PenrithRambler

12 hours ago, elmsliebev said:

Hi

 

I don't drink alcohol any more but do like some of the alcohol free wines that are now available. 

We are on a 22 nighter in October on Azura with many ports of call so I will be checking out the availability of alcohol free wines in mainland Europe. 

Can I bring AF wine on board at ports and can I drink it in the dining room if I pay corkage?

Are there any AF wins available on board?

 

many thanks

 

On our last P&O cruise (Aurora April 2022) they had Portuguese Red, White and Rose alcohol-free wines in the MDR. My wife found them quite acceptable. I can imagine that availability might vary by ship.

16 hours ago, wowzz said:

I seem to remember seasoned cruisers always avoid  the first cruise after  a dry dock due to  the likelihood of this sort of event.

Isn't that why short 3 or 4 day cruises are always scheduled after a dry dock ?

But bear in mind that the dry dock wasn't scheduled when R208 first went on sale.

We have just returned from Aurora 19 nights to Spain Italy and Greece. We had testing on day 3 of cruise and crew were being tested every 5 or 6 days. Talk was that quarantine cabins on B and C decks were being returned into service for the 5 May cruise

9 minutes ago, AuroraCruiser08 said:

Yes they are, for this specific reason. TA checked and has specifically stated that to them! 

Yet another big black mark for P&O

6 minutes ago, AuroraCruiser08 said:

Just had TA on to P&O about moving out cabin. We has specifically booked a cabin near our older family member traveling with us. They were not asked to move but we have been mkved from E deck after to A forward so as far from them as possible. We asked P&I could we both be moved and the answer was yes but at a fee of £100pp! 

Were the two bookings registered as linked? Would be a stronger case with P&O in such case

1 hour ago, molecrochip said:

Can anyone currently, or recently on Ventura confirm the quarantine zone being used.

 

I’ve got two different sets listed from different sources.

 

Thanks

Is there a rigid allocation of quarantine zones for each ship? I would expect that for each ship there would be identified potential quarantine zones, but the number of such zones required to be used would be decided on a cruise-by-cruise basis depending on various factors, including the length of the cruise. 

Given that the designation of a zone for quarantine involves moving passengers from their booked (and often carefully selected) cabin, one would hope that these designations would be chosen to minimise the disruption to passengers. Unless the ship is fully booked, one would expect the quarantine zones to vary somewhat between cruises depending on the pattern of booked cabins.

This, of course, is the logic from the passengers point of view.

2 hours ago, arlowood said:

Just received an email from P&O yesterday to inform me that as a result of safety protocols they are having to take a number of cabins out of service.

 

They are currently in the process of re-allocating cabins and we will be informed shortly if our original booking has been affected by this process.

 

We are assured that any change will involve a cabin of the same grade or higher and there will be no additional charge if we are allocated a higher grade cabin.

 

Anyone else on the Arcadia 1st May cruise received a similar email?

 

We are always careful to choose a cabin that is away from potential disturbance as we have been caught out on a previous cruise with a cabin directly below the the Belvedere self-service restaurant. We had several broken nights due to noise from above at around 5am as preparations were made for breakfast. I certainly will not be happy if we end up in a similar situation but it seems from the email that it is a "take-it-or-leave-it" situation.

If its any help to you, we received a similar email for our 13 April Aurora cruise 6 weeks before sail date. I don't what definition of "shortly" P&O use, but we have had no further communication from them to tell us our cabin reallocation and what compensation (if any) they are offering. However, we have now had an email saying online check-in has opened. We opened that up, looked at our e-ticket and lo and behold there were the details of the new cabin. So that might be one way to find out.

11 hours ago, molecrochip said:

Not the case John. The quarantine zones are fixed but there is the hope that they can be reduced at some point. That 'when' is unknown. 

 

They are not booking more than the planned capacity. But at the moment, we are still in the Winter 2021/22 program. A program that was on sale and being booked before the pandemic.

