daiB

8 hours ago, Cruisemeister2002 said:

I think Carnival group will do whatever it deems fit as far as P&O UK. It's only my opinion, but I do believe the P&O name is tarnished by downgrading the quality and service of what it once was. I know you have to cater for the younger generation, but it's the older generation that keeps the passenger uptake higher in months when kids are at school and parents are at work. P&O have to cater for both traditional and modern type cruising. As I have booked a Princess cruise for later in the year and therefore read more of the comments with regards to Princess it does appear that our American cousins to put it politely, prefer a more casual style of dining and although it seems to be creeping into UK cruising there are still those that like the formal nights and shall we say more glamorous style of cruising.

On Iona and Arvia 6 cruises in all the younger element have been the ones to go all out on formal nights and it’s some of the older generation who do not bother. BTW the longest queues we saw on both ships where to get formal photos taken in the Atriums.

2 minutes ago, purplesea said:

They were walking through on the occasions that I was there.

This was in May this year. The CT area was closed off and doors blocked the passage from the rest of the Buffet. So no9 one could pass through.

5 hours ago, purplesea said:

The Chef's Table is situated in the buffet but away from the open buffet/self service area.

We had a table for two on Arvia.

Exprience wise, it is a matter of opinion. To me the service was the same as the MDR.

Yes, people can still walk through while you are eating.

On Arvia those not at the Chefs Table could not pass through.

11 minutes ago, sandancer said:

I don’t think so. We ate in there in March and it was definitely not chargeable then. Agree that there is a supplement on certain dishes but most of the menu is freely available without charge. 

It is still a paying restaurant however few dishes you pay for. 

16 hours ago, Cloudyrain said:

It's worth having a look: we found some great last minute deals last year (50% less than the early booking price) but cabin selection may be limited.

That was last year demand has increased since then.

17 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

Currently sat on Arvia and agree with most points, but not all. 
 

MDR evening meals are as usual not as good as the MDR lunchtime meals, both a poorer selection and a more rushed delivery - I guess they are just under more pressure in the evenings. 
 

Disappointing that the version of the Olive Grove is not the same as Iona, so the same menu as the MDR at lunchtimes which reduces choice. And then the evening menu is a ‘dumbed down’ version of that on Iona, presumably because the food is prepared in the MDR kitchen and not a dedicated kitchen. 

But it is free, on Arvia, on Iona it is a paying restaurant.

14 hours ago, posford said:

Not wanting to emulate Selbourne or Tiger or all the other excellent reporters, I will give my honest review of my latest cruise.

 

Overall, really enjoyed the cruise.

 

Embarkation/Disembarkation,leaving the ship in port/returning to the ship in port. Absolutely fantastic and seamless.

Embarked 11.45, disembarked 7.45, absolutely no problems.

 

Food.

MDR dinner mainly very good. celebration nights fantastic.

MDR breakfasts, often dried up, not as good as Iona.

Olive Grove, absolutely fantastic.

Beach House, dire. Had our prepaid cost reimbursed. Head waiter, who recognised us from numerous cruises apologised for the food as said it was “not very good”.

Absolutely awful.

Loyalty embarkation lunch, absolutely excellent.

Loyalty portunius lunch dire. All three mains choices absolutely drenched in garlic. No cheese and biscuits as a desert. Had to insist on this and they were supplied. Loyalty manager was not interested in any feedback saying “it was a shoreside decision”

 

Entetainment, average. The Priverteers, who I was looking forward to did not turn up so the entertainment was down to the shows that we have already seen.  The pianist, Henderson Treble, was a good pianist but a poor singer.

 

Seadays were enhanced by having a couple of talks/interviews with Ollie Smith and Tom Parker-Bowles, very entertaining.

Lovely weather mostly to sit on the balcony, always a joy.

 

New alcohol policy, no comment.

 

Summary.

As an oldie, in my 70s, I really enjoy the big ships. Cabins large and new and furniture in all the venues new.

Andersons, lovely for late morning coffee, never packed.

 

Staff.

Had same table every night at 8.00, easy if you ask nicely.

Waiter and assistant waiter, fantastic. Two of the very best ever.

