Mollag

On 3/21/2023 at 11:43 PM, Yorkypete said:

Looks about enough to feed a ten year old!

 

That’s a big portion last night I had 2 bits of beef and one bit of lamb which were only a mouthful each with 4or 5 chips which were supposedly roasties 3 cherry tomatoes and a bit of gravy and that was MPW menu. Food has been poor for the last fortnight Pinot Grigio is no more Kopparberg no more. Table companions at dinner with the wine package only getting a choice of half the wines on the list I could go on but you get the picture 

15 minutes ago, david05 said:

A friend of ours has reached gold on her cruise in autumn last year and she has only received her gold coloured lapel pin in the last week or so. So don't hold your breath!

I’m not holding anything don’t even know what gold is 🤷‍♂️😂

58 minutes ago, Denarius said:

Thank you. Slipped it in the small print, did they?

I should now be a Britannia Club member after my recent (third) Saga cruise but have yet to receive anything from them about it, other than emails with special Britannia Club offers (I only returned two weeks ago)

We did the 35 nighter over Xmas/New Year and had a letter a few days ago apologising for not being sent our pins and bag tags on joining the club which we weren’t expecting as everything we’d seen said it was over 35 nights before you were eligible 

Trying their best to win the race to the bottom

28 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Sun Princess will have the same issues when she comes into service.

For once,  I think we need to cut P&O some slack. The issue revolves around the lack of  LNG refuelling infrastructure - I'm not sure you can fully lay the blame  for that at P&O's door.

Would you blame the owner of an electric car if there were no recharging points when driving through a remote area ? 

Would the owner of the electric car go somewhere where they can’t recharge?

3 hours ago, Snow Hill said:

Given all the press releases about it on the few environmentally friendly cruise ships in the seas, it is not living up to that claim then, it’s just as polluting as other ships in the P&O & Carnival fleet. Does the the same apply to Arvia?

That’s P&O for you. You definitely don’t get what it says on the label. 

On 2/11/2023 at 6:15 PM, Ladycommonsense said:

Naughty ….. but nice 🤭

Sorry bit late to the thread but can only repeat the comments with regards to P&O, we’ve just done 35 nights over Xmas/New Year and to us it was what cruising should be unlike P&Os current offerings like most others once we’ve taken our already booked cruises with them we won’t be returning, SAGA for us now. 

16 hours ago, molecrochip said:

It’s is the kids menu. But it’s not only kids that order from it.

 

It’s the same quality of ingredients that would be found on any MDR dish. So if you wanted a chicken great it’s always there.

So how does the kids menu work on Arcadia and Aurora?

What’s an air lubrication system Advanced Diver? That’s a new one to me

54 minutes ago, Shipsareus said:

we fly in March and although we have the outward flights, haven’t yet received details of the return . We go in 49 days!

We go the week before you got the outbound flights but still no return yet, just waiting for them to announce Azuras summer season from Southampton 🤦‍♂️😂

4 minutes ago, carlanthony24 said:

From what people have been saying on other sites everything was fine till the airline decided that they couldn't supply the aircrafts. 

But the airline would’ve have known since they released the summer schedule that these a/c weren’t available I reckon P&O have just assumed they were not realising they were already tied up

2 hours ago, Bazrat said:

No it was sold as a repositioning cruise so flights back was part of the package,

we have rebooked for the 27th October for more obc and a slightly less cost so happy with the outcome.

That’s fair enough then glad you got sorted. Every time we done the TA from the Caribbean flights were always included that’s what’s confused me. I’m not so sure about who’s to blame in the 30 years working at the airport the schedules always changed the weekends the clocks changed so nothing new. 

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

They are advertised as cruise only.  Some of them have nothing beside them either way so booking on line you need to check.  My comment refers to how P&O are unable to offer flights so assumedly are losing trade that they would have had less problem selling if they'd been able to source flights.

 

The website makes it totally clear they are cruise only although I did a mock booking (discussed elsewhere) where it appeared to let me add a flight.  I called P&O for confirmation about this and it was they who confirmed that these were cruise only due to non availability of a flight via themselves.

