Harry Peterson

Beautiful and amazing city! So much to see and do, and a great time to go too.

It very much has a bearing on prices, because the franchise brings in substantial income, probably based on turnover and/or profits, to P&O. Without that sort of income (likewise the shop etc franchises) prices would be higher.

Good point. I’m always very grateful to the gamblers and heavy drinkers!

Sorry to hear that. Not a good situation to have to endure. Presumably, your insurance will cover the loss once you have a confirmed diagnosis?

Exceedingly well put. I fully agree.

There you go: https://www.blakemorgan.co.uk/the-consumer-rights-act-2015-all-change-for-consumer-contracts-for-goods-digital-content-services-and-unfair-terms/ and https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/unfair-contract-terms-cma37 Something to read when you get back from your vegetables. The point here is that when expenses arise which aren’t covered by a simple refund of the contract price, the terms in a consumer contract won’t necessarily protect the company against claims for those additional costs. S61 et seq by the way.

Not at all, because you’ve missed out the words which followed concerning the Consumer Rights Act. Terms and conditions these days aren’t the universal panacea that companies sometimes pretend they are.

Good to see that the Epicurean’s as good as ever - it was always one of the greatest pleasures of cruising for us.

It doesn’t much matter whether the cancellations were of P&O’s making. They entered into the contracts for the sale of cruises, and they’re responsible for the fulfilment of those contracts, subject of course to the terms and conditions, which are themselves subject to scrutiny under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. P&O will certainly be reclaiming everything available to them to claim from those they contracted with, and passengers are entitled to do the same.

Five years? That’s a shockingly short life! There seem to be three particularly good boilers, and WB is one of them, and I’m guessing you’ve opted for the 10 year warranty, so I doubt you’ll regret the extra cost. Ours is now coming up for 17 years old, condensing too, so it’s done remarkably well given that they were saying back in 2006 that condensing boilers would only last 10 years! It did have quite a lot of its insides replaced three years ago though, and it’s not going to last forever. No hesitation whatever though in getting another WB. At some point maybe a heat pump, but certainly not yet.

I think they’ve long since learned the lesson that good customer service costs money, and that if they follow the Ryanair approach, and position the brand correctly, they’ll still get plenty of repeat business without it, or its cost. Whatever we might think about that, I’m sure they know their business better than we do, and that they know exactly what they’re doing.

Bingo? On a cruise? No comment! However, isn’t the regulation just within the UK? Used to be the case here that all the entry monies had to be returned in prize money, leaving only entrance charges and other attractions to make money out of!

Puts me in mind of a cruise we did a few years back. Just north of Iceland we spotted them late at night (it was still light). My wife was ecstatic and had to be more or less dragged in at 0130 to get some sleep! They were there for a couple of hours, clearly visible, and you could tell from the change in the water surface and colour where and when they were likely next to surface. At breakfast there were people complaining that they’d been on a very expensive whale watching tour but seen nothing, wondering what they looked like. Simple answer from wife - look out of the window. Still there! Reinforced my longstanding, tight-fisted, refusal to buy overpriced and unnecessary cruise ship tours. DIY every time!

Congratulations on the birth of your Granddaughter, Kalos. If humour and kindness are genetic, which I’m pretty sure they are, she’s got a great start in life already. 🙂

Good one, Brian! That explains a lot!

Spot on, Avril. Always the commonsense approach! We’ve got no problems with the liquid soap and shampoo on the wall but other bits and pieces travel with us. That 1969 bottle of Tabac has lasted very well……

What exactly is the big appeal of maidens, given that they’re frequently riddled with teething problems - sometimes quite major?

I wear a dark suit because I loathe DJs. My wife dresses up in the usual finery. She did take great delight last time though in wearing a pair of Doc Martens - not visible under a long evening dress, but infinitely more comfortable than anything else!

And another (The Blessed Ranieri Frees the Poors from a Jail in Florence) I never could fathom this one, but it was always a high spot for the children (and us!) on a visit to the Louvre!

A few years ago there were big arguments on these forums about the best time to book for the lowest price. Two very distinct schools of thought - the very early brigade and the much later on brigade. I’m leaving out the third option, the absolute last minute one, because it’s not really comparable. As time went by, I think there was general agreement that early booking (at launch) was almost always the cheapest option. Most of us did just that and were rarely disappointed, particularly as most of the last minute deals disappeared too. Things seem to have changed back again, reading these posts - and if that’s the case, and people hold back on booking, it’s not going to help their cash flow!

One of the reasons often given is that people travelling on their own tend to spend less per head onboard than couples and families. Obviously, there will be exceptions, and we’re delighted to be among them!

I’ve surprised myself today, and maybe one or two others who know my main interest outside cruising. Surprised, that is, with considerable personal restraint today, still to be here……….😇

Not sure, but the FT says Carnival’s transferred 12 ships, most of which became operational in the last 2 years (total value $8.2bn) to a subsidiary which issued the bond using the ships as collateral. A way of reducing interest costs. Makes sense, provided all goes well….

Quite. I don’t think there’s general realisation yet of the wide area involved - particularly in the south - or the earthquake and other environmental damage risks. Or for that matter how many sites there would have to be, or how little impact on supplies and prices.

I don’t know the new ships, but on the older ships I don’t recall any civilised non-chargeable options for passengers preferring simply to wear smart casual on formal nights. I always take a dark suit for that reason, but having spent my entire working life in one it’s not the way I’d prefer to spend a holiday.