pete14

45 minutes ago, davecttr said:

Now seems to be heading toward Stavanger.

Cruisemapper shows she has passed Stavanger and is sailing in a South Westerly direction into the North Sea. Wind is 18 m/s, sailing at 17 knots in rough 2.7 metre seas. Not too bad at the moment, hopefully it won’t deteriorate.

On our only cruise this year, the day in November when we sailed towards Alta in the company of countless whales, watching two sea eagles fishing alongside Aurora whilst being mobbed by gulls when we had docked and then sitting watching the Northern Lights to complete the most amazing magical day at sea. 

7 minutes ago, Glitterati said:

From what I’ve read on fb, crew were not checking seat belts or telling people to sit down when the sign was on. 

It saddens me that a plane full of adults need to have their seat belts checked and be told to sit down when the seat belts on sign is lit. If the situation is potentially so hazardous that seat belts are required, once they have done their other safety duties (stowing the trolleys etc), it is only reasonable for crew to be allowed to sit with their belts on rather than go down the aisle to tell adults to sit down and belt up.

26 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

Was it the carpet that gave it away ?  I  sure that the Glasshouse on Britannia had that carpet.  I could be wrong because I haven't been in Miller and Carter in years.

They do serve the garlic the other way up though so I am not sure. 

41 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Lunch out for us. We had a break from all the faff this year, but still have more food than morrisons.

Zaps Christmas quiz. Which pic is the Britannia Glasshouse and which is Miller and Carter.

 

My considered opinion is that the Glasshouse is picture 2.

Pete junior has returned from his ‘park run’, presents opened and Alexa has just turned on the tree lights.

Merry Christmas to all ‘virtual friends’ on here (and a couple of actual ones) wherever you are and especially to those who are not well. Loin of pork for dinner today and turkey tomorrow when we have at least the immediate family all together. I hope whatever you do and whoever you do it with, everybody has a wonderful time, even if it has to be slightly delayed. 
Cue loads of pictures of turkeys and the trimmings in a few hours time, but please, no Costa, MacDonalds, Greggs etc today.🎅🏼🥳

23 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

+1

+2

I would happily pay more because Lisbon is one of my favourite ports. For such a small amount, I am fairly sure P&O would absorb it as an extra cost, at least until the cruises for summer 2026 become available.

12 hours ago, Pickalily, Wilts said:

 If I sail Arcadia in May, will she have had remedial work following her RtW trip?

I can’t see why any work would be needed. As Moley says, ships are maintained daily and the distance travelled on a world cruise can’t be much different from 100 days of shorter cruises. The ships don’t normally have any rest with the quick turnarounds in Southampton. Last month I went to Arctic Norway on Aurora. She had just returned from a trans Atlantic cruise, and when we returned, she did a short Northern Europe followed by the Canaries and back. 

31 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

Both ships are due dry docks across the next 18 months. Aside from the usual engineering works, P&O have already announced significant investment on the hotel side, so rooms, lounges, passenger facilities etc. in monetary terms even if not the detail.

 

This is on top of the new furniture delivered this year.

 

Looking ahead, the spend is focused on keeping the ships with P&O until they are 30+. Due to the pandemic, we can expect the ships to hang around longer than maybe they previously wood have.

 

Please also bear in mind that Arcadia is only 3 years older than Ventura, and no one is writing her off yet!

 

Finally, my overarching caveat, ANY ship could be sold at ANY time if someone offered the right price.

But let us not let the facts as you have so helpfully provided get in the way of another ‘scare story’ based on no evidence apart from their age. Aurora last month was excellent, comfortable and a pleasure to sail on.

32 minutes ago, Host Sharon said:

I wish you all a happy, healthy and peaceful Christmas. After another month in hospital with pneumonia, Christmas and cruising are cancelled for the time being. Just appreciate everything one has and take nothing for granted.

So sorry to hear of another long hospital stay. Hopefully you are now back at home and on the mend. Have a great Christmas and thanks for your efforts at keeping us in order again this year. 

1 hour ago, amurray88 said:

Agreed... the rest is mainly compensation for unfortunate events that on the whole, are first world problems. These 2 are absolutely imperative.

I agree that those are imperative, just check that the financial level of cover meets P&Os requirements. I presume it will, but best to make sure. I mentioned the extras that cruise cover provides because I know some get disappointed when they fail to get cover for things like missed ports because they do not take out this extra cover.

4 minutes ago, zap99 said:

DW said ' can you see if you can get a Christmas radio times when you go up the shop ?.  £4.99😡. 2 days later it was free in the paper....Next year..Bah.Humbug.

