lostboys

I travel with my husband and two sons, all sports mad and we have found that if it is on the schedule it is usually shown, in the cabins or in the bar. We were on Aurora this June, and we were due to do a quiz in the bar, but when we arrived there about 100 people watching the rugby. The entertainment guy asked for a show of hands of who wanted to do the quiz - he said that if more than 10 wanted to do the quiz he had to do it, nobody put their hands up, so the quiz was cancelled and everyone was happy.

I dont think there will be 100 people wanting to watch our sport but id be quite happy in a corner with a tv screen aslong as we got to see it lol

Out of interest, is your pickup time 7pm from the Scandic Hotel on your first night in Alta ?

Sorry took so long to answer, yes we are going on that trip. We did the cruise excursion last time & we were lucky because we had a good show of the lights & it wasnt too far away from the ship. This time we decided to do the independent trip to have a different experience & up our chanced of seeing the lights. We are wondering what time the shuttle buses finish taking passengers into Alta to get us to the hotel

No its the other side, the night they met us.

Thank you

The tourist information is close to the drop off point not in the coach park, if you google tourist information Tromso it will give a location map. You can by bus tickets for the local buses slightly cheaper than buying on the local bus,we took the local bus over to the cable car from town then after coming down from the cable car we caught the bus to the cathedral, then walked back over the bridge to town.

We docked in Alta on time.

For the pick up in town for the Glod trip theirs two entrances to the hotel pick up point, we choose the wrong entrance but they came through the hotel to find us.

It was a brilliant trip with Glod they take you to their headquarters for a lovely bowl of soup and tell you where they are going that night to find the lights, they know where the clear sky's are.

The night we went with them in March this year the temperature was minus 20 plus wind chill, they supply suitable clothing to anyone who needs it.

They took us back to the ship at the end of the trip at 1.30 am in the morning, brilliant trip, we also booked the ice hotel trip if its open.

Happy to post any other information if you need it, we learnt a few things which would be helpful for the next time we do the northern lights cruise, we thoroughly enjoyed it.

We have also booked the independent trip with Glod for the northern lights and are being picked up at the Scandic hotel. Is the entrance we need facing the cathedral near the big sign post?

Without a doubt book the northern lights excursion. Yes its quite pricey but the organisers are experts and if theres the slightest chance of their being an aurora they will find it. We were on Oriana in March last year and had a fantastic excursion where we seen and photographed the lights for the majority of our time there, an experience we will never forget. You might see the lights off the ship but the best chance is to get away from any light pollution and if you are travelling that far it would be silly not to give yourself the best possible chance of seeing them.

Thanks for the replies guys, we also thought there seemed to be little there of any consequence apart from the luggage labels. Maybe RCI have shares in the printer ink business!!

We have just printed out our guest ticket booklet and are not sure what one of the pages is for. It is on the page before the luggage labels and is basically a blank sheet divided in half by a dotted line and the RCI logo at the bottom of each half. Any ideas what we are meant to do with this?

We will soon be returning to the brilliant Independence of the Seas & as we have sailed on her previously we are now gold crown & anchor members. What little extras do we get with this?

Don't forget your cruise was on adult only ship, and was 'out of season' with a lot people on the ship who are not restricted to when & where they holiday with no work commitments. I know it was a Northern Lights cruise (hopefully you got to see them and it looked fantastic) but if I was on Oriana at this time of the year I'd expect it to a bit "floating old folks home" too!! I know the older people tend to prefer the adult only ships as there's no children but am hoping for a slightly better mix of ages when we go in June. We haven't been on an adult only ship since Arcadia about 10 years ago so we usually sail out of school holidays so there's not as many children on board. We have to factor in each others jobs when choosing a cruise so are a bit restricted to when we go.

As for the food, as other people have said & sorry if I've missed your answer, did you mention to it anyone on board? Am hoping food will be good when we go![/quote

For your sake i hope the age group varies when you are onboard because if not you wont be catered for. I appreciate that P&O cant please all the people all the time but they didnt put any activities on at all for anyone under 65. The only thing they put on was a disco where you could request songs but this didnt start until midnight. We paid good money for this cruise so id expect more than that, it was actually an insult. Thank God the destination was fantastic because we would have been very unhappy otherwise.

