wowzz

Jimmy - excellent post, as always, but I feel your logic is beyond the grasp of some. Interestingly, we are on Sky this Saturday, out of Southampton, and the roll call on another social media group, is full of chatter about how people are looking forward to getting dressed up. Lots of photos of dresses and tuxedos being posted. I think that there is an increasing divide between the US philosophy of "I'm on holiday and will dress how I want" and the UK philosophy of "I'm on holiday ,so will dress differently and more smartly to how I would do normally ". And who am I to say which is right ! As an aside, I have booked a cruise today with a small UK cruise line - their dress code states, amongst other things, no polo shirts at night ! But, their ship, their code!

We are flying out to Malta next year for an Azura cruise, and will be ordering wine to be collected at the duty free in BHX.

We booked Azura for next April, and got £100 more obc than on the P&O website, plus a slightly cheaper fare. Not a fantastic gain, but from a Wowzz perspective, five free bottles of house plonk.

Just be aware that the lifts can be jammed full. It can be a bit fraught unkess you disembark really early.

But that is the risk you take. You get a great price, but that comes with a potential downside.

Why sit in Southampton ? Go to Salisbury, go to Winchester, go for a proper pub lunch ! And the bars on board ship will be open, so your point about the package is invalid.

Thanks, but there are plenty of others on here who cruise with both lines, and whose opinions I value. So no need to wait for me !

Read the contract. Princess have honoured it to the letter, and have given obc when they did not have to do anything.

They sell a cruise, and, as with all cruises, throughout the year, all ports areweather dependent, so your point is invalid. And Sky is arriving in Southampton on Thurdsay night, so only one day early, and a far better option than floating about in the Atlantic in the gale force winds.

But why should Glasgow have a supplement of £175 versus £50 for Manchester. ?

I'm hoping none of them spit in their beer !

It is not a chance taken by Princess. They have done exactly what they had to do. Got their passengers safely from the US to Southampton. Plenty of compensation available from individual insurance companies.

The discussion about bidding will soon take over this entire forum. On the Princess forum, the bidding thread is now over 50 pages long !

Why ?- it's an Act of God, and outside the control of Princess. It's a chance everyone takes when booking a TA.

Thanks for all the replies. Always good to get a choice of opinions. When I did my sums more diligently, the aft suite on Britannia was costing around £60 per day more than Saga, and the price differential would have been even more if we had gone for the lowest cabin category on Saga. So the pricing, plus the fact that even although the suite looked fantastic, we would, at the end of the day, still be on a mass market cruise ship (which is not being judgemental) swung the balance in favour of Saga. And also, time may be running out for us to experience small(ish) ship cruising. End result - just booked Saga for next year. Five cruises now booked , counting the one starting on Saturday. Mrs W is now hiding the brochures away !

Well, the ship has to come to Europe some time!

If it is like the Princess system, you are told if you are not successful, and iirc, you can then rebid.

But probably only (!) £2000 if you had booked in 2022.

I think you might have issues with AmEx in Norway. https://thenorwayguide.com/make-sure-your-credit-card-works/?utm_content=cmp-true

All cruise lines offer free water, but not always free bottled water. The water out of your bathroom tap is perfectly drinkable.

Thats the phrase - I wasn't sure if everyone would understand what I meant, if I used it.

But if you had booked at launch, whilst there would still have been a price difference, it would not have been as large. Booking late with Saga is a bad idea.

But it's not just about unsold cabins, it's also about maximising revenue. So, assuming that there are, say 6 minisuites available - 6 people from deluxe balcony cabins will bid and get upgraded, meaning that 6 people from std cabins will bid and get upgraded, and so forth. P&O will therefore be able to maximise revenue across all cabin grades.

Sorry, I still don't see why Princess should give you compensation for something that was outside of their control. They didn't have to give you anything ! So we will just have to agree to disagree. As an aside, missed port cover is pretty common - perhaps you should change your insurance provider.

Sorry, I have to disagree. You chose to take a TA cruise at a time of year notorious for bad weather. They still got you safely to the UK. No different to a flight being diverted due to bad weather. Princess looked after you, and, despite what you say have not cut your cruise short, because you can still use all the facilities on the ship on Friday in Southampton. Why not take the opportunity to visit Salisbury or Winchester ? So, no sympathy from me I'm afraid.