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

[zap99]

39 minutes ago, kalos said:

Morning hope everyone's ok today.

 

With all this build up to the football even David Beckham's lad has decided he 

wants to play football .

He asked his dad "What shirt number do you think suit me on the pitch ?"

His dad could be heard saying ...  Wear four out there Romeo 🙃🤣

 

Have a good day -Take care ! 

It was the fashion to name your children after the place they were conceived. Paris Hilton, Brooklyn Beckham etc. I explained this to our son..Travelodge.

[kalos]

14 minutes ago, zap99 said:

It was the fashion to name your children after the place they were conceived. Paris Hilton, Brooklyn Beckham etc. I explained this to our son..Travelodge.

 

I was just saying the the same to our Sophie 🙃

[yorkshirephil]

1 hour ago, lincslady said:

I don't suppose Princess Kate will be at Wimbledon today to present the women's rose bowl?  It would be nice if she felt well and fit enough.  Otherwise, good old Queen Camilla will probably be there.

I believe that Kate is scheduled to present the men's trophy tomorrow.

Well another week been and gone, it has been a bit miserable here weather wise, certainly not what you would expect in July, only just made double figures a couple of mornings.

Good week for sport with hopefully more to come. I have enjoyed the tennis this week, probably watched more than usual due to the dismal weather.

Have a good weekend whatever rings your bells. Best wishes to the three lions and I hope Alcatraz beats that Scots bloke Jock Ovich, have a gooooood day.

[lincslady]

I hope you are right, Phil.  I had not heard that anywhere.  The doubles should be entertaining too, and there is one Brit. in the final!

[Angel57]

2 hours ago, lincslady said:

I hope you are right, Phil.  I had not heard that anywhere.  The doubles should be entertaining too, and there is one Brit. in the final!

I have also just read on BBC website that Kate is due to attend the Men’s final tomorrow. 

Edited July 13 by Angel57

[Adawn47]

4 hours ago, lincslady said:

I don't suppose Princess Kate will be at Wimbledon today to present the women's rose bowl?  It would be nice if she felt well and fit enough.  Otherwise, good old Queen Camilla will probably be there.

A statement from the Palce said Catherine will be at the men's finals.

Avril

[lincslady]

Thanks, I have seen it now on the BBC site.  Look forward to seeing her; I guess if she is on radio or chemo they can time it so she is feeling  at her best for these occasions.  I just hope that if she is it won't need to be for much longer.

[grapau27]

Good evening.

It has been raining here all day and still raining now.

We sat in the conservatory most of today then we decided to pop out and get a takeaway and go to the beach.

[mrsgoggins]

21 hours ago, Purdey16 said:

 

Thank you for bringing back some memories from the 80s for me , went camping along the Mosel valley and plenty of German vineyards, spent 17 years living in Germany. Have a lovely time there.

A couple of final photos of today’s outing as we head home tomorrow.  The first is in Cochem and the other just a Mosel view as we travelled along.  My husband has worked extensively in Germany, mostly in Gelsenkirchen and also Berlin and I have visited many times.  We also camped, but in the late seventies and by the Rhine.  I remember how noisy it was with trains both sides of the river.

 

 

@brian1 you and Phil have crossed my thoughts a few times, most notably looking at the water level marks, with dates, alongside the Mosel river. After climbing 5 steps to enter a clothes shop yesterday, the owner showed us how far up the flooding had been inside her shop around the time of the Danube flooding that you were rescued from. Such a pity, but from what you say, TUI did right by you at least 👍

 

 

Edited July 13 by mrsgoggins

[grapau27]

All of the rain has helped the Hydrangea's in my late mam and dad's memory garden alongside our front garden bloom.

[kalos]

Morning,hope everyone's ok.

A calm dry morning 13.c Not a lot happening today just relaxing and then 

watch the football tonight .

It's going to be a day to remember whatever the result . As a treat I am 

getting a take away later and give the cooker a day off.

I have just read about the shooting over the pond .I can just imagine the phone call

back home to his Mrs ..." Honey Iv'e just ben shot " 

Mrs .." Oh gosh ..Where ?"    Donald .. "Right Ear "... 🙃

But where is here ??

 

Anyway I'll leave it at that and wish you all a very good day -Take Care 🙂

 

 

Edited July 14 by kalos

[grapau27]

Good morning.

It is raining and 12°C here.

I hope everyone is well and we all have a happy day.

[purplesea]

Morning all,

Looks like we are in for another warm sunny day 😊 

Not doing anything exciting or different, just the normal day to day chores.

Hope everyone has a good day and enjoys the sport.