For Christmas Day, you could probably use last year’s copy because it rarely changes year from year. I expect it will include Eastenders, Coronation Street, Dr Who, Call the Midwife, a couple of ‘celebrity’ game shows and a spin off from Strictly Come Dancing.

Covering cruises and cruise cover can be different things. Covering cruises can be interpreted as meaning they will cover a cruise in the same way as any other package  holiday. Cruise cover is likely to cover extras such as missed port cover along with the more basic things.

21 minutes ago, kalos said:

 I just sent five minutes looking on the t -pilot site and apart from the silly 5*reviews that any insurer gets with "they took my money with no fuss " as they would .

Others read I was stuck and no one to talk to, no help ,everything online .

As we are not allowed to advertise I will say this a few weeks ago when my Mrs took ill

onboard a ship we were landed a 2K plus bill but no worries .

As once home they contacted us with a human who sorted us out with what was required 

and could talk to them anytime . More important they paid out no stalling .

 

My advice if they don't have a UK call centre and are mega cheap I would steer clear .

When things go wrong and your heads all over the place , you will be glad of a reassuring voice and not texts and e-mail chats from your insurer .

Another thing to find out is whether they provide the minimum level of cover that P&O require. 

I hope you enjoy your cruise and manage to see the lights as we did. 

I agree with what people are saying about this being a common but unwelcome and in some cases misleading marketing ploy but just to say that whilst onboard Aurora recently, my son bought himself an expensive watch which was about 25% cheaper than he could have bought it for online. The 10% loyalty discount reduced the price and increased the saving further. 

47 minutes ago, Eddie99 said:

If the radio station being referred to is the one I’m thinking of, I must say that it has some interesting features 

News article are covered in depth, not raced through breathlessly, ready for the next guest.  Always remember the publisher and where they are coming from and be prepared to pick out the non-hyperbolic reality

Ive learnt a lot from assorted half-hour *stories of our times*, available as podcasts.  
It’s good for sleepless nights.  I used to switch on BBC world service but this is much less repetitive 

 

PS - Why are we being coy?  There’s no restriction on discussing radio stations, is there?

I don’t really know why I was not upfront about naming Times Radio but I just felt the hint was preferable. Despite the ownership of the paper, I think it gives good news coverage but the presenters are more informal than on R4 as they don’t have the apparent requirement for complete seriousness. However, as with every media outlet, selective listening could give grounds for complaints of bias if listeners have such an agenda.

2 hours ago, Presto2 said:

 

I am in shock though re your post  ------ there is actually a reputable radio news channel !!!!! 

I may tell you about it sometime but it is associated with a famous broadsheet newspaper that is not the torygraph. Only on DAB radio though.

28 minutes ago, zap99 said:

I didn't get any emails. Nor did I see any concerned campaigns on social media. We all love a good conspiracy theory.

Obviously neither of us are on their mailing lists. I don’t know for certain whether this is a conspiracy theory or not, but I heard it on a reputable radio news channel (not BBC) this morning.

2 hours ago, zap99 said:

Farage did quite well. I thought he would go out fairly early.

I believe that a certain right wing party / company for which he is principal shareholder and a TV news channel for which he works both sent lots of emails to their supporters asking them to download the I’m a celebrity app and use the 5 free votes every night to keep Farage in. It doesn’t quite seem within the spirit of the programme, although I presume others had backing within social media groups.

10 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

Following this logic then , we should have no suites , no cabins with windows  which aren't fair to insiders and one restaurant based on a works canteen 

I disagree with your logic. The speciality restaurants are there for anybody to use, regardless of their cabin grade and can fill up very quickly. Reducing availability for 95% of passengers in favour of the few who choose to have a suite is unfair. An extra restaurant specifically for those in suites would be fairer, just like at breakfast (which uses a speciality restaurant that would otherwise be closed). How easy would it be to find the space for such a restaurant exclusively for the use of suite dwellers I am not sure but that way, existing restaurants would not be affected, in fact it would increase availability for the rest. It would almost certainly increase the price of suites though.

1 hour ago, Windsurfboy said:

Perhaps the only tweak is not free speciality restaurants for suites , but guarantee of a place,  so open them up to suites a week before rest

If I were selfish, I would agree, but it is hardly fair on the 95ish% of people whose chance to experience speciality restaurants would be decreased further.

53 minutes ago, Splice the mainbrace said:

I believe that Nathan Jones is still available after setting the Saints on the path to relegation last season😡 I’m sure that he would get a good welcoming 😂

Please behave! We have had our share of ‘Mad Nath’, it must be somebody else’s go.  😱