Jennizor

2 hours ago, Peanut006 said:

It’s cold here too. I have been out to Pets at Home this morning with our King Charles Spaniel to get her a jumper. Looks like it’s going to cold over the next few days and she doesn’t have a massively thick coat.

 

I have wrapped all my presents but still have cards to write so I might do that this afternoon.

 

Had a bit of a stressful few days. My daughter is 32 weeks pregnant and Sat night she thought she was having an asthma attack and her meds weren’t working. A trip to A & E followed, not asthma but blood tests showed  blood clot on her lung. Given medication and had a scan yesterday showed it had dissolved. She has now got a chest infection. Midwife appointment yesterday too, said baby not growing, scan this morning, all is fine thank goodness.

 

I need a cruise!!!

 

Michelle

So sorry to hear about your daughter Michelle. I’m sure she will have regular check ups after this scare. You never stop worrying about your children, whatever their age - it’s the price you pay for being a parent. X

We are on Iona in Feb, going to the Canaries. We had a lovely September cruise on Azura and are back on her for Christmas and New Year 23/24. The food looks amazing. We don’t do the Epicurian as there is far too much for me. Love Sindhu and the Glass House though. What we found confusing about Sindhu was that despite only being one third full we were refused a table on a couple of nights. We are looking forward to trying the different restaurants on Iona.

I will pass this information about Air fryers on to my daughter. She always switches it off at the plug but leaves it in. You can’t be too careful.

13 hours ago, brynmelyndavid said:

I’m on Iona now (G238). 4 days in and I’m getting a good feel for her. 

 

First off there seems to be no issue with staff whatsoever. There’s plenty of staff everywhere. We haven’t had to wait to be served and no one looks stretched. The staff are great. Perhaps they have taken on more staff but they don’t feel remotely short-staffed now.

 

The food has been consistently excellent. MDR’s all good, speciality dining really good. Have had lunch in the Glass House and we weren’t anywhere near a ‘corridor’ (and it was superb food). Will try the Keel and Cow in due course so reserve judgement. Forgive me though but isn’t the Glass House on Azura in a corridor off the Atrium?

 

The App that isn’t an App has been great. We’ve booked everything we wanted, used it to book into queues for dining and never had to wait longer than a drink. It’s easy to use and is a significant improvement on the old ‘buzzer’ system as we can see how far off the front of the queue we are. 

Our cabin is also excellent (balcony, deck 11). There’s so much storage all 4 (yes 4!) of our cases have been unpacked and put away. I don’t need drawers when I have shelves and I have plenty.

 

I know people who are used to other ships don’t like Iona (we’re comparing to Azura which we liked a lot) but so far Iona is proving every bit as enjoyable as Azura and in many ways it is far better for us. 

Yes you are right, the Glass House on Azura is just off the Atrium. We spent many pleasant hours there in September. Azura and Britannia have been my favourite ships for a while. The smaller ones are too claustrophobic for me, although we have always enjoyed them. We are on Iona for the first time in Feb (2 cancelled because of COVID). We are really looking forward to it. Thanks for your comments, very encouraging.

1 hour ago, zap99 said:

Each to their own. Sitting on our balcony watching the world go by is one of the reasons we cruise.

Zap, I totally agree. We spend quite a lot of time on our balcony. We had a wonderful moment sailing past the Statue of Liberty, all the balconies were full of passengers sharing the moment. Sailing round the Fjords a couple of year ago was also a delight, enjoying the magnificent views and a glass of wine on our balcony and chatting to our neighbours. The wildlife we have seen has been amazing. You won’t get the same experience standing on a noisy deck. It’s worth every penny to us.

I have received an email from P & O advertising excursions on our upcoming Caribbean cruise. We have three cruises booked, none of which are to the Caribbean. We did go last December, are they getting a bit confused?

I have never seen such bad bunions as Kath had. Every pair of shoes she wore were completely ruined after a short time. On the plus side, she is very much looking forward to buying lots of new shoes when she is fully recovered from this painful ordeal. Her husband just raises his eyes when she mentions it. 

40 minutes ago, jaydee6969 said:

 

I hope so.  I did go down to reception and ask if this is all they issue and is acceptable for insurance claim, and they confirmed it was.  Have tried to claim from insurance today, but can not find a relevant section on the online claim form to tick.  Claims office only open mon-fri, so will leave for now.

