zap99

20 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

Exactly. Some are better than others. They are not all the same, they did not all cost the same. It’s perfectly acceptable to provide constructive criticism.

I agree, but can't remember constructively criticising any of them.

51 minutes ago, daiB said:

How on earth has the fact that you have been on more cruise lines effect the fact that i don't complain about my cruises. Sorry the word is moan. Why on earth would anyone moan about not getting a pillow chocolate. Or any of the minor moans we here.

We have been on about 40 cruises. The one we didn't enjoy was.....nah, we enjoyed them all. Some more than others. But hey...we are not at work and are mandering around the oceans relaxing.

19 minutes ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

Exactly, people have lots of diffeent choices and what they want from a cruise. 

For us as a family with a child P&O only works for us for the cheapness. So i am not expecting a high level of food or service. 

 

 

You may be pleasantly surprised.

18 hours ago, 9265359 said:

 

Videos saying 'everything is fine, nothing to see here' don't generate clicks and YouTube advertising revenue, but videos that say 'shock horror, you won't believe this' do. 

Absolutely right. Many of the tubers are now commercial enterprises. Bad reviews get the revenue up.

On 8/15/2024 at 8:27 PM, Ichabod123 said:

I have a (15th) cruise booked with P&O and I have been reading on these boards and watching videos on YouTube which are reporting a huge fall in standards with P&O as opposed to their pre-covid offering. So many things seem to have disappeared and been significantly reduced - from service to food and everything in between.

 

I'm beginning to regret booking with P&O now and am considering giving Cunard a go.

If you don't enjoy it, try somewhere else. We enjoy P&O and others. Watch Utube videos at your peril.

17 hours ago, kalos said:

 

I'm sure they will be back when time permits ,Andy was posting the other week on 

a Britannia post  . Lets hope they are all happy and will drop in at sometime.

Looking forward to hearing @brian1 is ok ? Most likely sat in a pub wearing  an 

eye patch ,singing Dr Hook songs to his Mrs 😉🙃

We are having a weekend at Warners ,Gunton Hall. We were chatting to a family at breakfast. The very pleasant Father stated ' before I retired I was a plumber.' It wasn't Brian......no eye patch...no glass of voddy.🤣

On 8/15/2024 at 11:15 AM, daiB said:

Only a lunch!!!!! B******* the lunch. 🙂 3/4 glasses of wine just starts the cruise well.

After our coming Royal Caribean cruise we get 4 free drinks a day. Probably pass on that. We don't spend a lot of money to get blotto.

9 hours ago, daiB said:

Having been on Britannia, Iona and Arvia for 8 cruises in the last 18 months i can confirm that  the service on these three ships has been exceptional.  

On Arvia we were a bit pushed for tile. We had a booking for 710 at 8.30pm. We placed our order in the MDR and I said to the waiter ' we will just have  starter and main as we need to be out of here in an hour'. Order dessert sir, I'll push your order through'. No complaints at all from us, but TBH pool service is a bit lacking, but it's not really very important.

1 hour ago, Ess001 said:

Bumrush? I've never heard that word before. Cant wait to use it! Every day a school day on this page 🙂 

Somebody else used it before me. They wanted to know about the welcome lunch for top tier suite guests. Not bothered really it's only lunch.

3 hours ago, purplesea said:

We were on Britannia last September and had no issues. 

 

On the first week of our cruise in January on Azura service by the pool was very slow, but picked up in the second week. Also having sailed on both Iona and Arvia we have had no issues getting served.

Inside the ships, Britannia and Arvia we haven't noticed any slow service. On deck the waiters have tended to be a bit sparse,  so we walk up to the bar our very selves and get our own. Not too proud to do that. On the plus side if you drink your illicit can of diet coke that you had in your cabin, nobody will notice.

16 minutes ago, kalos said:

 

I have just asked permission to tell you this true story .

 

Many years ago before Mrs K and I took up cruising we were on holiday on the 

mainland in Spain. She sometimes used to get cold sores in hot sunny weather

and needed some cream for her lips.

