clivep

We were looking to do either this cruise or the similar Adonia one on 19th July.

It wasn't a popular itinerary last year and I expected the prices to come down to the £999 I was prepared to pay for a balcony cabin but they never got near to this. In fact the cheapest fare for the Adonia cruise was on the Early Saver fare, the Saver fare kicked in it at a higher price and remained so.

The Arcadia Iceland cruise last year was on 16th June and dropped to £649 for a balcony cabin! We could not take advantage as we had just returned from the 21st May 16 night Baltic cruise on Adonia which cost £999 for a balcony cabin. The Adonia 25th June Baltic sailing dropped to the same price as had the ones in July and August the previous year.

This year the 14 night 12th June UK & Ireland cruise on Adonia dropped to £979 (balcony) but since then the prices of other sailings have stayed high. Arcadia and Adonia are adult only ships and in the past this has meant that the prices in school holidays don't always stay high. Carnival must be very happy that the prices are holding up so well this year.

Even Adonia has 2 tables. They were well used despite the fact that it's an adult only ship with a high percentage of pensioners (like me:mad:).

Having only one table on a ship the size of Azura is a rather a poor show particularly with it being family friendly. How about removing the equipment from the gym then you could put loads of table tennis tables in there.

We did experience a lot of noise whilst we were playing. However this was from the loudspeakers blaring out music at the sailaway when we were trying to have a quiet game!

HC was the part obscured balcony cabin grade up to last year but in this year's deck plans the part obscured cabins are indeed IE grade.

There are only 6 partially obscured balcony cabins on Adonia so the vast majority of those booking these on any fare type will get upgraded. The amount of obscurity is very little anyway.

Rest assured, in your case a HC cabin in this year's Adonia deck plans is described as a non-obscured balcony cabin with shower on A or C deck.

It all depends on how popular the cruise is.

Saver fares often come down to less than 50% of the Select price within 4 weeks of sailing but then again if you wait the cruise may sell out.

As has been previously pointed out, the pricing is volatile and can change daily. One indicator is the amount of extra on board spending money that is being offered with a Select fare... a larger figure suggests the cruise is not selling well so the Saver price has a better chance of being reduced.

That's why they go to 'orrible places like Tunis, Tangier. I don't mind Gib for half a day, got a friend there. Would much prefer Malta :-)

... but also why they go to a nice place like Kotor, Montenegro now that Croatia is in the EU so stopping in Split or Dubrovknik does not exempt the cruise.

On our first visit my wife really enjoyed the arts & crafts shops in Stavanger. Unfortunately our next visit was on a Sunday and although a lot of souvenir shops were open the interesting ones weren't.

We were then disappointed when P&O changed the itinerary order for our last visit so that Stavanger was on a Sunday again. We took the "Tropical flora of Norway" tour and it turned out to be a great decision. It was one of the best tours we've been on and is highly recommended for anyone who likes gardens.

Only one table for a ship that size! Even Adonia has 2.

Table tennis is the only on board activity/entertainment we use and we play quite a lot.

This would certainly make me think twice about booking on Azura.

I keep a close eye on the prices of a number of sailings whilst I'm waiting for the Saver fare to come down to what I'm prepared to pay. Unfortunately I've noticed that the Saver fares on the ones I'm watching have actually been going up particularly in the last couple of weeks since the budget.

In fact one of the July Adonia cruises I've been watching currently has a much higher Saver fare than the Early Saver fare was in March!

I think last minute bargains are going to be few and far between this year.

We all know how P&O like to make it as hard as possible to obtain port timings for some reason only known to them.

I've just noticed that the German site ...scanner.com that is so good for finding out info has now started selling P&O Select fares to the Continental marketplace. Moreover, the itineraries are shown with port timings! I've not looked on ......tt.com or port schedules to check the timings but they look as if they may be quite accurate.

I've just noticed that some of the saver prices for balconies on the Oceana 14 day sailings in May/June are £1999... which is more than the combined prices of two consecutive 7 day sailings for the same periods. Cheaper to book two 7 day cruises and leave the seats empty on the plane!

The cable you need is called a OTG (on the go) cable.

I recently got one for 99p delivered from eBay. The description was

USB A Female to Micro B Male OTG Adapter USB Cable For Nexus 7 10 Samsung Google

although I see they are now £1.25 form this seller!

Works well with the inexpensive (currently £3.21) Nexus Media Importer app downloaded from Google Play.

They may well go down but then suddenly be unavailable due to being fully booked. Bear in mind when checking available cabins that this takes no account of Saver fares that have not yet been allocated their cabin numbers. Cabin numbers for those on Saver fares usually get allocated about 14 days before departure so before this you can get an overly high false impression of the number of cabins available.

You'll be wanting a Saver fare then.

Early Saver fares are replaced by Saver fares about 3 months before departure so Saver fares are now starting to appear for cruises departing the beginning of July.

Once introduced the Saver fares can fluctuate quite a bit both up & down. The cheapest fares are usually in the last fortnight before sailing, but not always, and of course if you wait you may well find the cruise gets sold out.

I doubt you'll find a very cheap cruise on a family friendly ship in school holidays though.

So working on this theory everyone is asked on booking what dining they would prefer.

approx.1 1/2 weeks before sailing they start allocating tables (I know this from when we have requested a certain table in the mdr).

This is how other cruise lines work and how P&O used to.

By this time all the select fares would be given their requests. The early savers will be given theirs. You then have the saver fares....that will have to be slotted in among what space is left.

