mrsgoggins

I’ll do my best to oblige with Sindhu info, as I owe you 😉

The prices on Iona next week (guessing Arvia would be the same) are Beach House £9.20 pp online, Epicurean £28 pp, Norwegian Taster menu £32 pp, Limelight Club £33.60 pp and Sindhu £10 pp less, of course, whatever discount you qualify for. I noticed that Sindhu, when you check the Menu, has a box at the top saying 'For the ultimate Sindhu experience, choose 3 courses for just 21.00' I've never seen this before. Is it new or am I just unobservant?

Lovely photos Graham, and Pauline looks as elegant as always. It's always good to see a thread you know will be positive. We are joining Iona on Saturday for a week's Fjords cruise, mostly because it fits the bill in terms of timing and length (it's our Golden wedding on 5th and the ship returns on 6th). We went on her last year, and doubted we would ever go on her again, but I have taken a leaf out of your book and made speciality dining reservations for most nights. The 6th Street diner sounds very interesting, so maybe we will take a look at Arvia at sometime .... I'll hold on to that thought until I've given Iona another chance next week 😉 Thanks again.

Yes, welcome home Graham. I'll be looking for your thread very shortly, so thank you in advance.

That’s interesting to me because I booked the Limelight Club for 5th July last week and now that date has disappeared, despite even the sold out nights still showing! It’s our Golden wedding and so I chose that event specifically. I’ll be ringing in the morning to find out if I still have a booking.

What a start, I was stressed just reading it! I'll be reading along since we are on Iona's Fjords cruise as you get off. Then we are driving to Germany for a week visiting some of our favourite haunts. We have fallen out of love with flying and airports in general (although still do it occasionally) hence deciding on the tunnel and driving rather than our normal German airport and hire car mode of transportation. Wishing you a stress-free, great cruise and an easy journey home next weekend 👍

My cruise is 15th September and although I am disappointed by this news, I am even more disappointed that there has been no email informing passengers of this!

Good morning @lincsladyand any others struggling with sleep. I listened to Newscast on the radio, tried again to sleep before giving up! I too had had a couple of better nights before this one. I have a rare clear day ahead of me; absolutely nothing on my calendar and so my choices include weeding the block paving - a never-ending job, catching up with admin and possibly going out for either lunch or afternoon tea. I'm seeing friends on Wednesday and Thursday so the sensible thing to do would be to catch up with household jobs. Last night I went to a make-up demonstration with a friend to support a local social initiative. I now know how much I didn't know about make-up today! The model was a fresh-faced 16 year old and the demonstrator very knowledgeable and the results were subtle and impressive. Around 10 products were used to get the effect - who knew? I use a moisturiser, a bit of lippy and if it's a special occasion, maybe a touch of eyeshadow! Can I give my thanks to those of you who post cartoons on a regular basis including @kalos, @grapau27 and @Eddie99. They brighten my day, which I value as I try to escape the politics and football which seem to be dominating the airwaves. I am a bit of a politics nerd, but I've had enough, and I have no interest at all in football 🥺. Good wishes to you all whatever you are up to 🙂

I stayed at the Clifton Arms Hotel many years ago for education-related conferences, and it was very good. Have you had afternoon tea there before? I'm looking for a recommendation. Thanks.

+1 I've sailed P&O a few times, for various reasons but not because I am a devotee, and they do exist but not on this thread 😁, which as you know, is friendly. My friend has just returned from a Silver Seas cruise and proclaimed the food to be nowhere near up to the high standard of Saga. I have no plans to try it because of their small ships - I was seasick on a Viking Oceans cruise in bad weather and they are the same size of ship. I like a big ship with big stabilisers 😉

Alas this sort of scenario is not unheard of. We've done 3 Viking river cruises - all excellent btw - but at the time I remember reading comments by very irate CC members whose experience of being bussed around various towns from a stationary Viking longship (the previous high water levels year) was not good. Long coach journeys daily rather than sailing. You and @Yorkshire Phil will definitely remember this trip! I'd be interested to know of TUI's response to you. No doubt the other passengers will be bussed to the boat from Frankfurt. Safe and uneventful travels back 👍

Are you being brought home early or was today always the intended end?

Another excellent post by you. I am following along mostly because I am incensed on your behalf about the inadequate provision for disabled passengers and the fact that they would trot out 'different shipbuilders' as a reason is shocking. But as you point out, you were dealing with a middle manager in the operation and you really need to be addressing this higher, which I am pleased you intend to do.

A few decades ago, a party of pupils from the school where I taught went on a trip to Germany. They were in the coach when the Rhine flooded massively and had to be rescued. It made German TV and national news here at the time. I've done a similar Danube river cruise to the one you are on starting in Budapest, and that year we had good weather and enjoyed Passau, but I remember the markings on the side of building walls, marked with how high the water levels had been the previous year - very, very high! Sounds like you are all in good spirits though 🍺 😁. Hope you continue to enjoy it and keep us updated.

