Cruisemeister2002

20 hours ago, majortom10 said:

Sorry but where does it stop with P&O and the charges they enforce they will be charging you for public conveniences next. Sorry but there is no way I would pay £2-50 for having breakfast served in room I would walk to restaurant and get them to serve me and it would be free.

Yeah, didn't you know they have install a system in the urinals where they measure the contents then charge you by the litre it's not done by face recognition, but by another part or your anatomy if you get my drift. That really is taking the p*ss and charging for it. Please don't take this as gospel as I'm sure there may be the odd person who might believe it. 

I suppose the bars have a sign saying " You can get Carona via us ?

On 10/30/2021 at 1:49 PM, zap99 said:

Is there a difference between a betting shop and a casino. RCI have snails on the MDR menu. Aren't they similar to whelks?.🤔

I had snails once. Felt sluggish all day.

26 minutes ago, free from work said:

Here's a link that's worth checking out. 

 

https://paulandcarolelovetotravel.com/po-cruises-bar-prices-drinks-packages/

 

We are on our first P&O cruise on Ventura in November. Do P&O do "happy hours" or cocktails of the day in any bars during the cruise? 

 

Jim 

Although I have posted a question myself on wine packages I do know P&O have a cocktail of the day. As for the Happy hour I've seen a few who have " Happy Days" but that's more down to them than P&O being generous. So sadly no happy hours unless they have introduced something I'm unaware of.

Hi everyone. Not that I'm new to cruising but a question regarding wine packages on P&O. I am aware there's either the Captains or Commodores package and I'm also aware of the price although I am not sure whether the % that P&O claim to take off such packages means you get none of the benefits of the particular tier that you are in ( Caribbean 10%). Can anyone tell me whether they are worth purchasing as we don't drink wine at every meal as sometimes I will have a beer and the wife a G&T. But we are going on a cruise where 12 bottles would mean a 1/3rd of the cruise we would have a bottle of wine.

Used the Baggage handling Company on our last cruise. cases picked up a few days before we sailed. The only problem we had which may or may not have been their fault was that one of our cases was missing when they were delivered to our cabin. Turned out it was in the foyer near to reception and the labels had come adrift ( Good word that, but not if your on a ship). Spoke to reception and took the case back to our cabin. I would highly recommend them.

1 hour ago, Manx buoy said:

It’s 80-200 for Baltic, 201+ for Ligurian in 3 years. I think they have frozen everyone’s status for 3 years.

It's a pity they couldn't freeze your age for three years as well.

Unless things have changed considerably since 2018 you can request the tickets and labels are sent to you. They come in a brochure which you tear out as many as you want. We normally take the rest with us as most times, as we are shopaholics we have more cases on return than outgoing.

I think your question has been answered by other shipmates. But further to this once you get your points they are no longer reliant on you continually cruising. When you get them they are yours for life, well at least that's what P&O say. Although the Peninsula club has changed at least 3 times and the number of points required for each tier has changed a few times also. We went on a cruise on Oriana a few years back. Believe it was 2015 which was her 20th year of service and the Captain at his party proclaimed that virtually everyone on the cruise would be at the Peninsular Club lunch. I have to say that although as Caribbean Tier passengers you get slightly less than you originally did. 

On 9/16/2021 at 12:45 PM, SargassoPirate said:

She Who Must Be Obeyed and I stay at a resort in Hawaii approximately every other year for several years.  As chair hogs started to proliferate, the resort solved it.  The resort has a pool attendant and little pop up flags on the back of each lounger. The attendant goes through every thirty minutes and flips up the flags for any loungers without a body in it.  The next time he comes through, if an unoccupied chair is still "flagged", he clears it.

 

 

Sounds like a good idea. Mind you the flags would need ot have a locking device on them as no doubt some would put the flags up themseves. The biggest problem is getting someone to instigate whatever measures are put in place and I fear that many of the staff might be afraid of challenging a passenger as there may be a complaint going in.

On 9/15/2021 at 12:48 PM, lindylooellalouise said:

absolutely agree we were on the Iona 21st August we had a conservatory suite on deck 9 so we had excellent views of the promenade deck and we saw passengers collecting 6 towels each and were reserving sun beds on both sides of the ship and then they left and went for lunch leaving all the towels and one time we noticed they never returned we are not sunbathers so didn’t affect us but really not fair when we saw people looking for beds.

A few years ago we were on I believe Oriana and a family had towels either side of the pool so as to chase the sun. The biggest problem is that although the Horizon daily paper has displayed a notice stating that sunbeds shouldn't be reserved but as with many things these days rules are put in, but no one to make sure they are adherred to. I'm afraid a lot of what goes on these days is a case of as long as i'm alright the sod everyone else.

