Mr Piano

Sorry, I'm confused. You have 5 days total at sea whichever way it is done. I'm not so keen on sea days either, whereas my OH loves them, but there are always plenty if things to do.

 

I can't see the problem.

I'm not sure what part of 3 consecutive days at sea being a bit monotonous, you don't understand. But really you are right not an enormous problem. I shall stop moaning

Dai, if you don't like the ports, there's nothing stopping you staying on the ship. But I'm sure just you're joking ;)

Anyway as I said, it won't spoil our wonderful cruise

But if it has been changed round, wouldn't you have 3 days at sea anyway on the way back? What's wrong with 3 days at sea?

No, it was days at sea 2,1 2. Total 5 now it's 3,1,1 still total 5. It's a matter of personal preference, some people like a lot of sea days other prefer more at shore. I may find 3 days a little monotonous, 2 days was bad enough. We like to be out and about and find no pleasure in lying round a pool all day. One day at sea is a welcome rest, but not three

I have not complained, and agree it is a minor issue. The bonus is once the three days are done the rest will be just one at sea. I won't let it spoil things and looking very much forward to the Baltic

I have just learned via roll call, the the itinerary of our Baltic cruise in June has been changed. First port of call Zeebrugge is now our last. Which means a 3 days at sea stint after leaving Southampton to Helsinki. I have had no notification, but on checking personaliser found it to be correct. As I explained on roll call we are not happy with 3 days at sea. We rejected another cruise and pick Baltic because other included 3 days at sea. On member of roll call says they had e-mail, I certainly didn't

Mr P ,it isn't that important so please don't miss read my post .

Thanks for for everyone else's info, just that I prefere sea salt over 'normal 'salt & just wondered if it was aavailable & yes I always taste before adding.

Oops! Very sorry, I thought I was being helpful, but I can understand why you thought differently from my badly chosen wording, didn't mean to offend

I am on Azura in June for the first, but done 2 cruises on her sister ship Ventura. I understand both ship are very similar, so I am expecting the same procedures. Although fantastic, my only slight gripe was to do with the entertainment in the two cabaret bars. It was hard to get a good seat unless you went very early before the entertainment started.

The problem was, while one cabaret bar was full the other was half empty. This was because the entertainment was only on in one of them at a time. While the other just had a disco. When the entertainment ended in one, it would then start in the other, ensuring a mass exodus from one bar to the other and a scramble for seats. The simple answer for me would be to have entertainment in both bars at the same time, giving and even spread of people and available seats, and of course more choice

I think it highly unlikely it will be sea salt. Why not bring your own, if it's so important to you

There's always problems with it, been having problems with it for last few years. It's hit and miss whether you get on it or not, I don't suppose it will ever change

Zeebrugge not happening this Saturday, off to Leharve instead.

If this in on the ordereds of Belguim authorities due to current lockdown, then fair enough, but if it were P&O acting unilaterally, then I would not be pleased

As far as I am aware, we are still docking in Zeebrugge this coming Saturday. I'm not particularly concerned. I liken it to declining to visit Southampton because of a terror attack in London, i.e. bonkers. As a society we cannot flourish if we live in fear.

My sentiments exactly. I would be extremely annoyed if my up coming cruise did not call at Zeebrugge as planned, What kind of solidarity would that be showing to the Belguim people by hitting their tourism

Got my brochure in the post today, there are some selected discounts for bookings made by end of May

We booked comfort tour for up and coming June cruise, however I had second thoughts as the comfort tour didn't include Catherine's Palace, which we particularly wanted to see. I contacted them and had no problem changing to grand tour. The advice I got from CC members was if you're fit and mobile, choose the grand tour

I have only cruised before in the sunshine, such as med and Caribbean. So my June cruise is first Baltic cruise. So my other cruises shorts and T shirts were the order of the day for all excursions, I only wore long trousers on the ship in the evening.

What would I wear for example in Helsinki or SPB, do I need to pack more trousers and less shorts, more warmer tops and less T shirts? I take a light raincoat on all cruises so will do same for Baltic

When we were in St Petersburg, we booked our tours with Best Guides and were never requested to post on CC. We got excellent tours which were reasonably priced.

I have booked Alla for June in SPB, I have had no request to post on CC either

I'd love a vows renewal. This time I won't show up :D, just joking if you're reading this dear

Don't worry no one will notice :

Looks like you are on same cruise as I am, Azura 6th June. It's our first Baltic too. So far there are 10 on the roll call you should join it too and read the comments

I have been doing a daft thing. Going in June and looking for excursions for a few weeks and it showing as no excursions. But I was looking at Southampton. Soon as I clicked on first port, there they all are

Well, I have some Ralph Lauren ones similar to these but in leather, and I shall be wearing those.

They probably cost more than a normal pair of shoes anyway. :D

Well it's very kind of your friend Ralph to lend you his shoes, but how do you know how much he paid for them. But I wouldn't worry if I where you, I don't think they ask about cost when dining.:D

There are a whole team of professional photographers on board with there own desk and department. I am sure they would do it for you, at a cost, they are not cheap.

