Eddie99

Best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery, Prestos (and Selbourne, whatever it is that ails thee)

Wishing you smooth seas to Southampton (forecast), trouble-free disembarkation (sorry - that was poor for us on the corresponding journey. The excuse?  Pax had bought too much stuff, so the luggage took longer to unload), and an easy journey home

Thank you for your blog.  I enjoyed it very much 

3 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Good morning.

It is 8°C and cloudy here.

I'm pleased to say I am back to my pre-cruise weight.

I hope everyone has a great day.

Well done Graham

I don’t weigh myself but, judging by my waistband, any cruise-related gain in bulk has now gone

Back to normal eating, no drinking (dry February, as an antidote to the free drinks package!) and lots of healthy walking with this one

14 hours ago, kalos said:

Hope everyone's OK, just  had a couple of weeks of this 

And a night 🌙  of this ...

 

 

Catch  you all later 😊

Azura?

Hope you had a super time 

It’s beginning to sound a bit like the Ancient Mariner, or African Queen, with the broken air conditioning.  Joking aside - that is poor; it reduces your options to sit in comfort

My memories of Martinique are favourable.  The area near the dock is conspicuously affluent, with high rise waterfront apartments.  When we were there “yachts” had been arriving from a transAtlantic race.  Lovely looking vessels.  There was a huge marquee with *smooth jazz* emerging, which seemed to be “race control”. We briefly contemplated blagging our way in, then came down to earth and realised that there was no way our French was up to that.  We could only have managed the Gallic shrug 🤷‍♂️ 

It’s easy to get out of the terminal; I’m sorry I can’t remember how the roads/kerbs/pavements were.  I do remember a pleasant French vibe

Hope your day is good, and that the air-con gets sorted

I hope you’ve woken up having seen off that cold Selbourne - you don’t want to feel iffy in this exciting sector of your trip

But you’d only fly outward and then you’d have your days in the Caribbean and the return sail home to relax!

The *coach back to the airport* operation is very smooth

Ah, thank you

I must be particularly dense today 🫤

In that case it’s pretty much swings and roundabouts - no blanket surcharge for 70+ but if you want extra cruise cover you need to purchase trip by trip, etc etc

The document I linked to sets out the differences between UK Insurance and Aviva

It has ‘traffic light’ indicators of whether the change is bad for journalists (red), better for you (green) or neutral (grey)

I’ve read this through twice and the only (old) age reference I can see is that the automatic supplement for 70+ is removed

It says nothing about an upper age limit for cover?

(Double click to open)

39 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

Aviva would not quote. You have to be under 75! Wonder if this will affect any over 74s currently with Nationwide? 

Really? (I’m not doubting you - just saying Really?). 
Do you know if it affects everyone, including existing policy-holders, or just new accounts?

Can you give me a link or a hint where to find this in black and white, so I can accept the new situation & make alternative plans?

Thanks in advance

True!

My husband likes the fish/fruit thing in Madeira, and always has it when we visit Funchal

Lovely spring-like weather here.  Weak sun all day yesterday (plus the Sahara enhanced sunrise and sunset) and the birds were singing like crazy.  Loads of snowdrops and catkins

We had a long walk and a pub lunch.  Liver & bacon isn’t everyone’s favourite but this hearty plateful certainly hit the spot

Thanks Selbourne.  What a great day you had!

The pics show it as a very authentic location - but plenty of sunshine

I don’t know if you have plans for St Vincent but I don’t think you and Lady S will find life easy outside the terminal.  High kerbs, deep gutters and stalls which narrow the roads and pavements 

Enjoy the sun

1 hour ago, P&O SUE said:

Afternoon all, I’m very excited to say I’ve gone for it and booked a week’s cruise on Britannia! I was talking to people at work about how ridiculous it was that our manager won’t authorise any holiday until April and they said they just checked with each other!

So I’ve asked everyone in my team , no clashes so I’ve booked it! Our first 1 week cruise since 2019!! Due to you know what then my parents health.

 

We would have booked a 2 week one this year but still a bit nervous of leaving my mum even though I know she’s ‘safe’

So pleased for you Sue!

