P&O Cruisers - What are things like where YOU are?

[Harry Peterson]

Our first air conditioned car was a 1958 Austin A30, bought for £50 in 1972 and sold a year later for £49 - £1 depreciation in 15 months. The air conditioning was provided by holes in the floor near the driver’s seat. Petrol then was around 7p a litre, but only scientists knew what a litre was.

 

The VW Beetle that replaced it cost about £950 new in 1973 - but we had it for 16 years, so that wasn’t bad depreciation either.

[brian1]

Hi all,it's been up to 38c most days now.Gelato time,coconut and pistachio with real coconut and pistachio bits.

[kalos]

Thought for the day ... Every one in the UK buys petrol buy the litre ,yet when out 

on a journey they want to know what the MPG  was , not miles per litre 

[zap99]

59 minutes ago, kalos said:

Thought for the day ... Every one in the UK buys petrol buy the litre ,yet when out 

on a journey they want to know what the MPG  was , not miles per litre 

I worked for a German company that required returns for our vans to be in kilometers per litre. We continued to report mpg to our masters. Like our friend on here they were told ' don't you people have calculators'. We got paid for the use of our cars in pence per mile.

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, kalos said:

Thought for the day ... Every one in the UK buys petrol buy the litre ,yet when out 

on a journey they want to know what the MPG  was , not miles per litre 

The normal calculation in europe, and what is shown via the onboard display,  is litres per 100 km.

Used to keep my mental arithmetic skills honed converting that to mpg, and then further calculations required to calculate the cost of a gallon in sterling when buying litres in euros. 

[Peanut006]

4 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

You will never want to return to a manual gear change after sampling the delightful ease of an automatic.

Totally agree, I have a Citroen Spacetourer and it is fantastic, a eight speed gearbox, you can’t even feel it change gear. Hubby also has a hybrid automatic Mini Cooper which is fab too.

Automatics so much easier 

Michelle

[Josy1953]

Complete disappointment this lunchtime.  We usually go to a local restaurant for lunch on Friday. We had booked as usual but when we got there the car park was unusually empty but the door was open so we went in to be met by the manager who told us that they were unable to serve anyone today because one chef has covid and the other one has phoned in sick so back home to cook lunch.  We have just opened a bottle of wine because we usually have a glass each with "Friday Lunch" so we will now have to have a drink tonight to finish the bottle.

[Sarah1974]

I've never driven an automatic!  I have a hybrid Suzuki Swift (self-charge) and I love it

[lincslady]

Just browsing the Cunard board, I found a rival for smart clothes for Pauline - a couple on  'QM2 29th May round trip crossing ' .  That lady loves to dress up and pose for photos!

[zap99]

2 hours ago, wowzz said:

The normal calculation in europe, and what is shown via the onboard display,  is litres per 100 km.

Used to keep my mental arithmetic skills honed converting that to mpg, and then further calculations required to calculate the cost of a gallon in sterling when buying litres in euros. 

A few years ago, when the pound was about 1 euro, DW said ' that will make the conversion easier'. Very true.🤔

[wowzz]

24 minutes ago, zap99 said:

A few years ago, when the pound was about 1 euro, DW said ' that will make the conversion easier'. Very true.🤔

The grim old days.

When we bought our first house in Spain the rate was £1: €1.65 !

[grapau27]

 

Good evening.

We have been to the Lake District today.

I hope everyone is well.

 

Edited June 10, 2022 by grapau27

[Vampiress88]

Looks like the US is dropping the testing this week. 
 

wonder when the other countries like the eu will drop theirs so that p&o can do away with the testing. 

[wowzz]

6 minutes ago, Vampiress88 said:

Looks like the US is dropping the testing this week. 
 

wonder when the other countries like the eu will drop theirs so that p&o can do away with the testing. 

Most EU countries have dropped testing months ago.

The need for P&O and other cruise lines to test is outside of their control. 

Edited June 10, 2022 by wowzz

[grapau27]

Good morning.

It is 13°C and cloudy with rain forecast soon.

I hope everyone is well and looking forward to their weekend.

Take care.

[Vampiress88]

8 hours ago, wowzz said:

Most EU countries have dropped testing months ago.

The need for P&O and other cruise lines to test is outside of their control. 

 

they are going to have to drop it eventually and get back to some kind of normal. 

[Vampiress88]

Morning peeps. Know it’s early. Two questions. 
 

1. is the welcome on board hamper - flowers, chocolates and champagne 

 

2. How much is the spa on iona? I think I read somewhere it’s £25pp for 2 hours to go in the hydro pool and sunbeds or something. Not entirely sure. 

