shallwe

My wife bought a cheap watch and necklace set for £15 on board knowing that it wouldn't last long, and sure enough it didn't.

Funny thing though, we saw exactly the same set in a charity shop a couple of months later selling for £20.

I like to think the charity got the money for it.

Hi David. P&O do send an email - it attaches an updated Booking Confirmation showing a nil balance. It's really very efficient.

That is exactly hat happened to me too.

I hate to be inflammatory but the only thing that the OP can make me think is 'get a life'.

Sorry.

We used the HO-HO bus although that had the disadvantage that you needed to get two of these to get there. By the time we arrived at the Camp Nou we had to stay on the bus in order to get back to the ship in a reasonable time.

If you want to see it in detail I would suggest that you use one of the methods mentioned earlier, either a taxi with a pre-booked tour, or a ships excursion.

I really find it difficult to understand how any of these companies can justify the extortionate charges they make for Internet access.

 

I understand there are far greater limits to bandwidth than available on shore but it's quite possible to restrict access to sites which consume large amounts of data (e.g video streaming) whilst allowing access to email etc. but at a reasonable cost.

 

At a time when WiFi is so freely available on land and more and more people seem to need access to the Internet for whatever reasons, it's time that this is offered at a fair and reasonable price.

 

These prices are neither fair nor reasonable and we'll just have to keep finding those Internet hot spots when we go ashore.

It's a completely different system than that used on land. Ships use a satellite system that has very, very expensive data transmission costs. Although the new systems are getting faster speeds, it still costs a lot to connect and use.

Ah yes......silly me, forgot that the chit has to be signed. PHEW!!

Thanks :)

On Britannia last December I ordered a beer in Brodies. The waiter came back later and said that they didn't have it in stock so I ordered a different beer.

We checked our account at the end of the first week and lo-and-behold there were the two beers on the account.

A quick trip to reception soon sorted it out. I'm not sure whether they did a check for the signed chit but the refund was added back there and then.

Currently looking at a couple of Arcadia cruises May next year and only select fares available. These are quite expensive although the itinery is something Im interested in. Are saver fares likely to be offered or is it a case of how longs a piece of string?

I'm not an expert in these things but from what I've seen there are nearly always Saver fares offered at some point for most cruises. The draw-back is that you get left with what others don't want if you wait for a late-saver, so you may not get what you want.

Our ports of call are:

Barbados

Antigua

St Maarten

Tortola

Amber Cove

St Kitts

Martinique

St Lucia

Granada

Barbados

Barbados - we just walked over to the boatyard for a fun day on the beach.

Antigua - Got a taxi at the terminal gates (they have mini buses that they fill with a few other cruise passengers) and got taken to Valley Church beach. Easily the best beach we went to in the Caribbean.

St Maarten - Got a taxi down the road from the cruise terminal to Maho beach for the low landing planes. A bit crowded but just had to be done.

Tortola - We pre-booked a catamaran excursion with Aristocrat Charters and went on the Lionheart boat. Brilliant day out cruising around the Island with lots of snorkelling, food and drink all thrown in.

St Kitts - pre-booked an excursion with Royston Island Tours. Good day out only spoiled by the only other couple on mini bus, these being a very bigoted, hateful American couple.

St Lucia - Who else but Cosol Tours. Great day out with a great driver/tour guide.

Granada - Jumped on a water taxi at the cruise terminal and went to Grand Anse beach.

Every excursion got us back to the ship well before sailing time, usually an hour before, so plenty of time.

Enjoy your cruise. Our next Caribbean cruise is booked for 2018 as a large family holiday. Lots of hard saving to do :(

I couldn't get on it yesterday but it was fine this afternoon.

I use my insurance provided by Nationwide but I called then first initially just to check and they were fine with cruising.

Best to phone to be on the safe side but I would be surprised if it wasn't okay.

You're filling me with dress about Arcadia. We're going on her in 7 weeks time and both of us hate over salted food.

We have however enjoyed the food on both the Oriana (twice) and the Britannia.

No grab and go

I guess it is what provides peace of mind for different people. My policy - an annual one with a major building society - covers us adequately for our cruises and our medical conditions and for any action necessary if we were taken very ill onboard. And yes, I agree to tell them absolutely everything to be on the safe side.

