Cruisemeister2002

As fellow travellers have advised exact times aren't forthcoming. If you consider P&O and I presume other cruise lines can't even guarantee that you will go to a particular Port Of Call they won't be giving an exact time either. Maybe it's just me, but I do feel that cruise line T's & C's are hidden behind of when it comes to them missing a port of call. Whereby they state that if circumstances arrive then they may not dock at a certain P of C. On a recent cruise we were told in advance that Key West was deleted from our schedule, four days before arrival at Bermuda for an overnight stop we were informed by the Captain that due to adverse weather we wouldn't be making this P of C. The reason for Key West was I believe due to them not wanting Ventura in. Yet they advertise the same cruise next year with Key West as part of the itinerary ? Whilst I am also aware that safety is paramount and adverse weather can prevent a ship docking it doesn't to me hold true that docking can or cannot be determined four days before arrival. Further to this I was told by P&O that if another P of C was available they would have docked. I questioned this as on previous occasions we have visited the US and it used to take five days. We travelled from Port Canaveral to Punta del Garda over six days and a further three days to get to Southampton. Missing Bermuda also meant after a call at La Coruna we had nine sea days before Freeport Bahamas. I also note that on many insurance policies missing ports of call can be covered forn extra money. Seeing as mine cost me £1800 I didn't take the extra out. But was told the T's and C's by P&O and told to claim from my insurance, which obviously I couldn't. Although cruiselines may have to feed people when not calling at a port they are also getting the extra spending onboard via drinks and other spending.

Apart from our second cruise, which was onboard Sea Princess we have taken the other 16 cruises on P&O. My wife keeps saying "why don't we try Ambassador" but although some of the P&O ships such as Aurora launched 2000 and Arcadia a few years later are older ships I look at Ambassador and think that although they look o.k. they really are old and forgive me if I am wrong, but weren't these virtually scrap before being resurrected.

Our cruise on Ventura in March didn't matter much whether you had a check in time, had a boarding pass or priority boarding as when we got off the coach the baggage and queues were horrendous. all due apparently to Ventura arriving five hours late due to a refit. What they refitted I have no idea, maybe a few carpets ? There were still fitters on board days after we sailed, which instead of being around 5 p.m. ended up at 11.30 p.m. and one of our bags still wasn't at our cabin by the time we went to the MDR at 8.30. Having changed our cabin a day before sailing I had to cut all the labels from our bags and reprint. On arriving at our "New" cabin the cards allowing entry and purchases etc were someone else's, the dining arrangements were wrong, we no table number. Our Celebration Package which I paid £399 for non existent and we ended up with our luggage minus one, plus four of the other persons cases. Which i presume they had been moved also, but either didn't pick up the notification or weren't notified at all. Having said that, I suppose they must have known otherwise we could have ended up four in a bed ?

On Ventura in March/April had the same problems, this time brocolli with everything. Got to the stage where some of it had a brown tinge to it. Obviously past it's sell by date. Desserts were bland. If it said rum cake or pina collada cheesecake I reckon the dessert had a cork waved above it as no distinct taste of any alcohol. My wife had what they described as a trio of chocalate. It was impossible to see more than two. She has had this on previous cruises and loved it, not so on this one. Also no Opera cake of sassha torte. Not sure really if it mattered as it wouldn't have been very nice judging on the rest that was dished up. Breakfasts were generally o.k. apart from the odd eggs benedic being cold and the burgers, pizza and chips were all good on deck. The buffet was so, so, some days very good, some days not so good and no curry nights on the buffet, which are usually good. Sindu was superb and the Beach House good. But then you pay extra for these. Our four best meals were 3 x sindu and 1 x Beach House.

Returned from a cruise on Ventura, 35 nights. Itinerary was originally La Coruna, Bermuda (overnight), Freeport Bahamas, Cozumel, Rhoatan, Belize, New Orleans (two days, Key West, Miami, Port Canaveral and Punta del Garda. Several weeks before departing we were informed that Key West was deleted, then when heading for Bermuda was told the weather wouldn't allow us to dock. Mind you, that was 4 days before arrival. I questioned if the Captain had a crystal ball. Due to the length of time the US authorities took for immigration into New Orleans we lost the morning and some passengers most of the afternoon also. We didn't do excursions in either Rhoatan or Belize and felt both a complete waste of time. It was put to me by P&O that had other ports of call been available other than Bermuda they would have taken them in. I questioned this as due to a medical emergency we had a passenger leave the ship and I believe we could have docked in Bermuda on the return journey from Port Canaveral. I say this as it took 6 days to get to Punta del Garda and a further 3 days to get to Southampton. Whereas I have been on cruises to the States where it has only taken 5 days to get back to Southampton. Could this have been due to Ventura arriving at Southampton for the outbound journey 5 hours late and instead of a departure time of around 17.00 hours we didn't leave Southampton until 23.30 hours ?

Don't know whether it's just post pandemic or not but our recent experiences on Ventura meant that I longed to get off the ship many days before we docked in Southampton. It just seemed we encountered one problem after another and seeing as this was our first cruise for four years it was very disappointing. However we are giving P&O another chance to redeem themselves next year. Age and mobility have caught up with me and I cannot be bothered with the hassle.

