jaydee6969

16 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

There is so little cabin availability across the fleet that there is no need to offer late deals.

 

Same for Princess in Europe.

 

I believe that Carnival Corp may hit a new record for Q3 for having average global capacity sailed above 109%. Noting this industry measure is based on lower berths not ship capacity.

I also note the lack of reasonable F&F offers too.  The current offerings are not tempting at present, obviously a sign of good bookings from regular pax.

1 hour ago, AndyMichelle said:

We have had Barbie, Openheimer, the newer Indiana Jones, Wonka and a few others that I can't remember, so nothing brand new but not too old. 

We didn't get to the Cinema, most of the timings clashed with something else. 

Andy 

.Welcome back, hope all your party had a good time.  4 weeks until we board for our Fjord trip.

Have a smashing time and enjoy.  We are also on board in 5 weeks, same as SarahHben.

I am sure my brother has delivered enough booze this morning, ready for your party to board!

11 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

The 'gelato filled doughnuts' now available in the market cafe sounds like a bit of me... 

Having to do a full muster, not so much... 😂

Andy 

We had an enhanced muster on Iona a few weeks ago.  All to attend designated station, but did not need to take lifejackets along.  

We will be visiting this summer and plan on using the Cinque Terre travel card.

Have a look at this older thread for a few more comments.

36 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Have a fantastic time

Cheers Andy. We always do on Iona. 
 

We just had an enhanced muster drill. Everyone to attend muster station and scan cruise cards at 4.45. No life jackets required. 
 

Bedlam after with pax trying to get lifts back up. No problem for us, down to Anderson’s to have my sail away champagne and the better half the lavender bramble. 

On 3/29/2024 at 4:38 PM, jaydee6969 said:

 

I will report back next week, boarding Iona tomorrow.

On Iona now. Just requested and received body lotion, face cloths and conditioner. No problems here. 

38 minutes ago, halpincat said:

No facecloths available on Ventura in February.  I'd taken a couple with me but 35 nights without them having a proper wash wasn't ideal!  They were provided on request on Arcadia in September.  I didn't bother asking about body lotion as it's not been available on any of my post-Covid cruises (Arcadia and Ventura). 

We had body lotion on Arcadia in October 2023, plus facecloths.

38 minutes ago, sandancer said:

We got them in October on Azura also. Just not on Iona. 

I will report back next week, boarding Iona tomorrow.

That will be interesting, we are booked onto the first cruise after the new refit date.

Enjoying your postings, sounds like the same itinerary I would like to do, just need to convince the wife to fly that far!

Maho beach would be a must for me, and I am liking your indy tours and keeping the names for reference if I ever get there.

On 3/6/2024 at 11:36 AM, doog442 said:

Just for interest and please don't shoot the messenger but I noticed this happened yesterday. I've had my eye on numerous dates / ships this year and early next (7 nights &14 nights). In nearly every case OBC was cut by half (and much more) yesterday however the select price and overall prices haven't budged. This appears to have coincided with the Cunard triple spend offer ending at the same time, again no real movement on select prices (I can confirm as I have one booked).

 

I appreciate prices are dynamic etc however future prices seem to be on average 20% higher than last year and now OBC has been cut to the bone for the time being at least. I notice the 20% off the drinks package is now 10% 

 

I assume this is 'a correction', either that or they really are selling cabins (I know the Arvia has really kicked off the Caribbean - our recent cruise is now 20% more with £450 less OBC for next Jan) but I don't think they are in all cases. For example Britannia at the end of Aug has loads of availability but prices remain stubbornly high and OBC slashed from £300 to £120 yesterday.

 

Food for thought I guess, some will say perfectly normal but I thought perhaps it could have been a bit more 'subtle'. 

 

Incidentally what this did was immediately make me look elsewhere ! 

I see you have posted that they have increased the OBC again. 

But just for information, I checked the OBC levels shortly after you posted for my 4 booked cruises, and the OBC had reduced back down to the same level as when we booked the cruises at launch.

12 minutes ago, Warrior85 said:

Out of interest, who did you tell is was your anniversary? Its our 10th in a couple of weeks and we'll be on Azura.

We didn't tell anyone, this was all down to the cabin stewards.  It was only the anniversary cards visible in the cabin that would have let the stewards know on the morning.  It appeared whilst we were ashore in Monte Carlo.

