Selbourne

@RJChatsworth Thanks for taking the time to review your cruise. We would have loved to have done that cruise had we not been on for 65 nights just before, although I’m really sorry to hear that you didn’t get a proper display of the Northern Lights. We had the same experience as you on our second Northern Lights cruise, but were lucky that we had absolutely stunning displays the year before. We should have called it quits then, as I now realise how lucky we were! I hope that you get a chance to go again and see all the colours with the naked eye, so that you can properly tick it off your bucket list (it was for the same reason that we went). I was fascinated to read that your feedback on so many things was almost a carbon copy of our experience. I also agree with some other comments that you made about issues that I hadn’t raised in my blog. I also found the entertainment manager to be over the top, irritating and not at all funny. I get the impression that he’s a failed stand up comedian who thinks he’s still a ‘turn’ rather than the person who manages the entertainment. As for embarkation and disembarkation, we were staggered at how much better Cunard does it and are at a loss as to why P&O makes such a meal of it especially when, as you say, they are part of the same group. Our recent embarkation experience on Aurora was the worst we’ve ever had and our priority boarding counted for nothing. I’m afraid that with disembarkation we refuse to play the game and just walk off when we are ready (not that early it has to be said). Your MDR experience was identical to ours bar one thing - we did at least have wafers in our ice creams 😂 Ice cream was usually served half melted though 🙄 Interesting that you had 8 Headliner shows. Thats about the same number that we had over 65 nights, so they weren’t exactly recovering from our cruise! We thought that they were pretty good but the female singer in Pulse was awful and I am at a loss as to how she passed an audition. Hopefully she was one of the 40% of the crew to rotate off the ship after our cruise so that you weren’t subjected to her! Finally, I know exactly what you mean about loud passengers who spoil the experience for others. I call them the “look at me” types. Everyone has to know that they are having a great cruise. I didn’t mention it during my blog, as I knew that a few people on board were reading it and was worried in case I described one of them, but there were 3 people who stood out as being particularly annoying. I’m not trying to be PC or pacify the northerners, but these three were each from different parts of England. There were a number of reasons why we asked to move tables for dinner (2nd sitting) but one of the main reasons was an elderly woman with a stick (who I’m pretty sure was southern) who was, like us, sat near the entrance to the MDR. She had the loudest laugh I’ve ever heard and she found absolutely everything hilarious - continuously - every night. I swear that if someone just told her the time she would belly laugh. We moved to the complete opposite end of the MDR and, on occasion, could still hear her. As we exited the MDR and were waiting for a lift each evening she was still at it. Irritating beyond belief. I’m amazed that her husband doesn’t find her embarrassing and ask her to pipe down. I certainly would, not that my wife would ever behave like that (I wouldn’t be with her if she did 😂). Sadly, having moved, we could then hear a chap (who I know was a northerner) who was a contender for the male with the loudest “look at me” laugh, but thankfully he wasn’t continuous every night as the woman was. Finally, to complete the trio, there was a woman from the east midlands who held court in the coffee shop (very loudly) most afternoons. I suppose that out of 1,650 passengers we were lucky just to have 3 that we would have happily chucked overboard, but on a ship like Aurora they can be difficult to avoid 😂

This is something that I have often wondered. My wife is a full time wheelchair user and if we can’t get an accessible cabin we simply cannot cruise. Through no fault of their own, some scooter users who may have a much milder degree of disability have no choice but to book an accessible cabin even when, other than the need to park the scooter inside, they don’t really need the fully accessible features. Pre Covid we met a number of able bodied passengers who had been allocated an accessible cabin. Some felt very guilty about it as they were worried that they were depriving a disabled person from cruising. I am pleased to hear from @molecrochip that P&O are stopping this, but there is more that they should do. I have suggested to them that they should have specific wait lists for those requiring accessible cabins, but they will only accept wait list requests when ALL cabins in that grade are booked, rather than when just the accessible cabins are sold. We would book more cruises with P&O if they contacted us to say that an accessible balcony cabin had become available. As it stands, the onus is on us to keep asking and, as a result, we tend to give up.

It’s the Indian & Philippine sections that I’d go to!

@paulscott Having re-read the posts that I made detailing the few dozen post Covid changes that we noticed on Britannia, it was interesting that the experience on the three other P&O ships that we’ve been on since then was slightly different. Some things that have been stopped on some ships have continued on others. Notably, the app system for booking MDR dining seems to be reserved for the larger ships. As others have said, the experience can vary quite a bit depending on which ship you go on. We found some aspects of Iona to be very good, but other issues that we had mean that I simply cannot convince my wife to go on her again (nor sister ship Arvia). By contrast, our favourite ship had always been Aurora, but having spent a long time on her recently we are now finding her to be past her best and the MDR food was the weakest of the four P&O ships that we’ve been on. For us, I think our priority for our future P&O cruises may now be Britannia and Ventura. We have also started using Cunard as well.

