9265359

Even the roast that they always have on? Because on most cruises it is popular. At the time you went on your cruise it obviously wasn't but perhaps that was linked to the time you were there. Haugesund isn't in an industrial area that requires them for safety. Should they provide them for the 1 mile walk from the ship to the centre of town - perhaps, but they don't so paying £3 each way if you don't want to walk the 1 mile isn't exorbitant.

It is done to reduce the numbers going to the MDRs on what is normally a formal night because it is usually quite popular, and although a large part of the menu offering is Indian there is always a selection of non-curry food on as well. £6 return, not each way, and £3 vs an hours walk doesn't seem bad value.

On Ventura you have the choice of freedom or club dining if you book select (if you book saver you are just allocated and have to ask to change if there is space). With club dining you can express a preference for a table for two, and you might be lucky and you might not be. If you opt for freedom then you can join the queue and specify a table for two, although you are likely to wait longer than those who queue for a shared table. On Iona all the restaurants are freedom dining and there are an awful lot more tables for two than on Ventura so the queues tend to be far shorter. Plus the tables for two on Iona are not all shoved away into unpleasant corners as they tend to be on Ventura, or have horrible bench seating where the bench seat is far too low. Iona is far far preferable a choice over Ventura in respect of a 'table for two' matter.

Given the amount of norovirus rampaging around the ships at the moment, they are not exactly demonstrating it.

Still talking nonsense - Sources of Airborne Norovirus in Hospital Outbreaks - PMC (nih.gov) In conclusion, this study provides additional evidence that airborne NoV can be present in concentrations that are high enough to cause infections, and in particle size fractions that remain airborne for long periods and are easily inhaled.

It wouldn't be. The ships are designed so they can turn the tables at least twice, and if you allowed booking at any time the issue would be the number booked for the peak 7.30pm to 8pm slot, so making it difficult to turn the tables and so worse for those who couldn't book, and also worse for those arriving at that busy time as the waiters will be very stretched. The simple solution to waiting is to swap to 'Spanish time' when onboard and just dine at 9pm (although even that is far to early for Madrileños).

That isn't the case with UK banks - all cash withdrawals are treated as cash withdrawals irrespective of where they are made. The difference is that the T&Cs of the accounts might allow for a fee to be charged by the bank and will specify the basis of the exchange rate used, and those fees and exchange rates might be different whether it is a cash withdrawal or a purchase, and also differs between credit cards and debit cards. Thus you can have both a fee charged by the bank for making a cash withdrawal from foreign ATM plus a fee charged by the ATM itself and if you are not careful and exchange rate 'fee' as well. As for the fee charged by the foreign ATM, the bank makes clear that is nothing at all to do with them - I have an account with First Direct and they are explicit that they make no charges for foreign ATM withdrawals but they are very clear (and it is my experience) that most foreign ATMs still impose their own fees and those fees vary wildly.

As others have mentioned, with a trip to Teide you will undoubtably be far above cloud line so blue skies and the sun beating down. However the trip will realistically just be a scenic coach drive up a windy mountain road to park in a car park and then take in the views of the barren scenery - photo below taken in January. La Laguna on the other hand can be an interesting small and historic town to stroll around, but... it is 550m above sea level and has a far cooler and damper climate than the coast, so it could be far less pleasant in November than in Santa Cruz.

Not if you have a Santander account, even a non-Spanish Santander account, when withdrawals are fee free and with no exchange rate loading.

Only if you want to dine early - 5.30 to 6pm. Otherwise it is join the queue and wait, with the wait being dependant on whether you want to dine at a popular time 7.30 to 8.30, or if you dine at an unpopular time such as between 9pm and 9.30pm when they close the doors, when it is unlikely there is any queue at all.

No, because I would hope that they had been sufficiently well trained so that they did without needing to be told.

As before, never seen a queue at all, so a 40 minute queue must mean something exceptional had gone wrong.

Says it all.

Never seen a queue to drop off whenever I have used CPS, and never seen a queue to pick up the keys either. I suppose they might happen, but they never have been at the times I have been there.

Norovirus is transmitted both airborne and touch, for example touching that table or chair that hasn't been cleaned properly after use by the previous occupant and then picking up a bread roll to eat. Utter utter nonsense that only those with a weakened immune system are susceptible to norovirus. Utter utter nonsense. And yet more nonsense. The best way to protect yourself is to be zealous with handwashing and the best way for the cruise line to protect its customers is to properly clean and making sure people are washing their hands.

A YouTuber who gets paid if people watch their videos posting another controversial video that will get people watching and earn them money - I am shocked, utterly shocked.

