mrsgoggins

I may give it a go, but expect upside down pictures if I do manage it 😁. I've often felt I owe it to @grapau27 (and others) to join in with the food pics as I always enjoy them, but I'll have to swat up how to do it! 🥴

I've been on both of the ships you mention. From memory, Caribbean Princess is the same layout as Azura and Ventura, but it was 8 years ago we were on her in Alaska. Great cruise but I thought the cabins were a bit tired then, but could have had work done since. We've been on a few Princess ships and for us the food was better than on P&O but Caribbean Princess has the same poor (IMO) buffet layout as the 2 P&O I mentioned and was to be avoided at all costs! We were on Anthem during the first opening up of cruises on a Round the UK cruise with only around 1300 passengers aboard (less than a third capacity) and we're very impressed with it. Definitely a family ship with lots going on. The posters who have mentioned lots of Americans (and Canadians) onboard even from Southampton was quite correct. Last year's Celebrity and Sky Princess cruises out of Southampton sailed with an international clientele, which we enjoy. I can't speak to children's provision on either of your ships since we didn't have our grandchildren with us on either. I look forward to reading your cruising experiences this year 😊

@Selbourne I shall be following your adventure eagerly. We are sailing on Ventura tomorrow for the 35-night Caribbean jolly and this will be the longest cruise we have ever done and so I'm a tad trepidatious about it. Madeira is also our first port of call on Sunday so our paths may even cross. We have visited all of the ports on our cruise before, with the exception of Guadalupe, where I have booked the Death in Paradise tour. We've pre-booked only Epicurean visit during the first week and I'll think of you as my crêpe Suzette is flambéed tableside; I hope 😉 Thanks for taking us along with you. I also bought the internet package at a good rate. In our case we like to download our daily newspaper and enjoy keeping in touch. I wish us both good sailing and calm seas. As you know, we have a later departure than you due to the deep cleaning they are carrying out on Ventura so I will hopefully be on board when you leave and will give you a Bon Voyage wave 😁

Avril, I've only just seen your post of yesterday, and I'm so sorry to hear that you and Frank are going through trying times. I understand that you don't want to burden your children (though I doubt they would see it as such) and a forum like this can be a helpful way to share your anxieties, with people who do care. I'll echo others who say please do take good care of yourself. Hoping for good news from you before too long.

Never watched Eastenders and gave up on Corrie years ago, for the reason you give - doom and gloom. I enjoyed it when it was just 2 episodes a week and with a lot of humour - I give you Phyllis, Blanche, Norris, the Duckworths, the Ogdens, etc.

Beech's, a Preston company with a long history, also make dark chocolate brazils - my son gave me a box of those at Christmas and so far they remain unopened. Both the brazils and their chocolate ginger have a really thick coating of quality dark chocolate. The internet is your friend to source for a special occasion.

My Christmas treat (to myself) is a box of Beeches dark chocolate gingers. Difficult to find and expensive but Waitrose is second best IMO.

+ 1 I especially like the mint ones 😋 but my 'last meal' request (odd concept that!) would include a Lindt Les Grande hazelnut chocolate bar. If it were to be a last meal, I'd go for the milk version because I wouldn't care how much I ate! In real life, I usually buy the dark version as I find it easier to not overdose on that 😉

Lol, I hate them with a passion! If they were the only chocolate confectionery available, I'd be slim, which I definitely am not! Don't like fondant icing either and loathed Fry's chocolate cream back in the day. Given the millions of Creme Eggs Cadbury's sell, I'm obviously in the minority here. Bring on the hot cross buns I say 😁

Thanks for all of the responses; it's been very useful. @Eglesbrech DH likes to make filter coffee and so a plastic cone and filter papers will be packed along with a small insulated coffee pot. However, a dental repair kit is now on order and due tomorrow as we too have a good collection of crowns between us 👍. I always carry a glasses repair kit, which we have used on past holidays. @Goosebear Mum That was a good reminder about magnets, and I'll dig a couple out. I hope there are art classes. @TigerB I had 2 litter sister cats for 20 years and was running the best cat nursing home around by the end, but I do miss them. It's just the 'travelling while we still can' mantra that stops me from getting another rescue cat (or two). @daiB I'll look out for you, you never know 😉

I love the idea of a microphone cloth 😄. I assume you mean microfibre before predictive text helped out! That’s a good idea, and one I wouldn’t have thought of 👍. Tesco apple and mango squash is the juice of choice so 2 bottles coming, but will check out the Lidl ones. PS Love the cat pic!

