Green Cathedral

Yep, I had  a fiver charged erroneously on the cruise before last and it does seem to be quite common. I suspect P&O will be in no rush to make the process more robust because, as another poster suggested, many will let it slide if below a certain amount and/ or they have busy lives on their return from holiday.

4 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

http://jetsettingkids.com/2016/12/game-changing-po-app-cruising-families/

 

Found the article above which relates to P&O Australia. Might be worth families lobbying for the Uk fleet.

It really is time that P&O UK introduced an app like this, they're years behind other companies in adopting it.  I mention it on every questionnaire I submit.

I suppose it depends what you want to do on shore, but we’ve not taken any before and are heading back in a few weeks without any. Cards are so widely used that, to date, it’s never been a problem.

46 & 41 and caught the bug in 2013. We did a couple of NCL cruises in the early years and have been with P&O since. We’re not averse to other lines, but P&O have suited us in terms of timing and itinerary so far.

The sail through the archipelago into and out of Stockholm was worth the cost of the cruise itself to my mind and the old town in Stockholm is also lovely. Funchal in Madeira is another favourite, as is the vibrancy of Lisbon. Most of the ports of call in Norway are hard to beat too, but Olden and the sail into and time spent in Gerainger are wonderful.

I must admit that I'm surprised that this feature isn't standard on new ships and being removed on refurb on the others where it was available. Seems like such a retrograde step in these technological times.

We are due to visit St Petersburg with Celebrity this summer. In the light of the current political tensions between the UK and Russia, how do fellow Brits feel about visiting St Petersburg at the moment? Do you feel there is a significant risk?

We're due to visit in early July and will keep an eye on Foreign Office advice which, at the time of writing, is pretty benign. I think things would need to deteriorate significantly for the port to be cancelled and at the moment we're in the 'tit for tat' stage of diplomatic relations.

Hi all

 

Any experience on P&O? Looking at Britannia early 2019, either transatlantic or Canary/Portugal two week cruise. Hopefully a suite. Any advice for when were on board the ship too?

 

Thanks

Hi and congratulations to you both!

My partner and I have sailed P&O several times now and, as others have said, it has a British outlook and the clientele can be older. That said, we've always seen a good mix of ages, even on the adult only ships. To date, we've always felt perfectly comfortable on board and had a lovely holiday or else we wouldn't go back time and again.

As for Britannia, we'll experience her for the first time in late June, so can't say more until after that! :)

The Foreign Office advice at the time of writing is fairly benign and this is what we'll keep an eye on as we get closer. I don't imagine it'll be cancelled, but if it is, we'll do something else instead, all good. :)

Our son who is 14 is rather fussy about what he drinks and has only water and apple juice. How easily are these obtainable on board,at what cost,and are we able to take a supply of each on board with us?

Do we have to join in the mad rush for breakfast each day or can you have breakfast served in your room? If so does this incur extra costs?

Apple juice is free at breakfast and the tap water on board is drinkable, though bottled water is also available at cost (about £1.60 for 500ml or a couple of quid for 1.5litres). Apple juice is also available from any of the bars, etc. (as I recall Appletiser for the sparkling variety and a pressed cloudy apple).

Hope you have a great time, the fjords are wonderful.

For us, one of the biggest attractions is the opportunity to relax as soon as you arrive at the departure port. We both have fairly intense jobs and just not having to think about things too much is a joy, you turn up, the car is taken away as is the luggage and that’s it; on holiday. No wait at the airport, no stress at the journey to the onward destination at the other side. Also, the chance to see more than one place (often country) in one trip is a huge pull. We do of course enjoy being at sea, there’s nothing quite like it for us and I particularly enjoy the arrivals in port. I can understand that it’s not for everyone, but it works for us.

We were on board and, medically speaking, it was indeed eventful. Yes, one helicopter evacuation in the early hours of the morning and aft cabins were cleared as a safety precaution. The second was round 8 or 9pm, we were in the Belvedere finishing dinner when the announcement was made and again aft cabins were cleared as was the Belvedere. Let's not pretend these weren't inconvenient events, but it was all after all for our own safety, really didn't impact on enjoyment of the cruise dramatically and all nothing compared to the inconvenience and distress of those being evacuated and their friends/ relatives on board. There was also a crew member taken by ambulance just prior to leaving port one day and at least one death as someone mentioned earlier.

I understand the Ship's Doctor mentioned it had been a particularly busy cruise what with these emergencies and a higher than usual number of visits to the Medical Centre.

As I say, it was a wonderful cruise overall, none of these things altered that a jot and I would never consider compensation for something that's occurred from medical necessity (that I would hope would be available to me should I need it) and in the interest of safety. I do hope those who needed medical attention are recovering well and sympathies to the friends and family who lost a loved one.

As Eddie says, I'm thinking Lake District/ Scottish Highlands where one can get four seasons in one day all the year round!

Yep, full balance of our July cruise is blocking me making any credit card transactions as I'd planned this weekend and I doubt it'll be resolved on Monday. An email doesn't quite cut it does it? I've not incurred any charges like some of the unfortunate folk here, but the inconvenience and embarrassment caused warrant some reparation from P&O (and the cost of any charges for those who've received them) at the very least.

