sweep2907

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.

Day 3 - Sea Day / Celebration Night Was up early to secure a decent sunbed around the pool for the day and before you shoot me down in flames I stay with it and observe the goings ons....... another hot day around 25c for the third day running. This time of year sun appears around 8am and if you are worried about sun and temperatures it has been mid 20s most days and not lower than 21c. Can be hit and miss of course as two weeks ago we heard the weather was not so great. Had the usual live signing at lunchtime around Coral Pool and Jukebox Hero where you guess the songs and artists. The usual 38/40 won it which left us way off the pace. Service for drinks excellent and never had to wait long before someone took your order. The queue for burgers and hot dogs was quite long at peak lunch time so grab it early doors or later in afternoon. Celebration night so got all dressed up and had couple of glasses of bubbly in atrium as Cpt gave a short speech. Apparently 1100+ new people to P&O this cruise out of 3000. Epicurean for dinner and wow just blew me away again. I'm glad as always loved this place but had a bad experience last year on Britannia and this more than made up for thst blip. Superb service and food and couldn't fault it and it was very busy which was nice to see. Pre covid these places really were quite empty but seems all speciality places are busy at the moment. I went to 1030pm performance of Badness which was packed. Best Madness tribute I've seen and I've never seen a P&O audience get so involved and plenty up and dancing as you have to do with Madness tunes. Bravo P&O for something a little different.

Day 2 - Tenerife Had breakfast in Peninsular and sadly food and service was rather off and has to be one of the worst dining experiences of my time with P&O. I addressed this with head of restaurant afterwards to give feedback. Knowing the ship would be half empty until lunchtime onwards, we chose to go for a stroll. A big recommendation from me for the coffee lovers is a lovely coffee shop called We The North and reasonably priced compared with the UK. Got back to ship about midday as the days coaches were turning up from the airport. We headed for a sun bed and plenty to be found due to everyone not having arrived yet. Glasshouse for dinner, was easy to get a table tonight and food was as good as ever and it remains my favorite. Maria and her team looked after us well and i simply love those big Prawns for starter! We did Headliners after dinner who did a great performance of their film and musical numbers which finishes with a James Bond medley. Finally we were on our way from Tenerife which we saw from the back of the boat around 930pm. Day at sea and a little lie in tonight as we set sail for Funchal.

Day 1 - Tenerife After lunch we wandered into Tenerife and browsed the shops,but I had been here before and knew it well. There was a lovely big nativity scene in town and this close to Christmas it really is worth wandering out after dark to see all the lights. Ate in Peninsular Freedom dining tonight and found the food much better than Britannia last year. P&O have definitely produced excellent puddings this cruise as well,as I've never found them much to write home about previously. Lovely apple crumble tonight after braised rump of beef. We had an early night as did many as bars were quiet at 9pm,where half way through the football, we lost signal as tends to happen in Tenerife. We had been up since 330am as had many and the other half of ship were going home in the morning. One little grumble is why P&O are one of those companies who do Baileys at 25ml rather than 50ml! A double isn't cheap and it's a thimble full. I'm sure it doesn't help we've come from home where we have large free pours whilst watching Christmas movies 😀

Airport and Flying from UK. I hope this will help those coming on a fly cruise to Canaries soon. Flew Jet2 from Bristol and greeted by cheerful check in staff as well as cabin crew. Second time with Jet2 and do like them and they have a good seat pitch in comparison to other airlines for tall people. All you require at check in is passport and they asked us to put cabin no on bags before check in as Jet2 had two flights to Tenerife. Boarding time was 650am but having got to gate at 640am,they'd already allowed everyone to board and by 7am it was almost full and we pushed back before 730 scheduled start time which is unheard of. 4 hour flight ✈️ to Tenerife where we picked cases up and walked straight onto a bus for the port which is around 50 minutes transfer. Arrived at port and all we needed to do is walk to check in as suitcases all handled by staff from coach to ship. Checking in was painless and quick with no queue and we were on board within 15 minutes of arrival at port. Have your passport and boarding pass for cruise at check in port. Cruise cards await at cabin and we quickly went to muster stn on way to cabin. Bags arrived around an hour or so later after we had visited the buffet for lunch. First drink of the cruise of course which is obligatory after lunch! We arrived on Friday 15th so would not leave Tenerife until Saturday evening.

Easy to wait last minute if you have no kids but remember each ship will only take a certain amount of under 16s and won't budge once places gone. That leaves no flexibility for families and need to book early in school holidays. P&Os strategy post Covid was keep prices low and attract a new generation of cruisers and then slowly return to normal, pre covid prices. Even P&O was £100pppn before the pandemic and prices been crazy at times since.

The website you mention closed down and the cruise companies did not like it understandably. However there is another similar site where you add a specific cruise and it will email you alerts when price alters up or down.