This was explained to the assistant in the chemist who was taking many orders

for the chemist to dispense, to the folk who were waiting for their meds.

After about 5 minutes the chemist came out of the rear of the shop and said ..

" CREAM FOR THE LADY WITH THE HERPES "🤣

 

In France DW got a bite on her thigh which came up like a Balloon.  My French is poor. In the pharmacy...parlez vous Anglais?..non. Ah ! Regardez la derriere ou mai famme....creme ou gell.?. Gell sil house plais.  .what did you tell her?...don't worry about it.🤣

18 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Had a surreal afternoon here.  My neighbours are selling their house. Herald a knock on the door which my OH answers while I'm in the garden picking some veg for dinner.  He comes out to tell me two people who are prospective purchasers of next door have knocked on the door and he's invited them in for a cup of tea because they want to discuss the area, the house and local services.  I get a bit confused at this because sitting in my kitchen are two of my friends who've popped in with some cat food they've just bought for me but being the ever helpful neighbour I go into my house and find these two strangers seated in my lounge, the man on my recliner which he's raised and the lady perched on my sofa with her feet up on my mother's pouffe.  Meantime my friends and husband are seated round the dining table drinking their tea and eating cake while I am left to fend questions from these rather odd prospective neighbours.  Forty minutes later they've picked my brain on house building, road building, buses, shops, doctors, local children, who the surrounding neighbours are, doctors again and hospitals and even my relationship with my friends and near neighbours.  At which point the man lowered the recliner and said thank you for your time and herded the lady down my hallway to the front door.  Cue a lot of questions about my large conservatory style porch where I have wardrobes and storage baskets for coats, hats and shoes.  And then off they trotted. Strangely they never offered their names or anything about themselves save they had six grown up children.

 

I return to the kitchen none the wiser to what on earth has just occurred to find my husband and friends in fits of laughter.  I guess the joke must have been missed by me.

Did they ask for your PIN number. Did you tell them about the old plague cemetery.?. Our arrogant sales manager was buying a house in Littlehampton. Our droll production manager who lived in the area asked him where. He told him in glowing terms the posh greenfield area where they were building the new houses.....Ah ! We call it rubbish tip lane.🤣

23 minutes ago, happy v said:

I can't believe anyone would be so rude and insensitive to ask why you were at the doctor's.

It's OK for the doctor to ask, but some random bloke being nosey would get an appropriate response. I would tell him I had a highly contagious tropical disease.

5 minutes ago, kalos said:

 

One thing I learnt as a teenager was,never ever tell your mum that you liked

Shiphams salmon spread paste. As it did not cost that much she went to the

local cash and carry and bought a tray of the stuff.

Another culinary delight back then was Heinz salad sandwich spread..

You can still get that now (but I won't) going on for £2 a jar which is mad for 

some chopped up veg in salad cream .

We had the oven cleaned last week. He did it last year. Are you sure ?. It looks like it's hardly been used. Zap said...nothing🤐🤐

20 minutes ago, kalos said:

 

Glad you said the supermarket and not the chemist 😉

Merits more than a single smiley🤣🤣🤣

23 hours ago, SausPud said:

Too many messages I've missed above to quote, so hopefully those concerned get to read this (Give it a "like" so I know, thanks)

 

So being in a suite, this is how my boarding went:

Arrived at the terminal at 11:00 am

Checked in and was handed a card for the lunch

Went through security at 11:15 am

Was onboard at 11:35 am and went to muster station (E near Havana)

Then went to Saffron for Lunch and was served at 12:00 pm.

This is the menu for the lunch:  

I had the Beef choice

 

Which was very nice. You get free drinks here, so make the most of that as well. 

 

No one was talking about status or what loyalty they were. We had polite and friendly conversations with other couples, mainly about if first time cruising or first time to the Canary Islands. 

