mrsgoggins

34 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

I have nothing against getting a taxi and know the local phone number off by heart, but it’s a bit more difficult with my Mum, she has a trolley which she is very wobbly with and a very heavy wheelchair that is not really suitable although we used it in the hospital when we were visiting I couldn’t have managed it without John. 

Forgive me if I am mentioning something you have already done but maybe a local authority assessment could help with suggestions and more aids around the house that might assist your mum?  The LA were very good with a gentleman for whom I hold Power of Attorney and provided many aids. The falling is obviously a big concern.  We did buy a lightweight aluminium wheelchair for short car journeys for him, which I could manage, although I appreciate that as a non-driver this would not help you.

Really feel for you right now. 

13 minutes ago, purplesea said:

Sorry no experience of Uber.

We stayed at the West Quay Premier Inn in September and pre-booked two taxis from the foyer. They arrived at the time we booked and I received text notifications with the registration numbers and the type of cars just before they arrived. 

Thank you. That was very useful information and that’s what I’m going to do now you’ve given me that information 👍
 

I’m both a planner and a worrier - and taxis and Ubers take me out of my comfort zone!

Advice on Uber use would be much appreciated. I've downloaded the App and added credit card details.

I'm currently at a Southampton city centre Premier Inn after having travelled down from the NW on an Eavesway coach to City terminal (excellent by the way). I should have been sailing to Fort Lauderdale on Celebrity Silhouette today but due to the storms and the closure of Lisbon port, she is still sailing and the latest ETA is 5.30 pm today, Sunday.

Celebrity offered boarding at 11.00-1 am initially (now moved to 9.30-1.00 am) or 7.00-10.30 in the morning, and that was our choice; hence the PI booking.  They have also laid on a shuttle service to the shopping area, which coincidentally is 150 yards from the PI, so getting here was unexpectedly easy.

Tomorrow morning we will go to the port early-ish - about 7.30 I expect. On check in I mentioned this and the assistant recommended we pre- book a taxi (direct line in foyer) rather than using Uber, saying it could be difficult in the morning.

I've no experience of Uber but thought this would give us flexibility if we are even earlier. Anyone think Uber might be a problem for us early on a Monday morning in Southampton?

Thanks 

So sorry to read of your loss Sue and the challenges you face. It sounds like you have a good family so I hope you are able to get all the support you need in addition to your mother. 

22 minutes ago, BigAl94 said:

I would be more inclined to follow this. All sorts of factors including other port traffic, pilotage availability, berthing crew etc. Doesn't mean that a ship can just rock up and get immediate attention! Given the uncertainty I fail to see why Celebrity doesn't make a call now and allow passengers to stay on board till early morning, that way everyone knows what they are dealing with including those boarding for the TA. Are they serious about dumping passengers on shore Sunday night to find own accommodation?

This exactly!

Celebrity have promised more details by noon UK time today and I’ll be hoping for a  Monday departure rather than any possibility of sitting in the terminal building for hours late at night waiting to board.

That, I assume, would also assist many passengers currently on board who would not need to leave the ship immediately after what is likely to be a rough crossing of the BoB and into Southampton.

11 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I must apologise, as I could be accused of that in my excitement to share our news about the Aurora 65 nighter that we booked on the spur of the moment last week. It certainly was never my intention to rub anyone’s nose in it and, in my defence, the prices I have quoted are clearly visible on the P&O website for all to see. Also, as you know, late savers come with some limitations and risks and no OBC. 
 

I'm so pleased that you have been reassured that you were not the target of anyone's displeasure. Count me in as one who has followed all of your planning (and trip report) posts and was delighted that you and your wife have a bargain.

I've done cruises with Celebrity, Princess and P&O (2) this year, but only with the P&O Iona cruise did I experience several people sharing how little they had paid. As previously reported, one comment was.... '£50 a day, i can eat more than that'.  I wasn't at all upset at the people who had got the bargains, and congratulated them on their good fortune. I was irritated at myself for having booked at launch and definitely not a bargain price and with P&O!

I'm very familiar with fluid pricing, particularly with airlines, and have had more than my share of good deals over the years, being quite a savvy consumer, but I'll be very cautious with P&O should I book with them in the future.

The only cruises I would now look at for launch bookings (with P&O) would be 'one off' itineraries or if I needed popular holiday times. 

1 minute ago, Adawn47 said:

I also put a piece of marzipan in some of the mince pies too for the marzipan addicts.

Namely me😋

Avril

Me too Avril, and what a good idea 👍.  Marzipan is something I always make from scratch with just a bit of brandy added.  As a near non-drinker my Christmas cakes get a good slug of brandy one way or another 😁

5 hours ago, Splice the mainbrace said:

Mary Berry has a recipe using butter.

https://www.maryberry.co.uk/recipes/christmas/special-mincemeat

That’s the one I use too 👍

Thank you for taking the time to write about your trip.