Same here. I know that most people rave about Sindhu but it does nothing for me. I love Indian (and in fact all Asian) cuisine at home, but the ‘fusion’ concept of Sindhu just doesn’t work for me. Like you, I tend to enjoy the curries in the MDR far more. The place that I’d really like to eat, but never will, is the crew canteen. They have different sections for each major nationality that the crew come from. I bet that the food there is far more tasty, as they won’t tone it down to suit what they perceive to be the bland palates of us Brits!

Hi Paul. Welcome to Cruise Critic. We had exactly the same concern as your wife. Our first P&O cruise post Covid was on Britannia last summer (we’ve done 3 other P&O cruises since). I did a live blog from this cruise but afterwards I did a long post on all the changes and how they impacted on us (or didn’t). Hopefully this will answer all (and maybe more 😂) of your questions or concerns.

I tried that without success. I’m not that hot on IT though. That’s what my kids are for 😂

We have recently returned from 65 nights on Aurora (post Starlink installation). The WiFi worked absolutely fine in our cabin, the coffee shop and all the restaurants. We just had the basic package for one device, so it’s a bit of a faff (lots of clicks) to switch between devices, but we used it across 2 iPads and 2 iPhones (one at a time). No issues at all. Shame that I can’t say the same about the absolutely rubbish TVs! I’ve never paid for WiFi prior to Starlink so can’t say how it compares, but I was impressed. We were even able to make free phone and video calls via WhatsApp on the basic package.

On our recent cruise there was an on-board offer for double OBC on longer cruises (over 21 days from memory). They used to also have a low £50 deposit for bookings made on board, which was great if the price dropped as you could cancel and re-book, but I believe that’s no more? Quite a few people on our Grand Tour booked on board for next years 65 nighter under the double OBC offer. Towards the end of the cruise, the Select price for the cruise dropped by far more than the value of the on board offer, but I’m not sure if many people picked up on that - I only knew as I had an email from our TA promoting it! We learnt a valuable lesson with that cruise though (having always booked Select previously). Even under the best offer, people on our cruise who’d booked Select had paid £10k more than we did on a Late Saver. No on board offers will ever counter that! As an aside, I wish that all ships would adopt the future cruises queueing system that we saw on Iona, where you are called when it’s your turn, leaving you free to wander off and be called when they are ready to see you. Great for people like me who don’t do queues 😂

I track the prices on quite a lot of P&O cruises that, if the price falls to within our target price we might book. I was updating the prices last night and was struck by how close the Select price was to the Saver price on a lot of these cruises, especially when you net off the OBC and cost of parking. In fact, there were several examples of where the Select price worked out cheaper than the Saver price, which seems daft but actually happens quite often. So, by getting the timing right, dining choice can be guaranteed for little or no extra cost over a Saver, plus you are also able to pick a cabin in a good location rather than have what’s left over!

That’s interesting. I’ve only booked Savers twice, once pre Covid and our most recent cruise. One was a late saver (although neither the P&O website nor any of the booking confirmations ever use the word ‘late’, and just say ‘saver’) and one an early saver. On neither occasion did we see the wording that you’ve quoted about being able to express a dining preference. In fact, on both occasions I attempted to express a preference and was told categorically (both by P&O and our specialist TA) that this is not possible on a Saver fare. Whilst frustrating, I guess it’s a case of not being able to have your cake and eat it. After cabin selection, the ability to confirm your dining preference (on ships where this is still relevant) is one of the main reasons why people will pay what can sometimes be a substantial premium for a Select fare. I guess it’s unreasonable to take advantage of the cheaper Saver fare and yet expect the same benefits as those who have specifically paid more in order to obtain them.

Is it an electric wheelchair? My wife has a manual one and we’ve never had a label put on it.

My understanding is that you cannot express a dining preference on any type of Saver fare at any stage. This is only possible with a Select fare. Even with a Select booking you can only have the type of dining confirmed (freedom or club) and, if club, first or second sitting, with table size always just being a preference, but not confirmed. With a Saver, your dining is only confirmed once you are on board. On Iona and Arvia this is of no relevance, as they only have Freedom dining anyway, but on the other ships if you aren’t happy with what you’ve been allocated then you can request a change on board, but this is subject to availability. We booked a Saver fare for our recent Aurora cruise. Our preference (which we couldn’t express) was table for 2, second sitting club. We were allocated second sitting, but on a shared table. We tried it for a week or so but then decided that it wasn’t working (for several reasons) so requested a change. We were told that Freedom dining was full (as it often is) but we managed to get a table for our sole use on 2nd sitting, so all was well.

