Ehg

We are sailing on Iona in 3 weeks. Yesterday we received a call from P&O informing us we have been downgraded to a mini-suite due to “safety issues”. We were due to be in one of the forward suites on deck 12. Anyone got any idea What the “safety issue” might be?

As a UK resident both of these seem crazy to me - on our little island we find any distance a chore! 😂 if you’d like a suggestion, I would recommend either hiring a car or getting a taxi and going to Lymington (or if you hire a car you could just explore the South coast, which is beautiful). Lymington is a lovely Georgian town with an active sailing scene, loads of fabulous places to eat and a very pretty nature reserve walk. However, if you’d like a recommendation between the two, I would also go for Windsor for exactly the reasons given by BklynBorn47. It’s an extremely pretty town and quintessentially English. The late Queen’s favourite home 🥺and home to Eton Collage. 😊

Hi Ivor! I was just thinking about you as I was reading the latest responses and hoping you are both well! It’s not looking promising for the drinks package I don’t think! How lovely to hear from you. Sending lots of love to you both. 😘😘

Wow! That’s nifty! Thank you!

Also, thank you for bringing my attention to my out of date signature. I’ve now updated as it had some cruises on there which sadly didn’t happen. 😩

Hopefully my last post will explain. 😏

Thank you both for these really helpful responses. You’re right that we have previously had the premium drinks package on Celebrity which basically means you don’t have to pay for anything extra. And we’ve not sailed on P&O since the drinks package was introduced, so we’re curing to know how it compares. Not well it seems! I think we will board and decide, but I’m so glad I asked the question as the responses are really helping me. Xxx

Is there 20% off bottles of champagne? It says wine but not champagne…..

It seems we have similar drink taste!

Thank you all. The suggestion of waiting till we board is good advice although I’m sure I heard it’s cheaper to buy in advance? If I’m wrong about that then I’ll be delighted….😬

I tried to search for this information on the P&O boards but got 8 “pages” in and only found one post about it and the comments were quite old. We’re sailing on Iona in February next year, it’s our first P&O cruise since the drinks package was introduced. I remember there was some discussion on here at that time about it not being the greatest deal or even worth getting at all. The thread I found seemed to back that up with people saying they refuse to serve doubles (even of espresso!), charging full price (with a discount) for drinks over the maximum limit etc. The last comments on the thread were from April I think and there was speculation that P&O might make some improvements to the package. So my question is to those who have cruised recently and can tell me if it’s a good deal? Thank you 😊

Our absolute favourite Southampton hotel. Highly recommend. 😊

Fantastic 😃

Oooh! I didn’t know they’d built a terminal. Where is t in relation to dock gate 10? 🤔

Great to hear. It’s brilliant to have more choices sailing from the UK. The reason we love cruises is for the fantastic convenience, so it’s super for us. Now we just need a few more lines to stay and do winter itineraries…🤞🏼😃

Grandiosa. September next year out of Southampton. 😃

All booked! Very excited. Thank you so much for all the info. 🥰

Hi 👋🏻 We are thinking of booking our first MSC cruise in YC next September. We are Elite on Celebrity, so have I understood correctly that we can use this status on MSC? Also, I hope I don’t sound like the “gentleman” referred to in this thread kicking off about champagne, but our cruise buddies only drink champagne 🥴 They don’t mind if it’s not top notch but it must be real champagne. Can anyone let me know if this would be included in the cruise fare? This thread has been incredibly useful, so thank you to the author and contributors. 😊

If it socks in Southampton, which I think it will, then there is a great shopping centre within easy walking distance from the dock. There is a big Waterstones bookshop in there. Also plenty of places for Cadbury’s. 😊

On board now and you get access for the whole cruise. We will be heading down shortly. 😃

Any update on docking. No sign of you yet in Southampton. 🤷‍♀️😬

Sorry to gate crash this thread, we are due to board Sky today so very interested to find out what has caused the delay. As Medeba says, all other ships have made it on time. Why did Sky not manage it? Was the ship already running behind schedule? Any info gratefully received while we wait in our hotel room…..😩

Not discounted or free, if that’s what you’re asking. 🥴

Thank you so much for this information, Elwatzero III our friends did upgrade and then the other one became available and we did too! We have spoken to the pre-cruise concierge and he was great. But he hasn’t given me contact details for the SEM yet. When will we get those? Do you remember? very excited. 😃

I’m hoping someone who has stayed in one of the Sky Suites on Sky Princess can help? Our friends have been offered an upgrade (at a cost) to one of the Sky Suites. I know that in normal suites you do not get many extra benefits apart from the bigger room. As these suites are so expensive and fancy, our friends are wondering if there are any extra unadvertised benefits included when booking these suites? Any info gratefully accepted. 😃