We have not been on Arvia but have been on Iona - the cruise we enjoyed, the ship not so much! Your review has confirmed that we won't be on Arvia either, but was very interesting to read about nonetheless.

34 minutes ago, Purdey16 said:

Ohhhhh Denny’s graham we lived in there when we lived in Canada, I think I would be two tone Tessie now if we stayed.😂

I know what you mean!  We limit ourselves to one Denny’s Grand Slam breakfast per trip, because that sees you right through the day 😋😋 …. Well, more or less 😉

15 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

We were visiting the boardwalk and had booked dinner in a restaurant on the Boardwalk.

Any recommendations for other places you ate Graham?  We always have at least one meal at Carrabba’s, a lunch at a Cheesecake Factory (the lunchtime barbecue ranch salad - my favourite - has more than 1200 calories 😱), Miller’s Ale House and like to try the occasional new place, so suggestions would be welcome.

I hope you are managing to stay awake given that you flew back overnight.  I really dislike the flight back; it takes me days to recover. Next year we are sailing back, yeah!

2 hours ago, grapau27 said:

It is 8°F and sunny here.

We got home this morning after 8 days in Orlando Florida where temperatures ranged between 30°C and 35°C.

I know both resorts well Graham!  I'll be heading to Vero Beach, followed by Old Key West myself before the end of the year and am booked in at the Boardwalk next year.  Are you a member or just visiting?  We rarely visit the parks these days (but still have non-expiring tickets) but they are lovely places just to chill IMO, and we have friends not too far away.  Shame about the exchange rate though.

It's a few years since we've been to the Longhorn steakhouse - looks good.  You've brightened up my Sunday no end 💐

2 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

And Ken Dodd was very fortunate indeed to have had a Liverpool jury. Anywhere else in the country and he’d have ended up in prison like Piggott.

‘Thirty Bob Kid’, an autobiography written by Dave Dutton, a journalist-turned-actor, contains a few chapters on the years when he was a scriptwriter for Doddy and is quite enlightening about Ken Dodd’s relationship to money.  So much so that a fellow scriptwriter to Doddy suggested they should write a book and call it ‘How tickled we weren’t’. 

4 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Just been for our covid boosters, in our arms. Off to get some tyres and then shopping. No Food poisoning so far today.🤣

😁 Funnily enough, I’d only just been reading the ‘food poisoning’ (which wasn’t) saga and had just concluded I have too much time on my hands!  Not strictly true though - I like to read of others’ experiences and what you are all up to, it’s much easier than doing things I’ve been putting off. Please to read your toe is in good condition again though 😂

@lincsladyand @indiana123, I too was up in the wee small hours.  This time I ate a banana, took one sleeping pill (a combination pill of paracetamol and sleeping aid bought in the USA) and one paracetamol and decided to check recipes for apple cakes - as you do at 4 am 😉.

I printed out the Dorset apple cake after last week’s tempting picture, but I’ve also found a Delia chunky apple cake recipe I’d been meaning to try.  I may give both a go given the number of apples I have.  I’ve already prepared and frozen lots of pie/crumble packs.  Alas DH doesn’t care to eat any of the varieties we grow and so there is still a Tesco order for Pink Lady or Jazz etc 🙄.

Today’s busy after my slow start so the cake making may be tomorrow.  Also the second brandy feeding (upside down) for the Christmas cakes made on Sunday will be done.

@brian1 I hope the rest of your journey back is uneventful.  I was a bit jealous (again!) when I read that you were near Como, since it’s a few decades since I was there by the lake. Sigh!

Silhouette out of Southampton in August, show times 7.00 pm and 9.30 pm

20 minutes ago, starquake said:

 

Our friends moved from P&O to Cunard for most sailing and have now sailed 3 Cunard sailings (2 with us).  ……   BTW don't think the dress code on Cunard is dressy, it's mostly same as Princess and P&O these days -> it's just on formal nights *everyone* on the ship participates, well near 99%, but to our experience that is very similar on Princess, albeit with a few less formal nights.

 

I'm not saying this too negatively as we are booking P&O for the itiniary in our case and going other way -> Simply put they have an iterinary next year we want to book.

That’s reassuring for me.  I didn’t read your post before I did mine 😉

39 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Although, more often than not, they are allocated passenger cabins that, with less speakers, can be sold to fare paying passengers!

This is one of the reasons we have selected Cunard for a special occasion cruise next year. I don’t care for all the dressing up involved, but we are really hoping for interesting speakers. Our one and only Viking cruise had 4 excellent speakers.

29 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Good afternoon.

I hope everyone is well.

We had a nice dinner last night.

Wot, no carbs? 😱

4 minutes ago, Purdey16 said:

I loved the smell of spiced fruit cakes cooking , I used to make Christmas cakes and Christmas puddings years ago but not for 30 years now, but I did make a lovely Dorset fruit cake yesterday afternoon to use up a awful lot of cooking apples this year .

