davecttr

Thanks, I will break the journey with a coffee and then nip into Tescos in the precinct

Apologies, being retired 16 years has rotted my brain. I will just do what I did 16 years ago, walk down to the station and catch the train, 6 trains per hour and £4.60 return to Chatham. I did a recce this morning, 35 minutes to walk to the station and 10 minutes on the train. Not looking forward to the walk home though as it is uphill all the way.

What fun. I have my flu and C jabs on Thursday in Chatham. I have just found out that the local buses are on strike Wed, Thurs and Fri this week and the whole 5 days of next week. I use public transport 😈

Marellas requirements are listed in the banner section at the top of their web page. these are listed by cruise name. For countries entry requirements the foreign office travel advice site is best. This will take you to our gov site for france and you can see the other countries there. https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/france/entry-requirements

The Keel and Cow is virtual queue only and as a gastro pub IMO it should stay that way. The Olive Grove should be virtual queue only as well, also the Glass House. The problem with timed reservations is people making multiple reservations and then cancelling or not turning up. Maybe having a £30 per person reservation charge which is refunded when you turn up, no, £50 😠

Next May will be interesting as the new entry protocols will apparently require either face recognition or fingerprint scanning. On the news the other day they reported that this could take up to 10 minutes for a car of 4 people, 2 minutes each and 2 minutes for the car, 6 cars per hour per lane, or 166 hours for a Iona passenger load. Or 55 scan stations can clear the lot in about 3 hours.

Christmas music on Oceana a few years ago. There wasn't any because they could not find the official CD and although the crew had hundreds they could not use them because of copyright. They found the CD eventually, on BOXING DAY

Two incidents come to mind. We had a delayed departure on Aurora or was in Arcadia, the ship had a tiered stern. Any way they repeatedly called a couples name to phone reception. As there was a sail away party going on aft the cruise director interrupted proceedings to reinforce the message. The couple were in the audience! They said they wanted to attend the party BEFORE contacting reception. The second incident had a little old man late back to the ship. We could see him at the end of the quay rushing back with his 2 shopping bags. He was about 112 years old with big 'it ain't half hot mum' shorts and his little sparrow legs going flat out at 1mph. They rushed down the quay with a wheelchair, stuck him in it and rushed back to the ship to cheers and clapping. They could not tell him off, perhaps a gentle reminder to allow another hour to return next time.

Yes, fixed sitting times. The galley organisation is different than anytime dining because they have yo provide for providing large quantities of starter, main courses etc, in sequence rather than randomly

I like Barefoot white Zinfandel from Sainsbury's. Sick squid a bottle 🥳 edit - 10,000 posts, where do i get my free bottle 😁

Club and anytime dining require a different organisation within the galley. If there is one galley per mdr this is less of a problem. how many galleys does Iona have?

Iona January cruise cancelled by me, what a relief after changing my opinion several times a day. Still got the Arvia one in April but that is already paid for

I was just thinking that on the bus home this morning. Maybe a deliberate attempt to reduce passengers enough to justify getting rid of a few ships.

You need Yorkshire pockets, specially designed to keep the money from being taken out 😉

Indeed which leads me to believe that if I book any more cruises they will be no more than a week or so

Is that the essence of the issue?

Onslow was obviously harmless but Daisy was a serial husband cuddler 😲

I have ended up with both jabs on the same day in the local Boots, one at 10.30 and the other at 3.55. I wonder if i will be able to persuade them to give me both at 10.30. Worth a try I suppose.

Or Onslow

Exercised or Exorcised

I do I do. On formal night it is a flashy shirt, black chinos and black trainers

Oops, missed the emoji off the end

Yes, to be fair they should refuse boarding to anyone in the terminal who coughs or sneezes or blows their nose more than once.

No problem. Maybe those who have cruised on Azura/Ventura recently can inform us. If it is now black tie then I will be disappointed because the Glass house was my favourite venue.

How about the Glass House on Azura and Ventura. Is it formal on black tie night?. If so things have changed recently.