sweep2907

Found the article which interestingly was Jan last year. https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/travel-agents/po-cruises-president-confirms-intention-to-hike-prices

Yes I'm aware this had been Ludlow's strategy, recover from Covid and introduce massive new audience to P&O and then put prices back to where they were 2020. For new P&O passengers it looks like massive price hike but for regulars it is no more than we paid pre covid. As earlier poster said, we will see the end of last minute deals where prices of under £50pppn have been seen. As indicated future sales have been really strong for 2024 and ahead other than Caribbean where there is hesitancy to book until flight situation sorted. They'd definitely rather fill 90% at higher prices and sail just under capacity. Don't forget friends and family get offered late deals at reduced prices on those cruises which have struggled to sell cabins.

Nothing worse though is there when you show your loyalty to a company on opening day. Then 12 months later see your balcony is £1000 cheaper. Personally I prefer the way Princess now operate where it will not be cheaper than at opening day price.

Not sure about anyone else but it appears the company are finally not lowering their prices last minute to ridiculously cheap prices. I've had a look through last minute deals over next few weeks and hardly anything under £100pppn. It would be nice to return to the old days where you had confidence booking early,knowing prices wouldn't drop way below what you paid. In return it would be lovely just to see standards right slightly towards what they were even 4 or 5 years ago. Anyone else noticed this?

P&O are working furiously on a solution but there simply are not any as no airlines have spare capacity. It seems going forward once flights are all filled on TUI, then P&O will sell all further caribbean cruises as cruise only and it will be down to the passenger to source a flight. This is exactly what would happen if flying out to caribbean for RC, Celebrity, MSC etc Those calling for immediate stop on using Maleth, means you again will need to find a flight to get you to your cruise and not sure people want to be involved in a lottery whereby P&O start cancelling your cruises over the next 3 months? Let's remember Maleth only contracted at this stage up until end of this current season.

Unheard of I'm afraid, drinks packages with any cruise line always cheaper before a cruise. Only saving is taking out day 1 when on the cruise and you are able to take it out from Day 2 so you'd save £40+ by not taking on first day.

I agree they are expensive but not compared with crazy pricing I'm seeing for RC new ships!!! Some amazing celebrity deal on Greek cruises Feb and March at £45pppn which as good as I've seen. So many deals these days, work gets in the way trying to see them all.

Snap! My mum wouldn't even attempt it and I wouldn't let her as I'd end up throwing her off the back of the ship after asking for my help for the 200th time! Not been on Arvia or Iona yet where the app is more prevalent and don't intend to anytime soon. I noticed a poster tell me earlier about Princess who I haven't used yet but plan to. As they both run by Carnival it doesn't surprise me.

P&Os app is hardly 2023 technology and as an IT whizz, even I struggle at times as you have to turn your phone into airplane mode and join ship's Internet etc etc. No wonder older passengers can't be bothered and Celebrity is far easier to use and don't need to switch between WiFi or 4g etc. I simply don't agree that we all need to move towards using their app only. I'm on holiday and want to be flexible and If I want to walk into MDR without joining a virtual queue and ask for a table, then I have every right to. If I'm given a pager and have to go and have a drink in a bar than I'm fine with that. P&O are trying to be everything to everyone and my suggestion would be scrap the virtual queues and for freedom dining, go back to walk ups when you want to eat. I don't need to join a virtual queue anywhere else outside of a cruise ship? Other cruise lines seem to cope without this confusing technology and until they sort their IT systems out and have a clear strategy, they should scrap virtual queues which I didn't use once on Azura recently and got into MDR first attempt every meal.

Bags must be out by midnight and won't see again until you get home at Gatwick etc. Always good to have small travel size toothpastes, deodorant, perfume etc so can take hand luggage. We tend to go out final evening and return to room 9pm and pack clothes we wore that evening and leave out clothes for travelling in.

