sgmn

I've used a voucher a couple of times in specialty restaurants.  One vouchers for 40% off a bottle (under $100). 

It's been available for around a year so they should be aware of it by now. 

6 minutes ago, time4u2go said:

Does the WC overnight in any ports?  Some of my favorite port stops have been ones where we were able to do things in the evening.

Le Have on my leg

11 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Steve Harley lead singer of Cockney Rebel sadly died today of cancer aged 73.RIP.

So sad,  sounds of our youth

15 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Is anyone really good at colors. Decorating isnt my forte. Sure anyone can hire someone to change out countertops etc but I dont have a artistic flair. My painter wants a color of "white" so he can go in this week and paint. I cant make up my mind. Yesterday I wanted heron plume, today I'm back to alabaster. 

 

This shows the color of the cabinets and the granite countertop. My real estate agent and this guy are both pushing for new cabinets. For sure new appliances so ignore appliance color. If I get rid of cabinets, I'd lose the granite countertop. Right now I need a paint color. One thing at a time. . .. anyone have a preference? 

We were amazed how nice various shades of light grey looks on the walks, very restful. We started with the study and ending up doing the whole downstairs in different shades

15 hours ago, grapau27 said:

We have just got home after 4 relaxing night's in the Lake District.

This was Friday's dinner and a picture of Lake Derwent water next to Keswick.

Yorkshire pud and roast, yum 😋.  You do choose the best restaurants Graham 

12 hours ago, katmigordon said:

Please excuse my newness, but how do you do that?

When you open the app there will be three icons at top, a ship, a calendar and a person head/shoulders.  Click on person, this takes you to your profile and bookings. At the bottom of your cruise it should read 'don't see your cruise, add it now' click there. 

This takes you to another page where you could add details of other cruises booked OR click on 'Browse our ships'.

Click on 'Browse our Ships'

This takes you to list of ships. Click on one you are interested in and it gives you a list of sailings. Click on this week and it will be populated with all the activities,  dinning, bar menus, entertainment and excursions with prices 

Happy Birthday Dani !! 

Hope you gave a fabulous day and get to do all your favourite things .  

On 2/25/2024 at 10:28 PM, PurpleTraveller said:

You could pop into the M&S Foodhall on York Road to pick up pastries, fruit and juice like we do when we stay at Premier Inn County Hall.

Porridge pots from M@S too.  Just add boiling water.   £1 each. No need for bowl and use the spoon that comes with the in room tea/kettle tray.  A lot cheaper and healthier than the overpriced buffet breakfast in the hotel

1 hour ago, jobinseattle said:

Our first cruise is later this year on an Oasis class ship. I know the price ranges for refreshment packages, deluxe beverage package, specialty dining etc. Are the prices the same on a smaller ship (lets say Mariner OTS for example). considering the ship is smaller and may not offer as much as the bigger ships?

Prices vary widely, but more to do with I think how many drink packages they've already sold or how many they think they will sell.  If they think there's high demand then the price is high.

For instance in a sector of the world cruise on Serenade the DP is showing as £52.50 pppd in my planner (including tax as UK prices) for 16 day cruise.  But apparently Anthem ex Southampton is £76 pppd, 14 day cruise. 

My thinking is on the UWC most full world cruisers have drinks included, there will probably be a lot of Diamond and up who get free drinks too so demand for the DP will be low, hence a lower price. 

On the Southampton cruise, a 14 day cruise will be most people's main summer holiday, and us Brits like a drink on holiday,  so I think the demand for the DP will be high.

As far as speciality dinning then my experience, comparing Symphony to Serenade last year, is the bigger the ship and more choice, the more expensive the dinner.  Symphony was £60pp for Chops and Serenade £46

We've had an extremely wet winter with rain most days. But molly still needs daily walks.  Yesterday we had a rare few hours of sunshine at a National Trust property about an hours drive from us. Petworth House and grounds.  It has a large deer park with a big herd of deer as well as gardens and an amazing collection of paintings including many Van Dyck and Turners.  Only disappointment was lunch was not up to the usual NT standard.

Looking out over the Deer park. Zoom in to see the herd

close up of the deer 🦌 

the house. Only about a third was open to the public , the family still live in a wing of the house.

the Chapel, parts of it are from the 13th century 

Petworth, https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/sussex/petworth

Wish they would bring back those drink cards, 10 drinks for $80 or whatever. They were handy when we were pre diamond,  and shareable too.

5 minutes ago, little britain said:

That is madness as when I was in last month the silver lounge, the silver dining and the gold dining were always empty!!!

 

Why does the email refer to “star/sky/sea” lounge as there is no such venue in Spectrum??!!

Diamond Lounge also pretty empty on Spectrum ,  and this was in a cruise with over 5000 on board. Maybe half a dozen at most. They did have sandwiches and pastries there all day as well as breakfast and pre dinner snacks but still not enough to entice people to stay 

@Hlitner and anyone else with knowledge, does uber or similar work in France?

We're in Le Harve overnight in July and thinking of train to Rouen one day and car hire the next.  But a bit concerned about the scarcity of taxis to and fro port to station and car hire office 

7 hours ago, CSHS1979 said:

 

We're staying on the coast. No way I'm going onto city

I think we're going to hire a car as we're in Le Havre overnight.  DH is happy to drive on the continent and we've been to France multiple times

Very Happy Birthday wishes to Pauline, Graham.  I hope you have a nice day out and celebrate in style 

10 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

@sgmn   I hope you are having a wonderful Mother's Day💐😊

Thank you Debbie.

