lindylooellalouise

5 minutes ago, SarahHben said:

I'm feeling sorry for myself today. I took our little lad out in the pouring rain this morning, my wet shoe caught on his pushchair's wet wheel and I ended up almost doing the splits and had to fall on a knee to stop the pushchair falling over. Ended up with a grazed knee & twisted back and sore ankle, my back gets puts out quite easily and I had only just got over a week of back pain. Fortunately there was no one around to add to my embarassment. 

Little one is in bed now so I am going to treat myself to a mini magnum and look for cruise videos.

Hope you’re ok and enjoy the magnum, hopefully you can have a laugh about it later👍

Yes we had a Gala Celebration night on our Britannia seacation and about 90% adhered to the dress code which was fantastic and felt like normality was returning 👍

9 minutes ago, davecttr said:

Me for Iona, deck 9 and 12 noon

Same for us👍

1 hour ago, margo2011 said:

Hi we are now on deck 5 husband not happy as has and extra bed ,but I am just grateful to be able to look out to sea and not feel I am in full view of others .I was willing to change to a ocean view if not possible as I was so upset .I am now going to destress and look forward to next week .

 

Really pleased you managed to change so now just relax and look forward to your cruise 👍

6 minutes ago, JohnScot said:

It is a seacation so I didn't get a choice. I would have paid extra to avoid these cabins but didn't have that option.

Hopefully we won't be allocated a Promenade deck cabin. 

When we booked our seacation we could choose which cabin grade so we chose a conservatory suite grade CV which we knew were only on  deck 9 as we would not have been happy on deck 8 the promenade deck

3 hours ago, Beckett said:

Good Morning Everyone

 

Well it's finally here. One more sleep and we're on our way. I have booked a taxi to take us to Southampton which will arrive at 8.30am and, once poured into said taxi, we're on our way for a week on Virtuosa.  The weather forecast is abysmal, which I'm very disappointed about, so I hope Virtuosa has enough to keep a 15 and a 12 year-old occupied and entertained.  I think the reality of being in sole charge of those two is just setting in. Am I mad or what? No chance of quiet days on the (very wet) balcony for me! 

 

I will be celebrating my birthday on Sunday. I will be an official Senior Citizen, with a pension, on 8th August and I'm sitting here scratching my head and wondering where all those years went. Surely I'm only 36 not 66!

 

I'm very much looking forward to seeing Iona tomorrow too. I know some of you are on her, or travelling down to see her, so give us a wave won't you.

 

Today, I 'm dropping Teddy off to his carer for the week (I'll miss him terribly), then we're going on to my surgery for the girls to get their lateral flow tests done ( please God negative), then last minute shopping (umbrellas and raincoats if today is anything to go by - it's chucking it down here), and finally out to dinner with my daughter, son-in-law, and the girls.

 

Sorry this is all about me me me. I hope you are all keeping safe and well. Look after yourselves and stay safe. Best wishes to all. Jane.xxxx

Have a great time I’m sure there’s more than enough for your girls onboard virtuosa and have a lovely birthday too.👍

4 minutes ago, SarahHben said:

This is someone’s video of a walk round Iona’s promenade deck, showing the outside eating area and closeness of the conservatory cabins to where people walk by them.

 

 

Thanks for the info I’m so pleased we are on deck 9 in a conservatory suite not sure about being on the promenade deck overlooked by everyone, but the rest of the ship looks fantastic and can’t wait for two weeks time 👍

4 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

I've found Cunard to be no different to P&O in the main full of nice well mannered people. But then Cunard customer base is similiar to  P&O.  But of course on a ship of 2000 people  on either line you will get the odd rude person.

 

 

 

Yes me too there are rude obnoxious people everywhere and they will be encountered on whichever cruise you’re on P and O or Cunard I’ve been extremely lucky to never have encountered them on any of my cruises

18 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I feel deprived, are you all seeing these things on phones or tablets or laptops or maybe an old steam powered desk top, or what?  Even my tablet is rocket and post count free  I am bereft.😥

Me too seen nowt 

1 minute ago, zap99 said:

Fantastic images. We join Britannia on Sunday and will book for Iona whilst on board. We are already booked for next October, but  7 night French coast next month is beaconing.🛳️

Go for it you only live once 👍we have booked Iona for January 22 and March 22 but think we will have to book one late October 21

3 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

Thank you Iona looks amazing have a great time I will be there on the 21st Aug 

Hi we found the whole experience really easy

yes we used CPS

we arrived at 1,15

30 mins before our allocated time

we waited 30 mins at testing centre a lot of people arrived at that time

didnt notice if the glass house was open

we walked to our muster station as soon as we boarded

our covid test results came within 10 mins of taking the test

1 hour ago, SarahHben said:

We’ve just braved Bluewater shopping centre, the first time we’ve been since restrictions were lifted. It was horribly busy. We only stayed an hour, even my husband said he felt worried by so many people getting too close & not wearing masks, although ‘people’ wasn’t the term he used 🥴