I nearly fell over (Not through drinking) when I looked on MyHoliday at the previous day's spend. We had two glasses of Souvignon Blanc and the bill was £19. I queried it at receiption and they looked into it. But apparently it was correct. Due to it being quite difficult to get the wine waiter and he didn't have a wine list with him always I just ordered them. I could have got a bottle for the same price.

I do wonder seeing as Carnival shares have dropped on occasions to around £5 if so many have purchased a holding of 100 shares so as to benefit from the OBC that they are looking into whether to reduce these benefits as you don't have to cruise for weeks on end to get the £150 OBC. I had the OBC on Ventura earlier this year and I hope to receive it next year.

We, that is the wife and I did a 35 night cruise on Ventura in March/April we took with us a 1 ltr bottle of gin and vokda. When we left the ship there were still some vodka left. Mind you, it's a individual thing. each to their own as they say. A couple on our table of six had a bottle of wine, she had white, he had red, which they drank over two nights and continue that throughout the cruise. We on the other hand didn't always drink at every meal and if we did we had a glass of wine or I had a beer and the wife a G&T and on the odd occasion we consumed a bottle. I simply don't go for a drinks package as there's no way i'd get my money's worth. But if a person feels that they can consume that amount then why not ?

Hi All, hope you are all well and enjoying your cruises ? Has anyone had similar experience to me and my wife with regards to Celebration Packages in that it does appear that staff are not trained well enough to impliment these packages. The one that I have taken out on my last two cruises is the Ultimate Celebration Package consisting of A bottle of champagne, a champagne breakfast in bed, two champagne flutes in a presentation box, formal portrait in frame, flowers in cabin, box of chocolates, dressing gown and slippers, facial or massage, 2 visits to a restuarant (such as Glass House, Beach House, Sindu) and Canapes twice. The current price is £425. Sadly on both of our cruises there has been several errors. The first of the two some the flowers died after a couple of days. I went for a massage and my wife a faciial, I came out after the 50 minutes and my wife was still sat outside. She received a different day to attend which was subsequiently changed again. The specialist restuarants didn't really know how to deal with the vouchers. The second cruise which was in March this year we had endless problems. The first being they changed our cabin and nothing was in the new cabin and it took 17 days to sort everything out.

Many people love Aurora and wouldn't sail on Iona or Arvia. However I would liken the experience of sailing on an old ship to that of an old car you don't have the mod cons and maybe not as comfortable and maybe more likely to have issues with engines and things that are likely on older ships. We came back from a cruise on Ventura, not as old as Aurora and one deck was flooded due to one of two things although we never found out which and that was a burst pipe or a swimming pool on an upper deck. suffice to say some passengers were moved to different cabins. There was an amount of 2,400 onboard and she holds around 3,000. Due to many problems occurred on Ventura we won't sail on her again. But if you have booked to go on her, please don't allow our experiences to put you off as we all have different expectations of how things should be.

That's to do with the Port. I love a glass too or so.

My Wife was quoted 28 days by Customer services and given a case number.

Same here. Unfortunately we had many gripes about our recent cruise on Ventura, 35 night to Caribbean, Mexico and US. Cuise was 2nd March to 6th April. On returning home I wrote a three page letter to P&O. Having not received a reply up until today my wife phone customer services. The guy was very helpful and gave us a reference for the complaint logged. He went into some detail which my wife said he could just have said "It's being dealt with" and left it at that. I suppose the proof of the pudding will be the ultimate outcome. So I will not pass judgement just yet.

Watch out for last minute cabin changes. We did a cruise on Ventura early March and the day before the cruise I got notification via email that my cabin had been changed. Obviously from the fact that someone else's luggage being delivered to our cabin as well as our own they either didn't get told or just didn't pick up the email. It was in my opinion poor planning as i had already printed off the labels and they were attached to the luggage which I then had to cut them off and reprint for the new cabin. Also reprint new boarding passes. The ship was 5 hours late into Southampton and on getting to our cabin found the door cards were in someone else's name. Inside the cabin the dining arrangements were incorrect and a celebration package I paid £399 for not delivered. It took 17 days onboard to get this properly sorted and part of this package was a formal photo in a frame. Guess what ? No photographer onboard. This was just a small part of a nightmare cruise. One I won't look back on with any pleasure. P&O have received a 3 A4 page list of my complaints. When you only get one holiday a year and your my age you are aware that you cannot afford to be subjected to anything but an enjoyable one. I don't blame most of the staff as waiters and bar staff did a great job. Cabin Steward was a bit hit and miss as I had to keep asking for tea, coffee or milk. Which he seemed to play a kind of roulette with so you sometime got one and not the other. Reception staff tried hard, but seemed to be restricted in what they could do for you.

My shares are held with Hargreaves Landsdown. I contacted the in November for the cruise in early March, but due to the heavy volume of work they didn't inform P&O of my holding until around February time. But there is a limit to the time between telling P&O about your Carnival shares holding and your actual cruise. Best to check with them.