We have just returned from Oriana & if it had been our 1st cruise we would not have cruised again! We were on a northern lights cruise & the destination was amazing but the cruise itself was as dull as dishwater. It caters entirely for the older generation so if you are under 60 theres nothing on it to keep you amused. Just like you we could hear people saying what a great cruise it had been! The food choice was poor and average quality, people hogged seats in buffet, theatre & bars, and the most exciting thing to do was bingo! Weve sailed on RCI previously & were never bored or had a single issue onboard, P&O really need to up their game.

What did you want to do?

 

David.

Anything other than knitting, beginners line dancing, listening to music that was pre 1960, bingo, and back ache seminars!

Weve just returned from Oriana and it was the equivalent of a floating doctors surgery! I have never heard as much coughing & sneezing in one place. Personally i wouldnt cruise on her again, the ship itself can handle the sea ok but the age of the other passengers means theres nothing to do onboard unless you are 65+. Never again!

I am onboard Oriana as i write this. IMHO the ship itself is fine, she can certainly plough through choppy waters no problem. The major issue isnt the vessel itself, the major problem here is that its like being on a floating care home. 90% of the passengers are 70+ and everything is planned around them. There is nothing for younger cruisers to do which makes sea days very very dull. When P & O say its for adults only they fail to tell you that its only for adults who are into knitting or who fall asleep the moment they sit down! Too boring on here for me im afraid. P and O, more like OAP!

Thank you for the replies. Glad we can choose from the entire menu without incurring extra costs!

We are sailing soon on Oriana and have chosen freedom dining. Are all the items on the menu complimentary or do you have to pay for certain things?

Not that i am aware of......and if i were in your shoes I would be on to my TA straight away and ask them what they are playing at! Ask them why they have changed it without consulting you.

Sounds like someone else wanted your cabin and they have been naughty. Looking at the deck plan , I think you might be better off with the original.

But its up to you of course!

Thats exactly what we thought so we have contacted the TA to find out whats going on. To be honest weve had nothing but problems with this TA over 1 thing or another so next time we will book direct. Will let you know the excuse, erm i mean, reason!

We contacted P&O to find out about this change of cabin and they've told us its not an upgrade, the cabins are identical and its actually our travel agent who changed the cabin. Is it normal policy for them to do this rather than the cruise line?

Hi Lostboys - hope you enjoy your cruise on Oriana - would be pleased to hear what you think of her as we are on her in May. I have seen some very differring reviews but then i have seen that of other ships too....and always enjoyed my cruises!

I will let you know how it goes. To be honest, after reading a lot of negative reviews recently im not expecting much! We were on Aurora in May which im kind of expecting to be similar. We booked this cruise for the destination rather than the ship so aslong as it gets us there & back & we dont get any nasty stomach bugs i'll be quite happy!

Hi Jennywren thank you for your reply, your cabin was really close to the 1 we have been allocated. I dont think the theatre will bother us and as for the cabin creaking ive yet to stay in 1 that doesnt, infact i didnt sleep much the first time i cruised for that reason but im used to it now!

Hi Mysticalmother, thanks for your reply. We did tick the upgrade box and looking at where we are now situated it does seem to be a better location, aslong as we dont get noisy neighbours!

Hi john, thanks for the reply. I have checked the letters and they are the same so the rooms must be about the same. Hopefully being in the new location will be smoother than being near the top, so i will take it as an upgrade.

We are due to sail on Oriana soon & when we initially booked it we were given our cabin near the front of deck A. At some point, we dont know when, this has changed & we are now near the front of deck D. The cabin on deck A seemed in a good location so if they have upgraded us, does anyone know what is better about the new cabin or its location?

Our 1st cruise was through B of B where we had to out run a storm. We were on Indy & most of the time you would never know what was going on outside. The only time i noticed it was through night when i could hear all kinds of thuds & bangs which was waves hitting the side of the ship & to be honest i didnt get much sleep that night! On the way back it was like a mill pond, youve just got to ride the storm, so to speak, if its a bit on the wild side!

We were an Aurora earlier this year & Mick Miller was on in the theatre on 2 separate nights which we really enjoyed. We also had Leon de Ste Croix, the cruise director give a fantastic talk on the solar system. Our next cruise is a northern lights cruise so im hoping we have a good speaker on the subject for that one.

When does RCI announce its summer season plans with regards to naming the ships that will be sailing from Southampton in 2017?