wowzz

I'm not too bothered about who the captain is, but I agree that the character of the captain, and his/her interpersonal skills does have a bearing on the whole ambience of the cruise. On our last Princess cruise, the captain was very visible, and at one point was seen serving at the ice cream kiosk, which was a first for me !

That, of course, is a perfectly sensible comparison, especially as you are taking the historic cost differential into account.

Again, it depends where you board. Ports such as Southampton and Barcelona screen your luggage, but the staff are not looking for bottles.

One for Phil

I agree. But those two ships have only a maximum of five years life in them. So, sweat the assets, and increase the prices as much as possible. Many posters on here have said that they will no longer cruise with P&O when these ships go, so, to be brutal, get as much profit as you can, by increasing prices as high as possible. If you increase revenue by 30%, and lose 10% of your clientele, you are still making more profit.

Post on the Ports of Call forum. John Bull will give you great advice. Personally, I avoid hotel restaurants !

Depending where you board, no one cares !

But, again, that applies to all cruise lines. Why are P&O being contrarian ?

Unfortunately P&O/Celebrity is a business, with shareholders and a massive debt mountain. Those institutions who pumped $30bn into keeping Carnival from going bust, want their money back, and providing a better range of choice is not really relevant, unless it generates more profit. If I was P&O CEO, I would be tempted to increase the fares on Arcadia and Aurora by, say 30%,, and see if those customers who love these ships would pay that sort of premium to keep them in the fleet.

I think the issue is, that if the transformation was not made, P&O would no longer be in existence.

Apropos of nothing, we were listening to our favourite music tracks on Deezer (music streaming site) tonight and suddenly , up popped a P&O ad. You could have knocked me down with a feather ! Basically, price orientated advert, and obviously aimed at a younger age group than us, but it does demonstrate that P&O are actively seeking a younger age profile to fill Iona and Arriva (sic).

I appreciate listening to those who have cruised on various lines, as that gives a point of reference. Those who have only ever cruised on P&O have nothing to compare with.

In my experience, the times Princess post, are normally the times you can physically leave the ship. However, with tender ports, all bets are off, as those on Princess tours normally get priority. If you book private tours, the operators usually arrange a pick up time an hour or so later than the scheduled disembarkation time, to allow for delays, queues etc.

Yes, but they could self isolate regardless.

Yes, although you would have to be really ill.

Frankly, why will anyone report to the medical centre ?

But Princess and other lines publish the timings. Why do P&O adopt a different approach ? After all, by all accounts, if you ask, P&O will quite happily give you the port timings.

Just one other point. If you are flying overnight, you will probably be landing at LHR between 6am and 9am. Therefore it is unlikely that your hotel room will be ready. Spending 3 or 4 hours in a hotel lobby with jet lag is no fun !

I think long delays are no longer so prevalent as they were. And your final destination would have had no bearing on the delay. Personally I would be comfortable with a flight leaving anytime after 11am, but would self disembark as early as possible, to build in some leeway.

The Ramblas is always busy and full of life (mainly tourists) and yes, pickpockets are an issue, but it is certainly not dangerous. Walking along it is perfectly safe, safer than some cities in the UK and the US! Leave all your valuables in the hotel and just carry one credit card and some spare cash. Don't let the scare stories put you off.

You can book two people on a group tour, but the tour is not confirmed until SDT have 14 people booked. They will then ask you for payment. And yes, Ronda is amazing.

Just a thought - why not go direct to a hotel in Southampton for the night before your cruise ? Seems a bit pointless to spend a day and a night in a typical airport hotel, when you could stay in a better hotel in Southampton.

Nice of them to be prepared if you say you have a headache!

Shame really. I know Princess monitors YouTube videos, as the bloggers often get feedback from Princess management. By using SM effectively, companies can show that they are listening, care about their customers, and turn negatives into positives. P&O obviously do not have that mindset.

MB - you obviously have had a lot of dealings with P&O over the last year. Do you have any idea if anyone at P&O monitors these pages ? I'm obviously excluding Moley.