TigerB

The answer to your question about prices is here... https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/3011697-costa-takeaway-cups/#comment-67465481

Further to what the lad from Scunny wrote, no need other than for your cabin steward, if you feel they deserve it, or for waiting staff if they are regular servers. Our rule of thumb with the latter is, if they have served us for more than half of our meals, and they are deserving of it, they will get something.

I was going to say something about fraternising in that way with the crew, but you corrected your typo😉

So, no posties on that cruise then?😄

Dockers are a brand of chinos, with some costing about £100. I'm not brand conscious so will continue to get my chinos in the Matalan sale.😉

You may have been two and a half days trying to get through, but that's probably nothing compared to the length of time it's going to take you to get rid of that awful jazzy earworm! 😂

@janny444, see this thread... https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/3015938-cruise-connect-a-positive-booking-experience-in-the-end/#comment-67578772 My suggestion would be to either email them or wait until late in the day to call them. Good luck.🤞🏻

I have just found out about another revenue earner for Carnival, which penalises those of us for whom the element of surprise is everything. On our next cruise, my sister wanted to book the birthday gift package for my brother-in-law, but didn't want to spoil the surprise by having a digital footprint, either with an email confirmation or it appearing in the 'My Orders' tab on the cruise planner. So, I went to book over the phone on her behalf. It turns out, they do not apply the Peninsular discount to phone orders, only if you book through your cruise planner. I explained to the agent that you can only order online for your own cabin, and my sister was concerned about the details appearing on the cruise planner. "It's okay", he says; "details of gifts do not show up on the cruise planner, so as not to spoil the surprise; just make sure you use an email address that the recipient doesn't have access to". So, I logged on to their cruise planner, made the order, paid with my card, and used my email address. Guess what? Yes, that's right; it shows up on the 'My Orders' tab, and with a couple of clicks, the actual greeting can be seen!😠 Thanks for the accurate advice Mr P&O Agent!🙄 So, if you want to order a gift for someone in your cabin, crack on and do it through your cruise planner, and benefit from the Peninsular discount. If you want to be all secret squirrel about it, you will need to order over the phone .....and pay more for the privilege!

Yup! Definitely an occasion to wear something you don't intend to wear again, or is going in the laundry. When our lass has it I ask to be seated eight tables away.😉

Is that you suggesting I'm a greedy fat knacker, John? The cheek of it!😯 Well, I suppose if the cap fits!😉 I certainly won't be sharing a steak with our lass; I don't eat meat. That poster and his missus though would have been entitled to another main; after all, they have paid for three courses each. If they thought they were perhaps saving money by splitting the steak, paying the one supplement, and foregoing the other main, suggests to me they're not from Yorkshire!😉

And, now they are online, the prices have increased. They did a Black Friday offer last year, which will be just right for your cruise, if they repeat it this year. I paid £80 instead of £100 for the Birthday package, for our lass's 60th, which was in February. The same package is now £110. Note, you cannot also use your peninsular discount. Also, you can only order online if it's for your own cabin. If you're ordering for another cabin you need to call.

Beach House was £9.50 onboard and £7.60 pre-booked. It is now £11.50 and £9.20, so an increase of just over 21% Epicurean was £30 onboard and £24 pre-booked. It is now £35 and £28, so an increase of just under 16.67% The biggest increase is for the Norwegian Taster menu, which was the same price as the regular Epicurean menu. It is now £40 onboard and £32 pre-booked. That is a whopping increase of over 33%

When we sailed on Arvia for the first time, in January 2023, that was one of the things we were disappointed with: no more included coffee in Sindhu and Beach House. When I queried it that first time, the reason given was that it comes from Costa; I took that answer to mean that it was no longer free because it is now a premium product. That reason is now redundant though, as you can now get a Costa brewed coffee included in the MDR, albeit in a standard cup.

DITTO In my mind, it would possibly be safer parking it on the street.

Yes, it is

I recall, back in 2018 when we were on Britannia, none of the dishes were priced separately; we paid £18 for three courses and coffee, with small supplements for premium dishes. The introduction of the 'three courses for £22' is harking back to those days a bit. Increased profit margins would be as a result of those diners that forego dessert because they are too full. I've frequently seen that happen in Beach House and Epicurean. Paying for summat and not taking it? Not on my watch! #Yorkshire! 😉

Thank you so much, @mrsgoggins👍🏻 Looking at the prices, individual dishes have gone up about 20%, some less and some more. So, it would make sense for many people to pay £22 for three dishes. I'm still disappointed that the options aren't main+main+main!😉🐷🐯 We'll probably partake of three courses; well, I will as our lass is not so keen on the dessert choices in there. Mind you, I could have her dessert; they don't call me Two Pud Tiger for nowt!🤭 I was rather hoping that, along with the price increases, they would have refreshed the menu. Iona and Arvia only have the one menu for a two-week cruise, and the one they have now is about two years old.