On 10/21/2021 at 7:40 PM, yorkshirephil said:

There are thousands of posts on many threads on here about tipping, many arguments between Brits and Americans and their opinions on tipping.

 

I have heard mention of people not turning up on the last night yet in almost 50 cruises have never experienced it on our tables, we opted for tables 8/10. Lots of cruise lines started adding tips to the onboard account, but most allowed people to remove them which again was a bone of contention on here. There were threads stating that said cruise lines informed their staff of people who removed tips, which also caused many arguments and bad feeling. Whether that was true is doubtful IMHO, but some folk claimed they knew it to be true.

 

Have definitely heard of people going to the Services desk and filling in a form saying they don't wish to tip. There is I believe an option where you can put an amount, rather than decline paying altogether. As I say, I much preferred tipping as it's more personal. A friendly gesture for good service and I do believe it keeps standards up. I know this as I was once a waiter many years ago. We had a "Trunk" which was where all tips were put and shared out at the weeks end. To show you how long ago it was The Maitre D and wine waiters got about £5. Me being a junior got £2. This would be a way for Cruise Companies to go. But I suppose why they did what they did was because A) People went AWOL from their tables the last night, so as to avoid having to tip B) Because Bar staff and others missed out.

I would expect no more than two or three. We go on a Caribbean cruise which is more than twice the amount you are going and anticipate 7 formals, 3 going out, 3 coming home and one other. Some have commented on this subject as I posed the question. One of the answers was ten. But I don't believe it will be that many. 

1 hour ago, kalos said:

There is no such rule ,P&O say "Tips are included (not no tips allowed ) and if you wish to tip extra to a member of staff you may do so ."  So what anyone does from there on is their personal choice .

Whilst the ghost of tips in cash has been dug up  I thought I may ask a question ..

Catching a coach down to Southampton does anyone tip the coach driver ?  

Catching a train    down to Southampton does anyone tip the train driver ?  

If the answer is not yes to both then no reply is needed I was just curious to see who do .

 

Normally bung him a few quid when we leave the coach on the return journey.

1 hour ago, kalos said:

 

ASLEF will not like you saying that  Dave  

 

 

Yes, but train drivers do "Step up to the plate"

I have to say that as a probably moderately seasoned cruiser (16 to date) there are many points of view with regards to tipping and staff wages. On the one hand if staff wages weren't so low would we have to pay more ? But on the other I do fully sympathise with staff over this "Take it,or leave it attitude" by Carnival.

I do find that although in the minority some passengers treat the staff as lackies and although they are there to serve that doesn't mean they don't deserve respect for the hard work they put in and they are human beings just as we are. Treat other people as you would expect to be treated.

I myself always preferred to tip. Normally the Cabin Steward and the senior and junior waiters at our table. But I do understand why P&O and many other cruise lines have gone the route of including tips because as has been said many passengers would go AWOL on the last night so as to not have to tip. Also bar and other staff would be left out.

1 hour ago, Dermotsgirl said:

Aurora had Cafe Bordeaux - I THINK that cost extra in the evening, but it was included in the cruise price at lunch time.  Speciality restaurants with extra charges started to become a bigger feature when Arcadia was launched in 2005, with the Orchid and Arcadian Rhodes 

We do remember Caf'e Bordeaux if only for the fact that we were on a table of 8 and two of the couples insisted on trying to outdo each other by declaring "We are going to Caf'e Bordeaux tomorrow night" or whever they were going so as to beat the other couple. It was really funny. But one of the couples didn't even say goodbye on the last day and it certainly wasn't anything we said as people do what they want even if it is for one upmanship.

4 hours ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

I'm relatively new to P and O

 

Our first cruise with them was Britannia in 2015

 

I seem to think it cost as much back then as it does now to cruise on Britannia

 

But I'm interested how prices compare now going further back than that 

 

I notice Aurora had its maiden voyage in 2000

 

In July 2022 prices start from £979 per person for a 12 night Northern Europe cruise on Aurora from Southampton

 

I'm intrigued to know what the price would have been for a similar cruise in a basic cabin back in 2000 and 2001 time

 

I can't imagine it could have been an awful lot cheaper? 

 

Can anyone recall the prices for a similar length cruise back then

It's strange really because our first cruise was on Victoria. A P&O ship that was previously called Sea Princess which later moved it's name to Princess cruise lines. We paid the princely sum of £5000 for a 14 night cruise to the Canary Island and Madeira. Being our first cruise we were cruise virgins and a bit nieve with regards to prices. People we were on the cruise with gave us names of companies that sold cruises for P&O so rather than go to them we went through various agents. On a couple of occasions the companies went bust and fortunately due to ABTA/ATOL protection P&O took the cruises on. Sometimes between 2003 until fairly recently we would look to pay no more than £100 per night. But many things have changed. Speciality restuarants,charges for more menu items in your cabin. No little bag with toiletries and having a drinking chocolate before bed was free with a supper including sarnies. Bridge and galley tours were free and Chocoholics in the main restuarant was a thing to behold. There weren't exclusive areas of sunbeds and the like which includes a charge and prices I believe are creeping up overall for cruises. Many cruise lines now don't have inside cabins which we normally have if it's a cruise late or early in the year as we prefer to spend on luxuries onboard and ashore although we did have balcony cabins on Britannia and Azura.