There is wifi on board but not free, and not the most efficient. Your best option would be to locate free wifi in one of the ports. Depending on where you're cruising to, depends if you can hop on and off. You may be berthed at a working port where a shuttle is required. You need to tell us where your ports of call are to get good advice for hop on and off and also best ports for pictures.

Another thought is you should join the roll call for your cruise on this board, who knows someone with good photography skills might do it for you

Never been bitten before in the Caribbean until Last November. Both times overnight when sleeping. Couldn't find the miscreant, so I sprayed the bed sheets with Jungle Formula and it appeared to have worked.

I'm far from being an expert, but I would have thought the likelihood of getting bitten in your cabin would be very remote, but I suppose not impossible. You're not going to get mosquitoes at sea and would be pretty unlucky to have them fly onboard ship in port and into your cabin

I think it much more likely you would be bitten ashore, but hives would not show until next morning, so you might think you were bitten at night in bed. I believe many varieties of mosquito in Caribbean bite during the day

I need to jump to the defence of Tura Lara a little but not wholeheartedly. I agree with her that large sections of society object to halal simply because of their islamophobic views and nothing to do with animal welfare, but it is entirely wrong to imply those discussing it are this board are so. As a person who has brought up my children and instilled into them the evils of racism and intolerance of all kind. I would take exception to being called islamophbic.

Tura Lura, you don't mind the P&O choose not to clearly inform that all meat is halal. others clearly wish to have the choice, please explain to what is your problem with being informed, by do you think it's not okay for these people to have an informed choice.

It's okay for customer services to fob passengers off with, oh just ask the waiter, the answer will be, the steak, lamb and chicken are Halal, the fish and pork are not. You simply will not get a non halal steak

Do you know any Sikhs? All that I've met are vegetarian. Based on the rules below, i would assume that they would eat veggie on the ship. I would also think they would ask, since it's important to them. Just like someone who is actually halal or kosher would always ask.

 

In Sikhism, only lacto-vegetarian food is served in the Gurdwara (Sikh temple) but Sikhs are not bound to be meat-free. The general consensus is that people who are practicing the Sikh faith should not consume meat, egg or fish as it is against the Sikh code of conduct and belief. Sikhs, once they become Amritdhari (baptised) via the Amrit Sanskar (baptism ceremony), are forbidden from eating any form of meat, egg or fish Kutha or ritually-slaughtered (Halal, Kosher) meat because it transgresses one of the four restrictions in the Sikh Code of Conduct. According to the Akal Takht (Central Body for Sikh Temporal Affairs), Sikhs are not allowed to eat any meat, egg or fish. Other dietary Sikh practices include Sarbloh Bibek, which translates literally to "all-iron lifestyle", and consists of the use of only iron utensils and strictly eating food prepared by the Khalsa (Sikh community).

Yes I worked with a Sikh a few years ago, but never thought to enquired into what he ate. I do know that many Sikhs do eat meat, as the first line of the article you have googled States it's not forbidden. I remember sometime ago reading about the Sikh community objecting to subway going all halal. If you google further you will find many references to meat eating Sikhs. It is a misconception that all Practicing Sikhs are vegetarians. Those that do are prohibited from eating halal or kosher

it just would never cross my mind that it would matter. I would be much more interested in knowing if the animal was raised humanely - is it grass fed, farm raised, factory farmed. I mean all the meat on the ship i assume was factory farmed regardless of the last 2 mins of it's life/death.

 

I live in a neighborhood in Brooklyn where it's always labeled but that's because it's mostly orthodox Jewish or Bangladeshi Muslim, so both groups want to be sure that the meat is prepared to their beliefs. To me as a non practicing jew, i could care less. I buy kosher, halal, or neither, depending on the quality or price of what i'm looking at. So just don't see what the objection would be. It would be if the milk was non GMO and not labeling it as such, and someone saying, but what if i WANT GMO milk.

Would it not cross your mind that it mattered to Sikhs?

would you care if it was all kosher?

 

FYI - both are quite similar and the point is to incur as little suffering as possible for the animal.

From a purely non religious standpoint, and rather animal welfare, I see little difference between the two, in fact my understanding is a Muslim is permitted to eat Kosher when halal is not available. However, again it is my understanding a person of the Sikh faith is not permitted to eat halal. So what about their right to be informed?

You asked a question so let me ask you one. What is the problem with informing people what they are being served?

I think I can guess why P&O don't wish to openly inform, if it is indeed true that all non pork meats are halal or kosher for that matter are served on board

I didn't realise the 'boat' was a ferry - thought they may use a catamaran. Do you re-call whether the Soggy Dollar Bar was close to the drop off point as that's partly why I want to go to JVD? (apart from the fact that it looks really pretty) Last time in Tortola I went to Cane Garden Beach so wanted to try somewhere different this time.

Yes it is a catamaran. The crew, specially the captain were great fun. There was a bar but never noticed its name, it was almost empty. The sun loungers were reserved for our excursion and right in front of the bar and food area. Try to get on one of the first buses and get to the beach straight away. We were on one of the later buses, they are small vans running a shuttle. We were on one of the last and all the better located sun loungers were gone by the time we got there. It was probably that, along with the disgusting burger that left us with a bad impression

So don't take as gospel my negative thoughts