Ardennais

The week after Selbourne’s departure from Mayflower, we were whizzed through as we had a 2.45 embarkation time. Probably the fastest check-in ever.

I always had travel insurance when I used to go abroad with friends back in the 80s, but never considered that we might have a medical situation! At that age, it was the fear of losing passports and money. Since my children started travelling abroad without us, I’ve always stressed that travel insurance is essential. Mobiles can be replaced, but a medical emergency could be a big deal.

This William Joyce is making me think of Lord Haw Haw. Imagine Mr and Mrs Joyce deciding to name their newborn son William, unless your speaker was born before 1946!

What a fabulous lunch hour read! I love your description of the American girls on the Malaga bus! Many thanks.

I still think it can work for some people. Companions don’t press you to drink alcohol when pregnant, so possibly knowing that someone is doing Dry January could have a similar effect. More support snd less pressure to ‘have just one more’.

You could well be right there, but I have read about people who find the whole thing a good opportunity to kick-start a healthier lifestyle. As I don’t drink alcohol, I just find it worrying at times that some people find going a whole month without alcohol very challenging!

A genuine question - do many of you find Dry January difficult?

Ha! Every committee, society, club etc starts at 7.30pm in Wales, all year round!

We didn’t get any P&O post-cruise questionnaires last year, but Cunard sent one last week the day after we arrived home.

Yes, Freedom in the lower Britannia Restaurant (deck 2) and set dining upstairs (deck 3). Dinner is also available in the Golden Lion pub.

I still think it’s always worth having some local currency. In fact, the toilets we stopped at last week in the centre of Hamburg only took cash so I was glad that I had rummaged at home for a few spare Euros before the trip.

You have to click twice.

That is really brilliant news Avril. You must all be so relieved. Take care. X

I wonder whether someone onboard could take a photo of the board with names and photos of the senior staff. The person in question might be on that.

Yes indeed, bon voyage to you all. You’ll be heading towards warmer climes which will (hopefully) be warmer than the -8 recorded in snowy but bright Hamburg this past Tuesday!

8 mains for dinner on Aurora compared to 5 on Queen Victoria this week, and 2 of the 5 were vegetarian options. This is the only photo that I took

We arrived home last night after a very enjoyable four night cruise on Queen Victoria - to Hamburg and back. Embarkation at Mayflower was a breeze - so different to Selbourne’s experience the previous weekend. We had a time of 2.30 so that might have made a difference. CPS staff were waiting for cars to arrive! We had only sailed once before with Cunard, on QM in 2013. A few quick observations. Queen Victoria is very elegant but quite dark. The size suited us as my mother was with us. No waiting for lifts, plenty of room to sit around the ship apart from the Chart Room (coffee bar) before lunch. We were on Freedom dining, and were immediately seated on the 4 nights without having to share. Food was excellent - fewer mains in the MDR than P&O but really tasty. The portions are quite moderate. Service was amazing. Had a great pub lunch in the Golden Lion with several mains to choose from - I seem to recall that there was only the fish chips there on QM but I might be mistaken. Lido buffet had lovely salads and fruit juices were available all day which is good as the drinks were quite expensive. Dress code - no tie or jacket required. The two Gala nights were labelled as being ‘optional’. Quite a high proportion had dressed up but there were also many in very casual attire and trainers which didn’t bother us one bit. It felt very relaxed. Entertainment was great and there were speakers onboard as part of the Insights programme. Great atmosphere in the Queen Room with a live band for the dancing. Disembarkation was very easy, probably helped by the fact that over 500 had joined in Hamburg for the beginning of the world cruise. We had a brilliant time - no apps required! We probably wouldn’t choose to do a longer cruise on the Queens as they’re getting on a bit and we do like the lighter modern ships and a more relaxed atmosphere at night. Having said that, everything seemed far more stuffy back in 2013 so things are changing. We might try Queen Anne next! Forgot to add - cabins were serviced twice a day and it was great to have fresh towels after the evening shower. Grats are added of course and as I said, the drinks are expensive. Definitely a higher standard overall than P&O in terms of quality of food and service, but of course, the overall cost is much higher.

Just catching up after a few days away without internet access. Glad to hear that the port talks are back!

Charles got into Cambridge with a very lacklustre set of A levels!

Hope you too have a lovely cruise. Can’t believe that our 35 nighter was 4 years ago - seems like yesterday!

Oh dear, I hope you don’t go lifeless!

I had a look in earlier than usual today just to see whether or not you had actually made it onto the cruise! I’m relieved that you’re safely onboard. Shame about the embarkation but let’s hope that things improve!

Wishing you both a wonderful cruise and looking forward to reading all about it,

I found the Medallion very easy to use on Enchanted Princess. Then again, it depends on connectivity and there were quite a few dead spots or whatever they’re called!

Sounds very much like my 80 year old mother! She’s the only one in her wide circle of friends who uses computers mainly because she worked in admin for the last 20 years of her working life and was trained in using a wide variety of software. However, she doesn’t have a smartphone (signal is very poor at home). Last year, I gave her my old iPad as she needed internet banking to verify purchases online. She has a desktop, a laptop and iPad and is fine 90% of the time. However, little things can flummox her and she then waits until one of her 6 grandchildren calls by! Last month, it was airplane mode that caused a problem. She’ll be cruising with us this month, on the ship of HER choice, without a smartphone. And that’s how it should be.