I know they're firmly passing the buck to their 'third party payment processes' and I'm sure that's where the error lies, but it is not they that we're doing business with, it's P&O and as far as I'm concerned they are responsible for those from whom they commission work.

Having sailed on NCL prior to P&O, they're different experiences but I think holidays are a bit like wedding receptions; they are what you make of them. So I do like P&O regardless of previous cruises as I've had equally good holidays on both. :)

What about for a couple of 40-something guys who are on a port-intensive Baltics cruise? I ask somewhat in jest, as we have 5 sea days out of a port-intensive 14 day cruise, and I plan on either laying by the pool or using the spa on my sea days. But the above responses have me just a tad worried. Is the average age quite old on Arcadia?

We're a couple of 40-something guys (or will be by the time we're on board Arcadia!) too... it all sounds ideal to me, though we have fewer sea days on our Fjord cruise. :)

Hope you enjoy!

Yes, Green Beans are a bit of a staple on P&O these days! My OH hasn't been able to look at one since our summer cruise last year. His heart sank when they made the first of many appearances again back in May when we sailed.

Apologies for going slightly off topic; I've been looking at a last minute week on Oceana (either Genoa to Venice or vice versa)in September or October. As I've not sailed on her before, I'd be interested to hear about the OP's experiences, or from anyone else who has recent experience of her.

Online reviews of her seem pretty negative. I tend to take online reviews with a pinch of salt as they're usually fairly balanced between positive and negative, but Oceana doesn't seem to come off well even making allowance for her age (not that she's ancient!).

Well I would be VERY upset as Bar Harbour is one of my all time favourite places in the world.

Likewise, I'd be massively disappointed to miss out on Bar Harbor.

Certainly, there were t-shirts without collars on display on Evening Casual nights on the cruise I just returned from. Trainers not so much and deck shoes/ Vans type shoes were the order of the day for many.

We did see people in shorts being discreetly reminded of the time and dress code once 6pm had arrived.

We were on board for this cruise too. Have to say, embarkation went very smoothly (we turned up about half an hour before the allocated time and were moving within 15-20mins), so can't really complain about the new system. We decided to self-disembark as we prefer to get going rather than wait for an allocated slot and we walked straight off and were in the car by 7.30am.

Over the last wee while, there's been much debate hereabouts about food standards and attitudes of staff. As the OP says, food is always subjective and we found the main dining room to be ok, but nothing to write home about. We therefore didn't visit much in week two. The buffet was pretty good the various times we used it and food was plentiful, though I agree the layout (as, perhaps not surprisingly, with Ventura) leaves much to be desired. As an aside, I will never comprehend the absolute stampede for the buffet when it opens (surely there can't be a fear the food will run out?!) and the sheer bloody mindedness of some of our fellow passengers whilst in there is mind-boggling! Many were downright rude, but that's been the experience on every ship/ line on which we've sailed, so not a peculiarity. Sadly.

Didn't use Sindhu as OH was disappointed on our last visit on Ventura and wasn't keen to go again. The Glass House, Beach House and Epicurean were all very good and we made more than one trip to both 'Houses'. Having read many of the comments here regarding food over recent months, I went anticipating a disappointing experience in that regard, but have to say that we didn't find much to fault.

Staff, from Cabin Steward to waiting staff to officers were to a person wonderful. All were polite, pleasant and a pleasure to be around. One minor gripe was the continual promotion of Sindhu and The Epicurean at meal times, particularly during the first week. We were sometimes approached more than once (though granted by different staff and always very politely) during a single meal and it did become a little irritating. They do flog them tirelessly and had a discount for Sindhu and BOGOF for The Epicurean on the final night.

In summary, everything that has caused so much consternation of late was thankfully not experienced from our POV, so delighted to say we had a wonderful trip!

On the whole, they're pretty good, though I was left a little green around the gills crossing the BoB on Ventura last year. We had a decent swell and the 'motion discomfort' bags were out in force... thankfully, I didn't quite need those!

I should stop reading this thread, it's depressing me for my Azura cruise in May!

The OH is delighted that Green Beans are still ubiquitous... he hasn't been able to as much as look at one after the last cruise! Have to say, last year we found both the buffet and MDR average. The food in both wasn't inedible by any means, but nothing to get excited about. Mind you, as we commented at the time, it was no better or worse than that you'd expect at an average wedding and in some ways it's the same sort of mass catering operation that's underway.

We ate in speciality restaurants several times as a result. Perhaps that's the cunning plan! ;)

Sadly, missed out on Cadiz on our cruise last year due to weather. As others have said, Cartagena is absolutely do-able on your own. We took an excursion and it was pretty clear within 5 minutes of being on the bus that we could easily have done it on foot... and most likely beat the bus!

It's a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' situation for any cruise line. Personally, whilst it would be disappointing, I'd rather they erred on the side of caution if they felt the risk too great. That said, these things could happen anywhere at anytime. Balance of risk is key.