thornegirl

8 minutes ago, studentcruiser23 said:

Ah okay - the thing is, I don’t have exact figures, I just remember that is what it was. The only exact figures I have are for the week before we booked and they are lower than what it was at the time of booking. Will the travel agents have the costs of the time when we booked?

Yes they will have, and that's the price that they have to go with.

1 hour ago, studentcruiser23 said:

I have contacted the travel agent and unfortunately at the moment it is £1000+ to upgrade to a balcony and £900+ just to upgrade to seaview which just isn't ideal when at the time of booking it was only £200 extra per person for the seaview and  £150 for balcony 😞 

You should have been given the cost at the date of your booking, not what the cost is now.  I would go back to your travel agent and remind them of that.

It was on the whatinport website, dropdown box for Norway then click on the town and then it says cruise calendar for this port the information is there usually date order and details each ship in port.  It's also useful to check if there are any other ships in port when your ship is in.  You can then see how busy it will be.

Oh I didn't realise it was Alesund in place of hellisylt.  We were on Aurora last week and our timing for Alesund was 7am - 5pm.  Will be similar to those times, also Aida Nova is in Alesund the same day.

Ive checked for Olden, arrives at 9am leaves at 6pm.  Stavanger 8.30 - 5pm, Hellisylt 7 - 4.30, Haugesund will probably be 9am arrival and leave 4.30.  

whatsinport.com should have the information you need.

57 minutes ago, cruzadict said:

Have they brought back Muster drill today? Last week you just scanned your keycard in your muster station when you boarded.

We were told when we boarded about it.  Asked one of the crew and he said they have to do a physical drill every 6 months and today was the day!

Onboard now, looking at my holiday app only 1 if the 4 bookings I’ve made is on there.  I’ve taken screenshots of my booking so will go down to reception after muster drill at 4pm. Not done one of those for years!  Had a lovely peninsular lunch with a couple of glasses of wine. In the crows nest having an elderflower fizz before we go to muster. 

4 minutes ago, paulatsea said:

I’m on R317 - just had email saying cannot book in advance ! - but I also see Sindhu is bookable - do you think they will honour the booking ? As you have paid upfront I assume it’s yes. Interesting.

Ive not had an email, but as the money has already gone out of my bank account I would think so.  

I've just logged on to My P&O cruises to print off another luggage label and have noticed the dining booking for both Sindhu and the Beach House are available to book.  They have always been enquire onboard previously ,  The Glass House is still enquire onboard.  Lots of availability if anyone going on that cruise wanted to book now.  

I've booked a couple of dates as you get your Peninsular discount if you book prior to boarding.  

24 minutes ago, ParisHilton said:

Given that they have a completely captive audience with onboard credit to burn. I'm surprised they don't charge even more than that!

I know we only buy if there are definitely no other options to spend the OBC on. Would rather spend it on leisurely breakfast in the Keel and Cow or yet another bottle of perfume 

56 minutes ago, ParisHilton said:

 

Can you give an indication of sweet \ crisp prices?

I'm quite impressed at drink prices. Obviously not supermarket, but I doubt you'd get cheaper in any town centre location that isn't a 'spoons'

 

Bring your own sweets and crisps onboard the prices are horrendous,  think Tescos not on offer and double that!

48 minutes ago, AndyLovesCruises said:

Love this larger room, what would I ask for when booking?  The cat's online are balcony or deluxe balcony but this extra space looks superb! 

There are only 8 ED grade super deluxe cabins on Iona and Arvia decks 10,11,12 & 14, 2 on each deck next to suites.  4 EE grade super deluxe cabins on deck 9 and 15.

The EE grade are cheaper but are the same size, Its because of location on deck 9 you are right above the clubhouse and its noisy.  Deck 15 you have the sundeck right above you so could be noise from sunbeds being moved and the balcony looks completely covered by the overhang.

We had ED grade cabin on deck 14 on Arvia, it was fabulous.  You can see a video of this on Youtube to give you an idea of the size.

