bbtablet

On 1/30/2024 at 11:27 AM, Clodia said:

I am on that cruise too and have paid my balance as I booked through a TA. I would be disappointed not to see Tallinn again as I went on a similar itinerary in 208 and loved it there.

Clodia - it may have changed a bit since Roman times.

20 hours ago, laslomas said:

 

There are many people who are not actually infirm, disabled, or in a wheelchair, that struggle to stand around for long periods. I didn't realise this until it finally hit me as I got older. I do not use a stick, or any mobility aid, but as the years go by I find many things a problem that never were a few years ago. I would not turn up early and expect to jump the queue, but I know that if I arrived on time and there was a hold up for any reason I would really struggle to be standing around more than 20 minutes, or so. 

 

Exactly!

When as a young man you are playing football, you cannot imagine later in life not being able to even kick a ball at all without your right knee feeling like it has fallen apart, taking weeks befor the pain subsides!

Also when you are fit and young you think you will live for ever! It is impossible to believe that later on in life you may find yourself unable to stand on the same spot for more than about 5 minutes, or to walk for more than 10 minutes or so, because bits of you start aching so badly. I am not disabled - just 80.

Every new place you visit you never pass a toilet without serious internal debate!

You avoid like the plague getting into situations where a waiting/some walking required at a pace not chosen by you/no toilets situation might arise!

One such situation is arriving too early for embarkation at the P&O Mayflower terminal after a 200 mile car journey during which you know that if you are seriously late (closure of any of the M25/M3/M27/M271 due to a crash will do it) you will not only miss your holiday but also have the several thousands of pounds you paid forfeited. We therefore often have to find ways to kill time before driving into Dock Gate 10, but even then tend to arrive early in case of long car queues at the dockside, which we have experienced.

I have found that I can relieve the hip pain caused by standing still for more than a short time by bending over to touch my toes (I am lucky enough to be still able to do this!) and staying there, so I frequently pretend to be retying my shoe laces (I have to remember not to wear slip-ons on these occasions!).

The longer I am down there, the longer the period of pain relief gained for when standing back up again, so if you see a man bent double in the queue, apparently interminably trying and failing to make a bow, please don't offer to do it for him, just leave him to it - it's only me!

7 hours ago, david63 said:

Why is it that some "artists" think that they can improve on perfection?

because they come to realise that they are nothing but a mimic, with nothing to say of their own and think "What kind of a life is this?"

So they put bits of themselves into it by varying the rendition and ending up pleasing no-one!

On 1/5/2024 at 10:55 AM, Selbourne said:

I suspect that Avomine is available as it was on Ventura, but we still have Stugeron left and that’s the only medication that has a 100% success rate for me. Will try to get Cinarizina in Funchal if that’s the same. 

Avomine? - how did they come up with a name like that? I assume it's a cut-down of "anti-vomit"!

On 1/4/2024 at 11:48 AM, yorkshirephil said:

We had buffet lunch on Aurora in October as there were so many higher tier members. It was packed and long queues to get served, if we had known the situation beforehand we would have gone to the normal buffet as that must have been empty when we boarded at 12:30.

We were on that cruise too and did exactly that - walked out at the sight of the "special buffet" queues and went to the "normal" buffet.

On 12/27/2023 at 8:57 AM, Selbourne said:

Just make sure you don't have a walking stick or your spouse has a different boarding time because he/she is in a different tier.
 

On 11/14/2023 at 8:31 PM, twotravellersLondon said:

 

"Obviously never  had the fun of buying fresh roast chestnuts on the streets of London".

 

That brought back a distant memory of buying hot roast chestnuts from the man on the bike with a brazier outside Highbury when Arsenal were playing at home back in the 50's and 60's!

 

 

 

20 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

We have arrived in Madeira! Yesterday was a lovely day and today looks the same. 20 degrees and sunny at present with a high of 25 forecast. 

Great news!

12 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Just to say that my trial 24 hours WiFi comes to an end in a few minutes. We have 5 port days in a row after today, so I will have free coverage as part of my mobile phone package. 

I hope Ventura will be able to get into Madeira - we lost Visby on a flat-looking sea last year due to adverse currents, swell and a lack of tugs - sailed in and immediately turned round and sailed out without docking.

1 hour ago, Son of Bare said:

To play devils advocate here.

I find it interesting that by your own admission you have spent over 100k with PO but are not yet in Carribean tier (or above). If wifey has only done 'a couple more cruises' than you, a combined total of not much more than 400 nights seems a reasonable assumption?

Do the maths and that equates to a minmum of £500 per cabin pn (at todays prices). That's mostly Suite territory which have early embarkation anyhow.

And the further back you first cruised, the lower the average per cabin pn cost would be....

#confused.

 

I do however agree that it's ridiculous that a couple sharing the same cabin would be expected to board at different times.

 

As an aside, on a recent Azura fly cruise from Valletta, my wife and I were not sat together for the flight (we didn't pay the surcharge to choose our seats). She was several rows behind me.