 

Then we had time to explore the ship. We met Ventura Bear in the Atrium and by 2 pm it was announced that the cabins were available.

 

Our suitcases were waiting for us when we got to our suite room.

 

Hope this helps others and as you can see the lunch was a nice easy way  to start the cruise without the bumrush of the Buffet. 

 

 

We aren't top of the loyalty tree, or in a suite, so will join bumrush in the buffet or perhaps a burger. Beef looked a bit gristly.

3 hours ago, Josy1953 said:

A bit dull this morning but pleasant for a walk with the dog.  I don't know what time they are planning to come round to collect him but the house is going to feel strange without him but I won't  have to get the vacuum out more than once a day. 

I have an appointment at the doctors this morning for an "over 70s health check" which I have never had before so I'm not sure what to expect.

Loose weight, eat more fruit and vegetables.  Don't eat processed meat and keep your meat consumption down to 4oz a week. Less of that..more of this and if you enjoy something you can jolly well knock that on the head. That saved you a trip..Oh ,and stay out of the sun.🤣

4 hours ago, Waju said:

My Aunty used to get us dozens of jars of Shipams paste when we were kids as she lived in Chichester - I used to like the beef one!  I hadn't seen Heinz are bringing back toast toppers, I remember the tiny little tins it was in ........................

Crab paste for me. In the supermarket they have little pots of posh crab pate. About £4 a pot. Crab paste is less than a quid.

17 hours ago, grapau27 said:

We occasionally take a picture of the silly little instructions and blow up the text to read it.🤣

13 hours ago, indiana123 said:

Well spotted Zap...28ft long of course.

 

Help please.  Trying to book the nearest P I to Portsmouth Cruise Terminal.  They are showing three but I don't know which one is best  Thanks in advance x

I would wait until a local, like Andy can advise. At the risk of upsetting folk, there are some areas of Portsmouth that I wouldn't want to stay in. The PI city centre seems about closest.

19 minutes ago, purplesea said:

Morning everyone,

 

Cloudy and rain here and 17c, and supposed to continue until this evening.

 

Busy day for me.  A trip into Truro, I also need to do a grocery shop  and  my daughter's BBQ this evening. I made a chocolate cake last night, only to get a text to say she too had a chocolate cake. So the question is do I make another of a different flavour? 

 

Hope everyone has a good day.

 

Nothing wrong with having 2 chocolate cakes.

15 hours ago, indiana123 said:

Our conservatory is usually ok in summer.  I live in it most of the time, but at the moment it is lethal even though    it has a proper ceiling (it's 28ft). OH has banned me from it today.  Its a bit strange sitting elsewhere.

 

Even thee cat's up a tree. 

That's some house with a 28 ft high ceiling.

1 hour ago, kalos said:

Morning 13.c and a bright sunny day and should stay dry for us where we are .

 

Looking through the papers I see some folk want Heinz to start making tins 

of Toast Toppers again . I don't think I ever got around to trying a tin when it 

was on the go .

Got me thinking back to my camping days when me and the lads would go

camping, armed with a two ring cooker and a 2 piece pan set .

Our tea more often than not would be a tin of beans ,a tin of potatoes and a 

packet of Batchelors Bean Feast. We would have a meal within ten minutes

before running off to the pub for a few beers, another product that that is no 

longer made .

Is there any food products that you used to buy that have bit the dust ?

 

Take care and have a nice day .

I was watching a poirot. Fish paste sandwiches. I remember the shiphams factory in Chichester. I wonder..?🤔. Yes you can still get it...Fancy some fish paste sandwiches dear.....no. I used to like toast toppers.That can be plan B.

7 hours ago, kalos said:

 

Vot  type os  vax did you use on der carpets ? Bee's or candle 😉

Pig. At least that's how much I was sweating. Vax the carpet on the hotest day of the year. They will dry better she said. Are my feet in the way she said. As you have the machine  out you may as well do upstairs as well.🤐🤐🤐 said zap.

Is it OK to say I vaxed the carpets?.