Its our 33rd Wedding Anniversary today so once we’ve taken our little Grandson home later we’re going to order an Indian takeaway, have been looking forward to that all week 😊

Congratulations and enjoy your takeaway 🍜🍷

1 hour ago, amfc_lenny said:

Camberley, thanks for the excellent balanced review. 
 

so looking forward to our cruise in September, just wish we could book a back to back and not just a single week

• For all holidays sailing up to and including 24 September, guests will require a seven day gap between any of the UK getaway cruises. Back-to-back bookings will not be available. This seven day gap also applies to cruises booked with other cruise lines including our sister brands Cunard and Princess Cruises. From 25 September onwards, back-to-back bookings are allowed,
• this is on the website so looks like B2B are allowed we don’t usually book week cruises as they are not long enough and travelling down from Durham also only for a week is just not worth it 

Just now, Camberley said:

Enjoy it when September comes. Yes re: back to back, We had booked a back to back initially but then had to cancel given the rules against them.

Hi I’m sure I’ve read that back to backs can now be booked from September 25th with pand o and Cunard from Oct we are looking to add one after our cruise on QE.

25 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

I’m due to be going on my first Cunard cruise next May, and I’m expecting that the passengers will be the same mix as on P&O, perhaps a bit more international.

You will absolutely enjoy it, we are back on QE our favourite ship on 1st October for 12 days and so looking forward to it 👍

1 hour ago, tring said:

 

Well, this and the rest of the post sums up why we have never ventured on a. Cunard ship.

 

We as a couple would no doubt be highly acceptable to the OP,  though I cannot say the same regards them being acceptable to us.  As far as I am concerned, people are people and deserve equal respect.

 

We also tend to vary between high class holidays and cheap ones, but as P&O are cheap, I would not expect the same experience as we would on much higher priced holidays.  

Hi Tring sorry that you have that opinion of Cunard we are Diamond status with them and have never ever encountered people like that on board, the majority of passengers do  tend to be a bit older but nevertheless still enjoy a fabulous cruise on a fabulous ship please don’t discount Cunard until you’ve tried 👍

11 minutes ago, ScratchTheRat said:

 

This has nothing to do with brand loyalty. I've never sailed with P&O. My first cruise with them is on Thursday!

I’m sure you will have a great time 👍

1 hour ago, delgirl said:

How long do you have to wait in line at mayflower cruise terminal for your test. Is it quite quick or lots of queues. Asking because going weekend (regal princess, can't ask there as it is 1st cruise for princess seacations.) Have an arrival time of 11.45-1215 to get to ocean terminal so don't want to get to mayflower too early as don't want to hang around.😁

We waited in the queue for about 30 mins and our results came 10 mins later as we were driving to the ocean terminal 

14 hours ago, jaydee6969 said:

 

I think we are the same low class as you.🤣  We came off on Sunday and had a great time.  We both dressed up for Gala night, and did not feel out of place.  Came out from seeing the 'comedian!', booked dinner on the app, wandered down to the MDR to see if there was really that many in front of us, got told yes.  We walked back to the Atrium, sat down ordered a drink and before it even came the app was telling us to go for dinner.  As we walked to the far end of the MDR, the majority we passed were dressed up.

 

We knew going into this cruise things would not be normal and service and choices would be reduced.

 

Andy would have been disappointed, no Peroni that I could find and no Corona.

 

We also found that if you could remember a cocktail you liked from the pre-covid era, the bar staff were more than happy to make it for you.

 

Would I go back and do it again, absolutely!

We came off our cruise on Sunday too and a fabulous time so we must be lowest of the low we dressed up on formal night and only saw one couple not dressed and they we’re keeping a low profile, I found the ship to be great staff very helpful food delicious entertainment very good and was sorry to leave, it’s amazing how people view things differently and life would be so boring if we were all the same, I would most definitely do it again and I am in August on the Iona👍🤗

Hi I think they could be fully booked this has happened to me before ☹️

9 hours ago, majortom10 said:

After the first time of using P4C you automatically get 5% discount off the prices shown on their website. on longer cruises of more than 7 days P4C can be considerably cheaper than CPS.

Thanks for the info👍

10 hours ago, cruisenewbie1976 said:

P4CREVIEW05 👍

Thank you👍

4 hours ago, cruisenewbie1976 said:

I might have a code for 5% off Parking4cruises somewhere. If you want it, let me know and I'll see if I can find it..

Yes please if you can much appreciated 👍

10 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

The major problem with CPS in the past has been that at busy times you often have to queue up before you are allowed to go to the drop off zone, this can add up to 30/40 minutes to your waiting time. Whereas with P4C you are allowed to go straight to the taxi drop off point from the gate, and although you then have to drive to the short stay car park after dropping off your luggage, both Ocean and Mayflower's short stay car parks are within 5 minutes walking time to the terminal, and for cruises longer than 6/7 nights they are usually quite a bit cheaper.

Thanks for the info maybe I should check out both companies before I book again do they offer any discounts for multiple bookings