Waju

Thank you so much for your very detailed information, that's really useful. Is there a quiet pool that would be nice to sit round? I hope you have a lovely cruise in a couple of weeks. Will you be telling us all about it?

My favourite ship on the P&O fleet is Aurora but yesterday I just 'accidently' (😀) managed to book a Med cruise on Arvia! I think I've said before, we tried Iona once and were surprised that we quite liked the larger ship. Would those of you who love Arvia have any tips to pass on? Nice spots for sitting in the sun, booking restaurants on the 'app' thingy, where doesn't get too busy etc? Thank you!

Can I ask how you find these bargains around final balance date? Do you choose your cruises first and then keep checking at the 'right' time? or are you just lucky that they pop up when you're browsing the cruise websites? I wonder if there is a website that would notify you of price drops? I did once get an email from P&O with an absolute bargain cruise but by the time I had asked my husband it had sold out 😒

@Selbourne if you can get hold of any, I always find toffees are wonderful for a sore throat - please be careful with your teeth though - you don't need broken teeth on holiday!

Although I’ve not been on Arvia, the main difference between select and saver fares as far as dining arrangements are concerned, is that saver fare dining time is 1st or 2nd sitting and us chosen for you by P&O whereas select fare gets freedom dining. As Arvia is all freedom dining it doesn’t really matter! If you visit a port that has a shuttle bus the select fare payer will use it free of charge but the saver fare payer will have to pay for it,

Just looked and the cheaper one was called Stress Free Parking but be careful they could park it 20 miles away - like I say I didn’t research it.

I looked at CPS the other day and it was £220 ish for 13 days 😳 in September. I googled and found one for just over £100 but hadn’t heard of them before and didn’t research it any further. A few people on here use the multi storey at West Quay shopping centre and have no worries/qualms about doing so - we may try that one next!

The temperature of Wetherspoons breakfast is one of my husbands pet hates. When I order I always ask for it to be extra hot otherwise he will send it back and usually they will tell the kitchen but on our last visit the young lad at the bar just said it comes how it comes we can’t change it 🤣. Luckily it was ok but they do seem to have a problem getting it to the table hot!

Excuse me for butting in - would anyone have any idea how much a bog standard inside cabin might have cost on this cruise? Very rough amount will do as I know it will have gone up and down - just curious 🙂

Oh I see, yes I’ve never heard of one on the last night either so maybe just the one! Anyway enjoy your cruise, I love Aurora.

That was amazing, thank you! Please tell me this is what you do/did for a living? Your writing is fabulous.

I would say two, do you have (at least) two sea days? It would be very unusual to have a formal night on a port day. Hope that helps.

I remember being told "don't try and have a laugh and a joke with them, just answer any questions" but the one we had was really nice and asked if we were having a great cruise and said he hoped we would have a good time in the USA!

Not sure you have to go ashore? - US immigration came aboard Aurora in 2018 and did ours

I don't know why either I'm afraid but I know you have to - they will call and call your name till the whole ship is done and that includes staff from my memory of doing it a few years ago!

I think you may have to have a word with someone and both attend before you do your trip. I'm pretty sure attendance is compulsory but it probably won't take them as long to complete immigration for everyone as you are away on your tour. Hope that makes sense!

I'm sure I'm not dreaming but I seem to remember that on the P&O website if you search in the FAQ section it tells you the suppliers of the mattresses and pillows.

I used to love chocolate brazils, I bought a bag of mixed nuts for Christmas and there wasn't a single brazil nut in it!

Piece, piece? what is this concept? Surely you mean bar? 😀😀

WOW that all sounds amazing!

The table looks beautiful. Pauline is very organised. Hope you all have a lovely time🎅

Best wishes Sharon, I hope you're feeling much better soon. I caught sight of you again the other day on a repeat of that cruise ship programme you 'starred' on a little while back 🙂

No problem........... I'm beginning to wish we'd booked again for next year while we were there as the price was excellent but perhaps we'll choose one nearer to home as Gunton was a 4.5hr journey for us. They did do Turkey and Tinsel well - the tables were nicely decorated for Christmas Day and New Years Day!

Back from our little break at Gunton Hall now - I have mixed feelings about the holiday. Our 'chalet' was lovely, very modern with nice furniture - I think it is very recently refurbished. It reminded me of a cabin. We only booked the cheapest room so were impressed with it. The only thing I didn't like too much is having to put your coat on to go to breakfast/dinner etc. and then find somewhere to leave it once you got to the dining room. The food was really good, nice variety and good quality BUT I much prefer to be served than keep getting up and down to the buffet, I liked that the staff let you choose your table from what was available and then that was your table for the whole break. We like to be entertained and were slightly disappointed, it was ok but only ok. I am aware that you can find out who the entertainers are before you book so it would be easy to choose a holiday around what suited your interests better. We were also disappointed with what seemed to be lack of maintenance, curtains hanging off the rails in the dining room, swimming pool has been unheated for over two weeks apparently but they are still advertising activities in there. Finally, I though the drinks prices were quite steep but perhaps I'm just a Wetherspoons girl at heart!

They must have over ordered - we got our very first one today 😀