Watch out for that octopus Phil! 😱 🐙 

4 minutes ago, Beckett said:

A muzzle is something I've got to think about seriously Eddie. Ted is part Spaniel and I think that's where the scavenger element comes into play. The trouble is he's so incredibly spoilt and I can't bear the thought of putting a muzzle on him - time to toughen up I think (me, not him) beccause I'd hate him to end up on a drip.  Jane xx

Yes

I think it’s much more our problem than theirs

9 minutes ago, Beckett said:

Thanks so much Gill. The invalid has been asleep for most of the day. Ted's problem is he's a gannet. He's always diving for something left on the ground when we go out walking - an old bit of KFC, half a Big Mac, anything will do! Even unwell he would still eat if I let him. The problem is people just throw their unwanted take-aways all over the place. I despair of the state of our high streets now. I hope Freddy stays well. Jane xx

Poor boy

Could you think about a muzzle for walkies?  We know two dog-friends now who wear muzzles - a lab and a spaniel.  We were surprised when we first met them and said Surely you’re not fierce?  Their mums said Not at all, they’re big softies but they are terrible scavengers and both of them had ended up on a drip because they got so sick and dehydrated.  
So, it didn’t take very long at all for them to get used to being muzzled, and now everyone can relax and enjoy their walk

That was a nice read.  So glad you enjoyed it.  Shame about the iffy weather.  There’s always the likelihood of a tropical shower (liquid sunshine!) but feeling cold? 😳😱

You still have some ‘must-do’s’ for next time, but you can also be a bit more relaxed in some of the ports; do your own thing or brave a local bus tour or taxi

Welcome back!

That’s lovely

Morning

Wednesday walk with the group today, so I shall have a very happy doggy

Hope that Ted will be fine, once he’s had his sleep and his bath.  A little bit of natural yoghurt or Yakult would probably help him build up his good gut bacteria again - though I know you should starve a sick/squitty pet for 24 hours

Have a good day everyone 

It is, indeed, Selbourne’s buggers muddle 🤣

(I wonder why the software is happy with what is, indisputably, a *rude* word?  Probably because it’s not commonly used in the US.  It’s everywhere, and multi-use, where I come from in Somerset.  Bit like in Alice in Wonderland it can mean whatever you want it to mean

Bad

Good

Bad person

Good person

Good thing

Bad thing

Bad situation

”I’ve hit my thumb with a hammer”

and many more, including the legal one, which only lawyers use)

”

Morning all

Dry day here

Book Club this afternoon 

I suddenly feel the urge to sing from West Side Story

 🎶 I think I'll go back to San Juan
I know a boat you can get on 🎶 

The drinks packages come with a *buy for an adult, get a kids’ package for free*, which would make it a much more attractive proposition for a 2 adult/2 children group

I could never justify the expense - for which my liver probably thanks me

15 hours ago, TigerB said:

BTW - if you've already worked it out, I would be interested to know just how much you saved with your booze package.

This is an impossibility, as we would have behaved quite differently had we not unexpectedly received  that wet windfall.

 £1540 worth!

130% the cost of one of us for the cruise itself 😳

Without it we would have used our fairly generous OBC for more modest alcohol and been much more restrained over paid-for dining.  The Glass House would not have become our go-to.  We would not have purchased any Costa beverages.  I think we might have ended up with a nett bill, once we’d used OBC, of between zero and £150 - that’s what I had budgeted in my head

OH and I tried to work something out as we walked the dog just now.  His reckoning is that, between coffee, water, soft drinks and alcohol, we each averaged 5/6 drinks/day, factoring port v sea days.  He averaged them at £10, seeing as some were ginger beer/coffee and much less expensive, and some were large glasses of wine, or large G&Ts at £16 or so 😱.  
 

So, looks like we fit the P&O bean counters identikit exactly.  5.5 drinks/day @ £10 … oh look, that’s the cost of the deluxe package, £55/day.  Heavy drinkers ought to be quids in

As I said somewhere in the account, whilst not complaining, the gift has left us perplexed about our cruise/holiday future.  We don’t have the 2024 base line we were thinking we would have, and 2020, pre-C, is too much of ‘another world’ to base any planning on

P&O drink prices have certainly risen since 2020