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The interesting issue for cruise ships is with ETIAS, is although the intended operation is that the initial application is done whilst at home, the biometric capture of data (facial and fingerprint) is done at the first entry to the Schengen area - i.e. when you first fly to (say) Spain after ETIAS is introduced the border guard captures those details. That is what is concerning the port operators at Dover and the Eurostar operators at St Pancras, because the EU border guards are based there, and so when a car or coach arrives at Dover then all the passengers will have to get out and have their biometric details captured - the queues will be incredible. So what will happen to cruise ship passengers? There seems to be silence at the moment, as unlike the ferry operation there are not EU border guards based at Southampton, so will the biometric data be captured by border guards at the first port stop for those who have not visited the Schengen zone since the introduction of ETIAS - well if so that is going to be fun. Then separately EES is going to cause issues, because that is the system that will automatically track the entry and exit of people into the Schengen zone and calculate whether they have overstayed the 90/180 day limit or not. Currently the border guards would need to check all the stamps in the passport to see if someone has, and as that is a time consuming process they rarely bother. But an automatic system - well I can see many people being caught out - and caught out on cruises they have not sailed on yet. For example you book a cruise for two weeks next year around the med for the spring, but spend several months in the EU over winter, and so when you come to sail the EES system says 'nope, you cannot board because you will exceed 90/180 during the cruise'. And good luck getting a refund or claiming on insurance. And so I am very very glad to have an Irish passport which means I can avoid all of this hassle, and although my wife does not and has a UK passport, as the spouse of an EU citizen she is not bound by the 90/180 day rule whilst she travels with me.

Making your position clear to some would require walking away, as they appear to be incapable of understanding that you are not sharing the same table.

All Freedom Dining on Arvia and asking for a table for two is likely to lead to longer waits in the queue, but if you eat late (9pm or so) then they will want you in before they close the doors at 9.30pm. But be aware that an awful lot of the tables for two are in rows with banquette seating and close together, and there are too many people who don’t understand that although you are seated close by you don’t want to engage in conversation with strangers - that’s why you asked for a table for two! Pay restaurants - frequently booked up quickly in advance so it normally isn’t possible to decide on the spur of the moment to eat there that evening or tomorrow evening (or even that week…). As they frequently only have a couple of gangplanks open the same as smaller ships, then re-boarding at ports of call may have lengthy queues or not depending on times (e.g. lunchtime) and whether you are unfortunate to arrive at the same time as tours returning.

Who is counting - well the insurance company when you make a claim. As for making false claims - well the insurance company will simply tell you to ‘go away’, refuse the claim - they are not stupid. Then they will cancel the policy and leave you to sue them if you disagree (and the fun of having a cancelled policy and not being able to get home insurance anymore). Plus as I pointed out, insurance companies generally don’t count someone popping in to stay for a night or two, presumably because they got fed up with people trying to deceive them like this. And so is it it worth that to save £10 or £20 to extend the policy for a few nights?

That's part of the punishment of arriving early and to make sure you don't do it again - although of course, not doing it again includes avoiding P&O and flying somewhere instead...

It is going to be fun in the winter if P&O persist with this policy. It is one thing arriving by car early from a long journey having allowed time for the potential hold-ups, and standing outside in warm dry weather. It is a completely different thing to do the same when it is pouring down with rain and the temperatures are plummeting. The problem is that cruise ships in the UK are an old fashioned business that are struggling to move with the times. Airports *want* you to arrive as early as possible. They delight in the fact you then have time to spend money in the shops and restaurants and bars that they can charge huge rents to. And so you spend thousands on a 'fly somewhere' holiday and arrive early at the airport - "no problem, come on in and go and have a coffee or a meal somewhere". But spend the same on a 'sail somewhere' holiday and arrive early at the port - "how dare you, stand outside in the rain on the naughty step or 'go away' until it is the approved time to arrive". Hmm, I wonder which approach will generate return business.

Many here have overlooked what the purpose of suites is. It isn’t to proved ‘value for money’ but a mechanism to allow people to pay more than others, because they *want* to pay more. That facility exists everywhere, from food and drink, clothing, restaurants, hotels, it’s everywhere - people like to spend more money than others because they are happier spending more money and demonstrating they can spend more money. However part of that spending more money means they want to see those who have not spent it being deprived of the same things. Whether it is the label on the clothing not appearing on cheaper lines, or those in ‘cattle class’ not being able to disembark an aircraft before them, or others being denied access to a restaurant…. Personally I think anyone paying for a suite on P&O is crazy given how little it buys you. At least on Cunard, NCL, HAL, etc. you get dedicated restaurants, pool areas, bars, sections in the theatre set aside, etc. But on P&O all you get is to have breakfast in an area that others can now apparently buy their way in to. Hmm…

Only if you don't remember to do so as you are heading back to the cabin - and it's not like you are unlikely to pass a bar on the way!

No need to do that as in my experience any of the bars are happy to provide sliced lemon.

