SarahHben

A kind of related question… These days I find wine gives me a bad headache. When we cruised on Iona in May, the MDR drinks choice was wine or soft drinks. I had wine the first few nights but then had to switch to soft drinks for the rest of the cruise. . Cocktails and spirits don’t cause me to get a headache but weren’t on the menu. Would it have been acceptable to get a drink from the bar and take it into dinner with me? We’ve got a 2 week cruise next summer and although I’m not a big drinker I’d prefer not to have to stick to soft drinks each night we’re in the MDR.

That's good! We must be on a different water main. Ours has just come back on after almost 16 hours, it's looking quite murky though so will keep using the bottled water until it comes through clear. Quite a relief!

Typical 🤣 It was a 12" pipe that had burst out near Lidsing/ Capstone after a sink hole appeared overnight but my parents live in Hempstead and they've had no problems. Our daughter lives the other side of Deanwood Drive to us and she doesn't have water either. Southern Water said a few hours ago that it was fixed but still no water!

Well, it's been just over 15 hours and we still have no water! The local shops have been short of bottled water but Southern Water at least arranged a water station at the local shopping centre car park during the afternoon and were giving out free bottles of water. We're using the water from the garden water butt to flush the loo every now and again but that's almost empty now 😟 I hope it's back on soon or we'll be using grandson's baby wipes to wash with.

Thanks Avril. I haven't called the GP yet, some days it seems like it might be improving and then the next day is bad again. I think I'll give it 4 or 5 days and then see how it is. It's been a busy week so hopefully a lazy weekend will help.

We all really like Iona too, Mum & Dad are going on the Jan Canaries cruise that you're cancelling, they're going with some friends who introduced the to cruising years ago.

Morning Good start to the day, no cold running water in our area, apparently there’s a burst water main in a nearby area that is affecting us. Fortunately we had enough bottled water to make a cup of tea, I cant function without a cuppa in the morning. I’m still coughing badly & exhausted, fed up with it now, plus I’m looking after our 2 year old grandson today 🥴

I’m watching on the webcam. Some of the comments are saying an ambulance has arrived, not a good start for someone 😞

I know we won’t get any more benefit from having more than 100 but our next cruise isn’t until August and I think I read that it’s June/July that decisions are made/announced about any changes to share holder benefits. If, as some people are guessing on here, the number of shares required for obc increases I would rather have bought them at the current low price. Not really sure what to do at the moment.

We’re thinking about it, just aren’t sure whether to bump up to 150 shares or 200.

Since hitting a certain ‘time of life’ for ladies, I have had sleeping issues, sometimes I feel l Iike I’ve forgotten how to sleep. I can fall asleep on the sofa while watching tv, but once I’m in bed I’m wide awake. I haven’t tried meditation but one thing that works for me is reading on my kindle, no need to reach over & turn a light off, I often wake up to find my kindle on the floor or occasionally balanced against my husband’s head 😂 I wouldn’t recommend trying it, but since having the unmentionable virus several weeks ago and still coughing and feeling exhausted, I’m sleeping the best I have for a few years!

Are you feeling better?

I’m not saying there aren’t lots of cases but I would imagine some of the coughs will be post - covid cough. I’m coughing constantly at the moment, weeks after having Covid. I’ve had people glare at me at the shops this week for coughing, I need a ‘I have post-covid cough’ badge 🥴 When I cruised in May my sister & I got cruise-cough too from the air con. We tested just in case and were negative.

Ah ok, sorry, I misunderstood.

My parents travel on Iona mid January and they have had their extra OBC email already.

We loved our fjords cruise on Iona in May and didn’t find either of the excursions that we did, ferry to Geiranger and Troll car trip to Briksdal glacier, underwhelming at all, we’re hoping to do the troll cars again in a couple of years time. Time-wise, if I remember rightly, we didn’t dock in the fjord ports until 8am ish so I was up taking photos at 6. Even if you don’t wake up to see the sail in you will see the sail out in the afternoons. The views while docked in the fjord ports are lovely too.

Depending on where you get seated I feel Pearl and Coral have the best views, large windows looking over the aft. Opal was smaller and felt more peaceful and intimate, my dad & brother in law said that was their favourite. We only used Aqua once for afternoon tea. We didn’t notice a difference table service wise.

Well my mum broke her foot not long before our cruise and was in a wheelchair. My husband and I went through embarkation ahead of the rest of our family, leaving my sister to push the wheelchair so she and her husband were allowed through early with my parents.

That is an advantage of.being new to cruising, it’s exciting to see the itineraries as I haven’t been to many of the ports before. Our land holidays abroad tend to be inland, Limoges, Carcassonne, Paris areas, in France, Switzerland & Austria etc

And unofficially? 😁

I hope you had a good cruise.

We didn't particularly enjoy our visit to Haugesund this May but we were there on a public holiday and everything was closed, plus we were struggling with a wheelchair and didn't find it at all wheelchair friendly. If we visited again I think we would either stay on ship or book an excursion. The same as Jaydee we have booked on Britannia in 2024 and our itinerary is Stavanger, Olden, Flam & Bergen.

We got back from Disneyland Paris late Sunday evening, I had a great time but am absolutely exhausted. 5 days in a row in the parks while recovering from Covid was a lot. It was very special being there with our little Grandson for the first time and I willingly sat down for several hours each day with him while he napped in his pushchair. I could do with a cruise to recover 🤣 I watched the funeral coverage all day yesterday with my husband and daughter and we all found it very emotional. I hope the Royal Family have some private grieving time now.

I made it to Disneyland Paris! The apartment is 10-15 walk from the park and we can see the park from our balcony. Going to watch the fireworks from here this evening as I’m exhausted.

Sorry to hear things are still difficult Sue, let's hope your Dad gets out of hospital soon, with a care plan! My family left for Disneyland Paris this morning without me and my youngest daughter. Neither of us have been too well with 'the lurgy'. We hoped we would be ok and able to travel by today, but last night we had to decide to postpone and we will get the Eurostar on Wednesday and join the rest of the family then. We just hope that were test negative and feel better by then.