A year ago, from what we were reading about P&O, we thought that our days with them might be numbered. However, having now done 4 cruise with P&O on 4 different ships over the past 8 months, we are now happy to continue cruising with them, albeit at a lower cost than we’ve paid in the past. We now use Cunard as well but, as already mentioned, we just can’t see the value in Saga given the relatively low worth (to us) of the included aspects. Like others, we prefer to pay for what we use rather than pay for everything (as you do with Sagas high prices) to only use some of it. I respect the fact that we are all different though and I have no doubt that the Saga product is better. As to whether it’s 2 to 3 times better (as it would need to be to justify the price difference) is, I guess, subjective. Where we differ though is that if ever we get to the stage that we abandon P&O, I would vacate this forum as well. Whilst still using P&O I feel that I can comment on the good and the bad aspects in a balanced way that is hopefully of interest to people. However, if all I had to say was negative things then I’d consider it to be bordering on spiteful to just rubbish the P&O product in a forum where people are spending their hard earned cash and looking forward to their cruises.

Interesting question. Our biggest worry was that we might come back to some issue(s) with the house, which thankfully we didn’t which was a huge relief. Within 24 hours of returning home I had done all the remaining washing and ironing and mowed the lawns. As I have to do everything at home, I often feel quite down after a holiday as I return to doing all the domestic stuff that I’m sure that none of us enjoy, but getting on top of everything so quickly really helped. In fact, it seemed less effort to get back on track than it did after our previous 2 week cruise! We've had a heck of a lot on this week so, yes, it does feel like some time ago that we were away, but we are so glad that we did it as I doubt that we will ever do anything remotely like it again and we will have those memories, aided by the blog and the photos, for life.

Yes, deck privilege was indeed the term used. Our MDR waiter and Glasshouse wine host (amongst many others) had free meals during our cruise. Not an issue as far as I’m concerned. Every time we used speciality restaurants (probably at least 15 times over the 65 nights) there were always officers dining there. I don’t doubt that they pay but, as I’ve said, it can be irritating when passengers cannot book, although due to the length of our recent cruise this wasn’t an issue.

I think that part of the challenge of making comparisons is that the prices that P&O customers pay for the same cruise can vary enormously, far more so than is the case with Saga. Some of us are quite anal about monitoring P&O prices, from launch right through to a month or so before sailing. It is quite common for those who aren’t as obsessive about these things to book a cruise at a time when prices can be more than double what they could have paid had they got the timing right. That can be the case with Select fares alone, but then there’s Savers just to complicate matters even further. I think I’m right in saying that the maximum discount with Saga is around 40% and, even booking late it is still possible to get 10% or even 20%, so the variations are much narrower compared to P&O. Therefore, someone comparing a Saga launch price with a P&O cruise booked at a ‘bad’ time will no doubt find the price gap to be much closer, especially if they drink a fair bit and so benefit more from the all inclusive aspects of Saga. However, when comparing the cheapest that I can book P&O cruises (no longer always launch prices) with the cheapest that I can book Saga cruises (pre-launch) I have never been able to narrow the gap below a level where the Saga cruise carries a price premium of at least £300 per day per couple (balcony cabin versus balcony cabin). I don’t ask this in a judgemental way, but would you say that the ‘included’ aspects that you get with Saga are worth anywhere near that? I accept that the quality of the Saga product (cabins, food etc) is probably much better, but even if we went mad on P&O and pretended that we were all inclusive I don’t think we’d spend half that difference.

That’s not always the case. On our recent cruise several of the crew who we knew well (not officers, but waiting staff etc) were allowed to have free meals in the speciality restaurants in small groups. It was under a scheme that they told me about. I can’t recall the exact name but it was ‘x privilege’). Also, there have been plenty of times when we have dined, or attempted to dine, in Speciality restaurants that are ‘fully booked’ but we’ve seen officers dining in them!

