terrierjohn

Do you know for certain that Arvia will be the flagship? On our recent Britannia cruisr the Captain referred to Britannia as the fleet flagship, even though Iona has been in service for the last 12 months.

The US cruise ships generally have different brochures available when sailing in Europe, the UK one for Brits, and the Nth American one for Yanks and Canadians, or at least Celebrity had when we were considering booking on board. They generally avoid giving you the wrong one so you don't notice the price disparity, however we were given a US brochure initially, which was a bit of an embarrassment for the future cruise consultant.

On Britannia we thought both Sindhu and Epicurean food was not as good as pre covid. We also thought the service was below the previous standard as well.

I would imagine that if your booking was against a UK brochured holiday then UK laws would apply regardless of where you were in the world.

You are quite welcome to have some of ours, its bucketing down at the moment.

Or just general operational reasons.😁

If Carnivals thinking is correct, and the UK will show a big increase in cruising, then it makes petfect sense if they want to be the dominant player. I accept that the current economic situation might slow the growth of cruising, but holiday companies have to play the long game.

But nowhere near as many as pre Brexit, when a Gib stop was essential for most med cruises to ensure duty free sales could take place.

Princess has a very loyal American following and this is what they try to tap into for their Southampton sailings. Which, with the Americans love of all things British, is why they do so many round Britain cruises.

Have you been away???😉

Iona seems to have a few Gib calls as well, but there are far more non Gib Med calls overall, whereas in the past nearly all Med cruises needed to stop at Gib, or some other duty free location, to ensure duty free sales could take place on board.

Gib seems to have disappeared entirely from P&Os family ships, not sure what's happening with Arcadia and Aurora as we are unlikely to cruise on either ship again.

I think I read that MSC are to sail year-round from Southampton now, and although I have never been on one their ships, from their photos they do look to be very similar in decor to RCI, so they may look like Indy.

Strange but the novelty never wears off for us. We cruise about 3 times a year normally, mainly to the Med or Canaries for the warmer weather, and preferably on a big ship with lots of on board venues. As wheelchair users we prefer ports like Ajaccio, Cadiz and La Coruna where you can walk straight into the Town, and where regular visits are no different to frequent visits to the same beauty spots in the UK, are they???

I thought Fred only had 2 ships now, both of which are smaller than even Aurora, or is Balmoral now back in service?

Its next to the fwd lifts not the aft. Adapted cabins are 50% wider than standard cabins, to allow for a wheelchair to manoeuvre. The bathroom is set up as a wet room with full roll in wheelchair access and is on the right as you enter. The bed(s) are also on the right, and if set up as twins the right hand bed is up against the bathroom wall. The balcony has a ramp to allow for wheelchair access. The only drawback to all Azura cabins is that you need binoculars to see the tiny 20" TVs.

We thought Toulon was far nicer than Cagliari, and Alghero is a tender port so no good for us.

You could say the same for everything you buy, the seller has to have a profit otherwise he would not bother.

They should do, because P&Os terms state that up until balance date you only lose the deposit. In fact we have a fully paid cruise on Iona in Feb, and if we dont like her when we sail on her in October then I would possibly cancel and expect to get the balance above the deposit returned to us, sometime!!

They sell wine and spirits on board, as well as ciggys for those who still smoke, and there is also perfume and cosmetics.

I'm not sure that Marseilles qualifies as being outside the big cities though, and if you contract to provide a shuttle service surely it's not too much to ask that they at least cover one of the busiest periods of the day.

You don't get shorts and T shirts in freedom dining, so I have to assume that freedom is now the posh dining area.😁

So French trains and buses all stop for 2 hours at lunchtime then, do they? Surely if Marseilles expects to be a cruise port, then they need the shuttle bus drivers to work on a shift basis, which is presumably how most other countries man their cruise ports.

Dorset cruise fan said there was no tablet soap on Aurora, which is why my comment. It would be useful if others could comment on what is available, so we know what to expect.

Tablet soap is hardly a single use plastic issue, I'm fairly certain its wrapping is paper.