Does anyone know in UK if you booked cruise last week but today they offering on board credit, do Celebrity honour new promotional deal or you need to cancel deposit and rebook?

Quick question, I'm looking at latest booking a fortnight Caribbean cruise in 2025 and wondered is it possible to disembark and spend a week in Barbados. I'd then want to get on the charter P&O flight a week later? Has anyone done this or know if they allow it?

Smacks of utter desperation from Celebrity. So in other words it is many of the retreat perks wrapped up in a package costing a whopping daily amount? I fail to see any value whatsoever for passengers not in retreat at that price? They'll be charging for theatre seats next or 50p to use the toilet. They'll have electricity meters in cabins next where you need to top up your electric card at reception. How about your tender on a running meter and pay your fare as you get off?

Always loved Epicurean and had some great meals on Azura and Ventura. However on Britannia during TA last year, it was a poor meal indeed and put us off going week 2. Manager sorted it out with free glass of wine but I was left eating my main whilst my partners was sent back. Should've taken mine back too as was 10 minutes before her replacement came out. Funny how one bad experience puts you off the experience, despite having many good meals there. I will give it another chance on Azura next month.

I see a comment waste of a fiver.....Celebrity/RC give 10% off BLC and over three cruises, I have saved over £1000. For a fiver it's a bargain! So many great offers on BLC if you look about. P&O isn't one of them.

Did 5 night on ventura end November last year and they'd just put tree and decorations up. Although not billed as a Xmas cruise, the Xmas markets had just opened up in Bruges and Hamburg as usually last week of November. Couldn't understand why they hadn't marketed cruise as Xmas markets!

Most of the ideas here are all tried and tested. Celebrity won't do that, IV, Eden were all unique and a new concept. Expect something outside the box to keep ahead of the competition. Agree that it be nice to see more variety from Beyond and other Edge ships. Le Voyage was a great addition so something new along those lines and more new restaurants, losing Petit Chef! Mexican or Indian offering be welcome speciality additions.

We got 33% this morning when saw fb post as was shocked as it a TA on edge class ship with 10 sea days. Never seen more than 5% in UK but see it was over 50% off last night so interesting how quickly it changed. £118pp each for 12 night cruise is bargain and happy with that.

The sooner we goto the new initiative Princess have introduced the better. The best time to book should be at release date and they won't drop prices last minute to fill cabins. Price promise for those booking early, that any drop in future will give them the refund. This used to be the way with P&O, get in early and feel satisfied you won't be penalised. Some of these last minute drops are just ridiculous and it can't be making them much money. Under £50 a night?

I had amazing deal last black friday 2022 where an inside cabin gave me $800 on board spend chucked in! Cruise was never lower after that deal ended. It appears they really are cutting back on giving away OBS.

Having been in SS on Beyond last year, I would 100% never book one again and do not think it is worth all the extra money over Aqua Class. For me either enjoy AC or go the whole hog but with the queues I have heard about in the lounge, I struggle to see the benefits anymore. Saying that, our butler last year never really told us what we could use him for and other than finding us reservations at Eden and changing our excursions, we did not really use him. Other passengers with more experience of SS I know used their butler a lot more for all sorts of things. From 12 months ago the price of SS has gone up significantly and for a lesser product. You do not even get the $800 on board spend anymore but the price has not lowered to reflect this and now gratuities also not included?

Also the most popular restaurants like Eden are often sold out before the cruise. Now despite what some people say they do not hold reservations back for sailing. We boarded at 1105am and one of the first on Beyond recently and went straight to book Eden, they only had a 9pm on the last night and said it was fully booked. That is not to say if you get friendly with manager or are in a top suite, they will not suddenly find a table but just making you aware.

Good advice using shuttle in Zeebrugge to get to Bruges but when returning do not leave too late in the day as there will be a very long queue in a car park waiting for the next coach to take you back. When we did it, it was raining and there is no shelter and waited around 45 minutes for a coach. It will all depend on how many are using it from the port area.

I not sure on return flight as when I did it last year we were on TA so only had return flight in premium. Yes we had early access for premium and paid again to book front 2 seats. Only reason being on previous caribbean venture in premium I was split up from partner as they 3 across in middle and 2 at sides which makes it awkward when mainly couples.

When talking about cruise prices have gone up significantly, we need to compare with the years since COVID where companies needed cash flow back or Pre-COVID. Those of us who have been cruising a while know P&O prices currently are way down on what they were 5+ years ago. My 2014 Caribbean Cruise in November on Ventura was £2200 for a balcony back then and remember we had gratuities added daily to on board account back then. Now I see people grumble at paying £1800 for balcony on the amazing Arvia! P&O been offering such value since 2021 that some of the new prices do seem steep to some but in the grand scheme of things are still good value for what is being offered.

Do not forget those in Baltic/Ligurian Tiers get priority window to book their seats as we had last year, I think at least 48 hours to do so before opens to rest of Peninsular Tiers.