Ardennais

5 hours ago, Beckett said:

It is St.Colmans John. I went there in 2018 with my granddaughter. It's a fairly steep climb up to the cathedral but so worth it. The views from the top are lovely. Our ship looked tiny in the distance. There was a wedding happening when we visited but the two ushers outside kindly let us in, so we attended the service itself, then watched the bride and and groom and all the more able guests running down the steep slopes into the town afterwards. It was a very happy day.

 

We also went into the Titanic Museum that Ardennais mentioned. It was fab. Very intimate with re-created cabins as per the cost level of the Titanic passengers' bookings. Your entry ticket gives you the name of an actual passenger and at the end of your tour you look up your name on a printed list and find out whether you survived or not! Well worth a visit. Jane x

You witnessed a wedding there and we witnessed mourners leaving a funeral! 

5 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

After two weeks of massive reorganisation and throwing things out, normality has returned to my home, with the return of my husband from his annual ski trip with friends in Austria. Small problem there - no snow!  Ironically he came home Saturday and on Sunday night a large dump of snow finally arrived.

 

Yesterday I finally got round to sorting and booking my cruises that I've been discussing and doing nothing about!  Successfully transferred our Queen Anne September Mediterranean to a three week Queen Mary 2 transatlantic next July taking in Norway, Iceland, Canada and New York and booked the replacement Aurora Scandinavian 16 nights in August.  Whilst talking to Cunard I experienced a rush of blood to the head and booked myself on the May Queen Anne Festival of Britain cruise taking in her naming ceremony. That one is a real leap of faith as I've booked the very cheapest inside forward cabin on  TBA saver, something I've never done on a ship I don't know, but it was ridiculously cheap at under £2,000 for the 14 nights and a chance to hopefully see a bit of history being made.

 

Today is being spent to figure out what to do in Kirkwall, South Queensferry (without going into Edinburgh as I'm going there with my OH for the first time in July and don't wish to spoil that) and Cobh. Unfortunately the archaeological trip in Kirkwall is full, so any ideas for there much appreciated along with Cobh.  I was wondering if getting to the Falkirk Wheel might be an option from South Queensferry?

 

Big irony, never been to Scotland in 68 years and now I'm getting to lots of places in one year!

Kirkwall - we took a trip (on CMV’s Marco Polo) called Leisurely Orkney and Italian Chapel. The Chapel is a charming place. We travelled across the Churchill Barriers which link the islands, and also had a lovely stroll around St Margaret’s Hope. Also saw Scapa Flow. After the excursion, we had plenty of time in Kirkwall itself and visited St Magnus Cathedral. 
 

On the same cruise, we visited Cobh and just walked to the pretty town. St Colman’s Cathedral is well worth a visit - look out for the swastika patterns on the floor tiles! Of course they pre-date the 20th century version.

We actually enjoyed the Titanic Museum in Cobh more than Titanic Belfast, again on the same trip. A more intimate experience, especially as is it housed in the original office, and it would have been the last time the Titanic saw land. 
 

Cobh - 

The hairdryers are fine for me as I have a short pixie cut, but probably not so good for long, thick hair. I don’t think I’ve ever had a hairdryer in the bathroom on a cruise, 

On 3/23/2024 at 11:30 AM, david63 said:

In my opinion, and others may disagree, the biggest change, in the wrong direction, is with the choice, and quality, of the majority of meals, especially in the MDR

I would agree with you there. 

4pm is fine with me too! No rush to get on, and no rush to get off either. 
 

I can sort of understand the rush to get on a mini cruise, say 3-4 nights, but anything longer, I really can’t see the problem with a later embarkation, 

14 minutes ago, Purdey16 said:

A few pictures from my week in lovely Cornwall 

Lovely photos. I’ve never been to Cornwall and we keep saying that we must go!

4 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Maybe because it's completely unnecessary and nothing to be gained by doing so?

 

Here is the news: young lady is unwell and requires medical intervention. Rightly she asks for privacy. Who amongst us would like our private medical details exposed to all? 

Let's be honest, you can't even access your own partner or other family members' medical records without express written permission, not even if a person is in hospital and unable to communicate. You need to fill in an access form and it goes in your records.  The newspapers and media seem to be saying that shouldn't apply to the Princess of Wales or even the King.

 

I wonder how those journalists and commentators would feel if any Tom, Dick or Harry could ask to see their private medical information.

I don’t want to know her medical details - they should be kept private of course. 
I have no views about the photo being edited. I edit my photos to the extent that I adjust the exposure or brilliance. But I don’t manipulate the actual composition and just wonder why on earth they did that! Seems a stupid thing to do, 

9 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

What on earth is misleading about photo editing a family photo, to try and improve the image. There is now a phone camera that uses its onboard photo editing features to advertise its benefits over others.

