Annb
Expert
Wonderful! I'm actually able to get online again. I came through at 0300 today intending to get online and wish everyone a happy new year only to find Neil already working on the laptop to install a new operating system so that I can use the family history websites. He'd been working on it since 0200 and has only just finished getting us this far at 0600. He's given up for now and gone back to bed. For some reason, this system won't recognise my backup disk so I can't get into anything that I was working on. All my passwords are on a file on that backup disk. I can use is this one and that's because I can remember the address and my password. He'll come back to it and see what he can do later on, but it has been a very difficult job for some reason - maybe because this laptop is just too old. Old age does have its drawbacks.
My brother and SIL had a pretty rotten time on their Christmas cruise. There was a huge delay to get on board which turned out to be due to a much needed clean of the ship after there were several cases of Norovirus. They were assured, eventually, that there was no further danger from the virus and that the cabins could be occupied. So they settled and the ship sailed. They were not impressed by the condition of the ship (P&O one - can't remember the name but it is a well known one) or the staffing levels, or the service offered. Maybe the low staffing levels were because some of them were off with the virus. At the ports they visited they found that where previously transport had been laid on to get passengers from the docks to the towns, this was not the case and they were expected to walk fairly long distances - not an option in their case, so they stayed on board at most stopping off points. On the way back there was another outbreak of Norovirus but they always have been scrupulous in their hygiene and seemed to get by OK, until the 8th of the 10 days when my brother went down with it. So they were confined to their cabin - at least it had a balcony and large window so they didn't feel too confined. Once back in Southampton they found that their luggage was taken to a picking up point, some distance away from the dockside and they had to walk to get to it (this is an 81 year old man, 8 months after major heart surgery and only just recovered from the virus and a 79 year old woman with arthritic knees). Once they picked up their cases, they had to push them on a trolley another long distance to their car park. By the time they got home, SIL had started to develop the virus. She is apparently very ill with it. My brother says that the standard of hygiene and cleaning of cabins was perfunctory at best, there were stains on their carpet, cabins were very speedily cleaned and beds made up with no attempt to clean the bathroom or surfaces in the cabin, food was nothing great and there were lots of very noisy young, single folk when these cruises were, in the past, enjoyed by elderly, quiet couples. They think, perhaps, that their cruising days are over, unless they can get another of the very expensive ones that bring them up to the Hebrides so they can visit me for a few hours. Such a disappointment for them.
Anyway, I only logged on to wish you all a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR and hope that everyone has a 2024 better than 2023.
My brother and SIL had a pretty rotten time on their Christmas cruise. There was a huge delay to get on board which turned out to be due to a much needed clean of the ship after there were several cases of Norovirus. They were assured, eventually, that there was no further danger from the virus and that the cabins could be occupied. So they settled and the ship sailed. They were not impressed by the condition of the ship (P&O one - can't remember the name but it is a well known one) or the staffing levels, or the service offered. Maybe the low staffing levels were because some of them were off with the virus. At the ports they visited they found that where previously transport had been laid on to get passengers from the docks to the towns, this was not the case and they were expected to walk fairly long distances - not an option in their case, so they stayed on board at most stopping off points. On the way back there was another outbreak of Norovirus but they always have been scrupulous in their hygiene and seemed to get by OK, until the 8th of the 10 days when my brother went down with it. So they were confined to their cabin - at least it had a balcony and large window so they didn't feel too confined. Once back in Southampton they found that their luggage was taken to a picking up point, some distance away from the dockside and they had to walk to get to it (this is an 81 year old man, 8 months after major heart surgery and only just recovered from the virus and a 79 year old woman with arthritic knees). Once they picked up their cases, they had to push them on a trolley another long distance to their car park. By the time they got home, SIL had started to develop the virus. She is apparently very ill with it. My brother says that the standard of hygiene and cleaning of cabins was perfunctory at best, there were stains on their carpet, cabins were very speedily cleaned and beds made up with no attempt to clean the bathroom or surfaces in the cabin, food was nothing great and there were lots of very noisy young, single folk when these cruises were, in the past, enjoyed by elderly, quiet couples. They think, perhaps, that their cruising days are over, unless they can get another of the very expensive ones that bring them up to the Hebrides so they can visit me for a few hours. Such a disappointment for them.
Anyway, I only logged on to wish you all a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR and hope that everyone has a 2024 better than 2023.