Pink-belle

We had one of these staterooms a few years ago.  Originally sold as obstructed balconies, they were downgraded to Premium Oceanview.

The steel fronted Balcony is still there, albeit with no furniture.  At time of our sailing we were able to use the balcony area but were told it may be closed in high winds (this was the reason for the downgrade) 

4pm shows showed on our Journey Planner for Sky cruise which sailed 8th April.  Once onboard they disappeared and there were no 4pm shows.

The food is the same, service and ambience is theoretically the same, but will obviously depend on the teams working and your fellow dinners.
We tend to favour Cielo, the isolated one on deck 6, purely because we usually book aft rooms, and partake in the loyalty lounge which is the floor above. 
 

Soleil is convenient for Vines pre dinner drinks, I have found people have a tendency to head for Estrella, often queues here when not at the others.

Estrella is also the restaurant that hosts lunch on sea days and Embarkation. As it has the Reserve Collection seating area. 

4 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

 

Not really. We have never had an issue with our Medallions in Air Tag holders and the name, Ship, etc. don't show with the ones we use. Count us with the people that leave our Passports in the safe. The only time we would take them ashore is if the ship announces it as a requirement. In some ports the ship will collect passports for local officials to check but they return them to us later.

 

Interesting, as they always look at my medallion and read the date before giving me the nod to board. 

49 minutes ago, WisCruiser2 said:

Do you need more than a foot and a half on either side of the bed?

Your post is exactly the type that make me reluctant to post on Cruise Critic.  I was doing my best to answer the OP.  Not open up a debate as to whether anyone needs more than a foot and a half to get into bed.  

31 minutes ago, upwarduk said:

I thought the medallion was in place of the cruise card! 😱

Amazon have a sale on until 25/03/24, so I have bought my medallion holders.

 

I don’t know what these look like on reverse, but the printing around the outside of the medallion, which is name and date, needs to be visible when boarding the ship.  I wear the sports band sold on Princess, so convenient to have it on your wrist. 

If you are in an inside room and opt for a queen bed, you get “about” (an estimated)  foot  and a half either side of the bed.  Whereas opt for twins, with one side of each bed pushed against each wall, that equates to a 3ft area between the beds which feels more spacious. 
 

In a balcony always queen set up. 

Dancing Man Brewery does great food.  West Quay has almost all of the big dining chains, no shortage of places to eat.  

35 minutes ago, GSPG said:

A lesson learned by us anyway.

Going on this trip was a ‘nice to do’, but as we are currently away in the UK there was no rush as we thought there were loads of cabins still on sale and thought we could sort out as soon as we got back.

How wrong, but it’s not the end of the world.

I did similar back in 2019, I was watching an end of August Med cruise on Britannia. (Back early September so not school holidays) Balconies starting at £1049.  So much availability was sure there would be another price drop.  Nope turned to Sold Out overnight.  Of course by then I had convinced myself I needed to be on that cruise, kept checking for cancellations, one popped up about 10 days before sailing,  In short, we ended up paying £1400 each for an Inside 🤣 Had a fab cruise though.
 

we usually book Select, but booked the 7th July as a little extra, our preferred rooms already gone, so opted to try the saver fare.  Got exactly what we paid for, grade wise, 3 cabins away from where we would have chosen on Select but around a corner, so No Aft view for us.  

We booked early saver a number of months ago, and had our cabin allocated a few days ago.  So imagine that is why the available cabins have reduced.

Yes been like it on Britannia for a week or more, okay if you know what you are doing, a nightmare if you are unfamiliar with ships layout.

15 minutes ago, Waju said:

We take the 'all in one' sachets - just because they're handy!

 

As an aside, we noticed on our recent Aurora cruise that they were using 'filtered' milk as opposed to 'long life'.  IMO filtered milk tastes like fresh milk but has a longer shelf life than fresh.

Yes, I noticed on Britannia they were using Cravendale. 

No problem taking your coffee back to the room, but you should use a P&O supplied mug and pour it in to your insulated mug. As Josy said, they require you do this to avoid contamination.

Easier still make the coffee in your room, we take decent coffee bags with us for this purpose. 

2 hours ago, lindyloo22 said:

What’s the best site to check what ships are in certain ports, can’t remember where I looked before.

thanks

I use “what’s in port” 

1 minute ago, TigerB said:

 

We have, for Iona in three weeks.  I'm a little bit annoyed as we've always been a wee bit earlier, and we've moved up a tier since then.

 

We're using Triangle for the first time and I can't see from Google maps where the disabled bays are; can anyone help?

Also, I can't establish the best route from it to the terminal with a wheelchair. If I know ahead that it's awkward, I may drop off our lass first.

Please be aware that Triangle is just a pay and display, no allocated parking type car park.  Heard numerous reports of people having to queue waiting for cars to leave to get a prepaid space.  Reports of the taxi service have been very mixed.  With a wheelchair user if you were unable to change your parking I would drop them off first at the terminal.  
 

I never usually recommend people use West Quay car park for a cruise, but even I would use that over Triangle. 

