Ardennais

It’s 48 hrs onboard and there’s a cancellation fee.

Good news! One thing, isn’t there a cooling off period when you take out insurance? £100 cancellation fee seems steep and more than covers the 24 hr insurance period. I might be completely wrong though!

I’ve just had a look and Pass Plus Cymru (for youngsters between 17-25 who have passed their test in the past 12 months) only costs £20. There must be something similar in England and it appears that it helps reduce insurance costs. Only takes 6 hrs.

Gosh, that’s very steep! You could get a 2 hr lesson for that price around here, and most lessons are 2 hrs because of the distance to the nearest test centre where the lessons take place. That insurance quote is OTT. We also paid the insurance for the girls through Uni and even though it was in their own name, I can’t remember it being more than £500 each. My youngest is 24 and her fully comp insurance is now around £300 with Aviva Zero. It’s no wonder that some youngsters chance it without any insurance if they’re quoted those astronomical sums!

My 3 had about 10 lessons each and I took them out a lot in the car during the week. They all passed first time within about 12 weeks of their 17th. To be honest, a lot of the rural youngsters have been driving on farms for quite a while before their 17th and only need a handful of lessons. Public transport is very patchy, but a lot of us live miles from the nearest bus stop so makes no difference! One thing though, I really wish mine had taken up the offer to do Pass Plus. The local driving instructor used to take pairs of youngsters who had recently passed for a full day to Telford so that they could experience the motorway and traffic! I thought that was a good idea but mine didn’t get round to it at the time. It would have been for me too!

Very common around here as they can’t wait to drive. They book their theory for the week after their 17th and then book a test straight away. Of course the pandemic affected the waiting lists, but it’s back to normal now. The school car park is full of cars belonging to the upper sixth!

I use a TA too, so I take it that I would have to monitor the prices and then ask the TA to contact Princess?

Does it happen automatically or do you have to ask for it?

Good read Selbourne, very balanced and informative. We thought the food was a bit ‘off’ recently on Britannia, definitely not as good as before. However the main problem was the temperature - lukewarm more often than not. Thankfully, we didn’t experience such a long wait to be called to dine - 90 minutes is really unacceptable.

So very sorry to read of your terrible loss.

Selbourne - I hope you both have a lovely cruise.

I’m tempted to phone them just to experience this for myself!

Or even possibly on cruises where there is a significant percentage of first time cruisers?

I think we all prefer the new method, but I still find it a bit worrying on my recent cruises where there have been so many first time cruisers.

I suppose we’re all different and it’s good to know that some people actually like these cabins. We’re in the process of booking 4 cabins for a family cruise on Iona next year, and as there’s no dining preference or shuttles in the Fjords, I would probably chance a Saver fare. These cabins however are the stumbling block so we will go for Select just to avoid them - and tick no upgrade!

Human nature I suppose, and I was also doing it in the name of research!! Seriously, I wouldn’t be able to make it work for me, and what’s worse, it would cost even more than our normal balcony cabin. I like my privacy.

In all honesty, I would prefer no cruise at all than the cabins I photographed above. I could even see people sitting at their dressing table at night!

I think you’ve said it all really! There’s always something new to do there. This year, we visited the Cathedral for the first time, and enjoyed that. On our first visit years ago, with the children, we took a horse drawn carriage ride. There are plenty waiting for the tourists as you cross the road into town,

I actually miss those days! The girls were all home and we had great times. Yes, they had their moments, but so did I! Seeing the world through the eyes of children and young people is a real privilege. Very often, they’re better company than adults!

Haven’t been on Arvia, but I took these deck 8 photos on Iona. I wouldn’t want to stay in one of these!

I saw it in London, Sadler’s Wells, a fortnight ago and it was simply brilliant. The tap dancing is amazing. You will love it.

I can sense your excitement! Have a great cruise.

My grandmother was a demon fly swatter. She was a small woman but was very strong and would give them a real thwack ….. even if they were on my Grandad’s head! She would replace her swatter every Monday …. a rolled up News of the World.

Not a problem for us as we speak another language!

Yes, Rotterdam is very interesting and very different to Amsterdam - apart from the bikes! We had a great day there in February and walked about 7 miles in total! I couldn’t do that in warm/hot weather but it was a nice dry day. The cube houses are great fun - I paid a few euros to go into one of them. The Market Hall is also a great place for lunch. Lastly, we visited the Cathedral which was badly damaged in the war.