Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 14 #1 Share Posted July 14 Crew Me: Im 35 now. Its been a long 6 months since we were last on holiday and we have lots more booked. Not enough in my , too many in my bank balances opinion Hubby: He’s 35 too. Just as bad as me with holidays Scarlett: Will be 9 Georgia: Will be turning 8 while on board. This is for her birthday as all of us has had a birthday on holiday so far These are my beautiful girls in Florida The Plan Going with P & O on the Iona for one weeks in December Cost us £1878 for one weeks for balcony cabin (kids will be on bunk beds) and includes the food (and drinks such as tea coffee and juice while in the restaurants). We also have £360 obc. Also includes parking The itinerary This is a very basic itinerary. As I won’t know until we are onboard what offers are on at the restaurants, what shows will be performing and when then most days we might just be going with the flow. All I know is we are on deck 15 in the middle. Saturday Day 1. Drive down leaving at about 10.30am. Board at Southampton 3pm ish Sunday Day 2. At sea Monday Day 3. Hamburg Tuesday Day 4. At Sea Wednesday Day 5. Rotterdam Thursday Day 6. Rotterdam Friday Day 7. Zeebrugges Saturday Day 8. Dock at Southampton 10am. Drive home for about 2pm. I have budgeted £250 for our drinks and speciality dinning. I will not buy the package as I don’t think it’s good value(£80 for our cabin per day but quite a few wines excluded) also £100 on petrol. £50 for in case we have food or coffee on the car journeys etc. So we have £400 in total to play with.Ill take a credit card in case. Will always do a running total of costs. Love knowing how much I’ve paid per day. Although we didn’t spend over £260 on Iona in April for 7 days so I don’t think we will get anywhere near the budget. I also have €500 in cash and credit card as back up. Unfortunately I am one of those who loves lists and spreadsheets. Drives my husband mad. We also don’t have much of a plan. We are just going to try and relax and sight see. But the best of all is going to be eating lots of food without me having to cook! Oh and actually having some date nights too. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 14 Author #2 Share Posted July 14 Alarm set for 8am. Up, everyone showered and dressed. Used the last of the milk for cereal and made Scott a coffee for the journey. As per usual they all argued a million times already before I’ve even gotten down the stairs, I do always say it wouldn’t be a holiday if we hadn’t had an argument on the way. Managed to get off on time but as usual I always have that feeling I’ve forgotten something, whether I have or not is usually found out once I am there, this time it was eczema cream and Cotten buds. First stop will be Watford Gap as it’s our usual stop now that we have done cruises many times from Southampton we have a regular pattern that I don’t like to deviate from. It’s around 1hr25 after setting off. As you know I can’t manage more than that without bathroom breaks. Us three got out and bought some hamburgers since we were starving and the silly machines were weird. Scott was stretching his back as it hurt and I was driving. Always know when something is up when I’m the one that drives. Next stop was chievly and we got a sticky toffee latte, water, mint hot chocolate and a coffee cake. It’s not something I would get again. We took a little 10min detour for petrol at Tesco as we didn’t want to do it on the way back home. We got to the terminal at 3.30pm. We had been asked to come late that day due to some extra cleaning. We had the cps parking with our select fare so drove through that, handed off the keys and got the bags out the car. Checked in the bags with the men, queued and queued then went through the terminal to the check in desk. Quick toilet stop then through security and we were on the ship for 5pm. This for us is a long time queuing and a lot of it was outside so wasn’t best please at all to be honest. The room was ready so we got our cruise cards, went to the muster station which was the glass house, to the room, all the suitcases were waiting so we unpacked everything and joined a queue for dinner at 6pm. We managed to sort everything and get changed and ready for dinner by that time. Super speed today and we were hungry by this point. We went to the main dining , the pearl. Georgia had decided she wanted to order off the main menu which was fine with us. She got chicken croquettes and lamb dinner. Scott ordered the same. I got chicken croquettes with chicken dinner Scarlett only wanted the kids sausage,mash and sweetcorn. When the starters came out Scarlett decided she wanted some so I shared half of mine with her, Georgia got too much so Scott ate some of hers then he decided he hadn’t had the chicken croquettes before even though I knew he had it last time as it was the same menu as when we boarded