wowzz

By the time you have cleared immigration, collected your luggage, and travelled to Harrods, you will have, at best, a maximum of three hours there, and even then you will be cutting it fine. Fly in a day before - it is the sensible solution, regardless of any trip to Harrods.

No they dont. The venues are usually extremely busy, so no need to offer promotions.

I guess the real issue is that on a ship with 5000 passengers, and only 250 (? -who knows) comnent on social media, how does an outsider decide what is the truth ?

Not seen it on our last two cruises. I think Princess assume that most people will buy the PP package, which includes a 20% discount on bottles of wine, so there is no need for a package.

No one cares about white nights. Basically, the only themed nights are formal nights and dress to impress nights. On a British Isles cruise, there will be a fair number of Brits aboard, and they will dress up (DJs, suits etc) for both nights.

I agree, but as long as there is a label, it will get there. We always use luggage labels that clearly show our names, (not our address obvs) so the luggage will still reach our cabin, regardless.

Phil - you slipped that one in ! On behalf of Mrs P's defence council, can you please give us the evidence that she alone was responsible for breaking the machine. Are you sure you didn't mistake the washing machine for the dish washer, and put your cocoa mug in by mistake, after three pints of Tetley's finest ale ?

Baz - over the years you and I have been on this site, I always felt you were even minded, but in recent days you do seem to have come over as a "do no wrong" apologist for P&O. From various media forums, there is no doubt that the Arvia criuse was a shambles. Why pretend it was perfect?

Princess offers a Plus package that includes 15 alcoholic drinks a day (up to $15 each) payment of autogratuitues, wifi and a few other bits. Cost is $60 a day. Break even is around three glasses of wine a day. It's a bargain.

As long as the luggage gets to the cabin, the colour doesn't really matter !😁

The age premium and additional cruise cover is for one year.

Changeable at this time of year, and it can be breezy on sea days. The answer is - layers !

For a one day rental, that is not a bad rate. Perhaps the OP has unrealistic expectations for a daily rate, and is expecting to pay one seventh of a weekly rate ?

Thank you. I will trawl through all the documentation from Nationwide that is filling my inbox !

Thank you. That is my understanding as well. The discretionary tips do not make up the "bulk" of their salary.

Seconded ! Can I ask one further question to those of you with the flexplus account. Do you get a travel insurance cover document, showing the various cover levels, that you can present at check in, if you are asked for proof of insurance ?

Just clarify this for me. I book a Princess cruise in the UK. I pay the Princess Plus fare, so, in effect I have paid the gratuities. The autotips are then shared amongst eligible crew members throughout the fleet. Are you saying that these eligible crew members still have to rely on discretionary tips over and above the autotips to make up the bulk of their salary ?

I still find that hard to believe. Whilst I see more tipping when cruising in the US than in Europe, the amounts given in the main do not appear to be sufficient to make up the bulk of the crew wages. And, as I mentioned earlier, rightly or wrongly, when cruising in Europe, the amount of additional tips (over and above the autotips) will fall considerably. By your reckoning, on European cruises the staff will be working for nothing.

You miss my point. Various crew members, as you point out, will get a share of the autotip pool. That obviously supplements their salary, and of course I would never remove the autotips. The point I was making is that supplementary tipping to individuals is not in itself a living wage. You have totally musconstrued my argument.

Whilst I am not a great P&O fan (prefer Princess myself), I don't think what happened in 2018 is of any relevance today. There are many negative and posiive posts on here regarding P&O cruises taken in the last six months, which are far more valid than a critique from five years ago. You also appear to be a regular cruiser on Azamara and Oceania, so it is not really relevant to compare P&O to cruise lines that are far more expensive.

We cancelled within 14 days, so no issue. I would imagine that you would not get a refund, otherwise everyone would be cancelling their annual policy after their last holiday of the 12 month period.

I didn't realise that the flex plus account did not need to be your main account. So, opened one, cancelled Avanti, and am over £200 a year better off ! Thank you.

I have a feeling that nowadays, with greater legislation, more stringent insurance requirements, etc,it would be less feasible now than in the 90s. For the sake of the OP I hope I am wrong.

Other cruise lines seem to be quite happy to give out timings. The timings for our Princess cruises this year have been available on the cruise planner from the day I booked. Are P&O cruusers more liable to complain than those on other lines?

But if travelling from Southampton, I thought you could get luggage labels from the porters ?