pete14

If your key fob has stopped working because the battery has run down, be prepared to have it replaced in both key fobs because apparently, they ‘talk to each other’ electronically even if they are not both being used. At least the ones for my Honda do.

Perhaps they see the information as too important to trust a third party to deal with. If so, very creditable.

On 14th September, I received an email relating to our Ventura cruise at the end of this month. It outlined the revised vaccination and testing requirements which are still on force at the moment. It made it very clear that full vaccination was a requirement but that testing was no longer compulsory but strongly recommended. This came by email because that is my selected line of communication. I presume that those who choose to be notified by post, received a letter. I agree though that it would be good practice to tell those booking late that the protocols have changed. That said, if you book by phone, there is recorded notification of the policy as you wait to be put through to an agent and if booking online (something I would never do apart from a dummy booking to check availability and accurate pricing), you cannot proceed to book without ‘checking the box’ to notify them that you have read the vaccination and testing policies that appear on screen. Personally, if booking well in advance, I see no point outlining the protocols when booking or on the booking confirmation because they are likely to change but an update such as the one we received a few weeks before the cruise departs seems to be good practice. Presumably those who use an agent to handle their booking have to rely on their agent passing the information on to their client.

Having given them details many years ago, I just email the request. I actually use an old request, change the cruise details and resend it. Never had a problem.

The text system informed me this morning, that due to staff illness, possibly to Dr F Clinic himself, that my appointment has been rescheduled for tomorrow. The text system clearly works.

Our surgery makes full use of automatic text messaging to remind about appointments and it works well and is not as intrusive as a phone call. We have had a couple of reminders about the flu jab appointment we have tonight. The appointment is with Dr. F Clinic.

Apart from a long wait at some peak times, there is nothing painful about phoning P&O to book. Everyone I have ever dealt with has been polite, friendly and helpful. However, as you chose to hand your booking to an agent, it is they who should be pursuing this on your behalf.

We spent the afternoon considering what to do about our Ventura cruise at the end of this month. It seems certain that our suite will still be in the isolation section. Rather than waiting any longer for P&O to move us possibly to a cabin we did not want or wasn’t suitable, or give us future cruise credit if they couldn’t find an alternative, we noticed a mid ships suite had become available to book. After waiting nearly an hour on the phone, we paid a little extra for the ‘upgrade’ suite to give us the surety we needed (rate taken from when we booked at launch rather than today’s price which is over £1200 more) and now know we will be going away in a suite that meets our needs but not where we would have preferred it to have been. A good result (I think).

Can somebody currently on Ventura please give an update on the location of isolation cabins on Ventura. We have a suite booked on C deck aft from Oct 29th which I believe has been, and possibly still is, where the isolation cabins are. P&O don’t seem to want to tell me.

Not an expert, but my guess is that the occupancy rates are at least partially fuelled by future cruise credit bookings which may have been in the accounts when the original cancelled cruise was booked. We don’t know how much of that money was spent to keep Carnival going when cruises were not happening. It can only be spent once.

According to HL, closed about £5.80. ☹️🫣

Terms and Conditions change as circumstances change. Even the terms and conditions in force when you booked had changed several times over the past couple of years, not always in the favour of P&O; 125% future cruise credit for example. I have no idea how many times terms and conditions have changed since we booked our cruise departing in 5 weeks on the launch date.

Seems as though you had a whale of a time.

Not at their prices.

I find it helpful to record such things on my phone. White coat syndrome exists for me as well.

I had my hair cut onboard a few years ago. I wasn’t overly impressed and thought it expensive. They were quite keen to sell me hair care products, offers I declined. Locally I pay less than half of that for a simple trim which is really all I need. Best to have it done before you cruise rather than during.

Best advice is to find the magic money tree and the gravy trains will be coming and going with great regularity. 🌳🚂🚆

Not a sea, but I guess there are a lot of them sunk to the depths of the canals.

I guess the only ‘boat’ you are aware of is the one that takes you to nice places on cruises.

That explains why the chips looked chip shop made rather than home made, and very nice too. Kidney in the steak pie?

Obviously a very sensible man with good taste.

Tartare what? Our chippy only does curry sauce, gravy and mushy peas. Lemon comes in a tin with carbonated water and sugar / sweeteners. For a change, their steak puddings, fresh out of the steamer, are excellent as well, with no sauce required. Picture to follow next time I have one (may be a while).

Well done to you and all your team members. Presumably you even won on the ‘dodgy’ green near us. 🥇🌟

This is difficult to answer. Going north, starboard is best although on a Northern lights cruise, I took some good photographs of the Lofoten islands from the port side. After you turn round and sail back South, if you call at a port or two rather than going straight home across the North Sea, port is best although as has already been posted, it is dependent on how far from the coast you are. Whilst sailing in the fjords themselves, as presumably you will spend some time doing, you are close to the cliffs on either side.

Cloud, sunshine, very strong winds and rough sea here in North Wales.