Selbourne

To be clear. The app didn’t ‘go down’ due to a fault on Britannia, it was a conscious decision to set it to ‘Queue Full’ because they couldn’t cope with several different systems conflicting with one another. The restaurant team took the view that it was far harder to turn away people who were physically stood in front of them than it was to just ignore those of us who were queueing virtually (or attempting to). I was determined to use the app throughout our cruise to see how it worked, as I had speculated previously that it wouldn’t work with other systems working alongside it. Sadly, I was right. People that we spoke to thought we were mad by using the app because they were just turning up when they liked and mostly walking straight in. On Iona the app worked far better, but I put that down to the fact that two thirds of the passengers were newbies so were using the app as requested because they knew no different. On Britannia, the mix was the other way around (two thirds were previous P&O cruisers) and large numbers of people were refusing to use the app. Whilst I liked using the app and, when it worked well, it was far better than turning up and hoping that you’d get in or having to take a pager. However, because the current situation of having several systems conflicting results in a buggers muddle (to use a technical term 😂) it has unfortunately put us off Freedom Dining, which is a great shame as we used it enthusiastically since it’s launch. On our next 2 P&O cruises we’ve switched to Club (fixed) to alleviate the hassle.

I believe that this has always been the case on Iona. The ability to book the same table every night was unique to Arvia due to the problems caused by the latter only having two MDRs, in an attempt to pull some demand forward away from peak times. As Iona has four MDRs there is no need for this. The app seemed to work well on Iona and we didn’t notice any excessive waits. The problems occur when people don’t use the app and just turn up and/or pagers are used. This is what we experienced on Britannia and it just doesn’t work having three different systems operating (app, turn up and pagers). The restaurant team couldn’t cope so they turned the app to ‘Queue Full’ so those doing as requested and using the app got the worst service and the longest waits. IMHO it’s a shame that they can’t find a way to make the app compulsory and remove any ability to allow pre bookings, walk ups and pagers. That way the app would work brilliantly and there would be minimal waits. Because they can’t do that (due to those who can’t or won’t use the app) chaos can ensue, as we discovered! People worked out that the quickest way to get seated was to ignore the app and just turn up, which made a mockery of the whole thing.

They still haven’t resolved the issue of Queen Anne not being listed that I spoke to them about months ago. After my next booking with them I think that might be it and I will just use CPS, even though they can be a lot more expensive. P4Cs lack of communication is making me nervous.

Although, in reality, I wonder what percentage of customers actually pay for it? I have never paid a penny for WiFi access on any cruise as I’ve never felt the need to. Even now I can still get free internet access in ports as part of my included data and my coverage usually lasts some time before and after arrival when land is in sight. The only time on a cruise that I am without coverage is on sea days and I can live with that. People could still contact us in a dire emergency via the ship. Even when I was working I never accessed work emails whilst on holiday, as that was strictly family time, although I appreciate that those who are self employed may not be able to enjoy that luxury. From what I’ve seen and heard on cruises, those who pay for the shops WiFi seem to experience countless problems that I don’t have using my normal service provider. Hopefully the new provider will alleviate those issues for those who feel that they cannot be without coverage 24/7.

I have no knowledge, or view, on whether things are rosy at P&O or not, but it would be a miracle (and a major shock) if their occupancy levels weren’t massively up. They have significantly more capacity now with the two mega ships and last year consumer confidence for cruising still hadn’t fully recovered. As Harry rightly says, there are far more important (and meaningful) metrics to assess their success by. As with all press comment from all businesses, there’s the PR spin and then there’s the accounts. One is easier to read and is always positive, and the other reveals the reality.

There’s no limit to soft drinks and, in all honesty, they don’t check the alcohol. There’s just the practicality of carrying the weight. The freshly squeezed orange juice was excellent. I tried it on Britannia. I can’t stand the concentrate stuff that you get for free. I ordered the small size and it was massive! Come to think of it, we weren’t offered it at all on Iona.

You know the answer to that one John 😂

If you mean the My Holiday ‘app’ it’s misleading, because it isn’t an app at all. It’s just a web page. You can only use it on board but you can load it on to your phones homepage before your cruise. Here’s the link; https://myholiday.pocruises.com/

On both our recent cruises (Iona and Britannia) we weren’t given a card, nor were we even told about the priority lunch. We asked on board. Had we not known about it we would have missed it. We used assisted embarkation, so that might be the reason.

I agree. It’s all over the place and there is no excuse. On our recent Britannia cruise the formal nights were shown as being on port days and most sea days were shown as casual. That was never going to happen and was clearly an error. The week before the cruise it changed (there was no itinerary change). This caught a number of people out with speciality restaurant bookings. The method that I use to guesstimate when the formal nights will be on a 14 night ex-U.K. cruise is as follows - 1) never the first or last night. 2) Usually the second night. 3) The remainder on sea days, usually fairly evenly spaced. It’s not foolproof, but I get 9 out of 10 right using that method 😂 However, am I correct in thinking that Arvia only has 2 formal nights on a 14 night cruise? If so, that’s more difficult to work out!

