daiB

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.

Well we have pre booked for 4 cruises, 3 on Iona and 1 on Aurora. The prices ate getting cheaper. The Iona cruises are £57pppn cheaper than our first cruise in 2001 on Aurora in a better cabin, even Aurora is £30pppn cheaper.

Happy days.

Gan Canny

Dai

3 hours ago, Bin man said:

Just re-read email inviting to book dinning .Scrolled down to last bit after getting to excited and seems to imply two weeks before for MDR freedom dinning so why do they send the email inviting you to book.log onto your personaliser and booking for mdr are open but won't let you finish your basket bookings so I guess it is two weeks .Bar humbug !

No it’s gone to 120 days. We booked for ours in 4 weeks time.

2 hours ago, HappyGiraffe said:

I'm another one who had dining pop up several weeks earlier than expected and then wasn't able to check out.

 

Guessing IT are too busy frantically sorting out teething issues with the Summer 2026 pages in time for tomorrow to deal with the niggles elsewhere?

We booked for our cruise in 4 weeks time all of the dining we wanted. That was on Arvia

3 hours ago, Bin man said:

Forgot to say Arvia is the ship we are on didn't think mdr was available to about 3 weeks out not 6 weeks give a day or two .Anybody booked Arvia in the past for MDR how far out was you able to book ?

It appears to be 120 days before your cruise according to the P&O site.

11 hours ago, david63 said:

I bet there won't be many booking that on opening day.

That will fill up very quickly as it is so different. We would go but it is 2/3 weeks to early for us.

On 3/30/2024 at 5:48 PM, jaydee6969 said:

Cheers Andy. We always do on Iona. 
 

We just had an enhanced muster drill. Everyone to attend muster station and scan cruise cards at 4.45. No life jackets required. 
 

Bedlam after with pax trying to get lifts back up. No problem for us, down to Anderson’s to have my sail away champagne and the better half the lavender bramble. 

Very wise, never try to use the lifts after a full drill. Nearest bar and drinkies time.

😎😎😎

Gan Canny

Dai

49 minutes ago, sweep2907 said:

You clearly live a sheltered life within P&O, just take a look at other companies and their variety in itineraries. It just takes a little imagination. P&O cruisers are forced to look elsewhere after a while due to the same old itineraries. Some say the boat is the destination in which case I'd be unlikely to cruise on P&O who lack the imagination of new boats that other brands have. I love visiting new ports and varied itineraries personally. It is very much each to their own but many people understandably will feel its same old, which may be daft to you but it is fact.

I dont fly as I have a scooter. Your options above would all include flying. There are no ports i have not been to with cruiselines other than P&O which are available. Have you seen how many cruises I have been on?

4 minutes ago, rickycheshire said:

Same old same old??

I am currently on Arvia, just leaving Valencia as I write this, and out of about 6000 passengers less than half are Peninsular Club members! Plenty of new people wanting the ‘same old same old’ cruises! Couple in the cabin next to ours are mid 20s and never cruised before! 😆

Stating the obvious will not not please everyone. People  who have been cruising a lot will find it repetitive. The large number of newer cruisers will not. I and a BOF and just like cruising. I am with your people next door.

5 minutes ago, Pirateguy said:

Thats not correct Aurora and arcadia also southampton based

No they are on long / world cruises in Jan Feb and March.