devonuk

50 years age difference in tux wearing on the Island Princess last summer. What’s not to like? We both feel comfortable so that’s all that matters and as he’s looking to go into the military as an officer I guess he’d best get used to formal wear 😀

1 minute ago, upwarduk said:

In the Uk there is a TA who is offering gratuities,Wi Fi and drinks up to $15 included in the fare.

I have just changed from our favourite cruise line as they have stopped All Included.

Thanks for the info… my point was that Crew Appreciation is not mandatory on Princess. 

On our last cruise our loyalty and medallions were the wrong level/colour so we mentioned it at check in and they said to go to reception on board. We did so and they checked our level and replaced the colour sticker on the medallions with absolutely no hassle whatsoever. 
 

42 minutes ago, KarmaCruisers said:

I have $200 of OBC (casino offer); if I don’t pay the mandatory gratuity up front can I let them charge my cabin and it’ll take up my OBC?

There is no mandatory gratuity 😉

On 1/3/2024 at 9:52 AM, kknb4082 said:

We are a family of 4 taking our first cruise ever! To be honest, big cruise ships are not our thing, and we've always dreaded them. However, with 2 young children now, the thought of not having to cook or clean or make beds for a week sounds like a great idea. And also, don't knock it till you try it right?

The biggest reason we picked MSC was the affordability factor, for a family of 4 we got a good deal for a Deluxe Balcony. We've read some of the good/not so good posts on MSC ships in general, and are expecting some hiccups, with a dose of 'you get what you pay for'. That said, we are keeping an open mind, not let the little things get us down and ready to go with the flow.

Our itinerary is Hamburg - Rotterdam - Zeebrugge - Le Havre. In Hamburg, we have a few friends so we will take a shuttle/taxi into town and spend the day with them. In Rotterdam, as we dock in the city, we will be wandering around discovering the town. In Zeebrugge, we will take the shuttle into Bruges, or spend the day on the ship depending on the weather and how the kids feel (we've seen Bruges before). In Le Havre, we are planning on taking a taxi/walking into town and then taking the public bus to Honfleur. Of course, everything is weather dependent!

In preparation for our cruise, we have the MSC app downloaded and ready to go. We have matched to Voyager Silver status (which I think is largely pointless). And we have read a lot of the cruise reports on this forum and on this itinerary. We're not going with any of the MSC excursions and plan to do our own thing.

Looking forward to the cruise, and crossing fingers that the Kids Clubs work well for our 4 and 7 yr olds, giving some breathing time for the adults. Any feedback on Kids Clubs, especially on Euribia, appreciated.

Get over to Ghent and see the Mystic Lamb. If you do go there do the VR experience first as it’s a great way of finding out about it first. Get googling 😉

45 minutes ago, carlanthony24 said:

 

I still can’t find that format 🤷‍♂️

On 12/10/2023 at 9:41 PM, yorkshirephil said:

I find this site is better for actual times, strangely our Iona cruise for 2025 is not there yet mine for 2026 on Aurora is

 

 

Which site is this please as I’m looking to narrow down the times for the Aurora on the 1st Dec 2025 trip to Norway and all I can find is the attached. 

9 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

You could of course challenge them contractually, given the difference between the accepted meaning of the word overnight and the P&O interpretation. And you might well succeed, depending on how far you’re prepared to push it - though I doubt it’s worth the bother for the relatively small amount at stake. On past form, P&O would refuse absolutely to budge until it’s clear you’re prepared to take it as far as a court hearing, and then offer to settle with a non-disclosure agreement.

I did this with a well known low cost airline who finally settled prior to Court, but because of the NDA I can’t tell you 😂

13 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

Perhaps P&O don’t have access to a dictionary, perhaps 🧑‍🎄 will get them one for Christmas . 😂😂

It really is a ridiculous situation and no wonder so many get caught out 🤷‍♂️

2 hours ago, carlanthony24 said:

Called P&O and they insist it’s an overnight. Ah well, as stated previously ‘buyer beware’ and I’m sure some passengers will be duped 😬

Thanks again for all of your responses and input, much appreciated 👏

Having a bit of time on my hands I’ve looked into the overnight situation on another cruise I’m interested in taking which is the Aurora (R502) which departs Southampton on the 12/3/25. On the 17/3/25 she’s shown on the itinerary as overnight in Tromso. Yet this is not an ACTUAL overnight in my view as she leaves port again in the early hours in order to be in her next port of Alta the same day where she does have an ACTUAL overnight stay. 
So in my opinion it’s seems P&O’s artistic licence prevails. It won’t stop me taking the trip but I’m better placed now to question what an overnight can be determined as. 

