TigerB

I'm only Abigail on a weekend, I'll have you know!🤭💃🏻

Thanks for the update.👍🏻 Your experience of the Chef's Canteen, I mean Chef's Table, was very similar to the one and only time we tried it, last April on Arvia. I wrote about it here and likened the service to being at a work Christmas do. Here's hoping for nice weather for you when you are in Funchal tomorrow🤞

Another good read; thanks young man.👍🏻 If we were to host a dinner party, like the posh folk do, Christopher Biggins would be one of our invited guests, as would Stephen Fry.

My recent experience of being able to pre-book via the Cruise Planner is that it's usually only for shows for the first week in Headliners. Glad Bailey's response would suggest that it may not even be possible to pre-book for Britannia at this time, for whatever reason. Once onboard you can book for shows on the My Holiday app/non-app. That said, if you forget to, or the show is showing as full, you may even be lucky with a walk-in; there will undoubtedly be a few folk who will book, decide not to attend, and not cancel.

I've been anticipating your updates, thanks! Great photos.👍 It would have been annoying getting in first at Barbados and still getting the rubbish parking spot; having to get a shuttle even to the ports shops would have been a pain in the proverbial. We like St Lucia, not so much for touring as it's difficult for our lass, but sitting on the balcony and watching the planes land and take off, and having a mooch in the Port Seraphine shops. I always come away with some banana ketchup from the 'local shop'.

I've sometimes found it more interesting watching them practice than the shows themselves.

Our lass is also a magpie, so I feel your pain!🙄

Thanks for the update.👍🏻 He was the 'driver' on our Fjords cruise last June. He did make us laugh, often deferring to his number two, "my right-hand man, and thoroughly decent chap and all-round good egg, Deputy Captain Chris", and naming the port manoeuvres: Eg., the Stavanger Shuffle and the Haugesund Hustle. I wonder what it will be when you are in Madeira; the Funchal Foxtrot? Yes, the Quays is a great addition to Iona and Arvia, even if you are just passing through and grab a cake or two from around the corner. Here's a tip for you if you ever decide to visit Horizon and take some snackage back to your cabin: 'borrow' a couple of trays from the Quays and store them in your cabin. Just as well you are not counting the pennies, booze-wise!😉 Since he curates the wine pairings for the Chef's Table menu, I would hazard a guess that he is most likely to visit that location, or the Glasshouse, than anywhere else. I look forward to your review of the Chef's Table experience.

Please do tell, what 'type of people' are you referring to? Oh, and what is the 'tragedy' you apparently foresee?

If I was on that cruise, I would be saying, "The bloody cheek of the lass; she's got her own ship to sing on, so why is she delaying mine"?😉 BTW - is yours billed as one of those Fat Club cruises?

Winner winner, boozy dinner!🥂 What a great start to your cruise. I will be following along as we are on the same cruise in February. Have a great time

Ah, but have you come across any pineapples yet?😉

Too hard to do tray!🙄 Hopefully, it will get sorted. Enjoy your time in Bermuda.

That's a bugger with the US entry shenanigans. A word with someone high up on the ship, and an explanation of your situation, may result in you and Lady S being allowed to attend together at the earlier time. That said, you may get a jobsworth Border Control agent that would scupper such a plan!🙄

Thanks for the update.🙂 I feel your pain with the theatre situation. I do hope your good lady doesn't also have folk standing behind behind her that think it is okay the hold on to the back of her wheelchair, something that our lass has experienced before. That is so rude, and always receives an appropriate response from one or both of us. The mischievous in me, if we had to deal with folk who have no legitimate reason to sit in a wheelchair companion's seat, thus meaning I had nowhere to sit, would be to get our lass to position her chair next to the seat with just enough space for me to stand between her and the offender, in their personal space. If I was feeling really mischievous I may even be tempted to let one go!🤭 Enjoy your time in Bermuda.

Good to see that you're embracing the laundry, but why no ironing? You can't beat standing and pressing a few shirts and lady garments while catching up on the ship gossip.😉 Looking at the menus you've posted, there's several dishes that I would enjoy from each menu and, when they start repeating them, there's a good chance of having something different. I also like the sea bass in banana leaves, and it a pity they don't offer that and some of the other dishes on the two biggest ships; I really don't like the trio selections for the main course. I hope guest services are able to help that fella with getting online to sort his ESTAs; these days, so long as you use the official government website, they reckon you can do it up to a day before arrival. We once had them confirmed within half an hour. Having said that, you would think that if you were going on a 65 night cruise that included stepping on US soil, you would include ESTAs in the long list of things that you needed to check way before you left home.🙄 Anyway, how far behind GMT are you now, four hours?

Michelle, below is a photo showing the handle to which @Selbourne refers. As he writes, it really is easy to operate; just move the handle about 10 degrees left or right and the motor will then take over.

I totally get how frustrating it must be with the 'old fashioned' accessible features compared to the two largest ships. Our lass's lack of hand dexterity and strength would render the manual balcony doors impossible to open, so she would be confined to the main cabin if left her alone. Regarding 'preservegate', perhaps someone at P&O Towers had been lurking on here last October, and taken note!😉

Thanks for the updates; I'm enjoying the food porn👍🏻 To the best of my recollection, I think the opera gateau is both GF and vegan, or at least a version of it was on one of the cruises we've been on, hence the taste. I'm glad you had your Crêpes Suzette prepared tableside the other day; it does make a difference.

Just catching up after a couple of days away. I loved the moody sunset photos from the other day. It's a shame about your Sindhu experience; hopefully that will improve. If we were on such a long cruise, we would probably prefer it on a ship with more dining options; however, that would mean it would be a larger ship and the chances of a tender at more ports would be higher. Swings and roundabouts!🙄 You are being spoilt with the choice of guest speakers, which is how it should be; that's one problem I think with the two largest ships, the lack of speakers. I look forward to your upcoming reports.

A pity about the weather in Funchal. When we are there in February I don't think we will bother with the shuttle if it's just a short way into town. I would be really annoyed if, like you, I returned to the ship and couldn't find anything to eat, anywhere. Not good at all! The chicken, rice, coleslaw, chips, and gravy made me think of when you really can't be bothered to cook a proper meal at home; what we call a 'make-do tea'.😉 Loved ELO, but could never really get into ELO Part II. It niggled me when he has been billed previously as 'ELO's Neil Lockwood'. The pedant in me wanted to tell the editor of Horizon to get their act together!🤭 Here's hoping that you have a reasonably good journey towards Bermuda, and Captain Baldrick's cunning plan works and you avoid the worst of the weather.🤞

Ah! You mean the infamous Bermuda Set Square 😯

I have and they have, but not always when we have wanted it doing. Five minutes out of my time is nothing to me, and we get it done when we want and cleaned to my satisfaction.

That is certainly something that we would want to do if we ever visited Port Canaveral in the future, having been quite a few years ago. The quoted price is indeed good. It's a shame that the agents don't put on an accessible transfer given that it is only a short journey there and the centre caters well for wheelchair visitors. Our lass wouldn't want to miss it.

That's a shame, but if you're paying so much to be on a ship for 35 days, especially if it's a brand you haven't tried before, you need to have the confidence that it will tick most if not all of your boxes. Here's a suggestion... If you have the opportunity to do so, why not try a Norwegian Fjords cruise on Iona? That way, you can sample the brand over one week and, at about £2,000 for a balcony cabin (much less on a saver fare), you won't have the anxiety of shelling out so much for your first P&O cruise. A 3/4 European dash would be even cheaper.