I’m hoping ICF is just having such a good time he hasn’t had the inclination to update us yet.  He had quite a full on day yesterday, with a nice meal booked for lunch.  With the good weather the New Forest could have been busier than usual, or should that be as busy as it usually is, which means they could have been in traffic queues then people queues.

maybe they boarded and just called it a night.

Even with the queuing to embark that seemed to be experienced yesterday, that’s still better than an airport, before your flight, when you watch time tick away worrying you might miss your flight! It’s like you’ve arrived, and are just waiting to get through immigration.  
 

Slightly controversial, but I am/was supportive of the inside seating area in the terminal not being used for early arrivals. After all, how many were happy to say I’ll just turn up and wait so the place was gridlocked.  By stopping the relative comfort of turning up and waiting, eventually the message gets through, stick to your boarding time, and people begin to comply. 

However, I would be very disappointed if people that are there on time, but caught up in a delayed boarding situation weren’t allowed to make use of those seats in the terminal.

I saw the photo of queue, am hoping one of them is a continual moving one going through the process of check in and security. 
 

27 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

That’s brilliant that the menus clearly state which drinks are included in each package and reassuring that the exclusions for the deluxe package aren’t as extensive as some of us cynics might have feared. It would be fantastic if someone was able to post a full set of drinks menus from all bars, all clear and the right way up. I know a very obliging chap who might help if the new packages are live on Iona yet @Interestedcruisefan😂 

 

If Peller Ice Cuvée is included I might have to reconsider my stance on drinks packages 😂 

I’m really hoping it’s not, 2 reasons first being, if it’s in the package they might run out, secondly I “might” be tempted to double both my bar bill, by buying the package and also double my alcohol consumption to make good use of it! 

2 minutes ago, rattla said:

One of the first new P&O drinks menu photos has come through.  This from Iona Olive Grove.

 

Great to see more non alcoholic drinks included, like cans and bottles e.g. fevertree. And that’s on all the packages except the basic one.

From this 1st photo that looks really positive for those who like to buy packages.  
 

Last year the package was so restrictive, it would have made no sense at all for us to buy it.  As we didn’t “chose” to drink the included options.  What was good about that was it made me pay attention to our bar bill onboard.  We are light drinkers at home, probably have wine with dinner a couple of nights a week.  
definitely drink more on holiday, drink what we want when we want. We averaged a spend of £60 a day on drinks over the 14 nights.  So although the lemon drizzle spritz is now included in the Deluxe package, it would still be far more expensive to go for a package. 

It’s cruise day, I’m looking forward to following along.

You have a nice day planned, before boarding.

would be really grateful if you could post the “New” Glass House drinks menu.  Hoping my favourites, remain outside the drinks package, (We don’t but a package) so they don’t run dry during the cruise.

Sorry I can’t help directly with the baby change question but have you heard of

https://www.cruisemummy.co.uk/cruise-with-a-two-year-old-everything-you-need-to-know/

A cruise blogger who cruises with her family, lots of really useful information on her site. 

38 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

I have had an email from my contact, assumedly she has replied on Exec Office's behalf.  I'm to expect a surprise whatever that is, I'll let you know.  I did wonder if the bucket of water was in fact it .....

 

I'm hoping my experience is not atypical.  I am coming at this as someone looking at absolutely every problem I see, hear and experience because I'm so alert to it because of my first three days.  

 

I know we have at least two more CC contributors onboard here at the moment and I'll bet you a pound to a penny they're not seeing or being involved in any of this and hopefully are having a brilliant time.

 

Everyone has a different cruise, same date, same ship.  This is just my story, one I'm going to give Paul Ludlow the full benefit of when I get home!!

Your comment regarding the bucket of water being the surprise really made me chuckle this morning, thank you for that.

I admire your positive spirit, and am enjoying your live from. 

6 minutes ago, ohnonotmeagain said:

You purchase the wine  package onboard not from the cruise personaliser beforehand, at least that's what happened 3 weeks ago on Britannia. 

It was on the personaliser before the changes with all the details, that information has now gone.  
It may not have had an add button, as to be honest if we are buying it we tend to do so onboard after confirming they have the bottles we would chose available. 

1 hour ago, rickpo said:

Thanks for that. They used to do a package where you could buy 12 bottles of wine.

You received 12 tokens and could exchange them each evening for bottles from a wine menu.

I just checked my cruise personaliser for my cruise in July.  Wine packages still mentioned, but no button to click to see details or order.  It was there yesterday, so hoping it will reappear in the next couple of days. 

On the P&O site, a good guide to what to wear on a cruise

https://www.pocruises.com/what-to-wear

hand luggage will depend on airline guidelines if flying, if in Southampton small enough to go through an airport style scanner.  
 

if we are allocated early boarding we take a small holdall, paperwork, medication and valuables as good chance luggage will arrive before dinner, and you need to carry around as you wait for rooms to be ready, around 1:30pm

with a later boarding time a slight larger rolling holdall, as we can go straight to the room, good to have items available to freshen up before dinner, in case cases arrive a little later.