4 hours ago, sogne said:

And he is back on board on16th Feb 24. Don't think u can the weather on him.

Who was?

12 hours ago, Fionboard said:

The Aurora NL cruise in March had two nights in Tromso and Alta. Same next year. Have booked it again as I enjoyed it so much. 

Looks like you do have 2 full overnights on this one 👍

1 hour ago, space27 said:

Is Princess a satisfactory ship for teenagers? We booked Princess because we usually book it and we're satisfied with the quality. When we used to book, my daughter was at the age where she preferred to stick with my husband and I and not go to the club. Now she's a teenager and she's anxious that because Princess' target age is for older people, maybe there won't be anyone to meet at the teen club. Will this be an issue? We're going right in the middle of summer break and they'll both be in the Beach House club. I'd prefer to give them a heads up and plan some activities for them to do with our family than leave them in the dark. 

 

Are there many kids aboard a Princess Royal-Class ship during summer break?

 

Also, if anyone has a schedule for the Beach House club or has any idea what sort of things they do, please let me know.

 

 

Our 3 grandchildren, a 13 yr old boy and twin girls of 11 reckoned the Island Princess ‘kids’ club was their best ever of any cruise line 👏

5 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

We dont care for overnight stays, or 2 full days in port.  As wheelchair users we have no desire to dine ashore, or to explore the night life, and much prefer an extra different port day. So we avoid booking cruises that do have overnight stays.

I understand that but on this occasion we wanted 2 extended opportunities to search for the Northern Lights overnight which ultimately we weren’t able to do. 

So by my reckoning there is a lot of confusion out there re the definition of an ‘overnight’ period. I feel I only really had an evening in port but hey ho as the saying goes ‘buyer beware’ and I will certainly research what I’m actually getting next time. My cruise survey certainly reflected my thoughts. 
On a brighter note all in all it was a good cruise with great food, staff and entertainment but the ship is sadly showing her age and in need of the ‘refit’ she’s getting soon. 
Thanks again everyone for your replies 👏👍

I wonder whether cruise lines should be more ‘upfront’ with the port details but I often feel they don’t to entice more onto their own excursions 🤔

Keep your thoughts coming as it’s all very interesting and helpful 👏

As an aside the shore excursion pages online were showing ‘excursions to follow’ for the 2nd day in Tromso and Narvik 🤦‍♂️

All very confusing 😬 

We know of passengers who booked private tours on the ‘second day’ in Tromso based on this 😦

1 hour ago, Gettingwarmer said:

No it seems he was due to leave now. 

Thank you 👍

40 minutes ago, Bill Y said:

I don’t know if you have the word “overnight” anywhere? I would expect overnight to be just that, no respectable hotel would expect you to vacate your room by 01:30. However your cruise is shown in a brochure I have as “Evening in port” I don’t know if it’s changed since you booked?  P&O used to quote: “Evening: The ship will usually arrive or depart between 09.00pm and 11.59pm” & “Early Morning: The ship will usually arrive or depart between midnight and 08.59am, these timings are guidelines only and the actual times may vary”. When a true overnight is scheduled ie NYC then the brochure often trumpets “Two days in port” although that can be different to two whole days in port. Unfortunately even if a change has happened the first response will be on the lines of operation reasons and claim on your travel insurance.

Thank you this has been very helpful, are these guidelines somewhere easy for me to find?

Ours was trumpeted as 2 days in port in both Tromso and Narvik and our confirmation shows ‘overnight’ in both. In addition the online itinerary etc. also showed 2 days in both 🤷‍♂️ This is why there was so much confusion and anger at not gettIng a full overnight. The hotel analogy was one I used with the onboard customer services manager. 
 

14 minutes ago, david63 said:

I suspect that the response from P&O will the standard "for operational reasons" excuse.

 

Same as above

The ‘booking’ with the port was always for a 01:30 departure according to my subsequent research 🤔

Yes we do and have just done so on the Arcadia, to our cabin steward and waiters. 

Just got off the Arcadia (J317) to Norway for 12 days and got on board to find out our ‘overnight’ stays in Tromso and Narvik actually departed at 01:30 with a return to the ship at 01:00. We do not (along with lots of others) consider this to be overnight as per our confirmation which blandly stated an ‘early morning’ departure. Before we put pen to paper to follow on from our on board complaint does anyone have any thoughts or information that would help our cause or dissuade us from continuing to complain?

Ultimately we were required to cut short our private northern lights excursion etc. by several hours. 
Also, was the departure of our Captain post cruise preplanned or was this a sudden change perhaps to do with our loss of power in an horrendous storm which caused the azipods to ‘cut out’ which was all very scary 😦