 

Once the quarantine zones are reduced, P&O will no longer need to move people in those cabins brought back into general service. P&O are holding out as late as possible in making that decision in the hope that they don't have to move people/as many people.

 

I don't think that is quite correct. We booked R202 on launch on 9 November 2020. There was certainly a pandemic on then! More likely, with vaccinations being rolled out, it was the expectation that things would be back to normal by now. The details of, and even the strategy of, isolation cabins are unlikely to have been established at that time, but rather evolved during the first resumption of cruises. Who knows (other than P&O who won't tell) how many, and which, cabins had been sold by then.

13 hours ago, molecrochip said:

I'm not defending the company, just trying to add some colour from my knowledge.

 

There is a genuine desire to get more cabins open as soon as possible. I've said this before, when do you make the decision to move people? It's only being done 6 weeks out in the hope that the cabins can be opened up and that then not being possible.

 

This pandemic continues to give situations which are not ideal and outside of normal operating procedures.

Like the OP we have been advised that we are being downgraded from our original cabin (B226 on Aurora R202 sailing 13 April and booked at launch). We have been offered additional OBC (as yet unspecified) and a refund of the difference in fare for the (as yet to be) re-allocated cabin. Alternatively, as we are being downgrade we can cancel with a full refund. We do not wish to cancel as we are travelling with friends on what will be our first cruise in over 2 years and on our favourite ship.

You say that "This pandemic continues to give situations which are not ideal and outside of normal operating procedures." and we accept this. However, the corollary is that P&O's response should go outside their normal procedures rather than adopting the brusque take it or leave ot attitude. Engage with the customer. Have a senior manager phone to explain the situation and talk through the options. There are not so many cabins involved per sailing that this would be an unduly onerous task - if the will was there. This would go some way to recovering lost goodwill.

3 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Have we any idea how many isolation cabins were allocated for Aurora and where on the ship they are?  I believe this sailing was sold out so how many passengers are on board. It might sound worse than it is if the allowance for isolation cabins isn't too high. 

 

Wishing everyone on board who is poorly a quick recovery.

We are booked on R202 (sail 13 April) in cabin B226 and have recently received an email as follows:

Quote:

Due to our framework of protocols to protect the health and wellbeing of all crew and guests we are currently operating at a reduced guest capacity and we need to take an approved number of cabins out of service.

As a result we need to move some guests into an alternative cabin from the one initially confirmed.

We have identified the need to move your booking from the cabin you originally chose and unfortunately there are no available cabins remaining in this cabin grade. We therefore need to place you in the next available grade of cabin which will be a lower grade to your existing cabin.

Unquote

I infer from this that the block of cabins from B216 to B248 are being taken out. There may be more, of course, in other locations. It would be interesting to know what cabins are "out of service" on the current cruise and who has received emails like ours for other Aurora cruises.

Whilst we appreciate the need to have cabins reserved for isolation, we are obviously upset that it has affected us personally, especially as we booked on launch day and were looking forward to our first cruise for 2 years. We are yet to be told what alternative cabin we will be allocated or what compensation will be offered, beyond the right to cancel with full refund.

All of this begs the question why do P&O persist in calling this deck "Promenade Deck" when it is clear that this is not the intended function (refer to the dictionary definition of promenade as a verb). Can anyone suggest an updated name that better reflects the usage that P&O intend?

I can top that. Received similar email in reply to one of mine from March 2017!!!

It depends which ship you are sailing on. Britannia, Ventura and Azura do not have bridge classes, but on the smaller ships with more than 7 sea days there will be a qualified instructor who, on sea days, will organise a 1 hour class for beginners and a 1 hour class for intermediate players. I have found these to be excellent. Duplicate bridge sessions are run in the afternoon of sea days. These are, by their nature, competitive (too much so for some) and do require play to be brisk (7 minutes to bid and play each hand). The classes will provide an opportunity for you to meet other players for social bridge if the duplicate is not for you.