[Splice the mainbrace]

8 hours ago, Vampiress88 said:

Looks like the US is dropping the testing this week. 
 

wonder when the other countries like the eu will drop theirs so that p&o can do away with the testing. 

 

I hope that cruise lines drop the requirement for testing soon. However it gives them extra safe guards with no inconvenience to themselves as all of the hassle and expense for pre-cruise testing is on the traveller.

[gsmt47471015]

21 hours ago, Josy1953 said:

Definitely the  windscreen heater, I used to hate scraping the windscreen inside and out on frosty days before starting off. 

I remember my first introduction to aircon back in the 80s on a working visit to South Carolina, when I stepped off the plane and I felt like I had been hit by a very hot, very damp blanket I was dreading getting into a car that had been standing in the sun so was really pleased with the aircon.

scraping ice off windscreens is something we never do with our cars as they both go in the garage every night and in the day when not been used, 12 houses in our street ,only two people garage their cars leading to noisy early starts for us all in winter 😡

[lincslady]

Most people nowadays have their garages stuffed with other things - garden furniture, old bits and bobs etc.  I only have a single garage, and it already has a car in it - currently waiting for my son to make room for it at his place, as it is an old and cherished sports model.  Luckily I have a driveway (just) big enough to keep the other one, out of sight of the road.  Many in this village leave their cars out on the road due to no or short drives and too many family cars.  Result can be having their catalytic converters stolen, or even their number plates.  Sadly even in this peaceful country area the thieves are about, more than ever.

[purplesea]

 

Sunny down here and expected to stay that way😄

Need to take a walk over to Asda and pick up a few bits of shopping. This evening is the carnival through the town so will wander down the road to watch it. 

Our garage is at the other end of the road and the only time my car has been in there was when I wasn't allowed to drive and had a SORN on it. At present it is full of our daughter's furniture, so no room for a car.

[Presto2]

3 hours ago, Vampiress88 said:

 

they are going to have to drop it eventually and get back to some kind of normal. 

 

I just wish they would change the way they have to quarantine people. Is it still a move of cabin etc or have they doing what it used to be for Norovirus and you were kept in your cabin? We cancelled our August cruise for a number of reasons but the main one was that there was no guarantee that we would have the cabin booked and if we had to quarantine we could end up being split up for most of the cruise. 

[Presto2]

On 6/10/2022 at 10:58 AM, brian1 said:

Hi all,it's been up to 38c most days now.Gelato time,coconut and pistachio with real coconut and pistachio bits.

No jealous at all .... nope, not at all .......... she says as her nose grows !!!!

[Eddie99]

Lovely day

Feels a while since we’ve had dependable settled good weather

Have walked a good walk, lightened with a sit down for a coffee/juice, looking at all the pretty boats.  The money tied up there!!! 

Now listening to the cricket, which isn’t going terrible well, tbh

 

[yorkshirephil]

We got back yesterday from our first river cruise (Tui, Danube) it was a great experience with some brilliant ports. Of course we were looking at comparisons with our usual sea cruising and lots of things are pretty much the same, as we expected. The highlights were the ports, food and staff, the food was consistently good and we both agreed that it was the best ever as did quite a few others we spoke to. The staff were great and with only 104ish pax you quickly got to know them and often had time for a chat. The ship was about 2/3 full, I would imagine that if full with poor weather it could get crowded as there was only one main lounge where the entertainment was held, there was a small lounge with a bar that we sometimes used for after dinner coffee.

 

The atmosphere was very relaxed, no formal dining albeit on gala night where most people dressed smart, other than that anything goes. We had a £240 pp allowance for tours, some were short walks whereas we opted for the coach tours which went further afield, we did have to top up our budget as we had a day tour to Bucharest which was added after an itinerary change but at £56 for an 8 hour guided tour. Normally you have free drinks with meals and tea and soft drinks all day with a river cruise, which was ideal when we booked, with an option to upgrade to AI, however on the Tui Maya they are trialling AI as part of the fare, so an added bonus as everything was in and they didn't ask us to pay any extra. The weather was great, if a bit hotter than  ideal, it rained once when we were on tour. The only let down was entertainment, we had a duo the first week who were good, and a duo the second week who weren't, we had a good comedian one night who we had seen on a previous cruise and were supposed to have had other entertainers who seemingly did not get there, we had several fun quizzes throughout the cruise, the cruise directors were poor often giving different versions of events and being somewhat economical with the truth. We did miss the variety of entertainment on sea cruises as I think we could have been quite bored in poor weather.

 

The scenery and wildlife while cruising down the Danube was stunning and it was great sitting on deck watching the world go by, not sure how we would have gone on if the weather had been poor. We will go river cruising again as and when we see the right itineraries at the right time at the right price.