Lunch out with two of my oldest friends today. We met at teacher training college in Manchester in 1972 and have remained good friends despite living a distance from each other. I've had 5 days of solo living as DH is currently in Germany. DS and his family are in France but I've enjoyed the facetime updates. Tomorrow everyone is back, and I have a Tesco delivery containing lots of fresh food (and evaporated milk for the macaroni pudding @Adawn47 👍). During DH's absence, I've either had lunches out with friends (2) or M&S ready meals (2) plus the odd sandwich, soup from the freezer and fruit. Not much in the way of fresh veg! Back to normal soon but it is nice to have had a few days off. We have sunshine here in West Lancashire, and I hope you all get to enjoy a few days' respite from the rain and grey clouds.

😁 - you are 'speaking' to someone who prefers a pot of tea! I never did acquire the taste for alcohol (unlike the rest of my family) ...... well, Baileys at Christmas perhaps, and the occasional Mimosa. The Diamond Club access and the snacks, tea and coffees sounds good though. On Celebrity I value the free laundry service and 240 free internet minutes per cruise. Oh, and Bacio teas and coffees 😉. DH makes use of the 2 hour window for free drinks on X whereas I generally stock up on water! The long, intense thread about P&O removing the ability to take your own bottle of spirits on board was a source of amazement to me. I took 2 bottles of Tesco High juice and a water filter jug on my 35 night Caribbean cruise in January 😋 and it was one of my really good decisions I'll be repeating on next January's 35 nighter.

Ooooooooh, off to take a look at what Diamond Plus means 👍. I’ll be looking at RC sailings for a TA back to Europe in Spring 2026. Thanks Graham.

I have just checked the price with a discount TA, who is offering the starting price you quote for an inside cabin, and my Deluxe (obstructed) balcony cabin on deck 7 is currently just £40 pp cheaper (no OBC) than when I booked (with $750 OBC). I like to be low down in the middle of the ship (not a good sailor!) and I have one of those obstructed view cabins that is really not obstructed at all. So still happy with my Princess price, but I will watch with interest when the final payment day passes and will be watching @Megabear2 posts to see the outcome of her P&O cruise price tracking.

I booked this cruise when they had a good offer (thanks to seeing a post by @Yorkshire Phil ) and have never seen the category I booked cheaper ..... yet!! Others have seen their cruises come down in price already and they have booked with large deposits and TAs who have already taken full payment. Whereas we have yet to make the final payment and we only paid the £150 deposit via the Princess Future cruise deposit system. I did briefly consider cancelling and rebooking but have decided to roll with it because it's the very place I want to be on the ship (sailed on her twice before) and we had $750 OBC in addition to shareholder benefit. The ship's tours I have booked would cost $300+ more if I were to have to rebook them at current prices. If I did rebook, (should the price fall further) that's over $1000+ plus £150 deposit I would forfeit, and so the cruise price would have by over £1000 cheaper just to match what I have now - which it very well may do! However if Princess do heavily discount, I'm going to remind myself that I am happy with the deal I have, which is £28 per person, per night, cheaper than the 35 night P&O cruise I took in January! And it includes the drinks package and internet, which the P&O cruise did not (I didn't book early enough for the best fare).

That will be interesting! I intend to do the same for my September Princess 32 night Canada/USA cruise (final payment due 17/6), especially as they have dropped 2 Canadian ports and substituted 2 French ones, which many people are unhappy with and some have reported that they have cancelled. I'll look forward to the update.

@delgirl I found a less dark picture. I'm sure they do have some 'proper' balconies at the back of the ship. I see your post has been moved, so maybe this will find you 🤞😉

Yes I have. Beautiful ship but I prefer a proper balcony. Celebrity is my favourite cruise line so I am biased but I also like traditional, so I'm not rushing to book her again, and I wasn't thrilled that she's now based in Southampton for the foreseeable future in the summer months. Everything else was as good as expected, food, service etc. Lots do love this class of ship however. Sorry it's so dark!

This really is very poor and I can understand your concerns. I remember that your wife had low beds to contend with on Aurora and discovering that she is unable to manage day to day functions more easily on a new ship, in an adapted cabin, must be very annoying (not to mention potentially damaging to your back) and I hope that the 'serious conversation' brings results. I looked forward to your daily blog on Aurora at the start of the year, as did lots of others obviously 😇, but I do understand what you mean about the pressure. I was stunned to get up to 27,000 views for my somewhat irregular, 32 night cruise! I think the fact that we were both away in the UK's dreary winter months played its part. I'm doing the Ventura's 32 night trip next January that includes Miami and New Orleans, both of which you covered so well in your blog, so I am not sure I will do another. Maybe a few notes with photos here and there, especially since @TigerB gave me such good instruction; which has been so useful in my everyday life too. Glad that the dining experience is living up to expectation for you both, because I remember how much you enjoyed this on your previous Cunard cruise.

@Selbourne I am so pleased to see you posting again, even though it's not a full trip report. I came here looking for you when @Megabear2 reminded us that you were on this voyage. I am so sorry (and surprised) to read that your cabin seems poorly designed for disabled passengers and that the theatre does not make companion seating for wheelchair users clear; that much at least should be easy to put right. I'll be reading along and whilst I won't be going to Liverpool to view the razzmatazz, I will be watching on the NW local news, which I expect will cover it in detail. I hope you all have a memorable, and fabulous time.

Here's hoping for improvement for you both today so that you can enjoy the decent weather in your lovely garden, with maybe a meal out over the weekend ...... I believe it has been known to happen 😉