Interesting that Cunard have extended the bid to upgrade system to TA bookings as the last time I asked they had only done that in the USA. Have to say I would have bitten their hand off for a balcony cabin for just £50 each. That’s nothing and even if you never opened the door you’d have a massively improved outlook from your cabin. We are all different though! 😂

I’ve never booked a cruise whilst on board. Is the 10% discount applying to all cruises or just certain ones? In the past I thought that the benefit of booking on board was restricted to the small deposit and, occasionally, some extra OBC. Has that changed?

Thanks. I thought as much. @daiB will be interested in this, as he is still firmly of the view that launch prices are still the lowest, which is clearly not the case from your example.

Great result. Well done. Out of interest, when did you originally book the cruise? Was it at launch?

So, if successful, that would be just £27.50 per day extra, which would be an absolute bargain, especially on Aurora which carries quite a price premium. Some of the upgrade prices that people quote don’t seem that attractive to me, especially on the big ships and for short cruises, but that would be a cracking deal. Fingers crossed for you.

Good luck. How long is the cruise?

I used to like his menus on P&O, but it was the only poor meal I had in the MDR all fortnight on Britannia. There’s a MPW New York Italian diner opened not far from us, which we’ve been to a few times. It’s OK but nothing special.

Keep in mind that the £210pp is not a cost, it’s a minimum bid, which you may or may not be successful with. If you were to pay to upgrade (rather than rely on the bidding system), then the price to do so is the price difference that applied at the time that you booked, not the quoted price today. If you are tempted to bid, my advice would be to bid a little bit more than the minimum, say £220 pp. The vast majority of people will probably just bid the minimum, so by bidding more, even just a tiny amount, automatically puts you ahead of everyone who just bids the minimum and probably increases your chances of being successful quite considerably.

Mods - as someone has resurrected the old thread on this (which I couldn’t find), could you please merge the two? I think I was getting muddled up with our Cunard bookings which, as far as I know, are still restricted to direct bookings only. Thanks

Interesting to read your review as we are on Ventura next month. Re Epicurean, we have certainly noticed vibration in there before, as we have in aft venues on a few cruise ships. I’m pleased to hear that the Crepes Suzette is prepared tableside on Ventura, as it does make a huge difference. We were on Iona a few weeks ago and it wasn’t prepared in the kitchen. It was prepared at a central point in the restaurant (which we happened to be seated next to, so we still had the full theatrical experience 😂). However, on Britannia in July it was pre-prepared in the kitchen and, as a result, was extremely poor with only a fraction of the flavour. As we had some problems with Freedom Dining on Britannia we have switched to Club for our Ventura cruise. As for breakfast and lunch, can I ask how many MDRs were open for each and, if more than one, did you find that one worked better than the other? Thanks

I just started a new thread on this because I couldn’t find this thread that I started 6 weeks or so ago. Now I realise why. You had resurrected it and it had bumped up to the front page 😂 Re your situation - whilst we had multiple issues with an aft suite on Britannia, depending on which one you have booked I wouldn’t pay more for a midships one. The premium is purely for the midships location, yet IMHO they are far less desirable than the forward or aft suites.

I may have missed this (apologies if I have) but when I last noticed commentary about P&Os ‘Bid to Upgrade’ scheme, it was still restricted to bookings made directly with P&O. We are on a 14 night cruise on Ventura next month, booked via a cruise specialist TA, and have today received an email directly from P&O inviting us to bid for an upgraded cabin. We are booked into an Accessible Superior Deluxe balcony cabin, and there is only one accessible cabin on the whole ship that is a higher grade than ours and that is a midships Suite on Riviera deck which, even if it was available (unlikely) is of no interest to us, as it is underneath the pool deck. We know from friends who stayed in a midships suite on Ventura that you can hear chairs being dragged around overhead etc. For those who are interested, the minimum bids to upgrade from a Superior Deluxe Balcony cabin are; Family Suite £140 per person Suite £420 per person Midships Suite £520 per person Penthouse Suite £1,070 per person

There will be an ‘enhanced’ MDR menu but it’s not as good as it used to be. On Britannia in July the Celebration menu that I had (Marco Pierre White) was the weakest meal that I had all fortnight. Arcadia may be better.

Oh deer (sorry - couldn’t resist it) 😂 Happy Birthday 🥳

Whilst I am in the camp that is generally happy with the P&O MDRs from both a food and service perspective (once you can eventually get in, if on Freedom Dining on certain ships), I do feel that the choice has diminished. The formal night menu posted above is far superior in choice to any formal night menu we had on Britannia or Iona this year and the standard menus look far better as well. I don’t have a problem with ‘traditional’ options, in fact I quite like them (had a nice Prawn Cocktail when out for lunch yesterday 😂). For me, it’s more about the totality of the choice. Nowadays, I can usually find a main course that I’m happy with, but 1 or 2 days per cruise none appeals. In the past (as evidenced by those menus) I would be torn between 2 or 3 per day. As for Silver Service, we’ve been cruising with P&O long enough to remember it, but I prefer plates meals for the reasons that others have stated.