Sealoveragain

The auto tip is applied at £3.95 pppd. You can have it removed or adjusted at the reception desk.

 

We've just returned from 23 nights on Ventura and we left ours on and paid extra to 2 people at the end because the service was so good all round.

 

People were queuing after we called at Malaga, where we had a big changeover, to remove tips. After chatting to some of the staff it appears that was expected for the transatlantic leg as a lot of pax joined who had purchased the cruise at low prices, and they don't tip at all in many cases.

 

I can see the autotip becoming a fixed charge.

 

I think it should be a fixed charge but then P&O probably wouldn't be able to fill their ships. They obviously prefer to sell at cheap, cheap prices and the staff are the ones to suffer. Even after poor service in the MDR on our last cruise, we never even considered removing the auto-tips.

[quote name='rickpo']The thread's starting to get better.

Rick.[/QUOTE]

I must say I've had a chuckle at a few of the posts :D

[quote name='Lovemychoos']Even though the website clearly says you can't?

:confused:[/QUOTE]

Ah! Don't you realise rules are only for 'other' people.:rolleyes:

[quote name='Turbofun']Amazing dogs aren't they. Not a cruise but our last visit to New Zealand, in Auckland baggage claim, little spaniel gives a positive response to my wife's hand baggage. Handler asks my wife why and wife remembers the bag had contained a banana, eaten back in Hong Kong a day or two before.
Spaniel gets a pat and treat from handler. Everyone's happy.[/QUOTE]

Unlike the chap we heard about who was (according to the staff member giving the excursion talks ) fined £1000 for having a banana in his rucksack. I doubt he was happy.

Personally I don't think shorts are suitable even on casual evenings. Of course with the ever larger ships things seem to be changing all the time. Not for the better in my opinion.:(

On the day we got off Oceana a couple of years ago there was a family with a sports bag which was bursting with fresh fruit, the watermelon almost rolled out. Yes it was a whole water melon, lord knows how they got it.

 

The future of cruising sadly.

 

Oh dear. I fear you're probably right.

If you listen to the excursion talks you will be advised as to which Ports you should NOT take food with you. There are quite a few. It's not something I have ever done nor would do. I have breakfast and wait until I return to the ship.

We had a call from a pcs a year ago and havent been contacted since. We are thinking of booking now, how do we get pcs?

Does being gold with cunard count towards penninsular club with p and o? Anyone know the answer?

 

Your Personal Cruise specialist would have given you a telephone number and extension number to call. If you can't find those numbers, I suppose you could always phone P&O and ask them.

I wore a shortish sparkly turquoise dress with matching shoes, hooped earrings and a tiara for the formal night and got some strange looks almost as soon as we entered the dining room.

 

Not sure why, the overall look was extremely tasteful and the missus thought I looked great!:D:p;)

 

That is so funny.:D Cheered me up on a miserable day.

Wow!

 

So, the outside cabin you had paid extra for, had a window that was dirty.

The bathroom was tatty.

The sink was stained with its surface rubbed off.

The cabin smelled of acetone.

The bathroom was flooded.

The toilet needed 3 visits from the plumber.

There was norovirus onboard.

Your OH caught it.

He needed medical attention.

You had a difficult journey home.

 

But you would do it all again?!

 

P&O must love customers like you!

 

I have to agree with you. That sounds like the cruise from hell to me and if people are prepared to put up with this, things are not going to improve.I'm not interested really in how good the entertainment is, but if my accommodation is dirty, and the plumbing unacceptable, I certainly wouldn't be happy. I loved the Oriana the first time we cruised on her, but our cruise this year has put me off this ship.

We did this same excursion in 2012. We decided on the P&O tour because we had been warned there could be huge queues for the gondolas on the Grand canal.The weather was fabulous the day we were there, but because it had been dreadful the day before, Venice was very quiet and we could have had our pick of the gondolas. St Mark's square was virtually empty. I doubt we would be so lucky again.

When I said I wore short cocktail dresses, I did of course mean knee length. I'm a little too old for mini skirts.:) and I wouldn't want to attract attention in that way.:eek:

I only ever wear either a short cocktail dress or separates. I've never felt out of place.:)

Im guessing you want some sun and the format of a regular cruise but just to throw a wild card in there is always Hebridean Island Cruises, if you want UK to UK, its certainly on our to do list at some point.

 

Yes, I was thinking more about the Mediterranean. I checked out Hebridean Island cruises though and although they do look quite good, we prefer a longer cruise. Never say never though.

Not many admittedly but we found one last year.

 

Thank you

 

Yes, I've found one which takes in the UK, Greenland and Iceland. I like the look of the suites and will bear that cruiseline in mind if we ever want a cruise in that area.

Would echo this view with Silversea

 

I've looked at Silversea and I'm pretty sure they don't do roundtrips from the UK. I didn't think Oceania did either but I'll check them out again.

Has P&O changed much? We have only been cruising since 2011 and like Selbourne we picked P&O because they do roundtrips from the UK. On our cruise this year, we noticed a real change. Our waiters were not as pleasant as we've been used to (though I think we were just very unlucky), and the scarcity of cabin stewards was most noticeable. There was no way that our cabin steward could do a good job with the amount of cabins he was expected to clean.

That was on the Oriana and we've since heard from friends that they felt the same as we did about the Oriana. Our next cruise is on the Aurora so I'm hoping it's just the way each ship is run and we will have a better experience. We intend trying another cruise company next just for comparison though with not wanting to fly we are limited for choice.

We will be doing the full world cruise on Arcadia in 2015 and are at the point of looking into visa requirements. USA and Australia are easy via internet but we would appreciate any help or advice from fellow cruisers. China and India are quite costly in view of the few hours we will be in port. India may be about to go for an internet application , does anyone have information. Thank you for any help. Dave and Jess.

 

We did the World cruise in 2013 on the Aurora. The Indian visa can be a bit of a pain to fill out. We used CIBT as recommended by P&O. I filled out the forms for both China and India online. Any questions I had were answered promptly by CIBT and then sent them off with our passports to the CIBT who did the rest. It isn't the cheapest way but was the easiest for us. I believe if you live within easy reach of the embassies and do it all yourself it works out a lot cheaper. Perhaps someone else can help you with that.

Thought I'd better check. The Dress Codes are now called, Black tie, Smart Jacket required and Evening casual. Since they changed them I seem to get them mixed up with the old dress codes.:) but as I've said the only night a jacket isn't required is the casual night.

Dress Code

There are 3 dress codes on the Oriana, unless things have changed since April.Your husband can wear a dark suit instead of a tux on Formal evenings. On Jacket required evenings which is perhaps what you mean by smart nights, he will, as is said require a jacket. The only evening men do not require a jacket is on smart casual evenings.

No, I've never noticed a judder or vibration of any kind on the Aurora, only on the Oriana.

There's a lot of despair on this forum today;)

I only replied because Presto 2 was confused. QUOTE]

 

I'm not confused!

 

And yet you posted the smiley for confused.:confused:

We have only ever used a debit card and have never had a problem.

I think we all get the message by now that you don't like big ships. Saying it over and over again won't change anyone's mind.

 

I see you edited your post. Wise move the original was a little rude I thought. I only replied because Presto 2 was confused. I didn't intend changing anyone's mind it was just my own personal point of view. I believe I'm entitled to have one.