FAB1

All strikes have now been called off 😀

Thanks Lottie. Think I may have misread Johns post then. Glad to see most people like Oceana. Azura has been my favourite so far and will miss the Glass House too. Sure I will have a Fab time on Oceana anyway :D

I too have sailed on both but on our recent cruise on Oceana it became apparent that if you were on Freedom dining it meant queueing for dinner at 6 o'clock if you were intending to get a seat at the shows. They seemed to be fielding one big entertainment item each night which attracted too large a proportion of the passengers.

 

I do not like big ships but Ventura seemed to offer a choice of entertainment nightly which spread the load. I thought the theatre on Ventura was far superior too.

 

Having said this I should still book a cruise on either as they both offer an excellent holiday. In my opinion the itinerary is the main reason for booking and this is what would decide which to book.

 

Regards John[/QUOT

 

Sorry, are you saying there was only one show in the theatre each night and not two ?

I will report back after 29th April to let you know if we were able to do this. The girl did say we may still have to go up to the checkin desk on the day, presumably to fill in the health declaration form.

Am just trying to avoid a long wait at checkin at 4am although I was told there wont be a queue as they have plenty of desks open. Must admit there was no queue today at 8am and she said they were checking in 3 long haul flights at that time. Will just have to wait and see.

I have just been at Manchester Airport this morning and called at the Thomson Checkin desk at Terminal 2. The very nice young girl looking after the queue confirmed that they definitely do day before checkin for P&O charter flights if you have a morning flight. You need to go to the checkin desk after 12pm the day before.

You will have a great time. I thought Oceana was a lovely ship .....although our free upgrade from a Balcony to a Suite could have something to do with that!😄

 

Try to go for breakfast or lunch to Cafe Jardin....it's really calm and the service and food is very good and we found it a pleasant change from the MDR. Dinner has a small surcharge of £5.65 ish pp.....well worth it in my opinion....but breakfast and lunch is free. The food is very good and freshly cooked and the trio of desserts at dinner is to die for!

Thank you Lottie. What a wonderful upgrade ! We were hoping for one but sadly it doesnt look like we will now as balconys are showing as sold out. Thank you for the tip about Cafe Jardin, we will definitely use for breakfast as our cabin is only a few short strides away on same deck :D

Lottie, forgot to add glad you enjoyed your cruise. We have not been on Oceana before nor been round the Med. Really looking forward to it.

Thanks again.

Hi Fab1,

As far as I know they are planning to do all debarks with check in ar the pier. We had a discussion with the Activities Manager about it and he apologised for the queuing chaos and said they hoped to improve on it as the weeks went by and lessons were learnt. Passengers with morning charter flights were given earlier times than us but our BA Gatwick flight times were check in between 9am-11am on the pier and collection from the ship to go to the airport at 1:30 pm. Our flight was at 3:25 pm. If your flight is 10:30 am then I expect they will be collecting you about 9am ish.....it really is a matter of 15 minutes max to the airport from the cruise terminal. Hopefully they will have got there act together by your debark!

Hope you have a great cruise....we did! 😄

Thanks very much for the info Lottie. Was just wondering how we were going to fit in breakfast and check in early in the morning. Looks like we might have to be up pretty early :(

The journey from Oceana to Genoa airport only took 15 mins on Wednesday.

 

The airport is very small with limited facilities so for our debark the check in was done on the pier and then we went back on Oceana and spent the rest of the morning onboard. Our flight was mid afternoon and we left Oceana at 1:30 pm. You can use your cruise card in the morning for coffee, drinks etc and you will get a separate bill. We had lunch in the MDR before we left. Be warned though ....the queue for check in at The Pier was hideous...it took about two hours for everyone and this was for only half the ship, as many were staying on and doing 17 or 24 days. There were only two checkout desks open. Our luggage was taken to the airport from the Pier. The cruise was great but the arrangements for the debark were chaotic. Feedback was given to Senior Staff and they said they would change the arrangements so I hope the next guests have a better experience.

 

We really enjoyed the cruise though. The guitarist Pete Brew was great.

Hello Lottie A

May I ask if they always do check in at the pier ? We have a flight back from Genoa at 10.30am so wondering what time they would start check in for an early flight. Also how soon before your flight did you leave for the airport ?

Thanks in advance.

I believe the new ruling is you can still claim for a delay up to 6 years ago or more. See below:-

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/flight-delays

We would often have afternoon tea in place of lunch not as well as. Really don't like the food in the buffet at lunchtimes :(

I see the booking system has changed again today !

You no longer need to say whether you have travelled with P&O before but the best bit is you can now put in your favourite cabin number to see if it is available :D

I don't understand why those who have booked select with a cabin should get priority over those who have booked select with just a cabin grade guaranteed.

It seems to me that both have booked select and so should have the same chance of being upgraded.

 

Rick.

Because those with a cabin number most likely booked before those without. It's only fair that upgrades are offered first to those who booked the earliest.

We had a dreadful smelly bathroom on Azura a couple of years ago(inside cabin). It was so bad I could not stay in the cabin. It took 3 trips to reception to get it sorted.

I thought it was the toilet too as it was the same sort of smell that you describe. On close inspection the smell was actually coming from the shower curtain !

So, why would P&O be expecting lots of people to cancel when they would all lose their deposits :confused:

Will it really be any different than now where times are already allocated but people arrive when it suits them. Surely people will still ignore the times allocated if their preference is no longer available.

I am not that familiar with the facilities at each terminal but are there not enough seats for people to wait till their boarding time if they arrive too early ?

Maybe you will be given the option of a boarding time when you book. Those who book early will be given their choice and the later bookers will have a choice of what's left. Last minute bookers will most likely get the later boarding times.

Those travelling by coach would still be boarded when they arrive as they are now.

It does not always work like that.

Last cruise every piece of paperwork I had said our mini suite had a bath/shower. Also the brochure and website says mini suites have bath/shower

Last paperwork, after we had had paid final balance said shower only.

As it was a mini suite obviously did not cost us 2shillings and sixpence;)

All suites and other mini suites were sold out, so we had to stick with it..actually ended up loving the cabin.

In that case P&O really need to sort their literature out and make sure it is correct so these sort of things don't happen again. Glad you loved your cabin in the end.

Glad you got it sorted. Hope you both have a wonderful cruise :)

If all the OPs documents state queen under bed configuration then I would think it reasonable to expect to be allocated a cabin that can have this configuration regardless of whether it is an upgrade. I too would not be happy to be "upgraded" to a fixed twin.

At the very least P&O should have phoned to explain the upgrade would be a fixed twin and not automatically upgraded him.

I do hope they offer him a new cabin with queen bed even if a lower grade cabin.

Yep. That demonstrates it perfectly :)

I think I may be silly (well I know I am) why can't you hold the fence?

Because the exhaust from the planes engines as they take off can blow you away :0 They are very close to the fence.

There are notices that say you risk death !!!

Our next cruise is in November for 12 nights. Will have to wait and see if package is offered by then or not. It all depends on the cost whether we will purchase for 12 nights. Hopefully they will do what Celebrity do and let you purchase on board. You don't have to purchase for the full length of the cruise, think you can purchase up to the last 2 or 3 days for the remainder of your cruise.

Thank you. That was very interesting. I am hoping that P&O will have a similar package to Celebrity.

Sue

Yeah you are right. AI would still sign for their drinks so anyone sat next to them would be non the wiser.

Just to add that when you have the drinks package on Celebrity you just hand your card over and it is swiped at the till and handed back. There is nothing to sign.