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My comments may have been slightly misleading!! . In regards to Sindhu the changes to the pricing structure were evident on our previous cruises on various P and O ships as we have cruised a number of times since Covid restrictions, As for the suitcases we were in a forward facing seaview cabin in January for 65 nights and the bed did appear to be slightly lower than we remembered as we have never had this problem before , ours are also hardback cases and after a little manipulation we managed to store them under the bed , now then getting them back out was a lot more time consuming and as we were leaving the enthusiasm was a little lacking!!!!😂

Would agree with the charges in the beach house ,this is what happened with Sindhu , prices were raised and choices reduced , we have not used it since the changes , do still enjoy the beach house however some of the popular deserts have been removed. The only other slight problem we have with Aurora is the bed frame makes it very difficult to slide suitcases under it, we noticed in lots of cabins suitcases were stacked at the side of the beds or in front of wardrobes , we overcame this hindrance by lifting the whole bed and not zipping up the cases and they just, only just went under, other than that loved the whole ship

Having recently encountered this problem ( and commented on it on our recent review) I can confirm the awful smell is sporadic and is present around the front of the ship near to the retreat and nearly always on the upper decks, never smelt it at the rear of the ship, it is definitely not from any port as it was noticeable on sea days as well 👍

We have been considering Princess for a long time now ,and perhaps some of the comments on these boards will make up our minds for us as we both have concerns with the path P and O are going down following our recent Azura cruise we started thinking cruising has run its course for us , however we have never sailed with Princess so it might reenergize us.

A common thread on these posts appears to be the amount of "new to cruising" passengers, certainly on the larger ships , suspect the pricing may have something to do with this ?

What a shocking post to read, I cannot comprehend how you must be feeling ,sincere condolences to you at such a shattering time

I may stand corrected but I was told that upper tiers(Baltic/Ligurian) are entitled to half price laundry But only when all your obc has been used up, as for offers we never got one at all on our 65 night cruise , They may have stopped doing it as it was always offered even on two week cruises

Still trying to work out where this idea of ordering all required courses has come from as we only noticed it on our recent Azura cruise, and were suitably unimpressed, every time we asked the waiter to take any further orders after we had completed our mains , we felt it was all very rushed and had to explain that we didn't want coffee arriving with our desert ( on the occasions we had one) my good lady nearly always asks for extra veg ,however on a couple of occasions it arrived well after we were two thirds through our meal. It did appear on that cruise a lot of the staff were been trained and the finer touches were missing ,again just personal views and observations

Yes she may be slightly dated, but she feels like a comfortably pair of old slippers with a nice relaxed atmosphere, we spent 65 nights on board in January after been on Arcadia, Azamara Quest and HAL Konningsdam (all smaller ships than Britannia, Azura and Ventura) and loved her. Sailing on Azura after those ships was a culture shock and made our minds up to our future holiday choices be it cruising or otherwise. Aurora would be our ship of preference with P and O although we are going on Arcadia in January. Anderson's is indeed a haven even though after 11pm we were normally the only people in ( suspect this been to the length of cruise). When you have anticipated and looked forward to your cruise for so long I can fully understand your disappointment and feel a lot of your points and comments are fully justified, Just make the best of your holiday (quite sure you will) and best wishes to your good lady on her birthday

Do feel somewhat sorry for the staff as they try to apply the rules, as the passengers been requested to adhere will likely rush straight to reception and raise a complaint, and of course the customer is always right !!! Not😆

From recent observations they may soon become the majority😬

All the longer cruises( beyond 40 nights ) either booked onboard or by any other means have always cost us the full deposit ,and an 18 night cruise booked for 2025 also required the full deposit

Thank you very much for the answers relating to my original question ,Feel that we would have liked some alternative dining options on our upcoming world cruise and had hoped that meals might be served other than lunchtime on sea days in this venue

Just tapping into the vast knowledge of members and asking if anybody can shed light on the above subject? I have attempted to glean some information from P and O and come to the realisation that members on these boards will be better informed!! Does Arcadia actually have a pop up glasshouse and if so ,how, where and when does it function and with what facilities ,IE wine choices ,food etc ? Many thanks 😊

We had a bottle of liquid soap at the side of the washbasin and one of each in the shower on Azura so no complaints from us on that score, No way would we even think about taking any of it home with us😇

It was most noticeable at the front upper deck ,adjacent to the retreat, it came and went but it was horrible when it did , its quite possible that passengers who have not had the misfortune of this issue were not or didn't visit that area of the ship?

I'm afraid it is ,and it was so pungent 🥵

No it wasn't, at least not from our part of the country ,we never book when schools are out so unless holidays are timed differently in other parts we were at a loss why there were so many in the first week especially

Horses for courses ,and if it works in your favour why would you not go?

