SeaJane

On 1/23/2023 at 3:40 PM, annieuk said:

In over 30 cruises we've always asked for a table of 8 second sitting and apart from one occasion always got what we wanted.  On one occasion we were given a table of 2, on Arcadia, and we were able to swap with a couple who had been put on a table for 8 and had requested a table for 2, so in the end it worked well.  We've made some good friends over the years and are still in touch with a number.  I would be very sorry if Club Dining were to end.  We enjoyed the fact that we got to know the other people and we weren't having to introduce ourselves each evening. 

I agree completely with what you say. Most of our cruises have been for 19 nights each time and we always opt for table for 8 second sitting. We have met a lot of lovely people over the years  and have really enjoyed getting to know them.
We are booked for 7 nights on Ventura in May and have opted for Freedom dining as an experiment. We also have a high OBS so are thinking we will make use of the speciality restaurants. I must admit the problems that some seem to have with the “app” are making me wonder if we would have been better to stick with what we know! 

47 minutes ago, LondonLad60 said:

Some years ago in Sicily my wife and I did a P&O excursion called The Godfather's Footsteps. It took in various locations where the three Godfather movies were filmed, including the bar where Michael and his bodyguards stop shortly after he first sees the girl who is to become his wife. It also featured a chat with the lady who played the girl's mother, with our guide acting as interpreter. If you are a fan of The Godfather films, and if this excursion is still available, then I thoroughly recommend it.

We’ve also done this tour and thoroughly enjoyed it inspite of it’s rather “cheesy” description. The coach trip took us through some lovely countryside. However I’m pretty sure this was only on offer from Messina and not Palermo or Catania.

We did a tour from Palermo that took us to Monreale. It was a lovely town with a cathedral with the most beautiful gold mosaic ceiling. In the afternoon we walked around the sights in Palermo. I’m afraid Catania is our least favourite port in the Med as we have found the town dirty and crowded with quite a threatening atmosphere - I would suggest doing a tour from there perhaps to see Mt Etna. Cagliari is a nice place and easy to wander around on your own. It is a steep climb to the top, but pleasant to then have a drink or lunch looking down out over the harbour.

Just now, skeldergate said:

I'm due to travel on Iona in one months time to Norway.

 

Reading other threads in this Forum, there seems to be a high probability that she may miss out one or two ports.

 

If that does happen I am able to claim £150pp on my travel insurance.  What sort of proof should I provide to my travel insurance company.

 

I'm asking now as a pre-emptive action.  I don't want to disembark only to find out that I should have obtained something whilst onbard

You can obtain a letter from Reception onboard that details the port(s) that have been missed. We have always found that to be readily accepted by our insurance company.

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

I thought the production of the show was excellent, the lighting and drone show was amazing and the sound quality, in the main, was superb, and I enjoyed most of it, even the more modern singers who I had never heard of.

Quite agree - we enjoyed it very much even though one or two of the acts would not have been our first choice! Altogether a very pleasant way to spend Saturday evening with a couple of glasses of wine 🍷 

2 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Yes, Trieste and Dubrovnik are particularly lovely ports.  Rovinj would have been interesting too.  Zadar didn't enthral me.

Zadar didn’t enthral us either, but we liked Koper. 

7 hours ago, Host Sharon said:

On that cruise too, hopefully!

Hopefully we are too!

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

The volume of water in a hot tub is considerably less than in a swimming pool.

Additionally the heat of the water encourages any bugs to multiply more quickly than a pool making it even more important that the water is regularly tested and the chemicals used properly regulated - very difficult to do adequately when a tub is constantly used by many different people! 

Just now, Waju said:

Oh have you?  I know we booked a 30 (ish) night cruise on Aurora and that was more than £50 but I can't remember if it was 5% or 10% 

Yes we were on Arcadia in October 2019 when they released the 2021 cruises so we booked a Med 19 nighter for October 2021. Of course it was eventually cancelled! 

54 minutes ago, Waju said:

I think you're correct - but its more for cruises over a certain number of days - you wouldn't get a word cruise booking for only £50 for example.

We’ve booked 19 night cruises with only £50pp deposit on board.

10 hours ago, kalos said:

Morning ,hope everyone's doing ok and nice to see a few old posters back and noted 

that Sea Jane has liked a post ,so hopefully is doing ok 

Looking through last weeks posts I see that our cruise buddies were sharing such tips 

as taking the battery operated tea lights to guide them to the loo in the unearthly hours

after a good night on the drink or those boxes or bottles of wine you brought with you.

That then brought the topic around to cork screws . Even I take one on board  and we 

don't ever drink wine  (To be fair it is attached to a bottle opener) As discussed by 

some ,a lot of wine bottles are screw top but some are not ,so it's handy to have a corkscrew 

with you when your cruising . There are lots of shapes and sizes when it comes to corkscrews 

I thought the one below could be handy for some of you .

