mrsgoggins

A really good summary. I was especially taken with your description of 'Passenger Profile' because although I don't believe I mentioned it in my 35 night (irregular) Caribbean Ventura blog, I could have written the same word for word. And we also sailed on Iona last year! Maybe you would like to consider next year's 3 January Ventura 35 night sailing to the USA and the Caribbean? It does include New Orleans (well at least you'd know what to expect there) and also Miami (which you enjoyed), but I suspect the other ports would be new to you. You would miss January in the UK and save on heating and eating at home again. I'm thinking maybe we could 'crowd fund' to send you and your good lady on long journeys 😉. I'd chip in with the blog writing ......... 😁

We normally drive down so don't know the history of the Eavesway v P&O saga but have heard people speak of it. All I know is that for our delayed departure in January, Eavesway were in contact with P&O and their vehicles dropped off and picked up in the same places as other coaches, although I believe it is likely to be Ellison's if you book via Intercruises in our neck of the woods. Ellison's and Eavesway are both relatively local to me and both with a long history of being good companies but it was knowing that if we booked through Intercruises they do not tell you who you will get and some companies' coaches are dreadful for legroom. We took the additional £300 OBC instead and paid just less than £200 for our Eavesway transfers. Result 👍

There definitely were on the 3 Eavesway coaches we have been on, and very nice they were too, much to my surprise.

@brian1 what milestones indeed! I shall miss the car journeys you took to Italy, since I guess you will now fly for your annual visits, but it does sound like a good solution you have gone for. Good luck with it. The story of your adoption and your poor mother’s circumstances before she had you at 17 took my breath away. I hope that you have a good meeting with your newly found relatives. Thanks for sharing your story.

I booked another cruise just 2 days ago, and so based on your post I checked. When booked the OBC was £180 per cabin with parking (and a further £100 'Welcome back'). Today the basic cruise is the same price but if I choose parking, there is no OBC at all. The discount on the drinks package has changed from 20% to 10%, but that is of no interest to me personally. The deposit has also risen from 10% to 15%, which I think is pretty standard and just signified the end of the '10% deposit' offer. I know that none of this is unusual and that fluid pricing is the name of the game throughout the travel industry these days.

I'm so pleased that you made it to Angra and that you also found it to be 'a delight'. Such a pity that your good lady is unable to accompany you on some of your excursions. However, on reflection, there are a some trips I've been on in the Caribbean that with hindsight, I would have swapped for a few hours reading on the balcony! Anything where I have been 'folded up' into one of the dreadful Caribbean minibuses comes to mind. Here's to calm seas and green bean-free meals for the last leg of your journey 🥂

Loved your reports, loved your Coco pictures and just loved that shirt 😁. Hope we don’t have to wait too long for another trip 🤞.

It is quiet Graham, so I thought I'd chip in. There's frost in the fields around me and DH who was on his way out, told me my car is frozen and would I like 'Princess service' if I'm going out 😁. This involves him placing a fan heater inside to defrost. However, I have decided on a cosy morning in, reviewing this year's holiday plans. I'll be visiting a residential care home at sometime over the weekend to see a lovely gentleman with dementia, for whom I hold Power of Attorney (his niece was my best friend since childhood until she died, and we were both his Attorneys) and another two ladies who were both participants in a tea party for the elderly charity I helped with before Covid. Both ladies still find much to enjoy and interest them, despite their health issues and I always enjoy seeing them - separately, as one is in the care home and the other in a lovely retirement complex for over 55s. I sometimes miss posts here, but has anyone heard from @Harry Peterson recently?

+ 1 What a tail. I enlarged the photo and looked on enviously for ages!

It absolutely was! A fleet of modern coaches pulled up outside of the ship and it was a wonderful sight after those mini buses - DH did not feel the need to check on the numbers of missing wheel nuts 😂. I am envious that you will be going there as this was our favourite port of call and so few ships call there. This is most definitely a 'European' port in the middle of the Atlantic.