This was not what we were expecting. It was difficult ordeal... we've only been together for 44 years, but we managed to get through it. 🤣

 

 

 

 

Not sure what you are trying to prove - we have done about 440 nights now.

We have only had a suite once, all the rest were higher-end balcony cabins. No Priority Boarding until this time.

You don't appear to have taken into account our on-board spending, purchases of artwork, and jewellery, or the P&O tours which we buy at every port on every cruise.

You also do not know about the cruises we have paid for for other people.

I did not realise I was going to be challenged on here as well as at check-in! Otherwise I would have said "at today's prices" and "I know the artwork and jewellery are not being sold directly by P&O", but hey - ho!

Yes, Selbourne, we had a great time with fantastic upper-70s calm sunny weather all the way until before the last port (Gibraltar) when we hit our own particular storm - a constant force 10 - and kept with it for nearly 5 days at sea (Gibraltar lost).

Room Service was fun. Our personal statistics were:

Chances of:

1) nothing arriving at all - 25%

2) at least one ordered item missing - 40%

3) missing cutlery - 10%

4) order not even collected, even though put out on door handle in good time - 15%

5) chased missing items promised but never arrived - 15%

They were all delivered with a smile and all got a tip of course, in any case - it was a source of amusement rather than anything else.

p.s. Strawberry smoothie to die for!

Not such fun was a non-flushing toilet for a 24 hour period early on, despite best efforts of crew - but then more fun with free automatic continuous sequences of bonus flushes, sometimes as many as 6 on the trot (if you pardon the expression) when no-one was even in the bathroom.

We all got coughs along our corridor and we used to cough each other to sleep every night.

2 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

What did you find so exceptional?  Just off Aurora and although some nights, the food was good, the choice on other nights was dismal.  Roast beef, roast pork collar (whatever that is), and bream.  Tell me what dishes you liked?  On the last night I had sweet & sour chicken with stir fried veg and rice.  It was lovely, but good different dishes were few and far between.

On the same cruise. Is it me, or do they not know how to cook boiled potatoes; green beans; brussel sprouts; broccoli; peas; carrot; celeriac; turnip; parsnip; etc?  

It would appear they are all just prepared (or defrosted) and then dipped in warm water and served - no cooking involved. The boiled potatoes would easily have outlasted a 20/20 cricket match ball.

THE SEQUEL.

Readers of this thread may be interested to hear what actually happened on embarkation day – cruise R309, October 3^rd 2023. If you have not read this thread before, I suggest you start at the very beginning – the plot thickens!

We duly arrived outside the check-in building at 12.30pm – the Priority Boarding time given to my wife (mine was 2.45pm) – and in accordance with the email received from P&O Customer Services the previous Thursday – see earlier posting #15 on this thread.

The first P&O representative we met with outside the check-in building looked at the two Boarding Passes and said “You can’t come in.”

I told him he was wrong.

“Well, that’s what we’ve been told.”

I pointed out that I had received an email definitively stating P&O policy on the situation, but all he would say is “Well, that’s not what we have been told.” I asked him to fetch his supervisor and off he went – we did not see him again.

We stood to one side while waiting for his supervisor so that other passengers could pass through to the next two P&O “checkers” – two ladies. After a minute or so, with a lull in arrivals, they noticed us holding back and beckoned us forward to show them our two passes.

They seemed to be delighted that they had caught us! – “They are for different times so you can’t go in” in unison. I told them that we had received an email from Customer Services saying that we could both go in at 12.30.

“Well, they are wrong.”

“How can they say one thing and you say another? – don’t you communicate with each other?”

“Yes, we are always telling them that they are wrong, but they don’t do anything about it.”

“But I received this definitive statement of policy from them only last Thursday.”

Then this!: “P&O change the rules every day.”

One of the ladies, perhaps wisely, then moved away to deal with other arriving passengers, leaving the remaining one to continue:

 “Where is this email then?”

“It is on my computer at home and also on my phone which I packed in my case that has just gone through the luggage pod entrance” (I don’t use my smart-phone much so had seen no need to carry it with me at boarding).

“Why didn’t you print the email off?”

“As it was a definitive statement of policy, not a “turn up at 12.30 and see if you can wing it!” communication, it did not occur to me that its content would be challenged.” (Redabby – I did not see your post in time as we went down to Southampton via an overnight stay)

She then called me a liar: “You would be surprised how many people try to quote so-called communications from Customer Services just to get past us.”

Then: “In any case, even if you had such an email, they are wrong so you still can’t go through.”

At this point I told her I wasn’t listening to her anymore and my wife and I started edging forwards towards the entrance. She barred our way again and got right in my face. I decided to engage full beam and played my ace: “Tell me what you want me to do then” – no reply, just silence.

I asked her again “Tell me what you want me to do then” – again, no reply, just a staring silence.

