FangedRose

Yeah it was 'different'. A bit like pate but slipper. A bit like the jelly in a pork pie.

Why not? If I order mushroom soup I expect it to taste of mushrooms. I had Mushroom Panacotta on Aurora earlier this year, it was quite tasty.

The WiFi struggles with one device at a time. Very doubtful it will cope with two or more.

I would choose Aurora. It is smaller so a better chance of being allowed into Oslo for reasons cited above and elsewhere. It is the most stable ship in the fleet, better able to withstand ths vagaries of the North Sea. During school holidays there will be a number of younger people on board, those who work with children and wish to avoid them on holiday (teachers and others who work in school), and that will reduce the average age of passengers.

The Hilton incident was entirely due to the fact that you paid once and your husband also paid with a different card. That the hotel took both charges was the hotels faulty systems and nothing to do with the use of a debit card and the way banks operate.

This is a very common problem on all cruise lines, and is frequently discussed on here. It is the way the banking system works. If anyone asks me about taking their first cruise I always advise using a credit card rather than a debit card.

Of course they are people. But they are not alone people. The meet up is for those who are travelling alone. Not for those who have family or friends with them.

Because it is a meeting specifically for those travelling alone. If you are not travelling alone you are not a solo traveller.

I've never known a "meet and mingle" event, by which I mean an event specifically for singles to meet each other. There are "solo get togethers" for those who are travelling alone to meet others to pal up for excursions and dinners etc. The two are often conflated. A number of solo passengers are not single but are travelling alone for a myriad of reasons. And a number of people come who are single but they are travelling with a friend or family member, sometimes in the same cabin. (Which is a pet bugbear of mine).

Often these meetings are arranged informally through Cruise Critic messages or Facebook groups. It is just a group of people arranging to meet in a certain venue (usually a bar) at a certain time. There is no involvement with P&O.

Not if you just want to get fed before doing something more interesting. I've tried not sharing but they treat a group of "tables for two" as one large table and it was no faster.

Yes it was the Ents Manager. Though I did see a couple of them boarding when I was boarding. I noticed them because there was a few if them together and I remember thinking that it was unusual for a group of youngsters to be on Aurora without family, and then recognised them when they did the first show.

No, I was on same cruise and we were definitely told that it was a new troupe. They did no shows for the best part of a week and were ropey on their first show but had improved immensely by the end.

I can not believe op turned up at the port without proof. Either a print out of the said email, or on the phone itself. (Who on earth locks their phone in the suitcase)? I personally would have had both. Surely someone who has travelled on P&O as much as the op has knows that shoreside and on board staff work from different rule books, never mind the part time, casual, zero hour agency staff who work the embarkation stuff.

I would have loved all of those. But the sweet and sour chicken, all that sticky, sickly sauce with goodness knows what in it! No thank you.

You have to check The Horizon insert section. The bit where if tells you the opening times of restaurants. It isn't in the main section of daily activities where it used to be, therefore, a lot of people don’t see it. It used to be daily but recently (post covid) it is an occasional event only on some sea days.

When the universe speaks you'd be a fool to ignore it.

Yes, tips standing for to insure promptness, as well as appalling grammar (ensure would be correct), is a backronym - an acronym invented later to fit the initials. Like posh, which is a backronym for port out, starboard home, which was invented long after the word itself was in common usage.

That used to happen when tips were automatically added to your on board account. You could ask for them to be removed. Now they are included in the fare and there is no way to claim them back.

Not through the air maybe. But definitely by direct contact via lift buttons, door handles, utensils in the buffet etc. It would definitely reduced the risk of spreading covid (which this "food poisoning" was an early symptom of). And, as we all know, covid, flu and colds are most contagious before the respiratory symptoms appear.

Seems to me that apart from cabin number mix up (which should not happen, and I would be upset about) it seems that the majority of problems were caused by USA port officials. You can't blame P&O for that! Very common on all non American cruise ships calling at USA ports.

I agree. Just let them roam the ship infecting others. A much better idea. Have we not learnt anything over the last three years?

"The main problem here is that other people have the cheek to use it the same time as me." I know exactly what you mean. Not just in the cruise ship buffet either. The bus, the supermarket, the post office. You name it, it's spoiled by other people choosing to be there at the same as me! 😁

Not gonna say I told you so, but ... I refer you to my earlier comments #23

It's a choice you have to make. You have decided that you don't want to pay the cost of being able to choose. Fair enough. But, then you seem to be complaining about not being able to choose. Am I missing something?