Matt and Isaac came round and Gary cooked a roast.  Nick n Co were meant to come but Theo developed crusty eyes and in case its conjunctivitis they just did a socially distanced hello and goodbye. This time of year it alwaya seems one of them has something.

We also visited our mums graves to leave flowers 

15 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

At breakfast this morning I saw a 3 or 4 yr old boy grab his dad's mimosa and drink it while the parents sat on their phones.   Then watched the boy drink the pitcher of creamer.   

I wanted to say something but thought best to mind my own business.   

Then outside the terminal while waiting for our Lyft home I watched this woman try to negotiate with uber driver to pay $60 instead of $100.   She was getting very upset and Everyone was telling her they don't negotiate and will charge her a cancellation fee.   Her husband stood off to the side just shaking his head.

People🤣🤣🤣

😲 oh my, hope he was ok, can't believe parents didn't notice.  Shake my head over how social media and smart phones is changing parenting 

18 minutes ago, oddly excitered said:

Probably not going to be any meaningful discounts before July, drinking age is 21 here so your son will not benefit.

 

Pax is on ship ex  Southampton.  Drinking age in UK is 18

32 minutes ago, Frapaccino said:

Thanks that still §74 per person per day, assuming it’s US § wondering if they take into account the currency exchange or as that would bring it down to around £57 a day which is a bit better so could maybe wait for discount? We cruise in July from Southampton. 

 

Totally get the peace of mind, my son will be 18 so may benefit from the drinks package.

 

Previous  cruises (RCI and NCL) we were able to order multiple drinks on one card, wondering is that the same? We’re a party of 12, 6 adults 6 kids. Have read no sharing as could result in package being cancelled without refund, does that happen? 

 

many thanks 

You can prebuy the Evian 12/24  litre bottles in the planner from around £20 in your cruise planner, though the iced ships water is fine. They'll be waiting in your room when you board.  Also there's a coffee card for £28 (15 specialist coffees) to prepurchase.  On UK sailings there's a kettle in your room. 

My next cruise, BCN to Southampton my drink package is £54.50 pppd so the price is dynamic and changes pre cruise depending how many they've sold. I think in the UK the price includes the 18% gratuities , in the USA its added on at the end of the purchase process. 

You can bring a limited amount of soda on with you as well as your bottle of wine. 

It's a strict no-no to share a package. Also both adults in a room must purchase a package 

There is a small fridge in your room.  Your room steward will bring you daily bucket of ice and wine glasses if you ask him 

We find on the European cruises they have a lot of ports and not many sea days, so we are off the ship most of the day. We usually get a couple of beers on land with lunch. Otherwise I'm happy with their free water, flavoured water, teas and coffees during the day and just get a couple of glasses of wine during the evening. Like @firefly333I get a few free drinks because of my diamond level so I recommend you join their loyalty scheme.

You can bring one bottle of wine per adult on board with you and also pre-buy bottles of wine and some spirts through their gifts and gear catalogue. 

If you have a specialised dinning package, I think you can also get 40% off bottles of wine under $100

13 hours ago, char@blakemail.org said:

We are considering booking a cruise on the Serenade out of Tampa in Dec 2024.
I would like to hear opinions on the ship from people who have cruised on it lately.

We started cruising on the Majesty in 2011 and cruised on the Jewel in 2018.  So we are aware of the difference in amenities compared to the newer ships.
We typically book Voyager,  Freedom and Oasis class ships.

Question leans more to the condition of theSerenade.  I don't see it has been updated/refurbished since 2012.

 

We did a cruise last September from Tampa to Boston. I think she is a great ship. Love the Viking Crown lounge on this class. Yes she is a bit faded and tired looking in places but still a lovely ship. Food was OK, waiters and service amongst the best ever

3 hours ago, CSHS1979 said:

 

 

 

Great photo.  Would love to do that.  Do you know if it was really strenuous Laura? 

The couple on the far left look like a couple who are doing a RTW blog . 

Nice to see John looking so well. I would be interested in how this very long voyage is affecting people health (or not).  

Everyone in the photos looks really well, congratulations to everyone.

Sue

58 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

Here in the US, our Mother’s Day is May 12th.

 

Happy Mother’s Day to all celebrating today. 

Thank you. 

Like most of our celebrations it comes from the Christian Calendar and is the fourth Sunday of Lent ,  Mothering Sunday , a day in centuries gone by for those to go home to visit the 'Mother church' and their mothers. 

My work colleagues who had families living abroad always had to remember to buy a card now to send to their mums in May as they weren't available to buy here in May

To all mums out there, 

Happy Mothers Day. 

9 hours ago, grapau27 said:

 

Thank you so much for all of your kind condolences for our Sarah's dad.

He was my best friend for 35 years until 9 years ago when he and his wife refused to look after Pauline's mam with us and left Pauline,her brother and me to care for her last 4 years with Vascular dementia and Alzheimer's.

Dementia is such an awful disease and so difficult for family to deal with. 

My older brother very rarely visited mum.

I was lucky that Gary was very supportive, once he retired he use to take Molly and visit every day. 

Our blessing was that she still knew Gary and I till the end.