I think she must have finally become aware of how far away from her training she was getting. The only answer she could give that fitted her stance was that my wife, late 70’s, delightfully shy, recent replacement knee, severe shingles-induced sciatica, should make her way alone through check-in, then passport control, security, boarding, muster station, then find our room (phobia of lifts), and then attend the Priority booking buffet, still alone, whilst I, 80 next month, dodgy knees and hip, should stand outside the building (there is no seating), case gone, car gone, phone gone, wife gone, for the next two and a quarter hours.

This silent, staring impasse was suddenly broken by the appearance of another P&O lady (the sent-for supervisor perhaps?) who, without comment, immediately ushered us through the doors and into the check-in building – we were on our way at last!

Our Boarding Passes were inspected a further 6 times during the process, all without any comment regarding the difference in times.

My wife was left shaky by the confrontation, whilst my main emotion was one of bemused astonishment that, after doing everything right by the book in asking Customer Services for advice, spending over £100,000 as customers of P&O over the years, and my wife being, at least in theory, a particularly valued priority customer, we could be treated this way.

Any thoughts?

Every time I log into "My Account" it only recognises me (as the lead passenger). I cannot find out how we access my wife's cruise history (as the additional passenger).

Any clues please?

My thanks to all who have given information in response - much appreciated!

Thanks, Carla - do we just turn up at the MDR and show out Boarding Pass?

Is there not an invitation issued - how are we to know about it if not?

Thanks for all the replies.

I have now received a reply email from P&O:

"When two guests are travelling within the same cabin – they will allow the lower tier guest to check in together with the Caribbean/Baltic/Ligurian member at the earlier time, in line with their Peninsular Club benefit."

The only other thing we are now not sure about is that some on here have referred to a special welcome on-board lunch-time meal for these Priority Boarding guests (some say in the buffet - others say in the MDR) but we don't know how to access it and have no information. We shall be boarding Aurora.

Any clues?

On 9/4/2023 at 6:41 PM, crimson moon said:

The only "complaint" we would have about the food would be that over the course of two weeks you could count on the fingers of one hand (and have some left over), the number of times we had green beans!!

 

 

Are you saying that the era of green beans with almost every offering has come to an end? Shock! Horror!

My wife has been on more P&O cruises than I because she has been on a couple of extra ones with friends.

This has meant she has just gone through the barrier into Caribbean Tier, whereas I am still a mere Mediterranean Tier member.

The consequence of this is that for our forthcoming cruise check-in, she has been given 12.30pm, but apparently I must stand outside, probably in the Southampton rain, until a quarter to three!

Has anyone experience of this situation and, if so, how was it resolved?

25 minutes ago, room with a view said:

?????

I was referring to majortom 10's post 21.

On 8/26/2023 at 4:55 PM, majortom10 said:

Whilst lifeboats are fixed you don't get noise from loose items banging and chains. I certainly wouldn't book a cabin with restricted view due to lifeboats because there will be a certain amount of noise.

Did you mean to say "you do get noise from loose items"?

When in a fjord, don't make the mistake of only sitting on your 180 degrees balcony without also occasionally going "up top" to see the full 360 degrees panarama of the scenery. 

Totally immersive!

5 hours ago, PalmBeach4 said:

@bbtablet Can you please tell me how you bookmark a page to get back to findi it? I get very lost

I have Firefox as my browser. At the top of the page, where the website address of the page I am looking at is, there is a 5 pointed star at the extreme right which, when I click on it, turns blue and opens an "edit bookmark" box. I click under "location" and click on "bookmarks tool" and then "save" and it is done.

When I want to revisit the page I click on the double right-facing arrows at the extreme top right of any page, and the list of saved (bookmarked) pages drops down. I scroll down to the one I want and it brings up the page I had bookmarked.

Also, just Google "how to bookmark a page in Firefox/Chrome etc" and it should tell you how to do it.

On 6/27/2023 at 1:18 PM, tring said:

 

As per previous comment the food is the same, but what varies is the time and style.  On Club dining you are allocated a set table with the same people around you every night.   You can choose table size, but  depends on availability, so you may not get a table for two if that is what you choose.  There are two sittings on club dining one at about 6.15pm, the other about 8.30pm and you can be booked on either of them. The third dining choice when booking is Freedom, when you can choose your time of dining, though depending on availability, you will usually have to wait if you turn up at busy times (perhaps between 6.45pm and 8.30 or thereabouts).  If you go onto a shared table for Freedom, the people will obviously change each night. On Freedom dining tables for two get filled quickly, perhaps soon after 6pm.

 

Late sitting club dining is often the least popular, so if you book late, that may be the only availability, but you could still ask to be changed to another choice should that become available, as previously suggested.

 

 

 

Club dining on Ventura last year was always 6.30 for the first sitting.

7 hours ago, zap99 said:

 Not much chicken in my coronation chicken sandwich either.

I think you will find that at the moment the coronation chicken is mostly coronation.