@seanquirke, I had a similar question last year and was reassured then by the same response from @smokey01. I booked through SkyParkSecure, paying just £95 for 14 days parking. The instructions are the same as I had received previously when the company was named Parking4Cruises on the booking form; also, the mobile number to contact is exactly the same.

Thank you for your final thoughts, much of which I agree with, particularly the technology aspect. On these boards it tends to be a running joke that P&O's IT is not fit for purpose. You've hit the nail on the head with your suggestion that Carnival could adopt a 'base app' and fine tune it for different cruise lines. With regard to your views on the suitability of the ship for those with mobility issues, I disagree with that, but do agree with one particular aspect...the lifts. As the husband and carer for a full-time wheelchair user, I can certainly say that the accessible and partially accessible cabins are far better equipped than those on some other ships, not just older ships; @Selbourne's recent comparison with Cunard even reveals that a newer ship in their fleet doesn't compare with Iona or Arvia for accessibility. Public areas on both Iona and Arvia are also quite well thought out for accessibility; I'm thinking of the automatic doors and accessible toilets. The exception being the wheelchair chair spaces and carer's seats in the theatre; low in number and open to abuse. I don't need to mention the crew as, in our experience, there has never been an occasion when a crew member has not made sure my wife was comfortable and safe. The lifts though on both ships are not fit for purpose; too small and too many out of service. The problem is further exacerbated, not only during school holidays, which we avoid, but by the laziness and selfishness of a small number of other guests. With regard to the latter, P&O need to stop sitting on the fence, and treating all guests as equal, and need to take more robust measures to ensure genuine wheelchair and mobility scooter users, and those with restricted mobility, are prioritised. (Rant over!) Do you have you plans for a future cruise with P&O?

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Now, that is an afternoon tea!😋

We've never found the MDR to be 'bad' as far as food is concerned. You get good days and some not so good days, in our experience, more of the former.

Thanks @MyriamS for another great report.👍🏻 I think perhaps you caught the 'baked avocado doodah in pastry' chef on a bad day; when we had it once, it was spot on. I didn't want to pass comment previously, when you said about booking the afternoon tea, as you were really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, like you, we thought it was good but not fantastic; the sweet treats being the let down. It has changed somewhat since the days when Eric Lanlard curated it. One thing for sure, I would pick you two for my team!😄 I have exactly the same attitude. Thanks again for your well written, informative, and unbiased reports. I really do hope that your trip home is not as traumatic as it was at the start.

I am aware that many folk have had an awful experience previously with trying to book complimentary coach travel with Cruise Connect, so I thought I would share my experience of booking. After booking a cruise a few days ago for my sister and brother-in-law, and with them wanting the return coach travel, I was told that I could book it online as I have done before for parking with CPS; I was advised to wait a couple of days. I tried unsuccessfully this morning, several times in fact. After inputting the booking number and thinking it would zero out the price, it instead quoted a price of £216. On the last attempt I went one step further, and inputted their details on the next page, thinking it would zero out when I proceeded to the basket. No! A payment of £216 was required. I went no further. I read an old thread this afternoon, with many folk writing about being on hold for forty minutes or so before being cut off, and the same thing happening when they called again. Not expecting a positive outcome, I dialled the number. After the dour sounding Scottish guy did his opening bit, I was treated to some really dodgy jazz 'holding music' After five minutes of that, I was rather glad that the I got a single ringing tone and the call was terminated. I left it until 16:30 to call again, really not expecting any success. The Scottish guy wasn't any perkier! I was then only treated to a few seconds of jazz before the phone was answered by a lovely lady. After providing the booking number, she asked if I had tried to make the reservation online. I said I had, after being advised to do so by the P&O agent. "I'm sorry you were told that; our online booking isn't set up for it. You can only call or email us". Anyway, long story short, other than taking the booking number and confirming the passenger details, she didn't need any further details; she transferred all their information across from the saved data, from when I tried to book online. The call lasted less than four minutes, and my sister received the confirmation email almost straightaway. So, what I thought would be a nightmare, turned out to be a positive experience.👍🏻