Bill Y

Forgot to mention that there were no photographers on board this sailing, don’t know if they have them on shorter cruises where people aren't photographed out. We have not bought any photos for years and quite frankly find the photographers intrusive. But the photo gallery is now an unused, dead and boring area and could do with livening up, maybe an extension to the art gallery?

As this is only our second P&O cruise since the pandemic although we used to sail with them regularly before so I thought that I would share my experiences, of how I found this cruise although we sailed on Ventura last year we have not sailed on Aurora since 2018. As this was an early saver we did not qualify for CPS parking. So tried Parking4Cruises as all the places that we used to use have become very expensive since the pandemic. We applied for our shareholder benefits and found this had been outsourced to “Stockperks” but that was not a problem despite not using apps. Forgot about the ability to book speciality restaurants two weeks before but looked ten days before and there was still good availability not that it was something we were interested in. A year ago it was still said that early savers were given second choice of dinning in the MDR after select fare. Although we were asked our preference by our TA when booking in Jan 23 it’s not available as an option on “myP&O” so asked TA to confirm the request and was told that we had to make the request on board now. Less than 48 hours before embarkation received an email direct from P&O asking us to delay boarding by 90 mins due stepping up disinfection measures due to illness on previous cruise, and the embarkation lunch would now be held at a later date TBC. Had a slight wobble with parking4cruises, as we did not know how much time to allow for the handover of the car and assumed that Aurora would have a lot of priority boarders. So tried to ring them two days beforehand, left a message on answering machine and the following day sent an email, assumed that they were not staffed as there were no ships in port. However still could not contact them on embarkation day, no text message asking us to reply when we were half and hour away. We were relieved when arriving at the short term car park to find they were still in business. There was only one car in front of us but there were cars backing up behind us. There were queues outside Mayflower and a holding pen for early arrivals but there was a notice “priority boarding” the man there checked our boarding passes and allowed us to enter via that route. Check in was immediate and we were called to board, as we approached the entrance to security everything came to a grinding halt and we were asked to take seat. I think people were getting miffed as they kept announcing for Caribbean and above to board then when they tied being told to take a seat. Half an hour after arriving at Mayflower we were on board never had such a delay going through security, we appreciate on a 19 night on Aurora there will be a lot of priority boarders but it must have only got worse once coaches etc started arriving. Asked reception about dining requests and were told that there was a podium outside Meridian that would staffed from three PM, When we visited this podium was told that they already had our request and had allocated appropriately. So much for P&O telling TA that we now had to make request once on board. We had hoped that since this was a longer cruise that one of the two port presenters would be on board. Explorers said that port presentations were no longer made, we know from CC that there was a presenter on the 65 night cruise. We asked the loyalty manager about booking a cruise that had a presenter on it, they confirmed that there were two port presenters but all they could suggest was asking Explorers about their deployment despite us saying it was a major consideration in booking another cruise. Needless to say we missed the port information being presented to us as a talk and it left a gap in the sea day activities. The activities often clashed, there appeared to be little thought given to when films and talks would be scheduled, we had to watch a film in two segments in order to have lunch at a reasonable time. After a few days we checked my on board account and found an extra debit of twenty odd pounds charged to DW. When I reported to reception that DW’s cruise card appeared to have been compromised as she had not even used it apart from opening the cabin door, the initial response was to contact the spa as that was where the charge came from and it was managed separately. They were told that it was our P&O account that had an unauthorised charge and the Spa was their concessionaire not ours, and how can a change be made without a card being presented or anything signed. A phone call was made then the phone was handed to me and a man presumably from the spa said we would be refunded when asked about the timeline and was told up to seven working days. I asked reception for me to see a senior manager, one could not be produced, a credit card was mentioned and I said that no credit card was involved, it was my P&O on board account that been compromised and how could this happen without visiting the spa or my wife’s cruise card being presented. More phone calls were made and I was told it would be sorted. I was still concerned how the system could allow this to happen as if we had not checked the account until the end of the cruise we probably would not have spotted it. Despite using the analogy of going to the casino asking for some chips then saying charge it to cabin x the situation was beyond their comprehension or they were acting dumb. I felt sorry for the reception staff as they appeared fearful of escalating my complaint upwards, I will not comment further until I have taken it up with P&O. We had not been on Aurora since 2018 and thought the condition of her to be good despite there being a few chairs whose arms had seen better days, The captain said that he had reviewed her lifespan upwards in the last year it now being seven years (famous last words). Aurora was earning P&O money but he had heard from on high that no more small ships would be built. The food in the MDR was adequate I suppose, no lobsters apart from sunbathers were seen outside the speciality restaurants. We had second seating which was quiet along with the second theatre performance, gone it appears to be necessary to turn up early to get a seat, whether performances have gone out of fashion in favour of quizzes or other bar entertainment I can’t remember so many quizzes so late. It may be that people retired early, as despite being mid-seventies we felt like the youngsters on board. Drinks menus were not displayed on tables but could be produced, the selections of cocktails was very poor and mostly resolved around gin, asked about classic ones not on the menu and were told they may be available if the bar had the ingredients. We had forgotten about the embarkation lunch and it appeared as a disembarkation lunch two days before Southampton. It was a good cruise the weather was a bit variable, cold on Mount Etna which a port presentation would have warned us about, luckily we had big coats taken for rain but essential for near freezing winds. Novovirus reared its head after a few days and after a week hand washing was enforced in the buffet and the library was often closed. We and our dining companions did not succumb, but we did not eat in the buffet. The disembarkation went smoothly and we collected our car from Parking4cruises.

Relax Andy it's Aurora. Still not news I wished to hear.

