mrsgoggins

Ah, that explains it. I’m with Three and husband is with O2. Thanks

I had nothing, but my husband, with an identical smartphone did. Well that went well!

Thank you for your consideration, and yes, I discovered a mocktail on my last P&O cruise that I really liked - don’t remember the name but it contained elderflower and mint 👍

I was genuinely surprised by the above. Never once have I considered going on a cruise to socialise and would slot into the 'rarely socialise' camp! We have met some interesting people along the way of course, but that has been accidental and not by design. We cruise largely for the destinations - but sometimes just the weather (eg Caribbean or Canaries), ease of travel, and R&R in nice surroundings. The after-dinner entertainment is just a small part, which we largely enjoy.

I also received an offer from Princess on Friday. Maybe we are on the same cruise ..... again 😉. I've not looked seriously at the offer though, for reasons you highlight. Celebrity have been doing this for a few years but again, it's never tempted me. The thought of being allocated a cabin at the bow end, on a high deck, traversing either a rough North Sea or Bay of Biscay could make me ill, without even setting foot on the ship!

I don’t like alcohol so have no interest in the bars (love a good tea/coffee venue however) but we usually go to the theatre unless it’s a magician. I can accept it’s clever stuff, I personally don’t find it entertaining. On the other hand, we’ve seen many acts I would pay handsomely to see in a theatre; (the Shamrock Tenors spring to mind), but mostly I enjoy seeing talented, enthusiastic young people working their socks off and applaud the band of great musicians who make up the ship’s orchestra. And I don’t even mind seeing some cast shows a number of times, no matter how weird (Celebrity excels at weird, P&O less so IMHO 😁). I accept that the chances are high that on each cruise I’m likely to hear Uptown Funk or Bring him Home yet again but I can still enjoy the performance. Maybe I’m weird! I find it to be a pleasant evening to dine, visit the theatre and mosey on straight back to the cabin (usually) to read before bed. Perfect …… but I’m quite happy that others find this puzzling and choose more meaningful ways (to them) to spend their evenings.

I’ve always been pretty happy with Princess so it was a little concerning to have 2 of you report poor service. Let’s hope it was a blip in an otherwise good cruise. See you on board in July 👍

I am sorry to read this, especially as such a cruise on Ventura is in our distant future and another Ventura cruise is in our near future. I will report back if I find it to be inferior to what we have experienced before. I understood what a previous poster says about why he likes buffets, but that is definitely not me! I wouldn't use a buffet if other venues were available and convenient. Our last cruise on Ventura was very good and I remember little about the MDR dining so it must have been okay for us - we are neither picky not demanding ...... well in my view 😁 The buffet was another matter altogether and seemed chaotic on the occasions we did use it. However I also felt the same about the Iona buffet on our recent cruise and certainly not conducive to the 'dining experience' we want much of the time when on holiday. We don't linger over our meals and inform the wait staff accordingly, but we do want a pleasant experience both from the food and the service. I will add that I don't feel so negative towards Celebrity buffets (the line we use most, for whom I don't claim perfection 😉) but accept those cruises cost more pppd than P&O, which I have felt generally offered good value. Back to horses for courses. The cruise I booked last week on returning from Iona is on Cunard, which we have not done before. Read into that what you will!

Me too 👍

Like this (with fingers crossed as I attempt my second photo insertion in 2 days 😄🤞)? I use this all the time for lemon drizzle cake, which I make in loaf tins, 2 at a time. Purchased from a market by Lake Garda.

Coming off Iona last Saturday, I agree but mostly about the portion size and choice. Our first experience of the new ‘difference’ was a roast turkey dinner. Two thin, small pieces of turkey, 2 sprouts, 1 tiny piece of broccoli, a small strip of parsnip and 1 roast potato. The taste was fine by the way. It just looked far more like a child’s portion. This experience was repeated many times in the MDR as far as portion size went. We did not, of course go hungry….. it was just a surprise based on past experience of P&O. On previous P&O cruises I was impressed with the amount of vegetables that arrived as standard, but not this time. Before someone points out that they will happily bring you more by request - I know! We are frequent cruisers (this was our 3rd cruise this year; the others not P&O) and are generally easy to please on the food front, but some of the dining experiences on Iona left us underwhelmed. Epicurean, however, was excellent and we also enjoyed the food in the Limelight club. I definitely suspect budget cuts to food costs and will be interested to see if we feel the same on our upcoming cruise on Ventura.

