Ardennais

8 mains for dinner on Aurora compared to 5 on Queen Victoria this week, and 2 of the 5 were vegetarian options. This is the only photo that I took

We arrived home last night after a very enjoyable four night cruise on Queen Victoria - to Hamburg and back. Embarkation at Mayflower was a breeze - so different to Selbourne’s experience the previous weekend. We had a time of 2.30 so that might have made a difference. CPS staff were waiting for cars to arrive! We had only sailed once before with Cunard, on QM in 2013. A few quick observations. Queen Victoria is very elegant but quite dark. The size suited us as my mother was with us. No waiting for lifts, plenty of room to sit around the ship apart from the Chart Room (coffee bar) before lunch. We were on Freedom dining, and were immediately seated on the 4 nights without having to share. Food was excellent - fewer mains in the MDR than P&O but really tasty. The portions are quite moderate. Service was amazing. Had a great pub lunch in the Golden Lion with several mains to choose from - I seem to recall that there was only the fish chips there on QM but I might be mistaken. Lido buffet had lovely salads and fruit juices were available all day which is good as the drinks were quite expensive. Dress code - no tie or jacket required. The two Gala nights were labelled as being ‘optional’. Quite a high proportion had dressed up but there were also many in very casual attire and trainers which didn’t bother us one bit. It felt very relaxed. Entertainment was great and there were speakers onboard as part of the Insights programme. Great atmosphere in the Queen Room with a live band for the dancing. Disembarkation was very easy, probably helped by the fact that over 500 had joined in Hamburg for the beginning of the world cruise. We had a brilliant time - no apps required! We probably wouldn’t choose to do a longer cruise on the Queens as they’re getting on a bit and we do like the lighter modern ships and a more relaxed atmosphere at night. Having said that, everything seemed far more stuffy back in 2013 so things are changing. We might try Queen Anne next! Forgot to add - cabins were serviced twice a day and it was great to have fresh towels after the evening shower. Grats are added of course and as I said, the drinks are expensive. Definitely a higher standard overall than P&O in terms of quality of food and service, but of course, the overall cost is much higher.

Just catching up after a few days away without internet access. Glad to hear that the port talks are back!

Charles got into Cambridge with a very lacklustre set of A levels!

Hope you too have a lovely cruise. Can’t believe that our 35 nighter was 4 years ago - seems like yesterday!

Oh dear, I hope you don’t go lifeless!

I had a look in earlier than usual today just to see whether or not you had actually made it onto the cruise! I’m relieved that you’re safely onboard. Shame about the embarkation but let’s hope that things improve!

Wishing you both a wonderful cruise and looking forward to reading all about it,

I found the Medallion very easy to use on Enchanted Princess. Then again, it depends on connectivity and there were quite a few dead spots or whatever they’re called!

Sounds very much like my 80 year old mother! She’s the only one in her wide circle of friends who uses computers mainly because she worked in admin for the last 20 years of her working life and was trained in using a wide variety of software. However, she doesn’t have a smartphone (signal is very poor at home). Last year, I gave her my old iPad as she needed internet banking to verify purchases online. She has a desktop, a laptop and iPad and is fine 90% of the time. However, little things can flummox her and she then waits until one of her 6 grandchildren calls by! Last month, it was airplane mode that caused a problem. She’ll be cruising with us this month, on the ship of HER choice, without a smartphone. And that’s how it should be.

Nothing to do with affordability.

What’s unfair about it? Well, some people don’t even have a smart phone. I’m cruising this month. My mother is coming with us. She’s computer literate but doesn’t have a smart phone. Unfair to exclude those passengers.

We enjoyed Lee Mead on Iona and Joel Harper Jackson on Britannia. The food is fine, nothing special but there’s a nice atmosphere there.

Hope you have better news Avril when you return to the hospital. Thinking of you both and hope that Frank is on the mend.

Same here. I like to see children around.

Same here. No tension, not ready to take my pension! Nadolig Llawen to you all from a very wet Wales!

My eldest enjoyed her cruise with friends on Arcadia last year- late 20s. Our three had a great time on Aurora too when they were older teenagers before it became adult only.

Best wishes for a very happy retirement. I know full well that teaching is great but restrictive in terms of choosing your own holiday dates, which I’ve been able to do in my new job since leaving teaching in 2019. Not close to being ready to retire though!

Not just you.

True, but to me, there’s a difference between noise generated by human activity and ‘clanging’ noises which are mentioned in the article. Noise is expected when anchoring etc, and wouldn’t bother me.

I suppose so, but that still doesn’t make it right.

To be fair, we’ve never met anyone either who mentioned what they paid for their cruise!

The article does highlight one major issue, namely that there are dud cabins. It’s all very well moving people to a better cabin, but the underlying problem remains and some poor sod will face the same problem on the next cruise.

I don’t think they’re suitable for smart casual either, but could be ok in Brodies.

They really need to proofread their website! I really don’t know what people have against football shirts!!