3 hours ago, watsonbeau said:

For checking your insurance cover (obviously must include Cruise and the correct area eg Worldwide inc Caribbean) does anyone have a list of what perhaps might generally be considered the most pertinent areas to ask about to ensure cover ?  

 

Appreciate my own responsibility to ensure adequate cover but it's becoming so much of a minefield I have really lost the plot so any pointers would be helpful.

 

I do have insurance via my bank account but hopefully if Megabear2 receives some info from her insurance sleuthing I might well consider taking out a different policy if it's better cover than what my bank provide so though I would ask.  Thank you.

I would be wary of Insurance cover on your bank account. I presume this is one that you pay say £3 a month extra and get Insurance thrown in. I Had one of these accounts with Halifax. But found that due to underlying health issues I would have to pay extra for these and it worked out more expensive than to go to Staysure for instance.

I have always sent my complaints to P&O at Carnival House Southampton. I tend to send a letter and always end with "I look forward to your reply" Can't say I know what it's like during this pandemic. But what I would say is that I believe the Americans are treated far better than us Brits and I believe it is directly due to the Americans being prepared to complain and as such they get a better level of service. The American ships are more up to date as they won't stand for being shipped around in "Old tubs" I know P&O have recently added Iona and Britannia hasn't been in service that long and Arvia is on stream. But only in the last few years has Oriana and Oceana  departed and Aurora is still sailing. I note that Royal Caribbean are now sailing some of their older vessels out of Southampton. I appreciate that smaller vessels mean passengers have to pay a bit more, but I do hope that when Aurora eventually retires that P&O don't just bring in another 180,000 tonne monster to replace her. So in essence it doesn't mean your after freebies if you complain but it's nice to have the recognition that service wasn't up to scratch and if that means giving you some onboard spend or a hamper or whatever then so be it. If nobody complains whichever cruise line it is thinks everything is hunky dory and the service declines as they know they can get away with it.

On 10/6/2021 at 1:28 PM, BestGuessed said:

My husband and I are on day twelve of the first Britannia cruise out of British waters post Covid.  I am posting our observations and opinions about how everything is running on onboard at present, the good and the bad, in the hope that it might be useful to others. 

 

The staff are excellent as always and they have made us very welcome. Sadly, the Club Dining option is not operating (will it ever come back?) so there is no rapport with “your own” waiting staff at meal times.  The dining arrangements are that you have to join a virtual queue via the app or turn up and be given a pager at busy times.  The waiting times are very long at popular times.  See traffic light notification that is part of the daily Horizon newsletter.

 

Tables are selected randomly for you so you rarely get to sit in the same section two days running.    We think this is a shame as the rapport we built up with our waiters was always a big part of our daily dining experience.  From comments made, it seems that the waiting staff don’t like this arrangement either.
Something else that has changed is that you are now asked to choose your dessert when you initially place your order. This isn’t always very satisfactory as it is difficult to gauge how full you will be feeling and which dessert will appeal once you have consumed the first two courses.  However, we found that if we made a request to look at the menu again later, we were able to do so.

 

Whilst on the subject of dining, if you want to book a speciality restaurant or The Limelight Club and the app shows the venue to be full, most definitely go to see the staff in person and most times there are tables available.  They do not book all the tables out via the app and you will more than likely be able to book if you ask in person.

 

Passengers are now permitted to get off the ship and explore independently in the ports.  Temperatures are taken at the point of leaving the ship using a device pointed at your forehead so it is very quick, giving instant results and creates no queues or backlog.

 

We have been told that the ship is sailing at around 75% capacity but most evenings a “House Full” sign is put outside The Live Lounge during the mid evening performance and a queue forms.  The band “Pulse” are excellent and they are very popular. 
Theatre shows and performances in The Live Lounge normally have three showings/sets and the early and late performances are usually the least well attended so we have opted to organise our evenings around this.  There are organised ballroom and sequence dancing sessions in The Crystal Room for an hour most evenings and some afternoon sessions. These are supervised by dance hosts and there are lessons on most sea days.  Masks are not required unless dancing with someone other than your own partner.
 

Our advice is to think ahead and plan what you want to do in advance.  It isn’t what we usually expect to do when we are on holiday but there has been very little spontaneity on this cruise !! 

 

Other notes that might be useful … our cruise is fourteen nights long and there are four formal nights which I believe is the way it used to be.  Some passengers on this cruise were rather surprised as they didn’t expect that there would be so many.

