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heatherb1958

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Everything posted by heatherb1958

  1. The crew have to pay for their day to day uniforms , I wonder how many pairs of thermals will given for free... πŸ˜‚
  2. Haven't stayed in the cabin but would say that unless you want to have a lie in that is going to be your only issue, lots of activity by crew when ship arrives into port . Don't forget once the ship sets sail that area will be packed up and stored so your night time sleep shouldn't be affected. Also depending on the port the gangway can be on different decks , you might find deck 4 isn't used the whole cruise .
  3. That is a shame. Hope you get recourse from your meeting. We did the ship tour to the Tarcoles River back in Nov 2018 and have to say it was very good , got to see a big crock and lots of bird life. In Huatulco we did a ship tour to a beach, you had to pay to use the toilets in the bar at the beach and there was no warning given, no one had loose change or small dollar bills .So annoying .
  4. Thanks for posting lots of photos , I keep looking for our Irish cruise friends who are onboard in the background πŸ˜€. We have done the canal east to west twice , first time on Radiance in 2002 and last time was Vision Nov 2018. The first bridge in your photos was due to open when we were there , we took a local taxi tour from Colon , drove over the lock gates and returned by a ferry which I am sure is probably defunct now due to the new bridge. It was an amazing experience .
  5. We have had 3 of these e.mails for Ventura in 3 weeks , Iona for New year then Arvia next March . I have given in to the bullying nature of them and completed the questionnaire for my husband . He does use a walking stick but can manage the stairs much better than I who is over weight and asthmatic . He said P&O are using a sledgehammer to crack a nut with the way they are handling this . Edit : on Arcadia in July when picking up a tender ticket you had to prove you could step over 2 lines that were placed on the floor in tape completely unaided . At the tender area there were another 2 lines for you to repeat the process again.
  6. We just recently returned from a 24 night round trip from Southampton to Canada and New England on Sky Princess . They opened up one of the main dining rooms as a reading/card/craft room from 10am til 3pm , it was a brilliant facility as there wasn't a seat or table to be had anywhere else on the ship during the 2 Transatlantic crossings. loved our visit to Cartagena, Colombia... the old town is stunning , reminded me of the Canary islands .
  7. Agree, every night in the Crystal room , 1st September sailing , we would walk through and there was ballroom dancing, some fine dancers too.
  8. Their names will be noted on file for any future cruises booked with P&O for sure. Cruiselines have records like airlines do for troublesome passengers . We know people who were barred from RCI
  9. Gareth himself put a follow up post on his social media thanking the management onboard who dealt with the situation , gave the 3 women a warning ...
  10. Welcome home ... amd thank you for the detailed reports. We are back on Ventura to the Med on 5th December, 12 nights of some winter sun we hope . We like rocky seas so long as the cabin is quiet , might add WD40 to my packing list with some foam shoe insoles πŸ˜† .
  11. We were on Arcadia in July for the British isles cruise , our balcony cabin was aft on deck 4. I didn't see any issues with leaks or smell bad smells , believe me if there were any my nose would detect them, it is very sensitive to obnoxious smells πŸ˜†. What concerns me about this post is when the OP says they all had to disembark , am I reading that right ? A zero count of passengers for a deep clean ?? That is shocking if so. The clientele on our cruise were average age 75 +.... lots with walking difficulties . We have done over 150 cruises with several lines over 23 years , I am only saying that so readers know we are experienced cruisers not for bragging purposes. In all those years we have only ever been on one ship , Adventure of the seas , that had an issue with Noro. All crew served guests , there was no handling of anything in the buffet. Even the sachets of salt and pepper were handed to you, the singers and dancers were serving too . No salt and pepper pots on tables in MDR.. At the end of breakfast the buffet was closed and men in haz suits would fog the whole place down. At no point were all guests asked to leave the ship in a port so cleaning could be done... what they had done on turnaround day was delay embarkation in Southampton to fog every cabin , I remember walking up the gangway and seeing the mattresses in the OV cabins on their sides ... Night and day corridor rails were washed down by the crew. I must say we never got sick or saw anyone being ill. I feel for the guests onboard now..
  12. We have been to Norway several times since 2012 with Royal and Princess, it is my favourite itinerary after Alaska . I always say if you can find an itinerary that includes both Flam and Geiranger that is the one to go for. My SIL' s niece is celebrating a 10th wedding anniversary in September 2024 and their bucket list trip is a cruise to the Fjiords so tonight I have been checking for them what's available for next year. Do you have to cruise out of Southampton? Royal will only have , at the time , an 18 year old ship with no indoor covered Solarium .... there are much nicer ships with indoor facilities if the weather is inclement . Next year MSC Euribia is sailing from Copenhagen and has an itinerary that includes both Flam and Geiranger .... I am looking at September 24 but I am sure there will be opportunities in 2025 . Independence is an old ship now, we have had some amazing cruises on her to the Fjiords in 2019 but as you know the rules are changing ...