When we went on a Med cruise last year we had two missed ports. We had letters from      P&O, when it came to filling in the claim form we had the same problem as you. We rang the insurance company and they told us which section to complete and we received £300 each quite quickly We would never have managed it ourselves as it didn’t seem to relate to ‘missed ports’ at all. I may be being cynical but we did wonder if this was done deliberately to put people off claiming.

My friend, who loves cruising, has not done any since It restarted after COVID restrictions allowed. She had terrible bunions and after years of waiting she finally had one sorted earlier this year. The second one, which was the worst, was done about 6 weeks ago. She was so relieved she booked an Azamara cruise for next March. She then fell whilst getting out of a chair and broke her ankle in two places, one quite badly. Needless to say that cruise is now cancelled and they are looking at next July. She is quite down about the whole thing and I feel really bad as just before this accident we were talking about our three booked cruises for next year. She is a brilliant friend and looks after our cat when we go away but I feel really sad for her.

15 minutes ago, etruriaguy said:

Apologies if this has been asked before but we are on Arvia in the Caribbean in March.  I’m sure I saw somewhere that they don’t have any formal nights on these trips, is this the case?  Do they only have casual nights? 
 

many thanks 

 

🙏

As I understand it, Arvia will have the same dress code as Iona with one formal night per week. We have done several Caribbean cruises on most of the other ships and the formal nights were the same as for any other destinations, i.e. 2 per week. Times do change though, is there nothing in the information from P&O that answers your question?

3 hours ago, Peanut006 said:

Thank you everyone.
 

Dreading going on the scanner, it scares me to death as I hate enclosed spaces and it is really noisy too. I have learned to close my eyes and not open them again until it’s finished

 

Michelle

Michelle, like everyone else, I wish you all the best for tomorrow. I’m sure you will be well looked after. We all will be looking for your report back. 

It was raining heavily here in Bolton until half an hour ago. We have now got some blue sky but not expecting it to last more than a couple of hours as more rain forecasted for later. Next dry day is forecast for Friday which I hope is accurate as I am going into Manchester to meet former works colleagues for our pre-Christmas lunch. 12 years on and we still enjoy our get together.

1 hour ago, Gettingwarmer said:

As long as you know that you are going to use the OBC then at least you’ll make sure you are getting on the excursion. 

If you really want a specific excursion, I would advise booking before you cruise. We have booked the Seville excursion on our February Iona cruise as we have wanted to go there for quite a while. I wouldn’t risk missing out by delaying booking.

6 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

Yes a heavy frost here as well. I woke up to a world that is completely white (and slippy). It looks really pretty but it’s so cold. The outside thermometer was sitting at 3 degrees this morning so probably zero or below over night.
 

Went out for a walk well wrapped up. It was nice but nice to be back in the cosy with a hot chocolate.

 

It is really sad to lose regulars, let’s hope it’s just IT gremlins. 
 

Well my Christmas making list is going down. Cranberry done, brandy butter done, Christmas syrup for fizz and mulled wine done etc. Syrup day always makes the house smell really nice.

 

I’ll wait until a day before our first visitors come in December before making festive cookies. Always nicer fresh.

 

anyone else got traditional foods they make every year?

These days I only make Christmas cakes. One for my sister, one that I cut in half for me and my daughter-law and up to this year one for my granddaughter who lives in Australia. I sent her cake last year in December, it was never delivered and returned to me in July. We don’t know what happened but Jessica never got the usual note to go to the parcel office to pick it up. As you can imagine the cake was in a terrible state after travelling round the world and back and spending months in a sorting office. All the chocolates I sent with it were in a dreadful state too.it cost nearly £30 to send it. I have told her to come home for her next one (I miss her so much).

5 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Rule 1: Never, ever use the buffet.  🤮

Once tried, never returned.

I have just come in from planting (rather belatedly) some of my spring bulbs. I am right aren’t I, it’s the 14th of November today? Here’s a fuchsia I planted in early summer that didn’t do very much until now. At least it cheers the patio up.

I will be very happy to hear how the cruise goes. We have been on several P&O Caribbean cruises starting on Boxing Day but not done Christmas Day. We are booked on Azura for Christmas 2023 in the Canaries so look forward to your reports. I hope you have a great time this year.

