New to Cruising - Boudicca 9th April 09

[Robbo123]

now we know where hilary,s cold came from, she has developed it since we arrived back in southampton. I guess that it incubated in the air/con oh how women are swines, lol , dont mean it really.

steve

 

Unfortuantly that cold air-conditioning it did it for a few, not only the women, but David went down with it as well

 

Hope Hilary gets better soon

 

Steve

[Robbo123]

Unfortuantly that cold air-conditioning it did it for a few, not only the women, but David went down with it as well

 

Hope Hilary gets better soon

 

Steve

 

 

 

Hope everyone is well, and now over 100 and back to the top

[curlywurly]

Hope everyone is well, and now over 100 and back to the top

 

 

Hi Steve,

 

How's life back in the real world? Hope you and Jan are both well.

 

Finally booked our next cruise. After all we said about not liking the look of the massive ships we thought we'd try one out and they don't come much bigger than Ventura!! The itinery was just what we wanted and the timing and price where right so we thought "what the heck, may as well give it a try"!

 

Nice to hear from you again.

 

cheers

Sue

[motorcar48]

Hi to you all

 

Hope everyone is keeping well

 

Supprised to see this up and running again and why not

 

Nice to hear you all seem to have booked another cruise

 

I'll have to come clean, after everything I said about 6 days of sea & sky we've gone and booked the same again but on Braemar slightly different itinery but transatlantic

 

Not brave enough to book onto a floating city like Sue & Phil

 

I'll have to think of another question to ask and start this all going again, the one thing that made this trip more enjoyable was meeting up with you guys

 

Speak to you soon

 

David & Sheila

 

 

 

 

Boudicca 09.04.09

[Robbo123]

Hi Guys

 

Great to hear from you both, and we hope all is going well with you guys also.

 

We booked another one this weekend - too good to be true, price wise via Gills, Jan and I with here daughter and son in law - should be cosy in a 4 berth cabin - not sure where on the ship, we get told that when we get there

 

We sail from Dover on 29th August on the Braemar, for 7 days to the Fjords and back. If nothing else 7 days of chilling out after all that has been going on at home!!! never mind can not moan at the weather being able to enjoy it while off sick:o

 

If nothing else this puts it back on top of the list, I wonder if anyone reads all these just to see if there is something that can help them out if they are new;)

 

Cheers

 

Steve

[shecat7]

Hope you are all well , seems the thread has risen.

Glad you are all cruising again, it is addictive.

Steve Wrote to f.o as you suggested about the cabins.

They agreed that in no way should we have had to put up with no headboards or bedside cabinets and agreed that the pics on the website were in a way misleading as they had not been updated since single cabins.

Recieved hamper (quite nice champers,wine and those bits that you might buy but never do ) and and a discount on the next cruise.

Its worth complaing but still do not like doing that.

Happy cruising

steve and hilary

[motorcar48]

Steve & Jan

 

Hope your fully fit again

 

On the move again, Braemar, sounds cosy 4 of you in a cabin, the one we had on Boudicca was a 4 berth, if its the same size might be worth practising some dance steps before you go (quick step out of the way):)

 

I see you travelled on Braemar before the stretch, be interesting to hear your views on the changes, for us any comments or comparison between Boudicca & Braemar would be good

 

David & Sheila

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boudicca 9.4.2009

[Robbo123]

Steve & Jan

 

Hope your fully fit again

 

On the move again, Braemar, sounds cosy 4 of you in a cabin, the one we had on Boudicca was a 4 berth, if its the same size might be worth practising some dance steps before you go (quick step out of the way):)

 

I see you travelled on Braemar before the stretch, be interesting to hear your views on the changes, for us any comments or comparison between Boudicca & Braemar would be good

 

David & Sheila

 

 

 

Boudicca 9.4.2009

 

Hi David & Sheila

 

Getting back to it, not just one operation, got over that, and then a hernia - that has taken 5 weeks to get over and not 100% yet!!!!

