MBP&O2/O

When at sea,, the supplied bridge binoculars were like looking through a beer glass😄 Most watchkeeping officers bought there own and set them up accordingly. There was an unwritten rule that no one would use them. I bought a pair of Nikon 7x50 which was the best for what we needed them for. That was longer ago than I care to remember but they are still going strong. Quality binoculars. I also have a small pair of 10 x 40 but they are not in the same league. My sextant used a Tamaya 7 x 50 monocular which was excellent for working with stars, but not much use for general purpose use.

You live in Manchester so you can fly from there to Rome for a reasonable amount of money. Spend several days in Rome. Then take the train to Florence. That gives you time to see both cities without rushing around. That is what we did for Florence ... flights plus hotel for three nights was £200 more that the ships cheapest excursion. Rome was similar ... budget airline, direct flight, half decent hotel. Plenty of decent and inexpensive eateries in both cities.

Nobody panicked on our incident. Many were annoyed as the incident started just before lunch so that was cancelled, and within two hours we had zero power and no galley so no hot food.

I have just come back from Florence. We went early March and it was heaving. 2hr queues for the Uffizi! You mention dates around peak season to if you go it will be horrendously busy.Florence is reasonably compact which exaggerates the crowds but if you know what you want to see you can plan accordingly. Bear in mind the journey times to and from Livorno will eat into your day.

Yes .. on a merchant ship .. we sank🙂

Seriously I would rather not go than fly via Miami again. Awful experience whenever I have been. Rude and unhelpful staff who seemed not to be able to cope with the number of passengers. I fancy the Dublin option but flying from NCL means an overnight there, unless schedules change.

The first company I worked for was flying people all over the globe every week. At that time they has 100+ ships so crew members were changing all the time. They got fed up with using a third party so they bought out a small travel agent and installed them in head office next to the personnel offices. So yes it could be done, in theory. Present a good business plan to your boss and see what happens.

I agree with you. Last SS we had a meet and greet with the butler, and after pointing out ... quite nicely that I had more sea time than him, I suggested he went and looked after Mr & Mrs Demanding and I would seek him out if I needed him🙂 He indicated his understanding....with big grin. The one before that was 'intrusive' ...opening drawers to find and clean specs etc. We had to have words🙂 I have only used the butler once .. a very early breakfast for a stupid-o'clock excursion😒

Have a look at the first few pages on this forum. There is an abundance of advice and information there. Everything from weather to route to clothing.

Unless you watched the series Benidorm 😁😁

Post cruise: Our last one was Seabourn. Kicked off at 0830 for a flight at 1800, which was the only flight of the day. The only available excursion was $250pp for three hours. As it was DIY flights we had no options. As an aside the flight was $1000pp cheaper than SB offered.

John Bull. I agree with you. Is it under the Package Holiday Regs or similar? They must have a valid excuse ... sorry a valid reason .. to make " a significant change. If they don't then you can claim a refund. Minefield area🙂 I sympathise with the OP ... we have one booked for November and it was booked purely on the itinerary. If they mess about with it I will be seriously dischuffed!

Interesting comment about the staff. We returned from an SB cruise a few months ago and found the same problem with them🙂 The highlight was asking someone behind the bar for a drink only to be told the bar was closed, so if I wanted a drink i could go down to the pool bar and fetch it myself .... from two decks down and at the other end of the ship. It would have then been served in plastic glasses and probably been watered down by the the time I had struggled back with two glasses as it was raining heavily at the time.

FB can prove useful with the private groups. With public groups it is a matter of using common sense. Idiots and WUM's will post on FB and some people will believe without question😄 I would also suggest that there are some very VERY vociferous people on CC who will defend their beloved cruise line to the death 😏 and accept no criticism whatsoever.

The last few flights we have done have been classified as 'multistop'. Fly to destination 'A' and home from 'B'. I researched Google Flights and found what I wanted and passed the details to my TA.