Splice the mainbrace

Wowzz last posted on May 10th multiple times on the P&O and Princess forums then nothing. One of his last posts on the Princess one was that he was going on Sky Princess in July. I’m surprised that he hasn’t posted since then.

Did he ask you to buy him one of those rockets😊

I've noticed the rushing of meal service in MDRs on our most recent cruises on P&O, Princess and Cunard. Menus thrust into our hands soon after we have sat down and before we have got settled or in even got our reading glasses out. Coming back to take the order after only a few minutes whilst we are still having a quick chat with our neighbouring table (we normally look and virtually decide what we want before the meal by looking at the menu during the day which speeds the choosing anyway), grabbing our plates within seconds of finishing (on P&O the waitress attempting to take my wifes plate plate before she had finished and nearly got a fork in her hand!!), taking one of our plates before the other partner has finished and not much of a gap between each course. On a couple of cruises when it felt really rushed we told them to slow down a bit which they did but not by much. When I look at the area that our waiters cover it doesn't seem to any more people than pre-covid so it's not like they cover more people and we do late sitting and there are normally several empty tables on their patch decreasing their workload. Overall it isn't as relaxing and pleasant an experience as it used to. On the other hand on our last cruise a lady some nights took 20 minutes to 30 minutes to choose her order, the waiter kept coming back every 5 mins or so and she kept sending him away. One night after 30 minutes the waiter told her that if she didn't order now he couldn't take her order.

After it raining here for the last 3 hours in South Cheshire it’s now stopped and it’s brightening up. Hopefully it’s coming your way.

We’re not very far from Stoke and didn’t notice anything. We experienced the effects of an earthquake last year when one happened near Tern Hill Shropshire and it was like a juggernaut speeding past our house on a main road but in our cul de sac with the rumbling and rattling.

We had been largely fly free until the last week or so when the cows in the fields were moved to the closest field to our house. Why is it that if they come into the house they always go to closed window not to the one that’s open?😊

I thought that the weather was supposed to be freshening up. Yesterday it was but it’s already 19c today although cloudy at 6.45 and according to our local weather station it hasn’t gone below 18c all night. I know that we are going to get lower temperatures but the overnight conditions surprised me.

We have always booked select, or whatever each cruise line calls it, but apart from being able to choose our cabin the other benefits seem to be diminishing. The price difference doesn’t cover the obc or free parking etc, the last few cruises there haven’t been ports of call where we had to pay for the shuttle bus and on a late sitting there were always vacant tables for 2. Sometimes there is a big price difference making saver more attractive yet on another cruise the difference is much less and the obc can vary tremendously making select more attractive. We like to choose our own cabin so will stick with select but that’s just about the only reason.

We were on QV last month and staying in our cabin before disembarkation was convenient, however what they didn’t say was that there wouldn’t be any announcements to call the different colour groups. Disembarkation was ahead of schedule so we would have been waiting unnecessarily if I hadn’t gone to see where they were up to.

Already 27c here but have left the windows open today as there is a nice breeze. Forecast is for the temperature to drop as the rain comes in later. I didn’t have any trouble sleeping last night, the beers while watching Glastonbury last night helped🍺😊

It’s disappointing to read that the arrival times are being applied to the smaller ships. I can understand it for the larger ships due to their high capacities and overwhelming the terminal but the system for other ships has worked just fine in the past. We travelled on Queen Victoria with Cunard from Southampton last month which is a similar sized ship to Arcadia, there were no such restrictions and it’s the same terminal and no doubt the same check in and security staff.

17c and steady rain here, had an isolated 15 min heavy shower yesterday evening and the thundery showers over the last 10 days or so have revived the lawns nicely (although mine are mostly weeds and moss!). I fear for the soles on the missing Titanic submersible, 48 hours without contact and hasn’t got back to the surface yet, not looking good. I’m looking forward to the end of the test match today, it really is in the balance and the next session will be so important for which side will win.

