louthebowler
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Posts posted by louthebowler
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22 hours ago, Paul Bogle said:
Thanks. I’ve never seen these before so will have to try them on next cruise.
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1 hour ago, Sweetnspicy said:
Looks like my favorite, the Pretzel roll, is also everyone else's favorite! Guess I better hustle over to the buffet and snag an armful!
And then post a picture of one.
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Has anyone got a picture of these pretzel rolls. I haven't got a clue what you are all talking about!
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We are never likely to cruise in a suite. Inside, outside or balcony for us, which is fine. If we haven’t paid for a suite , we certainly wouldn’t expect to have any perks that went with it.
We also fly economy and wouldn’t expect to be allowed the perks from business class( oh , I would so love it though!!)
I might add that ‘perks’ is probably the wrong term as those suites have cost a lot of money so anything given has been well and truly paid for.
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Thank you. Plenty of other things to do on sea days, but quite like to break the day with a movie on holiday.
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Is there a movie screen onboard. I couldn't see one on the deck plans but thought I'd check with anyone who's been on.
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in answer to the original question, reviews can be a mixed bag. I always try to take an average from them and also take into account what any of the complaints were as it might not affect me. ( anyone complaining about their suite for example wouldn't affect me !)
we were on the TA in November from spain to the Caribbean and service was very, very slow in the main dining room. meals were taking an eternity. I think they may have had a lot of new staff( that's only a guess though).
A lot of sea days obviously meant it was harder to find sunbeds, but not impossible.
Also too many shows put on by the show team. they were very good , but you can have too much of a good thing.
BUT- we are going on again in march/april so more good than bad for us. hubby happy too as he hates taking tux etc to the Caribbean, so he will leave them behind and leave more room in case for me.
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>the roll call is (on other cruise lines) a great way to chat to anyone that is going on your cruise.we have used it on all our other cruises and have gone on some great trips with people as you can hook up with fellow cruisers and arrange your own trips instead of the expensive cruise line trips. we met some lovely americans on one cruise and went on three different trips in great 10 seater mini buses that could get you to places much easier than the big coaches that the cruise lines use.also, cruise critic also do a meet and mingle, where, if enough people are interested, a meet up on board ship with drinks and snacks and raffle prizes is arranged ( a free drink on Royal Caribbean ship is worth it as drinks are not cheap on there!)<I'm a bit anti social at times ( quite like us to do our own thing) but I find the roll call friendly but not overly so.I don't use FB but my hubby has an account that he uses on rare occasions so I have had to use his(with his permission)to find out whats happening on our cruise.I have missed it for our cruise on Discovery as not one person has joined me
>take a look at the roll calls on Royal Caribbean and NCL and you will find hundreds of posts.
ps my apologies, but this post has gone haywire, and I have edited as best I can and hope its still readable!
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i haven't been on the Thomson trip but usually a trip like yours would be them driving you there ( 1 hour) and then driving around looking at the main sites and you having small amount of time at sites( not enough time to go in). these tours are good for people who want a flavour of Rome. we did a similar one on P and O earlier this year as daughter and grandson were cruising with us and hadn't seen Rome. I wouldn't do it again, BUT our daughter would have been constantly worried about being so far from the ship and getting left behind so it worked for her.
I think the best thing would be to treat it like a coach trip with stops- and to be honest-it can be very hot in Rome so an air conditioned coach will probably be appreciated.
Have a great first cruise and don't feel you have to go on trips, the ship itself is great to explore.
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Ajaccio also easy. Reasonable beach 5 minute walk from the port, which is always nice if you've had a couple of port days that have been tiring.
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what are your ports of call?
if you go to the 'ports of call' section of the cruise critic forum and scroll down to Europe and then Italy you should pick up some good advice. I say Italy because your thread title is Venetian Vistas but I don't know what other countries you might be visiting so just click on each one.
Venice is great to just walk around (even though we manage to get lost!)- but beware of street signs, they are very high up on the walls of the buildings.
Enjoy your cruise.
ps. it will be very hot in August so pace yourselves
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. There website says I can pre purchase spending money but unless I know I can request any that is unspent at the end back I do not want to do so.
If you purchase spending money, P and O says any unspent is not returned to you, which is a very poor practice. I put money on my Royal Caribbean account before our last 2 cruises and was given my unused money back. I can understand if you are given OBC as a promotion, not getting any of that back, but why they think its okay to keep any money you yourself have put on the account is anybodys guess!
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I don't want to start a tipping debate- they go on too long!, but I always leave the tips on, even on the more expensive cruise lines(tipwise) but this time I will leave the £5.50 in place but have the increase removed. I don't agree with being told after I have paid in full for my cruise that something has increased in price. If I book another P and O cruise in the future then I will pay the £6 as I will know about it beforehand. If only it was included in the fare, then this increase after payment couldn't happen!
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I haven't been able to get into my CP for several weeks. It keeps telling me that something is incorrect when I try and log in. Hubby is having no problems though :confused:
I was having the same problem when using hubbys name and date of birth but mine was no problem, and then realised the TA had put the day and month the wrong way round for his date of birth so it wouldn't let me access it . I just make sure I go in via my name now.
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I haven't been on Azura but I would guess the shops are run by the same companies as Arcadia, Adonia etc.
In which case they could well have Tag Heuer, Tissot, Citizen and others. I really like mechanical (automatic) Tag Heuer watches and in my opinion would make a very nice 60th birthday present. Hope your budget runs to four figures... :rolleyes:
It's worth knowing what the onshore prices are before you buy as they are selling to a captive audience ... but sometimes there are some really good deals.