You will love this! We landed on time around 1650, waltzed straight through passport control in under 5 minutes..then went to baggage carousel and I kid you not, our two bags were in the first 4 that came out. I've never seen such fast service, our bags almost beat us to carousel and we waltzed out door and bus was just pulling up for silver zone car park. We drove out car park half an hour after landing! Impossible to have done it any faster. I may write to Guiness Book of Records.....

Loud music? I cannot say I noted any loud music anywhere at anytime. If you aren't keen on music, it probably best not to sit around main pool, Breakers Bar area as they do play music all day but wouldn't have called it loud. Never noticed any music in buffet? All I heard was indistinct chatter from the masses in there. Not a buffet fan to be fair on P&O as I feel I am at war and need protective equipment and my stress levels and intolerance of rude people is far better managed by being waited on in MDR and a less stressful experience all round.

Summary Although I tend to cruide with Celebrity these days, I am still a fan of P&O and this was my first cruise on P&O for 12 months since Ventura and Britannia. Have to say food in MDRs was excellent and a lot better than the other ships mentioned a year earlier. Epicurean was as good a meal as I'd had in that venue ever as was Glasshouse. As mentioned the moodiness or lack of warmth from staff in MDRs was noticeable this cruise and a far far cry from the interaction you get on celebrity. I've never experienced this before on P&O and wonder if the company are not looking after them as well?? For what we paid the cruise was amazing value, and I wouldn't hesitate to do this cruise again every winter! Azura and ventura remain my favorite ships in the fleet. I asked a lot of other passengers about Arvia and was put off from trying it so for now will stick with the older ships in the fleet. Well done P&O for a great cruise with good entertainment all round, good food and overall a positive experience. 8/10

No bookings allowed on this last week and we had no issues on the evening we chose. No one mentioned they'd had trouble getting a table and was often busy when I walked through. My tip is go in 530ish for pre dinner drink and let them know you want to eat which is what we did. When kitchen opened, Maria came over and took the food order.

Sindhu is per item. EPICUREAN is one fee £30 pp from memory but superb! Beach House adds extra for things like steaks or seafood kebab. Glasshouse per items and just turn up.

No I think £20 prepayment was taken as payment for two mains which came to just over £20 and also 20% off the starters.

Yes pay per item.

Day 7 - Lanzarote Awoke to clouds and cloudy forecast all day. Had hour of blue skies 9am and patchy thereafter. I decided to stay on ship and make the most of my last sunbathe before going home. My partner strolled into the marina which was apparently lovely and nice spots for cheap drink. Did the 515 individual quiz today and was joint 1st with 14 and then back to room to pack! Did 7pm quiz in Brodies and went for dinner. Sadly due to the most movement of the cruise, my partner left the dinner table before ordering to return to the room. Even I felt the sway tonight. Dinner lovely again in MDR and had venison and cheese board. Good service tonight with drinks order taken promptly. On the whole can't fault the service considering it was 3,000 + guests. That was end of night for me after 8pm dinner as had to go back to room and check on partner and get bags out. Awoken 1am by announcements about smoke on board and turned out to be Air con unit. Mistakenly someone came on into cabins to say no issue and all sorted, soon followed by cpt who didn't announce in cabins so I'm guessing that woke most people up! Woke up in panic at 5am as had forgotten to set any alarm and we were due to leave shop 840am. Final cruise summary to follow...

Day 6 - Gran Canaria (continued) Ate in sindhu tonight which was as lovely as ever being a lover of Indian food. I definitely preferred it when Atol Kocher had his name to it and all dishes individually priced. Having booked before we left and paid deposit, they didn't charge for the main courses. Went next door to see comedian Manuel Martinez who we really enjoyed and is very amusing. He was doing 3 shows and this was the early one so only 50 or so in the Manhattan for this show and he struggled with lack of audience enthusement but played on that well like a true pro. Stayed in Manhattan for The Pinnacle game which is P&Os version of 1% club. You all get a clicker and was good fun with 80 participants all playing along. Another fun innovation for the company we both said.

