simonpjd

It rains 300 days a year in Bergen. Just saying.

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I used to wear a dark suit with a white shirt and a bow tie. This worked splendidly so no need to wear or purchase a dinner jacket

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I used to wear my one of my work suits with a bow tie. No problem at all. But I hate it too. Now retired a cruise is the only time a suit or dj comes out.

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Rather than a long exposure some cameras have a setting which takes about 15 shots in 2 seconds or so, then superimposes them all into one shot. We got some excellent results with a small hand held compact camera doing this. Worth a try is you don’t want to faff about with tripods and expensive cameras.

Great shots of the lights doing this on Oriana last March.

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Cunard give nothing away. Expect to pay a surprisingly large amount for drinking water.

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Next time you are aboard ship and entering a harbour, note the colour of the navigation buoys denoting the channel that the ship has to keep within. Those on the (left) port side are red and those on the (right) starboard are green. This colour code is replicated on the ship by its navigation lights. Some cruise lines even assist their guests by having red or green backgrounds woven into their corridor carpets to denote port and starboard, a great help on the resort ships.

 

49 cruises. 17 ships. 3 liners. 143 ports

This is true , except , as usual, the Americans do it the other way round. So your post is fine for all the world except those pesky Americans.

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I think there is a rib boat excursion. That would be fun.

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And it would greatly help my sanity to see forward and aft. Port and starboard, ok you can use larboard, deck not floor, deck head not ceiling, bulkhead not wall - come on you are at sea people. Respect the language of the sea.

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Sorry spellcheck changed Tromso to Thomson.

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The Thomson dog excursion was very poor last March. Strongly recommend trying the Alta one, but you must do it. The dogs are so friendly. Wear something that you don’t mind if it gets very muddy.

We spent around £150 pp on a lights trip. Saw nothing. But next night had a truly spectacular display from the deck outside the mdr. They say they see lights on 90% of excursions. And our trip would be in that. But we were there looking from 8-midnight and the lights appeared for 5 minutes at 2 in the morning when nearly everyone had gone. I think it’s a lot of money when, as I say, we had an amazing experience from Oriana the next night.

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Not a fan myself. I have dined also at Benares and didn’t think much of that either. How about a posh Chinese yum yum.

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Actually I quite like the Sinatra era music. Years ago it was all on Radio 2 but now that is what Radio 1 used to be. You can no longer find music from the 40s and 50s. And at least it has a tune unlike most modern rubbish.

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Strangely enough we are on her this September and again next June. Will be interesting to see the changes. No kids hurrah.

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This will fuel the Oriana debate. Aurora adult only from March 2019.

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Yes. No brainer.

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The auto tip scheme adds about £50 a week to the cost per person. I really don’t understand why they don’t just include it in the price. Saves all the hassle. P&O go on about being a luxury brand, but the real luxury lines include gratuities in the price. Including Seabourn , also owned by Carnival.

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Hello, a couple of questions.

First let me say we have cruised with Fred, P&O, Cunard, HAL, Oceania, Noble Caledonia and more.

We are booked on the Coral next year. Is this a good choice.

Is the food very American.

How strict are they on formal nights, asking as on HAL we were told they were enforced. Actually I was the only dj wearing idiot on board. Most Americans were in shorts, t shirts and caps.

What is the daily gratuity charge.

What is covered by soft drinks package, not interested in anything fizzy.

Anything else I should be aware of.

Thank you kind sirs for your help.

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We are with Cunard for 35 nights soon. The auto gratuity there is 12.90 USD pppd. So that is nudging towards a thousand dollars. And of course they whack an extra 15% tip on everything bought on board. And the cheapest bottle of wine is 40USD.

I am not sure how they get away with it.

So you lucky P&Oers it could be worse.

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To get around Cornwall you really need a car. The public transport system is more than a bit creaky. June is not high season as is in term time so it’s not too bad.

For Doc Martin you need to get to Port Isaac where you will recognise all the locations. You park at the top of the hill and walk down. At the newsagent they do DM tours run by a couple of fishermen who are extras on the show, and on Poldark! Well worth it.

With a car the north coast is excellent from Padstow, Tintagel, Boscastle, Port Isaac up to Bude. All worth a visit. Port Isaac and Padstow and Fowey have Michelin star restaurants.

Eden Project and Lost Gardens of Heligan great if you like botany.

Lanhydrock if you want some history.

But really a car is essential.

Good luck.

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For those who get upset when the gratuities go up after booking, simply change the amount you want to pay on board back to the old rate.

However despite the rise it is still much cheaper than any American line or Cunard.

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Not only are P&O bar prices much cheaper than all American lines, and Cunard, but there is no added 15% gratuity. Can make a big difference to the cost especially if you like a tipple.

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The evening folk show is brilliant.

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So in 5 years time the P&O fleet is likely to be the two new mega ships, Britannia, Azura and Ventura and maybe Arcadia.

No smaller ships at all. Big ships going to big ports.

For how many of us will this be a big NO and we will have to hunt around for a proper cruise experience. And this will cost us more but that is down to us.

On the other hand how many of us think actually this sounds fantastic, I can imagine it appealing to families a lot.

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When planning check out the ship. What do I mean. Well how good is it in the ice. Any ship with a bulbous bow is unlikely to be crunching through the ice. Island Sky has been ice strengthened but will avoid going through ice. We didn’t hear any ice against the hull. On Bremen, Hapag Lloyd, we spent a whole morning crashing through to get to an iced in Argentinian base. Very exciting. Then the ice closed behind us and we crashed through again to get out. We couldn’t get to Port Lockroy this time. I bet we would if we had been on Bremen. On ms Expedition in the Arctic we went through lots of ice. So check this out. It makes a big difference in the places which become available for landings.

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I think we can all imagine P&O in a few years time. The 2 new mega ships, Britannia, Acura and Ventura, and maybe Arcadia. Not much choice for us cruisers who like smaller ships. The Fred ships will be ancient by then. It will be Oceania ships, Voyages of Antiquity or Noble Caledonia for us. Bit more pricy but worth it methinks. Will anyone else be deserting P&O then.

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