Harry Peterson

You make a very good point there! People pay high prices for exclusivity - the literal meaning of which involves other people being excluded from what you've just acquired. If the exclusivity goes, so does the ability to charge a high price for it. BMW and Mercedes used to be exclusive before PCP contracts came along - we drive Skodas!!!

It does in my book (despite its ownership) and it's my absolute favourite for (usually) unbiased and comprehensive news coverage. Also the only paper with proper legal coverage. I remember when the front page was all small ads, no news at all, back in the 60s. Seems incredible now. I like the paper copies, but I'm afraid the cost difference switched me to a digital subscription. Likewise the Telegraph, but I'd struggle to call that a serious paper these days.

It’s still one of only two or three serious papers out there. But for balance I read the Telegraph and the Spectator. Good to see all sides of a discussion.

Radio 4 Today programme. Still the only possible breakfast accompaniment.

Just two advantages to the huge cost of a suite. Size of suite (and that only applies to a small number of them) and Epicurean breakfasts in quiet, relaxed, unhurried, spacious, uncrowded surroundings with small numbers and excellent service as a result. That’s most of the Epicurean perk removed then, at a stroke, so that’s only the space left. Two options then - pay up just for the extra space, or ditch the suite altogether and pay a very substantial sum less for a few Epicurean breakfasts. Somehow I don’t think we’ll be booking suites any more with P&O. Just one more nail in the P&O coffin.

May I recommend this, widely available in mainland Europe, as an accompaniment?

Four greens in line 1. Wife proves conclusively that she is a a witch. 🧙‍♀️

Saga are heavily in debt and trying hard to cut their costs. What's been happening on P&O may well already be showing up in Saga cuts (for example having to share the transport from home to port). Very recently they've reneagued on all the Life Memberships people bought some time back for a relatively sizeable upfront payment. The commitment was to provide life members - for that upfront payment - with the Saga Magazine for life. They've unceremoniously dumped that commitment recently and now want £29.95 per annum for what was included already in the life membership. If they can treat their elderly life members like that, they're capable of anything, and although I was planning to switch to Saga they won't now be getting my money. And neither will any of their other products. Saga can't be trusted now to keep its contracts - and the only reason they've given is that they can't afford it!

And it was pretty much at this point that a month or so back the thread lost a number of posts……best not go there.

There was an enterprising guy round here a while back with no supplies of Big Issue but a copious supply of Kleenex from a large box. Big sign by him, and a pretty good trade: Big Tissue.

Obviously (sorry), the phone’s the best option, but that aside I’ve always used one of the Panasonic LUMIX TZ series and been well pleased with them - originally recommended to me by a fellow cruiser many years ago. He was a keen photographer and I valued his judgment. Purely a personal opinion though, and there are doubtless much better choices. I’d start by looking at Which? if I were buying one now, but my old Panasonic is many years old and as good as new.

That's a really sensible, practical, wise move, Michelle. Hope it works out well. We had had no dealings at all with architects until about 20 years back when we were looking to add a small extension. The builder introduced us to one, we really got on well, he was absolutely fantastic and (shock horror) a lot cheaper than I thought architects were. We used him a little later when we built a house from scratch and every day, even now, we thank him for the design features and practicalities he built into the plans. Even in this hot weather it's a cool house - and all down to design. I'd never do a building project now without one, but back in the day we always assumed they were too expensive to even think about.

Just listened to this - fascinating. I think there might be some here who'd find it even more fascinating than I did though. And maybe with some strong views too! https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001mljs Wedgwood: A Very British Tragedy Released On: 05 Jun 2023 In 1730, when Josiah Wedgwood was born in Stoke on Trent, the eleventh and last child to a family of potters, no one imagined that 65 years later this man would have conquered the world with his dazzling new inventions and designs – reinventing ceramics and making Wedgwood blue an iconic brand. Josiah Wedgwood became a visionary potter, designer, chemist, marketing genius and radical, dissenting, anti-slavery campaigner. He was the epitome of 18th century man – combining science with entrepreneurship and a member of the Royal Society - who commissioned James Cook to bring him back clay from his voyages to drive his inspirational, experimental, ground-breaking inventions. Dr Tristram Hunt, Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, tells the story of Josiah Wedgwood, his genius and his legacy. What has happened since to the company he founded over 260 years ago? How did a family-owned business – the jewel in the crown of Stoke – with generations of skilled workers in the city, lose its independence, become Wedgwood plc and go into a near-terminal decline in the 21st century. It’s been a rollercoaster ride of different owners, offshoring production to Asia, catastrophic job losses at home, bankruptcy, administration and mismanagement which nearly led to the squandering of 260 years of a skilled ceramics industry in Stoke on Trent. Under new ownership, there are some green shoots of recovery, a return to designs inspired by their founder. Can Wedgwood revive its fortunes, shake off its troubled history and restore Josiah Wedgwood’s ambition – to be ‘Vase Maker General to the Universe’ to a new generation of potters? Presented by Dr Tristram Hunt Produced by Anna Horsbrugh-Porter A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4

Indeed they can. It happens frequently. And it tends to lead to claims for damages, sometimes in the courts, and to a loss of reputation if it’s a well known name such as Saga.

I can only go by my experience of their cavalier attitude towards contracts with their life members. To most people a contract is a contract. To Saga, however, a contract can be broken if they don't like it.

After Saga’s recent decision to reneague on the commitment they made to life members (who paid a fair bit for those life memberships) to send them the Saga Magazine for life, I’m not at all sure I’d trust Saga on anything else. Particularly an insurance policy.

As you say, insane. Around 10 Euros return on the train. Coach £60 at a guess?

There is another option, assuming that we’re talking about Civitavecchia, and that’s the train. Obviously not as convenient, and not entirely without risk, but massively cheaper and perfectly doable with a little forward planning. Quite a few here do use that route, but you don’t have the reassurance that the ship won’t sail without you - which is why P&O are able to get away with the price they charge for a relatively short coach journey.

There doesn’t seem to be a definitive answer to this question online, as you’ve found, unfortunately, but from such limited evidence as there is I’d hazard a guess that if there is an issue at all it’s unlikely to be a major one. And for the benefits of an aft cabin, I’d certainly chance it. Just a personal view though. Good luck with the booking, whatever you decide. 😊

This may not suit you at all, but personally I’d go for the Rome on your own option. We did that and had a great day, covering all the main sites in our own time. Walked a very long way though - several miles. But then, I hate being stuck in a coach without the freedom to choose what to see, and how long for.

I did - 3 days ago. I imagine you had one too.

I’m under 75 and have now had 7. It depends very much on the underlying condition and treatments taken for it.

But New Year’s Eve is WILD!!! We used to take our kids there every year from Boxing Day to 2 January. Escaping family commitments.

That is just awful! Do they have ships' biscuits perhaps?

No small print. Just the offer of life membership, followed by letters stating this: “I have pleasure in enclosing your new Life Membership card. Your new membership card entitles you to receive twelve copies of Saga per year for life. Don't forget that each issue of Saga contains exclusive members-only offers." Saga aren’t defending their legal position in any way - and this has been up to CEO level in the shape of Euan Sutherland - but just claiming that they can no longer afford it! Seems to me that if they’re prepared to break contracts willy nilly when it suits them you can’t place much faith in anything they say or do on the cruise front.