Why don’t they show the original then?! 
 

40 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

Yes “never explain, never complain”.

and never mislead! 

Very enjoyable! Many thanks. 

We had linked bookings several times when my parents cruised with us, but often had different boarding times. We always went with the later time. No rush, less hassle. 

I’m not remotely interested in the royals, but we pay for them, like it or not, so there must be some accountability. 

4 hours ago, lancashire_cruisers said:

@grapau27 condolences on your sad loss and hugs to your lovely Sarah ❤️❤️

 

I hope the person who laughed (and we can see who it is!) feels suitably ashamed of themselves!

To be fair, it’s not always about laughing at somebody. The smiley face could mean ‘glad you had a nice time’. 

It will be strange not having your daily report. I’ve so enjoyed reading about your adventure and hope that you will soon make a full recovery once you’re home. I’m glad that you’ve enjoyed the Paul Stickler talks as I know that this aspect is important to you. I’m afraid that I wouldn’t be in the least bit interested in his area of expertise - never watched any crime programmes/dramas. So it’s luck of the draw I suppose! Safe journey home from Southampton. 

3 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

It is very sad to see churches closing, unfortunately it is not restricted to Anglican ones.  The loss of a church is unfortunately a sign of the changing demographic of the population of the UK.  The removal of things like morning prayers at assembly in the name of inclusivity has served to move young people ever further from the organised church.  It is a sad state of affairs.

 

As someone living in the main diocese of a great cathedral I find it quite ridiculous that to visit for prayer, sitting in reflection or lighting a candle of remembrance I am asked to join a queue of tourists paying £9-£10 each and produce photo id to allow my free entry. The two local  parish churches are locked apart from the times of published services, this giving the impression worship or prayer can only occur when the organised church says so.

 

On a visit to St Paul's Cathedral with friends from Australia last year we were asked to pay £25.00 each to enter so £100 for the four of us.  This for visiting a building I grew up knowing as East London's main church, head of religion for the region's working classes and which through my working life was often my lunchtime refuge for prayer and peace if work was a bit too hectic.  While on that visit a young German lad climbed onto a lectern to have his photograph taken and was reprimanded and spoken to very harshly by a member of staff.  My friend went to the boy's defence telling the staff member "hey mate, when you charge so much for entry you've turned your cathedral into a theme park, not a place of worship". Although surprised at this reaction it was suitable food for thought, particularly with over a quarter of Britain's cathedrals now charging substantial entry fees. I'm not quite sure what I feel about these charges now as a result.

We visited St Paul’s as a family about 18 years ago. Having paid a considerable sum to get in, we were suddenly ushered out after about half an hour - I think they were going to hold a service there. The ushers were quite rude and abrupt!
 

I did think that £18 was quite steep for York Minster last month, but to be fair, they had volunteers there who were more than eager to tell us more about the window restoration project and the museum in the crypt was well laid out and very informative. 

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

On both the questions of cost and quality of the desserts, pre covid one of the best choices for desserts was the variety of ice cream sundaes that P&O offered, which I am sure must have been quite inexpensive, but always good quality and very popular, and yet none existent now.

They were nice weren’t they! 

19 hours ago, Selbourne said:

What a relief. From the opening comments of your post I thought that some disaster had befallen you. What a lovely surprise (again). Our kids have said that they are always happy to join us on our cruises …… as long as we pay 🤔🤔 

We’re treating our 3 and their partners to a Fjords cruise in a few months. Can’t wait! 

BT Openreach have electric vehicles in this area. It’s a nightmare for the engineers as they’re having to consider where and when to charge them. Charging points are few and far between around here. 

I thought that £18 was rather steep for York Minster last week. Having said that, we spent nearly two hours there. 

Just been reading about problems aboard Norwegian Dawn. Scary! 

We took a coach holiday to Scarborough last week. 4 very enjoyable nights there, and trips to Whitby, Goathland, Beverley and York. My expectations weren’t high as it was so cheap but fair play, it was fine. We also had afternoon tea at Bettys. 

How lovely! I’m really enjoying your posts. 

1 minute ago, zap99 said:

We book select and get CPS parking included. I can't be bothered with messing around to save a few quid.

We’ve always done that too, but we have a Princess cruise booked and P4C is around £100 cheaper. 

Just now, devonuk said:

There’s no security at all… if you’re happy go with it 👍

Well I don’t even lock my car at night, so that probably tells you that security isn’t something that I even consider. They’re all jam-packed there so I don’t know how somebody could actually get to the car in the first place! 

4 minutes ago, devonuk said:

They’re running out of room to park around Southampton but they won’t tell you where they’re going. This is where mine was parked last time in Totton which was moved several times in the fortnight I was away 😡👇

That wouldn’t bother me one bit!