  13. We cruised with Celebrity on Silhouette in June this year after a hiatus of more than 10 years , it was our 5th cruise with them but we are Elite due to our Royal C&A level. We opted to book their package which included drinks , WiFi and gratuities , I believe since that cruise the gratuities part has been removed but don't quote me. We could have saved ourselves a ton of money as complimentary UNLIMITED drinks are served 5pm til 7pm I think it was , there were cocktail parties with complimentary drinks , we had some included wifi plus some other Elite perks which I forget . For a classier more upmarket experience I think the OP is working it right . Next time , and there will be a next time with Celebrity, we will just go standard fare and see how we get on with the Elite perks for a comparison with Royal but I wouldn't dismiss their Elite perks outright ..
  14. Good decision. We stay at the Premier Inn the night before our Horwich pick up... coach pulls into hotel car park for us . Much more relaxing than getting up at the crack of dawn and negotiating rush hour traffic, we can leave our car at the hotel for a donation of Β£20 to their charity, you can still do this even if not staying over night .
  15. Matalan were selling off folding drawer organisers which took shirts in 2 side by side compartments , they were about 4 ins deep. That might have worked πŸ€” I should have bought one πŸ˜‚.
  16. We love cruising at Christmas and New year, lost count how many we have done now , certainly takes the stress away of who is visiting who for Christmas dinner etc. You get to escape for a short while from the constant TV adverts and supermarket stresses of shopping and be spoiled for a couple of weeks . What I don't understand is the folks who book a December cruise then moan about the activities they have " to look forward too " . Surely they would be better off on a desert island without electric πŸ˜† 🀣
  17. Where is your coach transfer from and how long is the cruise ? We have used both Intercruises and Eavesway from Bolton though the Intercruises pick up is more Horwich. On our 24 night Princess cruise end of September a lot of folks took advantage of the max 3 medium case rule and the coach luggage hold was already full at Bolton with more pick ups along the way. I said to the driver didn't you know this was a 3 weeks + cruise ???? . Nope he didn’t. We only had one big suitcase each, weighed under 23kgs , and one hand luggage. When we got to Southampton both my hand luggage cases were missing !!!! 😒. Unbeknown to me when the coaches were together at one of the pick ups down the line luggage had been shifted between the 2 buses to make room for the newcomers.... Luckily the other bus was behind ours so our driver went round again at the terminal and between us we found my cases . In the past any unlabelled hand luggage was left at the side of the bus for collection . I didn't have cabin labels on my hand luggage just personal ID, never had an issue before . Tip: make sure you let the driver know what is hand luggage , our bus did have a smaller locker just for small cases. In his defense this time round I hadn't said what was the hand luggage . Also make sure you have personal ID on ALL handles , one of my big suitcases along with several other passenger's luggage got damaged , the top handle got broken after being passed over to the porters to go on the ship , didn't find it until after midnight ! The ship did repair it . Travelling down by coach is very convenient , we have 5 more return journeys between now and August 24, 4 with P&O , at least now I will be highlighting my hand luggage to the driver and watch it stowed before getting on the bus . Sorry for the long post but this situation had never happened before , a long cruise with lots of folks taking advantage of the 3 case rule was a perfect storm for something to go awry.
  18. Ocean Grill at Β£15 per person with some dishes at an extra charge was very good , our best meal on the ship back in July this year. I hope you get fixed dining because freedom dining was the worst we ever experienced on any ship or cruiseline . The queues were horrendous . Unless you like to eat very late you'll have no chance eating early unless you share, my top tip is ask for a small table if you are asked to share . We liked to have post dinner drinks in the East bar , opposite Sindhu , nice and quiet with great service from Joyson and the female bar server called Kevin ! πŸ˜†. The Crows nest had live music from the orchestra some nights with a quiz like atmosphere , was fun . Great views but can be noisy... you access the Crows nest from the forward lifts .. The buffet is only small , Arcadia is only a small ship , we found it OK for breakfast and light snacks but very poor for dinner choices . She is an old lady but we would sail on her again despite the main dining room experience , we know now what to do in future if a fixed dining time isn't allocated .
  19. No difference at all except on the Celebration night, which is usually the first dress up night the rest of them being classed as formal , Captain will do a speech and toast with the officers with free 'champagne' being dished out to guests as much as you would like .
  20. We were the same , got a nice collection of Citizen watches in different colours courtesy of Select fare and shareholder's OBC . Like you say , use it or lose it 😎
  21. Same goes for avoiding cocktails made with a little grapefruit juice. My hubby has to study drinks menus before ordering a cocktail... he likes a change now and then from Silk and Spice πŸ˜†
  22. We were on Britannia in September and 2 of our tablemates had the non alcoholic drinks package. I was quite impressed they had non alcoholic wine and gin as well as zero beer.. Things have certainly come a long way . They were also drinking the mocktails but I didn't see a menu.
  23. Silk and Spice is our go to wine , love it . We always buy the Captains club wine bottle package so works out cheaper too by doing that . We have a glass at dinner then take the rest with us to a bar and finish it there , we don't buy drinks packages with P&O..
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