Marc47

11 hours ago, akb5k said:

I was on a fjords cruise as well and really looking forward to it. Royal isn't offering one now so I rebooked on a P&O ship - better price, brand new ship, and an aft balcony so it all worked out! P&O is new for me but looking forward to trying it out! I'm from the US and Royal never offers us drinks packages:(

I'm guessing you have booked on Iona? This will be P&O's  flagship when she enters service so should be really nice. As for drinks packages, P&O do sell all inclusive drinks packages at a cost of £39.99 pppd. I think it pretty much covers everything less high end champagne and whiskey etc. Alternatively, you are allowed to take up to One litre of your chosen drink each at the start of your cruise to drink in your cabin.

Check their website for details. Have a great cruise! 😊

8 minutes ago, beardedladies said:

It's certainly an interesting strategy from RCI - they now have a lot of very annoyed UK customers (you should see the facebook comments!), it's now left many here in the UK with the impression of Royal as the line that will just cancel your holiday on you. And they now have a single ship in the UK next year that is literally priced 50% higher than the competition, including a brand new ship from P&O (and I'd expect to pay a premium for a new ship over a 5 year old one).

 

We were lucky that we have not booked Indy next year, having left booking a cruise September/October time due to the insane prices and had planned to see if prices crashed next year as they have this year once Royal realised it was very hard to sell with a 50% mark up.... seems they've instead gone with the strategy of pump up prices and count on enough die-hard loyalists stumping up the cash to fill one ship.

 

For the first time ever we're now seriously looking at P&O, one of those fjords trips looks mightily tempting.

 

 

My wife and I did our first P&O cruise just recently having previously sailed with RCI, Celebrity and Norwegian. To be honest we had a great time and have a 14 night Mediterranean cruise booked on Brittania next year purely because the prices are so much more reasonable. RCI have done a very bad thing to the British public that boils down to nothing more than pure greed. 

It's good now that there are so many other cruise lines to choose from with new ships offering much better value for money.

On 5/9/2019 at 11:55 AM, CruisingJoe09 said:

Could the Allure TA work better? 

 

And I totally agree that RCCL's actions were shambolic.

My wife and I have booked on Allure for the TA back to the US. I know we have to fly to Barcelona to board the ship but, it's a newer, bigger ship that will have had a major refit to bring her in line with Symphony before we sail. We had a great deal as we booked early and managed to snag an all inclusive drinks package into the deal. I do think however it's absolutely disgusting of RCI to pull Indy out in 2020 when so many people have booked on her. They obviously need high capacity ships in Coco Cay every day to help pay for the upgrade of the island, of which most things that you want to do whilst there are very expensive!!! Greed, greed ,greed.

5 hours ago, glittergal1 said:

 

thats the whole issue I dont want changes to entertainment or menu to please the British Clientele I like it as it is 

I think to keep the majority of the UK cruisers happy and to keep the ships full, they will have to make a few changes. MSC made a bit of a mistake by not catering to the American market when they located their ships there. They had a lot of complaints regarding food and entertainment and as a consequence lost revenue.

As I have not cruised with MSC yet (first cruise booked with them for next year, cant wait!) so I cannot personally comment on what their ships are like, only what I have heard or read. I suppose time will tell. 😊

5 hours ago, lovetoholiday said:

 

Oh you never know, maybe one day, we can live in hope!!!  Have done it with P & O - hence the experience of cottage pie etc., and don't plan to go with them again any time soon.  But would certainly go with MSC if they chose to do a repositioning cruise from the UK instead of Spain or Italy.

I have my first cruise booked with MSC next year on the Belissima. Very much looking forward to it and am very open minded about what to expect. Varietyis the spice of life as they say!

I would imagine they will keep the Mediterranean flair that makes them different to other cruise lines. It'll probably be a few extra touches to please the British clientele such as tea and coffee making facilities in the staterooms and a few minor changes to entertainment and menu options. As for eating cottage pie in the Carribean, I'm pretty sure MSC won't be sailing there from Southampton!!!