No we did not book at all , in fact I don't think you could but don't hold me to it

Having just returned from a two week Med cruise on Azura, these are our thoughts . We last sailed on her in 2018 and although she has had some refurbishment and various colour scheme changes in places, the layout was vary familiar and we soon found our way around. Check in at Malta was swift ,we were onboard by 1300 and our cabin was ready for us, a quick drink and bite to eat and out for a wander around . First impressions were that the ship appeared busy but staff were doing a good job of guiding incoming passengers to muster station registration and helping people find their way around. Back on board ,luggage delivered to cabin , shower ,change and down to the Meridian for evening meal, and managed to get a table for two without a pager and by and large the meal was good, all good so far but the recurring theme was the luke warm vegetables and the choices were less than before and smaller portions. Next day was a sea day and then it hit us just how busy the ship was, trying to get a sunbed after 10 am , pah dream on ,eventually found two near the outdoor cinema upper deck but crammed in like sardines, next stop buffet, are you kidding, not a seat to be had anywhere (we never go in before 10am to avoid the rush) ,in time we blagged a table and ate around 10.45 ,food choice has decreased considerably and has been mentioned before, no trays, forward planning needed to make sure you don't have multiple trips to the counter , waited until 14.15 to go for lunch and ended up in another free for all with tables etc ,food choice again very limited .Back outside and cinema now in full swing and so many people in such a tight space made it pretty awkward to concentrate on reading. Decided to try the Meridian again for evening meal , pager required for table for two ,no worries Question, when is a table for two not a table for two? Answer when ten are lined up side by side so close you could converse with nearly all the other diners, vegetable's once again sparingly and not overly hot with only one different main from the previous evening. All the ports we visited were excellent and getting on and off the ship was fairly easy considering how many folk were on her, ate out every lunchtime as couldn't face the limited and monotonous choice in the buffet, however on one sea day we ate in the restaurant but again the choices were so pro vegetarian / vegan/gluton free we , me in particular, struggled to find anything we would like , and once again sat in a line of ten two seat tables. We booked the Beach house as we always enjoy the food there ,however the cover charge has increased and the menu has changed to a more spicy Mexica/Caribbean theme with some of the popular deserts removed ,so not quite as we expected ( perhaps we should have taken a look at the menu before booking). We ate mostly in the Glasshouse and this was one area of the ship that felt just as it used to ,friendly ,good value and well staffed with excellent service and good choices of HOT food, it did get busier the longer the cruise went on but we always managed to get a table. So as for Azura how is she looking? For her age pretty good but if you look hard enough there are signs of wear and tear, the plumbing has a mind of its own and the most awful raw sewage smell is often present on the open decks at times The biggest difference we noted from 2018 is the clientele , its a while since we did a cruise without it been adults only and we now know why, the behaviour of some kids was unacceptable ,one group had to be told by another guest to stop jumping in the aft pool even though their mother was filming them with the no jumping or diving sign right in front of them, they were not overly impressed at been asked to stop, next day they were in the main pool as we sat and had a drink at breakers bar ,jumping, diving ,throwing towels in and there is mother filming them again under the no jumping /diving signs ,lo and behold two of her party join her and they all start throwing themselves in repeatedly, staff did nothing to stop it. A lad with his mother and another lady attempted to access the meridian wearing shorts, the maitre d informed him it was smart casual evening and he would have to change to enter , he agitated that his shorts were smart casual and would not give in but neither would the maitre d, his mother stood like a wet lettuce and let him give the staff grief before he stomped off to get changed, people clicking fingers at staff to get there attention in bars and in one case whistling at them , it is so embarrassing, in most cases the staff are more educated than those they are asked to serve and better mannered. In closing its fair to say that a vast amount of people on this cruise were first timers ,more so in the first week and this was evident as the Baltic/Ligurian lunch had just 18 of us. Will we sail on Azura again? current thinking is no ,same with the other big ships if the type of passengers who are the target for P and O are as we witnessed in the first week, the difference in our recent 65nighter on Aurora and 14nights on Azura are like chalk and cheese, World cruise next and then we will see if standards have slipped on Arcadia . These are just our personal observations and thoughts ,others will have a different view so please don't shoot the messenger

Could you confirm if the "pop up glasshouse" has the same varieties of wine that the "proper" Glasshouse has on other ships please? Been a while since we were on her and memory is not what it was !😂

Every time we have cruised to the USA we have had to have an esta

Agree with all the above comments ,on a personal note we are quite prepared to have the decor of Aurora ,dated as the cabins look, for the whole experience aboard her. The facilities and dining choices etc on board Iona were excellent and we did enjoy our time on her ,however the same would have been said when Arcadia and Aurora were launched . It may be worth trying a short cruise on Aurora to see what you make of her?.

I was informed by my good lady that it was an issue on Aurora in January and also had to ask the cabin steward to replenish in our cabin , which he did without any problems