flapjack62

I also logged in from the email and arrived at the same page as emam.

Interestingly, I have never encountered any issues when logging into my cruise personaliser, both booking references are working for me. 

7 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

You get extra OBC using the Blue Light Card but you have to book direct with P&O, Military benefits can only be applied to a booking if you are registered with Defence discount service and have a Defence Privilege Card. If you look on P&Os website under FAQ under Miscellaneous it gives a list of personnel applicable and does not include any emergency service or NHS worker. They are 2 different schemes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Majortom10 thank you  :) 

4 hours ago, majortom10 said:

They might get offers through Blue Light Card but Carnival offer a Military benefit on all their ships including P&O but this does not include Fire, Police and NHS workers you are talking about a different credit. You also for the Blue Light Card have to book direct with P&O and not through a TA.

I am not sure what you mean by Military Benefit in that case, I have always received additional obc equivalent to that received in respect of the Defence card, purely because I work for the NHS. I am now a bit confused by the difference? 

3 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

I don't understand why the forces get a discount.  If they do, why don't the Fire Service, the Police, the Ambulance service etc.?

Fire, Police and NHS workers can apply for the Blue Light card which will give the same level of obc as the Military Defence card.

I take one generic clutch bag for formal evenings and pack a Kipling candy bag in my suitcase for taking ashore as either a cross body or rucksack. Use a Kipling travel tote as my hand luggage which holds everything else I need.

Apart from that, my husband's pockets are very useful!!!

We are flying from Birmingham at 10.15hrs, arriving at 15.00hrs. This is in November 19. 

At the end of cruise number one you will need to go to the reception desk to collect a new cruise card. They will arrange for your steward to help move your luggage to your new cabin. Once you have your new cruise card you can disembark and spend the day in Southampton just like any other port day. You can rejoin the ship without passing through immigration and you need to use the crew's entry point on one of the lower decks. 

You will receive a letter in your cabin explaining the whole process, it's very well organised. 

Have a great trip! 

Whilst it's not Britannia, we have booked an Escape Spa Package for Ventura on 30th of this month and I can confirm that we were contacted a few days ago to book the treatments and Retreat aspect, the rest to be booked directly at the spa reception desk once onboard.

I can't imagine it would be any different for either Britannia or Azura?

Diane :)

Southampton city centre is just a short walk away and has a lot of restaurants, many of them very good indeed. See tripadvisor etc. for recommendations....

 

VP

Terrific! Thanks :)

Thank you both, will take a look on the map.

Caribbean food sounds great but this time we're off to the Med :D Will put it on the list to kick off our next Transatlantic!

Has anyone eaten at Pig in the Wall? Looks very close to our hotel.

Diane

Ennios is very close and Steak of the Art a little further at Ocean Village - both very good. Have a lovely cruise.

We stayed in Southampton before a three weeks cruise to the Caribbean last year. Ended up going to Turtle Bay for some Caribbean food to get in the mood. Turned out to be the best Caribbean food we had that holiday despite trying lots of local places over there. Highly recommended :-)

We are due to cruise out of Southampton in a couple of weeks and have booked a room at the Holiday Inn, Herbert Walker Avenue beforehand.

I wonder if anyone is please able to tell me if there is somewhere nice that we can walk to for an evening meal / drink rather than eat in the hotel?

Many thanks

Diane

... and another vote for Cosol ... have used them twice, well organised and always back at the port in good time :)

We were at Grande Anse last Thursday and I just wanted to clarify that the $20 quoted in the post above (for the beds at the water's edge) was for TWO sunbeds with the umbrella included. We felt that this was reasonable value for money for a full day's use.

We wandered along the beach to the spice market and noted that there was a steeper walk down into the water from this point, whereas where we were seated it was a very gentle slope.

We thought this beach was absolutely beautiful and really enjoyed our day as well as the water taxi journey to get there.

Could you not contact the taxi co and request a later pick up. We have booked our car down, but I have explained that until I have recd my boarding time it may change to later.

Ours is a 2hr+ journey down, so would be taking the driver out for a lot of the day anyway.

Much rather wait at home than in a crowded terminal .

We are coming from Devon and I would prefer an earlier pick-up to be sure that we avoid any possible delays en-route, just don't want to take a chance on it. Only today a colleague returned to work after a trip to China, they had a taxi transfer booked to London Heathrow, picked up at 8.00am for a 3.30pm flight - ran into problems on the M4 and sat in traffic for 2.5hrs, made it to the Boarding Gate with just 5 minutes to spare :eek:

Think I'd prefer to wait at the terminal after hearing that story! :o

Diane

Just had info from P&O about our Azura 30 October cruise. We are on deck A and our stated embarkation time is 1500 hrs. However we are being picked up from Bournemouth Airport on a coach and the information clearly states that coach arrival time supercedes individual arrival times. As we are probably going to arrive before 1230hrs I assume we will be sitting in the terminal for a while.

