pete14

After yesterday, it was clear his time was up. I have never seen such a dreadful game and weird substitutions. I am not sure about Mowbray, but looking at the bookies’ odds, the field is not extensive and his odds are quite short. You are further into the process than us so hopefully we won’t be squabbling over the same person. We are at home to Swansea on Tuesday and I think they are in a similar situation re a manager.

Social elite or those who consider themselves to be some sort of social elite?

I agree that suites are not worth booking if the extra cost is so high. When we book them, we are careful to choose cruises where the differential is smaller than you quote. Just to correct something, in a suite the room service is completely free and includes the cost of the food, not just the service charge. Only a benefit if you use room service.

Pyjama day watching Judge Judy? Wow, you know how to live. 😉

I think booking prior to departure has a small discount but not huge. Trips do sell out, especially those that cannot take large numbers and it may not be possible to put on more. If comparing P&O trips with independents, P&O use reputable companies to operate their excursions which lessens the chance of you booking with a ‘rogue operator’ whose attitude to health and safety may be questionable. If your P&O trip returns late for any reason, the ship will wait for you. If an independent tour operator/ taxi is delayed, you may get back in time to see the ship disappearing into the distance. My advice is to stick with the P and O trip, book in advance, especially for popular activities that may sell out quickly and enjoy whatever you choose.

Thanks for your report. All seems very positive which is good but I couldn’t help but pick up on your point about the slimmed down MDR menu in the evening. It seems as though this may be a Carnival thing because Aurora was the same a couple of weeks ago.

But sunrise in Arctic Norway at this time of year is much much closer to noon than midnight so not quite as obvious as it would appear.

Maybe it is the M and S way of persuading shoppers to use cash and not a card. Mind you, in the last month, I have tried to buy things in other shops where there are no self service tills. After waiting a few minutes for someone to come to the till to serve, I and others in the queue left the items we wanted to buy on the counter and walked out without them.

Not just discriminatory, derogatory and ageist but M and S discriminatory, derogatory and ageist. 😊

Yes there are plenty of staff but I think it is unreasonable to expect them to stand around all night waiting for people to return from where they have been, or to leave the ship, in the sort of temperatures experienced on these cruises. I guess you have never been on a winter Northern Lights cruise. I will say no more because I don’t want to become involved in a debate on this issue, especially as you appear to have little concern for the health and well being of the crew who serve us so well.

Sorry, I was not considering that. I wonder whether a full suite has ever been available to be featured in the bidding system.

Because there are only a limited number of suites, they tend to sell quickly so it is likely that an upgrade is not possible because suites are sold out.Maybe a mini suite is available to upgrade to, but it does not include many benefits, certainly not the speciality restaurant breakfast, butler nor free food service. If you do find a suite to upgrade to, the price you will pay is the price that existed at the time of your original booking which may be to your advantage.

Our recent cruise on Aurora to the north of Norway was the same but I didn’t pick up any adverse comments. I realise it says ‘overnight in port’ but it also says depart early morning’ and that this could be a bit confusing, but I don’t see any real cause for complaint. I must say that I think it is a bit unfair to expect crew members to man the gangway and scan you back onboard in the early hours of the morning in potentially extreme cold weather.

Are you sure you wouldn’t like to reconsider. If they have a youngster lined up, he will surely benefit from such an experienced mentor to work with and guide him.

Graham, if you want Alex Neal back, not many Stoke fans will raise a voice in opposition.

I am so sorry for your losses Josy. I am sure you will have the inner strength to get through it. As others have said, you will have many cherished memories that you will never forget.

The 10% discount I took advantage of was for booking early on launch. No doubt, in the 2+ years between now and sailing, there will be other offers, especially if the cruise isn’t selling well. Maybe the 5% discount that Fred offers is balanced by offering less OBC. I always think the most reliable cost of the cruise is the Fare minus the OBC. I would be astonished if I could book a suite on Fred for what I paid for this one, whether I take the generous OBC into account or not.

We certainly received the full 10% discount off the cruise we booked yesterday for January 2026. From my experience, booking during this introductory stage is financially worthwhile, especially for cabins that sell out quickly and don’t make it to the later ‘saver’ stage. The OBC we received was greater than the difference between select and early saver, regardless of the other lesser benefits.

Yes and no.

Midships on R deck. Shame it is not aft but that or nothing.

Booked last remaining suite leaving on Jan 10 2026, returning on Jan 24 2026, flying from Manchester. Crazy price and more OBC than I have ever seen for a 14 night cruise.

There was one available but no longer. 😊😉

As I said in my blog recently, food in MDR was OK but got a bit ‘samey’. If you can, I would try to book Sindhu and Beach House at least once each, preferably this morning before you board. The Glasshouse is a good alternative but small and no advance bookings. If you have special dietary needs, I hope you haven’t told them and just choose sensibly from the menu.

We had the deluxe package on our recent Aurora cruise. I agree with the more recent comments here. Our favourite wine is around £15 for a large 250ml glass, but there are many that are cheaper and a few a little more expensive I think. Three glasses throughout the day covers the cost so any others, whether alcoholic or not (including coffee), increase the value. For beer drinkers (about £5 a pint) or those happy with poorer quality wines or spirits, it may not be such good value. The package is personal preference of those in the cabin. For some it is well worth it, for others it is not.

It was the higher spec (ultimate one). For 11 nights, discounted on the offer and by Peninsular Club discount, it cost around £160. The daily refund for the two days where it was unavailable for many hours was £14 a day, which was about right. The main problem was the outages. It did run fairly slowly compared to home broadband but I did not really test it out by using it to do more complex things that require greater speed. Had I known that it was not the Starlink, I may still have bought it but may have been more greatly discouraged by the cost. Around half of the days on this cruise were sea days when onshore 4G was not an option.