WestonOne

Selborne wrote: " Also, now that P&O has done way away with the ability to keep unfinished bottles in the MDRs..." Really? My wife doesn't drink at all and one glass a night with my meal is usually enough for me. If this is the case, then for us - we go for 1st sitting - the packages are no use at all: it will wine by the glass for me.

Just a note of warning about mustering. On our last cruises (two 14 day back to back) we naturally had two musterings. Both were very badly organised. They announced the first as running from, say, 3pm in the theatre. We went there and waited. Nothing. Eventually a few more passengers came, but no staff. Twenty minutes later we found a member of staff - not an officer - who told us there was no need to do any more. So we left and next day got a letter saying we had to go and have a special muster at 9am in the theatre because we had not attended. That affected our planned activities for the day, but could not be helped. On the second half of the back to back, we also went to muster and again there was no-one there. This time we checked a few times around half an hour apart and eventually there actually was someone there scanning our cruise cards. This is a bit of an aberration. We have never had that before, and hope it won't be repeated on our next cruise.

We have had butlers several times, on P&O and Cunard. We never found anything we wanted them to do. On one occasion, a butler apologised that we had not made use of him more. In fact, the only things we used him for were to find more hangers for the wardrobe and to try and get the DVD player working, which he didn't manage, even when engineers were involved, so I suspect it was some problem in the cabin wiring. Without a butler, I would have asked the cabin steward. The root of the problem was that most of the things they do are things I am perfectly comfortable to do myself. I see little point telephoning for them to come or waiting until they visit, to explain I'd like a booking in the restaurant, when I can as easily phone the restaurant myself, and in a far better position to decide if they say "There is no space at 7pm but we could fit you in at 8?" For me, using a butler just added a layer of complication I did not need..

(Sorry if this is repeat topic, but I did look, honest!) WiFi blackspots are a problem on ships, and I guess because of its age Aurora will have a few. Can someone who has been on her recently say something about where it works and where it doesn't? Others will care about speed of the connection, but my main interest is where I would have to be on the ship to use it.

So would I. I started cruising on P&O late in the 1980s, and there is no comparison in the menus. On the other hand, nor is there in the prices.

I have heard that from cabin stewards. At least a score from 1-10 is better than ones I have seen in some land hotel chains, which have survey gradings of "very poor", "below average", "average", "above average" and "exceptional". Their senior management requires, I have been told by the local management, that every hotel in their chain to be at least "above average" for the chain...

Apart from some heart stickers, there doesn't seem to be anything special about the Valentine's day menu. I didn't notice anything for Burn's night either, though a video I saw from last year happened to include Burn's night where they piped in a haggis.

I found this which seems to say no personal extension leads are allowed. I gather many people ignore that ... Unless they are making a distinction between a distribution panel on the desk and one with a cable trailing across the room? Personal Extension Leads are not permitted on board unless they are to be used with essential medical equipment (e.g. CPAP and nebuliser machines). These will be checked for electrical safety along with your piece of medical equipment prior to sailing.

I am on Aurora next year. I seem to remember years back they did not allow multi-way power adapters and were really against ones with surge protectors. Like most people these days I have a plethora of things to plug in, and even my four-way USB adaptors are not sufficient. (Not helped by MyHoliday pretty much requiring we keep phones charged.) However a quick search didn't find any comments on P&O's site. Aurora has, I think, one socket plus one for the TV - we are not in a suite which I guess has more. What are the current restrictions on multi-way adapters?

I am booked on the Dome train next year, so I may be the only person interested, but what was in the snack box? Not just those crisp-like things, I hope. We have been though the old Panama before, will probably not switch to the tourist boat. (As yet, that is not on offer in the tours anyway for next year)

Have you posted an example of this? I had a quick look but may have missed it

As others have said, it all depends on what you drink and how often. My wife doesn't drink alcohol at all, and I tend to stick at about one glass of wine a day, so we have just looked at the non-alcoholic option. That turns out to be just under £50 a day. Really? On a 65 day cruise, over £3000 between us? (We would both have to buy it, I think.) That's a goodly proportion of the per person price of the cabin. We will give it a miss again.

A friend on a world cruise last year got over £1000 extra on board credit because of missed ports, bought a high quality watch and sold it unused on his return. Your idea can work, if OBC is large enough.

On the business of the 'Welcome.on Board" reception, the current loyalty document says it is a buffet.

Yes. So the question is whether you still only get one on a 65 day cruise. It would not surprise me at all if you only get the one, whereas on a world cruise you get one per segment, I think