pennib

I agree. Thinking on the positive side, if anyone has not been to Mumbai and Cochin, there are some things that must be done. In Mumbai, you must go and see the Dhobi Ghat laundry and in Cochin of course it is the Chinese fishing nets. Otherwise, watch out for oxen and the traffic!!

Selbourne: don’t fret about Martinique. We went there on I think Britannia pre Covid. Some folk decided to walk into town but were subjected to abuse and turned round to get back to the ship. Since, they have built a cruise terminal shed. We managed to walk into a part of the town but tbh it was nothing special. One to avoid I think. love your posts each day and your Barbados pics reminded me of my first visit to the island in 1976. No cruise ships then but we drove all round the island in a mini moke which was an experience.

Good morning Selbourne. Useless info for today: did you know that the courthouse in your picture is unique as it has a pineapple on the roof?? Clue: look carefully at your photo. Thanks for your blogs and I hope you have a better time all round on the return trip to Blighty

Yes, we have the same experience regarding producing the insurance to get on the ship.

You still get towel animals on Marella (and choccies on your pillow). We have had mice, elephants but perhaps the most original was a monkey hanging by its arms from the curtain rail! All good stuff!!

Having spent most of the last 10 years or so on P&O Christmas cruises, the one in 2023 is definitely our last with them. We went to the Epicurean for our dinner on 25 December and it was very poor, in fact our drinking friends who went to the MDR did better than us and they got amuse buche and sorbet between courses and said their meal was very good. Ours, for which we paid extra of course was very poor. Even the main course was uninspiring. In fact the whole ship (Britannia) seemed lacking in Christmas spirit. What a shame.

PS. time for transit is about 7 hours as NO is 90 odd miles from the Gulf.

Selbourne, you say you have not been to NO before. We have been twice, both times from Azura. By all means, have a tour but if possible try to get to Fritzells bar (I think it’s on Bourbon Street), in the evening (get a cab from the ship to the bar) for real jazz and amazing atmosphere. Even if the place is full they will get you a seat. When we went half the ship was already in. The pianist was remarkable, and people kept coming in and taking off their coats and then joining in with the music on their own instrument. Then after a while they, left but the in house band didn’t bat an eyelid. We will never forget that experience. No charge to get in but you can get beers etc. For the river transit, ours have always been in the dark which was a shame. I do remember passing the oil and gas platforms near the river entrance as they are all lit up.

Really jealous at you all going to Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia. We have done all that over the years but not ,now as we are too old!! Just go and order a Singapore sling in Raffles. It has to be done!! But don’t expect too much as the drink was not freshly made but out of a big vat of it so we were really disappointed. Yes there are peanuts on the bar floor but at least you can say that you have been and “smelled the coffee”! In Vietnam, take careful note of the electric wiring outside the buildings!! And you must go in a local cafe to have a bowl of Pho. enjoy

We are all different!! We have done multiple Caribbean Christmas cruises with P&O and Celebrity. Wouldn’t even consider a Christmas cruise in either east or west unless we had a balcony cabin and PE on the plane. Love both directions but if I had to choose, it would be east for preference. We have done the Caribbean to death!! Someone has suggested looking at Fred for Christmas in the arctic. Are they having a laugh? Surely you go away from the UK in the winter to get away from cold??? Anyway, if you want cold and the arctic, we would recommend Alaska for a week from Vancouver and they take you up to the northern territories. happy cruising!!

Would take issue that their prices are higher than the product is worth. It all depends on what you want and your own perception of value for money. We are very happy with what they offer and the price charged. We like the smaller ship concept and whilst we like P&O Britannia we would not even go near their two newest ships(Iona and Arvia). Too big and too Americanised. Horses for courses….…

Happy memories of us doing this trip in early 2008 on the Arcadia.

Good morning Selbourne. Love your reports. Can you give us some idea of the items that are extra charge in the MDR and is it only at dinner?

Hi. We have done 3 Marella cruises on Explorer and are booked to do another at the beginning of March. We think they are great and certainly give P&0 a run for their money. We have done many cruises including Cunard (not to be repeated), P&O (probably about 25 on them), MSC, Royal Caribbean, and Celebrity. I have likened peoples views of Marella v (say P&O) as similar to when Aldi and Lidl came to the UK. People wouldn’t be seen dead going to them but look at them now!! As far as Explorer is concerned, the buffet is awful and the hand soap in the bathroom is awful!! Otherwise food is first rate, especially the fine dining Dining Club and Surf & Turf restaurants. You do pay a supplement to eat in some restaurants but we like them so much we don’t mind!! Staff are wonderful and the ship is not at all “stuffy”. We prefer the smaller ships now that we can’t walk or climb stairs any more!! Enjoy

Be careful.if you are flying out on the Friday, you may not arrive in time to get to the ship, check in and then find the energy to get ready for a taxi to Oistins. If possible try to go with someone local to avoid being fleeced for food.