During our three and a half year pause in cruising (the staycation cruises and those with on board Covid restrictions didn’t remotely appeal to us), we became concerned, based on all the reports that we were reading, that P&O may no longer be for us. By contrast, having read loads of extremely positive reviews on Saga cruises, we decided that we would give them a go and we pre-paid for access to the pre-sale releases so that we could book before general on-sale dates. This was essential, as we need an accessible cabin (and they only have two at the entry level) and because this would also afford the biggest discounts. We were under no illusion that the Saga experience would be superior to P&O, but at a greater cost. We were fine with that, especially given the all inclusive aspects. Since then a number of things have happened that have changed our mind, both regarding P&O and Saga. Having done a lot more research on Saga, most notably informed by @Dermotsgirl excellent reports (a respected frequent P&O cruiser who tried Saga for the first time), many of the all inclusive aspects weren’t quite what they seemed. I might be wrong about some of this (and will be happy to be corrected), but my understanding is; Private transfers - Due to where we live, this would have to be shared, which doesn’t appeal. My wife is a full time wheelchair user so we’d need a large vehicle to accommodate us, luggage and wheelcair, plus the driver and potentially other passengers and their luggage. My understanding is that they generally use mini-van type vehicles for this purpose and they are too high for my wife to get in and out of. By contrast, travelling in our own car it’s just us, my wife can get in and out OK and we can stop for loo breaks whenever we like. Also, Southampton is half the travel time compared to Dover. Included Excursions - These are limited to a few per cruise and tend to just be fairly basic excursions. My wife cannot board a coach or minibus and would need a car or wheelchair accessible vehicle. I’m not sure if that’s an included option. Drinks Package - I believe that there are some limitations on choice with wine (we tend not to drink the basic wines) and frankly we don’t drink much anyway. On our recent 65 nighter with P&O (this blog) our on board drinks bill was only around £20 a day (admittedly I had a throat issue that meant that drinking alcohol aggravated it, but it helped with avoiding weight gain). I’d also be concerned that if I’d paid for an inclusive drinks package I’d want to get value out of it! Speciality Dining - The cost of this on P&O is very low, especially if you book pre cruise and get the discounts. On Saga, spaces in these restaurants, whilst included, are rationed. WiFi - We have never paid for it, so free WiFi wasn’t a massive benefit for us. However, due to the length of cruise I took it out for our 65 nighter and it cost less than £7 a day. Dining times - We have always been able to dine when we wanted to with P&O and have always been able to secure good tables for 2. @Dermotsgirl had problems with both these aspects with Saga. As for P&O, whilst it has undoubtedly changed its market position, the prices have reflected this. We used to book suites and have used them on Britannia, Ventura, Arcadia and Oriana. We no longer book them, partly because we now need an accessible cabin (and most ships have only one accessible suite - in a poor location - or none) and, with the poor suite benefits, we no longer consider them to be value for money. We would rather spend the equivalent (or less) to cruise with Cunard at Club level, which gives far better dining privileges. Our minimum cabin grade with P&O is a balcony cabin (the lowest level you can book with Saga), and we are now able to secure these with P&O for less than £100 per person per night (managed that on Britannia, Ventura and Aurora over the last 8 months). Even with the pre-launch access and discounts, we can’t get a Saga cruise for less than £250 per person per night. Given the limitation and restrictions of the ‘included’ aspects, we reckon that even taking into account our on board spend with P&O, a Saga cruise still works out at more than double the cost so, in our case and how we cruise, that doesn’t seem like a good idea. If paying double the price of P&O our expectations would be sky high and, based on @Dermotsgirl experience, it sounds as though we could be disappointed. Consequently, I’ve currently given up on Saga and have asked for our pre-sale deposits to be refunded. Never say never, but our next two cruises are with Cunard in Club and we shall see what we make of that in comparison to P&O.

A brilliant blog. Thanks for doing it. I really enjoy your writing style and sense of humour. I’m not missing writing mine each evening 😂

I have.

It’s certainly true that it is not permitted to leave wheelchairs or buggies outside cabins, for the reason that you state. This is why scooter users have to book an accessible cabin (or larger cabin that can accommodate them) even if their disability doesn’t really warrant one. However, having used normal cabins back when my wife was a part time wheelchair user, it is possible to stow them inside the cabin, albeit a squeeze. I’m sure that the lady on Iona was misinformed, at least I sincerely hope that she is because accessible cabins really should be held for those with a genuine need for one.

I think it would be worth going back to the agent and letting them know that they are giving out incorrect information. They are going to be placing people who don’t have a genuine need for an adapted cabin into one. As well as depriving those with a genuine need for one, P&O conditions make it clear that somebody who books an adapted cabin but doesn’t have a genuine need for one risks their booking being cancelled!

40% of the staff were ending their contracts at the end of our cruise (not sure about the Executive Chef), so by the time you go I’d say there’s a 50/50 chance. Either way, half of the kitchen staff will have changed, so I suspect that things will be different. You never know, they may even have found the seasoning 😂

For balance, can I just reiterate that the comments regarding much of the MDR food being mediocre was specific to our recent cruise on Aurora. We heard plenty of similar (or worse) commentary on board, but also some who were fine with it. I have also been clear that we were very happy with the vast majority of our MDR meals on Britannia, Iona and Ventura last year, so we very much saw this as an ‘Aurora’ issue, rather than an across the board ‘P&O’ one. That being said, our view is that the MDR experience on P&O isn’t what it once was. It’s not a show stopper for us, as with the lower prices, rising food costs and pressure on Carnival profits post Covid, it is inevitable that a few things have had to give and this is one of them. These things work both ways though, and we now have a maximum price per day that we will pay for a P&O cruise, and that is lower than we’ve paid in the past.