 

[Rupert2251]

Got the strawberries and cream/ice cream in for this afternoon, Cheddar has got her carrot. Glad to see the Princess of Wales will be attending, I wonder if Charlotte will be with her? George will probably go with William to the football and Louis will be contemplating his next bit of mischief! Whatever everyone is doing enjoy your day its going to be a good one 😁

[Angel57]

12 minutes ago, Rupert2251 said:

Got the strawberries and cream/ice cream in for this afternoon, Cheddar has got her carrot. Glad to see the Princess of Wales will be attending, I wonder if Charlotte will be with her? George will probably go with William to the football and Louis will be contemplating his next bit of mischief! Whatever everyone is doing enjoy your day its going to be a good one 😁

Freddie also likes a carrot. Cucumber is another favourite treat and he’s recently discovered he loves watermelon 🍉 

 

[Snow Hill]

1 hour ago, Rupert2251 said:

Got the strawberries and cream/ice cream in for this afternoon, Cheddar has got her carrot. Glad to see the Princess of Wales will be attending, I wonder if Charlotte will be with her? George will probably go with William to the football and Louis will be contemplating his next bit of mischief! Whatever everyone is doing enjoy your day its going to be a good one 😁

Won’t be watching tennis, as I am volunteering this afternoon, leading a tour of around 20 visitors around the site. 

[Ardennais]

7 hours ago, Angel57 said:

Good morning all.

Gosh, it is very quiet on these boards at the moment.

I am hoping Spain wins at the tennis but loses in the football today!!

A close call for Trump - whatever one’s thoughts of the politics over there, it was shocking.

Have a great day everyone.

Gill

 

Shocking indeed.

 

I’m hoping for a Serbian win first, then a Spanish win!! 

[lincslady]

Lovely to see Kate, looking very well (though very thin) and Charlotte.  Now to concentrate on the tennis.

[Ardennais]

Things not going well for Novak thus far! 
 

The photos I posted last week were from Klaipeda. We chose this 12 night cruise on Caribbean Princess due to the interesting itinerary and 7 ports of call. The 2 new ports for us were Visby and Klaipeda but we were also keen to revisit Stockholm and indeed had a brilliant day there.

 

The weather in the ports was very good (Skagen, Warnemunde, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Klaipeda) but we were unable to dock at Visby and Kristiansand due to sea conditions. I guess we’ve been very lucky in the past having only missed 2 ports in 30 cruises! Never mind. 

 

So how did this cruise compare with our Fjords cruise on Iona a few weeks ago? 
 

Caribbean Princess is very dated and our cabin creaked and rattled. The air conditioning was SO loud - like a tractor - and we hardly slept the first night. They did try to resolve the issue the following day and it was marginally better, but still noisy. My husband did his best to locate the source of each creak and rattle and stuck pieces of paper here, there and everywhere to minimise the annoying noises! We had heavy rain one night. There was a few inches of water in the balcony and the carpet by the window was soaking the following morning. 
 

 

 

 

On the plus side, we had drawers and proper bedside tables! 
 

The food on Iona was much better, especially the buffet. They ran out of butter and served marmalade with scones one afternoon as they had no more red jam! I rarely have a cooked breakfast but my husband reported that it was very poor on Car Princess, nothing like the great breakfasts on Iona and also on Queen Victoria back in January. The desserts were tasteless but the International Cafe had a good selection of free cakes and snacks. I had pre-booked dining for 7.40 in the MDR and we were ushered in every night and always had a table for 2. 

We had two very good casual dining meals as part of the Princess Plus fare in Planks and Steamers - vastly superior to the MDR. 
 

Entertainment - 4 good production shows, and a very good singer in Crooners Bar every night. Also a good Celine in Vegas act. Otherwise, a magician and a balloon artist in the main theatre - I’m sure they were good, but their shows just didn’t work in such a big venue. You couldn’t see anything from the back of the theatre. 
Lots of ‘fun’ games in the atrium - ping pong balls in water and paper aeroplanes etc. To be fair, there was a great atmosphere there and the officers joined in with enthusiasm. The entertainment as a whole just didn’t compare with P&O in our opinion anyway. 
 

However, Princess win hands down when it comes to service. The staff were so happy and always seemed to have time to chat and of course the cabin was serviced twice a day. Whether there was a better ratio of crew to passengers, I don’t know, but tables were promptly cleared and the Medallion App is such a nifty little thing which allows you to order drinks and beverages easily in all locations. I think Iona is understaffed at the best of times, but this is a huge problem during school holidays as we experienced last year. 
 

Embarkation - we could turn up any time between 11 and 3. We were there around 11.30 and the whole process took well over an hour. I prefer the P&O system as we always turn up at the allocated time and never have to wait. I was wondering how this would work this time, as I know from this forum that folk generally can’t wait to embark! Sense told me that there would be some waiting if everyone turned up just after 11. In future, I would probably turn up later on Princess so as to miss the initial surge. 
We opted for late disembarkation and were off just after 9.30 - very smooth. 
 

