Host Sharon

Happened on an Artemis cruise I was on in 2007. Hamburg pilot had to stay on board until Oslo. Can't believe he was too upset!

Laptops need to be removed and scanned separately, tablets don't. Other than that you can take pretty much anything - except of course knives, weapons and unlimited booze.

These are arranged via the roll call thread for each cruise. You can email P&O events to organise a meet, although nowadays there is automatically one for various fora in Horizon for the first sea day.

Staysure, Insure & Go and All Clear all offer the same as, I'm sure do many others.

Sadly, no. The only UK cruise line I aware of that offers this is Saga.

Packing - period!

Plenty of trays on Oceana and two Can I Help guys at meal times. I couldn't manage without them, although if I use my walker I can balance a tray on it now.

Also worth noting that Ventura is now berthing in Zeebrugge on Saturday, when Ijmuden should have been on Sunday, when the worst of the winds are due.

Jo, our lovely wine waitress on Oceana last month was very knowledgeable and helpful. It was even more appreciated given that we were aware she was worrying over her family back in the Phillipines who had been evacuated due to the volcano eruptions and had lost their home and animals.

But the cabin flower hasn't gone. We had one on oceana last week. We also had an excellent wine waitress (again reported as "gone"). The only noticeable difference was we had to request face cloths (instantly supplied) and no turndown on the first night.

True - forgot that.

Well at least they have formal nights 🙂

But how many times are you staying in an hotel for say 3 weeks or more and how often do you need more than one evening outfit in an hotel

Since I loathe wire hangers (my clothes always seem to fall off them anyway), I usually pack my evening dresses on their own hangers from home and then pack a few extra plastic shop hangers, including some clip ones for skirts or trousers, which I often leave behind when packing to go home. It's so much easier to take out an evening dress and hang it straight up.

Not quite - there are A buffet restaurant which doesn't charge - open for all meals The Freedom dining restaurants - allocated to you only for dinner if that is your chosen option and you can go any time between about 6pm and 9pm The Club dining restaurants (not on Iona), open only for dinner, allocated table for you for either first sitting (6.30) or second sitting(8.30) and you keep that table for the whole cruise Select dining restaurants - all need to be booked and chargeable. Room service - free for breakfast, all other meals chargeable Additionally usually one MDR is open for lunch and tea with open sitting. Hope that helps.