BouncingWheel

Fantastic news. Enjoy your holiday.

I agree that the testing has not prevented the spread on ships (or elsewhere) because the virus is dormant (undetected) for a while and is then very infectious. Testing helped but it felt to me like a losing battle. Vaccinations and natural immunity have been the life savers and preventing serious illness and for that I am very thankful. So the big issue now is that the virus will still be around for a while but it seems and restrictions are continued to be relaxed. To me this means that the next step will be the removal of quarantine cabins to allow full capacity cruising but what happens if you have Covid then? Confined to your own cabin (an Inside for x days) or still free to roam and infect others. I could see a lot of angry people demanding refunds if their paid up cruise suddenly reverted to either of those rules but sailing at reduced capacity cannot go on and on.

Cunard UK today followed P&O's lead and no test certification needed. Does not apply to US & Canada sailings yet though.

That was my thinking too and the Superior Deluxe is way out of their budget. Iona seems to have sofabeds in all categories but unfortunately are not doing any 7 day trips to Spain/Portugal which is where they want to go. Thanks all for the responses.

Would anyone know if it is possible to have the beds combined to a queen (and not twin) if there are 3 in the cabin? I have family with a 3 year old looking to do their first cruise and the parents would like to sleep together (in fact the toddler may end up with them) but I think they have to have twins if it is a pullman cabin. I know there are some fixed twins but other seaview cabins can convert to a queen but I am guessing only if there are 2 in the room?

So if they are keeping it a steakhouse for lunch then why on earth can't they say steakhouse on certain days and Nordly's on other days and then that would make everyone happy. I could understand the logic of them saying it is easier if it was just one thing all the time but as they are already mixing and matching then it is surely not too much of an effort to mix and match the evenings. I also enjoyed the choose your steak knife - though my lack of knowledge meant it felt more like choose your Harry Potter wand. For the Nordly's menu I wonder if they will have an equivalent "choose your weapon"

To be fair I have been to America and found myself accidently adopting an American accent and phrases. I have also had to stop myself, in France, doing a French accent and sounding like Pink Panther's Closeau or, for UK colleagues, someone from Allo Allo. I believe naturally adopting local accents is a very common occurrence.

I think the website, and the policy, is correct at the moment in that masks are recommended not mandatory. However, if infection rates rise on a particular ship then they may have to re-introduce the mask policy (and possibly other policies like 4 in a lift etc...) to help reduce infection. As soon as rates reduce then the impacted ship will immediately revert back to policy. I feel Cunard should add this extra piece of information on the same page as that is also current policy.

I think the majority hope, rather than expect, that things are getting back to normal. However, we do expect up to date comms to help inform our decisions. To me the P&O comms, on the whole, have been decent: The website with Before you sail info on Kids club situation; mask situation; updates on what is needed to disembark in ports; vaccination & testing requirements etc.... OK, the comms have not been perfect and 100% up to date but I felt enough to gauge what is going on and therefore enough to make a decision on what the cruise would be like and what could happen. In these times I personally accept the decent level of comms provided. However, the closing of all speciality restaurants is a complete curveball to me as there was no mention anywhere (from what I can see) that it could happen, or will be happening during x period, and no offer of compensation/swapping cruises. So can all pools be permanently closed? All entertainment removed;? Spa completely closed etc...? These items are all part of the package we have signed on for and we understand if bits (e.g. 1 restaurant, 1 pool etc..) are out of action temporarily but not the whole thing for the whole cruise. I think the majority of passengers are reasonable people - Just inform us and give us options based on the new decisions being made. The decision to bring Arcadia back and reduce service levels and experiences onboard all ships, with no comms, will just annoy passengers; cause more work/stress for reduced onboard crew; lead to more passengers leaving P&O for other cruise lines.

We board in 8 days and do not have a cabin assigned yet and the message on the personalizer states it will be assigned onboard. We only booked the cruise 10 days ago (last minute to join family onboard as wife could now make it) so understand it could take time for a cabin to be assigned but never heard of cabin being assigned whilst boarding. How does your luggage find you for instance? Could someone with experience of this explain what happened to them please.

How many are on board @mrsgoggins? If speciality restaurants are closed and pax numbers are high then it suggests that the MDRs & Buffet areas are very busy. Is this impacting service?

And very unlikely to have passengers doing B2B on them.

