Selbourne

We have decided to only do one dinner in the MDR on our 7 night fjord cruise. On the other 6 nights I am intending to book speciality restaurants. I know what I want to book on each night and at what times. I’m trying to fit around times when we want to be on our balcony (during scenic fjord transits) and show times. Therefore, if I can’t get the restaurant bookings at the times I want it will be frustrating.

I’m quite conflicted when it comes to ships photographers. On the one hand, I find it an irritating intrusion when they come around the tables during dinner, delay people getting on and off the ship in ports and cause congestion in the atrium. However, other than when the kids were very young (when we had some professional family photos taken), the best photos of our daughters as teenagers, and also my late Dad, are those taken on cruise ships on formal nights. I guess that the best balance is having photographers available, but you go to them in places that don’t cause snarl ups, rather than the hard sell approach.

Bee-ess has already answered your question in post #4. Apparently none of the 8 bookings that they made at midnight last night would have still been available this morning. I am intrigued about 2 things. Firstly, I wonder if only a certain proportion of tables are released Pre-cruise? It seems odd that some say that everything is sold out yet others can book when on board. Secondly, if there is a capacity issue, with more people wanting to book speciality restaurants than the capacity allows, I wonder why P&O exacerbate this issue by offering a pre-booking discount (other than Peninsular discount)? I’m not complaining, as I hope to take advantage of it myself, but it seems an odd policy, given how focussed they are on saving the pennies elsewhere.

Interesting. We are on Britannia in July and have booked Freedom, having had no problems with it on our 3 pre Covid cruises on her (before P&O started ‘fixing’ problems that never existed). We tend not to dine until around 8.30pm so I am hoping that we shouldn’t have such a long wait (my theory being that it’s best to wait until all the early diners have left and it’s a bit more free flowing before joining the queue). We will use specialty restaurants for possibly half the nights, but not all 14, so the MDR needs to work for us. If it proves to be too problematic I shall see if we can change to 2nd sitting, but only if they can give us a table for 2

If you are in a Select fare best to do it now. That way you should get 2nd sitting confirmed and your chances of getting a table for 2 are greater than if you leave it until the cruise.

Not our experience Andy. All our bookings have the dining choice showing as ‘confirmed’. That’s for both freedom and fixed. Only the table size (where we have booked fixed) is showing as a preference and will be confirmed on board.

We have been on several cruises where there have been signs up at the Freedom Dining restaurants at the start of the cruise saying that Freedom Dining is full and they cannot accommodate any requests to change. However, I agree that 2nd sitting fixed dining is usually the least popular choice so the chances of changing to that are much better.

Did you book a Select fare? If so, you should be able to choose whether you want first sitting, second sitting or Freedom dining. You can change your mind as long as what you want is still available. Freedom Dining tends to sell out first, so you might still be OK. Best to call your travel agent or P&O (if you booked direct) and ask. Table size with fixed dining is always a preference and never guaranteed. Changing this close to the cruise may increase your likelihood of having to share. Of course, if you booked a Saver you can only express a dining preference but it’s not guaranteed.

Whilst we tend to eat at around 6.30pm at home, we prefer to eat much later on a cruise. Thankfully, as we always have a balcony, we are never bothered about getting window seats in restaurants. When in the fjords we tend to get up fairly early to watch the transit down the fjord and then we enjoy the opposite side of the fjord from our balcony during the early evening sail out. We then dine later when the light isn’t as good and the ship is generally in the wider sections of the fjord.

We have had 2 fjords cruises when it has been 25 degrees or warmer!

In general I’m the opposite of a hoarder. I tend to throw things away and regret it years later! However, we have a box (well, 3 boxes now 😂) of mementos from special things that we have done over the years which, come the day that we may be housebound, will be nice memories to look back at! Our first cruise was very special (as most people’s first cruise is) and it has become force of habit to retain everything from every P&O cruise since. That’s why I am a minefield of useless information, such as how much we have paid for every cruise since 1996! Unfortunately, having recently discovered the joys of cruising with Cunard, and now having two more cruises booked with them, I’m going to have to start a 4th box 🤣

Thanks for the tips. We will probably go for around 9pm as we will want to watch the transit down the fjord from our balcony, glass in hand! Obviously that would mean that we would miss any show that night (hence the desire to see the schedules).

You’re a gent. Many thanks. You’re not as sad as me though. I have retained every Horizon, MDR menus (when provided), port guides and other paraphernalia for every cruise we have ever done - since 1996 🤣

@TigerB Could I be cheeky and ask you an enormous favour please? If you could take a photo of the evening entertainment schedule from each days Horizon magazine I’d be enormously grateful. I’m assuming that it will be the same as our cruise and it will very useful to know which nights have 2 theatre shows, which nights have 3, and the times for all. I’m going to pre book as many dinner reservations as I can, but want to time the reservations so that those who want to see the shows can do so either before dinner (on nights with 3 shows) or after (when there are 2). Thanks in anticipation.

Funny how they promote X Factor as turning nobody’s into multi millionaire pop stars, yet the reality is that most seem to end up singing on cruise ships 😂 Does anyone know who will be in the Limelight Club in late August? Daughters are keen on the drag artist that ICF raved about - or Gareth Gates 😂

Thanks for the info. My wife and I are keen to try this menu. Daughters less so. Beach House for them 😂 If there are fixed times, what time is the latest sitting?

I’m actually hoping the opposite. If they all get off we can enjoy a quieter ship 😂

I hope you are right, but we’ve been surprised at the number of children on our previous fjord cruises. There aren’t that many options for 7 night cruises and with many of the new target market seeing the ship as the destination, and it being August in the school holidays, I am managing my expectations accordingly 😂

I believe that the capacity with upper berths occupied (as most will be during summer school holiday cruises) is around 6.200. I suspect that a Spring Half term cruise will be a bit less than that, but more than on your cruise.

Have a great cruise and I hope that the weather in Norway is as good as here. Let us know how you get on. The passenger numbers on your cruise will be much closer to the numbers that we will experience in August.

Welcome back. Delighted to hear that you both had another fabulous cruise. When’s the next one? Thanks again for all your top tips. We are a little apprehensive about our August Iona cruise as the ship will be so busy but, with a combination of pre-planning and using your tips, we will hopefully be able to work around most of the potential issues!

Yep. I’ve used them. They are also one of the few places where you can source d’Arenberg wines, which are our favourite reds and whites.

If you ever go to Walt Disney World (or Disneyland Paris), don’t go on the “It’s a Small World” ride. I think we last went around 15 years ago and I can still remember every note 🤣

Excellent. That’s about the time we go 👍

That certainly seems to be the case. Unless I’ve missed it, I don’t believe that there’s ever been the same level of issues with the MDRs on Iona (with 4 MDRs) as there has been on Arvia (with 2). P&O seem to have underestimated the demand for the standard MDR experience on Arvia.