Mewat

We're fully paid up and due on Azura in May.   There are 2 ports in Italy on the itinerary which I am thinking might get changed, but we have no intention of cancelling.

Michele

We are on Azura on 3rd May, just before the Baltic cruise on 17th, and I believe there is also one other cruise before ours - so not a lot of time for anything major.

Should hopefully looking pretty good when we go though😊

Michele

We visited minatur wunderland a couple of years ago.  We took the shuttle bus into town and after a brief wander round, walked there.  It was extremely busy and most people had booked tickets in advance.  We were informed that we could purchase tickets and then wait for the next available entry time, which could be anything from 30 minutes to an hour.  We decided to do this and you get to wait in a room with chairs and tables in, free soft drinks and puzzles and games at each table to keep you occupied.  There are electronic boards flashing up ticket numbers when you can go in.  I think we waited about 30 minutes before we went in and it was brilliant.  The best and busiest area is the airport.  My husband is forever showing people a film he took on his phone of a plane going along a runway and it is only when it takes off they realise it is a model!! 

Michele

Plus it takes so much longer to actually arrive.  I usually send postcards using the local post office, but my husband got so fed up trailing round after me one trip looking for a post office ashore once, that I used the ships service and it took at least 2 weeks longer than any others!

Michele

In response to the pullmans mentioned above, when I shared a cabin with my mum and godmother our cabin steward told us she would prepare the sofa-bed when we were at muster.  Obviously, you then have to negotiate round it then for the rest of the evening,as you would have to with pullmans too, but we were fine with this.

Michele

On our cruise on Ventura this year they had family and adult tennis, cricket and archery sessions held in the sports court, arranged by the Entertainments Team at no extra cost.

There are also golf nets up there.

Michele

Sorry, didn't realise that had changed.

Mind you, have just checked and it was actually in 2015! so a bit more than a couple of years ago!

Michele 

My tip is to pack for your husband.  Then he can't pack anything that he doesn't really need and you get plenty of room for all those bags and shoes😊

Works every time for me!

Michele

Yes, you will.  I did a short break one with my mother and godmother a couple of years ago and we had breakfast in the Ocean Grill.   Do love a civilised start to the day!

Michele

I have a small rucksack which I take to use on shore days and I usually take about 7 handbags with me on a 14 night cruise - all different colours to match my outfits and shoes.  I also use them for putting small items in when packing.  I take 15-16 pairs of shoes and sandals - including trainers and flip-flops.  Can never have too many shoes or bags!😄

Michele

My mum has bought me a gift credit a few times as a birthday present.  It just shows up on your account as a credit amount - so basically like an extra OBC amount.

You can spend it on anything you would do normally on board.

Michele

We had this on Ventura back in June.  I was at reception several times during the cruise to get print-outs from reception to keep a check on the spending, but on the last morning when the final bill arrived found that we had an additional charge on it.  They had actually charged us twice for one round of drinks. It took quite a while on disembarkation day to get the incorrect charge taken off and involved getting a waiter to reception with an ipad to make the refund!  I will certainly be requesting a copy of the receipts on any future cruises.

Michele

My husband is not a Strictly fan, but he came along to the dance shows that were put on in the theatre as well as the Q&A with Shirley Ballas.  We found ourselves sat next to Shirley and her partner in the Glasshouse one evening!  All of the shows were hosted by Lisa Riley and I believe that she does most of them on the other ships.  They also have a stand in the atrium where you can buy dance shoes and other accessories - even costumes.   Strictly Memorabilia (including sparkly '10' paddles) is on sale before and after the shows just outside the theatre.

Michele

Our cruise in June was  a Strictly cruise - it wasn't when we booked it, but we received an email to inform us.  I was delighted as I love strictly and the cruise was to celebrate a big birthday.

If you check on the P&O website, eventually they will announce who will be on board.  Although, we were supposed to have Neil and Katya Jones on the second week, but due to travel problems they couldn't make it and we had Oti and her husband and Graziano instead.  We also had Shirley Ballas, but only for the second week.  There are costumes from the shows on display around the atrium and the headliners also do fashion shows wearing said costumes.  There are Q&A shows with the dancers which aren't ticketed, plus dance masterclasses - very crowded!  The only ticketed events are the dance shows given by the professionals - we had to queue for tickets at a certain time and day for them.  And the same for the second week with the other dancers.  You can also have your photo taken with the  pros. after the Q&A sessions by the ships photographers and then purchase it and go to a signing session with the pros.  I had mine take with Aljaz and Janette and got it signed.  There was also a passenger dance competition judged by Shirley, Oti and the Captain!

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Michele

Not quite the same, but we were travelling as a party of 3 sharing a cabin (myself, mother and godmother), and my godmother wasn't able to travel - this was after the final balance had been paid.  Mum and I went on our own . We just turned up and told them there was only the two of us.

Michele

It is not just on drinks either.  We bought 2 ice creams on the ship in the afternoon whilst in Cadiz and the tax was added on to those as well.

Michele

I have a feeling that it is open and closed a bit earlier on embarkation day as we usually self-disembark and didn't think that we would have time for breakfast before we left, so were pleasantly surprised to find that they were open from 6.45am!

Michele

We called there in June this year and arrived about 9.00am and it was all aboard by 3.00pm - 6 hours there, which is fairly normal. (Often it is 8.00am-2.00pm).   Plenty of time to take the cable car up to the Apes Den as long as you get off as soon as possible if you plan to do it on your own.  Otherwise P&O offer tours or there are plenty of taxis and mini-buses offering tours.

Michele

They also have the 'special of the day' (which is the same as in the MDR) in the Epicurean for breakfast, which I was happy about, as I enjoy the scrambled eggs and smoked salmon on a Sunday!

Michele

We just have just returned from a fortnight on Ventura and we gave tips to our cabin steward, waiters and wine waiter - though not so much as was recommended in the past by P&O.

We did notice that several people were also handing their waiters envelopes in the restaurant on the last evening.

Michele

Yes, got ours yesterday.

I was a bit surprised as it is the first one we have received in quite a while!

Michele

We always do our own things at ports and by checking the times that the majority of ship tours will be disembarking (listed in the Horizon), we can then avoid the busy times.  We usually get up and about early on port days to miss any queues.

Likewise for returning to the ship.

Michele

59 - and celebrating my 60th on Ventura in June.  It's going to be one big party!!

Michele

Thanks for that Dai.  I think we'll stick to self-disembarkation then.

Michele