 

I will finish by adding a few of our own personal opinions and things that we have found to be  talking points …

 

On every ship we have been on in the past there have been two live bands on board.  On Britannia there is only one upbeat band who are the fantastic “Pulse,” plus the Britannia orchestra, and these musicians all produce the most phenomenal sounds.  There are couple of other quieter entertainers.
However there is no music filling the atrium and as a result the ship totally lacks any sort of holiday atmosphere.    
Dancing to live music anywhere on the ship is banned.  Disco dancing is allowed to recorded music between live performances in The Live Lounge but this doesn’t have the same feel good factor to it and it must be soul destroying for the musicians to be playing to a dead dance floor. Dancing is not allowed in The Limelight Club either and tables have been placed on the floor to prevent anyone using it.

This could make some sense if other protocols didn’t contradict it.  Guests are allowed to get off and explore ports independently and eat with other unknown people at the same table in groups of up to six.   Everyone mixes and mingles maskless in the bars yet masks are required when walking around the ship. In the past few days a sign appeared in the lifts to say we should refrain from talking which makes no sense as everyone happily chats maskless to one another in the lounges and dining rooms and there is not very much distance between tables.

 

 

So, in our opinion, the protocols seem to be rather pointless.    We were told that during a bingo session you should not call “Bingo” but clap instead !!!!

In the conveniences washbasins are sealed over with film printed DO NOT USE but there are more cubicles in use than washbasins which then causes a queue waiting in a confined area to use the basin.  
 

So, to sum up our findings on this cruise;   We haven’t been able to make sense of the inconsistencies and we have felt very frustrated at times.  
Having said that, we sailed with Celebrity onboard Silhouette for eight nights in July and everything on board apart from mask wearing, was cruising as we had hoped it would be and have previously enjoyed.  Therefore perhaps our expectations of this cruise were overly high as we were hoping for a similar experience.  I think if we had come with less expectation we wouldn’t have been disappointed and I think that might be the key.  

 

So our advice would be to expect many changes and come prepared for the fact that things will be different.  On a very positive note, the glorious sunshine we have had on this cruise has lifted our spirits tremendously and it has been a lovely break.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two things. I so glad they point a temperature "gun" at your head as I was worried they'd stick a thermometer up my backside and secondly you said on a positive note. Anything positive is banned I'm afraid.

 

My Insurance states that you are Covid covered. But this incident makes me wonder to what degree. Obviously P&O won't allow you on a ship with Covid. Which is understandable and correct. But due to the very nature of this virus you can be well well embarking and unwell a few days later or pick up the virus when going ashore. There are many scenarios attached to travel, Insurance and the virus and it would be nice to be assured that whatever materialises you will be covered either by P&O or your Insurance.

A few years ago on the last night of our cruise my wife went down with Norovirus. We had travelled to Southampton by coach. On the ship I had informed the medical staff of my wife's condition and she was confined to the cabin. I stayed with her and was asked if we would require a breakfast in our cabin as we would be disembarking early along with other passengers who had Norovirus and a taxi would take us home. The breakfast for me, as my wife was still unwell, didn't arrive. We disembarked and guess what ? No taxi. I left my wife basically hanging on to the luggage trolley whilst I made my way to the main P&O Office. They told me they had to rebook all taxi's and that they would soon arrive. Some half hour or more later none had arrived. Again I made my way to the P&O office and requested that I get a taxi and then send them the receipt to re-emburse me. They agreed and we went to the taxi rank which was just outside where we had been waiting. We returned home and I paid the £260 taxi fare. I recieved the refund a couple of weeks afterwards and a hamper from P&O for the problems incurred. What I have said is more to do with the travelling back in a taxi rather than the problems that arose from my wife getting Norovirus. It meant the taxi driver coming into contact with my wife. I didn't get Norovirus although I was slightly queasy for a few days, so maybe I got a mild dose.

On 12/8/2020 at 4:28 PM, Ardennais said:

Any name guesses?

IDONTOWNER

I have thought about this and decided to pose the question as to what happens with regards to luggage whilst Covid tests take place. We will be travelling to Southampton by coach and what normally, pre-covid, happened was we would leave the coach with our hand luggage and the coach would then be unloaded of the remaining luggage which after going through the usual passport, questionnaire and credit card procedure we would go through scanning and boarding of the ship. Continue on to our cabin where normally in dribs and drabs our luggage would appear. I presume no luggage handling takes place until all passengers on the coach have been checked. Further to this, if by some chance a positive test happens how do you return home ? Also if a couple are tested and one tests negative and the other positive obviously the one testing positive won't be able to board the ship. But then the other partner will not wish to go on a long cruise without their partner so how are you covered regarding FCC's and insurance.