Megabear2

Helplines???? Currently in a huge argument with LG about my broken 2 1/2 year washer dryer that cost nearly £1,000 due to its 5 year guarantee. This is machine number four since November 2021 - this unit delivered May 2022! Yes madam, it's due a repair, good can I have a clue? No sorry ... It's now a week and counting, although the latest conversation an hour ago gave mention of 29 March! Not going to happen said I, what happened to checking if the customer is available, after all that's Easter weekend. No I'm told you get Monday, how about 15 April instead ......

Perhaps you can call that the one benefit of your sore throat! Alcohol is apparently the main driver of cruise passengers' weight gain so that pesky tickle may well have been a saviour.

This will be the fourth price rise for drinks in a year if and when it happens, though. The interesting thing is of course that a large number of people will have bought into the drinks package price reduction offers so any "drag" from price increases in that area will be masked for a while. Certainly P&O have really been pushing that offer. When you make a telephone enquiry it is the first price they are eager to give.

Early morning noise actually no problem for us as we are up around 5.30 anyway! Am I to take it other noise wasn't a problem? I've found the sign others referred to, thank you. I've found a few balcony cabins on C deck now as well but a lot aren't available. C316 and C317seems to be free, that's more forward. C252 appears to be on hold.

Oh well it was a good idea ....

I understand there are some outside cabins on Aurora which have a shower rather than a shower over the bath. Could anyone advise if this is correct and if so are these cabins in an okay position. Also apart from accessible cabins are there any others with showers? We are considering joining our extended family on the Aurora for the 26 August sailing for celebrations for my sister in law's 70th birthday and other minor celebrations. This will end necessitate our cancelling and moving our Queen Anne booking for 8 September which we have no real worries about as the more information get about the ship, the more I'm wondering if she's really for me and perhaps waiting for some feedback (hints to Selbourne and others!). It also means that we will also end up spending our 44th wedding anniversary onboard Aurora with the family which will be very strange. However the itinerary looks good, particularly for my husband who's very keen. The big sticking point is my husband's fibromyalgia and mobility which currently are rather poor. Showering in a bathtub at sea may be a bit of a health hazard for him unfortunately and is a main reason for not choosing our normal deluxe balcony on Britannia in December. I understand that there are baths in almost all Aurora cabins, is that correct please? Aurora is a bit of a jinx for me, every time I'm due to sail on her something prevents it but an opportunity to sail with our extended family is very tempting, particularly as one of my sister in laws and her husband are full time carers to her father who lives with them and sourcing care in their absence is extremely difficult. This cruise is actually a replacement for one they were all meant to take in December last year when no care was available and we really like the idea of surprising them if we can make it work. Thanks in advance for help and suggestions.

Graham, I'm very sorry to hear the sad news of Sarah's father passing. I'm sure that having you and Pauline will be a great strength to her. I send my best wishes and prayers to you all.

Yes. I was looking forward to that and hopefully a report from his Azamara African adventure. Perhaps he's been busy - they were doing VAT on their flight out. I hope you had a great holiday too.

My sister in law, white Irish ancestry was told she is 30% Nigerian. A retest gave the same result but her brother not a sign of anything other than as expected....

On fringe season cruises, those sailing before beginning of June, the lead price on an inside saver has dropped to between £849 and £999. These prices are in line with last year's with a small increase from the lowest baseline of £799 achieved on the Spring cruises in 2023. The 31/3 (Easter) sailing has a handful of outside cabins with insides and balconies sold out. The next sailing has around 60 inside cabins, 6 outside and a handful of deck 8 front balconies. Lead price is £899 and has risen in the past week. This indicates pretty good sales, particularly when the lowered price kicks in. The 26 May sailing is currently at £999 lead price with a fair number of all cabin grades available. This is another bank holiday cruise and based on last year it should drop again in the next week or two, probably to the £899 price fairly soon and then if it still doesnt sell as they want down to the "bargain basement" price of £799 or £849. Looking at the pattern, the two June cruises should go down (subject to sales level) once the 31 March cruise sells out - probably very soon - and as the "bargain" sailings immediately after start to fill with bargain hunters.

Thanks again for the great blog. I hope you have a quick and easy journey home and that traffic is kind in Southampton after the big fire. On the feedback point, I came across this story yesterday on the internet. It gives a very interesting insight into the world of some very savvy crew members! https://www.ladbible.com/lifestyle/travel/cruise-ship-worker-shares-salary-youtube-563508-20240306

My husband has worked in pension provision and compliance for very many years and has had contact with a large number of people in the music and theatre business amongst others for over 45 years. He tells me that those from the 60's and 70's in particular mainly earned pennies for their efforts and when dealing with pension provision and financial planning their pots are actually tiny in comparison with the average worker. The money men and dodgy management seemed to lock them in to virtually impossible to get out of contracts. On the other hand he's dealt with some superstars of the pop world who don't even know how much money they have or indeed where it's been going through long careers. As I said Cheryl Baker having reached stardom after Eurovision was proud to have enough money from that success to buy a semi detached house in Kent and yet her husband was a fully fledged member of The Hollies who were superstars in their day.

