RollingAround

Perfect thanks all. I bought a set of four with the lanyards too for the keycard. Much easier for my (disabled) husband to present his card when needed. just counting down the days now. 😊

Hi all, been a while since I’ve posted but we are about to embark on our third cruise on P&O with a return to Azura on Thursday. Last trip we took was Iona, Norway and the paper tags ripped off on our cases, so I’ve done some googling and found some plastic tag holders on Amazon, I’ve folded the tag so the room number shows inside the sleeve, but my name doesn’t show due to the way it’s folded. Does anyone else use these tags? Are they ok? thanks in advance and see you on Azura on Thursday !

We are new cruisers, only done two in the past year, both with P&O and we’ve enjoyed both immensely. Obviously I have nothing to compare it to but I have to say the food on both Azura and Iona was great, even the buffet was good. Epicurean was fantastic each time. Stewards have been accommodating and polite, staff helpful at ports with my wheelchair using husband. There have been niggles (pool hoist not working on Iona, decor on Azura a little dated, the app being rubbish, etc) but you get these types of niggles in hotels and resorts. we are happy to travel P&O again for sure. Next year we are travelling Princess to Alaska (on the full premium package) and a similar balcony room on similar floor as Iona and it will be interesting to compare. I’m not sure I want to travel on ships with water parks and go karting tracks and water slides down the side of the ship - or on Virgin who appear to market to the younger party crowd - so P&O vibe works for us and I hope Princess will do the same.

Oh dear that’s unfortunate with the door opening 🤣 thanks for your Olden experience, on the day we arrived they told us they were running 4 land trains and only one with ramp. I don’t know why they didn’t offer more with a full ship! But we enjoyed it anyway. We travelled on Azura last year for our first cruise and we found accessibility to be pretty good, the pool hoist was fixed by one pool but fully working, I think it was a manual one vs electric, they pumped a handle to move it up and down. The balcony on Azura wasn’t as good as Iona, it was much smaller and tricky to turn round on. But we would travel on Azura again.

Ah that’s interesting! Reception said 4-5 people to set up 🤣 We were told they needed parts for it. So doesn’t seem they had a spare on board. Bit as it happens the weather wasn’t great so in the end the pool didn’t seem appealing!

Yes seems like it. I’m disappointed if they knowingly left Southampton with a broken hoist as we asked to use it on Day 2!

Yes I was going to say it’s frustrating you have to call for an accessible cabin, but I have found the service when I’ve called P&O directly has been great and the reservations agents in both of our cases have been so helpful. Interestingly I have recently booked with Princess for 2024 and that was bookable online. You have to agree that if you don’t meet their requirements for an accessible cabin (fill out the medical forms and so on) they have the right to cancel your booking

Hope you have a great time!

Just off Iona this morning. We had a lovely time although it went too quickly! Lots to explore on this ship, we ate in Epicurean, Keel&Cow, the Glass House, the Quays, and Horizon restaurant. All food good, and staff were very good at clearing tables to make way for the next people. we were at an acrobatic show in the Skydome which was stopped twice for technical problems and then the show abandoned altogether which was a shame for the performers. there was a problem with the tannoy and sound system causing the emergency siren to go off a few times at breakfast and intermittently during the day. It took all day to repair. This also meant that none of the cinema showings could operate as it was connected to the overall problems with the sound system which was a disappointment to my husband on a grey rainy day. the pool hoist for disabled passengers was not working, something wrong with the battery they said. we also had a medical emergency on board, the captain advised us that we were in a hold waiting for evac. Someone was lifted off by helicopter - hope they were ok. Incredible sight to see the helicopter so close overhead however. so a few little things and hopefully all fixed for todays departure. We had a great time though despite the weather and can’t wait to sail again! counting down the days to the next journey!