 

We cancelled the cruise we had for this week, on the back of it, and re-booked on the Black Watch for the Christmas Market cruise leaving Dover on 11th December. Taking a chance and paid for a standard of cabin, but don't know what it is, so keeping fingers crossed

 

Well the Breamar was the smaller one of the two and will still be now. We had a at it in the St Lucia, it looked good, but the best way of finding about it is to cruise.

 

I will think about the rest of the difference and e-mail you in the next few days

 

Any way this has got us back up the top again.........

 

Cheers

 

Steve & Jan

[motorcar48]

Steve & Jan

 

Its not your year, Jan missed the choir, you've had 2 ops, any other bits been changed or is the rest original. Hope things improve for you both.

 

Sorry to hear you had to cancel the Braemar cruise, how did you get on with it, insurance job or were the TA/CL helpful?

 

What to do now, I'd like to keep this thread active, in the hope we keep hearing bits from the original group.

 

Think I'll leave it for a couple of months and then ask about Braemar in the hope that we get the same sort of response as we did with you all, I know I've said it before but talking on here and then meeting up with the group got our holiday off on the right footing.

 

Keep in touch

 

Best wishes to you all

 

David & Sheila

[Robbo123]

Steve & Jan

 

Its not your year, Jan missed the choir, you've had 2 ops, any other bits been changed or is the rest original. Hope things improve for you both.

 

Sorry to hear you had to cancel the Braemar cruise, how did you get on with it, insurance job or were the TA/CL helpful?

 

What to do now, I'd like to keep this thread active, in the hope we keep hearing bits from the original group.

 

Think I'll leave it for a couple of months and then ask about Braemar in the hope that we get the same sort of response as we did with you all, I know I've said it before but talking on here and then meeting up with the group got our holiday off on the right footing.

 

Keep in touch

 

Best wishes to you all

 

David & Sheila

 

Thank you for the message, sure seems not to have been our year, the only time we seems to have been well was on the cruise - must have been the company and the weather.

 

The cancelling of the cruise was fine FO, I must admit are very helpful, they generally allow you to move cruises once, with out any penalty, if the 2nd is of equal or higher value, so that's what we did and going for a nice cold one - correct neither of us know why we did so, seemed a good idea at the time.

 

Take care and best wishes to both

 

Steve & Jan

[curlywurly]

Steve & Jan

 

Its not your year, Jan missed the choir, you've had 2 ops, any other bits been changed or is the rest original. Hope things improve for you both.

 

Sorry to hear you had to cancel the Braemar cruise, how did you get on with it, insurance job or were the TA/CL helpful?

 

What to do now, I'd like to keep this thread active, in the hope we keep hearing bits from the original group.

 

Think I'll leave it for a couple of months and then ask about Braemar in the hope that we get the same sort of response as we did with you all, I know I've said it before but talking on here and then meeting up with the group got our holiday off on the right footing.

 

Keep in touch

 

Best wishes to you all

 

David & Sheila

 

 

Hi Guys,

 

I've not checked in for a while, so nice to see this thread is still active and read what everyone is up to.

No more crusing news to tell but we did spend Bank Holiday weekend in Poland for a Polish Wedding. 3 days of drinking vodka, eating, vodka, dancing, vodka, not a lot of sleep, vodka and oh yeh more vodka. It was one fantastic weekend.

 

Keep writing everyone and who knows we may all find ourselves on the same ship or in the same port one day!

 

cheers

Sue & Phil

[motorcar48]

Nice to hear from Sue & Phil, vodka poisioning sounds enjoyable, hic

 

Our news, we think we have got the bug, need to find out if there is a cure.

Went away in our caravan for August bank holiday weekend, stayed near Southampton.

Went over to Hyde and saw the big boats sail.

On the Saturday Oceana, Queen Mary 2, Independance of the Seas, Black Watch & Grand Princess, all 5 sailed out in just over 1 hour, any closer together and they would have been classed as a convoy

On the Sunday Oriana, Ariana, Queen Victoria & Ventura, again they left in just over an hour

Thats a lot of people over 2 days going cruising

There were a lot of people on Hyde Pier and on the marina, so we are not the only people with the problem.

