yorkshirephil

Lovely day here, very warm this morning while we were sat out. We went to a 90th birthday party this afternoon, it was the landlady from my local when I was nobbut a lad. It was a bit weird at first as everyone was eyeballing each other to try and figure out who was who. A lot of beer was drunk and a lot of reminiscing was carried out. Enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend.

There will never be a good time for everyone, whenever a policy gets changed it will be last minute for someone. It isn't as if someone is going to cancel their cruise and lose the deposit because P&O stop them taking a litre of spirit aboard.

I am with you on this, I don't drink much these days but do have a couple of favourites which I usually take with me, however I will be neither devastated or sailing with another line because of a minor change.

As they are popular liqueur's I would expect them to have generic versions for making cocktails?

I can see both sides too, I am surprised it hasn't happened before now as I can't think of another cruise company we have used that allows a litre of spirits per person. We usually take a couple of litres of rum but I think we will muddle through. A bit like parties when I was a youth, sup the beer and spirits first, move on to the sherry and cheap Spanish wine then attack the cupboard under the sink to see if any cleaning products have alcohol in them.

Good luck with Dutch Decoy, I have had a tenner on at 6/1 for an interest bet so good luck to me as well.

Rap has a silent C for a reason

Dullish here with rain forecast, it is quite warm. On the eyebrow theme; Mrs YP asked me where the best place to get her eyebrows tattooed was. In typical Yorkshire fashion I replied " just above your eyes"

There are deals out there with most cruise lines albeit not in the numbers we have seen in the last two years, it may be that they don't suit peoples needs. If we are just looking for a cruise because we fancy a break then we wouldn't be too bothered where we went and would seek out a deal whereas if it were a bucket list cruise we would book on day one to secure our cabin. It is clear that things are getting back to where they were BC when the cruise industry was still expanding.

A day of two halves here, it was misty and cool until lunch time then the sun broke through and it is lovely and warm now. Just right for a beer while sat in the garden.

Cracking day here, lovely and sunny all day and very warm. Sat out for breakfast then stayed out all day. I even got the shed painted.

Happy Birthday Avril @Adawn47 and John @Grandad John hope you both have a wonderful day.

The wording on the Carnival shareholder benefit page states; "This benefit is available to shareholders holding a minimum of 100 shares of Carnival Corporation or Carnival plc" so it is not clear as to whether you actually need to hold the shares when you cruise. For a small amount of shares like this they would need to go up considerably to cover the cost of buying and selling to make a profit. I would be surprised if there was anything built into the Stocksperk app to monitor your holding until the date of your cruise? This has been discussed before but I don't remember anyone posting a definitive answer that was anything other that a best guess.

We have been cruising nearly 30 years and a lot of the shows are pretty much the same now as they were back then, that is with a few lines so not just P&O. They do put in a new one every now and again. It is the same with guest acts, the cruise lines seem to draw from a pool of regulars, which is fine if you enjoy the act.

I can't say I have noticed any whilst aboard, but that could be because we tend to do longer cruises so maybe us oldies are not their target audience. I have checked a few out if going on a ship for the first time to get a feel for the ship but find they tend to be a bit; me, me and breathe their own smoke. I do like Cruise Mummy as she also tends to say it as it is, plus her site has lots of handy info.

Good moaning all, its cold again, 7oC when we went to Junction 32 this morning, it isn't much warmer now. It is forecast to warm up next week so it will probably rain. We are off to Wales tomorrow to stay with friends so looking forward to that. Have a good weekend peeps and for all those cruising have a good one.

Tips are included in the price of a P&O cruise. The drinks prices are considerably less on P&O than Cunard plus their is no added tax/tip on each drink with P&O. The example you have given for drinks may make the drinks package worthwhile especially if there is an offer on the drinks package (currently 10%), however you would need to drink that every day to make the package work for you.

If I was a betting man I would say the P&O response is wrong, going by their website and my experience with P&O you could have three formals? Whatever you decide have a great cruise.

That is not what it says on the web site, however they get it wrong there sometimes. Arvia and Iona: 2-10 nights – 1 11-14 nights – 2 15-19 nights – 3 Rest of fleet: 1-6 nights – 1 7-10 nights – 2 11-13 nights – 3 14-19 nights – 4

I am surprised at only one formal on an 11 night Arcadia cruise, however this seems to be the trend going forward. We had fewer than expected formal nights on our 19 night Aurora cruise last year.

I wore chino's and smart shirt on Aurora in September. Our lunch was quite casual with a few dressed up.

You should be OK with those, staff on the MDR door don't seem to bother too much with shoes, especially as people may wear certain shoes for medical reasons. If in doubt wear the shoes that you will use with your suit, with the option of changing them after dinner

It feels more like winter today, it is dry but an icy wind. Not the sort of day for wandering about with dicky gnashers, I put mine in my pocket to keep them warm. Happy anniversary @purplesea, enjoy your meal out.

I wear plain black lightweight trainers on casual night sometimes, they are great for taking on fly cruises where the weight allowance is restrictive. They do not really look like trainers but are comfy. A linen suit on formal night is fine too, enjoy your cruise.

Why indeed. In some cases it is just differences of opinion or meeting expectations, we have been cruising for nearly 30 years with various lines and I don't think it is much different now to what it was when we started. When we were new the experienced cruisers were saying things were going down hill, or prices were going up and things were not getting any better, blah blah. I see posts from new cruisers who think the cruise lark is brilliant. They may be making negative comments in years to come. Of course there are the people who just like to moan regardless plus those who think a good moan to the cruise line will get them some compo. At the end of the day this is a cruise forum and discussing experiences is what it is about, good or bad. I have learned lots of good things on here and other sites that I didn't need to learn the hard way; through experience.