P&O Cruisers - What are things like where YOU are?

[mrsgoggins]

3 hours ago, brian1 said:

You're right Zap it wasn't worth taking.We had spag carbonara and tagliatelle with salmon with aperatif of voddies,coke and beer.120 CHF (100 QUID).That's why we normally drive straight thru Switzerland and stay in Italy.Even Como is cheaper.Next stop Orvieto,Umbria.

Switzerland has never been cheap but now …… 🥴

 

The first time I went on a school trip I remember being shocked that a Coca Cola, 10d in a cafe at home, was 1 Swiss Franc there - the equivalent of 2/6d  at the time and I apologise to you young ‘uns for whom this is a strange language, but it was 3 times the price 😄. Oh for the days of £1 buying 8 Swiss Francs!

 

I’ve spent many good holidays in Lucerne and thereabouts since then but out of curiosity after your post I checked our once-favourite hotel and a week would be more than £3k without food, not even breakfast, so I’m not surprised you are quickly en route to Italy.  Enjoying following 👍 

[zap99]

1 hour ago, Eddie99 said:

Sounds like last night was a Brian tribute menu all over the world!

 

A quiet calm and chilly day forecast for us.  Seaside this morning, no plans for later - might be seaside again.  Enjoy your day everyone and for those in recovery mode, just keep on recovering 

Chinese take away last night, but booked a nice Italian restaurant for this evening.🤔

[wowzz]

25 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

I am in the pizza lover brigade. Love the ones made in wood fired ovens, mine has to be spicy with plenty of topping, I also prefer thin crust but they shouldn't bend when you pick a slice up. When I eat pizza at home I always eat it by the slice yet when dining out usually use a knife and fork.

 

We are home from out 4 week self catering holiday to Puerto del Carmen in Lanzagrote. It was our first self catering and first land holiday of more than 2 weeks so a bit of an adventure. We have said for several years that we were going to give it a try but cruises always seemed to get in the way. We had good weather, we only had one day where it was not nice enough to sit by the pool, it got a bit hot in the afternoon and we did go down to the front where there was a breeze or go inside now and again. We took too many clothes as we were prepared for cool mornings and evenings, which we didn't need as it was warm enough for shorts and tee's. We stuck to our plan of eating out 2/3 times a week whether it be breakfast lunch or dinner. We will definitely be doing this again and planning 6 weeks in 2024 as we have cruises booked for Nov/Dec and March 2023. It is a bit of a shock to the system when we went out for a walk this morning as it is minus 20oC, however the sun is shining so we will muddle through.

Glad you enjoyed your holiday.

Must admit, we always prefer self catering to hotels for land based holidays.

We have three weeks booked in a villa in Faro Park in Playa Blanca in November. 

If you are looking for a change of scene for your next Lanzarote holiday, you might bear the location in mind.

[lincslady]

yorkshirephil  - have to agree with you and others regarding self-catering.  The two main requirements for me  are that it is comfortable, and that it is within walking distance of several nice restaurants and bars.  Nothing like doing your own breakfast, and maybe snacky lunch,  then going out most evenings for a meal and not having to drive home.  Best of both worlds.  And somewhere warm in our winter, even better.

[kalos]

51 minutes ago, lincslady said:

yorkshirephil  - have to agree with you and others regarding self-catering.  The two main requirements for me  are that it is comfortable, and that it is within walking distance of several nice restaurants and bars.  Nothing like doing your own breakfast, and maybe snacky lunch,  then going out most evenings for a meal and not having to drive home.  Best of both worlds.  And somewhere warm in our winter, even better.

You have described our choice of S/C holidays and another must for us was it  must be on the 

sea front as I loved my early morning cuppa watching the sun rise over the sea.

 

       

[grapau27]

19 hours ago, P&O SUE said:

Hello all, sorry to not be around and sorry I haven’t read every page I’ve missed on here.

