Waju

2 weeks parking start of March for Iona cruise - £160 - what are they playing at????

I just had a quick look and this 35 night cruise is still showing as £100 so I did a 14 night Arvia cruise for the beginning of April and it's showing as £243 😲 CPS that is shocking!

Without going back and re-reading the thread, has anyone said their experience on this cruise was OK?

That's shocking!

I think it'll be OK as I haven't mentioned where its from! It feels like forever since I last emailed you! I haven’t been in touch because I spent Christmas and New year on the maiden voyage of P&O Cruises’ new ship Arvia. You may have seen this cruise in the news… The headlines were along the lines of “Furious P&O passengers claim cruise was so bad it totally ruined their Christmas” So, was this cruise as bad as was claimed? Well, truth is that the papers do quite enjoy to use the ‘ruined Christmas’ headline to get people to click! Some examples from this Christmas include: Mrs Brown's Boys viewers fume amid claims festive special has ‘ruined Christmas again’ I was gifted a cheap turntable – and it ruined Christmas Leeds mum says that 'Christmas is ruined' after claiming Timpson staff broke watch she bought for her daughter Man says Christmas is ruined after he twisted his ankle on Amazon parcel Sometimes, it doesn't take a whole lot to ruin someone's Christmas. So, when a couple of angry passengers onboard Arvia decided to contact the press, of course they jumped on the story. What a great headline that the UK's newest and biggest cruise ship as ruined Christmas - That's exactly the thing that the 'cruise haters who have never cruised' would love to read! But honestly... Yes, there were some organisation issues that meant that we had to queue for our Christmas dinner. Yes, there were some IT issues which meant that the wifi didn’t work. But those are my only complaints. Everything else was wonderful! These are common pitfalls that you get with a maiden voyage - and one reason why I would never usually book a maiden voyage myself! This cruise wasn’t actually meant to be a maiden voyage, It became one when the original maiden was cancelled due to the supply chain issues that are affecting the world right now. P&O Cruises wouldn’t have planned a maiden voyage for Christmas. The mix of maiden voyage teething problems and high expectations for Christmas made for the perfect storm! To counter any disappointment, P&O Cruises gave us £150 per person of onboard credit. This massive gesture must have set them back over £750,000 at a time when they’re not exactly rolling in cash. They also threw the best New Year’s Eve party I’ve EVER been to, So yes, I’m a very happy customer! (And no, I don't get paid to say that!)

I've just been reading an email from a cruise blogger about this cruise - am I allowed to add a link or copy and paste what she had to say about this cruise?

sorry double post 😒

But it's very interesting if you're from Derbyshire!

😲 who would so such a thing? 😉

Yes wowzz there is a little booklet that has all that information. I have written the emergency number and our Nationwide account number on the front of ours and it 'lives' with my travel documents Haven't done it for a few months but there was somewhere on the Flexplus website (or the UKInsurance website as they are the Company you are insured with) where you can get a confirmation of cover letter and just print it off. This was a requirement last time we travelled with P&O. I don't know if this has already been mentioned but I have phoned UKInsurance a couple of times and they have always been super helpful/friendly. Its really easy to get an extension for more than the allowed number of days or, if it is a very expensive cruise, you can extend cover for the higher cost,

This worries us too - not witnessed it with P&O yet but have on another line. It seems the cheaper the cruises get the more we dislike the cruisers (or should it be cruisees?) 😒 I imagine it's a bit better on longer cruises or out of school holidays.

Santa isn't real? 😢 😲

We've just got home from a couple of weeks away at our sons. When we checked through the fortnights mail (99% junk mail) there was a travel agents leaflet for the Black Friday Offers, a 16 night Baltic cruise on Aurora immediately caught my eye as the price was 'from' £824' a bargain price for Aurora. I was very excited as I checked the P&O website for the price now and it is 'from' £1199 😲 Do you think I might get lucky and they'll have some good January sale prices 🙂

If I could just jump in - we had 3 nights on Virtuosa starting 24th September. This was our 2nd cruise on her, our first was the 2nd maiden voyage (apparently there were 4!). She is a beautiful ship, very glitzy and shiny, but if anyone offers you a cruise including alcohol run a mile!!! I don't know why, as an experienced cruiser, I didn't even consider that it would be like a very poor holiday camp at sea. I know I'm going to get shouted down in flames, but the hard working bar staff just could not keep up with the amount of booze being requested. 40 minutes was about the average wait to get a drink, we had a one hour wait for breakfast on the first morning in the MDR and heard 'fellow passengers' effing, blinding and screaming at staff on 5 occasions. I wouldn't do another cruise on Virtuosa which included a drinks package if it was given to me free of charge and a large number of the passengers are not people I would like to meet on a cruise ship ever again! .

Sorry Paul I can't help with single cabin questions but I don't think there are any cabins that open onto the pool/terraces at the back of Aurora - in fact I'm 99.9% sure there aren't. If you choose a cabin towards the aft, even an inside, the 'tiers' are all lined with chairs and tables and a really nice place to sit.

I don't think (in the past 10years anyway) it has ever been a requirement to wear formal dress in the theatre - I stand to be corrected though!

I am in awe of everything you pack into a day Josy. You don't ever seem to sit still ☺️

I'm going to Zeebrugge in a couple of weeks. I read, but please don't ask me where 🙃, that you can get a train to Bruges from Blankenberg which is very close to Zeebrugge for about 12 euros each. I'm looking forward to seeing the replies as they may be helpful to me too.

Thanks for posting this, I got an appointment on Friday for my husband. I'm going to go with him (I'm a 62 year old youngster) to see if they have any spare!

I love the smell of Brut ☺️

Thank you! You obviously love Virtuosa 🙂

Can anyone please tell me if there are tea and coffee making facilities in the Virtuosa cabins? The website seems to indicate not but, if my memory is correct, they did have them on sailings from Southampton. Thank you.

I'm hanging on and hanging on but no news yet 😕 I've only got 13 days left so not holding out much hope that they drop the covid tests!

Thank you Nunagoras and Hamrag for your helpful replies. We would always dress smartly for dinner and although we love to dress up on Gala Night it's just not worth it on such a short cruise.

Hi, we have a 3 night cruise coming up aboard MSC Virtuosa. Can anyone please tell me if there will be a gala evening? I have looked but can't find the answer anywhere! If there is would we be allowed in the MDR without it? We really don't want to lug suits and long dresses sown to Southampton if not strictly necessary. Thank you.