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If you find the Premier Inn near the terminal is fully booked there is a Premier Inn about 4 miles away at Whitley Bay, right on the seafront (lots of grass) right next to the Spanish Village. I stayed there a few years ago and had a pleasant walk along the prom after breakfast before travelling to the ship. Look out for the Vera locations as well. I have booked for 11/12 June before boarding Balmoral for a cruise to Svalbard & Norway, my first Fred cruise.I am looking forward to lots of whale watching.

Yes but there is more. I have 4 P&O cruises booked for this year. 14 nights on Britannia to the Canaries on 5 July - £1907 to pay 16 nights on Arcadia to Iceland/Norway on 30 July - £1844 to pay 7 nights on Britannia to Norway on 13 September - £1259 to pay 14 nights on Iona to the Canaries on 9 November - £1553 to pay I will take the Arcadia cruise leaving £4719 saving £1520 after paying for the Fred 14 nights to Svalbard/Norway. That Fred Cruise is more attractive to me than the 3 cancelled P&O cruises combined. I could invest that £1500 in a private Carpal Tunnel Syndrome op on my left wrist, better than waiting 6 months or the appoinment falling in the middle of a cruise IMO.

I followed Dermotsgirl and visited the Mountain Wharehouse at the Chatham Dockyard Outlet Centre, eventually, after a 45 minute wait for a bus that is meant to run at 15 minute intervals. A 'free' flat white at Roos helped calm me and then into MW for a recce and gloves. Gloves sold out so I came out with a pair of socks and a 3 in 1 jacket with removeable liner and hood . Good enough for me at 39% discount. Trespass had gloves but the fingers are all too long. I will try on line. Then into Cotton Traders for a couple of long sleeve 'outdoor' shirts. I already have lots of layers so it is just the long underwear to buy. i will have to shorten the legs though. Luckily my Tesco delivery is not until 4pm.

£160 pppn for a 13 night cruise suggests maybe £161.50 pppn for a 14 night cruise, a total of £3230 for the cruise. My superior inside cabin cost £3199 which is about a 38% single supplement, not bad as I have had 70% SS in the past. I also have £210 OBC. It appears that price comparisons can only apply to the basic inside and ocean view cabins as Fred does not have any balcony cabins, or rather the balcony cabins are classified as suites.

I think I will have a look around there tomorrow, good to know it is still open.

I am visiting Longyearbyen in June by cruise. The average temperature will be 2C to 5C. Any advice please on reliable brands of windproof/waterproof/ insulated clothing would be welcome. There will be a lot of standing around on open decks whale watching.

I have just booked a cruise on Balmoral in June from Newcastle, 14 nights to Norway and Svalbard in an inside single premium cabin. It did not come cheap but I always wanted to visit Svalbard and two new ports for me are Hammerfest and Alta. Lots of midnight sun for whale watching which is why I booked it. The fare was £3199 with £210 on board credit. I have September and November P&O cruises which I will cancel saving £2812 so the difference is only £387 and further savings will come from the lack of a casino. No Blackjack for me. I am pleased that the cabin only has a shower as well as I did not like the bath/shower arrangement on Arcadia. I can have my Blackjack fix on Arcadia in July with 14 nights to Iceland/Norway and two new ports, Belfast and Stornoway. My Arcadia cabin is shower only and only yards from the whale watching deck 🙂 The only problem might be a rail strike.

There used to be a hand sanitiser that worked against Norovirus, or rather it worked against a related non enveloped virus in cats. They had to change the formula because the low volume percentage active ingredient could cause skin cancer if you bathed your hands daily in it for about 20 years. Apparently all the handrails etc should be brass because copper has anti bacterial properties. It kills them, apparently something to do with the molecular structure of the metal. Did you know RNA can form spontaneously on volcanic glass given the conditions on the early earth, amazing.

Oceana did not have a Crows Nest. Actually it did have a forward lounge with dance floor etc but that was converted into the buffet. I think the ship design was pre buffet era. I liked Oceana and she was my favourite ship.

Crew members using the buffet is a problem on Arcadia which has the worst buffet on P&O IMO. In the evenings one of the serveries and a significant part of the seating is cordoned off and reserved for 'officers', apparently Arcadia does not have a officers mess? There are also groups of staff in certain grades that arrive en-masse and demolish the buffet offerings. IMO the buffet is for passengers and staff who are allowed to use it should be mindful that it is a privilage and that the passengers pay their salery.

Smartphone apps have displays that are too small for my ancient hands It is bad enough having to type this. I have a smartphone without a SIM but use a dumb phone for calls and text. I find no problem with pressing a big key 3 times to type the letter c. A tablet is better than a smartphone but not for carrying around.

I have £150 OBC for my 16 night Arcadia cruise and that works out at £9.375 per day. As I average 2 pints per week nowadays that will be enough for one holiday drink a day and maybe a paid for meal. So no problem spending the OBC and then the 10% discount applies.

That confused me. I am booked on iona G437 and that departs on the 9th November.

If it was an Italian help line about Inuendo

The email is from North Face and I have no intention to email their help line. My anti virus software is current but I have not clicked any links. I will delete cookies and history.

My Anti virus software has been occasionally reporting a data breach since xmas and suggesting I pay for an upgrade. Now I think I know why. I bought a North Face waterproof jacket last year and I received an email from them this morning. Their parent group had a data breach in December and potentially personal information such as name, address, phone number etc was stolen. However no passwords or bank/ credit card details were compromised and the only thing stored was I paid by credit card with no further details, the system has now been restored. I supose paying for that upgrade is a good idea.

Having had my Equiniti shareholding verified I filled in the redemption form on Stockperks. I had this information to hand. Broker - Equiniti Equiniti Shareholder Ref - XXXXXXXXXXX Name - XXXXX Booking Ref - XXXXXX Ship - P&O Arcadia Sailing date - XXXXXX I can't remember if all those details were required but NO passwords. My redemption application and the amended invoice from P&O took an hour or so.

Is Stockperks based in the USA? If so their working day starts at least 5 hours later than hours. Maybe the time at which we submit the redemption claim makes a difference.

That went well. I submitted my redemption claim via the Stockperks App at 16:30, received a reply from them at 17:58 stating P&O had approved the application and received an amended invoice from P&O at 18:17. This was for an Arcadia cruise at the end of July, much more than 90 days from departure and the final payment is not due until early May.

I will try it now

Not on my old legs dragging a suitcase and carry on. I will probably end up getting a taxi.

Why did they cut the 507? Victoria terminus to Waterloo terminus was an easy route. now you have double deckers, good luck getting a suitcase up the stairs.

Yes, it appears the best option is a train to Victoria and then a 507 bus to Waterloo to catch the half hourly fast service. It would be prudent to travel the day before departure though.

Just had confirmation from Stockperks that my Equiniti holding has been validated 🙂 The final balance is not due until the end of April so no point in applying for my Arcadia cruise credit until then.

Medway towns so 3 rail routes into London. Victoria, London Bridge and St Pancras also Maidstone is not to far on the bus. Also national express dover-london service. Cruise is 5 months away so no panic