So very many things I chuckled at in this report; just brilliant! Although Ventura didn't make it into St Kitts this year (insufficient power for the conditions) we have been before and the scrap cars reignited my memory 😁. I can't wait to show DH the report on your scenic railway trip and the reasons for the delay - he's a railways buff but always refuses to go on these tourist trains. His one exception was the White Pass and Yukon railway from Skagway in Alaska, which was excellent. Your description of the karaoke bar and its contributors also made me titter. I wish you a more communicative Captain for the final leg (James Brown on our 35 nights was good even if his 'facts' and jokes were a bit cheesy, but that made him very human. I was told that he was a popular Captain with the staff too.). We had excellent speakers on our journey back from the Caribbean and I hope you are as fortunate. I know that you were generally happy with the food on your P&O cruises last year, and I would chime in that we enjoyed most of our meals on Ventura, as I believe did you. It's a shame that so many meals, or parts of meals, have fallen short on your very long trip. I'm still loving taking the journey with you, so thank you again for all of the detail you put into your reports.

Thank you yet again. I currently have 3 P&O cruises in the pipeline (over 2 years) but your reports have made me discount ever trying Aurora on 2 counts; the a/c problems you have had that they seem unable to fix, and also the low beds. Both of those things would have a big impact on any cruise for me so I am very grateful to you, even though I realise that not all cabins are likely to be as affected as yours has been. I agree about the appearance of the Virgin ships at the back, really ugly!

Loved the report, especially details of your sighting of 'Chav family Robinson' 😂. Just brilliant!

Oh how I wish .......... !

I quite understand why you feel as you do about tender ports, even though I don't share your feeling despite being a poor sailor myself. In my experience a tender means you are likely to be taken to the centre of where you wish to visit, eg Mykonos (tendered x 2, berthed and 'bused in' x 2), Guernsey, Kotor and Grand Cayman, and we have never yet missed a port despite multiple visits. Just lucky I think. On our first visit to Grand Cayman years ago (on Disney Magic) we hired a car from Avis. We had to ring them and they collected us and took us to the airport where we collected our hire car. It worked well and we were able to see a lot of the island along with Hell, Seven Mile Beach and the highlight, Queen Elizabeth II Botanical gardens. We tend to be early starters and always back hours before departure, so have not experienced great waits, but on another visit to Grand Cayman I remember a lot of disgruntled passengers having to wait for a very long time, in full sun/heat, for a local tender. I believe this is a port where using local tenders is part of the agreement for calling there. Just as you @Selbourne have decided to avoid tender ports, and certainly your wife's disability makes that even more sensible for you, I have decided no more ship's excursions in the Caribbean. I now want to see the vehicle we are travelling in before embarking on any trip. No more being packed uncomfortably into one of those little minibuses - we're too big (tall and not skinny; will say no more 😉) and too old to be putting up with it. Another good and informative account of your day, so thank you again 💐.

Just found you 🎉💃🤗 and I'm so looking forward to following, live or not! Btw, going away for longer than 2 weeks, and no convenient neighbours, are the only reasons I am cat-less! I like the change in the booking system for 7/10 but think daily booking would have been preferable to allowing multiple bookings. If I ever do another blog (I'm on next year's January 35 nighter that includes the USA and Caribbean) I'll request lessons on how to embed food descriptions in the photos themselves 🤞 Great surprise that your son and his wife could make it. Happy birthday to your lass for 25th (also my son's birthday) 🎂

We've been to Grand Cayman 4 times on non-P&O cruise ships, and always used a tender. Unless it has changed in the last few years, I am not sure it is a port where large ships can berth.

Apart from enjoying the read, I found it useful to note that Roatan uses those dreadful minibuses. We are due there next year, so a note has been made. Thanks again, and I trust that your imbibing resulted in a good night’s sleep 🤭.

+ 1

I have every sympathy for your throat situation, as I still have my 'cruise cough' despite being home now for 10 days. It's not nearly as bad, but yesterday at my U3A singing group I did a good deal of miming rather than break into a croak! We did see Harrison Treble, just the once and would not bother again. Let's just say he's a very enthusiastic performer which suited neither of us. I was sorry to read that you have yet to experience a wheelchair accessible shuttle on your cruise. The only one I remember seeing - although I wasn't particularly looking - was at our favourite port, Praia da Vitoria, in the Azores. It would be good if they could get your air con sorted. Is everyone's cabin the same or is your part of the ship the most affected?

