Harry Peterson

Care to explain why you feel you’ve been ripped off, when you chose to allow P&O to select your cabin and they selected your cabin?

Actually, 10737 isn’t a bad place to be at all. Aft is the place we always go for, admittedly by choosing specific locations, but if I’d taken pot luck as you did I’d be pleased with the outcome. Not a lot of bouncing around, a pretty quiet location, and not perhaps as bad as you imagine. You certainly can’t blame P&O for this though. You chose not to select a cabin.

Jaywick…….the new Southwold. Give it time. Quite a lot of time. Ironic that the original plans for Jaywick were for an upmarket retreat. High time the money was made available to sort out the problems there - it would help so many people and bring so many benefits to the area.

You’re right - location is everything with solar panels. We’re reasonably lucky here, and they’d fully repaid their cost around seven years after their installation in 2010 - but only because of the generous government subsidy at that time. They’re currently bringing in a couple of thousand pounds a year income, plus the savings on electricity. The house was designed very much with them in mind though, in the early 2000s. We had them cleaned earlier this year and it improved the output by around 20%!

Overhead power lines probably - we get cuts on a fairly regular basis, and after long conversations with National Grid I’ve had to accept that they’re inevitable. You probably get them too? More concerned at the contingency planning currently underway relating to possible 7 day outages this winter if things don’t go well. 4 hours on a rota basis can easily be worked round - 7 days less so! Logs ordered for wood burner - it’s the only thing in the house that produces heat without electricity. And a new Calor gas cylinder for the BBQ to cook with!

Morning everyone. I wonder how many are still unable to log in to post - quite a few, I’m guessing. iPad working for me only by bypassing the built in browser and using Chrome. This site does seem to have extraordinarily frequent and protracted access and login difficulties. Obviously a prime target for Putin, though the prospect of up to a week without power if he pulls that off is a lot more concerning!

Little containers of shampoo and soap - fine. Slippers - maybe? Dressing gowns - certainly not. But life jackets? 😱

Ahhhhh……another ‘fewer’ club member. A sadly endangered species. Maybe like the formal club…….😉

That’s impressive! You’re lucky if the newer ones last five years, even brands like Panasonic.

Almost certainly. Our first cost £100 in 1979, about £600 in todays money, and everyone thought we’d put a television in the kitchen - which would probably have been as weird then as a microwave.

Why is it that the clocks on cheap electronic goods are self adjusting, but on expensive ovens costing ten times as much they won’t spend an extra 50p on a radio controlled clock?

Gala Night always used to mean a slightly better menu in the MDR, so we tended to use that on Gala Nights. On other nights for us it would have to be the Epicurean. On its own for food, atmosphere and service.

My daughter’s still on a cheap three year fix she took out in 2020. We discussed at the time whether it was wise, and I opted for a shorter fix. She won. My annual energy charges increased in October from £2500 to £5200! This is the girl who ran up a credit card debt at university and had to work evenings in a fish and chip shop to pay it off - I’m proud of the lessons she’s learned since then about managing finances and avoiding debt!

Good point. P&O once emailed all our holiday details, including name, address, dates etc, to a complete stranger by misspelling the first part of the email address.

I’m pretty sure this would appeal very much to our grandchildren! I won’t repeat my wife’s expletive!

A large house means higher energy bills wherever it’s located, though, and it might as well be somewhere nice to live. Horses for courses, though - not everyone can cope with living away from towns and cities. Or with living in one!

It will be in the Carnival accounts somewhere, but possibly not fully broken down between operating companies. Certainly reduces cashflow, and it might be interesting to see how it’s been valued for accounting purposes.

As you say, a great company, with a great ethos and great customer service. I remember their first shop back in the 70s just off London Bridge station but we didn't have any money then. The Woolwich Equitable took most of it. Better prices than John Lewis, hugely better customer service, and refundable six year warranties if there's no claim - free on TVs. They must have taken a lot of JL's TV and electrical trade away - certainly all ours! Ironic that Julian Richer ended up doing much the same thing as the original John Lewis by giving away a large part of the business to his employees - a really decent bloke in everything he's done with Richer Sounds. I can't think of another company that size with such high ethical standards.

On here, you always come across as extremely nice, friendly and pleasant. The way you are counts far more than how you photograph! 🙂

Tottenham Court Road - happy memories! Used to spend hours there when the wife was looking at clothes and stuff. Wall to wall hi fi, and unbeatable prices. Always prepared to haggle too!

Some do, and succeed. Usually by means of a non-disclosure agreement. It’s the way P&O like to do things to avoid the glare of publicity.

I'm guessing that your post has been moved from a new thread to this one? I think you'll find the various posts very helpful - but not encouraging. I'm sorry you've been treated this way.

I think that’s absolutely the right approach. Loungers left empty are no use to anyone. Good plan for everyone maybe - shift the towels, be prepared to vacate them if someone turns up in a few minutes, but if not use your ‘excuse’. Sounds like an excellent plan for everyone to follow. 😇

Having spent maybe all of a couple of hours on a sun lounger in my entire life - and that in the garden - the etiquette around them fascinates me. Leaving towels on them has been controversial (often even racially charged) for as long as I can remember, but what exactly is there to prevent anyone simply removing the towel from an otherwise empty lounger at any point? And how is that 30 minutes judged? Do we need little timers of some kind, or maybe the Blue Badge time displays?

The arguments are the same, but I think I sense a little less vitriol and a change in the balance of opinion. Far less one sided than it used to be.