Sanjam cruisers

Clodia

I would suggest that you stop cruising with P&O and try the 6* lines as they may well fulfill your cruising requirements better than P&O.

I will also be reaching Caribbean tier level on my next P&O cruise and to be honest I could not give a toss about boarding times I will board the ship when I am permitted to, I am on the ship for two weeks where does a couple of hours either way enter into the big scheme of things.

I hope in what ever line of business/profession you were in you you never made a mistake or gave out the wrong information, it must be great to be perfect.

Happy cruising to you on what ever ship you select as long as it is not the one I am on.

Hi Prish

Quite sure you will enjoy Glengoyne, just for your info there is a very nice Pub/Restaurant just along the road from the Distillary it is called the "Beachtree"

I would recommend it for a nice lunch or snack prior to returning to the ship.

Do enjoy your visit to Scotland.

Prish

Pitlochry has Edradour Distillary but it is at least a two hour drive depending on traffic. The A9 Road is very busy during the summer months and is prone to road accidents due to the large amount of tourist traffic personally I would not consider it.

Glengoyne is a very nice Distillary in a beautiful country setting and the tour takes some time(there are different tours you can do at this Distillary), and is well within reasonable travel time from Greenock as is Auchentoshan which is in the town of Clydebank.

I also mention Deanston Distillary which is in the village of Doune which is near Stirling and is again with easy travel time/Distance, Google all three and you will get all the info you require.

Hi Lesley

I can recommend Alternative Cruise Parking(ACP), they are situated in the Marchwood Area on the opposite side of the water fron the cruise terminals.

They have excellent secure parking at a very reasonable price, and their shuttle service is very efficient, the staff are very friendly.

Have a great cruise.

Hi Prish

Here are the contact details for my friends company.

07786077996, email:- andrewbhm@aol.com.

I am quite sure he will get you a tour to your liking.

Have a great cruise and I hope you enjoy your visit to Scotland.

Hi Prish

There are two distilleries within reasonably travelling distance of Greenock Auchentoshan and Glengoyne, there is one other Deanston, but this is by prior appointment only.

I know a a small tour company which may be suitable to you, I will get their contact address and let you know within a few hours.

I am a retired Police Officer and the company I wish to put you in touch with is owned by a former Colleague.

Hi Macaroni

Both areas in which theses tours take place are not particularly hilly but there will be some twisty roads, but I would imagine the tour vehicle will be travelling at a moderate speed to allow the passengers to enjoy the scenery.

Just try to get a good seat neither at the rear of the vehicle or above the wheels.

A bottle of "Peller" in the Glasshouse on Azura is a must for myself and the Boss whilst cruising in the Caribbean.

Hi djw40

We have occupied E725 on the starboard side no problem with noise other than in the mornings when docking, we got a little noise and vibration from the aft thrusters nothing to write home about .

Have a great cruise.

Hi Cowboykidd

I answered the same question last year, you will not get back to the ship for an 0200 sailing using the train.

Depending in how many are in your party you may be cheaper hiring a private car to take you there and back.

This is a local company that may be worth trying.

http://www.executive-travel-scotland.com.

I do hope you enjoy your visit to Scotland.

Insanemagnet

Where did I say I made enquiries re the renumeration of the staff or are you just guessing I made such an enquiery.

What I said was I had a discussion with a member of staff regarding his promotion oppertunities.

Insane Magnet

My information comes from speaking to a bar manager who was our wine waiter on our first cruise with P&O and whom we have met on a number of cruises while he moved up the ladder of promotion.

The movement between bars is carried out to give the staff experience of working in the various bars and it also gives all staff a chance to work in the busy bars where they make more in drink sales and then the may be moved to one of the quieter bars for a period of time.

You may also have noticed if you go to the bar yourself and order from the barman he will invariably assign your order to a waiter.

Perhaps if you took time to get to know some of the staff and spoke to them you might be able to pass some useful information on this forum .

Hi davecttr

I was aware that the bar waiters get a commission on their drink sales, perhaps that is why they are always asking if you require a drink. They also get moved between bars on a regular basis to even out the commission they receive.

Having read this thread with great interest I am not really interested what P&O pay their cabin and dining venue staff.

Having been on numerous P&O cruises and speaking to numerous members of the crew many of whom have worked for P&O for many years the company must pay a rate of pay which is attractive to entice people to work for them.

As we now always take freedom dining after the first few night we identify a table with waiters we like and we normally manage to get that table or a table within their sector for the rest of the cruise. If their service is to our liking we will discreetly tip them something extra on the last night.

Throughout my working life no one ever tipped me, but I appreciate it is part of cruising life and I just regard it as part of the cost, at least P&O do not charge 18% on our drinks etc.

I have thoughrly enjoyed all my cruises and hope to enjoy many more in life to come, just remember life is short enjoy and saviour every minute because some people for numerous reasons are not as fortunate remember there are no pockets in a shroud.

As others have said the mighty US Dollar bills no bigger than twenty's and some Euros if going to French Islands IE: Martinque, Guadaloupe.

Buy here pruor to cruise,exchange rate on ship very poor.

Have a great cruise Caribbean is brilliant.

Indianabones

Please tell your other half to wear his Military Mess Dress with pride.

On a couple of cruises we have been on seen a couple of our fellow passengers in RAF Mess Dress , very smart.

I always take my Scottish formal wear with me and have numerous pleasant comments from fellow passengers.

Having experienced both styles of dining since cruising with P&O in 2005 our vote goes for Freedom Dining.

Our reasons for doing so are mainly flexibility of dining times.

You do not have to be at a different table every evening and you do

not have to have different dining companions every evening.