I totally agree and always one person's opinion can be different from another. Food a massive improvement on Britannia 2022 and not had one bad meal so far. Britannia was so bad we ended up eating in speciality dining 10 nights in the two weeks which shouldn't have to be the case. However the downside to great food this cruise is pretty miserable waiting staff. I always try have laugh and interact with them but most simply not in the mood for it and not experienced this unfriendliness in all my years with P&O. Not all of them of course as some have been lovely but too few.

You just turn up glasshouse and can't book but a must try. Other big one is Epicurean,they book up fast but worth every penny of £30pp. Not done Beach House this time but usually good meal. I personally love Sindhu as lover of Indian food. Epicurean and Glasshouse if had to choose two. Will open up 14 days before.

Bristol was super quick to navigate. 730am flight and arrived check in at 5am and straight through to desk. Security was 15 minutes then relaxing in the main lounge. Enjoy your cruise as its been one of my favorites on P&O going back a while!

Day 6 - Gran Canaria Another first time visit for me personally, and met with cloudy skies and a cooler 20c. Many passengers chose to wear jackets and we did hop on bus on the red route and it's pushing it a bit to say there are enough sites to have such a bus but there you go. First of all we browsed around the shopping mall called Muelle right next to where ship was docked. Good supermarket to buy tonics and cokes for our room on way back too! We saw glimpse of the lovely long sandy beach Playa de las Canteras which is easily walkable from the port. Parque de Santa Catalina is a short stroll across the road from port where there are cafes,bars and shops to buy cheap after shave and perfume etc. Headed back at around 1pm and clouds were dark and it soon began to rain just as we began to watch National Lampoon Xmas Movie around pool. Didn't last long though but as I write this at 5pm, the sun has rarely shown its face today. Last full day tomorrow in Lanzarote and will write final update tomorrow. Never did find a a Ron Miel today to try....this is apparently a local honey rum drink.

Day 5 - Sea Day / Formal Night or Christmas jumpers Another sea day as we headed south back to Canaries and Gran Canaria. I was up early again to see plenty of sunbed reserving and good to see P&O staff removing towels around 930am that had been left first thing without anyone there. There was very little sun around Coral Pool today as sun was front of ship and very low trajectory which meant 60% of beds were in shade all day so always worth doing your homework at start of day as to direction of travel, sun, proximity to bar etc 😀 Live music and jukebox hero around pool again and I chose to do individual quiz today and was packed like I'd never seen score for 515pm quiz where score of only 14 won today. Highest grossing Xmas movie of all time was Grinch huh? Who'd have known. Lovely meal again in Mandarin at 8pm where we happily shared table of 6. Food lovely where I had lamb rump tonight even if service was so slow,we never got out until nearer 10pm and hardly anyone left in there. Not to worry, we headed to Manhattan where Pulse performed some Christmas hits mixed in with other classics such as Reach by S Club!

Day 4 - Madeira First time for me and absolutely loved it! Up early as I'd seen late availability for cable car and toboggan trip with madeira wine thrown in. Queued for 20 minutes at cable car as didn't open until 845am but once it opened, the queue moved quickly. Amazing views on the 15 minute trip up to the top and then a good chance to take some good photos which included Azura in port. Then it's a short 5 minute stroll to toboggan place where there was already quite queue due to another ship being in port. We queued for around an hour before settling in and taking the 10 minute trip down to halfway. Quick coffee and custard tart as you do in Madeira and wow very cheap considering it is a chance to fleece tourists! Off on bus to a great lookout for half hour and chance to see island 360 degrees. Then onto taste some Madeira wine which was two samples of dry and sweet. We decided to be dropped off back at ship and come out later to see christmas lights which turned on at 630pm. It is probably 25 minutes stroll into town,past Ronaldo's museum and statue, how big are his hands? The lights are so beautiful and christmas market and we tried some local drinks and delicacies and took loads of photos of the lights. Visiting Madeira at christmas is magical and thoroughly recommend.