Zombatar

We are booked on Azura in Feb 25 and we have cabin D509 which looks okay to me, we are looking forward to it.

We are thinking of going on Arvia in summer 25. We have sailed on many of the older P&O ships but never the brand new ones. I believe that some balcony cabins are to be avoided as other passengers walk past the end of your balcony. Can anybody confirm if this is correct and if so which cabins should be avoided.

Just thought i would ask if anybody has recent knowledge of Arcadia. She was the first ship that I went on , back in 2007. Back then as a nearly 60 year old I was one of the younger passengers. Jenny and I have avoided cruising since Covid but feel the time is right to get back into it. There is a nice Greek Islands cruise in 2025 on Arcadia so I thought I would ask on here to get any feedback, good or bad, about Arcadia now.

Peter

Been cruising since 2007 and have bought quite a few pictures from the ships photographers many of which are displayed around our home. I have never thought of the photographers as a nuisance and make a point of chatting to them when I can. Mostly they are pretty nice people.

Wow, thanks for the info. We have never sailed on princess but have booked sky princess in the autumn of next year. Looks like we shall cancel now even though it means loosing our deposit as it sounds as though they have gone the same way as P&O and cheapened everything. Oh well back to the expensive lines!!

As all of Britannia's cruises in March are to the Caribbean it would be a good idea to include US dollars for shore excursions. P&O price everything in UK pounds but no cash changes hands until the end of the cruise if you choose to pay by cash, we don't as we always put in on a card.

Hope this helps and enjoy your cruise.

Peter

Back in 2016 we went on Adonia and it was great. So great that we booked another cruise for the next year.

Rumours started to spread that P&O were going to sell her and I mentioned that on here. I was immediately slapped down being told not be ridiculous as P&O wouldn't take bookings on a ship they were going to sell. Needless to say they cancelled all the bookings with little or no apology.

Adonia now sails for Azamara. I wouldn't be the least surprised that Arcadia is to be sold and I hope that all those already booked are not as surprised and hurt as we were.

Peter

We are booked on Britannia Feb next year select, deluxe balcony and premium flights but that is coming out at £7490 for two. We booked that last April. Given that it looks likely that Covid restrictions will still be around then we are probably going to cancel anyway.

Peter

Book through a TA and see what they can find. We booked our Feb 2023 cruise through a TA and got a nice cabin but they were in very short supply and that was the beginning of this year so perhaps there are truly very few cabins left.

I see on FB a report that the MDR evening menu on Britannia for a seven day cruise was the same for every day. A picture of the menu was displayed but I am not convinced it was authentic. Can anyone on here shed any light on this?

Peter

This is exactly why we pushed our Feb 22 Azura cruise back 12 months. Hopefully the cruising world we be a little more normal by then!!

Peter and Jenny

Reading all this convinces me that we have done the right thing in pushing back our two week Caribbean to Feb 23!!

Peter

Thanks for all your comments guys, its been both interesting and informative. I never for one moment meant to infer that out TA was responsible for the drinks package etc but that the deal we had involved payment of a much smaller deposit than Princess wanted and given the number of holidays and cruises we have to pay for over the next couple of years meant we didn't have to tie up a big chunk of capital just yet!!

Peter and Jenny 

Jenny and I have cruised with a variety of cruise lines but never with Princess. We have just booked a 12 night cruise on Sky Princess at the end of October 2023 going round trip from Southampton to the Canaries. We have booked a club class mini suite which looks quite nice and got a good deal from out TA that includes drinks, wifi and crew tips. Most of our cruising has been done with P&O but we have been with several other lines as well. 

We wondered if anybody on here could tell us about Sky Princess; what she is like for food entertainment etc; how does she handle high seas (the Bay of Biscay at the end of October can be a little on the rough side!!) 

Most of our cruising has been done with P&O but we have been with several other lines as well. 

Anything that could be passed on to us, good or bad, would be highly appreciated.