 

I am not interested in paying extra though for the frills cover of missing a port stop or being confined to my cabin for any reason or missed excursions etc.

Sounds like the exact insurance policy as ours. if so, then it is a Defacto 5* policy that covers as much if not more than most others.

It's a live video steaming app by Twitter and very popular too. Had a fair share of controversy too with live streaming rapes and such like. If use properly I'm sure it could be quite interesting, however used incorrectly then it becomes a weapon.

Must say though, I've never used it so can't confirm how good it is.

Strongly suggest you get to read the full terms yourself rather than relying hearsay.

 

David.

It wasn't 'hearsay'. Like I said, I checked with the underwriter themselves (not a broker) i.e. the insurance company itself.

Mines a freebie from Nationwide but upgraded for worldwide (USA & Caribbean) for £40. I checked with the underwriter and they tell me it covers cruises.

No visas usually required if you have a British nationals passport, but if you are from another country (you don't say, although the username may give the game away) then you may need one somewhere.

We started off with inside cabins two years ago as we thought it more worthwhile to save the money for extras on board.

Having been on a balcony on Britannia last December it's balconies for us for future cruises. We came back and changed our forthcoming inside to a deluxe balcony.

However saying that, I'm not sure that it would be totally worthwhile for a mini-cruise unless the pricing was extremely keen.

Boarding times are allegedly allocated according to deck, with suite and higher loyalty tier passengers being told to disregard the time on their e-tickets and board at either 12.30 pm or 1 pm as below.

 

Suites & Ligurian tier 12.30 pm

Baltic and Caribbean tiers 1 pm

Lido deck 1 pm

Riviera deck 3.30 pm

A deck 3 pm

B deck 2.30 pm

C deck 3.30 pm

D deck 3 pm

E deck 1 pm

F deck 1 pm

P deck 1 pm

 

 

Above is not 100% accurate but it has been confirmed by some to be an accurate reflection of times allocated on the bigger ships. We have certainly been allocated the times above in the new system a couple of times so it has been accurate for us.

 

 

 

When the new system came in they were quite strict but lately we have heard of people who have boarded well in advance of their e-ticket time and without even showing their e-ticket - ie the old way of boarding and getting a card with a letter on, on arrival.

So, it's 3.30pm for my next cruise :-(

My wife is a demi-veggie, she eats chicken, turkey and fish but not red meat (including ham etc. or game).

She was helped by her love of fish but always found something to eat on the menu every night.

Her only problem was eating in the Ocean Grille once. She chose a dish that sounded totally demi-veggie but when it arrived it was surrounded by bacon lardons that weren't mentioned on the menu. Oops! It didn't go down very well.

Try Matalan.A suit is £50 on their website.A friend bought one for her husband and he is pleased with it:)

Just to add my little bit to the debate, I checked out Matalan prices a couple of months ago whilst looking for my son and SIL for the full kit (DJ incl. trousers, white dress shirt and black bow tie - the latter two came together) and the total cost of the complete set came to £70.

A bargain for once in a while wear.

I'm glad you have posted Pete. You have confirmed what I have heard about short cruises.

I'll stick to 14 day(ish) cruises.

As for smoking on the balcony and loud music? No way should that be tolerated. The cruise I'd for everyone's enjoyment, not just the few.

Glad to hear you've got Captain Camby. A thoroughly nice person and very approachable.

You tend to see shirts with collars such as polo shirts but I don't recall seeing t-shirts shirts.

I tend to wear black Henry Boss 'trainers' as they look more classy than ordinary trainers, although I have also got a pair of black leather trainers from Clarkes that can also pass the test.

I know people on this forum are quite passionate about not wearing trainers to these evening but I wear shoes to work everyday and like something more comfortable on holiday.

There is no draught Real Ale, only bottled. what they call bitter (Boddingtons and John Smiths (I think)) comes from a pump/tap. The ales, Pedigree, London Pride, Bass, Speckled Hen come in bottles or cans.

That's a shame. They had a lovely selection of bars on Britannia selling draught Speckled Hen as well as the famous Brodie bar selling 70 British ales in bottles (and Speckled Hen on draught I seem to recall).

Blow the fizzy lager, I'm interested in the real ale on Arcadia :-)