charge. Doors open only from 15:00 to 15:15 though.

Whilst in Boston we did the Walk the Freedom Trail tour and the day trip to Salem. We found both tours very good and informative.

Good to read @Palaceman that you were able to get there indepedantly on the evening.