M&A

21 hours ago, Mark_UK said:

Can someone also ask what their Europe plans are!? I'm due to sail out of Venice in May and I really can't see that happening.... 

We are sailing from Tarragona to Venice in May on the Rhapsody,  much too early for RCI to make any decisions.

Have to wait and see if the Rhapsody leaves Florida and does it's Transatlantic

We have only done one Princess cruise and I thought it was excellent.

Loved Carnival, Royal Carib, Celebrity and HAL no complaints at all about the food.

We did our first P&O cruise Feb 5th to March 1st and the WORST cruise ever, the food was bland, plain, very little choices compared to the other lines. The ship seemed to cater to very old British people that don't like to party or have a good time. Never again!!!

We just came off of a 21 day cruise on the P&O Arcadia from Chile to Aus. It was our first cruise on P&O and definitely our last. The worst experience was the food, badly cooked plain, no imagination, tasteless for the most part. The selection in the buffett was the smallest and worst we have ever seen on any cruise ship.

Of course P&O is geared towards the British and the entertainment etc was very British and we expected that and enjoyed some of the entertainment etc

A poster above mentioned above that they thought that RCI was "in your face American" ??????

I don't know what that actually means but as someone that lives on the other side of the Atlantic I could say that P&O was "in your face British"..............:)

We have cruised Carnival, Princess, RCI, Celebrity, HAL, and the Arcadia experience was by far the worst experience.

We had sailed RCI on a Christmas cruise to the Bahamas and it was far superior. We had so much fun and the fellow passengers were definitely more relaxed on the other cruise lines. The ship too was very plain and basic with no "wow factor" just doesn't come close to the RCI ships.

I found the drinks prices similar, but of course with the ups and downs of the pound/dollar it depends when you compare. RCI has some cheaper beer deals like the "bucket of five 16 ounce beers" as for the tip/service charge it's there but P&O just hides it in the price.

I will probably get a lot of disagreement here but that's just my opinion.

Hi, I can help with freedom dining. Basically you get allocated your dining room (card in your cabin) and then you just go to that dining room when you want to between 6 and I think 9pm. You'll be asked if you want to share a table or not. If you are happy to share you'll go staright in if you prefer a table for two you may be given a pager and wait a while. We like a table for two and we are happy to go to the nearest bar and get a glass of wine while we wait (average wait time about 20 mins!)

We just returned from our first cruise on P&O Arcadia and did the Freedom dining, we never had to wait for a table unless you wanted a table for two. But...........the food was the worst experience of any previous cruise.

I am really hoping P & O don't go the way of some lines and stop the formal nights or dumb them down. The dressing up is part of the cruise enjoyment for me , besides that haha I want to wear my new dresses I have brought recently. Most on P & O seem to dress up on formal nights with long or cocktail dresses or nice trousers and tops. With the men in dinner jackets (sorry tux is too American a word for me, so I refuse to use it unless in The States) or dark suits. Some wear kilts with jacket etc.

 

 

I also find on other night the ladies in particular always look smart.

Well I just got off of the Arcadia in Sydney, I wore my TUX............ on the cruise, sorry but we call them TUXEDOS in Canada too...............get over it!!!

I posted this in another thread - we just paid $150 for up to 3 people with luggage from the airport to Valparaiso.

Thanks for the info roaming- kiwi58, I am making the same journey but to nearby vina del mar soon, your information is most helpful. I am also interested to know if the taxi bookers take credit cards or other currencies like US dollars.

 

 

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We used Goairportaxi - goairporttaxi.com I booked and paid for it on-line with a credit card, Airport to Valparaiso US$150.

Looks like the highs in the warmest month, January is 57F in the day and 42F at night, cold winds

http://www.ushuaia.climatemps.com/january.php

Thank you. I'm not really concerned about missing anything.

 

For one thing, it's going to be light something like 20 hours a day (because we will be near the arctic circle and the seasons are reversed). For another, ships from Buenos Aires will have to pass something overnight as well.

That will depend on the cruise dates, for Ushuaia the longest day of the year December 21st, the sunsets at 22:11 and rises at 04:51 and by February you are down to 14 hours a day of daylight.

We are going on our first P&O cruise, on the Arcadia - 21 nights Chile to Sydney.

I was wondering if there will be many dressing up on formal night on these long cruises? Trying to decide if I should bring my tux/dj, with the restrictions on baggage etc we are trying to cut down on weight.

Thank you very much for replying to me :) I'll send them an email tomorrow.

Esperanza

Did you get an answer back?

I have e-mailed them twice but no response. We would like to get transport from Santiago airport to Valparaiso with a tour.

I wonder why more people don't take the stairs?

When we are on a cruise and with the extra food etc we make it a habit of avoiding elevators at all costs. I know that there are people that can't take the stairs but looking around at some of our fellow cruisers I think that more should be using the stairs and skipping the elevators.

A floor on a ship is not the same as a floor on land. When you walk up 5 floors on a ship it about equivalent of 3 or so in a building on land.

And remember that walking "down" is easy going, leave the elevators for people who need them.

We stopped in Suva last year, it too is a bit of a dump and there is nothing there in the way of resorts. We did go to a resort at Pacific Harbour which was nice but the water was very muddy and brown and not a good area for diving/snorkelling.

We got the Normandie for the 14th of February - $120 plus tax ($150) on Priceline.

M and a . I am sorry that you felt there wasnt much to see at dunedin, that was a wonderful place to visit. We did however rent a car which enabled us to see so much more. we hired a car knowing we would see more than on a tour.

We drove around the otago point(very scenic)to the albatross santuary, lanarch castle and its beautiful gardens, the railway station, cadburys factory and Baldwin street(steepest street in the world)

i realise not everyone is comfortable with driving in a strange place especially on the 'wrong" side of the road but i would hate for any one to think there was nothing at dundin

I should clarify that compared to the other cities in New Zealand there wasn't a lot to see. We did walk through the beautiful university to the botanical gardens and then to the museum, we also did hike up the steep hills.

Next time I would definately rent a car or take the train trip.

Just back from our 30 Day Sydney to LA cruise on the Sapphire Princess.

The crossing from Sydney to Fjordland was very calm, the Captain said it was the calmest seas he's seen in years. It was the same all the way back to LA, we had a bit of movement on the last night but this was due to the fact that they sped up to rush someone to hospital in LA.

As for the New Zealand ports, we didn't take any of the ship's tours. We preferred to explore the cities by ourselves. The trip up Fjordland and Milford Sound was spectacular.

There wasn't much to see in Dunedin we did walk to the Botanical Gardens which are beautiful. Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland were interesting.

In Auckland we took the ferry across the harbour to Devonport which is a small town full of restaurants, pubs, galleries. There are some great views of the city and harbour from the old fort on the hill.

Thanks for the memories, and the reminder that the Mardi Gras was originally the Empress of Canada.

My parents sailed on her between Montreal and Liverpool in 1971 and came back on her in Nov 71 and turned out to be her last crossing. It ended an era as the last scheduled tranatlantic liner between Canada and Britain. The ship was designed and built for the North Atlantic.

Sorry having problems trying to upload a picture as the Empress of Canada

Thanks for the memories, and the reminder that the Mardi Gras was originally the Empress of Canada.

My parents sailed on her between Montreal and Liverpool in 1971 and came back on her in Nov 71 and turned out to be her last crossing. It ended an era as the last scheduled tranatlantic liner between Canada and Britain. The ship was designed and built for the North Atlantic.