Harry Peterson

If sunbeds are the biggest topic on a P&O cruise, I think the company’s succeeding in its aim of attracting a different clientele! Whether it’s catering properly for that clientele is another matter! This could approach the infamy of the great bathchair riot of 1923.

Having never felt the slightest desire on a cruise to lie on a sunbed, out of sympathy for my fellow passengers, I’m puzzled by the fact that this is such a hot issue. Do balcony passengers feel the same need, or is it primarily non-balcony passengers, which I could entirely understand. Is it the understandable desire to be outside, or is actually being in the sun rather than the shade essential? Or am I just a freak for not wanting to spend hours lying on a sunbed?

Yup. Never thought of the link though!

On the subject of transport, and ships too, this is reckoned to be one of the most beautiful ferry crossings in the world - and our Cornish friends might confirm that. As a kid growing up in Cornwall it was a real must-do on all those long sunny summer school holiday days. And if we couldn’t afford the very low price for our bikes, we just sat and watched the ferry before heading back to Truro. https://youtu.be/3cNsSXtkpkM

British Rail had its faults, certainly. But as an integrated rail network, only one company to blame if things went wrong, standardised rather than airline-style pricing, standardised ticketing, system it had far fewer faults than the present complex structures. Each part of the system blames the other, and when companies decide they’ve had enough they just ditch the contract and get bailed out by the taxpayer - us.

Well, maybe, Andrew. But as a child (and there are others here who may remember the Eastern National 53 bus service between Clacton and Tilbury Ferry) Tilbury Ferry had the exoticism of the far east. A quick look at Google Maps suggests I might have been mistaken. 😀 Here's a nice bus though.

I have an idea……..😇

I like pretty much any port - very rarely do you find a place you can’t happily explore for the few short hours between 10 and 5 or so. If it’s raining, maybe back for lunch earlier. There’s always something to pass the time. Anything’s better than an additional sea day in my book - even a day in Tilbury!

Thanks - I was using this but assumed it was £10 per account, not card.

Exactly the same here - the 5% isn't by any means automatic. It's a matter of negotiation, and does sometimes involve reference to a supervisor (I'm assuming that's not just a ploy!).

Maybe. New avatar Zap? Just noticed her - she reminded me of the time I nearly fell in there trying to get our little daughter closer so that she could see better. That mermaid’s a lot smaller than everyone expects her to be!

Not their target market these days? There’s probably more chance of their offering a stripped-down, no-frills, Ryanair Club with everything including food a chargeable extra.

I’m probably completely and utterly wrong on this, but aren’t P&O cruises always sold at exactly the same price wherever they’re booked? Subject of course to the discount of around 5% that one excellent agent will give if asked nicely. Whenever I investigated this in the past I always found that the apparently large discounts were never actually bookable, and just a sleight of hand. Or just plain misdescription. If that view’s wrong, please correct me.

Isn’t that taking an incredible risk, given the way insurers interpret links between existing medical conditions and later ones? Quite apart from the risks involved with the existing ones.

Is there parking there these days?

‘Duck’ is a wonderful East Midlands greeting - and truly unisex, even if does upset the odd southerner!

Absolutely! Fascinating subject. Snap may well be across Yorkshire and a lot of the north (define ‘north’ - that’s a game on its own). Cheese cobs in the midlands, rolls in the south. Baps in the north? Hull has its tenferts - the ten foot access strip at the back of a lot of houses. Ginnels is rarely used in the south, I think, where it’s usually just alleys or alleyways.

Nice one! I lived round there when I was very young - he’ll see some changes. Very different place now from when I was there in the 50s, but still plenty to do and see. Loads of places within easy visiting reach too.

Sadly, insurance companies frequently refuse to pay out, not necessarily in the first year, but for all sorts of reasons. This looks like a large claim on a health related policy, and you can be very sure that any company would look very carefully to try to find an escape route from paying. It’s not usually very difficult to find one.

Thanks for the information! That’s a very good suggestion, which I shall take up. Presumably you’ve got poor mobile coverage on all four networks? We’re OK on a couple and I’d assumed that would be sufficient, but maybe not.

Sorry to hear that - and hope you make a quick recovery. I'm very much in the same boat, with a compromised immune system, so I fully appreciate your concerns. Are you able to access one of the treatments, such as Paxlovid, via the system that's been set upi?

That’s actually quite shocking. It’s one of the key benefits of having a suite, and breakfasts there were very civilised indeed - with a full choice of breakfasts. Difficult to see how they could possibly mess that up, and disappointing that they have.

I once had a colleague who introduced the concept of sharing platters well before anyone else. Conferences usually involved either sitting two or three seats away from him while dining - or wearing a waterproof cape.

I’d appreciate some advice please from anyone who’s had smart meters fitted - particularly if they also have solar panels on a feed in tariff. Any problems encountered with the switch, particularly if it created any issues with the boiler - or gave the installer the chance to issue a safety notice on some kind of pretext to sell a new boiler. I gather they have to check the boiler, and British Gas are notorious for inventing ‘reasons’.

Fascinating review - thanks so much for taking the time to write it. I know you take your food as seriously as we do (you and I have discussed it more than once!) and I’m sorry it didn’t live up to expectations - particularly the Epicurean, which used to be faultless. The MDR used also to be reliable, even for lunches, so in the light of your comments I’m not surprised that it’s difficult to book alternatives. It’s a far cry from our cruises with P&O, even 12 years ago, when I’d have found it difficult to find a single fault. That was what hooked us on cruising, despite derision from some quarters, but I can’t say I’m much tempted to return now.