in April. I proved this later on with my handy trip reports hahaha 🤣 Out came the mains and Georgia did a good job of eating the full dinner, Scott had to help with some lamb. Scarlett’s came out and there was 1 sausage, few sweetcorn and small scoop of mash. It was big enough for a 2 or 3 year old. Not a 9 year old. So she had some of my vegetables and chicken. So I had half a starter and half a main. Good going for me so far. We all ordered the sticky toffee pudding. I’m not sure what they are doing now but it’s nothing like it used to be. It didn’t taste of much and it’s not something we would get again. I think it used to be proper suet pudding and now it’s sponge with not much flavour. Least it was the one dish I got to eat all of though. We had the “step into Christmas” show at 8.30 so we went to Brodies for a sit down. We got there around 7.15. We sat in front of the pool table and the kids had a game with Scott although it turned into more of Georgia and Scott as Scarlett couldn’t do it so she came and sat with me. I was in charge of ordering drinks so I got some. Me and Scott went to play pool. The ship was rocking so the balls kept going everywhere, he ended up potting the black anyway as he always does so I won. We started queuing at 8pm for the theatre. Got seated and the show started at 8.30pm. It was the Christmas music show. Can’t say it was great. Some of the singing was ok, some I thought was really screechy. But it was Christmasy so it was worth it. We stayed the whole show though and then when it was over we went back to the cabin and got ready for bed. We were in bed by 10. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 14 Author #3 Share Posted July 14 At Sea We woke up quite late today. 8am for us is late but I think it was really earlier than that due to the clocks changing. We got up and dressed and we decided to go to the buffet for breakfast. Now I really don’t like the buffet normally but I was out voted. When we got there it’s changed now so no trays. This make it so much more awkward for us. We asked for one and was told no. We got the kids breakfast and juice. Scott went back for his while I made the coffees and then I went and got something for me. It’s put us off the buffet lots. The kids wanted to try the kids club. They weren’t very sure as they are in different groups now and they have always been together before so we said we wouldn’t leave them too long. We collected them at 11.15 and we hadn’t needed to worry they were both fine and had a lovely time on their own with some friends. We went to Brodies for 11.15. We got some beers. I got a ginger beer as I felt sick but it didn’t help and some cans of pop to take with us to the quays. We half tried to do battle of Brodies quiz but we weren’t very good at general knowledge. We went to the quays and all had fish and chips apart from Georgia who had southern fried chicken she ended up saying it was spicy and I ate one of Scarlett’s fish but it was full of bones. We went back to Brodies as I love the jukebox quiz and I secretly think the others do too so we went and did that. We got 13/40. Poor. The kids went to the kids club after at 2.45. We might have gone back to the cabin for a cheeky snooze as we were shattered already. We did manage to set an alarm. Scott was fast on but I couldn’t sleep so when I woke him he was grumpy as this was the second nap this week I had disturbed. We managed to get the kids on time at 4.45 and we got them changed and had the kids buffet for tea. They had bit of pasta and sauce with chips etc. The menu tonight in the main dining room looked ok but Scott had his eyes set on a steak from keel and cow. Not sure why as when we went as last time we didn’t like it last November. I think it was the pudding that swung it for him. So as planned we went down to the club house and to the “Christmas Family Disco” it sounded fun and we two went in Christmas tops, the girls went in their dresses. And it was rubbish. There was nothing Christmasy about it. It was just very much like the toddler discos we have been to before that we have now stopped going to as ours don’t like it as they are too old now. Things like wheels on the bus and baby shark. It would have been better saying that it was aimed at families of younger children as then we would have made better choices. We had arranged our evening for this and what we should have done instead was go to the main dinner room as they all had party hats on from crackers but we didn’t know this till the kids had eaten already and we’d had ours. The kids faces when they saw the disco, they were fuming at me as I still want them to be little and they probably thing I did this on purpose. So after waiting a long time for the disco to start we ended up leaving after 10 minutes. We took the kids to the club instead as that’s now where they wanted to be. We booked for the keel and cow and got there around 