 

Had some stress with my mum and dad. First they both caught covid, dad quite rough, mum not really any symptoms. Then just over a week ago my mum fell down the stairs. My Dad phoned the ambulance then me, he was crying 😢 So awful. The ambulance people said she seemed ok but they’d just take her to hospital to’ check her over’ and it was a week before she came home. As she had covid none of us were able to visit her but I went up to take her some bits including her phone so at least we could phone her. Getting information out of the hospital was nearly impossible and nearly every day they said “should be tomorrow’.

 

She hated the hospital food so hardly ate and my Dad hardly ate either. Anyway they had some viewings of their house today so they came here to keep out the way and we gave them a big dinner. They’re not good apart bless them.

Sending prayers 🙏 to you and your mam and dad Sue.

Graham.

[DamianG]

On 3/4/2022 at 11:14 AM, ccpm said:

Morning and thank you for your good wishes. 

 

I came down here as my friend wanted me to go to hospital (she is a Respiratory Consultant) I was reluctant as I would have had to go through various things before accessing a bed here. Her response was well come down here then if you can. Brother zipped up for me and the dogs and comfy room in almost empty private hospital here is mine. IV antibiotics doing me good and just starting to feel like I'm not on the brink of drowning. So will soon be on the mend and hopefully out and home.

 

I am sorry though about the fracas I caused, put it down to various meds. I will do better.

 

I've not posted for a while so belated best wishes to you, hoping you keep improving and are out soon.

Damian

[DamianG]

It’s been a busy few weeks since I caught up on here, in particular we’ve been spending our Saturday mornings stood in a farmer’s field in all weathers having puppy training (which of course is more about training us as owners than Teddy himself). 
Anyway it’s been worth it as we can now confidently let him off the lead in the park without worrying that we won’t get him back. 

Michelle says that my recall has improved too.
Next big step is to get him used to being looked after by someone else as we have our first cruise since 2019 coming up at the start of April.

Best regards to all.

Damian

 

Edited March 6, 2022 by DamianG

[yorkshirephil]

3 hours ago, wowzz said:

Glad you enjoyed your holiday.

Must admit, we always prefer self catering to hotels for land based holidays.

We have three weeks booked in a villa in Faro Park in Playa Blanca in November. 

If you are looking for a change of scene for your next Lanzarote holiday, you might bear the location in mind.

If/when we go back to Lanzarote I think either Playa Blanca or Costa Teguise would be our destination. We met a few others at the appartment's that suggested Playa Blanca. The problem is there are so many choices and we want to avoid going back to the same places, first world problems.

[yorkshirephil]

3 hours ago, lincslady said:

yorkshirephil  - have to agree with you and others regarding self-catering.  The two main requirements for me  are that it is comfortable, and that it is within walking distance of several nice restaurants and bars.  Nothing like doing your own breakfast, and maybe snacky lunch,  then going out most evenings for a meal and not having to drive home.  Best of both worlds.  And somewhere warm in our winter, even better.

That pretty much sums up what we did lincslady, we would never have gone self catering when we were working, but retirement is a different thing and we enjoyed the cooking albeit pretty basic meals, with lots of salads and fruit.

[brian1]

1 hour ago, DamianG said:

 

I've not posted for a while so belated best wishes to you, hoping you keep improving and are out soon.

Damian

You can't go missing for long mate.We send out search parties after a few weeks.

[brian1]

Hi all,just arrived in Orvieto after 6 hrs.When I drive past Lakes Lugano and Como the views are great but when I find a motorway rest area to take photos there are always bloody trees in the way.The joys of motorway driving.

[brian1]

4 hours ago, mrsgoggins said:

Switzerland has never been cheap but now …… 🥴

 

The first time I went on a school trip I remember being shocked that a Coca Cola, 10d in a cafe at home, was 1 Swiss Franc there - the equivalent of 2/6d  at the time and I apologise to you young ‘uns for whom this is a strange language, but it was 3 times the price 😄. Oh for the days of £1 buying 8 Swiss Francs!

 

I’ve spent many good holidays in Lucerne and thereabouts since then but out of curiosity after your post I checked our once-favourite hotel and a week would be more than £3k without food, not even breakfast, so I’m not surprised you are quickly en route to Italy.  Enjoying following 👍 

This one was overpriced and a bit pretentious at 130 quid with tax.The best one was a suite hotel with its own patio on the 2nd floor overlooking Lake Lugano at 200 quid but better value for money.We treated ourselves to that one on our way home a few years back.Cheers,Brian.PS I even remember farthings,I'm 70 this year.

