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cruising.mark.uk

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  1. 12. Deck 9 Conservatory Mini Suites on Arvia / Iona
  2. They do things differently depending on where they are cruising, but given that many ships change location over the course of a year with changes in their passenger base to match, it is somewhat impractical to expect them to build ships that can seat the majority of the passenger load in one very early dinner seating just to cater for the dining preferences of the US market when the ship may spend 6 months of a year or more away from that market. It seems logical to me to build dining capacity to ensure that everyone can be fed across all venues over the course of the evening. Doing anything else will just build in wasteful (and expensive) spare capacity.
  3. That might be the case for US cruisers, but I'm almost certain that it won't be for UK and European cruisers who make up a good proportion of Princess' passenger base and generally eat their main meal quite a bit later in the day than 5.30 in the UK and much later than that in many other European countries. So, I sense that on UK / European sailings and North American sailings that attract a good proportion of non-US passengers, there should be be a fairly good split between passengers seeking very early dining and those that are happy to dine after 7pm. Perhaps the sailings on which this is more likely to become a problem are the shorter North American ones that attract predominantly US passengers?
  4. I have to call you out on the completely unevidenced generalisations in this post. The implication of what you post is that people who are not 'affluent' can't run a bank account and either can't read or are less intelligent than people who are affluent because they can't understand how pre-authorisation of charges on cards work and they don't know that cruise lines do that (despite it being in their passenger contracts). Unless you class everyone who posts on here as 'affluent', I hope no-one feels insulted or condescended to by those generalisations. I guess, with hindsight, you might have given more thought to what you were writing than you did.
  5. Is this the vegetarian equivalent of a white elephant? 🤣
  6. It will be interesting to see whether the security concerns some have about the Stockperks App (which, in my view, are misplaced) outweigh their desire to receive the OBC when, as I'm sure will happen sooner rather than later, the option to use a workaround is removed and the App becomes the only method to apply for / receive OBC. I don't know what it's like in the US, but in the UK many things in day-to-day life can now only be done by App. Opting out of using the App means opting out of receiving the service / benefit.
  7. I agree. I'd hazard a guess that e-cigarette types of device are being widely used in cabins, without cabin staff or passengers in adjoining cabins being any wiser. Personally, I don't see any harm in that, if they are undetectable rather than the ones that produce dense clouds of pungent vapour. And it's permitted on at least one line. Here's Seabourn's policy: 'Our smoking policy has been updated to reflect our continuing commitment to the comfort of all of our guests. On our Expedition ships, we have implemented a no smoking policy, which includes ecigarettes. On all other Seabourn ships, most public areas on board as well as guest suites, verandas and balconies are smoke-free. Outside smoking of cigarettes is permitted in the designated smoking area of the starboard half of the Sky Bar open deck. Cigarette, cigar & pipe smoking is allowed on the starboard half of the Seabourn Square outside deck. Smoking of electronic cigarettes is permitted in guest suites.'
  8. Or maybe some candy and a tee-shirt? Apparently, those are widely welcomed as a reward for professional services performed well?
  9. I'm amazed anyone would think this is a good idea. I sense that doing something like this would just come across as completely patronising and inappropriate. This is the 21st century and these are adult individuals working for a salary. They are not confined to the ship and do not need anyone else to buy them clothes or candy as if they are a 5-year old child. They may be surprised if someone does this, but I'm pretty certain they won't be grateful. More likely, they will feel de-humanised and demeaned. It's not the 19th century and they are not domestic servants.
  10. If you believe that giving passengers an allocated check-in time and then ensuring on most occasions that, if they turn up on or around that time, they are processed and onboard within about 15 or 20 minutes of arriving at the Terminal is inferior service, and if being able to turn up as early as you like is the most important aspect of your cruise, perhaps you should stick with those other cruise lines whose boarding arrangements seem to make you happier than P&Os? All I can say out of personal experience having cruised out of Southampton over a 20+ yr period with P&O, Cunard, Princess, RCI and Celebrity is that my last 3 boarding experiences at Southampton (2 x Iona and 1 x Arvia) have probably been the quickest and smoothest boarding processes I've encountered in all my cruising history. So, for me allocating times and ensuring that people who arrive on time are boarded swiftly and efficiently is a far superior service than that which I've experienced on other cruise lines.