Absolutely. The sensible way to do it. Priority given to those that have paid more and without extra work for the restaurant manager trying to accommodate changes to randomly assigned dining times for those on Saver fares.

However among them you have 2 cabins travelling together that must have the same table...you have someone who must eat early whatever....long list.

Are you going to say that everyone who paid a saver fare ,who did not get what they wanted will not come on hear and complain.

When these fares came out, it was I don't mind where my cabin is or what time I dine, I just want to cruise cheaply.

Then it was I don't mind where my cabin is but I must have 2 next to each other, and I want to cruise cheaply.

Then it was I don't mind when I eat, but I have to have a table for 4 people travelling together, or be on first sitting, and I want to cruise cheaply.

Then it was ask us what dining we want, and the parameters within that dining, and I want to cruise cheaply.

Of course none of you would never ever pay a cheap fare and complain about the position of the cabin, or the fact that you told them what sitting you wanted and have not been put on it...

Most of the complaining seems to be coming from those paying the exhorbitant Select fares.

... and also some restaurants and even cash machines in Italy and Spain!

The default is always to "opt in" against your best interests and it's easy to miss this extra step when authorising the transaction.

What is relevant here is the "loading" that your credit card provider applies to foreign transactions to give them commission on the transaction. The actual exchange rate used is pretty much a standard figure but this is then adjusted by the loading to give the exchange rate shown on your credit card statement.

In the UK the loading tends to be 2.75% but can be higher or much lower... my Nationwide credit card has a loading of 0%.

I believe Celebrity offer to do the conversion at 3% in which case they adjust the standard exchange rate by this percentage and put the charge on your card in £.

So most UK passengers would be better off opting out of the ship's conversion scheme. I certainly would although ticking and highlighting this fact has not always worked and my choice has been ignored. In one case with Celebrity I got compensation from Celebrity UK after I had lost out due to them not following my opt out wishes.

It all depends on what loading your particular card has for foreign transactions (you'll find it in the small print),

Whichever way you choose, the basic exchange rate before loading will be that prevailing when the card is processed at the end of the cruise.

Hi, yes I know about the BIRG tickets. They are different from the Rome BIRG tickets which are 12 euros. I think the Tarquinia ones are only about 3 euros. Is Tarquinia the place with the Etruscan tombs as well as a lido/waterpark?? Im trying to absorb information from so many sites my brain is starting to scramble :o

Will visiting on a Sunday make a difference to visiting smaller, off the beaten track places? (Sunday/day of rest/family day?)

Civitavecchia is going to be busy the day we are there. We will be one of 5 liners in that day.

Yes, Tarquinia has the Etruscan tombs although we didn't go to them during our visit (the rest of the place is worth visiting in it's own right).

Going DIY on a Sunday may well be problematic. There are very few buses on this route on Sundays... you can find a timetable on the Cotral site although you may need to run it through a translator.

Tarquinia is a very pleasant place to visit. You can catch the bus from just around the corner from the port gates although I think they've now moved where the port bus drops you off. Very cheap but getting the tickets was a bit of a hassle... we belatedly found out that the Birg tickets were sold at the tourist info point near the port gates.

Yes I knew about the Princess policy on price-match but the different cancellation policy with no penalty is across all the US lines I've ever used - but only for US cruisers

It's not just for US cruisers but for bookings made through a TA in the US. I've booked through US TAs several times in order to get pricing much lower than in the UK along with free pre-paid gratuities and the more favorable booking conditions.

Weight - This is basically limited by flying restrictions (if you fly) or your own strength if you are not flying.

For P&O sailings from Southampton they only allow up to 20kg per case.

A lot of places will take dollars or euros but give change in rubles. Other places it's strictly rubles only.

e.g. Church of the Spilled Blood admission is in Roubles only but you can pay by credit card whereas the sales kiosk inside only took roubles in cash. The bar we went to for coffee was roubles cash only. We used the ATM in a bank to draw out roubles to go to the Russian Museum but we needn't have bothered as they accepted credit cards.

On Nevsky Prospekt there are loads of exchange bureaus displaying their ruble rate against the dollar and euro in neon signs outside their premises.

Thanks for this info. One thing. Do you have to take a shuttle from the ship to the port gates. I heard that you cannot walk from the ship to get a taxi? Are the taxi drivers willing to take you just to the station in Livorno?

There's no shuttle to the port gates and you're not usually allowed to walk (nor would you want to at the distance away from the port gates that the larger ships berth at).

The shuttle service offered is from the ship to the center of Livorno.

I believe taxis wait for fares alongside (or very near) the ship.

Our experience of P&O has been that they take about 10% commission in each of the buy and sell exchange rates (so you'd lose more than 20% in total on any unused foreign currency that you sell back to them).

Using our Nationwide debit card we get charged 2% commission + £1 ATM fee for withdrawing foreign currency from a cash machine abroad.

It's convenient and cheaper to use P&O for £10's worth of foreign currency for incidentals but otherwise it's the ATM every time.

I found the one in my drawer absolutely fine :)

There's not one in the drawer on Adonia... only the wall mounted one in the bathroom so we always take our own.

You can get bus tickets from a kiosk near the shuttle drop off point. Don't forget to validate them when boarding the #1 bus to the station.

I don't think there are any direct trains from Livorno to Lucca and a change in train & platform is needed at the main station in Pisa.

The main station in Pisa is at the other end of town to the leaning tower. If you want to stop off to see the tower on the way back from Lucca then there is another station on the Lucca-Pisa line that some of the trains from Lucca stop at.