As I am slightly hard of hearing we now always request a table either in one of the alcove areas or near a wall this is nearly always met.

If we get a table where we get on with the waiters we then request a table in their sector again this request is nearly always met even if we have a slight wait.

On occasion during freedom dining we have met fellow diners whom we would wish to dine with again, we just arrange to meet up at a time that suits all and we then meet at the dining room and get allocated a table.

Freedom dining is exactly as described Freedom and I would heartily recommend it.

In all our years of cruising prior to the introduction of Freedom Dining I only had to request a change of table on one ocassion due to the manner one of our fellow diners spoke to the waiters, on one cruise after Freedom Dining we had a very bad experience sitting at a table with an arrogant/ignorant Welsh Nationalist whose behaviour was abominable and very embarrising to all at the table.

Had he spoken to my wife the way he spoke to a fellow table guest's wife I would have requested he join me on deck to explain himself.

Hi Jasperado

Good choice we are booked on that cruise also, flying from Glasgow, unfortunately we have pay the £100.00 supplement as we only stay a 10 minute drive from the airport. Might meet you onboard, you never know.

We have just recently returned from our 14th cruise on a P&O ship we have never been ill on board despite being on Azura two years ago when we had a Norivirus outbreak, I have never had any concerns about hygiene standards aboard ship.

You only have to note how many hospitals in The UK have Nirovirus outbreaks to put things into perspective.

With regards to the Oceana if you read the actual report most of the defects are on the engineering side regarding non return valves etc, these failures may well be due to not meeting US standards rather than international standards.

A few years ago while aboard Arcadia they had a massive preparation for an American CDC inspection as they were calling at an American port after we disembarked.

How often are very well known restaurants at home inspected by the authorities, it may be quite surprising.

Before we cast stones let us all inspect our own kitchens and bathrooms you may well give yourself a surprise, no you are not charging guests but you are still entertaining guests to your house and they have every right to expect the highest standards of hygiene.

Just to add my tuppence worth I cruise with P&O because I like it, I have no wish to cruise on a ship where every announcement has to be made in numerous languages I had enough of that in Spanish hotels.

If I want to experience American "Wow Factors" I have a holiday in The USA, there are cruise lines out there to suit every taste/budget why do we have to have people demanding to have cruise lines change their standards to suit them.

I have no doubt I may give Princess a try in the future but I will never cruise on RCI or Carnival as their product has no attraction whatsoever, I have tried FO but would not rush back, MCS, NCL,Costa have no attraction whatsoever.

Horses for courses, we all look for different things while cruising that is why so many cruise lines are out there, would be a very boring world if we all liked the same thing.

Jasperado

The return flights leave Barbados starting approx 1600hrs Barbados time and arrive back in the UK at approx 0500hrs UK time onwards, again the Glasgow flight normally leaves Barbados approx1830hrs and arrives in Glasgow approx 0700hrs and is normally the last flight to leave Barbados.

Therefore you should make your ferry ok.

Jasper ado

All flights out to the Caribbean for P&O cruises leave their respective UK airports in the morning to ensure a mid to late afternoon arrival in Barbados.

We always take the flight from Glasgow which normally departs Glasgow at approx 1100 hours and is normally one of the last flights to leave the UK, Gatwick flights always leave earlier than us.

I would suggest that in an emergency situation the biggest threat to ones own safety is other passengers, the crew will be well trained in their duties the passengers aren't we all have all been on aircraft where the crew ask all passengers to remain seated until the aircraft is stationary on stand what happens said passengers are up on their feet opening overhead lockers and on their phones before the aircraft is anywhere near their stand.

Same on a ship the emergency could take place at any time with passengers all over the ship.

The advice given at the drill is exactly that "Advice" every emergency situation is different, follow crew instructions where possible but remember at the end of the day we are responsible for our own safety.

The BA crash at Las Vegas last year remember all the passengers evacuating the aircraft with their hand luggage they were the irresponsible ones, if such a passenger got in my way in that situation they would be trampled over my life and that of my wife is far more important than baggage.

I was a member of the emergency services for over thirty years and it amazed me how selfish some people could be in an emergency situation.

Peteukmcr

"I detect from your tone of post that anyone who does not dress to your standards then dresses 'slovenly'. How rude."

Ref the above post I did not say in my own post that anyone who did not dress to my standard was slovenly.If you think that was what I inferred that's up to you.

You stated in an earlier post that you prefer a related dress code.

What I did say in my post was I and many others who enjoy the P&O dress code are fed up to the back teeth of people like you who expect P&O to relax the dress code to accommodate you because you prefer not to wear formal dress.As I said there are plenty of other cruise lines out there with a relaxed or no dress code. I prefer not to cruise with those lines, I don't book a cruise with them and then start complaining they don't do "Formal"

Well it also works the other way why should P&O chance their dress code to suit you.

My wife cruised on numerous occasions as a teenager, we first cruised as a couple on an old rust bucket called "Edinburgh Castle" ex -Eugenio C in 1998 from Greenock to Iberia and the Canaries and despite numerous minor problems we thoughrly enjoyed it.

We did not have a further chance to cruise until 2005 when we did a fly/cruise to the Caribbean with P&O on Arcadia and I caught the bug big time we have now cruised every year since with P&O to the Caribbean including a 24 night Soton/Caribbean/Soton and one with Fred O to the Canaries different but enjoyable.

While we have noticed small cutbacks with P&O we have never had a bad cruise all have been most enjoyable hence the reason we keep booking, the P&O product is more than acceptable to us.We are booked for Azura in January 2017.

We also enjoy our land based holidays we still take this May we are heading for Varadero in Cuba with a couple of days in Havana.