[zap99]

28 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

If/when we go back to Lanzarote I think either Playa Blanca or Costa Teguise would be our destination. We met a few others at the appartment's that suggested Playa Blanca. The problem is there are so many choices and we want to avoid going back to the same places, first world problems.

3 weeks and we will be off to Costa Teguise. It is our first time there so we will see. We have had several visits to Playa Blanca. That general area is a good few miles of coastline. It's nice, but time to try a different resort. AI this time, but will have a few meals out.

[wowzz]

33 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

If/when we go back to Lanzarote I think either Playa Blanca or Costa Teguise would be our destination. We met a few others at the appartment's that suggested Playa Blanca. The problem is there are so many choices and we want to avoid going back to the same places, first world problems.

Personally we dislike Costa Teguise, a purpose built resort, with little appeal.

You won't be disappointed if you choose Playa Blanca - great choice of villas as well.

[zap99]

1 minute ago, wowzz said:

Personally we dislike Costa Teguise, a purpose built resort, with little appeal.

You won't be disappointed if you choose Playa Blanca - great choice of villas as well.

Our favourite area in PB is around marina Rubicon. Some nice restaurants and watching the boats from the hotel was quite pleasant. Last time we stayed in the Volcan. The pool was as cold as the food.,⛄

[brian1]

Are the men called Costa Tegeezers.

[wowzz]

25 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Our favourite area in PB is around marina Rubicon. Some nice restaurants and watching the boats from the hotel was quite pleasant. Last time we stayed in the Volcan. The pool was as cold as the food.,⛄

We prefer the Faro Park end

[jeanlyon]

We only have a pizza when I can't bothered to cook.  It's not something I think of as special and as someone else said, after the first slice, it's a bit borin.

[Snow Hill]

We had pizza last night homemade, as one of us is celiac the base and ingredients need to be gluten-free, my wife found a recipe for a pizza base made with GF Flour and Greek yogurt, much better then any we buy or restaurants provide. 
 

We watched the new version of West Side Story directed by Stephen Spielberg, apart from Rita Moreno, who was in the original film, the majority of the actors it was either their first or second film. Not one for musicals normally, but I enjoyed this one, I can see why it’s nominated for an Oscar. 
 

It was on Disney streaming, we took out a subscription for when grandchildren visit, then you know what struck, but we kept it has a number of channels besides Disney, which has some good films on, plus National Geographic documentaries. Yes we have watched some of the Disney films without children present!

[zap99]

39 minutes ago, wowzz said:

We prefer the Faro Park end

The furthest we have been along that way was the H10 Rubicon palace, which we assumed was near the marina.....wrong.

[Peanut006]

7 minutes ago, zap99 said:

The furthest we have been along that way was the H10 Rubicon palace, which we assumed was near the marina.....wrong.

We have stayed at Rubicon Palace, nice hotel but a bit far out to walk to the centre and Marina in my opinion. Our hotel of choice would be Lanzarote Princess. There is a great coffee shop in the hotel, Mikes Coffee shop, they do a great coffee called barraquito, only ever seen it there.

Michelle

[wowzz]

15 minutes ago, zap99 said:

The furthest we have been along that way was the H10 Rubicon palace, which we assumed was near the marina.....wrong.

You needed to have kept walking !

[yorkshirephil]

16 minutes ago, Peanut006 said:

We have stayed at Rubicon Palace, nice hotel but a bit far out to walk to the centre and Marina in my opinion. Our hotel of choice would be Lanzarote Princess. There is a great coffee shop in the hotel, Mikes Coffee shop, they do a great coffee called barraquito, only ever seen it there.

Michelle

Barraquito is very popular in Tenerife, the chef at our complex made them, he recommended using lime peel rather than lemon.

[brian1]

Just put in our order for my favourite swordfish with toms and olives at our local tomorrow,lovely jubbly.