They are open but not operating how they used to. You have months left before you need to pay the balance. If the blurb about reduced kid's club facilities is still on the before your sail area of their website (Covid and staff shortages both influence this area) then you should consider a transfer of your cruise. Although I feel your pain, I cannot see much hope of anyone getting a refund though as they have been announcing this situation for ages and are offering transfers. However, I feel those that are on cruises that now have no speciality restaurants offered at all, at the last minute, are ones that should be offered refunds as they will not get the experience advertised and there was no warning. Many won't care but for some they are an essential part of their special cruising experience.

Seems positive news to me and I guess that is why the shares are going back up now. However, I do take the news on 2023 bookings etc... against 2019 numbers with a pinch of salt because it is the value of the bookings and not the number which is important. Then later, it will be the spend of those passengers against equivalents. The $ comments mentioned do seem to mostly be favourable though. This could mean those that recently bought shares may have bought at the low point and we may now have had our answer to posted question: Thursday 23rd June. We will know for sure over the coming weeks.

It's just like football when they substitute the substitute. So what is the cruise equivalent on bringing on a goalkeeper just for a penalty shootout I wonder?

The issue is mainly with children 2-4 (used to be able to leave in Kids club and now must stay with them) and families with multiple children of different ages (may be in different cahorts at different times so again always have one in tow). These parents want a bit of time for themselves but it is not possible at the moment. However, P&O have explained it in their before you sail blurb on the website if you look in all the detail. The outcome IMHO is sail if current restrictions are acceptable to you and transfer (or don't book and wait) if it is not. We did notice a side impact on a recent cruise of this policy - it leads to a lot more kids than average in the main areas - they would usually be more in the clubs area.

Thanks for notifying us though @BeebMarc. We now know P&O policy has spread into August and definitely peak holiday season. The last news we had on this policy, and this standard email, was a July cruise. If it is like this for August (when some had said there were more temporary staff available for this area due to certified people joining crew on school holidays) then I think we are still some time away from Kids clubs being back in proper operation. Think I have to delay my plans for my niece and her daughter - was hoping for an October cruise.

Obviously some have better than others and Flaam have drawn the line somewhere and QM2 is unfortunately the wrong side of that line. Whether we think the line is fair or correct is irrelevant as it is their port and their rules. Would be nice to know before arriving/departing/paying balance/booking etc... but who knows when Cunard were informed of this rule.

This thread will be useful https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2859247-po-help-kids-club-supervisionargh/#comment-63405497

The summer school holidays will lead to a lot of complaints if they don't resolve this. I knew about the cahorts system and issues for 2-4 year olds and no night nursery but I didn't realize that even the cahorts were restricted to 1 short session a day as mentioned in this thread. This was an area where P&O excelled and although I sympathize with crew issues they have had months now to onboard and train people.

It is evolving but will still be the same in July according to other threads on here where cruisers with children have posted letters from P&O informing/reconfirming the reduced kid club offering for their cruises. No news yet for anything August onwards and we are all waiting for this aspect to return to normal but it appears to be one of the very last to do so for some reason - I have not heard of any explanation why this area should not have returned whilst others have. As your cruise is October then it is still more than 3months away and you can still transfer your cruise. I am not urging you to transfer but pointing out that you still have up to the 3months before (P&O balance due date) to decide and although that may only be as little as 2 weeks away it still gives you some time to evaluate and digest this information and maybe gather more 1st hand feedback from this and other media sites.

Probably said in jest but a bit harsh and that title would suggest a thread on financial advice and not financial comment which is what I took the original poster was aiming for. This thread has led to some good information for which I am grateful for. .

p.s Please don't feel guilty. The holiday is for you as well as your children. You are providing them with a great holiday with lots of memories and are entitled to your some own time and memories as well as shared ones.

This is "Covid" Policy and is has been on the P&O website for ages. It has meant a worse experience for these parents BUT P&O have been upfront about it on their website (with all the other items on how Covid impacts cruisers) and they also offer flexible transfers to those that want an alternative. My advice is transfer your cruise to a later date. You will not enjoy this cruise as your expectations will not be met and you will always be thinking about what your cruise should be like whilst onboard. I have met people on board recent cruises that felt letdown and unhappy due to this and others that knew how it was going to be beforehand and accepted it so lowered expectations and had a great time. On the plus side, you know about it now rather than discovering it for the first time when onboard.

And therein lies the problem I think and why on paper the shares can currently look undervalued (as you excellently explained) but if Carnival wanted/needed, for example, to offload the whole Princess brand there are not buyers around in the current climate for those ships at the balance sheet value and Carnival would have to take a loss. This is probably why the shares are where there are and will only start to move up when either confidence in the whole industry increases and ships get bought & sold readily again and/or Carnival sees increases in profits and it's debt, as you mentioned, refinanced at lower rates.