Denarius

At one time pre pandemic you could hire a day cabin for your day of disembarkation, available on a first come first served basis. Price depended on which grade of cabin you chose, from memory typically about £50(?). Cabin was available mid morning to late afternoon, if you were very lucky (I once was) you might even be able to book your own cabin and just stay in it. Don't know whether they still do this though, do not recall it being advertised on my one post pandemic cruise.

I think that there are two separate issues here. The advantages of booking whilst onboard and P&Os policy of "fluid pricing". If you book onboard you will get better terms than had you booked onshore at the same time. But you will not necessarily get better terms than you would either onshore or onboard a few days later as the price may have changed for the better in the meantime; just like you might buy something from Tesco one day to find the price has gone down when you next visit a few days later. But the price could equally as well have gone up. Would you be complaining then?

If you are not eligible for Saga's included insurance because of existing medical conditions I suggest that you obtain quotations from one of the insurers which specialise in extra risks like AllClear or Staysure as well as Saga's own insurance provider. You may well find that they are cheaper.

Quite rightly so, regardless of where the fault lies. They should be capable of checking their records to confirm whether or not the necessary exit information was given. If it was not, it would be up to them to rectify it. If it was, they would be able to bring the lack of follow up action to the attention of the US authorities. You as an individual do not have the detailed information necessary to do this.

A few years ago when doing a back to back cruise with another line I was told that I did not need to attend the muster for the second cruise. I was told that whilst all passengers needed to attend a muster before the start of their voyage back to back cruises were considered as being one voyage, with the second cruise being regarded as a continuation of the first.

Interesting. I am 76 and had my 5th covid vaccination last September. Yesterday I received a letter from the NHS "reminding" me to get a covid-19 vaccination "if you're aged 75 or over (by 30 June 2023)" This puzzled me because it is the first communication I have had since my last vaccination, and no explanation was given as to why "by 30th June 2023" other than to state "the last date you will be able Spring vaccination is 30 June" Your post explains what the NHS apparently did not think worth explaining!

I think that you have to look at this in context. Star Clippers have 3 ships with a total passenger capacity of less than 600. The big cruise lines have much greater capacity - P&O for example have 7 ships with a total capacity of around 24,000, about 40 times as great. So you would expect their boards to be more active. Also, Star Clippers passengers are multinational especially on European sailings with many not having English as their main language. So they may well not join an English language internet group.

Yes.

Not that I remember. The Britannia lounge is very much a cabaret lounge rather than a ballroom. Music is mainly for listening rather than for dancing - although you can do the latter in the modern manner and many do.

Which for P&O was a problem, as their business model nowadays is to sell cruises dirt cheap and make the money on onboard spending. So every area has to earn revenue, and a general lounge area where passengers can relax without doing so does not fit it.

The thing that strikes me is that dinner is now effectively portrayed as a 3 course meal, with soups being grouped together with starters and the cheese course being shown under desserts. It used to be portrayed as a 5 course meal - starters, soups, main course, desserts and cheese board - albeit that not everyone ordered every course. Fewer courses as well as smaller portions?

I did not get a cruise log on my 2022 cruise on Azura. I suspect that like other things they were suspended during covid but have not been reinstated, and probably never will.

The problem with Ventura and Azura (and their Princess equivalents) is that they are based on the Grand Princess but with an extra deck of cabins added, increasing the passenger capacity by about 20%. But there is no more public space, indeed some has been lost to fit in yet more cabins! So when the ships are full they feel overcrowded as there are 6 people using space and facilities designed for 5.

From my personal experience Ryanair are in a class of their own, and I do not mean that in a positive way! I flew with Easyjet some time ago and from what I can remember they were quite accepable in a no frills sort of way. But watch your carry on luggage, their size limits are smaller than many - but nowhere near as small as Ryanair's.

When I flew Manchester to Malta to join Azura last September we were on Jet2 scheduled flights.

Maybe it depends on atmosperic conditions such as wind speed and direction and perhaps the level of humidity. Also the speed of the ship. So if the ship is sailing quickly into a strong wind it may well blow any soot well clear, but if the ship is sailing slowly with a stong following wind it may well blow it back. Just a thought which may explain peoples differing experiences.

I have only sailed with Saga 3 times -1xSofA, 2xSofD - but have not encountered a soot problem on any of them. Indeed, I was not aware there was one until reading of it on these boards.

Exactly my thoughts, Andrew. When I first sailed with P&O they were very much an up market line, albeit with prices to match. This was refected not only in the high standards in the restaurants, but in the little touches which differentiate between a luxury experience and a bog standard one. You list several, to which I would add things such as: canapes in the bars before lunch and dinner and at the captains reception, where they served real champagne: plates of assorted petit fours after dinner, not just one type carefully counted out at one per diner: speciality buffets in the restaurant in the evenings and on deck sometimes at lunchtimes on sea days: deck events on sea days: complimentary cabin service 24 hrs a day.......... To be fair, many of these are things a new cruiser would not necessarily expect to get, and "you don't miss what you ain't never had". But taken together, for those who "have had" they reflect a general cutting back to a price rather than pricing up to a standard.

There were no themed events on my Azura cruise last September. Neither were there any deck events or buffets.

Regarding white artists potraying black people, this is surely part of the trend towards "colour blind casting". As evidenced by a black woman recently playing Ann Boleyn on screen, and an Asian man playing David Copperfield. Something with which you may or may not agree with personally, but what is sauce for the goose is surely sauce for the gander.

Must be a slip of the finger. The OP refers to the Exchange bar; the pub bar on Azura is called Brodies.

Agree with your last paragraph. The only time I have been served coffee at table in a P&O buffet was on the first of my two cruises on Britannia. But it was not served so on my second cruise. So maybe it depends on the restaurant manager and the availability of staff, and different people on different cruises may have different experiences. At one time however there used to be a wine waiter taking orders for drinks at lunch and dinner; did not work particularly well as you had often finished your meal before your drink arrived and had to remain at your table until it did so. This was then replaced by self service machines which dispensed wine by the glass.

In some ports the shuttle bus is provided by the port authority rather than P&O, in which case it is free for all passengers. Only those provided by P&O charge.

Or Saga. In the Saga buffet restaurant tables are already set with cutlery and napkins. Only food is self service, all beverages are waiter served. Waiters clear the crockery from each course whilst you go to the buffet for the next, and reset the table when you finally leave. They are very good at recognising the latter, as a single traveller I have never had my table reoccupied mid meal. Unlike P&O! And they do not have trays.

A bit of a storm in a tea cup imo. To me it seems natural to go to a buffet for one course at a time. I recently cruised with another line which did not provide trays and I do not recall anyone commenting on their absence; indeed until I read this thread I never even thought about it.