Cabin steward, absolutely useless. Always forgetting something.

Some days biscuits, some days not, some days towels some days not. One day Six facecloth,

other days towels hung on shower to dry. Made us laugh as he did try but was not very good.

Always a trial to get toilet rolls.

Captain Camby, very good, loads of info given every day.

 

These 2 new ships are very stable. Even in extremely bad weather they ride the seas very well.

 

 Looking forward to my 2 cruises on Iona in the Autumn.

 

Shame about the very poor itineraries going forward.

 

 

We were on the same cruise and the one before. We thought the Peninsular lunch was very good but then again we like garlic although I cannot say that we noticed it on the food we had. So it must have needed more. Breakfasts excellent in all venues we tried. I have to say they have improved the black pudding in all venues always well cooked and not dried out.

13 hours ago, Sussexboy said:

I think that Captain Camby is a connoisseur of vintage joke books!

 

Having just returned from Arvia myself, I agree with much of the original post. One thing I would add, and it has been said before, is that the ship is understaffed. Having recently been on NCL Prima, the staff there were more numerous, and smiled a lot more. That said I cannot fault the team in the Crows Nest and the Epicurean. They were magnificent, and treated my wife and I like a King and Queen for the fortnight.

 

After reading many comments we were unsure about the dining arrangements. We found the virtual queueing to work very well, and the food was a very acceptable standard. In some cases it was very good, and not a green bean in sight.

 

Right, I am off to look for Captain Cambys grandmother who has been walking 5 miles a day for the past few years. He apparently has no idea where she is…….

Joke books? More like Joke page. We heard them over 15 years ago. 🙂

On 5/16/2024 at 10:47 AM, sandancer said:

That’s what we were told Phil. We took our first P&O cruise in 2018 and so we get no credit with Princess. Still lowly Ruby status. 

I is Elite. 🙂

I have 4 weeks to find out!!!

Any questions may or may not be answered

Happy Cruising

Gan Canny 

Dai

3 hours ago, yorkshirephil said:

The wording on the Carnival shareholder benefit page states; "This benefit is available to shareholders holding a minimum of 100 shares of Carnival Corporation or Carnival plc" so it is not clear as to whether you actually need to hold the shares when you cruise. For a small amount of shares like this they would need to go up considerably to cover the cost of buying and selling to make a profit. I would be surprised if there was anything built into the Stocksperk app to monitor your holding until the date of your cruise? This has been discussed before but I don't remember anyone posting a definitive answer that was anything other that a best guess.

We don’t know because we have no experience of this procedure. Before we had to wait until 3 month before the cruise and when we applied there was a check to see if we still held the shares. Now you can apply up to 9 month early, at the moment, I cannot believe they have given up on the check of ownership. So someone should try to do it and then we would know.

17 hours ago, Snow Hill said:

True, but most land based locations deal with it better than cruise ships. 

No they don’t land establishments do not have to deal with the situation at all. Schools cinemas, restaurants, pop concerts all get rid of peop0le at the end of the night and are unaware of any problem. On a ship they have to deal with the problem.

5 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

That's an excellent example. The classic drinks package includes P&O's own brand gin and not Bombay Sapphire.  The "app" is indeed the halfway house the same as Cunard's.  However I have found the Cunard one more helpful with additional information such as the daily programme and spa bookings shown in it.  P&O's is rather more basic with these items not showing.  You can book dinner slots on it in the same way as the Cunard one, it shows restaurant availability, theatre information, your onboard account  log in to your wifi, and book/see excursion availability.  I'm unsure why - could be number actually using it - but although an identical set up the Cunard one seems to be more reliable.  

 

Not having sailed on the two smaller ships to date I cannot say how the freedom dining options work on them, but there have been reports it can be messy on Arcadia.  However a lot seems to depend on your choice of dining time, we dine earlier and have had no problems with freedom dining on Britannia or Azura yet others report that they have encountered troubles on the former.  Ironically my biggest delay in getting a table in recent times was on QM2 last year so really it is more likely governed by numbers and times than a precise science.