VP
no way is he getting a watch that runs into four figures, even he would have to admit that we could have another cruise instead! I'm looking more at the £200-£300 price range. If he wants a dearer one, he can stay home next time and I will go away:D
Its good to know there are plenty of choices on the ship, and depending on how he behaves his present can be a nice watch or one of the £10 sale watches.
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Although female, I'm not a big shopper, even less so on holiday, so I don't usually take much notice of the on board shops. My husband likes a nice watch and he got himself a really nice one on a royal Caribbean ship about 6 years ago which was very good value. Our next cruise is on Azura for his 60th and he says he would like his present to be a watch but he wants to look on board which gives me a dilemma. I don't want to get onboard and find they don't have any or are overpriced and then won't have a present for him as his birthday is mid cruise. I have tried to remember what the shops had on board Ventura but can't remember for the life of me and that was a transatlantic so you would think I should have noticed with all that free time I had:D
Any help please, I'm sure there are plenty of shoppers out there.
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:D:D
Most expensive taxi in Funchal is the one back from the toboggan. It can cost as much as a half day tour with the same taxi driver!Toboggan ride was €15 per person a couple of years ago and they hold a max of three. Not a price we were prepared to pay. We walked down the hill a short way and watched a few go past.
Another major saving you can make is to go to Southampton and watch the ships departing on various cruises. I have calculated you can save up to £2,000 or £3,000 a person and if you don't go on a world cruise in a suite...Regards John
:D:D that made me giggle.
Toboggan is worth it for the experience, a bit of a thrill and so easy to diy. Cable car is a nice trip then short walk to toboggans. After the ride it is roughly half hour walk downhill back to town or plenty of taxi's available.
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. Those white spaces you can bet your life on it will soon be full of Adverts :rolleyes::)
I hate adverts BUT as its probably them that keeps this site up and running
they can put as many here as they like ( I will still ignore them!):D
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Thanks for that information. Does it get busy when there are three ships in?
We have been at Fort Lauderdale when there were 5 or 6 ships in and there were no problems, I'm hoping it will be the same in Southampton, but with maybe less porters diving onto our luggage for the tips!!
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We haven't sailed with p and o from Southampton and I am struggling to find the information for which terminal will be used.
We are sailing on Azura 2nd April, but with Ventura and Britannia also sailing that date I want to be sure which terminal so I can decide on parking. We are travelling from the Wirral and the coach is going to be too costly as we are travelling with daughter and grandson so we will drive down instead but as I'm weighing up the parking options I realise with three ships in it may be busy parking at the port, so looking also at parking elsewhere.
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Thanks for the replies, so we have a bit left to wait then. We are cruising this April on the Aurora so we have that to look forward to before thinking about the anniversary cruise or party. The cost would be around the same either way so in my book a party only lasts for a few hours while a cruise lasts a couple of weeks :)
We thought along similar lines. its hubbys 60th in April this year so instead of a party we are going on a cruise and taking our daughter and grandson with us(thankfully only have 1 child and 1 grandchild or the cost would have been even worse than it is!). I think hubby is now thinking that a few hours with family might have been better than 14 days! I am so glad I insisted on 2 cabins as I think 14 nights with my daughters snoring would test any family:eek: its going to be our daughters first cruise so lets hope she doesn't get the cruising bug:D
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Children under 12 years of age on P&O UK are not charged anything in relation to auto gratuities (tips). This is how the cruise line has organised things. You could give the Youth Team some cash if you felt it was appropriate and have made good use of the club and think it was excellent - that would be up to you.
Regards John
Yes, I suppose giving the youth team something is a good idea, that's if he decides to use the club.
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It has been a few years since I was on P and O and only recently started taking our grandson cruising. He is 10 and on RCI he had to pay the same as us if I remember correctly. I'm not trying to start yet another debate on tipping, just confused as to what we will pay. Hubby and I are in one cabin and daughter and grandson in another. Although we took our grandson on a cruise last year, our daughter has never cruised and wants to try it too! We may have started something we will live to regret!! Anyway, on the P and O website it only mentions children over 12 paying £5.50 , no mention for anyone younger. Our daughter wants to know the cost of things and this is one I'm not sure about.
I was going to purchase onboard credit as I have on other cruiselines as its good to have things paid for before the holiday, but P and O website says any credit purchased is non refundable? I don't understand why when it's my money, it's not free obc. sorry, I've started rambling, I do have this habit of thinking of other things while typing. I will stop now:)
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We have booked our first ever cruise- the Navigator of the Seas Northern Europe and Baltic trip, balcony stateroom, 12 nights out of Southampton on 14 June 2017.
We got the BOGOHP plus drinks package plus WiFi plus $100 onboard spend.
Hoping to get lots of tips and help on here.
Haven't got a clue about the dining protocol, we picked 18.00 seating for something ?? Not sure where breakfast and lunch fit in, also does room service cost extra for delivery? Can drinks be ordered in the room or taken back from the bars? So many questions lol.
Congratulations, you will be hooked.
The 6pm time is your time for the main dining room ( waiter service). You can eat there or in the windjammer( buffet, nearly the same food as main dining room but serve yourself). Room service is free unless after midnight. People usually tip the room service attendant.lots of extra restaurants on board that are extra cost, have very rarely used them as too tired from shire excursions to do them justice.
You can take drinks back to your cabin, but if you ordered drinks yo be brought to your cabin you would be charged as not covered by your drinks package. Also don't touch the items that are set up in your cabin fridge as they are all chargeable. We usually ask our cabin steward to remove them.
The people on cruise critic are very very helpful and you ask whatever you want as they will have the answer.
Enjoy Navigator, we went to Norway on her in June, and she is probably a good size for first cruise.
Advice for 1st ever cruise
in P&O Cruises ( UK )
Posted
Great advice.