The only answer I can think of is we will have to suffer more cruises until we get it out of the system

 

David & Sheila

:):D:)

 

 

 

Boudicca April 09

[Robbo123]

Just saying a hello to keep the thread alive

 

How is everyone doing? We are now on the Balmoral for the Christmas cruise, as they decided to shorten the Black Watch cruise, not go to Copenhagen or through the Keil Canal and instead do several industrial ports we did not want!

 

So we will be off in a few weeks time, anyone else got anything booked or waiting for the warmer weather?

 

Cheers for now

 

Steve & Jan

[motorcar48]

Steve

 

Like you saying hello to keep it alive

 

A little jealous of your pre Christmas cruise, our April seems so far away, can't remember when Sue & Phil go on their floating city, Steve & Hilary have some booked

 

Noted your comment on the thread about 2% charge, as you will see I've got my soap box out - not finished yet.

 

Hope everyones keeping well

 

David & Sheila

 

 

 

[curlywurly]

Hi All,

 

Good to see everyone is still checking in once in a while! I'm green with envy too, like Dave and Sheila we have to wait until April too, although depending on how things go we may try to grab a couple of weeks of sun in Feb. Don't think it will be a cruise, but you can bet I'll be checking out the last minute cruise deals before booking a land based holiday.

 

 

"Speak" to you all soon.

 

Sue & Phil

[Robbo123]

Hi All,

 

Good to see everyone is still checking in once in a while! I'm green with envy too, like Dave and Sheila we have to wait until April too, although depending on how things go we may try to grab a couple of weeks of sun in Feb. Don't think it will be a cruise, but you can bet I'll be checking out the last minute cruise deals before booking a land based holiday.

 

 

"Speak" to you all soon.

 

Sue & Phil

 

Well some one has to do it - don't we. Don't worry we will be the ones green with envy as you guys have yours booked for April and our next one is October next year - mind you the way this year has gone, next years could be even faster

 

Take care

 

Steve & Jan

[shecat7]

Hi everybody

Just back from thursford xmas show nr norwich.

If you have never heard of it , its out of this world. over 125 dancers and musicians and lasts from 2pm to 5pm with only a 25 min interval. Very professional old time variety , comic ventriloquist, dancers in the audience over 50 at a time, it was full at over 1,500 people . At £25 / £30 two shows a day , add food and spending in shops, its close to 3/4 million per day they take. First part from jersey boys excerpts from musicals ,carols etc, 2nd part the band on stage over 30 people and more xmas carols hymns etc finishes with white doves being released as you sang we will walk alone.

Enjoy your xmas cruise steve let us know what the ship is like and how it rates up to the boudicca.

Planning fjords for next year , they have the ocean countess going out from hull, at just over 500.00 for 6 days , bargain price.

best regards

steve and hilary

[motorcar48]

To the gang of 8 here's wishing you/us all a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year

 

May your only problems be finding enough money for all the cruises you would like to go on

 

Hope we meet you again one day

 

Best Wishes

 

David & Sheila :)

[Robbo123]

Just wishing you all HAPPY CRUISING for 2010

[motorcar48]

Sue & Phil

 

Enjoy your cruise, keep a tight reign on Phil you dont want him getting lost in the big city

 

David & Sheila

 

[curlywurly]

Sue & Phil

 

Enjoy your cruise, keep a tight reign on Phil you dont want him getting lost in the big city

 

David & Sheila

 

 

Thanks both,

 

Probably be me getting lost lol! Phil will be easy to find, he'll be with the food!! He reckons he's going to work on beating his record from last year of 12lbs in 17 days!

Hope you have a fantastic time and that the Atlantic treats you well. Don't forget to report back and we will let you know how the floating city works out.

 

cheers

Sue & Phil

[shecat7]

Thanks both,

 

Probably be me getting lost lol! Phil will be easy to find, he'll be with the food!! He reckons he's going to work on beating his record from last year of 12lbs in 17 days!

Hope you have a fantastic time and that the Atlantic treats you well. Don't forget to report back and we will let you know how the floating city works out.

