zoe sproodle

It had occurred to me that one day we may see smoke free ships, which as a smoker would not see me on board. We've already seen more restrictions on Britannia than on the other ships with no smoking in the midships pool areas, you have to go all the way aft to smoke at that level.

I just hope they haven't done anything too horrendous to the Yacht and Compass.

I see she's currently east of the Isle of Wight heading into the channel, Southampton movements have her back in tomorrow morning.

The last cruise I did which left the EU (so allowing duty free sales on board) was on Britannia in July last year and if I remember rightly cigarettes were about £18 for 200 so way cheaper than at home.

I think Eglesbrech deserves a virtual round of applause for starting this thread!

I don't know about anyone else, but I find that the people who dislike cruising the most are those that have never been.....

I don't know how it works either but a couple of weeks ago a friend of mine booked a select fare balcony on Oceana for 29 Dec and is still waiting for a cabin to be allocated.

Mum and Dad started cruising back in 80's and when Dad died mum wanted to go on holiday and there was only me who could go with her. Kicking and screaming I got on Aurora in 2004. We did another 8 cruises together and I am now on cruise 24.

 

Funny old world.

A similar story to ours. My In-laws had been on several cruises and after mother-in-law was widowed she very kindly paid for us to join her on Ventura for 2 weeks to the Med in 2010. From the moment we stepped on board that was it, we were hooked!

As far as I know the figures I quoted are recognised as the industry standard.

I agree these are the standard and I wasn't trying to belittle your post, I just think they have the potential to be misleading.

The data is all available on the Choosing Cruising website, Britannia is 39.2 gt per passenger, Azura is less at 37.4, but both are bettered by Celebrity Eclipse at 42.8, and most of the bigger RCI ships are even better, and the new ship will be only 35..4.

The only trouble with these figures is they're based on gross tonnage which is the total enclosed volume of the ship and therefore includes areas not accessible to passengers. Bal's use of net tonnage would be a more accurate measure but neither include the open decks so I would agree with Dai, what we need is some idea of the deck space available per person.

I think it’s just for the people on freedom dining

 

You're correct, effectively freedom dining is suspended for Xmas night and New Year's Eve

We've got 3 cabins booked for new year but only had the email reference one of them. I phoned P and O to ensure that we could link the 3 and they sorted it straight away, obviously I called at the right time.....

I saw it on Fbook but also my friend was on it. They got a good deal though. It was a 2 night cruise and they've moved to a 3 night one for the same price, got some OBC and been upgraded!

 

 

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Sounds like a good deal! So which cruise is cancelled, we had just a twinge of panic (probably unnecessarily) as we're on her for new year?

End of Nov/ start of Dec. Apparently the work will overrun so the next cruise is cancelled.

Where did you find that out?

It also strikes me as odd that in the FAQ it says that you must have insurance at time of booking, yet they never seem to enquire when you book. Presumably it's in the terms and conditions as well, so it gets them out of any liability for any medical costs you incur as you've accepted the contract?

We should be on Britannia at the moment but my 4 year old granddaughter was admitted to hospital with pneumonia which resulted in a chest drain. We couldn't possibly have left with her so ill. Thankfully, she is now on the mend and the insurance company have indicated they will cover our costs ( even if they hadn't we wouldn't have gone). My point is, you never know what is around the corner. We would never travel without insurance

Sorry you had to miss your cruise, I hope your granddaughter is OK.

We have our cover as a freebee with our bank account and the level of cover is pretty good, way above what P & O stipulate as a minimum.

Thanks for the replies, I did mention the consequences of having an accident or being taken ill at sea, God forbid this should ever happen.

I have often wondered why they don't check insurance at check in, we always carry the documents with our passports, etc but no-ones ever asked for them.

We are being joined on our next cruise by relatives who were not convinced of the requirement for insurance (because "we don't leave the EU"). I've now shown them all P & O have to say on the subject and convinced them to buy, but wondered if anyone has come across an instance of someone being refused boarding due to lack of insurance, or will e-tickets not be issued if the appropriate bit of cruise personaliser isn't completed?

Perhaps P & O feel that adult-only Arcadia and Oriana would be more suited to Adonia customers than family friendly Oceana. As for Aurora I've not sailed on her but understand she is quieter than other family-friendly ships?

Starboard side midships and port aft on Deck 7 and port side at the stern up top. Hope this helps.

Thanks for sharing that kalos. Just like a normal cruise but with balloons haggis and fireworks - I'm going to enjoy this!

We are on the Oceana cruise at new year and I was going to ask a similar question as we have never cruised at this time of year before.

Does New Year's Eve differ dramatically from any other formal night in the MDR and will there be other 'special' events going on around the ship?

I think Balf was referring to Les999's post not Zoe.

That's what I thought too so no worries!

Why is it that controversial topics like this often seem to emanate from new posters???

Apologies for speaking out of turn as I'm relatively new here myself, but could it be it's the first time they've felt the urge to take to a forum on an issue?

On the question in hand, it couldn't be that we're seeing an attempt to cut costs could it - less power required in the laundry, less detergent, etc?

But let's not forget the positive environmental impact this could have - we're asked not to change towels unless necessary so why not sheets? As it's been previously mentioned a week seems a perfectly reasonable time to me, as I would at home.

No, it's a concession and not part of the contract you accepted when you booked.

 

David.

Suspected as much, previous post was just a thought anyway. We normally take a bottle of gin but I completely agree with others on here that it's no great problem to get it from room service instead.

IF, for arguments sake, a ban on carrying any alcohol on board was introduced in the new year then could I in theory cancel and ask for my deposits back on cruises booked for 2018 and 19 (not that we'd have any intention of doing so), citing that taking alcohol on was part of the reason for choosing P & O? I suspect there's something in the small print which would let them get around it...

We only travel from just outside Portsmouth (no hard feelings Soton Saint!) but always leave at least an hour before we need to. I just don't trust the M27, even on a good day and that's before you hit any traffic in Southampton.