That’s really good to know, thanks

We're shortly going on a P&O 35 night Caribbean cruise on Ventura and I'm busy making a list of extras I might take. I've done a few back-to-back cruises but this will be the longest cruise by far, and I confess to being a bit apprehensive about being away from 'my life' for 5 weeks, but then again, it is January and I know we are lucky to be able to do it. On my list are: Wire coat hangers (I've never liked the fiddly steal-proof ones, but since I had a shoulder replacement last year, they are even more difficult to use) Decent coffee Squash Mid-size towel for drying my hair Magic leaves laundry sheets Stugeron! Considering taking a jar of quality jam for breakfast toast since P&O dispensed with pots of Bonne Maman Packet (or 2) of favourite biscuits/chocolate Anyone care to add anything that you would/do take on a long journey? Thanks

That all looks fabulous and so inviting Graham! It's DH's birthday on Christmas Eve and we are going out for lunch to our favourite Italian restaurant. Christmas Day is spent with our son and family. His DW is vegetarian, so I cook the turkey crown and a veggie main and set off 40 miles up the M6. The turkey will be well rested by then! Good wishes to all whose lives I follow on here, those who are semi-lurkers (like myself) and also full-time lurkers. A happy, healthy and peaceful Christmas and New Year to all.

I like the Newscast podcast with Adam Fleming and Chris Mason. I've tuned in to them since Brexitcast

Me too! We've been with the Times for years now after trying out the other broadsheets many years ago.

I took another look at the details of the P&O tour I have booked and it says nothing about a Botanical Garden, so probably similar to your tour. I do like to watch Death in Paradise and so I’ve decided not to cancel but to ask on board at Shorex where the one and a half hour walking fits into the tour. Thanks to all who have responded.

I have the 'Death in Paradise tour and beach' booked on an upcoming cruise. Taking a look at the details I see that it mentions one and a half hours walking over uneven ground. Could anyone give any information on this please? My walking ability may not stretch to one and a half hours alas! Not really interested in the beach part of the tour and DH is not interested in the tour at all so I am wondering if to cancel. Thanks

Exactly the same for me, even down to Celebrity being my favourite cruise line. We appreciate being able to sail from Southampton during the winter/early spring months when the American ships are elsewhere, mostly sailing around the Caribbean out of Florida ports. Agree also about the dining, even though on X we have (when they were better value and the exchange rate better) dined in all of the speciality restaurants on the S-class but would not pay the prices they are asking now. On the other hand we have really enjoyed our Epicurean dining on P&O and are happy to pay for it at least a few times per cruise. To the OP I hope you really enjoy your cruise. Our first ever P&O cruise was on Azura in 2018, although not at Christmas, and for what we had paid, we were impressed enough to book again.

Interesting. But we won’t be using Intercruises whatever. It will either be Eavesway or driving and a PI (as usual).

I believe that Intercruises is an Agency and sub contract. Eavesway have their own fleet of luxury coaches and even invited us along to their depot for a look inside when I phoned up to ask about legroom before our recent trip with them (DH is tall). Your anecdote was interesting but we would prefer to self-drive rather than end up on a coach with poor leg room for 5+ hours, so definitely won’t be using Intercruises and taking a chance on its being okay.

This is very interesting to me at the moment. We normally park by the ship regardless of who we are sailing with. In October we did a TA on Celebrity Silhouette and flew back from Florida into Manchester and so paid for one-way coach to Southampton. We were very, very impressed with Eavesway. Our ship was delayed due to weather conditions and so our luggage was taken from us and a shuttle into Southampton centre was laid on. It was a coach from a Yorkshire company and the legroom was dreadful and nothing like the lovely journey we had on Eavesway and has put us off getting any other company. To get to the point, I only discovered yesterday that with P&O if we choose the perk transfer option with Intercruise for our upcoming cruise, it will definitely NOT be Eavesway. We are considering taking the OBC and paying out of pocket for Eavesway. Have there ever been any recorded instances of P&O passengers missing their ship because they used Eavesway?

Right, thanks all - I’ve calmed down now 😂. It was 59 minutes before a person answered, which I think is shocking. I was, of course polite to the person who answered, it not being her fault, and she sorted out my straightforward issue quickly. I can’t imagine ever needing to call them ever again 🤞 @zap99, also on my ‘to do’ list is to call HMRC alas! @Harry Peterson you were correct, it was time sensitive and I am hopeful that the not-to-be-mentioned TA will be better because the booking process with them was very good. Thanks for all the support and suggestions 👍

Any tips? I've now hung on for 57 minutes listening to that woman's 'sweet' voice. I feel like chucking the phone through the window! I tried this morning and had to give up after 25 minutes because I had places to be. Thankfully my only other P&O booking is via a TA; one that many use on here.

I've been a bit lax in my reading of these boards lately, so forgive me if this has been mentioned before. Booths, a high-end northern supermarket chain is axing self-service check outs at most of its stores as a result of customer feedback! What a novelty. I have one not too far from me and having regular Tesco deliveries I don't visit that much, but I am intending to up my visits from now on.