 

No mis-selling just buyer beware and double check what's on offer.

I realise they’re selling some cruises as cruise only but was the original TA that has been cancelled sold as cruise only?

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

I actually meant flights were a problem for P&O.  These are sold as flight inclusive packages as a rule.  Assumedly some travel agents will invent packages of their own but as you say late booking a Caribbean flight is very expensive.

 

You mentioned to Bazrat an alternative way back. Two things: he works so time is restricted as he said further up and more importantly P&O have cancelled the entire cruise due to no charter being available.

Correct me if I’m wrong which I probably am but P&O selling these as fly cruises when in fact they haven’t got any flights organised is that not mis-selling a product 

6 minutes ago, Yorkypete said:

I must admit to not knowing how ships liase with aircraft companys but we are booked for two weeks in Malta (which we normally do twice a year) and there is no problem with flights. Although we are going on the first flight since the winter break we could have chosen any time onwards.

They use chartered aircraft and do block bookings on schedule flights so I’m assuming the schedule flights must be known already as they would’ve been released several months ago but as yet everybody is being kept on the dark

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

I would think there is less likely to be a problem with the Malta flights both because it is short-haul and Azura carries fewer pax.

You’d have thought so but no sign of flights either way and some cruises have been on sale as cruise only for a while now, only nine weeks till the first changeover in Malta pax don’t know which London airports to book for parking etc. just the usual P&O shambles

3 hours ago, molecrochip said:

Arvia’s first turnaround in Barbados in the Winter 23/24 season was due to be Friday & Saturday of the clock change weekend. This is still on Summer aircraft scheduled and Tui can’t provide the long haul aircraft.

 

Don’t know whether P&O or Tui at fault in the planning but it’s just come to light, and no alternative carriers were available that could handle the whole ship.

Any idea when the flights will be released for the Malta season on Azura first flights back on 30 March and nothing released yet lots of people are getting concerned by the lack of information, have they got any flights for them?

1 hour ago, Snow Hill said:

You would have to pack in suitcase as liquids are currently limited to 100ml in hand luggage. 

Not on cruises the 100ml thing is for flights

14 hours ago, tring said:

 

This link seems to say the combination saver is not applicable to 7 night fly cruises, but that had changed by last summer and there was another link that said seven night fly cruises there was another link which said 7 night fly cruises were applicable to them.  We got 10% of both a 7 night and sixteen night back to back cruises on Azura in October.

 

Yes, both have to be select fare.

 

We’ve got 20+14+7 on Azura and got the 10% for all of them and nearly all paid for with FCC/compensation 

4 hours ago, sddsddean said:

Just my opinion, but heres our review of the 35 night Xmas and New Year cruise...it doesn't make good reading I'm afraid! If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=694463

 

Simon

Great review as comparison we were on SAGA a week behind you around the Caribbean paid under £18k all in, by the time you’d have added on a drinks package, internet, excursions and specialty restaurants on P&O there wouldn’t be a great deal of difference and couldn’t fault the cruise at all the only shortage was the last couple of days when there were only 4 cheeses to choose from instead of the usual 10-12

1 hour ago, Exiled Brummie said:

Hi all, it's been a while since I lasted posted and see that there have been many posts since so apologies if this has already been answered but has anyone had any success with having cruise costs reimbursed due to P&O cancelling cruise after honestly answering yes to the 'have you...: medical questionaire. I complained to P&O by email shortly after this event and had an apology which interestingly also admitted that they could, quote 'appreciate that perhaps more clarity needs to be given surrounding the nature of the questionaire'  unquote.

Having had no further response then filled in a web complaint form on 13 November which was also acknowledged on 13 November. ( hese web forms are dreadful, not just P&O, automated response  has no references, date or who it's from making it difficult to submit as evidence, anybody could have composed it) No reply to date which is a generous allowance above 28 days that I think ABTA requires.

Now submitted complaint to ABTA so await with trepidation as I fully expect them to be on P&O side unless they truly are independent.

Bill D.