In conclusion, we think that P&O and Iona provide excellent value for money. We paid extra for the Princess Plus fare which covers grats, wifi and drinks up to $15 each. We don’t really drink alcohol but it was nice to order Mocktails and good coffees. So all in all, this was a dearer cruise, and to be honest, we expected things to be better overall! I think our expectations were slightly higher because we had a brilliant time on Enchanted Princess two years ago - but that was a new ship and Caribbean Princess is getting on! Atmosphere wise, it was still fun. The Brits were in a minority and so many different languages were spoken which made us feel at home because English isn’t our first language. 
 

One last point - we also had to pay for parking and this was our first experience with Parking4Cruises as they were nearly £100 cheaper than CPS. We still find CPS easier, but this was also OK and well worth the saving. We would definitely use them again. 
 

 

 

 

Edited July 14 by Ardennais

[kalos]

 Soon be winter sports time. I see the Welsh bobsleigh are getting 

their practice in early this year 🙃😉😉🤣

 

[indiana123]

We went to Leeds Castle last night for a Classical Concert.  Very long trudge from the coach park, but worth it..

 

All was going well with the warm up act when the heavens opened with hailstones, then rain, we were soaked to the skin, especially with a few more showers later.   We were in an open but enclosed seating area. Everyone was dripping.

 

The concert was magnificent., especially when a spitfire arrived overhead doing spins and dives, almost in time with the rousing music.  It was the London Philharmonic, with two brilliant soloists.  

 

At the end the 'serious' conductor left then re-appeared in sparkly jacket and a party started,  We were enjoying it but decided, with others, to get a bit of a headstart on those younger and more agile for the walk to the coach. It was a but scary finding our way in the dark, especially when the crowds caught us up with their trolleys and picnic gear,  I was ok I was on my scooter with one bag on my knee, but poor OH had to walk with another bag and my crutches.

 

What a great evening, but all talk in the coach on way home was how uncomfortable everyone was being soaked through.  We were lucky the coach dropped us at our door.

[zap99]

1 hour ago, Ardennais said:

Shocking indeed.

 

I’m hoping for a Serbian win first, then a Spanish win!! 

One things for sure. Wales won't win either🤣

[Ardennais]

10 minutes ago, zap99 said:

One things for sure. Wales won't win either🤣

True enough, but we have punched above our weight in recent years! 

[Josy1953]

Good afternoon everyone.

DH is out in the garden trying to tidy it up after 2 weeks neglect so I have just switched the TV on to watch the Alcaraz and Djokovic match.

We got home yesterday from what was our worst ever cruise.  We were on Sky Princess to Iceland and Norway, the weather was cold and wet but we were well prepared so unlike some of the  passengers enjoyed all of the ports. 

We have decided that Princess is no longer for us.  The ship is looking tired but her atrium is still the one that I consider to be the nicest that I have seen. 

Our cabin was the same one that we stayed in in April but this time it had lots of problems with the lights deciding to switch on and off randomly during the night resulting in me having very poor sleep though DH isn't affected by light so was OK,  Princess's electricians took 2 days to stop the lights from randomly flashing.

The food was not as good as it last time so they ate either using poorer qulity ingredients or the kitchen staff are not so good.

One evening we were seated on a table next to a teenager and his mother, he had rare steak but instead of eating normally, he picked his steak up with his hands and then spat out his half eaten mouthful, then waved some steak around and I got blood from it spattered on my dress, the waiters were afraid to say anything to him

DH apparently spent sometime being massaged and having a facial in the Spa at the same time that we were in the theatre listening to a talk about by ex Newcastle United and England footballer Peter Beardsley, it took a lot of firm discussion between the reveption manager and us before the £150 was refunded to our account.

The coffee in the Atrium is no longer Costa but some unspecified brand that is not very nice.

We took the coach to Southampton which was fine going down but we left the ship and the coach was in position for boarding so it was more than half full when suddenly no more passengers were disembarking because the airbre had some sort of problem and could no longer be used so we sat on the coach waiting for almost an hour for the poor people who were trapped on the ship. The first couple to get to the coach after the hold up had booked a seat for an elderly person who had mobility problems and walked with a stick but as the layout of Eavesway coaches only has 3 seats at the bottom of the stairs for disabled people the elderly person couldn't sit there because they were already occupied by a wheelchair user and their carer but a seat at the top of the stairs was reserved for him.  The coach driver explained that the 3 seats downstairs were primarily for wheelchair users.  The elderly gent and his companion were taken on by a Leon's coach after some discussion between the Eavesway driver and the Leon's driver and their respective offices.

I can't decide now whether or not I want to cancel our cruise that we have booked on Aurora later this year.

[Ardennais]

That’s interesting Josy and seems very like our cruise on Caribbean Princess last week! 
 

I’d forgotten about the lighting in the cabin - we also had lights suddenly coming on during the night! The food wasn’t as good as previous Princess cruises either, not that I have high expectations when it comes to their desserts! 
 

I think that Princess send their older ships to Southampton which is a shame.