Andy24v

13 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

P&O doesn't publish its dining capacity,  but clearly doesn't have 4500 waiter served places, expect near 2000. Plus at most another 1000 in other restaurants. Perhaps in total 50% of peak passenger numbers. That is the problem, one that can't be solved by technology,  only on a personal level by booking ahead, which of course removes capacity

Only seats you can book ahead after 6.30 are speciality extra cost dining, hence the rush

Absolutely spot on. The issue with the big ships is they do not have the capacity to offer every passenger a waiter server meal in an included restaurant. Similarly, they don't have enough capacity in the theatre for everyone to see a show, which is why you need to book everything. 

When we were on Arvia, as a group of 4, it became a real chore trying to plan our evenings, and we ended booking extra cost venues, just so we could make it to the shows.

Obviously P&O benefited from our extra spend..

11 minutes ago, Waju said:

So, booking for restaurants has opened for my cruise in two weeks - this is a new'ish' system for me.  I looked at Olive Grove first and the latest times showing for me is 5.45 - does this mean all later tables are taken already??

No, you can book up to 17:45 in advance as it's not a popular time. Booking for later dining opens at 18:30 on the day.

Went on Arvia for 14 nights last year. We pre booked a couple of speciality restaurants, and thought it would be OK to book the rest on board.

The reality was, in order to get a seat in an "included" restaurant, we had to do the "18:30 lottery" on the App. A bit like phoning the doctors at 8 o'clock to try to get an emergency appointment. 

The frustrating thing was, the only indication of wait time was queue length. We usually managed to get in at about 20 in the queue, but wait times varied from 20 to 90 mins. This made it impossible to book an 8:30 show unless we booked an extra cost venue, or ate at 17:30.

IMO, the app is a fig leaf to cover up the fact that there are not enough spaces in the included restaurants, by encouraging people to pay for speciality.

On 5/18/2024 at 4:38 PM, CountryStyleMe said:

its not just P&O Cruises who this will effect it will eventually be rolled out to all Cruise Ships no matter which port in which country you depart from as its the HSEE making these rules and giving them to cruise ships

I doubt it. The "HSEE" is a Carnaval Group creation to give credence to the policy changes being "for the greater good" 

In effect IMO they are jumping on a minor issue to increase profits.

Are you going on Discovery on 27th May?

Andy

Cunard have the same 1 litre restriction, but don't seem to think it's such a big deal..

Packages are now based on an amount of data. If I recall correctly, it was £12 for 200 MB, £35 for 1GB and £65 for 2.5 Gb with no time limit (for the duration of the cruise obviously)

We did a 16 night TA last October,  and brought the £65 package. Still had 700 MB left over at the end, and we used it a fair bit for WhatsApp and browsing.

Overall I thought it good value for just over £4 per day..

I've got a friend who's on Explorer 2 at present. Cruise News and chocolates are being delivered in the evening. 

Apparently they abandoned the idea of moving to the app and making the paper version available at reception due to it causing massive queues.

We had a late flight back from Gran Canaria on Explorer in Feb. They had facilities for minding hand luggage, and they also made cabins available later in the day for freshening up. They were bookable at reception from 10:00.

Next stop Walvis Bay, Namibia. ETA 06:00 24th April.

Discovery 2 in now en route to Port Louis in Mauritius according to Cruise Mapper.

7 minutes ago, david63 said:

They don't take it "again" they only take the money once - the pre-authorisation just ring-fences the money so that they know that it is available.

I appreciate they take the money once, but for someone who's paid by debit card, they may as well have taken the whole amount twice, until the hold expires. 

Actually, I think I've worked it out. P&O will no doubt be charged a fee for each transaction, so charging at the end cost them less than charging each day.

Probably saves them a few pence per passenger per week.

9 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

No but the daily hold does enable the cruise line to know if  someone is likely to default, and their cruise cards can be identified and they can be denied disembarkation until they do arrange payment.

I've no problem with the daily charges. What I don't understand, is why they don't just take the daily charges as payment? Why do they take the whole lot again at the end?

57 minutes ago, david63 said:

But you have to look at the reasons why Carnival have adopted this policy - it was not done this way back in the day.

 

The reason is that there were too many not having enough credit available on their card by the end of the cruise which resulted in Carnival having to chase these people for the money. It is the old story of the few spoiling it for the many.

 

Even now there are some who have problems with their credit cards accepting the pre-authorisation - I have lost count of the number of passengers who are on the phone at reception trying to sort out their credit cards during the cruise.

Surely if someone spends more than their credit limit,  it makes no difference whether the charge per day or at the end?

On 8/2/2022 at 9:33 PM, david63 said:

This is a well known issue and it is not of P&O's making it is the way in which some credit card companies operate.

 

 

It's entirely P&O's making. They choose to charge your account on a daily basis, then instead of claiming the daily charges,  they recharge the whole amount again.

We spent £790 on board Arvia, and ended up with over £1500 pending on the credit card shortly after we got back.

Went on Marella, no such issues. They just collecting the payment once at the end.

What is the date of the cruise that's been cancelled?

Still the same for us, no dining or excursions for our May 31st trip.

On a positive note, I've logged into Cruise Control so many times, I've managed to memorise our booking number..

1 hour ago, insidecabin said:

Product has been fine its the price, while we can get AI with extras at 1/2 the £145pppn on the likes of NCL and Princess Marella won't get a look in.

 

Genuinely intrigued by this. £145 pppn is just over £2k for 7 days.

Had a quick look on Princess website, they are asking £2200 for a 7 day med cruise in May for inside cabin with drinks package. Flights from Manchester are another £700, and there's no mention of transfers?

Where have you found this bargain?

I've been having the same issue, so I called into our local TUI shop earlier, and asked them if I can book an excursion for our cruise on 31st May. 

"Certainly" they said, until they tried to bring up the excursion page - blank screen. Seems like a technical issue.

Just checking my emails, regarding our last cruise on 28th October 2023, we booked dining on 27th August, and excursions on 10th September. Both much earlier than 30 days before.

There are some airports which are only used between May and October, Edinburgh is one of them. I don't know your location, but Glasgow and Newcastle are in use year round.

One thing with Marella, they usually have one sea day, and five ports in a week long cruise. Some other cruise lines pad their itineraries out with more sea days.

Another thing we like about Marella is the flight times are stated when you book, so you are able to plan airport parking, hotels etc. Some other lines don't release flight times untill "some point near the criuse"

With regards to the drinks, all the beers and spirits are branded, the standard package gives you Gordons/Smirnoff/Teachers/Bells etc. The premium package gives you Bombay Sapphire/Grey Goose/Glenlivet etc. You also get coffee and soft drink cans from the Coffee shop.

WiFi is now a purchased as a package of data, £12 for 200 mb, £35 for 1Gb etc. but as most people have said just use data in the ports.

We've done a few Marella cruises now, and enjoyed them all.

Hi Jim, it's 2 weeks before the cruise..

Looking at the advert, it's amateur hour. There's at least 3 pictures of Explorer in there..

We've just got back off Explorer, Koran La (Asian) was £27.50 per person, and Surf and Turf was £33.50 per person.

Had a fabulous meal in both restaurants. 

We have a fridge in our cabin, Deck 9 outside on Explorer.