2torts

If it's a tax on day trippers only the ships might stay overnight which would be lovely from a tourists point of view but the mooring fees might be very high.

Happy New Year everyone.

Have a wonderful cruise & a happy New Year to you &.everyone on the forum.🎉

Jane McDonald's new series "cruising down under" also starts that week on Friday 4th.

The Portuguese police have said that they are English but live in another European country.

The cards are written, the presents are wrapped & the tree is decorated so all I have to do now is look forward to the big day. i would like to wish everyone on the forum & at Bolsover a merry Christmas & a happy, peaceful New Year.

Welcome aboard Andrew. From what we can remember we think you pay for drinks in economy & get 1 meal & 1 snack. Most Caribbean countries take USD but some ( like the French side of St Maarten ) take euros. Muster is usually late afternoon & there are often places offering free internet access on shore ( if in doubt just follow a crew member). Britannia is a beautiful ship & I hope you have a wonderful time. If we've remembered any of the above points wrongly we're sure another member will put us right.😀🛳

A lot of people seem to use trolleys when they don't really need to. Our suitcases have wheels so we just collect them, stick the hand luggage on top & wheel them out. We have seen trolleys used for just 1 or 2 cases that could be wheeled out. It's understandable if the passengers are infirm but otherwise unless you've got a lot of luggage or luggage without wheels don't use them. Perhaps the trolleys should have notices on them like on bumper cars saying no deliberate crashing into others.😀

I wonder if it was the same one? We were 2 days out of Southampton. Like Jenjen I thought they hunted over land at night. I didn't realise they flew so far from land.

That's one possibility David.😂

I quite enjoy reading the cruise log at the end of the cruise. I know the last couple of days are made up as the log is written before then but the one for the Oriana cruise that we have just returned from made interesting reading. The first day stated that after pre departure checks the lines were let go & she thrusted off her berth. The pilot departed & off we went. What it didn't mention was that after the lines were let go the captain came over the tannoy to say that we couldn't leave as we were waiting for an ambulance to collect a passenger who had been taken ill. Nor did it say that after 2 hours she came back on the tannoy to say that another passenger had been taken ill so we were going back to Southampton to dock at QE2 terminal. During the cruise people were remarking on the lack of wildlife to be seen except for the occasional seagull & we actually saw 1 dolphin however according to the log on the second sea day "Throughout the day Oriana was abuzz with wildlife, birds of prey such as OWLS" & " whales frolicking in the ocean waves". I must say I've never seen owls circling a cruise ship & wondered if anyone could enlighten me as to what sort of owls they might have been.🐳🐬🐦😄

I write yet another list a couple of weeks before we go starting with cancelling the paper delivery & ending with lock the front door. Everything gets crossed off as it gets done so hopefully we have no niggling doubts after we've set off. One new thing this time before we go next week is to put all the clocks & timers back an hour so we're on the right time when we get home. Enjoy your cruise Mitch 🛳😎

Definitely on my bucket list. Lovely pictures🛳

Fascinating photos.🛳

As I understand it if you board with say £100 OBC & 10% loyalty discount & on the first evening you buy an item for £100 that would be your OBC used up. The auto grats then kick in at say for simplicity £100 so you owe £100 as loyalty discount doesn't apply. However if you buy the item on the second day the auto grats have used up your OBC so it costs you £100 less £10 loyalty discount so you then owe £90. I think that's how it works.