Hi all! fresh off Iona this morning and I wanted to share a couple of points. First time on Iona, we were due to travel on her in 2020 but guess what 😝 so we made it eventually. Lovely ship. Fully loaded and on embarkation day it definitely felt like it. couple of small pointers for wheelchair users in their fully accessible cabins: (1) great size cabins with fully electronic opening and closing doors. The doors are a great thing except they are very slow to close; we had to wait around for a good 10 seconds or more to make sure the cabin door was closed on leaving to explore. Also if you want a quick number one the door takes an eternity to close in the bathroom so you’re hanging around (as companion to a wheelchair user) for awhile before you can start to tinkle in privacy (2) if you hang a towel on the towel rail in the bathroom, the sensor on the door will see it and the door will constantly keep opening and trying to close until you move it. We didn’t know this until we reported it, then eventually had to ask our steward. You can hang a towel at the far end of the rail but not close to the door. (3) storage in the bathroom is not at a suitable height for wheelchair users. We balanced a soap bag at the back of the sink. (Sink moves up and down which is great!) (4) bathroom size is great, all facilities otherwise very good for wheelchair user (5) balcony size is great, we found it bigger than Azura last year and the electric opening doors very easy to use. (6) access round the ship is good, you might have to wait a while for a lift that you can fit in, but otherwise we didn’t come across any access issues. (7) pool hoist was broken on our trip (!) but if you wish to use it you need to book at reception. It’s usable at all pools (we were recommended the beachcomber pool by the pool attendant), and some of the hot tubs. If you spot a square plate on the edge of the hot tub it can be set up there. You need allow minimum of half an hour to get it set up and it requires 4-5 staff to use it. Sadly we didn’t get chance as the battery on it was broken. (8) staff generally helpful, fantastic service in Epicurean when my husband asked for the meat to be cut into bite size pieces as he can’t use both hands. Staff in Horizon buffet also helpful although they tended to ask the companion “does he need help”. I got the same question on re-entry into the ship where I was told to tell my husband to go through the security arch. I told the staff member that he can hear and speak. Staff very helpful on and off the galleys on the stops. (8) at Olden the little trolley / road train was great but only 1 of 4 vehicles have a ramp. We ended up waiting an hour but it was a nice little tour round. (9) for the theatre we used starboard entrance level 7 and took the spots at the back, great views. Hope that’s of help! we were in 12516 and this balcony is overlooked by the larger balcony in 12514. Luckily they were lovely people and we had many a good chat with them as we watched the world go by.

hello everyone, I'm a relatively new cruiser (just about to go our second this week to the Fjords) - and we have booked Majestic Princess for next June to Alaska. The itinerary shows that the ship docks, or disembarks Seattle 07:00 - and the first BA flight to London is 13:35 - this seems like it might be a little tight? The next one is 20:00 which is a looooong time to wait. How long does disembarkation typically take? Note - we have a wheelchair user in the party, not sure if that speeds up or slows it down! any advice appreciated. thanks!

Cheers I shall give them a call and make sure

I also made both bookings direct with P&O at the same time so I would have thought they were connected from the start. I might try to call them anyway. Thanks again.

Haha yes the other room has more OBC than us as we’ve covered the parking so we will be leaning on them a little 🤣 thanks so much.

Thank you all x 🙏

Hello all! 6 days till Iona and the fjords, can’t wait! There are three of us travelling in two rooms (next to each other). It says on “admin” on the my P&O to remember to link your bookings if you’re travelling with someone else but doesn’t say how to do that? I’ve looked all through my P&O (and there was nothing on the frankly awful checkin experience the other day). Any ideas? also, can onboard spend be combined with another room? thank you, only our second cruise - and first from Southampton so it’s a little new to us 😊🙏

Thank you, we might take our chances. We enjoyed Epicurean last time especially as it was “free” from our onboard spend 🤣

I’m confused! Just precooked Epicurean for Iona next week and it’s taken money off our credit card rather than onboard spend? When we were on Azura last year (our first cruise) we booked Epicurean on board and it came out of onboard spend? Is this normal? Otherwise I’ll cancel and take my chances on board, we have plenty of on board spend to cover it.

Yes perhaps we are overthinking it! A waistcoat was also an idea we had and he’s been trying some on, we might go with that. Thank you!

Slippers sounds perfect to me 😆 thank you for the reply

Thank you, we can do a shirt and tie 😊

thanks very much! we are on Azura next month and then booked for Iona for next year. looking forward to it, and i'll certainly head to the disabled passenger forum. thanks!

thank you for the kind reply! we are looking forward to it!

hello everyone, first time poster, first time cruiser next month - have a question regarding dress code. Bit of Background - My other half is a fulltime wheelchair user and this means wearing a suit jacket is difficult, can't sit with it done up as it's uncomfortable and if it's open it gets in the way of the wheels. Also he doesn't possess a pair of shoes as it's challenging to get them on, he has smart black casual trainers (not sports trainers) that he's worn to funerals and so forth recently. Does this mean any evening activity is out for us if he can't wear a jacket or proper shoes? Even with a shirt and tie on? We can look for a cheap pair of shoes for him - it seems even for 'smart casual' it says 'no trainers' - but I wonder if this is strictly applied for disabled passengers? Does anyone have any experience or advice? thanks in advance!