7pm. We were seated next to the glass railings. The Christmas panto bits were going on downstairs and it wasnt the atmosphere we wanted really. We ordered steak, I had mine with fries instead. Scott ordered the same. He also ordered the bao bun starter and I had a little bit, it was ok but not something we would get again. His steak was cooked perfectly. Mine however was over. It was a nice steak though. We had pudding, I had sticky toffee he had pecan pie. I didn’t rate mine. It had changed from last time and I decided I wouldn’t have it again if we came back. It again seems to be more of a sponge pudding and I don’t think it was much different to the main dining rooms. We went and got an after dinner coffee at the buffet after collecting our coffee from the room and had a look at the buffet puddings to see if there were any nice ones. We had been a long time waiting for our steaks, so by this time it was 9.30 and we collected them from the kids club. They had both had fun, I had to stop myself from singing moana as we got Georgia as that’s with film they were watching that night. We cleaned up and were all in bed for 10.15. First port tomorrow but I’m not planning on rushing around. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 14 Author #4 Share Posted July 14 Hamburg We woke up quite late again this morning, not to worry as we aren’t wanting to get there really early anyway. We showered and dressed and got to breakfast for around 9.10. We all had a light breakfast this morning of poached eggs with the kids having eggs benedict, we weren’t going to rush as my back was killing. Unfortunately before the cruise I started with sciatica (I think due to the coil) and hubby had a slipped disc (which he first did in Florida 2019). His seems to be worse in the evening after walking around all day whereas mine is worse in the morning when I must have slept funny all night. So this morning I wasn’t great. And that made me a little mardy. We got in the queue for the free shuttle with our select price cruise at around 10.15. It was raining and I was cursing not fetching the brolly that I’d just put back in the cupboard in the cabin as it wasn’t raining then. The kids were happy though as they got a free gingerbread biscuit. Anything food and those two are usually good for a while. We got into hamburg and I needed the toilet (no surprise there due to my bladder issues) but hubby grumbled as we went into a mall to find one. Right at the top of the mall and chargable but cool toilets. It spun around and cleaned the seat. Something I would have expected in Japan or something. Silly thing to be fascinated about but me and Scarlett thought it was very cool. It was €0.50. At the top of the mall was a metal tube slide. I didn’t get a photo unfortunately but it was a bit like the helter skelter we did as a kid were you go down in a sack. Trying to get my two into a sack was not very fun and we got some funny looks from the person managing it but they both went down it and said it was great fun. We walked out and across the road to the market in front of the water. There were a few different stalls, scarfs, wooden spoons and bowls, beers and crepes. Nothing we were too interested in. We went toward the main town square with the proper booths. These were selling similar stuff. The pork looked very nice but we didn’t get a sandwich unfortunately, we also watched the blacksmiths make horseshoes, I would have liked one but I couldn’t think of a good enough reason to buy one other than I enjoyed watching it made. It just looks cool. The girls found some donuts for 5€. So we ate those but found them weird. The flavour was amazing but the texture was like raw dough so we didn’t like it. It was very crowded so we walked up to where the red riding hood in the case was. The girls bought a sweety lace 2.50€. We got some flavoured nuts 13.50€ and then chocolate covered strawberries 7€ which were excellent. I was doubled over by this point and could hardly walk. There wasn’t anything else we wanted to see so when I suggested going back the kids were quite happy to. I hate feeling like there’s more I could do but at the end of the day I’m best off making sure I’m okay rather than worry I’ve missed some Christmas booths. We got back to the ship and ready for the pool. All four of us went in the hot tub for a little while which was actually really nice on my back then the kids got in the pool while we got dressed. We got some chips and pizza from the pool side and also an ice cream. While hubby had a few drinks. The kids played for ages, we got out around 4 as they were shutting it for the entertainment at night. The kids asked to go to the kids club so we got their dinner at the kids buffet around 5.15. They had pasta, burger and some jelly and we dropped them off around 6pm when the club opened. The are very quite into the clubs on this holiday. It does seems to be swings and roundabouts