pete14

If I could help I would. Just eat and drink all things that I don’t.🥴

I agree with your wish for her to be left alone. I am completely indifferent to the whole family. I don’t wish them any harm of course but I have no interest in reading about them or seeing regular pictures of them. Don’t forget, it is they who took, manipulated and released the picture. Nobody forced them to do so.

Thanks Selbourne for your reports. I don’t know how you managed to keep it going for the full cruise. I hope you arrived home safely and that your home is still as you left it.

Not too bad especially as it was £15 just for the winter months last year. Mind you, when you add in the 4.99% increase in council tax that seems to be the standard rise over most of the country, maybe it is not so acceptable.

Out of interest, as someone who lived in the same part of the county as I think you do for many years, what church are you referring to?

I think the possible cause may be that when you booked, it appears you booked for two people and this is what appeared on your booking confirmation. Changing the booking by adding the cot seems to have caused the problem. I can only presume that a cabin with a queen size bed, which is in a fixed position within the cabin, does not allow sufficient space to put a cot. Maybe the fixed twin configuration allows this. Mind you, if this is the case, I am surprised this wasn’t explained to you. This doesn’t explain what appears to be un-necessary intransigence on behalf of P&O. You mention booking with an agent. Is that a P&O agent who took your booking directly over the phone or a travel or cruise agent either on the high street, online or phone? If the latter, maybe they should have a go at sorting it out for you.

I had the same issue with my mum a couple of years ago. She had been in hospital for a few weeks, not helped by catching Covid whilst she was in there (tested positive but no symptoms). They would not discharge her to go home with carers as was the situation before her hospital stay, because, quite correctly, they said it would be unsafe, but found her a place in a nursing home for respite care. She had always been opposed to nursing / care homes but accepted the nursing home place (not that she had any real choice), and stayed there for over a year. I have to say, having power of attorney for both health and finance was a great help and I recommend anyone with vulnerable or elderly family members to apply for it.

Of course, but maybe there are greater demands caused by different requirements either through health, personal ethical choices and convictions than once there were, that means space has had to be reapportioned. I don’t doubt there is some cost cutting though. Portion sizes appear to be smaller which is actually not a bad thing in my opinion.

I agree but more galley space to work with may improve the quality if not necessarily the choice. On our recent Aurora cruise, not all meals were as described, especially in the vegetable department where they seemed to serve the same vegetables regardless of the meal choice and how it was described. On the few occasions when green beans were on the menu, we had a pretty standard chunk of carrot and a sprig of broccoli instead, together with partially cooked potatoes.

The classic drinks package does include a selection of wines with your meals but in measures of 175ml. A wider selection and in glasses of 250 ml is available with the deluxe package. Of the two packages, I would pay the extra for the deluxe but it is all a matter of personal preference. I think the majority manage without any package and pay for what they drink on their final account at the end of the cruise. Just be aware that if you have a package, you may be tempted to drink more than you normally would.

I am not trying to defend P&O because food should be better than many have experienced both in quality and choice. However, galley space on Aurora is likely to be small and there can only be a limited amount of different dishes that they can physically produce. This is not helped by the need to cover not just vegetarian / pescatarian / vegan dishes but also special diets such as gluten free, low fat, low sugar etc. These need separate, dedicated preparation areas which cut back on space for the ‘ordinary’ menu choices. Maybe the larger ships with larger galleys can manage this more easily and effectively.

One of my funniest dining moments occurred many years ago in a restaurant in the Lake District. Gravlax of salmon was on the menu as a starter and a more mature in years ‘posh’ lady had ordered it. When the waiter served it to her, she complained quite loudly and bitterly that she couldn’t eat it because it was not cooked. The waiter calmly assured her that Gravlax is cured salmon and shouldn’t be cooked. It was perfectly safe to eat. The lady was having none of this, saying in increasing levels of loudness, that she had eaten in some of the top restaurants in the country and the world and had never been served raw salmon in any of them. The waiter carefully explained again to her that Gravlax is never cooked but that he would happily replace it with another dish from the menu. She demanded the manager should be called and he arrived and explained that the waiter was correct. She failed to accept his assurances as well. Her poor husband seemed to be shrivelling up inside himself in embarrassment whilst this was happening. Of course, we and everybody else, were in awe of this ladies greater knowledge and experience of the culinary world and couldn’t stop ourselves from listening in with increasing amusement. It did bring to mind the Fawlty Towers episode with the lady who was hard of hearing being shown into her room and complaining about the view, (Mrs. Richards?). Of course many people who subsequently ordered the Gravlax (but definitely not me because I wouldn’t dream of it🥴) checked with the waiter whether it was cooked or not before ordering it.

I am sure that we in North Staffordshire won’t have to wait much longer for such traffic infrastructure to reach us. After all, we are all allegedly being levelled up. 🚌

Just give them only the 2 for £10:50 menus, provided it has something on it that you want.

Chocolate mouse cake? I suppose that is one way of getting rid of them. Watch out for the ratatouille.

But what a great and brave performance she gave at the Grammies last week considering what has happened to her life, health wise, over the last few years.

Only if eating at knight

We are also with Staysure. We made a claim for a cruise we had to cancel about 18 months ago caused by serious illness of a family member who was not travelling. It was eventually settled in full but it took about three months and us having to provide an overload of proof, some of which would have been very difficult to obtain without having power of attorney for the person with the illness. My feeling is that delays were caused by the company who Staysure sub contract the claims process to, rather than Staysure themselves. Perhaps they should handle claims as well as selling their insurance.

Oatcake production line, and lunch today

No yeast Eddie, at least not in ours. Just 4 ingredients: flour, oats, water and a pinch of salt.

I agree with you but I guess they are working on the basis of the fact that meat eaters can eat vegetarian and vegan dishes, which they have to provide, but vegetarians and vegans can’t eat meat dishes. In a galley with restricted space and thousands of mouths to feed, where different preparation ares are needed to prevent ‘contamination’, choice is inevitably going to be restricted. Add to that the area for special diets….

Oatcakes are made from water, wheat flour, oats and a pinch of salt, mixed together and cooked on a griddle like a pancake. More healthy than bread and no need for butter.

As things stand at the moment, owning up to supporting Stoke City is almost as bad as supporting the Vale. Staffordshire football isn’t great at the moment. Must be all the oatcakes slowing the players down.

I guess by now, most people are totally confused by this. Never mind. I am quite partial to oatcakes from the oatcake shop in Goldenhill. Like others, they are freshly made in the shop so always fresh. Their pikelets are good too. More confusion reigns in all parts of the country apart from ours.🥴

Seems very sensible to me although I am saddened that there are obviously people out there who need to be told to keep their pets in a different room from the boiler. I don’t suppose it applies to rabbits, hamsters and goldfish though.