  11. Whether it is a discount or a free gift will be irrelevant to anyone who receives it and spends more than £150 onboard on a 14 night or longer cruise. I suspect very few of them will spend less than that.
  12. Irrespective of the semantics, I'll gladly continue to accept my £300 / $500 on every 14 day cruise I take on a CCL brand.
  13. I think you forgot to preface this post with 'In my opinion' because my post above and that of @bobstheboy suggest that, in our experience, it is an inaccurate generalisation. And, the last sentence is only true hypothetically. Often you can't get a Select fare without OBC. The way to do that is to get a Saver fare, but then you have to take an assigned cabin. But no-one is forced to take one or the other. If you think that you get the cheapest price / best value with a Saver fare and no OBC, then book that. Others will have a different perspective, based on their calculation of the values and the associated pros and cons. In short, my sense is that it is not possible to generalise about OBC. Whether it offers good value for an individual will differ from cruise to cruise, the various prices offered at the time the cruise is booked, whether they are shareholders or qualify for military OBC etc etc There is no one size fits all and it is inaccurate to state that all OBC is built into the fare price. In my experience, sometimes CCL brands do actually give 'free' money (and military OBC is a very good example of that. Shareholder OBC somewhat less so because it relies on an initial purchase of the shares, but it is not built into an individual's fare for a specific cruise). Yes, standard OBC is a marketing tool to boost sales and - potentially - to increase on board spending over what that passenger would normally spend, but every now and again marketing works in favour of the passenger as well as the cruise line.
  14. I take it that will be green beans on toast, as you'll probably have to wean yourself off them gently after 65 days.
  15. I agree with this completely. My wife and I were on the Iona cruise 27 Jan. We booked shortly after the announcement was made that this was going to be one of the 'Health and Wellbeing' cruises (there was a thread on here), at which point they reduced prices and offered double onboard credit. With Shareholder and military as well, we ended up with £1350 OBC, more than enough to make the cruise all inclusive for us. The OBC paid for internet, speciality dining every night of the cruise, the Limelight and all of our alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. And, we still had to spend £300+ on cosmetics and electrical bits and pieces in the shops on the last sea day to use it all. I monitored prices and the price + OBC calculation was never as good as the one we received from the day we booked it until the day we sailed. To the OP: We always try to book savvy, albeit the above was the best we've achieved so far. And, we are lucky enough to get Shareholder and military OBC as well. So, I have to disagree with others who say that the customer has 'paid' for OBC. In our case, I'd estimate that - on average - about 50% of the OBC we get is, in effect, 'free money'. And, I'm sure many others who monitor pricing and receive shareholder / military OBC are in a similar position. That being the case, it would be churlish to expect to get another 10% discount for loyalty as well. Nice to have, but I don't feel wronged when I don't get it and neither do I feel that P&O is not appreciating my loyalty.
  16. Hence the problem, because this year - notably different from very preceding year - there is absolutely no mention of shareholders OBC in the Annual Report. So, there is no certainty over if and how the perk might be renewed this year. Some say that the mechanism for doing that is the AGM. But, there are conflicting reports as to whether this issue is being put to the vote at the AGM - posters on other threads have said variously that it is specified as something on which a vote will be taken or that it isn't. I haven't seen anything on any of the related threads that suggests definitively that it is to be voted on at the AGM or that it isn't. Neither have I seen a definitive explanation of how this perk is renewed each year if it is not via the AGM. So, pretty much all that is certain is that, compared with previous years in which there has been prominent mention of the perk in the Annual Report (e.g. a whole page right up-front in the report (p3) last year), there is no mention of it at all in the recently released Annual Report. Hence the speculation over whether it will be renewed beyond 31 Jul 24.