sometimes with the kids clubs. But I’m happy to let them go. It’s their holiday too. Hubby wanted to go back to Keel and Cow. To say we hated it the first time 13 months ago he loves it their now. I didn’t really want the exact meal again but didn’t want to argue when he had his heart set on it. We got there at 6.30 and tonight the service was quite fast. We are such boring people that we ordered exactly the same as last night but without the starter. We ordered steak , I had mine with fries instead. Scott ordered the same. His steak was cooked perfectly again. Mine however was over for the second time and was so very salty at one side. I don’t think they had done something right with it but I just got on with it. Can’t be bothered to moan about that right now as I’m in a lot of pain. Scott had pudding on his own, he had pecan pie again his favourite. The kids had said we weren’t allowed to pick them up until 8.30 so we went and sat in the club house and watched the band for a while. We went up to the buffet and got a coffee with second puddings. At 8.30pm we collected the kids, got ready for bed but decided to watch a film that was on the tv and then we were all in bed for 11pm. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 14 Author #5 Share Posted July 14 At Sea Sea day today so nothing planned. We got up around 8am and dressed and went for sit down breakfast at 9am. The kids had bacon and pancakes. Scott had poached eggs again, this is his P&O norm, and I asked for a muffin whichever was the special one that day and a croissant. I got a pastry and a plain muffin. Seems to be a running theme that my orders get lost in translation all the time. Scott says it’s cos I talk quiet but I really don’t. The kids went to the club for 9.30am when it opened and we collected them a tad early at 11.30am. We were a little bored without them. We went to Brodies as I like the quizzes. We played some cards and Georgia found a really tiny duck, they both seem to be good at finding at least one per cruise. We went to the main dining for lunch. Georgia had prawn fajitas, Scott had prawn sandwich, me and Scarlett had burger. It was all quite good. We have fallen out with the buffet because of the trays. Georgia the little weird one with quite a grown up meal. She does love to try different things a lot more than her sister. The pantomime was at 2pm so we got some seats around 1.30pm. We sat in the middle in front of the booth who do the sound etc. They were really great seats. Georgia sat next to this woman and didn’t shut up talking. She really shouldn’t be allowed to interact as she does not have a filter. I’m sat there just waiting for her to say something she shouldn’t. Scarlett was at Scott’s side and she just waited like a normal person. Next time Scott can have the gobby one. The panto honestly was pants. I haven’t seen a pantomime in a few years as the kids alway go with school but it was a poor production. There were 4 cast members. The beanstalk was a picture with green lights and the giant just did stomping feet. One of the cast couldn’t even sing. One of the funniest bits was at the end were he ripped his trousers and had to come back on in joggers. But there was one song. Called the climb that jack sung and it’s one of Georgias favourites so she sang along to it at the top of her voice that afterward people in the row behind, infront and the lady she’d been speaking to at the side of her congratulated her on how amazing she sounded. Bless her. I might have been a little red in the face as she has my talent for singing. And I can’t really sing. But she does try. If anyone is going to be on stage out of this family it’s her. menu for tonight We went back to Brodies for an hour or so with our cards. Before getting back to our cabin where a towel Elephant waited and the girls were so impressed by it. It was a formal night so we got all dressed up and went to the Emerald bar. We had a few cocktails, by we I mean that Scott had the fairground cocktail and me and the kids just stole the candyfloss from the top. Raspberry and the next was apple. Lovely. The girls went and got some photos done in front of us and then up the stairs while we watched from our seats. They took a lovely photo and we had it made into a bauble for the Christmas tree at home. We went to the sit down meal that night, got a Bloody Mary thing which was horrible, we took a video and Scarlett’s face was a picture trying that,so funny and not at all like her to even try something. We had steak with potato and prawns to share then the kids had chicken with curried potatoes to share. We all had a swap around with bits that we liked. We didn’t bother with pudding or starter as we had actually booked for olive grove but it wasn’t until 8.30 as we had thought we were going to watch something but it turned out we didn’t. But we were hungry so we thought we’d have two dinner. We didn’t realise