We both used the starlink internet on our Britannia Christmas cruise. Worked pretty well for emails and downloading our newspaper on the essential package. You just need to be careful though that you don’t accidentally hit the button to upgrade to the bigger package. This happened to us twice. The first time it took us 4 days to get it wiped from our cabin account. I know it’s not cheap but we wouldn’t have been without it.

Good question…….we had to fill in the form that P&O sent out asking for details of disabilities but we didn’t have to provide any proof of disabilities, not even photocopies of our blue badges! But I take your point. TBH I don’t think it is something that people know much about at the moment but you never know and, again, tbh you don’t want to be using the ambulift in Barbados if you can avoid it.

When you see the size of the “coaches” you will realise that there are no toilets on them. In fact most are school buses so you will have your knees up to your chest and then you have to put your flight bag on your knees. They are pretty grim tbh. I may have a solution to your problem though. My husband and I arranged for disabled assistance at both Manchester and Barbados airports as he cannot walk the distances now in place at Manchester terminal 2 and I cannot climb or descend stairs (there are no airbridges at Barbados). This means that you have to wait to leave the plane while everyone else gets off and then you use the ambulift vehicle which takes you from the plane to where the coaches line up. However, we did not have to use a coach but we had a private taxi from the airport to the ship. This was excellent. Now there are some advantages to this…….. while you are waiting on the plane you will be able to use a toilet, then you get on the lift and straight down to the ground for your waiting taxi. The journey time from airport to ship may not be much less than on a coach but it is a lot more comfortable and there are toilets in the check in shed on the quayside. If you have not been to Barbados before, you will soon realise that most planes from the UK (TUI and BA and Virgin) tend to arrive in a fairly small window of time. By the time you have negotiated the aforementioned getting off the plane you are hitting rush hour traffic in Bridgetown which can be a nightmare. if you want to do what I suggest then you should phone TUI before you leave and speak to their assistance team a couple of weeks before your trip if possible. There is no charge for the service but we have found it to be very good. You can make sure about arrangements for the return whilst you are on the ship. A bung of a few dollars for the taxi drivers is appreciated.

How lucky are you???? Having been to the Epicurean on Britannia for our Christmas dinner a few weeks ago, we wanted crepes suzette done by the table (which they always used to do) but were told that could not be done for health and safety reasons and that this was fleet wide now. So we had something else instead. This was the final straw for a poor meal ( no amuse bouche and no sorbet). The main course was also poor. So we decided that after years having our Christmas dinner in the Epicurean on various ships, that was it. Our last Caribbean Christmas on P&O so instead we are on Ventura for 35:nights in January 2025. Hope they continue doing crepes suzette by then!! enjoy the rest of your cruise.

By way of information!! The glasshouse in the Ventura was called Ramblas when the ship first joined the fleet. When it was renamed glasshouse, it presented a problem with decor as it was primarily dark brown wood and didn’t really fit in with the “glass house” theme when the Azura came along! The staff thought it was very funny. We haven’t been on Ventura since but will be on in January 2025. Enjoy!!

It seems that late bookers and newbies are being put on Maleth planes at least this was I was told over Christmas by people who fitted that description . Hope P&O are working hard to ensure affected people will book another Caribbean cruise after their poor experience on Maleth!

The test of whether a flight has a delay and you want to claim compensation is: the time from take off to the opening of the door at the destination. If more than 3 hours then you have a claim. This was the yardstick used by TUI when we were delayed at Christmas 2022. Go onto the TUI website and you will find an explanation. Should not matter if the flight is not TUI - this is the general rule.

Basically yes but if you strike up a good rapport with the boys in that bar you can usually arrange to be “fitted in” reasonably quickly!! We thought the glasshouse on the ship at Christmas was very good or better than before. If you get a chance ask if they are doing a food and wine pairing evening. We did and enjoyed it. It is held in a back room off the side of the bar that I didn’t even know existed??

No it was in the Glasshouse and was held in a private room in the glasshouse that I didn’t know existed!! Can’t remember the price but it wasn’t outrageous. They gave us 2 menues ahead of time, basically a veggie one or a meat one. We sat at a high table which would only hold 8 people.

Regarding the wine and food pairings: on Britannia the food part was not nibbles but a proper meal for each course.