The daily programme is on the P&O version. Or it was on Ventura in Jan. I think the spa is on as well but ask I dont use the spa not 100%

8 hours ago, Devon born and bred said:

I follow these threads with interest and was wondering, with all the problems/issues and negativity, why cruise with P&O.

Well they must do something right as on a recent cruise there were so many Caribbean/Baltic and Ligurian peninsular club members they had to have 4/5 special lunches to fit them all in. That was just under half the ship. 

1 hour ago, CharlieNo said:

Hi, we are going in our first cruise to Norwegian Fjords in May on the Iona. 
I have been able to pre-book some of the speciality dining (looks like there was a glitch with the website last week).

we have booked Sindu for one evening £10pp, are our meals extra on top of this charge? Apologies if that is a daft question.

Also I’m not able to find any information on drinks prices, particularly bottles of wine in the restaurants. We’re trying to decide between a drinks package, the Captain or Commodore wine option or if we just buy a bottle when we want. We aren’t massive drinkers but do like a glass of wine with our meal.

many thanks in advance

If you are not big drinkers I would leave all the drinks packages alone. You have far greater choice and more flexibility if you pay as you go.

All of our cruises confirmed and deposits paid

Aurora

Iona

Iona

Iona

Happy days

Gan Canny

Dai

6 hours ago, david63 said:

Not disputing that may be the case but it really does not make sense. You could book several cruises at the start of the year, apply for your OBC and then sell your shares the next day.

As I understand Carnival will know when you sell your shares and your OBC will be stopped.

On 4/17/2024 at 6:52 PM, Selbourne said:

Technically no, it’s meant to be after the balance has been paid, but I’ve applied for a November Cunard cruise and the OBC has been added!

I get the impression that they will allow you to apply year by year. We have all our cruises sorted for this year and i get the impression that when they release next years you will be able to do them for the full year. That is my reading although it has not been stated.

23 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I didn’t even look at Arvia and Iona as we aren’t interested in them. It’s possible to get within that price on Britannia and Ventura, and I found a few but, as mentioned we aren’t interested in booking that far out. I strongly suspect that more will become available within our target price if we book after balance due date, as we managed successfully with 2 cruises last year. As mentioned, launch prices aren’t always the cheapest nowadays. 

As we have discussed before that is not my experience. I have still not found a cruise cheaper than I got it for on day one. Possibly you were lucky with yours because of the cost of living crisis and people dropping out late in the day. I am very happy with the prices I have  got for our summer 26 cruises.

21 hours ago, Bazrat said:

Alas my sarcasm at the great and good eluded you my apologies, but I was referring to most threads on here usually degenerate into cutbacks on p&o.

I recognised the sarcasm. 😎

3 hours ago, kevboy said:

https://paulandcarolelovetotravel.com/po-cruises-room-service-menu/

 

Hi everyone, I have managed to find exactly what I was looking for thanks to Paul and Carol. the above link will take all interested viewers to it. 

I think some of the prices may have gone up I am sure the spirits were £26 and not £25.

2 hours ago, kevboy said:

What is the procedure for ordering canapes?  I cannot find it in room service. How much notice is needed?

thank you

Not sure as we have always had a butler when we have had them. However I would ask at reception. The ones we have had in the past have been very good. Better than the suite ones.

1 hour ago, david63 said:

If the canapes that you can order are anything like those that are given to suite passengers every night then I would have to say - don't waste your money - buy a couple of bags of crisps!

They are not.

2 hours ago, DamianG said:

Thanks for all the replies. We’ve now found an opportunity to sail on back to back cruises on the same ship (Iona) so are shopping around for the best price. 
 

Staying onboard between cruises when most others are disembarking & embarking sounds like a unique thing to do, and we’ve love to hear anyone else’s experiences of this.

 

 

Just seen this, we have not had a back to back on separate ships so I have no information for you. On the other hand we do a lot of back to backs. As it makes sense for the distance we have to travel. Yes it is good to stay on when it’s changeover day. You also benefit from knowing the staff in the bars so your service is great.

Nice touch now you get an invite to the welcome onboard lunch at the start of you second cruise.

We must be part of the lucky ones as we have booked all what we wanted on Arvia in 26 days time. I think it all went haywire about 2/3 hours after our booking.