We opt for a table for 2 as we prefer not to be obliged to talk with people over the meal in the evening. Nowadays a lot of tables for 2 aren’t really as they are spaced 3 or 4 inches apart and are more like tables for 4 or 6. However the last cruises we have ‘hit it off’ with our immediate table neighbours and had a great time😊

That’s a coincidence as well as being on the same cruises we live not that far from you near Nantwich.

Yeh the Faroes was dropped due to their whaling policy, an Iceland port was dropped and basically going the opposite way round now Norway followed by Iceland. I’m not impressed at Liverpool being an added port of call 1) it’s only 40 minutes away from where we live and have been there many times, 2) We also only went there 2 weeks ago on a round Britain cruise where we just got off the ship and mooched for an hour or so and got a couple of bottles of cabin wine!🍷

Ohh the good old Balmoral at Nursling. I lived in my teens and early twenties a few hundred yards away and had many lively nights in their drinking and playing pool as well as my first illegal drink just up the road at the Horns Inn. For those not wanting to be in a town or a city overnight before a cruise the Premier Inn Southampton North is ideal for a quick drive to the cruise terminals especially berths 101 to 106 (city, horizon and mayflower terminals) where you can drive in via dock gate 20 and not have to drive into the city.

We’re on that cruise as well despite itinerary changes since we booked. We were on Arcadia last October and were perfectly satisfied with her. We are also on her in September 2024 for a 30 night USA and Canada cruise.

We’ve told our son to have a contingency plan in case that all evening trains are cancelled such as keeping overnight things in the office, he has some mates in London so arrange with them that they may get a call sometime and he could sleep on their sofa if necessary.

I got up earlier than normal this morning due to the heat and the bird alarm clock especially with the windows open. We has a hum dinger of a storm yesterday evening hail, monsoon rains and thunder which shock the house like an earthquake, had an inch of rain in an hour. The forecast is for dry weather for the next week and we have a Persian barbecue on Wednesday which is the last day of a bimonthly Persian cookery course that my wife has been on with u3a for the last 9 months. Poor son had a bad journey back from London yesterday evening his train was cancelled then the next one was late because there wasn’t a guard, he finally got home at 9 pm and he leaves home at 6.30 am to travel up to London for work. His job has recently gone from working from home in Southampton to 3 days in the office each week, the cost of the trains and 2 hours door to door at each end of the day is rather a strain but it is a good job and career so just has to be dealt with.

According to our local amateur weather station we have had about 10mm of rain spread over the previous 2 days. Which would have helped the garden (and farmers) but still need more because after today there isn't any more rain in the forecast for 8 days and unbroken sunshine.

Its just gone over 30c here in South Cheshire and is now cloudy making it very humid, showers are expected later. We've managed to keep the temperature in the house down but only to 25c so not that low.

Whenever we have a power cut our central heating timer comes up with an error code and with some trepidation I have to reset by using a cocktail stick to press a small reset switch. I always have some concern that the unit will not reset correctly.

We came back on the same cruise and were Gold colour for disembarkation at 9.50. It seemed a more convenient Cunard system to stay in our stateroom but it got to 9.00 and hadn’t heard any announcements in our room or in the corridor that I was expecting. I went to the gangway to ask and they said that they were ahead of schedule and we could get get of immediately, there wasn’t any queue to get off. I don’t understand why they don’t give announcements as the colour groups progress.

We’ve just come back from a Queen Victoria round Britain cruise and the compliance to the dress code was very well observed with almost all pax that I saw adhering to it. I was surprised to see the majority of men wearing jackets on Smart Attire nights even though it is now not a requirement, I had taken a blazer not sure if I was going to wear it or not but did so when I saw others wearing jackets.

+ Fabulous pianist in Commodores and the Queen Victoria band and orchestra were really good, their big band night in the Queens Room was just like listening to the originals.