Your input was invaluable and I smile each time I see CoCo. I’m desperate to give a home to a cat (or two) but it is our long trips away that stops me; for now! I’ll be very interested in your Iona post when you return. Meanwhile I wish you and your lass, the very best trip without any lurgy encounters 🤞

We also did the full transit of the old canal on Celebrity Infinity - San Diego to Fort Lauderdale - and the guest speaker was a guy who had grown up around the canal as his father was an engineer on the project. A fascinating trip.

Thank you Selbourne; I loved your photos, especially the one of your wife with the monkey looking so comfortable! I'm now at home, coughing in comfort, with copious hot drinks and a big TV 😁. I will still tune in daily to see what new challenges or pleasures you have encountered. I now know the time it takes to keep up a blog such as yours - and I did not do a daily blog unlike you - but not only is it enjoyable for us followers, it will serve as a good account for you and your wife when you look back and reflect on it all. My best wishes to you and your wife.

My final post on the departure from our cruise, now that we are home and now both suffering from cough/throat lurgy! Like @Selbourne this is lingering, and wakes me up multiple times in the night. I need a holiday 😉 Many were heartily coughing on the coach back to the North West, and during the Captain's question and answer session in the theatre on Tuesday, a woman asked him when would something be done about the air conditioning to prevent all the coughs! The Captain's reply was that since Covid, the additional filtration systems in place mean that you would not get cleaner air anywhere. I don't know what to think. Packed lifts? Packed theatres? Just unlucky? I believe I mentioned earlier that I would report on the disembarkation process in relation to coming home on a coach - Eavesway in our case. The information sheet told us where to wait and we would expect to be off the ship by 8.30-9 am. We waited in the Red Bar, and in the event it was 9.15 am before we allowed to disembark and join the hunt for suitcases. This is new to us (with P&O), since we normally self-disembark as early as possible. Our record was last March after our Iona Canaries cruise when we drove off from CPS car park at 6.50 am and were on our drive, 250 miles away, just before 11 am. Eavesway had hoped to get us away by 9.30 am, but because of the delay with the luggage, it was 10.15 am before we set off. The journey was fine, other than lots of coughing, and the coach was only half full. We had a 45 minute stop at a Motorway Services, before starting the drop-offs. Our time at Burtonwood on the M62 was 3.30 pm and the Liverpool drop off was 4 pm. My brother-in-law met us and we were home half and hour later. As I suspected might happen, mrgoggins, who had been enthusiastic for the coach option, it being January/February, said during the lunch stop in the midlands, '..... we would have been home by now had we come by car ......'. So that's it, a Premier Inn room has now been booked for 2 January 2025 and we will be keeping our CPS parking option! A good cruise on a ship showing her age with some maintenance issues - lifts, lamps in bathrooms (they had no replacements on board) and in our case, the TV which needed replacing. I have now completed my post cruise questionnaire, which is largely very positive of course. However, as the said questionnaire mentions several times 'feeling special' as in: 'do you want to feel special?' (well, in my case this option was unselected, as no, I don't!) and 'were you made to feel special?'. I had to point out that the reserving of tables for 2 on freedom dining for favoured guests, whilst being told I would have to share or take a pager, did not make me feel special 😉. By the way, this was no longer an issue after I made a fuss - but it's not right; IMHO. Despite my initial misgivings about 5 weeks - and I would have been happy to have been home after 4 - I am quite pleased that we have signed up for both January 25 and January 26 on Ventura. Notes to myself include such nuggets as 'Do not take much chocolate; it was brought home untouched' and 'Do take a pot of French mustard to use with steak' 😁

I'm sure you will enjoy it. She's a nice ship with a few maintenance issues (more to come when I've unpacked). Despite my grumbles after noticing empty (reserved) tables for two in Freedom dining when we had been told 'only shared tables available right now', we have been on Ventura three times prior to this and never had any issues at all. The staff were fantastic in the main. I wish you smooth seas and good weather on her.