Cathygh

Thank you for a great blog, I can't believe over 65 days have passed. I do hope your throat is better. A note regarding uncommunicative Captains. I am going on Celebrity soon and I read that if they miss a port, the Captain holds an information session in the theatre where he/she explains, along with slides, why the port was missed. It certainly shows that a decision to miss a port is not taken lightly. P&O captains could follow this example. Secondly, regarging priority boarding which I think caused chaos on your cruise and also on the 35 nighter on Ventura. I don't expect much support for this idea but some cruise lines don't have priority boarding in the same way. EG Princess and Celebrity let you choose your own time, but they also know who is coming by coach. So if your coach is due at 2pm but you select 12 o'clock boarding you will be allocated 2 pm. I do agree that CPS and Intercruises should have been more prepared and making all those elderly people stand in the cold for all that time is simply not on. As I have said before, there is no one sitting in the chairs inside the terminal so why not let people in? The alternative is that P&O stagger boarding times for the higher tier passengers, which will understandly annoy the passengers. IMHO P&O, Intercruises and CPS know how many people are coming, but won't pay for extra staff to keep the queues moving. It's another cost cut and shows they don't are less about the passengers.

Thank you both. We will be there at the end of this month, just in time for cherry blossom. I will take a look at your suggestions and draw up a shortlist. I know we can't do everything so I'll just concentrate on may be three must sees.

We have 1 free day in Tokyo, and it might be the only time we go there. Can any one recommend are the top 5 things to do that are easy to get to from the Mercure Ginza please? thanks. BTW we like history and culture, and may be a tea ceremony

Mine magically disappeared when I went outside.Next time I go on an older ship I will be looking for hints and tips to avoid it. Ice bucket in the cabin I read somewhere. We opened the door before we went to dinner and then kept it open all night, as that seemed to ease the coughing at night. It has put me off going on Arcadia again.

@Selbourne does your sore throat improve in the open air? If so I wonder if it's the ship's aircon? The only time I have had cruise cough since covid was on Arcadia, which has an older aircon system probably similar to that on Aurora. I had to have the balcony door open at night, which I've never had to do before. Just a thought. If not I agree with Snow Hill, see your GP asap.

Thank you. Shame they don't have it on the Epicurean one.

What great presents your lass got! Belated Happy Birthday. I noticed there was no fresh fruit salad on the Epicurean Breakfast menu, just fruit segments or melon. Is fresh fruit salad still on the MDR menu? And is Greek yoghurt still oon it? Could be a deal breaker for me as it's how I keep my weight down on cruises!

I have not been in tis position but if I was travelling with a friend or sister I might very well want to go to the solo meet ups to meet new people. My companion might not want to go to them. If I was travelling alone but with family again I might want to go to the meet ups. I do not want to be reliant on my family or a companion for company. But I agree there needs to be more clarity.

I recall being told that the cruise companies own a lot of the shops in the Caribbean ports (and also in Alaska) which is why you find the same shops everywhere

We had an excellet waiter on Aradia last August, called Armah, he was moving to Iona. I wonder if it's the same one? HIs cheeky sense of humour sounds like him. He is one of the best waiters we have had and went over and above to help some one on our table who sent his food back every night.

Do you know why?

You are welcome.Service was slow in the Emerald Bar and Andersons, a lot of pax meet there before dinner. I forgot to say the Infinity Pool at the back of the ship gets busy with kids, the others aren't as bad.

Wow no I didn't get to see that.Love the story about the Welsh Village!

We sailed on Iona in the May half term last year. Yes it was busy but you might not see many children around as they love the kids clubs so much. I would go to the MDR for all your meals but that will be busy in the evenings especially if you like to eat early or you don't want to share. Perhaps someone who has been during a more recent school holiday can advise about wait times for the MDR in the evening.

Our tour guide told us that many many celebrities own property there as it's very private. She wasn't allowed to tell us who as most of the celebs sign a document to say they want privacy but Elton John hadn't signed it so she could tell us where he lives. So they can afford to pay exhorbitant prices. The guide said the islanders had a better standard of living than on the other islands as their government was not corrupts and did not strip the island's assets. Don't know if that's true. She also told us that crime is low as punishment is severe - you go to prison for littering.

I suppose he could leave on a port day. He's always at the sailaways..

We have done a similar tour (not the ship's tour)in Grand Cayman and I agree about the cost of the rum cake. It's much cheaper on other islands.

We had Julian as speaker on 2 cruises last year. His talks can be bit cheesy and OTT but he came on a tour with us and that is just his personality. He was very entertaining on the tour. He is up for everything and will join in as many activities as he can. I don't know where he gets his energy from!

Thank you very much. It looks like we will need winter and summer clothing, is that right? We also have a shorex credit so we will be careful what we choose.

Thank you, we have booked this for 2025. Can I please ask, is there anything you wish you had done and you didn't? Or anything you think is not worth doing? Thanks

He is an excellent speaker. We saw him on Arcadia last year and we loved debating the verdicts between ourselves.

Thank you for the heads up. I am used to other lines where nothing sells out till close to sailing date

HI I'm new to HAL and have the HIA package, sailing a year from now. Can I use the shorex credit before we board? Or do we have to pay upfront for any excursions we book now? Thanks

For Iona and Arvia there is a list of bed positions on a certain bookish social media site but I don't know about the other ships

That's why we will be on Holland America or Princess.