Thejuggler

If money is no object suite or super deluxe, or be inventive.

Pullman mattress on the floor between two singles.

Double bed with three in a bed, adult on upper berth.

I've just read on P&O's Facebook page that they have abandoned the trials with new boarding procedure. Someone posted that there was a lot of ill feeling about the boarding times on Britannia and the response from P&O was that yes they had trialled a new procedure but had decided to abandon it and leave the boarding as it was!

The definition of madness is trying the same thing over and over expecting a different result.

Looks like P&O haven't learned anything from last time they tried an empty threat with embarkation times.

I've been to Sitges on the train from Barcelona, takes about half an hour. Nice marketing calling it a 'village'. Its a busy seaside town!

Some shops also ask for ID if paying with a foreign bank credit card.

If you want to try it just go on Celebrity Eclipse. Their buffet is exactly this. 8-10 stations all serving a different type of food and it leaves P&O in the shade for choice and quality.

Our Ventura super deluxe had a sofa bed for two and a pullman.

Lisbon, like a lot of city ports, is far too large to do in a day. We have spent three days there over two trips and it is one of our favourite cities, but we have barely touched what it has to offer. Do your homework before arriving and decide what you want to see. The public transport is excellent and good value.

All towns and cities have less than desirable areas, for us it was Vigo after coming across an area frequented by local drug takers and in Bergen we found ourselves on some less than clean back streets. Both were close to very tourist areas.

Agree about Funchal. As we can't do a two week break this summer we are going to Madeira for a week.

P&O made this empty threat a few years ago. It made jack difference as they didn't have any sanctions for those who turned up early.

If they want people to arrive later stop passengers boarding until 2pm, then cabins will be ready. Of course it means they then have to manage passengers landside, just like an airport.

Its on iplayer download, but its 30 minutes of my life I won't get back. 30 minutes to cover 175 years is a waste of time.

Seeing whales very much depends how patient you are. We saw dolphins and killer whales, but like birdspotting you may need to put the hours in.

If you are concerned about supporting the Faroese economy you should maybe not have booked the cruise at all. However once you have been and spoken to the locals you may have a better understanding of what it takes to survive living there. For somewhere only a few hundred miles from the UK it may as well be a different planet.

From our expereience at QE II terminal three years ago any slight problem with the system can quickly lead to a huge build up of passengers.

In our case CPS were introducing some new systems and were short staffed then part of the security scanning system failed.

What should take about an hour took closer to three and QEII didn't have any large indoor waiting or seating area. It was not a good advert for the many overseas passengers.

The Royal Yacht tour is brilliant, but to get the most from it be there for it opening. Leave it until the afternoon and you will have problems.

The queue for tickets will be huge and once on board you will not be able to see everything and take it all in. The rooms are very small for the number of visitors so you get driven along in the crowds. You may also run out of time to enjoy it.

You can easily spend 3-4 hours seeing everything, including the obligatory tea and cake in the excellent on board tea room!

After being on the Guernsey fast ferry at 40knots with 5m swells for a couple of hours I can vouch for Stugeron. All four of us took it and no problems for any of us, unlike the majority of the other passengers.

The OP is reluctant to pay to pre book flight seats and needs confirmation that a child is always given a seat next to an adult on the same booking. If so there is no need to pay to pre book which is usually £5-10 per passenger each way.

We have never paid to pre book seats and have always sat together, even the other week when there were 9 of us, we had three rows of three next to each other. I have however never done a flight as part of a cruise holiday.

However we have been on a flight where a child of about 14 was sat away from their parents. Not a problem, until the child was violently ill and the parents were unaware. We have also been on a flight where children were allocated emergency exit seats which is not permitted. It was down to the cabin crew to sort out!

The extra deck on Ventura makes this area not as easy to get to as Grand Princess. On Grand this area is part of the main upper deck and always open.

It was a great place to view a very early sail into Oslo.

A ship the size of Britannia will have a 'sail' area of 3-4 acres. Thats a lot of area for wind to act against.

Its 20kg plus a carry on bag. Its amazing how much clothing you can get in a 20 litre rucksack.

Wear trousers/jeans and a jacket for the flight. Pack another pair and you are sorted. Cotton walking trousers with zip off section give you two options in one.

We go away in a couple of weeks, not a cruise, two weeks ago a family member was diagnosed with gallstones, with no symptons.

Called the insurance and it was added with no increase in premium, this is LV.

Kevin has hit the nail on the head. If a ship has majority freedom dining use it. On Grand Princess and Celebrity we have never failed to get a table for 2-3 in freedom, both have large numbers of tables for such requests.

Princess allow you to book even in Freedom and you aren't allocated a restaurant. If one is busy they just send you up or down the staircase to the other one.

Celebrity Eclipse has lots of tables in rows. The larger round tables are generally for parties who want to be together.

And today Fred Olsen is using it.

We drew cash from local cash machines, but as it is very difficult to spend less than £5 we preferred using the card. Easier than being left with Norwegian coins.

If you buy any gifts don't forget the VAT refund forms. A tax officer will be on board at your last port of call to do the refund.

I looked all last year at this seawalk and I have never seen a P&O ship use it. It was payed for by Celebrity and their ships only seem to use it.

 

Once set up in Geiranger it is usually a very smooth process.

I've no idea where you have learned it was paid for by Celebrity, if it had been I'm sure they would want branding rights. The Seawalk was paid for by the port authority as it reduces the impact of cruise ships on the environment.

Celebrity, Cunard, CMV and others have used it. The decision on using it is down to the cruise company as they have to pay for the service. They have to balance the cost of the Seawalk against the cost of operating 3-4 tenders all day. Environmental concerns may influence the operators decision.

It certainly makes getting to and from the ship much easier, especially if it is raining and you need to return to ship to dry off.

Another area where P&O could learn from their sister company, Princess.

Their tour information has a full breakdown of what you get for your money. How long you will be to the first stop, time you get there, access issues, the amount of walking what you will do on the stop, where lunch is etc etc. It really does help to decide which tours to go on.

Not much in Olden which only really exists to serve cruise passengers.

Pleasant walk to a lake or along the fjord. A few shops, mostly selling very expensive 'tourist tat' and a small supermarket.

We only drove through Andalsnes which is a larger town, but again there didn't appear to be a lot to do there.

The other unknown is the weather. Neither will be pleasant if it is raining.