wowzz

No disrespect to Vamps, but why on earth would you want to pay in cash ? It's not as if we are talking just a few hundred pounds.

Continuation of shareholder benefit for a further year has been announced.

Princess prices always seem to be high when first released, but do seem to drop about a year out from sailing. But, that is just a personal perpective, and by no means a scientific analysis! And, I really don't believe you can count on always getting good last minute deals. We are sailing on Sky in four weeks time. Currently, the fare for our cabin grade is 30% more than the price we paid eight months ago.

You do need to take obc into account when comparing before and after prices, as it is a major part of P&O's pricing architecture. For example, on our next P&O cruise, our obc is almost £1,000, equivalent to a 20% reduction in the cruise fare.

And how does this work with Princess, when the tip pool is fleet wide, and not ship specific?

Sorry, that has not been my experience. Are you quoting saver or select fares, and have you taken obc into account ?

Normal practice is for ship time to always be local time, so, during the course of a European cruise you may gain or lose an hour on a couple of occasions.

Yes, in a word. Giving the vagaries of cruise pricing, it is always difficult to compare like for like, but the cost of my P&O cruises post the abolition of autotips have been roughly the same as pre-abolition. And my next two Princess cruises are more expensive than the P&O equivalents. However, the point remains that P&O have abolished autotips, and their prices have remained competitive, so it shows it can be done.

You really need to ask Princess this question, as regardless of the answers you get here, only they can give you the final answer. You probably should also check with your airline as well.

Go to the "Live from Sky Princess 25 February " thread. Prices are posted there.

There is a vast difference between the two examples. We "reserve" a table prior to going to the buffet, so that we are not wandering around with hot food, trying to find somewhere to sit. The table is actually reserved and unoccupied for a maximum of 5 minutes. You cannot compare that to someone reserving a lounger, possibly at 7am, and not actually using it until three or four hours later.

Exactky, and fares have not increased as a consequence.

I see the list excludes P&O (UK) where the amount in each column would be a big fat zero !

Got to love Princess selling bottles of water at four times the price than in the nearest supermarket !

Much as everyone wants to knock Mr Padgett, I doubt he spent his time thinking up these concoctions. Blame the marketing team first, and then blame Padgett for giving them the green light !

Which would imply that they are not available in the MDR. Not that I would want to eat one anyway.

I'm not sure that P&O have ever chartered a complete VS aircraft in the last few years.

Interestingly, the new P&O (UK) ships have done away with drawers altogether. Just open shelves.

If under $15, yes.

Will they actually be available in the MDR ? If all three MDRs are open, I'm not sure if the kitchen staff would be able to cope.

Even then, I doubt that the fans of the small ships would be tempted.

The Princess Plus package is much more attractive, although at first it looks expensive. £50pppd, but when you take the autotips into account, plus free wifi, the actual drinks element comes in at well under £40. That buys you 15 alcoholic drinks a day, up to $15 each, plus soft drinks, coffee etc. The big advantage over P&O is that far more drinks, including cocktaiks, fall within the $15 barrier. And if you do want, say, an $18 glass of wine, you only pay the difference, plus 18%, so a total of $3.54. P&O must make money out of the drinks package, and I suspect they would get a greater uptake if the £6.95 limit was increased, and the Princess policy regarding more expensive drinks was adopted.

Normally cheaper to buy in a Spanish supermarket than in the duty free.

Is it because the DP only covers "pump" soft drinks ?

Regardless of the dress code, I find it difficult to imagine wearing the same pair of shoes, day and night, for over two weeks !