Peter and Jenny

We have always travelled PE on long haul because it means I get a seat that allows my long legs to be comfortable. I put up with it for short haul but anything over 4 hours is just really uncomfortable. In addition the service is better. We are booked for Feb 23 on Britannia Caribbean but I don't think we can book the seats until P&O have decided on the flights. There is no additional cost to pick your seat once you have payed for the PE seats

Peter and Jenny

Don't worry about it, ours is just the same. We have had an e:mail from our TA with, among various attachments, a booking confirmation from P&O with the cabin number, the on board spend amount, the full price, the amount paid so far and the balance to pay as well as the date it must be paid by. As we are not travelling until Feb '23 its nice to see all that detail but that level of detail simply is not there on the personaliser. Don't worry just count the days to when you join the ship and keep checking the temperature in Barbados!!

Peter and Jenny

Can anybody tell me why I have been blocked from reading reply's to a topic I stated just the other day about staycation cruise restrictions imposed by the government.  Apparently I do not have permission to view my own content!! Before anybody asks , yes I was logged as myself.

I would value your answers.

Peter

When I started cruising I was single and mostly took ships tours and found they were very good. As others have said there is always a guide who can tell you all about where you are going to, its history where to shop etc.

I have been to the Caribbean quite a lot and love it. Again I would take the ships tours although it is perfectly safe to go off on your own with the exception of Jamaica but P&O tend not to go there.

The problem when cruising starts again to the Caribbean is that, to the best of my knowledge, you will only be allowed to go on ship arranged tours and will not be allowed off ship on your own. Add to this if you are going to travel this year or the start of next year the the volcano on St Vincent is causing chaos at the the moment with not only St Vincent affected but also Barbados and some of the other islands  all of whom are being polluted with ash.

Due to this we have postponed our cruise on Azura in January and are trying to book on Britannia for Feb 23.

I am sure you will love cruising the Islands, I hope it all works out for you.

Peter

We are off on Azura in Jan next year and looking at the itinerary for Arvia we quite fancy her for Jan 23 especially the stop  in La Romana. Just have to wait and see how much it will all cost but if it is similar prices to Azura we will jump at the chance I think.

Peter and Jenny

We have flown both the day of the cruise and the day before. Basically if you fly in the day before you ship out on the day the ship arrives back at the port if you fly in on the day then you get an extra day in port at the end. Next January we are flying in the day before.

We have always flown to Barbados but that is because we like Bridgetown a lot and it as easy walk from the port into Bridgetown (assuming P&O are going to allow you to go out on your own. By 2023 I would have expected that to be the case)

Azura has bigger balconies and cabins than Britannia but Britannia is more up to date with the Lime light club etc.

Hope this helps,

Peter and Jenny

Just a thought, what happens with fly cruises? If they wait until check in to look at policies I cant see that happening at the airport. So next January we fly to Barbados, get to the port, they check our policy and say we don't meet their requirements, will we be expected to fly home at our own expense? 

16 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

We are 82 and 74 - 2 pre-existing conditions each.  Staysure quote was £606 for 15 months.

We get our insurance through the bank as do many others. We are 73 and 68 each of us also have a couple of pre-existing conditions and we paid £490 for our renewal this year(£20 per month for account charge and £250 for pre-existing conditions (and me being over 70!!). That's multi trip, world wide and covers all the requirements of P&O. We also get mobile phone insurance and car breakdown cover.

Not bad value for money me thinks!!

Peter and Jenny

14 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Thank you Jane.

 

that Saga cruise, even if you put all those extras in, it's still mega expensive.  It depends on what you want.  I don't want a chauffeur, or specialty restuarants.  Grats are gone on P&O.  We pay around £80 per night approx for our cruises as we book early.  Nothing would make me pay over £200 per night.

 

Our cruise in October was £1350 for 19 nights. 

I agree Jean that's really expensive for what it is. We are off to the Caribbean on Azura in January and we are paying just under £3500 pp for 14 nights and that's in a superior deluxe balcony and includes premium seats on the flights. Saga isn't going to tempt us at those prices!!

Peter and Jenny

This is all getting a bit silly/political for me. I don't know why you all don't do what Jenny and I do. Go to Barbados or a Caribbean cruise. No problems with the weather and lots of of interesting places to visit and the locals are all quite pleasant and mostly never close the borders!!

Peter and Jenny

This Arcadia sail away from Soton in 2007. My first cruise.....