40 minutes ago, Peanut006 said:

Morning everyone, hope you are all ok today.

 

It must be fairly warm out here today as the bin collection has just been and some of them had t-shirts on.

 

Yorkshirephil, hope you have a lovely relaxing cruise.

 

I had a fall yesterday at home just a couple of steps after getting up off the sofa and twisted my ankle inward, sort of stood on the outside of my foot. A trip to local medical centre and 

x-ray shows I have fractured my fifth metatarsal bone. Foot strapped up and going to fracture clinic this morning. He said it might need a pot or boot. Just what I didn’t need as it’s my bad side anyway so can literally not walk at the moment. Frustrating!!!!

 

Anyway enough moaning from me, have a good day everyone 

 

Michelle

So sorry Michelle, I hope it heals quickly. It’s amazing how one  missed step can have such painful consequences. Hope you get lots of talc. Xx

We only book the Limelight Club and that’s only bookable two weeks in advance. Just need to put a date in my calendar as it soon gets booked up.

Managed to get out in the garden for a while earlier, before the rain came back, to empty some pots for next spring’s daffodils and tulip bulbs. Two deer gave me a little assistance eating some remaining summer flowers heads. They were more confident than earlier in the year and stood their ground for a while before jumping back over the fence into the woods. Goodness knows what will happen when Peel Holdings start work on the land. I don’t think this will be for a couple of years yet though. They have to give the farmer sufficient notice  to move or sell his cows. There will be loads of sad children when they do. The farmer’s wife and daughters make their own ice cream, which is very popular. Too rich for me though.

I thought it was just me not being able to post. My seven month old iPad stopped charging so I had run out of charge on Sunday. We went to the Apple Store at the Trafford Centre yesterday. They just gave me a new charger so now fully charged. I could read posts but not post anything, glad it’s now sorted.

Michelle, your photos are gorgeous, glad you had a lovely day. Things will be now very quiet for you after all the build up to the wedding.  Lots of happy memories for you though.

8 minutes ago, Fitzplumbago said:

Personally, I find formal wear a little uncomfortable to wear. But I do enjoy the traditional ‘experience’, which is what I believe to be the reason the formal nights exist today. My DJ and trousers cost the princely sum of £23, but I don’t feel as though I look out of place! One day, the experience may cease to be, but I still see many people enjoying themselves on these nights. In fact, the wait for the restaurant on these nights seems to be longer than others. 
 

Most rebellious person I’ve seen on a formal night was a gentleman wearing a Beatles t-shirt… It was black and white with the zebra crossing design though, so partially observed the requirements! 

The worst I have seen on a formal night was a lady, probably in her twenties wearing a see through white lace dress that just about covered in her underwear, which was also mostly see through. She and her partner sat on stools at the bar. After a lot of staring by lots of people someone went to the bar and complained. As more people complained (not us by the way) she was eventually asked to leave the bar. She burst into tears and her partner put his coat round her and they left. This was several years ago, I’m not sure whether people would complain in current times. 

11 hours ago, wowzz said:

I think the last few posts show that people do actually like dressing up, despite what others may say. 

I totally agree wowzz. On our September cruise on Azura the 4 formal nights were very well adhered to. It was a delight for me to sit in the Blue Bar around 6.00 -6.30 and see all the beautiful dresses worn by all age groups, the men too looked great. We were on second sitting and again there were lots in formal dress.

On 10/24/2022 at 12:36 PM, Peanut006 said:

Lovely photo of you both. Sounds like you had a fabulous day. It’s my daughter’s wedding this weekend so everything in in full preparation mode.

 

Michelle

 

Have a lovely weekend Michelle, I hope the weather is kind.

Jennizor

2 hours ago, Peanut006 said:

I think I remember you posting some beautiful photos of your garden with lovely countryside views. I hope either it never happens or they don’t build too close to you

 

Michelle

Thanks Michelle, it will be what it will be. I’m sure it will be a long time before anything happens. We also know that the narrow wood between our garden and the land will never be built on as the water feed from Ullswater is there. One other possible plus is that the deer may move on and my garden will be untouched. As much as I love to see them, this year I have lost so many plants. Hey ho, it’s nature.