Ive had that before, cleared cookies and it was ok.  Might be worth a try

There's a named storm up there at the moment with very strong winds >40mph this afternoon, tomorrow all day and Wednesday morning, according to the BBC weather website.

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

Can you book Olive Grove and Keel & Cow on embarkation day for any day of the cruise, rather than just on the day?

Keel & Cow is only bookable on the day, We would always try and get there by 6pm to get a decent table.

3 minutes ago, Angel57 said:

You haven’t been able to pre-book restaurants on Aurora before getting on board for quite a while. Suggest you do it as soon as you on there.

Enjoy your cruise. We had a great time in June.

We will do, only like the glasshouse and possibly the beach house. Not keen on Sindhu since Atol Kochhar left. 

We’re on Aurora on the 15th August, can’t book restaurants says enquire onboard 

1 hour ago, Minnie29 said:

Do any of the other speciality venues serve breakfast or lunch and can you book prior to boarding? 

Not that I know of, you don't need to book Keel and Cow just walk in.

There's always The Quays as well for breakfast.

14 hours ago, Minnie29 said:

Is it a good breakfast in nice surroundings though?

what is the breakfast menu like?

We had breakfast on Arvia in the keel and cow nearly every day.  The breakfast was hot and freshly prepared unlike the MDR where the English breakfast was only just lukewarm.  
 

we had fresh orange juice (free), tea and coffee (free), bacon and egg roll (£3.50) , eggs Benedict I think that was £4.  They also do other items but not sure how much they were.  
 

very quiet and the staff get to know you and what you like, plus favourite table etc. we really enjoyed it in there. We did have tons of OBC to use though. 

5 hours ago, P&O SUE said:

I’m on this cruise and ironically got the email as we were sailing into Amsterdam this week on Ventura. At least they’ve told as with plenty of notice.

 

I booked it primarily to try Aurora but also hope to visit Keukenhof. I’m not too worried about the change as I’ve been to Amsterdam a few times but not Rotterdam. Sorry you’re disappointed though. I’m fairly sure they’ll go to Keukenhof from Rotterdam but the new excursions aren’t up yet.

Ive been doing some YouTube research on Rotterdam and it looks interesting.  Will wait and see when the excursions are available what is on offer especially for Keukenhof.  I don't want to go to Amsterdam with a 2 hour return journey time, we will have to do Amsterdam another time.

44 minutes ago, happy v said:

This won't be of any help if you just want to go to Amsterdam. If the tulip festival, Kuekenhouf is your main focus we went from Rotterdam and it is almost equidistant between there and Amsterdam. The drive went passed a lot of tulip farms so was very nice. 

Thanks for that information,  I'll check to see if there are excursions from Rotterdam on the cruise personaliser before I cancel as the tulip festival is the main reason for the trip.

Ive sent the email, I'm expecting a 28 day response time! I'll keep you updated of the outcome.

14 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Absolutely! And they’ve pulled this stunt before, using the same evasive catch-all wording that they use when they’re hiding something.

 

Last time round it was Amsterdam city charges they were trying to avoid and it’s probably a similar situation this time. 
 

Depending on circumstances you should be able to obtain a full refund.

I’m going to email them regarding this , I’ve only paid £90 deposit but it’s the principal.  They must have known about this when I booked 2 weeks ago.
 

 I specifically booked this as it’s the 75th anniversary of the tulip festival.  I don’t want to spend hours travelling to and fro.  

Just had a notification from P&O that due to operational reasons we are not now overnighting in Amsterdam we will be overnighting in Rotterdam. All booked excursions for Amsterdam will be cancelled and refunded.  

I only booked this direct with P&O two weeks ago specifically because it docks in Amsterdam.  If I wanted to go to Rotterdam I could have booked another ship.  I am so annoyed.  I will probably cancel this as the whole point was direct access in Amsterdam and no travelling and to be able to get to the ship if we wanted a rest. 

We booked 3 cabins on early saver linked the bookings. 2 cabins were near one another and the other one was half the ship away.  This was on Iona last august. I ended up changing my booking to a balcony on deck 5 near to the other 2 sea view cabins that my children and grandchildren were in. Cost me an additional £400!