Have a nice day and keep safe everyone 

                      

We’re fine thank you Kalos. I’ve been following the threads recently, but not contributed much.
We’re just coming to the end of 3 weeks in North Cornwall. We’ve had a variety of weather, but it’s included lots of sunshine and it’s been lovely to have a change of scenery after a seemingly never ending dull and damp winter at home! 

23 minutes ago, LondonLad60 said:

Been to Dubrovnik twice, in 2016 and (I think) 2018. The ship berthed both times, so tenders weren't required, but it was a shuttle bus ride from the berth to the city. First time the city  was busy, but not overly so. The second time it was absolutely heaving with tourists.

We’ve been to Dubrovnik 3 times on cruises in recent years. On 2 of them we had a shuttle bus from the berth to the old city, but on one we anchored within sight of it and tendered straight there. We were told it was a capacity issue and depended on how many ships were due in on a particular day.

16 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

I’m with Sheldon on this one - people soup!

 

For me a hot tub is like sharing a bath with numerous other people, not something I really want to do.

We feel the same! We had one of our own for many years so have experience of how murky the water could look after only sharing it with a couple of friends! 🤣 We would never use a commercial one again.

4 hours ago, Astrajet said:

We are on that one too!  We booked it as a replacement for last October's similar cruise on Aurora which was cancelled. 

See you on board!

Us as well!

3 hours ago, zap99 said:

When it gets to the delivery stage, pat on the back for the post office. Ordered late Wednesday, delivered this morning. At least the postman isn't working from home.🤣

We also ordered some Wednesday and they arrived today. We must be lucky in Surrey at the moment 🤣

4 hours ago, grapau27 said:

It is Pauline's 60th birthday tomorrow.

Happy birthday to Pauline for tomorrow 🎂🥂

We only tip when we consider the service has been exceptional as of course tips are now included in the fare with P&O. Having said that we have tipped the butler on most occasions as they usually go out of their way to be helpful and enhance our trip. However once on Arcadia he really did as little as possible and was almost invisible so we didn’t tip on that occasion. Again with cabin stewards and waiters we give an additional tip if we feel it is warranted including the breakfast waiting staff. 

14 minutes ago, Cruisemeister2002 said:

I hope they don't all go Freedom either as me and the wife normally take second sitting 8.30 and ask for a table of 6-8. We have met all sorts from the very nice, not very nice, plain odd, eccentric, jovial and quite rude. Only on two occasions in 16 cruises have we requested a change of tables. One was where we just couldn't get on with a man and the other was where a man was with his wife and a friend. Apparently he was prone to telling the Captain how to dock the ship. Wore a bib at diner and invited a young receptionist to diner one evening. Then to top it all we were also with some friends on the table and being polite we waited for them to arrive before starting diner. They didn't arrive due to booking one of the specialist restaurants. It wasn't until we had waited for 15 minutes that the Maitre D came over and told us they were not taking diner that evening. We have also had people on our table who haven't said goodbye on the last evening and couples who try to outdo each other by stating they are or have been to a certain restaurant more times than the other. Truthfully it doesn't bother me one iota what anyone else has or does. We have made many friends most of which judging by the amount of cruises they take are far wealthier than I am. But good luck to them. 

We wouldn’t want freedom dining either and also like second sitting and table of 8. In our 15 cruises we’ve been very fortunate and most of the people we have met have been lovely and we have had some great evenings and made many friends that we keep in touch with. As far as we are concerned this all adds to our enjoyment means you can get to know people and have more interesting conversations. Thankfully only once did we encounter a couple who took a very political stance and expected everyone else to agree! 

I tend to take some of the knee length dresses I’ve bought to attend weddings etc on cruises otherwise I’d never wear them!  I would generally wear tights with those especially if  I am wearing court shoes. With long dresses or trousers I’m more likely to have bare legs especially if I’m wearing sandals. 

9 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Is this new having all these pics down the side?

On my iPad the photos are at the bottom after all the text so at least I don’t have to look at them all the time!

I thought it was just me as I’ve had a lot of problems with CC in recent weeks. At least I know it’s happening to us all 🤣🤣

25 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

I have had both on a P&O Ship. 

So have we! 

8 hours ago, Host Sharon said:

OK, it can stay here. Just please keep off politics and Covid (unless cruising related) or I will lose leverage. 🙂

Thank you Sharon. I don’t post often, but I always read this thread and, like many others, it has helped keep me sane during the last two years. 

2 hours ago, Cruise Puss said:

 

Don't know if you've tried Arcadia, but her Suites are great.  The side ones are bigger, but don't have the large wrap-around balconies that the aft ones do, and some of the aft Suites are smaller than others, with not as much wardrobe space, C deck certainly being one.  I would definitely choose one of the side ones for preference.

 

Happy cruising! 🙂

 

We like the mid ship suites on Arcadia especially on B deck. We had an aft one for a fjord cruise and the wrap around balcony was a wonderful way to appreciate the scenery.

The nicest suite we had was an aft one on Adonia ……………

So pleased to hear that you are free! Hope you manage to enjoy the last few days of your cruise. Thank you for your sharing your experiences.