13 hours ago, emam said:

I have just seen a couple of photos of towel art that were taken on Iona. Is this a new thing for P&O or just for certain cabins, ships or pc tiers? We have never seen these on the cruises we have been.

It was our wedding anniversary whilst onboard Azura in July last year, and we had a few cards out in the cabin and when we came back we found a towel cake waiting.

2 hours ago, molecrochip said:

Grand class can transit the Panama Canal including Azura/Ventura.

After sailing on Arcadia for the first time this year, not a ship for us and has put us off booking a world cruise on her or Aurora.

But on Azura/Ventura would be a different prospect.

10 hours ago, devonuk said:

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 👏👍

Regardless of all the opinions, you personally (and others) felt misled.  At the end of the day, it is up to you if you wish to put pen to paper.  Perhaps at least they will take note and an outside chance they may change their descriptions for future cruisers.

33 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Whilst photos always exaggerate what the human eye sees (especially the brightness of the greens), you absolutely can see them as good as that photo and even better with the naked eye if you are lucky.
 

We had two spectacular showings over two consecutive nights on our first Northern Lights cruise. It had been a bucket list thing for me for decades and we had an experience that I shall never forget (it was up there with a night time Space Shuttle launch that I was lucky enough to be able to watch once at Cape Canaveral).

 

The second time we went the lights weren’t visible at all. It’s pot luck, although we were incredibly lucky the first time that a major solar flare left the sun a few days before our display, which was the cause of the intensity of display that we saw. I’m not exaggerating when I say that as I got off the coach at the football field in Alta, well away from the light pollution of the ship and town, the entire sky was full of the phenomenon, including greens and reds. Magical. 

We were lucky on the ship.  We had just turned around the Lofoten Islands from Tromso to Narvik.  The officer of the watch made the usual announcement through the TV etc that the lights were visible, so we wrapped up and headed up to the deck are in front of the gym.  It was heaving with pax, but was a good show.  This subsided and most went back inside somewhere, but a handful of us stayed out to see if it returned.  Right place at the right time, it just erupted overhead of the ship followed by a hasty rushed announcement basically saying get outside quick, you do not want to miss this.

As you say, magical.  Bucket list item ticked off, and never to be forgotten.

2 hours ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

I've read numerous times that the Northern Lights often look amazing in the photos people take but not so great in person

 

Your photo is amazing!!

 

Was it as good as the photo in person?

On the first couple of shows, it was more like a smudge on the horizon with iPhone in particular picking up the colour.

But the night when that shot was taken it was spectacular with the naked eye, I took a few with the phone then put it down to watch in awe.

43 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

Sounds crazy! I don’t own any Christmas jumpers - bah humbug!

No Xmas jumpers for me either, would I get away with my Xmas t-shirt though🤣🎅

19 hours ago, devonuk said:

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 😦 

 

We recently returned from Arcadia J314 northern lights cruise.  But no, I was under no illusion that it would be a true overnight stay.  They advertise these as 2 days in port normally, but the giveaway for me was the depart early morning wording plus the distances to be travelled would not allow that much time in port.  I assumed we would stay in port long enough for those with evening excursions to look for the northern lights to return back on board.

There were plenty of moaners on board, complaining to anyone who would listen.

For me I got what I booked, plus northern lights on 4 evenings, including one late display that most pax missed that was absolutely stunning.  That 15 minutes was worth every pound we spent.

21 hours ago, eightofninekev said:

 

I know tips are included but do people give out extra to the cabin steward and to the waiters in the main dining room on the last day?

No, tips are included with P&O.

On 11/12/2023 at 9:09 AM, gsmt47471015 said:

I wonder if this why the ship often feels cold ( as in too often)

Having just come back from the previous Northern Light cruise, I am a generally cold person, but Arcadia is the warmest ship I have travelled on.  Never needed more than a T or polo shirt around the ship, and I wish I had taken along some shorts for day wear.

6 hours ago, SarahHben said:

Thank you. I'll look out for that on Britannia next May. We had a virtual bridge tour on Ventura in August, held in the Havana Club, it was very interesting.

Us too, we will be enquiring with the hope of doing this.

35 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

I believe a number of ships now have the tours but only on 14+ day trips.

Arcadia must be an outlier, they done it on the 12 night Northern Light trip.

As an update after returning from Arcadia this morning, bigger ships for all of our party in the future.

Unless the smaller ships go somewhere we really want to go, will stick with the larger ships.

Has put us off doing a world cruise on Arcadia.