Selbourne

We noticed on Britannia recently that the air con temperature was nowhere near as cool as on previous cruises. In these cost cutting times we assumed that it was to save money.

I’ve just logged on as myself and then again as my wife. Neither of us have an option to make bookings for the theatre shows, in spite of receiving the email to say that bookings are now open. Also, as reported on another thread, the same email says that it is not possible to make reservations for the speciality restaurants, which is nonsense because you can - and I have!

No, the email clearly states (and I quote) “we’ve opened up bookings on My P&O Cruises for the many wonderful experiences on board.” and further down there is a “Book Now” button. In all fairness, we never had a problem on Britannia. There was plenty of provision for wheelchair users and companions. We sat at the back on deck 7 and there were 4 wheelchair and companion seats both sides of the auditorium. Also, on the deck 6 level there were at least 16 row end seats designated for wheelchair user companions where the wheelchair user could park adjacent. We only went to around half the shows, but they were all at 10.30pm and were all full houses, yet wheelchair users arriving as late as 5 minutes before could still get one of the designated spaces. Far better than Aurora where unless we arrived at least 20 minutes early you could forget it.

No, because when they are full you can still see them, but it shows ‘Sold Out’. At least that’s how it worked on our recent Britannia cruise. I assume that the system is the same for Iona. Besides, I’ve been checking for days and they have never appeared for booking. I can see the funny side of it, but how hard is it to get these things right? It’s as if they are a start-up business doing all this for the first time! The email clearly states that entertainment bookings are open (which they aren’t) and that pre-bookings for speciality dining aren’t possible (which they are). Hopeless! 😂

Well, if ever proof were needed that, at times, P&O cannot organise a p**s up in a brewery, the email that I have just received confirms it. As well as stating that bookings for shows are now open (which they aren’t - I’ve clicked on the ‘book now’ button and they still aren’t there), as for speciality restaurants (all of which I booked at midnight Friday night) it states; Speciality restaurants, excluding the Limelight Club, are not currently bookable before your holiday. Please speak to the teams on board who will be pleased to advise you about the most up‑to‑date availability. Well anyone following that advice is going to be mightily unhappy. What a farce.

Update - I have just had the email to say that shows are now open for bookings. I have duly clicked on the link and, yes, you’ve guessed it - they aren’t 😡

Thanks. Yes, my intention of the post was to help others to understand that you have to pounce very quickly if you want to secure the days and times that you want, which I guess is especially important for those celebrating birthdays or anniversaries. I can’t say that I like it, as it’s a level of hassle that holidays are meant to alleviate, but it’s satisfying when your strategy pays off 😂 Unfortunately, as mentioned on another thread, bookings for the show still haven’t been activated yet, even though we are now 13 days from departure. It’s anybody’s guess what’s going on there. As you say, at least I won’t have to be pouncing on the app the moment that my bum hits the seat in the embarkation lunch (as I did on Britannia recently) - assuming, of course, that the theatre shows eventually activate pre cruise. I will take a look at the 710 Club, as we found the Live Lounge to be too crowded on Britannia, whereas I know that the 710 Club is limited. Am I right in thinking that you can only book each day on the day, rather than the whole cruise on day 1 as you can with the main theatre and restaurants?

I don’t know if it’s any different on Iona, but with our recent Britannia cruise the only shows that could be booked in advance were the theatre shows. As of now, there isn’t even the option to book those yet. I believe that I’m looking in the right place (see screenshot below) as I have checked everywhere else and can’t see where else it would be. The irony is that my wife and I can take or leave most of the shows, but our daughters and their partners are keen to experience everything and I have offered to sort out all the bookings 😂

Excellent. Many thanks David. Frankly I’m surprised that anyone still allows it these days. Apart from the anti-social aspect of it, we are constantly told that the risk of fire from a discarded cigarette is a major concern on cruise ships 🤔

I agree Andy. Those of us ‘in the know’ have a distinct advantage but, even then, there is no consistency as to when bookings open! It is indeed a palaver, but the era of spontaneity is well and truly over 😂

Yes, I think the problem now tends to be those who Vape, as many seem to think that no smoking rules don’t apply to them 😡 I know what you mean about Dover and Tibury. They are a pain for us too. I’m hoping that we can find a suitable Saga cruise from Portsmouth. I know that they offer a chauffeur service, but ours would be a shared one (as we are more than 80 miles away), which doesn’t appeal.

Well my second midnight shift wasn’t as productive as my first. As the midnight hour struck Friday night the dining reservations were enabled instantly. I stayed up again last night on the assumption that shows would be enabled as day 13 of the countdown commenced (as @molecrochip had said that it was now 13 days) and nothing. Still nothing this morning. Very frustrating, especially as you can’t rely on an email as soon as they are released, given that there has still been no email about dining reservations being enabled yet many have sold out already!