that was a bad idea though at the time. We waited in the club house with a drink after the main dinning room. We had planned on seeing what they said was a comedian but it was awful so we left. He was another off of Britains got talent but he was more like a very bad impressionist. Not funny in the slightest. And then the olive grove was terrible. It took 1 hour for the food to arrive we very nearly just walked out, this is becoming a thing with us in that when we get that feeling to walk away that we just need to do it instead of giving it more time. We felt that it was just not feeling quite right and we pushed that down and stayed. New years resolution if you get the urge to walk then walk. It was way too late by this time for the kids to be up. So they only ate a little bit of it and we left at 10pm. Never booking a table that late again it’s just pointless for us. I was very stupid to even think 8.30pm was an acceptable time. carbonara chicken lemon tart We went back to the cabin, pottered and got ready for bed. We were all asleep by 11.30. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 14 Author #6 Share Posted July 14 Rotterdam-But stayed on the ship Well we all had a bad night. Unfortunately Georgia takes after me that sometimes things she eats don’t sit right with her. She woke up at 2.30am and said she felt sick and needed a drink. I didnt think anything of it as she went to the fridge to get water as I was half asleep and unfortunately she was poorly and it was everywhere. I cleaned everything up best I could in the middle of the night and she went back to sleep before getting up again at 3.30 but this time she made it to the bathroom. No fever or anything, we checked all her temperature and did some tests and by the morning she was fine. So something really didn’t sit right as she didn’t over eat and she didn’t have a bug. Unless it was just eating too late but everyone else was ok. Not sure why the captain announcement at 7.15 was so loud but it really was. Obviously time to get up. We had planned on going to The Hauge for the Christmas market on the train but after being up most of the night and with my back being so bad we decided not to bother. I was worried that I’d spend all that time getting there and it wouldn’t be a great market anyway. So we went for breakfast around 9am as usual. We then sat in the club house while no one was around playing cards and found another duck. We had decided to have a ship day and the girls wanted to go in the pool so around 10.45 there were back in there. It was great as there was hardly any people on board. We had the whole pool to ourselves and the hot tubs mostly too. We got out around 12ish. We had a buffet lunch. It wasn’t great. I really feel that the buffet has gone downhill. We had little kebab wraps which I didn’t like, some Chinese pork and biryani. The fries were the nicest thing. I wish we’d just gotten pizza from the pool side place. Shower and hair washed and down to Brodies for the quiz. I absolutely love the music quiz they do. Most times we are really bad at it but we still like it. Lots of people try to help us which can get a tad annoying. We sat in our normal pog and since it was empty we talked to the waiter a bit and got a few drinks orders in. We were there a long time just over three hours. We played cards before the quiz and we at least knew more than half the answers so we were happy with that. Brodies really is our favourite place on this ship. menu for tonight The kids wanted to go to kids club in the evening so we said that was fine. We went and got the menu for the main dining room and we couldn’t find anything of interest so surprise surprise Scott asked if we could go back to the Keel and Cow. Sure. More steak. So we did the usual, go back around 5 to get changed, kids buffet dinner at 5.30 with nothing more interesting than chips and pasta. Although it was nicer than the lunch we had. Then dropping them off at kids club at 6pm. We went straight down for our table. Same as always. Such boring people but hey ho that’s just how we are. We ordered steak , I had mine with fries instead. Scott ordered the same. His steak was cooked perfectly for the third time. Scott had pudding, he had pecan pie for the third time this week, his favourite. I would have liked a pudding but wasn’t going to pay for one. Again the kids asked us to wait to pick them up so at 8.30pm we collected the kids, got ready for bed and were in bed super early at 9.15. Everyone was tired after today. towel animal Punk ipa £5.55 Punk ipa £5.55 Mocktail £3.95 Punk ipa £5.55 Punk ipa £5.55 Nuts £1.45 Nuts £1.45 Punk ipa £5.55 Nuts £1.45 Discount -£0.15 Punk ipa £5.55 Nuts £1.45 Nuts £1.45 Discount -£0.63 Main £15.50 Main £15.50 Pudding £3.25 Discount -£2.57 £75.40 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ardennais Posted July 14 #7 Share Posted July 14 Really enjoying reading your posts! Shame