Carnival ordinary shares. Now around £6.70 per share. One hundred needed to get OBC. This varies from £30 to £150 depending on the length of your cruise. If you have a tier in the Portunas club, we a Caribbean tier you won't of course get any further discount as you are using OBC.

Just got back off a cruise on Ventura. Got the £150 OBC as I hold 100 Carnival shares. Bought these several months ago at £6.99 per share so an outlay of just over £700 due to purchase costs. Go again next year on a 19 night cruise so another £150. whilst I am aware OBC isn't actually worth £150 as items bought onboard whether clothes, dining, shore excursions etc are all subject to a mark up which will be profit.

Firstly may I say I am glad you liked the Epicurian, Sindu etc. as did we on Ventura. My issue is not with these venues, but of the fact that to get what I consider a decent meal you have to pay extra. Whilst I am aware that P&O are amongst the cheapest for the number of nights on a cruise their prices are increasing quite substantially. An example of this is the 35 night cruise we have just taken aboard Ventura cost just over £6,200 for the cabin. Next year a 30 night cruise onboard Aurora/Arcadia is £8,500 and increase of over £2000 and 5 nights less.

We did frequent the buffet for breakfast on occasions when we got up later and I sometimes popped up to the buffet to get a plate of food lunch time or afternoon tea time to take back to the cabin which was convenient as we were midships with lifts only a few cabins distance from ours which took me up to deck 15. Unfortunately for many the availability of cups for tea and coffee was very poor with constant situations throughout our cruise of no cups being available. Despite the initial Captains cocktail part (if that's what they call it) and him insisting on the ratio of passengers to crew being 2-1 on occasions people were told that there were staff shortages. Although in the eyes of some who have been on endless cruises we may not be deemed "seasoned cruisers" we have done 17 now. No matter what others may say with regards to pricing, pandemic issues or whatever to me and my wife and I don't consider us to be over fussy, standards have dipped considerably. Not due to the excellent service of waiting and bar staff, more due to some little person sitting in an office with no windows deciding if they do away with turndowns and little chocolates on the pillow, two complimentary bottles of water in the fridge on arrival, a small dish of boiled sweets, toiletries in a P&O bag, decent steaks in the MDR along with desserts vaguely resembling what they are supposed to be, then they can save the Company many thousands over the course of a years cruises. What they don't realise is that anyone with half a brain cell notices these cutbacks and whilst the CEO proclaims how wonderful it is to see all these people back on P&O ships it won't be long before some decide the cutbacks have gone too far and that if to get a decent meal means you have to go to the Epicurian, Sindu, Beach House or Glass House then you may as well pay out more for your cruise and get it all included.

Just got back off a cruise to Caribbean and USA on Ventura. Can honestly say the worst food we have had in our 17 cruises. 16 aboard P&O ships. Soups that were o.k. but didn't resemble their description and varied between hot and warm. Main courses that whatever you had one of the veg was always broccoli which in most cases was inedible and ended up with a brown tinge. Desserts that came nowhere near our previous cruises. Quoting they were a pudding with rum or a dessert with pina colada, but no taste of either. Wishy washy custard that was more like water. I can again say in all honesty that during a 35 night cruise only four meals were good. They were three at Sindu which was excellent and one at the Beach House which was good although I didn't go a bundle on the dessert which described itself as an Eton Mess Sizzler. Yes it sizzled, but not an Eton Mess for me.

Yes they did report it. Unfortunately for myself and wife this cruise was a disaster. A letter is winging it's way to P&O. I hope and believe I am not just deemed as a whinger. However I do believe that P&O standards will continue to drop if they are not informed of problems. It does to me appear that everything is being pushed to having to pay to get decent food and by the looks of Iona and Arvia entertainment is going the same way. As wine waiters don't unless asked provide a wine list I ordered two 250 ml glasses of Souvignon Blanc and received an onboard bill of £19.00 for the privilege whereas I could have bought a bottle for £19.95. My fault I know but I do believe everything is getting more expensive and whether an all inclusive on Saga would be a better option ?

A couple I spoke to on Ventura N306 Caribbean/USA 02/03/23 got into their cabin and found rubbish under their bed and someone's clothes hanging in their wardrobe.

Wouldn't have mattered on Ventura Caribbean and USA departure 02/03/23 as she had arrived 5 hours late due to a supposed refit. Which piece of carpet they had changed to account for this delay I am not sure, but apparently it was done in Germany ? But there were still British workers fitting carpets several days after departure as we meet them in a lift with buckets marked do not move on the lids and they explained they were about to fit carpets in the staff quarters. Suffice to say having to queue outside the terminal building along with thousands of others and baggage piled up everywhere. The complimentary lunch was extended to 3 p.m. but we still didn't make it in time. But if the fare dished up by the MDR throughout the cruise was anything to go by it was just as well we missed it as I can only recall 4 meals, 3 in Sindu and 1 in the Beach house that I would class as good. Ventura didn't set sail until 11.30 p.m. The cruise was frankly a nightmare. I am giving P&O one last chance next year on Arcadia. Then I will either cease cruising or go somewhere else.

Best to put the dubbin on after you get out of bed and not before getting in.