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We've had the same notification today, we are on B deck with a 14:30hrs embarkation time, our daughter is on A-deck with 15:00hrs as her time. We had already booked a taxi transfer and will be expecting to arrive around 12:30 so it could be a long wait for us too! :cool:

Diane

Personally, I would keep your arrangements as they are - the worst that can happen to you is that you may have to sit around in the Terminal for longer.

 

They are not turning people away.

I would go early with the e ticket without the time.:cool:

Thank you both, this is also what my husband thinks ;)

Diane

We are sailing on Azura on the 30th. We have had our e-Tickets for a couple of weeks now but have still not been notified of an embarkation time (it is not on the ticket). We have a taxi transfer booked to get us to the terminal.

Now I am wondering - do I print off the time-less tickets and turn up at the terminal 'whenever' and see what time we are allocated? Or do I ring P&O and ask them to please allocate a time, which may mean having to book another taxi (as the company we have booked has another job booked for later in the day)?

We booked the transfer prior to the announcement about the introduction of allocated boarding times.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks,

Diane

Hi Diane

 

We do not have an embarkation time, as it is a transatlantic you should just have the time of the coach transfer from the airport. You will checkin as soon as the coach arrives at the terminal

 

Sue

The time is written out in very big script! You cannot miss it. On arrival you will be given a coloured plastic letter A-Z on the basis of showing this to the ladies at the top of the escalator. They then decide what letter to give people.

 

If however you are on a P&O organised coach of any type including outside contractors then you will be escorted into terminal and special arrangements made for your group. The check-in letter flip chart has been replaced by a television screen. This has split everybody into four categories. This thread is dealing with individuals turning up under their own steam and control.

 

I think coach people will be one of the other three categories which are higher priority. Cruise before last I was "next letter" then hundreds of people arrived and went before me. I later determined they were a big coach group!

 

Regards John

Thanks Sue and John, no there is definitely no time slot allocated to us, however we are not arriving by coach, we have booked a taxi to get us to Southampton, so not sure what is going on. Think I will have to ring P&O to ask. We have just received a (small) cabin upgrade also which means our luggage labels are now showing incorrect information, so I can address both issues at the same time.

I really appreciate both your input as it has clarified everything for me, thank you :)

Diane

The Boarding Time should be prominently printed on the e-ticket.

 

Boarding takes place roughly 12.30 to 16.00. If you do not have a time allocated 14.00 to 15.00 is less crowded. Under this new system they seem to be trying to spread the load and favour people arriving at the allocated time. I should print out your e-tickets with no time on and periodically re-check that this has not been updated with a specific time. If it has re-print. Some people on this thread have been allocated times which have changed. The sharp ones will print all the times they have been allocated and pull out the nearest on the day!

 

Regards John

Thank you John (you have answered my question again!) -

The nearest I can see to a time is a picture of a clock on the first page ... my husband thinks this is the allocated time, but I think its an icon!

Surely it should be written clearly ... in the embarkation box, but it only states arrival date and terminal ... ! :confused:

Diane

That is very reassuring John, thank you for taking the time to reply :)

Diane

Good evening all,

Can anyone tell me what the 'white space' is that shows on the deck plan below cabin number B404? We have been 'upgraded' from A to B deck (moved from Forward to Midships) and are now wondering if we are sited above something noisy?

Many thanks

Diane

Quick question: Where do I actually find the embarkation time? Should it be on my e-ticket? Have received it today and can't see a time mentioned :confused:

Thanks

Diane

Confession time - at the end of our very first cruise BC (before children) in the early '90s, I actually cried on the last morning because I didn't want the cruise to come to an end!

You're not the only one! The only holiday I've ever had where I actually shed a tear at the end ... :o

No, there was no entertainment on the last day as I recall, but the buffet, pool, bars etc are all still available to you. In fact the only thing that was different from our other days was that the crew had to peel me finger by finger off the hand rail and then carry me kicking and screaming to the coach to go home !! :D

Thank you so much for this thread! I have just contacted P&O and they have added a further £75 MOBC to our account for my husband's service, I would never have known about it if I'd not read it here!

They asked for him to bring his red discharge book as proof, they said we may be required to show it or may not, we'll see.

Thanks again *chuffed* :D