that you found the buffet lacking! We thought that the buffet on Iona was good in April, much better than Caribbean Princess last week. Your girls are lovely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 14 Author #8 Share Posted July 14 Rotterdam again but we still didn’t get off the ship So I am unfortunately poorly so even though this is the last day in Rotterdam and we were going to do what we were supposed to yesterday that’s just not going to happen. I do hate spoiling days on holiday for the kids but luckily they don’t mind so much to have pool days. Up at the usual time of 7pm. We had the stupid elves on the shelf with us since it’s December and they thought it was funny to draw on Georgias face with my make up eye liner. Obviously being in the dark they must have pushed it up too far and it broke a piece off as Georgia woke up to hardly any on her face but it all over the bed covers and her pjs. Bad elves as I don’t think the house keeping will be impressed. I feel quite guilty about those little things sneaking into the luggage. Down to the main dining room for breakfast at 8.30am today. Scarlett meticulously buttered and put marmalade on her toast. I could see where this was going so I was camera ready but her face is still a picture. So is the one of her daddy eating said toast while sniggering. Georgia got some porridge today, I dont think she liked it, Scott had full English. We got back to the cabin to a new towel animal a dog, yesterdays was a bunny. We went to the pool from 10.45-12.15 today. They were playing with their friends so we just sat and watched them while Scott had a few drinks. We went to the main dining room for lunch. Scarlett had cheeseburger, Scott had chicken satay skewers and chips me and Georgia had turkey sandwich It was quite nice. I do prefer the main dinning for lunch. After lunch we went to Brodies. Sat in our usual seats and played cards until it was time for the music quiz. Well we were awesome at the quiz today. All our songs that we grew up with like S club 7, steps, bewitched, five, and venga boys. Although we did have some arguments about the venga boys and five song. Scott didn’t want to write down what I said and lost points. We ended on 36/40 but it would have been 38. So close. Best one yet though. Kids even got one of the songs for us. We stayed there from 2-5.45. Quick change and down to the main dining room for 6.30 after taking some photos. this was the menu We had the Indonesian chicken salad which we liked last time. Hated this time. Really remind me never to get rid one again. We had pork which was a lot like gammon. The girls had steak which turned out quite nice. then puddings which I can’t remember lol They wanted to go straight to kids club as they hadn’t got all day. They only went from 8-9.15. We went and got the Christmas bauble that we had ordered and we also did some packing as we had done some washing earlier as we had run out of clean clothes. After we picked them up we went to bed early as we knew we’d be up early in the morning. Photoshop £31.00 Discount -£2.33 Punk ipa £5.55 Punk ipa £5.55 Lemonade £2.75 Discount -£1.04 Punk ipa £5.55 Punk ipa £5.55 Discount -£0.83 Punk ipa £5.55 Discount -£0.42 Punk ipa £5.55 Discount -£0.42 Punk ipa £5.55 Discount -£0.42 £67.14 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 14 Author #9 Share Posted July 14 Zeebrugge Georgias birthday today and the plan is for Bruges. We got up and showered. Scott fetched some muffins and pastries from the buffet one deck up. By 7.15 we were on the coach ready to get to blankenburge and we made it there and onto the train for 7.52. We were in Bruge station for 8.20. We walked from Bruge to the town centre trying to look for toilets. Only one I could find was in McDonald’s which wasn’t even open, as the one at the train station where we went last time was under construction. We got to where the horse and carriage was at around 9am which was when they started. We had a lovely ride around Bruge for 60€. It was something we all had said last time we wanted to do and didn’t manage to. Georgia was impressed as it was on her birthday. Did I mention it’s her birthday as she is telling everyone she meets. So the Christmas market was due to open at 11am. We went trolling the chocolate shops. I wanted some coffee creme ones. First chocolate shop up the Main Street and we got a home made snickers, some Christmas chocolates, Georgia got a happy birthday chocolate slab and they got some sweets to share. Although we were all having a good laugh at the chocolate naughty parts again. Still always want to buy the “big mister” one. So funny. We carried on up the road to the usual waffle place, we went to the top where they were setting up for a concert and I went in those outside loos that I always wonder if I’m going to get stuck but we had enough change. Chez Alberts opened at 10 so for second breakfast we had