Ardennais

Good to know. Is the train station close to the centre of Bruges? The OP mentioned limited mobility and for some people, all the faff of getting on and off buses/trains can be quite a strain.

I was quite surprised that there were no shuttles there to be honest. We’ve had shuttles take us shorter distances before now!

Yes, I meant that we walked 6 miles around the city! But it’s a long way from the cruise terminal to the interesting sights such as the Cube Houses and the Market Hall. The bridge itself is quite long and I estimate that it’s a good mile and a half to the places I’ve mentioned. For people with limited mobility, it’s not very doable. I wouldn’t really describe the terminal as being in the city centre as such.

Looks lovely. Looking forward to ‘joining’ you on the cruise!

Zebrugge. We paid for a P&O transfer to Bruges (Bruges on your own - Full day). I booked this in the cruise personaliser a good few weeks beforehand and I think that the transfers were sold out before the actual cruise. However, there is still a fair way to walk from the bus park to the city centre so that might be a problem. This was also available:

We did that cruise in Feb and were overnight in Rotterdam. No shuttle in Rotterdam and it’s a long walk into town. I think some people used the subway but we walked about 6 miles there! Hamburg:

We’ve also enjoyed watching Bernie Flint several times over the years. Very entertaining.

There’s a difference between a P&O singer and a West End star. Lee Mead was entertaining because he gave some background to the songs and referred to some auditions and jobs in the early days.

You’re right, but it’s easier for some than others! I only have to visit the local cemetery to visit dozens of family graves going back to the 1850s. I can even visit the houses where all 4 grandparents were born between 1890 and 1914, as family members still live there.

I was at Aberystwyth Uni when you were down the road in Llanbed. I remember Prince Charles visiting Llanbed around 1984 - don’t think he ventured back to Aber after his torrid time there in the late 60s! A few of my friends from the Llanbed area went home for the visit and organised a protest reminding Charles that the last rightful Prince of Wales was killed in 1282! I have family just outside Llanbed and that’s why we’re meeting up next weekend.

When I was in school and in my 20s, a lot of people from this area would trek down to Llanbed before weddings in order to visit B J Jones. They sold suits and posh wedding attire. Did you ever visit the shop? I’m actually going to Llanbed next weekend - to the Falcondale for afternoon tea.

She won’t get much support for €4.

I’ve also received loads of e-mails from CC. I’ve changed my settings to stop them arriving now.

We arrive when we are told to arrive! I guess we’ve been lucky over the years, but we have never been in a queue. Last month on Iona was really quick.

We’ve never been in a queue with CPS. Always quick and efficient.

It was Festival on Iona! The other show that week was very good. I thought it didn’t really gel as a ‘musical’. Naff story, better to concentrate on the singing and dancing and cut out the dialogue,

I didn’t think Festival was much good on Iona.

Every night, we removed our bulky winter coats which were hanging on the hooks opposite the bathroom door, and placed them on the sofa. The first morning, room service had great difficulty getting past them with the breakfast tray as the space was so narrow. It’s a shame that the standard balcony cabins are narrower than usual. These are all small niggles, but could have been avoided,

I have never heard drawers being closed and opened, day or night!

Our shelves were full of clothes. I never take expensive jewellery, just my usual every day collection which is quite extensive. We won’t agree on this, but to me it was a pain. As noted by Gettingwarmer, things kept falling out of the bedside unit. You might have had additional space due to it being an accessible cabin. Ours was very narrow on Iona and when I remarked on it to the steward, he agreed that the cabins were narrower but longer. The sofa was huge so I can’t understand why the bedside units were so narrow. My A4 plastic folder kept falling out.

My comments about the cabin would have been the only real negative comments about our cruise on Iona had we received a post-cruise questionnaire, and then only slightly negative. Otherwise, we really loved Iona. I really don’t think they want any meaningful feedback!

Me too! It was a real tight squeeze between the bed and the wardrobe on Iona. The cabins could definitely have been better designed.

Yes, in the Premier Inn type. Easier to clean I suppose and reducing the risk of accidentally leaving stuff behind. I actually don’t mind in a budget hotel as we only stay 1-2 nights but I did find it a nuisance on Iona. I like being able to keep the room tidy and having drawers for jewellery, paperwork etc. The narrow open bedside cabinets were useless too. Too small to be of any real use.

It was very noisy in our Iona cabin,

That’s a problem here too and another problem is that the taxis and buses won’t run and most pupils in the rural schools rely on school transport.