I don’t! But my son lives in the Lancaster area and so we often add it on to a trip to see the family. My most memorable Christmas of recent years was December 2020 - peak Covid - taking an in-car picnic of turkey and stuffing sandwiches, mince pies and a flask of coffee to Bowland before travelling to my son’s house for tea and Christmas cake sat outside by a fire pit (but still freezing!). Oh how we non-important people celebrated 😉

Beautiful outlook you have there. I agree about not wanting to live anywhere else. I spent 18 years living in Harpenden, near St Albans, but always knew we’d be heading back ‘home’ in retirement despite being quite happy there. A trip out to the glorious Trough of Bowland beckons soon - one of Lancashire’s little-known gems 😊

Yes, we are booked in a standard balcony (as I did say 😉), midship. Up to now we have only ever had superior deluxe with P&O and although £70 pp does not seem outrageous, I won’t be bidding for 2 reasons: 1) Midship is important to me as I’m not a good sailor. 2) We are booked on a 35 night cruise on Ventura next year and at the time of booking, the only midship I could get was a standard balcony and so I want to ‘test the water’ to see if I will be happy with a standard for next year’s long cruise.

Here’s my offer, received today. Ventura, 10 nights next month, currently booked in standard balcony: Super deluxe balcony: £70 pp Family suite: £200 pp Suite: £600 pp Midship suite: £700 pp Penthouse suite, aft £1300 pp I won’t be bidding.

On my windscreen too. I took my elderly neighbour to her coach pick-up point at 7.30 am but DH kindly provided what he refers to as my ‘Princess service’ 😄. He puts a heater inside to defrost 10 minutes before I set off; he’s definitely a keeper!

Pretty certain that the answer will be ‘no they don’t’ for the simple reason that virtually all of your fellow passengers are likely to reside within the U.K. If you were travelling on one of the American lines who base ships here during the major season, such as Celebrity, Royal Caribbean or Princess, then you would probably have more luck as they normally have international passengers on board. I suggest you start to investigate independent transfers, maybe P&O would provide assistance with that? May be worth asking.

LOL, no just a farmer’s field!

Lovely morning here in West Lancashire. An uplifting feel to the day. I was inspired to take a photo from my living room window, so apologies if it turns out upside down or, worse still, huge!

We used them two weeks ago when we joined Iona around 1 pm and waited in the car for no more than 2/3 minutes before we were processed. We have only had a long queue with them just once (a few years ago pre-covid, but from memory, 15 minutes tops), but hey, we were sat in our car and not having to cart the luggage any distance, so no stress at all. Additionally, the disembarkation process was so quick, just across the road, and DH who normally hates handing over the car keys, is always impressed with them and remarked what a slick operation it is.

I’ve always rated her as an actor (but not enough to watch Corrie again) and saw her twice in one woman shows in the West End. The first time was as Joyce Grenfell and the second as Florence Foster Jenkins - years before the film with Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant came out. I think the comedy label comes from her BT ads - ‘an ‘ology, he’s got an ‘ology?’ 😁

After watching since I was a child, I finally gave up on it about 6 or 7 years ago, when the humour became less and less and there so many episodes to catch up on if you had been away - twice a week with Mavis, Percy Sugden, Blanche, Norris etc suited me down to the ground! In fact, when I was about 11, I remember writing to my favourites at Granada requesting signed photos and had a good collection including Elsie Tanner, Len Fairclough, Ena, Martha and Minnie, the latter being a favourite since she included a long hand written letter, probably because I had admired her cat, Bobby 😁. And, Harry if you are reading, I just about remember the Grove family! These days I catch up with the Archers on the iPlayer but that's about it for long running series. After having been away, my recorded catch ups are The Bay, Unforgotten, Would I lie to You and The Andrew Neil Show.

We self-disembarked at 6.30, drove off at 7.50 and were home in West Lancs for 10.35 - a record for us. And yes, the cruise was good thanks, but we belong to the ‘never had a bad one’ group. The Captain told us that the ship had behaved magnificently as it always does during the ‘challenging’ (Bay of Biscay) conditions, and that it would begin to calm by mid afternoon yesterday, which it did. Stugeron (and staying midship) kept me well as you predicted Harry 👍 There was much to admire about the ship, but it’s not for us, so we are very unlikely to sail on Iona again, but it delivered the winter sun we wanted in comfort and without the need to trouble an airport - result! 😄

I think an appropriate term here - one of my late mother's favourites - is Job's comforter 😁

I meant it quite literally when I said ‘interesting’. As in, the Captain reporting the positives whilst still urging caution around the ship when reporting that conditions will deteriorate (my word not his, he spoke of increase of swell etc). I guess he has a decision to make about how much to “share” for not wishing to worry people. I had a full lunch today thinking that it just might be the last time I leave my Iona (mid ship) cabin until Southampton! When you first reported the news about Sky Princess missing ports to dock in Southampton 2 mornings ago, I did wonder why we weren’t doing the same and said I hoped it wasn’t because of Gary Barlow being due on board. DH assured me that the Captain would not have included that in his decision making. Hmmmm 🙄 ….. 🤞