DamianG

Yes, I went back and re-read your post after @Rupert2251 referred me to it. I've been up for ages but not truly woken up yet! Can't wait for the new itineraries even if they are the usual ports for summer school holidays. Fingers crossed there is something appropriate for us that includes Civitavecchia as our son is keen to revisit the water polo club there. We'll just be happy with a good pizza for lunch!

Not sure when they are on general sale, we received this: Key dates for your diary Register your interest From 8.30am on Wednesday 19 April to 8pm on Tuesday 25 April 2023 Add to calendar (Please note, on Sundays you will only be able to register your interest via our website or through your travel agent) Exclusively on sale for Caribbean, Baltic and Ligurian tier members of the P&O Cruises Peninsular Club From 8.30am to 8pm on Wednesday 26 April 2023 Add to calendar

It's getting like the Monty Python Spanish Inquisition sketch: P&O will be down to 2 ships, Arvia, Iona & Britiannia...... 3 ships! Arvia, Iona, Britannia & Azura..... 4 ships!....

Wow, that’s shocking! We’ve never been on Princess but only ever hear good things about them from my in-laws. Not just P&O that has some problems currently then.

That’s better than some of the MDR dishes @wowzz has been served on his Princess cruise!

In Barcelona have a look at the T-Casual transport ticket which gives you 10 journeys on all forms of transport. On one cruise before we became parents we were in Barcelona on New Years Eve & used the Metro to visit Camp Nou then various other landmarks with lots of tapas stops on the way. We had such a good day that it flew by & we ended up rushing back to the ship to get ready for 2nd sitting dinner at 8:30pm.

Our cruises in the August school holidays often find us repeating ports but when it comes to finding activities to suit our son that’s not a bad thing. This year we are going to A Coruna (no plan yet other than he does not want to go to the Science Museum again), Valencia (back to the aquarium for the first time in a few years), Marseille (new port for us, we’ve been recommended to visit the promenade area at Boraly), Barcelona (zoo again then lunch on the top floor of El Cortes Ingles with the view over Placa de Catalunya - much better than it sounds & great for our son), Alicante (another new port & being a fan of all things Spanish can’t wait) then finishing in my wife’s favourite port Cadiz (bus to the beach near Residencia then lunch at La Marea). It’s a great mix of familiar & new for us. Our son’s favourite port is Citivavecchia where we usually go swimming at the water polo club, we all like Vigo (in particular the beach Playa Samil) & we have unfinished business in Livorno where we went to the aquarium last time but want to use the Bagni Lido next time. The only port we have become tired of is Gibraltar having been so many times & with little to do for our son.

Has anyone sailed in an Arvia Sea View cabin on deck 4 (grades LB,LC, LF)? We are looking for some feedback as we are considering booking one of these for a future cruise. We have had everything from an inside cabin to a suite on other ships but in general our preference is to at least have a window for some natural light or a balcony, especially as we often spend a lot of the time inside our cabin on cruises (mainly due to our son's preferences). We've seen a YouTube review of cabin 4463 and it looks an appealing option with a good size cabin, sofa bed for our son and window seat. Any shared experiences would be much appreciated.

Something that has occurred to me since posting earlier was whether the reported queues for the MDRs are predominately made up of couples requesting a table for two? We will be a party of five in August so that along with dining a little later than usual will hopefully work in our favour.

We are due on Arvia this August at a high cost booked when the itineraries were published. For us it was essential to book early in order to include our son on a child fare and to select a suitable cabin for our own personal needs. There is no point in us looking at fares again for this cruise as we know from experience that all the child places will be taken so any deals now would not be appropriate to our requirements. In any case, on every cruise there is always someone who paid more than you and someone who paid less. So coming back to the original posts, thanks @gary_w for sharing your experiences. We had an idea about what to expect and your comments have reinforced them to a certain extent. Whatever happens we won't let anything "ruin" our cruise and hopefully our plans (such as trying to book dinner in the MDR outside the perceived "peak" times) will work out. We are not fans of the buffet either and rarely use them so fingers crossed. Whilst I can see that it was well intended I do think that bulk booking everything pre-cruise has maybe backfired somewhat in terms of bookings not being fulfilled and passengers failing to cancel when they change their mind. On Iona last year we had no issues with the app whatsoever and never had long waits for the MDRs, but as has been already pointed out there may be less availability on Arvia and the ship is likely be near to full capacity (which Iona wasn't when we sailed). Hopefully some of the measures advised by @molecrochip will be well established and successful sooner than later.

Incredible, the cheapest cruise we ever took cost £1000 (for 2) on Arcadia on a 10 night Christmas Markets cruise in 2010. 13 years ago and you can now take a cruise with an extra 4 days for just an additional £80.

Hi all, just catching up on here. So sad to hear your news Pam, hope the treatment is swift and successful. Similarly hope your dad recovers soon Sandra. It reminded just how good this forum has been for me to share my woes in the past and how it really helped getting things off my chest. I hope that you both have some comfort knowing the virtual support that you have on here. Last month I told the tale of my train delays for my regular visit to our office in London. Well, last Friday couldn't be more different as I went door to door in under 3 hours in the morning (even with an allowance for the taxi being late) and got home in 3 hours 20 minutes. I picked a great day to be in the office as well since there had been a function the evening before with loads of leftover drinks in the fridge. My team insisted that I take as many as I could carry so I grabbed one of each cocktail for Michelle and some beer for me. Finally a Kalos style anecdote.... Michelle texted me asking what time my train home got in. Then she texted me again and the message just said "Would you like a lift?" My reply: "Yes please, the postcode is EC3M 7AF. What time do you think you will get here?"

I got one to my work email address last week from Colonel Gaddafi’s daughter asking for financial assistance.

Whatever do you mean Harry? 😉

Teddy enjoyed his morning walk in the park and brought home his own version of snow shoes.

Like Phil said it's been a long time since we had so much snow. Spot the car...

Hi Brian, it's Laithwaites, I just wasn't sure if we are allowed to quote names or not (but I'm following your lead here!).

I didn't but I do wonder if the offer is not generally available. I got the details on an email from them.

Talking of wine, one of my favourite retailers (the one beginning with L) has just sent me an offer of 12 bottles + prosecco + 4 glasses for £65. I'm not sure if that is open to any customer but I snapped it up.

Showing off your multi-lingual talents again...

You'd have had a much longer walk to go see Springsteen at Roundhay Park!

One particular property website now estimates the value between £268-£297k. Another website I looked at suggested that a typical mid-range income in 1977 was around £13k (which sounds on the high side to me but that's what I read) compared to £24k today. The differential in the rises between the two never fails to amaze me.

I’ve worked in Edinburgh and Glasgow many times and can recommend the east coast train ride north. The scenery is fantastic especially around Berwick upon Tweed where the track gets very close to the coastline. The furthest north I’ve been for work is Montrose but let’s just say I probably didn’t see the best of it!