Ardennais

Miniatur World in Hamburg was one of the best port visits ever for us. It’s simply magical and I would love to go again. 
 

We did a Baltic cruise on Carnival Legend from Dover in 2013 and it was very enjoyable. Lots of very friendly Americans on board.

Another vote here for CPS - stress free and safe. I’d also endorse the Holiday Inn Winchester. 

18 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Where was it going that you might need yellow fever and malaria tablets?

Sorry! My mistake. This year’s Ventura cruise took us to Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia so we needed the Yellow Fever Vaccine and malaria tablets. The 2021 itineraries are different.

19 hours ago, Dermotsgirl said:

I think P&O should announce the cancellation of the two 35 nighters ASAP, as such long cruises aren’t feasible right now. Its not fair for the passengers to be kept hanging on, waiting and wondering. 

Agree. There are other costs too associated with these cruises. Yellow fever vaccine, malaria tablets etc. The costs all mount up.

23 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

Would that be Birmingham USA ?

Avril 

Well they do say that everyone should experience Spaghetti Junction!

How about Birmingham?

9 hours ago, Dermotsgirl said:

If you search N101 and N103 on P&Os website, they are both still there, but showing as sold out.

 

It’s  a bit odd that these long cruises are ‘sold out’, at a time when long cruises are not an attractive proposition, whereas shorter cruises still have  availability and are on sale.

 

It could be that the 35 night cruises have reached a capacity required for an attempt at social distancing- but again, a bit of a coincidence  that it’s just those 2  cruises.
 

I suspect that this is a preliminary action before  cancellation - but it doesn’t seem like transparent action by P&O, and the messing around just further frustrates the worried passengers 

As I said before, we only booked the Jan 2020 35 night Ventura cruise at the end of Sept 2019 and there was still reasonable availability then. Having said that, we spoke to so many people on the cruise who said that they had already booked the equivalent cruise in 2021.

9 hours ago, Britboys said:

No-one but the Welsh can be expected to get some of their place names right. I mean, Bwlchyllyn and Llanystumdwy for instance 🤔😱😀

And they’re the easy ones!

11 hours ago, AnnieC said:

Shrowsbury or Shrewsbury? What say all of you?

Shrewsbury to us this side of the border.

Scone as in gone. 
Butter, then jam then cream on top.

With a strong cup of coffee.

4 hours ago, zap99 said:

Yes very localised. According to WHO it is present in 92 countries and 3.4 billion people are at risk. Only 1.1 billion are at high risk. 🤔

I'm not underplaying the perils of malaria, but it is localised in the true sense of the word. The world as we know it has almost come to a stop due to this current pandemic and I fear that too many people are underplaying the risks. My attitude is, stuff cruising, I can take it or leave it. But I would like to see children singing together again, and people of all ages/generations getting together socially and enjoying each other's company without restrictions. The simple pleasures of life.  I wonder when that will be possible again?

23 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

I can. Polio, Diphtheria, Measles, Scarlet fever,  Ebola.......

Avril 

 

 

 

Again these affected some people. No lockdowns all over the world. 

15 minutes ago, zap99 said:

But I think many of the families in Wales who lost love ones in WW2 may think otherwise.

Of course. And families who have lost loved ones to Covid wouldn’t want it underplayed. 

25 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

1914/1918 flu pandemic. Not that I was there of course. 😊

However, WW2 had a devastating effect on every single person in the world in one way or another. Not only local farmers but entire communities world wide. Not covid, I admit, but devastating nontheless.

Avril 

Yes, devastating but my mother in law for instance, a teenager in rural Wales during the war, says that her life didn’t change that much. Male members of her family as farmers weren’t called up. They had plenty of food. No air raids and schools didn’t close. In fact she lived in a Thankful Village. 

26 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Nobody is underplaying it, but there are other problems. Mankind has the ability to tackle more than one problem at a time. Covid is one of many. Around half a million die from malaria every year and over 200 million every year catch it. Lack of money is the problem generally. 

I agree - of course there are other problems but malaria, for instance, is localised. 

5 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Covid is an important issue, but overplaying it won't make it go away. Other problems to solve, like global warming, cancer, global terrorism and lots more aren't exactly minor issues.

Of course they are and global warming in particular affects every single one of us. But I still maintain that nothing has had this kind of impact on every single person in the world. WW2 didn’t have that much of an impact on rural farming communities around here. And underplaying the issue  won’t make it go away either. 

6 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I'm not a scientist but I imagine splitting the atom created major problems to solve. Although I'm not suggesting the outcome was particularly beneficial.

I did say in my lifetime. Anyway, I would argue that the atom bomb only had a catastrophic impact in one part of the world. My parents are war babies, and they can’t recall anything close to this epidemic in their lifetime. 

2 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Yes but we humans do and we have solved far greater problems than Covid19 over the years.

I can’t think of many greater problems in my lifetime. 

2 hours ago, zap99 said:

So why do RCI/Celebrity manage to board shops without a big queue

 Drinks table if you need to wait. Magazines to take on board. Park your own car with no queue. No P&O check in is lacking in efficiency.

We’ve never had to queue before unloading the car - it’s always been very quick. There’s always plenty of free glossy magazines too like the Oldie. I don’t recall ever waiting longer than 30 minutes to be called to the desk either. We must have been lucky 

2 hours ago, molecrochip said:

Ventura’s two long cruises in Jan/Feb are showing as sold out.

I booked our January 2020 35 night Ventura cruise late last September, and there was reasonably good availability then - so if they’re already sold out for next year, people have been booking earlier this time around. 

On 7/22/2020 at 10:23 AM, wowzz said:

I can see the attraction of the itinerary, but for that money I would a more luxurious ship than Balmoral.

So would I, and I’ve actually cruised in a balcony on Balmoral on a rare good deal. 

Yes, per person.

4 hours ago, NSWP said:

You mean eye watering expensive or eye watering bargain ? 

£9000+ for a balcony for 28 nights? I've been on Balmoral, nice enough but not worth those prices. It's a great itinerary, but still eye watering.  

4 hours ago, Britboys said:

You can pick up some reasonably priced deals with Fred late on but you might find the experience a bit sedate compared to Marella. I tried Marella once but not really for me, so my choices now are two ships with P&O or Fred's four. Could maybe stretch price-wise to Cunard if I could get a good deal!

Did anyone get the Fred email today about the 2022 Black Sea cruise? The prices are eye-watering.

11 hours ago, davecttr said:

This what worries me, I have a 7 night Norway cruise booked on Iona next May in a balcony cabin. I like Norway and the attraction of the cruise itinerary is the visits to Olden and Geiranger, even if you don't go ashore there is the long cruises through the fjords, The other calls are Stavanger and Haugosund, neither in what I would call a fjord. The worry is after I pay the final deposit P&O decide they are not visiting those long fjords after all and insist it is not a major change of itinerary so no I can't have a refund.
 

P&O changed 2 out of 4 ports on a Norway cruise we went on a few years ago and they did it just after we paid the final balance. So a 50% change. My TA tried her best to get some sort of compensation like OBC but to no avail. It wasn’t a major problem but I didn’t like their attitude at all.