waffles with chocolate and strawberries. Georgia had cream as she did tell the woman that its her birthday. Did you know it’s her birthday? After that we carried on the quest for coffee cremes, Scott was getting annoyed at the amount of chocolate shops I was going in. We bought some cool flavoured macaroons like Oreo and snickers. Then I had to buy a chocolate marshmallow so that I could use the toilet in one of the corner shops. By this time the Christmas market had opened. Well it wasn’t great. We walked around it, wish we hadn’t have bothered and decided to call it a day. My back was killing and we had done what we wanted to do. We walked back to the train and got on around 12ish. We did have a look at the market in blankenburge too, there wasn’t much but an ice rink and there was no chance me or Scott could go on with our backs like this and the kids didn’t want to go on it without us. We got the shuttle bus back, got back on board and was in the pool for 1pm. We had some pizza from the pool side and the girls played for a while. Birthday towel animal Scarlett was being a bit stroppy. Scott says I shouldn’t let her go to kids club but we did anyway as I didn’t want her being mardy all afternoon so we took her there at 2.30. So me, Georgia and Scott went to Brodies instead. We spent a long time in the pub as usual doing our music quiz and drinking. The bar man fetched Georgia a free drink and a little note that said happy birthday. Because of course she had told everyone it’s her birthday. The one thing with this cruise is we found the juke box. Scott said he had always known but I didnt and the kids had great fun all week. I went and got Scarlett as they wanted to stay in brodies a while longer. We left about 5.30. We had booked the beach house for 6pm but Georgia really wanted to do the karaoke. So I managed to get it changed till 7.30 instead, we didn’t tell Georgia this though until we got down there at 6. We got a good view of the stage and she was busy picking her songs. Scarlett said she also wanted to try, I was really proud of her as this is way out of her comfort zone. Georgia loves the lime light but Scarlett shy away from that. It seemed that after Georgia and Scarlett had done their first song that no one else wanted to go so the girls went again and again. We were laughing our head off. I might have cried a little being so proud. Good mix of old rock, new rock and other. Well someone must have gotten bored of my girls stealing the show and went and did one. Either they were a professional singer or just thought they were the way they did the stage. They were about my age. Good singing though. Didn’t even need the words on the screen. Then my girls went again. Then a teen went that must be in drama school as she sung a song from wicked. It was quite good but obviously I am bias. Although this did set off some singing in our house for the black velvet and defying gravity. Up to the beach house and we had the chicken wings and the pork rind. Then for mains me and Scott had the lava steak girls had chicken apple pie for after for everyone but Georgia who had chocolate cake with happy birthday written on it as she had told the waiters about her birthday, just like she did a man in the lifts. Off to bed and rest of the packing. It’s all over now. Sleep for 10. chocolate haul Ice cream £3.00 Ice cream £3.00 Discount -£0.45 Ice cream £3.00 Discount -£0.23 Punk ipa £5.55 Punk ipa £5.55 Tango £2.70 Discount -£1.04 Punk ipa £5.55 Discount -£0.42 Punk ipa £5.55 Discount -£0.42 Punk ipa £5.55 Discount -£0.42 Punk ipa £5.55 Discount -£0.42 Punk ipa £5.55 Discount -£0.42 Steak £7.00 Steak £7.00 Discount -£1.05 £59.68 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 14 Author #10 Share Posted July 14 We were up at 6.30am. We got some muffins from the buffet while we were finishing dressing. We had decided to get off ourselves. We got there 15mins before it said it would open and it was already open, with about 1000 people infront of us. It took ages for us to get out, about 45-1hour just to get off the ship to the car. It was ridiculous. Scott drove most of the way home with me doing the last bit from trowell after I had gotten some milk. We got home, did three loads of washing, forgot to get the moussaka out that we had made out of the freezer and as the back up we ended up with pizza instead. Even though we didn’t do much we enjoyed getting dressed in Christmas jumpers. I enjoyed our cruise. We spent £430 on €500 and still have €340 when we came home to roll over for next time but it’s already budgeted for now. Then £170 onboard as we already had some credit. Not long now till Christmas. £1878.00 P&o Iona Northern Europe including parking £430.00 Euros (500€) £170.00 Spends (£360 obc) £70.00 Petrol £2548.00 Next cruise will be the Caribbean on Arvia! 