We got a result through ABTA with P&O can’t understand why more people don’t go through them rather than rolling over and accepting the useless responses from P&O 

On 12/31/2022 at 1:53 PM, Megabear2 said:

Good to hear you had a great time.  I would agree the service from our cabin steward was excellent and we valued his service very much.  We used the Peninsular restaurant for breakfast every day and it was always a delight.  We had the same table every day with the same waiting staff and they were the most helpful group I have experienced on P&O for many a year.

 

As I mentioned previously our cabin was not the one booked as the air conditioning had failed and our option was either to take the alternative or be very hot as repairs did not seem to alleviate the fault.

 

I am pleased you managed to move your next Britannia cruise to a suitable alternative. Unfortunately there was no suitable alternative for us as long cruises are not possible for my husband as he still works and to make the cost more than our Arvia 2023 costing we would need to just purchase a higher grade cabin on a cruise which did not appeal.  Our Arvia cruise was priced comparably with the one we've just taken and the cost was £7400 for an overlooked balcony on the corner plus another £1,000 for the premium economy seats.  Following our experience on this cruise we have decided to cancel entirely.

 

I did however book the 18 March Iona Canaries cruise as a solo to use up my final £1,000 FCC.  We are now no longer committed to P&O going forward and will most likely return to Cunard and Celebrity.  Seems like the ending of an era somehow.

 

I cannot say we did not enjoy the cruise because we did overall but some of the aspects were certainly poor in comparison with previous Christmas cruises.  

 

I have one happy story.  At the airport yesterday I sat with a couple who had actually boarded Britannia on the previous cruise.  Unfortunately they were struck down with covid and put into isolation on deck 8 starboard side - apparently it still exists.  After 10 days in isolation ending on 14 December P&O made them an offer: if you wish you may stay on for the next cruise but you will have to fund your return airfare.  They spoke between themselves and was going to refuse, however on 15th they were called by the representative who had been looking after them while they were in quarantine and told P&O would fund the fare home if they would like to stay.  They accepted and had a wonderful Christmas cruise.  I thought this was a lovely gesture by P&O, it's a shame this type of human gesture isn't acknowledged by the media but then I guess it wouldn't sell newspapers or fill breakfast tv.

 

Happy New Year to all.

Happy New Year MB. You say you can’t afford SAGA but as a comparison to the price you quoted which I presume is for 2 weeks we’ve paid less than £18K for 5 weeks on here in a standard balcony not overlooked no obstructed view and a higher standard than the deluxe balcony we had the pleasure of our free upgrade to on Aurora also no bill at the end of the cruise for purchases and no hassle from drunken idiots only me on NYE 😂

15 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

I think the problem was exacerbated by the change of aircraft being to one class with 60 or so premium economy passengers without the seats they paid for.  Some were also upset at paying to choose seats together and then finding themselves scattered randomly around the aircraft.

 

No one actually told anyone who qualified to make a claim or how long a delay meant you were entitled to claim. I was delayed 3 hours but assumed I didn't qualify for anything. Others had delays in excess of 5 hours. No one knew who qualified and it was actually P&O who advised those who asked but no one else.

If your arrival is 3 hours or more after the scheduled time you’re entitled to it

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

I asked a question about the Times article via the P&O official social media page. 

I received a very quick reply, obviously pre-prepared. I would imagine that the P&O PR team have been urgently recalled from their Christmas holidays.

Can’t imagine why

58 minutes ago, paulatsea said:

Same experience with me.

 

Agree - what alternatives have you found ?

 

Saga was good for us but expensive.

Marella Explorer 2 has been good but only fly cruise.

Ambassador fits well for us but ship seems a bit broken ! Maybe the newer one will be better.

 

 

I’ve got 2xAurora 2023 late august and early December.

 

We’re on SAGA at the moment and have friends on Ventura doing the same cruise but a week ahead of us, what they paid for a deluxe balcony plus drinks package,WiFi, specialty restaurants etc. is only a couple of hundred less than we have on here. Unlike P&O there are no shortages of anything on here drinks, food or staff can’t find fault at all. Can’t wait to use all our credit/compensation up on P&O then that’s us done with them. 

We would rather do a couple of cruises less each year and receive 5 star treatment than the 2 star offering from P&O