 

cheers

Sue & Phil

 

 

we hope that phil and sue and david and shelia got away on time for their cruise with all the delays

best regards steve and hilary

[curlywurly]

we hope that phil and sue and david and shelia got away on time for their cruise with all the delays

best regards steve and hilary

 

Hi All,

 

We sailed from Southampton so the ash cloud didn't really affect us.

I have to say that despite our pre-conceived doubts about big ships, we had a fantastic time.

The cabin was the best we have had, being very spacious with a fantastic walk in wardrobe. The entertainment was fantastic with a great tiered theatre. The ash cloud meant that new entertainers could not join the ship but the entertainers who were stuck on board from the first week rallied round with extra shows and we had some good variety shows considering they had been put together at short notice.

The ship I have to say was big, although it was only really noticeable when moving from one area to another. There were so many bars and restaurants that none of them were really massive, so once you were in them it didn't feel any different than any other ship we've been on. You could also ignore many of the decks as they were just cabins. Although when you're cabin was on deck 5 and you wanted to go to breakfast in the buffet on deck 15 via the stairs (gotta keep them calories off!!) you really knew just how big this ship was! Also for some one who isn't keen on heights I hadn't considered just how far it would be from deck 19 to the ground, although it did get easier as the cruise went on and when at sea it didn't look as far as there was nothing to give perspective.

I'd also been worried about embarking/disembarking so many people in one go, but apart from a bit of a delay on initial embarkation, getting off and on in port was no problem, although we didn't get off in the one tender port so not sure what that was like.

Let's talk food because, let's be honest, food is a big part of any cruise. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the food on Ventura, it was great BUT it wasn't as good as we had on Boudicca. To be honest I can't even put my finger on what it was that wasn't as good but I was just left with the feeling that there was something that put the food on Fred Olsen just on a slightly higher level.

Every review I read about Ventura before we went bemoaned the number of children aboard and yes there were quite a few, but on the whole they were well behaved and well catered for by the various clubs and if you stayed away from the 2 main pools and used the aft or spa pools then it was easy to avoid them.

Has it put me off big ships? Absolutely not! (and yes I'm suprised by that answer too!!)

Would I go on Ventura or P&O again? Yes definitely.

If it came to a choice between P&O and Fred Olson on an similar itinery at a similar price? Probably Fred Olsen would just edge it so price would be important.

 

Oh nearly forgot big, big brownie points to P&O for free shuttles in every port bar one (including wheelchair accessable as there were a lot of wheel chairs users on board.) Fred take note!

 

David & Sheila - hope you got away ok as I know you were flying out at about the time the ash cloud hit. Let us know how you got on.

 

cheers

Sue

[shecat7]

Hi so glad that it was ok, i suppose that we also like the smaller ships more, saying that as i have been on the two queens, each one has something different. Did you eat in marco,s ?, how was the places you stopped at?.

Thinking the fjords next , the ventura does one to them.

steve and hilary

[curlywurly]

Hi so glad that it was ok, i suppose that we also like the smaller ships more, saying that as i have been on the two queens, each one has something different. Did you eat in marco,s ?, how was the places you stopped at?.

Thinking the fjords next , the ventura does one to them.

steve and hilary

 

 

Hi Steve,

 

Didn't bother with Marco's as at £20 per head thought it was a bit steep, especialy as the food in the MDR was good. Of the stops we did, wasn't over impressed with Lisbon as it felt a bit run down, Palma Mallorca was very quaint, Barcelona fantastic but tried to walk it which was a mistake as it was so big, Cannes dind't get off as we had been before and prefered to enjoy the ship, Florence beautiful and loads to see, Rome out of this world, too much to see in one day and definitely needs a second and probably third visit, Gibraltar nice to see, a bit surreal, like being at home but with sunshine!!

We did the Fjords a few years ago and have to say it wasn't the best cruise we have done. However, we were unlucky with the weather in that it was very, very misty with a low cloud base so that the tops of the fjords were covered in cloud. I wasn't expecting it to be hot but I was looking forward to the scenery which we couldn't really see because of the mist. Having said that I think we were really unlucky and we did see enough to know that it would be spectacular if not for the mist and let's be honest any cruise is better then being at work!

 

cheers

Sue