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 14 Author #11 Share Posted July 14 1 hour ago, Ardennais said: Really enjoying reading your posts! Shame that you found the buffet lacking! We thought that the buffet on Iona was good in April, much better than Caribbean Princess last week. Your girls are lovely. oh no. We are on the Caribbean princess next month. I think maybe we are picky as we don’t like the buffet on msc or royal Caribbean and even though I don’t rate the buffet on P&O I do still prefer it to other cruise lines. I just don’t like the lay out or removal of trays Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ardennais Posted July 15 #12 Share Posted July 15 1 hour ago, Vampiress88 said: oh no. We are on the Caribbean princess next month. I think maybe we are picky as we don’t like the buffet on msc or royal Caribbean and even though I don’t rate the buffet on P&O I do still prefer it to other cruise lines. I just don’t like the lay out or removal of trays No trays on Caribbean Princess either! I’ve posted some comments about our cruise in the general thread. Hope you don’t get our creaky cabin!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waju Posted July 15 #13 Share Posted July 15 That is a fabulous review and I really enjoyed reading it with my coffee this morning! I think you must be fairly close to us as you mentioned being 'mardy' and Trowell services which is just up the road. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 15 Author #14 Share Posted July 15 8 minutes ago, Waju said: That is a fabulous review and I really enjoyed reading it with my coffee this morning! I think you must be fairly close to us as you mentioned being 'mardy' and Trowell services which is just up the road. thought everyone used mardy? 😂 im about 45mins north of trowell services. originally from the same town/village as kalos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplesea Posted July 15 #15 Share Posted July 15 22 minutes ago, Vampiress88 said: thought everyone used mardy? 😂 im about 45mins north of trowell services. originally from the same town/village as kalos Down here they use the word teasy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waju Posted July 15 #16 Share Posted July 15 1 hour ago, Vampiress88 said: thought everyone used mardy? 😂 im about 45mins north of trowell services. originally from the same town/village as kalos You might be right then but I always thought mardy was a Midlands thing 😊 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slugsta Posted July 15 #17 Share Posted July 15 I was born and bred in the Midlands and have always used 'mardy'. Don't hear it much down here on the south coast though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Eglesbrech Posted July 15 #18 Share Posted July 15 22 hours ago, Vampiress88 said: Right at the top of the mall and chargable but cool toilets. It spun around and cleaned the seat Been in the same toilets. I went into the “family” toilet in the ladies by mistake. They have an adult toilet and a mini one for toddlers to use along with mum. The mini toilet had a daisy shaped toilet seat, very cute. I don’t mind paying 50 cents for a clean loo (and you got it back if you purchased anything in the mall). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Eglesbrech Posted July 15 #19 Share Posted July 15 Great review, looks like you all had fun. It’s funny seeing the girls grow up, tell them I love their very pretty frocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vampiress88 Posted July 15 Author #20 Share Posted July 15 2 hours ago, Eglesbrech said: Great review, looks like you all had fun. It’s funny seeing the girls grow up, tell them I love their very pretty frocks. they said thank you. They do love to dress up on the cruises. They have grown up in these past five years since we started all our abroad holidays. I wish we had been able to do more but unfortunately Covid spoilt a lot of our plans so we are making up for that now 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Sarah1974 Posted July 17 #21 Share Posted July 17 @Vampiress88 - thanks for your great review and fab pictures Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare P&O SUE Posted July 18 #22 Share Posted July 18 Another entertaining read thanks Vamps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devon born and bred Posted July 18 #23 Share Posted July 18 On 7/15/2024 at 9:23 PM, Vampiress88 said: they said thank you. They do love to dress up on the cruises. They have grown up in these past five years since we started all our abroad holidays. I wish we had been able to do more but unfortunately Covid spoilt a lot of our plans so we are making up for that now Your girls are very lucky making so many memories over lots of holidays. How do you find reasonable prices during school holidays which always seem more expensive than during term time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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