  17. Enjoy your transatlantic. We love them! I'd advise extreme caution in respect of Q1. Depending on what you are taking, you are likely crossing an international border with drugs / narcotics that are controlled in the destination country. You probably won't be stopped / inspected on arrival by Customs, but you might be. They will want to know what the drugs are and to confirm that you are entitled to have them. The advice in the UK is to always travel with drugs in their original packaging and with a copy of the prescription for them / a letter from your doctor. Personally, I'd do that with the over the counter / non-prescription drugs as well. It might be obvious to you what they are and what they are for, but it won't necessarily be obvious to an Italian Customs officer. If you do what you propose, you'll most likely be fine. But, if you are not, and you can't convince the Customs officials as to the provenance of the drugs and your entitlement to them, they'll likely confiscate them and may take further action (and in some countries in the Middle East / Asia, those further actions can be dire). Could you replace these drugs before sailing in Italy / could you sail without them? If the answer is 'No', I'd recommend taking them in their original packaging - the inconvenience of doing that will likely outweigh the inconvenience caused by having the drugs removed on arrival, even if the likelihood of that happening is low.
  18. It is not yet clear whether the perk will be available after July 31.
  19. Perhaps the saver fares will be replaced nearer the time with 'Late Saver' fares? Or have they done away with those?
  20. Yes, everyone's experience will be different, depending on their circumstances. We're in the UK as well and have had shares since about 2005. In that time, we've cruised about 30 times with CCL brands. All of those cruises have been 14 nights or longer, so we've received £150 / $250 on each. Even allowing for the fact that the shares are now worth not much more than half of what we paid for them, we are thousands up. And, although I hear your argument that onboard prices have a large mark-up, we would have purchased the drinks, speciality meals, excursions etc that we have used shareholder OBC whether we had that credit or not. So, we would have paid in 'real' money for what we have effectively got for nothing. Overall, we have profited hugely from the 100 shares we bought (and, for many years, they also paid a dividend as well). If this perk is now to go or to be diminished, I will be sad, but will remain grateful for the substantial benefit I have accrued from it over many years. I am lucky enough to benefit from military OBC as well. Hopefully, they won't do away with that! At a guess, I'd estimate that military OBC costs CCL a lot more than shareholder OBC and those who qualify for it are not necessarily investing directly in CCL in the same way that shareholders have. So, if shareholder OBC is removed or reduced as a cost-saving measure, I suspect that military OBC may be vulnerable as well.
  21. I hope you are right, but it has always been the case that the perk has to be re-approved this year. So, if it not being an agenda item for this year's AGM means that is is not even up for consideration for next year and will lapse automatically, I fear that the prospects do not look encouraging.
  22. Without descending into the realms of pure speculation and doom-mongering, I suspect that the most that can be said about next year and beyond is that passengers will continue to be vulnerable to all of the trials and tribulations associated with air travel in the post-Covid era. Maleth's performance on this charter may have been worse than average, but none of the charter airlines are immune from the type of problems that were encountered over this season (with their flights and those of TUI). And neither are scheduled airlines. It seems to me that those who wish to take fly cruises should be prepared for a painful experience. Anything better than that will be a bonus. That is the approach I take to every flight I take these days, not only charters to fly cruises - what I remember from years ago as a fairly enjoyable way to start and finish a holiday is very rarely that these days, whatever airline / class I fly. Such is life. Of course, how airlines deal with the problems that inevitably occur can go a long way to ameliorate the pain and distress of the experience. And, it appears that Maleth have not covered themselves in glory in that respect. Hopefully, their successors might prove more adept at addressing issues, even if they too are unable to deliver the perfect experience on every flight.
  23. That is interesting. So, if there's no vote on it at the AGM, does that mean that the perk expires at the end of July?
  24. Who says the damage to their brand has been pretty alarming? I suspect there is no evidence to support that view and that there won't be until there's sufficient information on whether there is a drop off in uptake for fly cruises, with the charter problems this year quoted as a reason.
  25. I very much hope that you and Phil are both correct!
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