Used the buffet (with precautions) and still got norovirus… When I have ventured into the buffet to take something packaged like a yogurt that can’t be poked and prodded, then irrespective of the time I have seen people fingering the bread, touching the sliced fruit, licking their fingers and then handling the tongs, ignoring the ‘do not fill water bottle’ signs on the fruit juice machines with the machine spout touching the bottle neck. If P&O shifted to the operation that other cruise companies did with their buffet, with glass screens and staff serving, then I would use it. But now - well as Clint said - “do you feel lucky” and personally I don’t see the advantages in gambling.

Google is your friend if you want to see a full drinks menu, but roughly £6ish for a 175 wine or £8ish for 250, beer from £5 pint, £9ish for a large rum & coke (they charge a silly £2.20 for a mixer within that). i.e. roughly south of England pub prices. As for bringing alcohol on board, you are allowed to bring on 1 litre of spirits, wine, or beer per person at the start of the cruise to drink in your cabin, and the policy* is that you cannot bring alcohol on at port stops but you can bring on soft drinks - https://www.pocruises.com/short-breaks/code-of-conduct *policy because what people choose to do and risk is up to them.

You don't get people prodding and poking the food at non-busy times? I rather doubt that the 'prodders and pokers' restrict their activities to a particular time.

I never choose to use the buffet - hell on earth with food that has been poked and prodded. The first of those issues I can suffer, but the second - no thanks.

Quite probably, because the cruise lines would have wanted to do ‘foreign’ stops but it would have been the UK (and foreign) governments preventing it. This time it’s P&O’s choice to do a ‘trips around the bay’ cruise and not go foreign.

Neither have I, but I wouldn’t be happy if the heavily advertised as a feature of the cruise MDR said “full, go use the canteen”.

As explained multiple times, it isn’t.

Fault - it depends. If it is a ‘see if you can book, and pay if you eat’ restaurant then obviously your fault if you didn’t book, whether that is a land based restaurant or ship based specialty restaurant. But a ‘we will take your money in advance, with a flash website saying you can eat whenever you want there’, well that’s definitely the restaurant’s fault if they don’t let you in.

That explains why I have been allocated a 12:30 arrival time.

The Olive Grove and 710 provide your answer. On my first sailing on Iona you could just think it would be nice to pop in and have something to eat in the Olive Grove or go and listen to some music in the 710 - not any more. Now more recent experience tells me that unless you booked when you embarked the chance of getting a seat in Olive Grove or the 710 is unlikely unless you are lucky and someone who did book didn't turn up. And that is what will happen with the MDR booking - a slippery slope as once bookings are available then they will be snapped up for the whole cruise as people board, and then people complain that they can't book so more are allocated to the booking, until you reach a point where every seat is bookable and you will be siting at your computer at midnight 14 days before your cruise hoping the P&O website isn't overloaded so you can book every meal for the cruise.

Most people don't want to eat at either 6pm or 9pm, that's the issue. By allowing bookings for the peak times then you reduce capacity for those tables as they cannot be turned as quickly because instead of just taking the next person from the queue and serving them, you have to allow time for the pre-booked party to arrive. And once you have taken a booking for a 7.30pm table then it is incredibly unlikely it is going to be turned twice as few are eating at 5.30pm or 9.30pm.

If you are going down that route then perhaps the alternative is charging people to book - £15 per person if you want to book a slot and if you want to eat for free then stand in the queue. Who is eating at 5.30pm in the afternoon? That is why there is a shortage of tables because everyone wants to eat at 7.30 to 8.00pm And meanwhile your pre-booked MDR table goes unused because P&O don't know you are eating elsewhere.

Unless you only let people book early slots 6pm and late slots 9pm, then allowing people to book the peak time 7.30 to 8.30 slots means a reduced availability for everyone else. Land based restaurants have the ability to say 'tough, we are full, you are not eating here tonight' but the MDRs on cruise ships cannot do that. They have to have a table for everyone that wants one, and preferably if they are to avoid complaints, roughly at the time someone wants to eat.

That is not going to happen whilst they are charging £50 pppn for cruises.

And so the table is unused for the 15 minutes before cancellation and up to 15 minutes whilst the new people arrive - so double the unutilised time as before. That is a significant impact. You mean just going back to the 6.30 / 8.30 fixed dining. So you now have to book if you eat in the buffet or any of the other casual dining places on board - that's new.

More tables available to pre-book = fewer tables available for people who were not quick / lucky to be able to pre-book. The ability to pre-book will inevitably mean that people will pre-book 'just in case' but tables will be left empty it they don't cancel if they decide to go to one of the other dining places on board the ship. And how do you prevent people doing that unless there is some sort of penalty - £100 fine for not turning up to a booking? All the rest of your pre-bookings are cancelled? You being named and shamed by the Captain? Allowing tables to be pre-booked across the whole dining time creates a lower utilisation - if someone books for 7.30pm then even filling the table at 6pm is likely to be difficult unless you tell people they need to be gone by 7.15 to allow it to be cleared, and then with people sitting down at 7.30 it is unlikely to become available again until 9pm. So pre-booking will be great for those lucky few who manage to grab a spot, and will make things worse for everyone else.