HappyGiraffe

Looks like being able to book dining 120 days in advance is the long term plan. At least, that's when the email I got today says I can book for my 2026 cruise!

Normally it's only one or two sailings per day opening up dining bookings, but yesterday it seemed as though every cruise that's more than 14 days away but less than 120 suddenly opened dining bookings at the same time i.e. nearly 4 months worth of cruises released in one go! Staggering the increase by e.g. moving to opening dining bookings 30 days ahead now and then 45 days from next week and so on would mean they only released a couple of weeks worth of cruises at a time to reduce overloading the booking system, while still giving everyone the same access as other people on their cruise. Time will tell if they quietly switch to that approach or if it was just a glitch!

Think the jury is still out as to whether bookings were opened in error, or being able to book 120 days in advance is incoming policy but somehow no-one foresaw the battering the booking system would take if they emailed everyone in one go instead of staggering the roll out! 😂

Ventura in June, but I imagine a lot of people on other cruises and ships will be getting a very similar message before the day is out!

Just had this email through: Important information about Dining We’re writing to you regarding some important information relating to your upcoming cruise. We’re sorry to inform you that we’ve been experiencing some issues with our dining booking system in My P&O Cruises. If you’ve tried to make any dining reservations that you weren’t able to check out, then we apologise for any confusion caused. What this means for you If you have already been successful in making purchases via the dining booking system, then there’s no need for further action – all existing bookings will be honoured. And any new reservations you would like to make will be available for you to book 14 days before your holiday starts. We will continue to work with our technology teams to address the issue that occurred and endeavour to allow you to make dining reservations sooner. Once this has been resolved, we will of course make you aware. Please note, our Customer Contact Centre will not be able to share any further information or make any dining reservations over the phone at this time. We hope this hasn’t caused you too much inconvenience and look forward to welcoming you on board soon for a holiday like never before.

Just had the following email from P&O: Important information about Dining We’re writing to you regarding some important information relating to your upcoming cruise. We’re sorry to inform you that we’ve been experiencing some issues with our dining booking system in My P&O Cruises. If you’ve tried to make any dining reservations that you weren’t able to check out, then we apologise for any confusion caused. What this means for you If you have already been successful in making purchases via the dining booking system, then there’s no need for further action – all existing bookings will be honoured. And any new reservations you would like to make will be available for you to book 14 days before your holiday starts. We will continue to work with our technology teams to address the issue that occurred and endeavour to allow you to make dining reservations sooner. Once this has been resolved, we will of course make you aware. Please note, our Customer Contact Centre will not be able to share any further information or make any dining reservations over the phone at this time. We hope this hasn’t caused you too much inconvenience and look forward to welcoming you on board soon for a holiday like never before.

We're substantially closer than that and definitely didn't have the option when I checked a few days ago, so maybe that's the source of the chaos if P&O have just switched from 15 days to 120 days and released 105 days worth in one go! All sorted now, tried again when I thought it might be a bit quieter!

Ah I see what you mean! 8.131 is on a much quieter bit of the promenade deck than most and seems to have a decent sized balcony compared to most other standard balconies. The promenade deck widens at 8.205ish and that's where it starts getting busier with sunloungers/ chairs etc. Where you are will still have people walking past some of the time, but unlikely to have people lingering or stopping for a chat.

I'm another one who had dining pop up several weeks earlier than expected and then wasn't able to check out. Guessing IT are too busy frantically sorting out teething issues with the Summer 2026 pages in time for tomorrow to deal with the niggles elsewhere?

Can you let us know what cabin type/grade you originally booked and the cabin number you've been allocated? Two windows between you and the sea sounds like one of the conservatory mini-suites, which are lovely cabins even if not an ideal location for you, and you could always leave the inner doors open to have less glass between you and the sea.

Based on our experiences of Iona last year, the two weaknesses in the design seem to be that at times the "overspill thingy" filled up faster than it could drain, so if there was much movement in the ship then the water rolled up the nice conveniently-angled glass ramp and onto the balconies with a big splosh (especially from the corners if the ship rolled side to side) and that if someone was happily splashing water over the glass pool wall and managed to hit the right diagonal angle, there's not enough distance between the corner of the pool (on the right hand side of photo above) and the side of of the overflow to stop the water overshooting the overspill tray. We saw one little monkey who discovered this loophole and was making the most of it until a staff member caught up with him!

For future reference, P&O will give you the specific times they expect to be in port via email but only if you explicitly ask for exact times, otherwise they just resend the same vague descriptions. Sticking in some kind of acknowledgement that you know they're subject to change seems to help too. They take aaaaaaages to reply though.I'm glad you've been able to find the info you need one way or another!

When we were there in 2019, we found that there was a P&O excursion visiting both the Skylift and the Kjendall Glacier for only a few pounds more (£6ish if I remember correctly) than just doing the Skylift, so it might be worth seeing what else P&O are offering and if any of their combined offerings are better value?