Does it work against norovirus? I noticed that their advertising (Boots Anti Viral Hand Foam - 50ml - Boots) now makes no mention of it and only makes the claim that it "kills 99.99% of enveloped viruses and harmful bacteria" which as norovirus is not an enveloped virus isn't exactly helpful. What will kill norovirus is Hypochlorous Acid (HOCL) but this product doesn't contain any of that. Likewise, but I would actually like the ire that people have those not using the gel instead directed at ship's management for not ensuring that effective cleaning with bleach is taking place as that would have an impact on reducing the transmission of norovirus.

Alcohol hand gels are effective against some viruses such as during the pandemic, but they are completely ineffective against norovirus. Norovirus (vomiting bug) - NHS (www.nhs.uk) "Washing your hands frequently with soap and water is the best way to stop it spreading. Alcohol hand gels do not kill norovirus." That someone isn't using the alcohol hand gel is irrelevant to the spread of norovirus. What is relevant is whether they have washed their hands properly immediately beforehand, not an hour ago, and even then that doesn't kill the virus unless you have the water at a temperature which would scald you, all it does is temporarily remove the virus from your hands. The most important issue is whether the staff have cleaned all the touchable surfaces with bleach after the last occupants have left, as bleach will kill norovirus.

When I was recently on Arvia I noticed that there seemed to be very few tables larger than six, and that even the tables of six seemed to be far fewer than on the older ships, with far more tables for two and four. I guess that they have finally realised that most people don't want to eat at shared tables, but that does have a knock on for large groups who need those tables.

When I was on Britannia last summer the food in the Glass House was very good. And then last winter on Azura the food in the Glass House was very bad, despite being (theoretically) the same menu. Because of shortages of some things they had taken to changing what was being served from the menu description without actually bothering to tell the customers. And the service in the Glass House was poor, with the staff not knowing (or caring) when the two menus swapped, constantly having to ask for cutlery, and management not having the sense to tell a waiter that bathing in aftershave/perfume might be rather off-putting to those dining. As for the other restaurants, Epicurean used to be very good about eight or nine years ago, but the last time couple of times I tried it in 2021 and 2022 it wasn't, with service being unbearably slow (and on speaking to them it was intended to be so) and the food being 'so so'. Similarly Sinhu used to be very good when Atul Kochhar still had something to do with it. Then over the last few years it has been heading downhill and when I tried it last winter on Azura it had reached very very poor, with the dishes either being tasteless or the chef being heavy handed with the chilli, and the dishes certainly didn't have the balanced flavours of the past. And the service was nothing to write home about. As for the MDR, the menus are pretty uninspiring (and the celebration night menus are nothing to celebrate these days) and the food brought out can be rather hit and miss.

Undoubtably a bunch of Zoomer consultants telling P&O management that they will be beating people away with sticks such will be the popularity of a vegan restaurant onboard, and not actually considering the demographics of the P&O customer base doesn't match up with their trendy London experience. It doesn't need wait for a refit, as the space itself looks really good and would work perfectly if they just replaced the pure vegan menu with something more inclusive.

The issue seems to be the vegan reaction that you cannot have a 'real' vegan restaurant that serves both dishes with meat in them and dishes without. I like vegan food, but generally as part of a meal and not a whole meal. Now if they served the Green&Co vegan dishes AND some other equally good and imaginative meat dishes then perhaps the restaurant wouldn't be 95% empty most of the time.

It isn't catering for every eventuality, it is assessing and minimising risk. The situations when an evacuation are needed in reality are not likely to be of the 'have a wander down to the theatre at your leisure to have your cruise card scanned' embarkation check. If P&O is seriously having to evacuate the many thousands of passengers and crew off into lifeboats then something really really bad has happened, and that really really bad thing will undoubtably have resulted in some who though they could provide assistance not being able to do so.

What would happen if you are incapacitated during the incident that requires the ship to be evacuated and an evac chair had not been booked and thus there was no way to evacuate your wife? Does the cruise line take the risk that someone could manage the stairs when the ship is sinking and take more bookings, but if they are wrong and they can't they leave them to drown? Now in the past that might have been the basis that P&O were operating under, but now they seem to have decided to take a new low risk option. It is hard to criticise that decision, the deserved criticism is of the poor handling of existing bookings made before they made that decision and the poor handling of new bookings. Personally I think that even with the new policy P&O are still massively underestimating the number of people who would need assistance if there was an emergency that required evacuation.

They have no legal liability for the debts of the company they are shareholders in.