Thanks Barbara. We would only cruise with a balcony, so their policy of allowing smoking on balconies keeps them off our list. I’d also hate a cabin on the promenade deck. I completely understand the appeal for those who don’t live in the South though, with their Northern departure ports. We are only a couple of hours drive from Southampton and we were surprised at the number of Scots on our recent cruise. If we lived in Scotland, or even the North of England, I think that the appeal of cruising from Southampton would be severely diminished. I wouldn’t like the thought of having to drive for the best part of the day after we have disembarked and train or coach travel wouldn’t be options for us.

Some really interesting and helpful comparisons have been given. I don’t know if this is still the case, but when I last looked at Fred Olsen (pre Covid) they still allowed smoking on balconies. This made them a complete no-go for us, so we looked no further. On that note, can anyone confirm what Sagas policy is? I can’t remember if I’ve asked them. If they allow smoking on balconies I will need to get a refund of our pre-registration fees!

So quite similar to P&O then? 😂

Have a fabulous cruise. We are on Ventura in October, so will be very interested to hear how you get on, especially in the MDR with Freedom dining. The food looks good from the photos 👍

Whilst killing time waiting for the shows to (hopefully) open for booking at midnight, I thought I’d have a look to see how I would get on if I was trying to make our dining reservations now, less than 24 hours after they opened for booking. I wouldn’t be able to book any tables for 6 in Epicurean now, other than on one night, which is the formal night when we’d want to dine in the MDR. I wouldn’t now be able to book a table for 6 in the Limelight Club on the day that I’ve booked. The only 2 days left would be the first night and the formal night, neither of which we’d want. The Norwegian Tasting menu that I booked for 8pm for just my wife and me would now have to be 9.15pm, meaning that we’d miss the 10.30pm show. Same problem with Sindhu. I couldn’t book our 7.30pm table for 4 now, the earliest available time now left being 9pm, so we’d miss the show. Whilst me may end up cancelling it, there are no more tables for 6 left for the Chefs Table. The only restaurant where I could still get near enough the same booking is the Beach House. I’m pleased that I got £131 discount by booking in advance and a further £53 loyalty discount on top of that, so staying up very late has thankfully paid dividends. As one of my daughters said when I was telling her about it earlier, there will be a lot of first time cruisers who will be unaware of the need to book immediately that bookings open and will be very disappointed that they will be unable to make bookings for the speciality restaurants, especially if wanting to celebrate a special occasion. There have been no emails today announcing that restaurant bookings have opened.

Thank you. I am extremely grateful for your update. I’m going to aim to arrive at the terminal at around 11.15 to allow for any CPS queues to drop the car off and the fact that I cannot push my wife and deal with the cases simultaneously, so will need to make a few trips back and forth before we will be ready to enter the terminal. Hopefully, as we have a 12pm priority boarding slot and have booked assistance, if this takes less time than planned and we approach the terminal a little early, we might be allowed in to wait in the assistance area? I don’t fancy standing outside in this weather 😂 On another matter, I managed to book all our speciality restaurants by staying up until midnight last night (glad I did, many slots have since gone), but no sign of the shows yet. There seems to be varying feedback on when these should be released. Any idea? Thanks.

Thanks. I’ll keep checking through the day then. Still not there at present.

I don’t know about the terminal change (Southampton port website is showing Mayflower) but we’ve had our embarkation time changed before. Having printed off both I went with the earlier time! I’m sure that it will update over the next few days, but it’s good that you have printed off your boarding passes with a time on them.

The staff who deal with bookings are great. Never had a problem with them. I was referring to the staff who deal with things that go wrong. Sadly I’ve had to contact them regarding problems with a couple of our cruises and it has been a masterclass in how not to deal with customers.

Thanks for clarifying. Hopefully it has improved since last October 🤞

Thanks. I agree. In order to avoid disappointment you now need a military style strategy which, sometimes, doesn’t survive first contact with the enemy 😂

That is so true. If anybody judged P&O by the quality of their land based customer service team, they would never book a cruise! Just look at the thread on speciality restaurants - booking before departure to see how inept they are 😂

Well I’m pleased to say that by burning the midnight oil last night I have managed to secure all our dining reservations for our cruise on Iona in 2 weeks time. Booked the Norwegian Tasting menu in Epicurean for my wife and I and the Beach House for our daughters and their partners who didn’t fancy it. Secured two further bookings in Epicurean for the regular menu, one in Sindhu and the Limelight Club. If I’d left it until this morning, I wouldn’t have been able to make one of our Epicurean bookings and several of the other bookings I wouldn’t have been able to secure at the times that we wanted. The Limelight Club was the only disappointment, as our daughters were keen to see either Gareth Gates (who is on the cruise preceding ours) or La Voix. We have got Matt Cardle, yet another X-Factor has-been (clearly the folk at P&O who book these acts are huge X-factor fans). I’ll cancel if our daughters don’t fancy it. I wanted to book one dinner in Keel & Cow, but that can’t be booked until we are on board (presumably only bookable on the evening that we wish to dine, rather than when we board - does anyone know?). Although the Chefs Table doesn’t appeal to me, I have booked a table for 6 for the later sitting as a fall back if we can’t get a table in the MDR.