That cake looks very tempting!  I'm off to take a look at the recipe as I too have lots of apples to use up this year 👍

I'm annoyed with myself for missing a half price 'Which?' Do Your Own Wills offer as I've held on to the flyer for ages!  I think it's now just 30% off.  Do I wait until the next offer rolls around?  Maybe not.  We do have Wills but they need amending.  We updated our Lasting Power of Attorney documents using the Which? pack - all online with their notes and then they check it for you and return it to you before you complete it.

After that jolly topic, here's a much nicer one:  I've just measured out the dry fruit for the 2 Christmas cakes I am making this year.  The fruits will soak in brandy until tomorrow and later I'll line the baking tins and check I have all the ingredients so I'm good to start in the morning.  I love the smells that linger after the cakes have been cooked.

I think we'll go out to lunch and just have a sandwich before Strictly.  All in all, looking like a pleasant day.  I hope you all have nice plans for the weekend, whether you are in the cool temperatures with rain @Eglesbrech or 'basking' in the sunny south east. 

I have never sailed on one of P&O's smaller ships, but one of my favourite cruises was with Viking Oceans - lovely ship, good speakers, okay entertainment, excellent food etc (and yes, it does come at a price).  However I won't be doing another small ship, be it Viking or Saga (just under 1000 pax from memory) simply because they are small, and I am not a good sailor!

I was in the theatre on Viking when it hit rough weather, and I 'disgraced' myself.  This is not the first time for me either 🤢 - I have history; Hoverspeed from Dover (aka Mr Toad's Wild ride), Isle of Man ferry and on a cargo ship!  So now, it's big ship, big stabilisers, mid ship cabin, not too high and a good supply of Stugeron. 

Iona coped really well with a named storm when we crossed the BoB on her earlier in the year and the Captain praised how well she handled the conditions.  Despite that, she didn't suit us, so will stick with the large, rather than mega-large ships in future.

21 hours ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

 

Celebrity and Princess can't appeal to new first time  cruisers remotely as well purely down to pricepoints MB

 

Regardless of quality or offering which I'm not disputing. 

 

Hence the big numbers of new cruisers cruising for the first time in the UK will be P and O new customers right now

 

Don't think there can be any argument there?

I have read (I think) most of your posts and you always make some good points.  However, you are very fond of sweeping generalisations IMO!

For instance:

Older people prefer the traditional holiday camps to young of today who want more choice and more activities - especially outside in nature 

Really?  As an older person I've never set foot inside a holiday camp and nor have any of my friends to the best of my knowledge - well, maybe Center Parcs, but I doubt that counts.  In an earlier post you gave a few so called 'Facts' and my life is too short to go through them one by one, but I doubt there is actual evidence for some of your claims.

We've been independent travellers for all of our married lives and have gravitated towards cruising as an 'ages and stages' development, plus I wanted to see Alaska, Fjords, places in Spain and the Canaries etc which were never on our radar, and can now see the ease and benefits of cruising for all ages, providing you do your research and know what you are buying.  

My first ever cruise was on Princess (Alaska) and my next 2 were with Celebrity, and these remain my favourite 'go to' cruise lines.  For me, the biggest advantage of P&O is that we can sail from Southampton without troubling an airport, where I would guess we have spent more time over the past decades than most on these boards.  I should add that we have enjoyed each P&O cruise and felt we had value for money with the one exception of Iona earlier in the year, and even then we enjoyed the cruise but it wasn't the value experience you are so fond of relating and we didn't really care for the ship.

Anecdotal experiences aside, I think the comment about Ant and Dec viewers being P&Os target was very interesting and probably spot on, (without being demeaning).  I know many young people who would not fall into that category, I also know many young people who spend quite a bit on alcohol - I'm a non-drinker.  As I said, you make many fair points,  but I think you would make your case better if you were to tone down the generalisations. 

1 hour ago, purplesea said:

Morning everyone, hope everyone is well or recovering if they are poorly.

Another dull and overcast day here, but supposed to clear up.

I have had one of those nights when I couldn't sleep and I've seen every hour🙄

For those of you heading off on cruises, I hope you have a good time.

We're off this morning to Gatwick and flying out to Sicily, to visit the in-laws, tomorrow so hopefully we will have some sunny weather. 

Hope you all have a good day.

Pam 

I feel your pain on a restless/sleep-deprived night, as do a few of us on here by all accounts.  Maybe you can catch up a bit on the journey to Gatwick, unless you are the driver of course!  Enjoy Sicily and the lovely weather - I love to watch Montalbano just for the scenery and the atmosphere.

2 hours ago, daiB said:

It is in the evening. But not for breakfast. It’s open to all. But keep that to yourself.

We only discovered this halfway through our last Ventura cruise and it was like a little oasis at breakfast!