Even a tidy up with the hand shears led to 3 hours in A&E for stitches a few years back. If one of us used a hedge trimmer of any type with our very dodgy arms and hands, I dread to think what bits we might end up missing ...

Yes, we all think grass is easy but when I got past 50 I realised not quite so much! My lawn has shrunk over the years so now we have far less thankfully. Actually sounds like you get a bargain then.

We had a great guy for 12 years while we were both working who retired in his late 70s four years ago. I now have a really nice young man from South Africa who used to run a garden business over there. He supplements his full time job working for the local council in schools with gardening on Saturdays and summer evenings to save for trips back to South Africa to visit family and to save for his two children's college and university when they're older. We too are overrun with tree surgeons and hedge trimmers. General gardening people are between £12 and £16ph.

I suggest filling in the support form and explain you have difficulties in standing, then sending a follow up email of explanation to that department. Obviously if your a very long time away from your time they may not be willing to help but I'm not sure if it applies to all but I and several others were given chairs downstairs for 45 minutes when I had problems with standing and my drop off was 50 minutes before my boarding time. I assume it depends on how in front of time you are if they allow this though.

Sounds like you have a huge lawn! I pay £15 for mine.

Yep, she's had to sell her house to pay her bills. She did a big interview in the tabloids about it after guest starring in Eastenders last year. Did gardening for her neighbour at £10ph to make sure she pays her way. Apparently the band never made any money from the big hits, they got 5% to split between them and then there was the big accident where she broke three vertebrae and her bandmate suffered severe head injury. On top of that her replacement while she was recovering stole the band's name and patented it so they never even got to cash in as Bucks Fizz during the furore of Eurovision last year. They perform as The Fizz. Personally I admire her attitude if nothing else.

It is her birthday tomorrow, born March 1954.

Yes, and generally she is excellent. Her husband Steve Stroud who was a guitarist with The Holies accompanies her (he plays with Cliff Richard at the moment!). Her performances in The Limelight Club are not just singing, they are a mix of stories and events in her life and she actually is a very personable lady. Even my husband enjoys seeing her although he grumbled like mad the first time. We've seen her quite a few times on Britannia. She is very much a people person and is very happy to speak to people outside of her performances. Her charity work for head injury victims is something she talks about. Incidentally she hates the song Makin' Your Mind Up but happily tells you it made her enough money to buy a nice semi detached house in the London suburbs!

The offer on drinks package had an end date of 4 March. That was P&O's big drive until then. Interestingly I repriced my cruise booked last week after reading your post. It is actually £100 cheaper now although the OBC is less. Even adding the new drinks package at 10% off instead of 20% it remains so.

https://premierchristian.news/en/news/article/nearly-one-in-four-cathedrals-in-england-now-charging-for-entry

I agree about the rudeness, absolutely ridiculous. The most annoying thing is after forking out the £25.00 they then wanted extra to visit the crypt and yet more for the Whispering Gallery and higher. I couldn't help but think of Jesus and the money lenders in the bible at that point. Our home cathedral has just for the first time in over 30 years had the last scaffolding removed and is no longer under repair. We used to have big signs up telling us the EU were funding a large amount of the work, now I guess all that missing funds is going to have to be clawed back through entrance fees.

It's pretty standard, however I'm not so sure this year we will get the bargains. Generally far more cabins are currently reserved on most cruises I look at - not just P&O but across brands. Celebrity for instance seem to have sold well with the Apex at high prices. Princess seem at present to be the ones with the better deals. I booked Britannia for Christmas last week and struggled to get a balcony with sofa in a position suitable for me. I've ended up mid aft certainly not my usual go to but it was difficult to find anything on my preferred decks mid forward. The OBC was quite reasonable at £340 plus my "welcome back" £100 and the cruise is overall £1500 less than I paid for my one just past - remember the new one is over Christmas so should be dearer. It is the same across the board. The Cunard deal ending coincided with the new launch and obviously was an attempt to sell the current onsales. It seems to have pushed up the base level inside fares by around £200-300 as it ended. Apart from our 35 night Caribbean on QM2 we have nothing booked for 2025 so I will continue to look for "bargains" as all my personal funds are now committed to my Queen Mary 2 world cruise in 2026.

Exactly my thoughts Zap. I have paid a small charge, a Euro or two if I recall correctly, for a Spanish cathedral - I cannot remember which exactly but it was commented on because it was so rare. I have never encountered a Catholic cathedral charging, Westminster Cathedral for instance is free so I tend to take my visiting friends there rather than the Abbey or St Paul's unless I'm specifically asked for one of those two.