Been notified that boarding will be delayed due to stepped up disinfection measures less than 48 hours before embarkation and asked to arrive one and a half hours after boarding pass time and that Loyalty embarkation lunch "will be held during the during the course of the cruise" So what is anyone's experience of this? Do people obey this request? Or is it a bun fight with people turning up waving their boarding passes and saying that they had not been notified of the delay? Is priority boarding still recognised ahead of the chancers? it seems a recipe for chaos.

Undoubtedly with the introduction of the two mega monsters the capacity has been stretched. We were surprised last year when booking onboard for 2025 to be told to confirm with CPS ASAP.

As others have said you download your luggage labels after online check in and also boarding passes. For our upcoming cruise we were emailed directly by P&O (not via travel agent) exactly three weeks before advising us that "online check in is now open" however there was the warning when we did this "If your cabin has not been assigned yet, please continue to complete your personal details and check back later to download your luggage labels".

Aurora is an all weather ship capable of long voyages, have not personally sailed on Oceania but have heard it said that Oceania was built for Princess for warm weather cruising so plenty of space outside but not so good when everybody was confined inside. @molecrochip may be able to shed some light on the decision.

Well said! This is a pet peeve, planed obsolescence. These devices should come with a government health warning, I noticed a few years ago that John Lewis had disclaimers on “Smart TVs” saying that neither they nor the manufactures could be held responsible for third party software ceasing to function. If you upgrade a devise then often software requires a chargeable upgrade too. A good reason to adopt an if it ain’t broke don’t fix it approach, my two laptops run XP and 8.1. Rant over.

Interesting, Stockperks did not seem aware of that, just said that they were going to bring out a desktop version. Do you need an Android emulator or similar to achieve this? Most banks etc offer online access (PC) and mobile access (Apps) so there is not a problem, but some banks like Atom require an app and an attempt to access it via Google play from my laptop is met with “This app is not available for your device”. I am genuinely interested in being able to do this.

Yes, most satellites used for broadcasting stay in approximately in the same place "Geostationary" to achieve this they orbit the equator in the Clark belt at the same speed as the earth turns. The direction that the receiving antenna has to point depends on where on the equator the required satellite is stationed. from the northern hemisphere its southerly and northerly from the southern hemisphere. Another point is that some transmitting antennas have the coverage "footprint" restricted, this increases the power and reduces the spill into territories where the there maybe no agreement from a rights holder.

My understanding is that to access an “app” a smart phone is required. Which some people don’t need or want. I don’t think that it’s particularly funny that people without smart phones are unable to open “apps”. There are several reasons why people may not wish to possess or use a smartphone;- Requires a larger screen, Want to use an actual keyboard and mouse device, Unable to operate small touch screen, May not think it’s a good idea to have apps that provide quick access to financial accounts on a device that is carried around in public. One should use technology as a tool not to be a slave to it, although I appreciate that some employers require their drones to always have a smartphone constantly switched on. Unlike teenagers not everyone needs the latest gismo for bragging rights, but each to their own.

I don’t think it’s a case of having your cake and eat it as P&O used to state that the early saver fare gave you second choice of dinning after select. The website https://www.pocruises.com/our-prices-explained now omits “second choice of dinning” merely states “Flexibility required for your desired dining style, dining time and table size in the main restaurant” whereas for savers (presumably what used to be termed as late savers) it’s “Dining allocated upon boarding”. Note even when we book select the restaurant and table etc has only ever been confirmed by a card in cabin. Things may have changed so we are interested when they did. P&O have form on this, there used to be “Vantage fare” which said if they reduced you would receive the difference as OBC, this did not normally happen as any reduction would be a “getaway fare” then we noticed the price had dropped by £100 so we contacted P&O who said vantage fare finished a year ago and you booked a “select fare”. I was interested in the wording people quoted on their P&O confirmations last October as unless I book on board I do not see a “P&O” confirmation as my TA issue their own confirmation of booking and as also has been said you used to be able to see your request on the cruise personaliser.

I detailed my experience on the earlier January thread, including:- To recap, I have a paper certificate and don’t do apps. Emailed Stockperks the details they requested and a recent scan of the certificate. I received an “OBC Benefits Submission Acknowledgement” the same day, three day later I received “Successful OBC Application to Itinerary” I asked Stockperks what happens next, would P&O respond and send out a revised confirmation invoice? I have not had a reply it seems that once Stockperks have issued “Successful” its job done and they wash their hands. But the good folk on here advised the they had received the revised confirmation from P&O straight after the Stockperks Successful OBC application notification. So a day later contacted my TA who has confirmed the additional OBC. When I contacted Stockperks I was informed that they were going to have a desktop version but in the meantime forward the information via email. that was January so don't know if any progress on the PC version has been made.

Thanks to those that replied. There used to be a distinction between “early” and “late” savers not too long ago, indeed the P&O website still mentions that, but the P&O website is often discredited on CC as been out of date. As late as last October it was being reported on CC the booking confirmations were stating "As you have booked under our Early Saver price you will receive second priority for dining. We will capture your dining preference nearer to sailing and we'll do our best to accommodate it, subject to availability. You will receive notification of your allocated dining once on board." So am wondering what happed regarding the “capturing” of the dining preferences as I am not aware of any further posts? So I would be interested in how @NavyPanda, @Marmaduke, @Leomins et al got on? Yes in the past there was always capacity on the late sitting but it would be nice to have the request go in before the cruise rather than queue up after boarding when it probably could have been sorted out easily beforehand

But you are then in the realms of the computer says no, one of the reasons I don’t do apps. I suggested the OP email customer services as it’s staffed by a human but each to their own.