PJ's

Many thanks for the quick replies.

Looks like we will have to pay the £48 to ensure we are together. Good that this is an option as P&O saver fares you get what they give you. Unfortunate that we have to collect our luggage on arrival in Corfu, used to it just appearing in our cabin. Really looking forward to seeing how Marella suits us and the added bonus of being all inclusive and tips included is great.

I have just booked 2 x deluxe balcony cabins on the Discovery for 3 May 2019. This will be our first Marella cruise. What are the chances of getting cabins next to each other or should we just pay the £48 and choose them ourselves. They are on the same booking and I am the lead name.

Also do you get luggage labels with your cabin number. We are flying to Corfu but will we have to collect our cases on arrival? The last few cruises we have done were with P&O who deliver the cases direct to your cabin. What is the procedure with Marella? Any information would be welcome.

I have tried to find our information on the website but at the moment it is not working as it is getting updated?

Also as from May 2019 ALL the ships are "all inclusive" and that also means no extra gratuities. Their newest ship Explorer 2 (in service May 2019) is adults only. Seriously looking at this for next year as we always have a hefty bill after our P&O cruises. The price you pay includes drinks package and tips!! There is also a good choice of cabins on the Explorer & Discovery ships. The Explorer 2 used to belong to Celebrity. Looking through their brochure they do have some good itineraries.

We also received a letter from Holland America this morning asking us to provide our consent to hear from them. We have sailed with them once but it was approx 3 years ago. Interestingly there is also another section on the form for both of us to complete which says the following:

I would like to receive communications from Holland America Line's worldwide family of cruise lines, including P&O Cruises UK, Cunard, Carnival, Aida, Costa Crociere, P&O Cruises Australia, Princess Cruises and Seabourn.

We have also sailed with Cunard as well as P&O UK in the past. Wonder if we will hear anything from Celebrity or Fred Olsen as we have also sailed with them. It must be a nightmare for the cruise lines!!!

Filled in the form and sent it back.

Read somewhere on the internet yesterday that the British Embassy in St Petersburg is closing? Do you think this will make a difference to British cruise ships calling there?

Long haul flights usually require you to check in 3 hours before flying. We always set off to the airport early as you just do not know what can happen on the roads and would rather be early than rushing at the last minute. Have a wonderful cruise.:D:D

No idea but maybe March. Waiting for the 2020 itineraries myself as looking to book a cruise for our 25th wedding anniversary in June 2020. Hoping to go to the Greek Islands. :D:):)

Excursions for our cruise are live now and we don't sail until November!!! Some of them are even showing Limited Availability.

We do not sail until November and our shore excursions are showing now. In fact some are showing Limited places. Did not expect them to be released nine months before sailing.

We had to book select as travelling with others and want to dine together.

Anyone know of any other advantage for us?

We have booked select, early saver & saver fares in the past. If you get your bookings linked then you should all get the same dining.

We usually travel with friends and always make sure that the bookings are linked and have never been disappointed yet. If you book early saver then you can request which dining option you would like and as long as the bookings are linked everything should be fine.

When you have a future booking for a P&O cruise it shows your loyalty status on your Cruise Personaliser (top left hand corner of homepage) and also your Peninsular Club number.

I had a problem recently as I booked 2 x cabins for a cruise in November 2018 for ourselves and friends.When the booking references came through our friends CP was not showing that they had any loyalty status at all although ours was okay. I sent a private message to P&O on facebook and they sorted it out within a couple of days - everything is okay now.

As you are American not sure if you have access to Cruise Personaliser?

Which ship are you looking at?

We were on Aurora before Christmas in a mini suite and it was excellent....plenty of room. We have also been in balcony cabins on other ships which were much smaller.

We booked a select inside back in March for travel Feb’18.

Any idea when we will be allocated a cabin?

Your guess is as good as mine.

We are still waiting for a cabin allocation and we embark on the 6 Dec but as you have booked select you should get yours earlier than the early savers and late savers. Maybe by Christmas?????

Still no cabin allocated:(:(

Received an email from our TA this week with all our e-tickets attached (for all 4 of us). Only problem was that on our e-ticket there was no cabin allocation, just said guaranteed CD grade. The cabin was showing on our friends e-tickets!!! TA said not to worry we will get an allocation eventually?????:rolleyes::rolleyes:

I thought it was FEB 2018 that the new regulations on alcohol came in and Jan 2018 for dress codes.???

You're correct with expecting the staff to behave in a reasonable manner even though they are on their days off.

I know it's silly to worry - we have a guaranteed booking so the only way is UP????? Hopefully it will be sorted out before embarkation day! Will let you all know what cabin I eventually end up in. Keeping everything crossed....... you never know:D:D:D Just checked again and still "to be assigned".

That is a strange one. Were you an early saver as they would usually be issued by now, as you will see on the rollcall people have theirs. If a late saver it can be days before and yours friends just got lucky.

 

Hope that the upgrade fairy visits and its worth the extra wait.

We booked an early saver in May 2017 through our TA and got a good price for the mini suites. As I said before our friends have been allocated a CB grade but nothing for us yet. Just checked again and still "to be assigned". It is so frustrating, cannot understand the delay.

If you do a fake select booking you should be able to see what mini suites are still available, you should get one of these or maybe an upgrade !!!!

 

Fingers crossed ehhhh.

They have been sold out for a while so cannot understand why we have not been given an allocation. We could never be lucky enough to get an upgrade to a suite but hey..... you never know.:D:D Fingers and toes crossed!!!

Just check CP again and still saying "to be assigned". Will give it until the weekend and then ring our TA next Monday.

After my father passed away in 2005 my mum started cruising with my auntie and always raved about the good times they had. My DH was not interested in cruising but after seeing a good deal for cruising the med with Fred Olsen Balmoral in the paper he said he was willing to "give it a go" and that was the start of our cruising.

Since then we have been on some wonderful cruises inc transatlantic to NY and to Russia with Cunard and various others with P&O but also some with other lines. Just over 3 weeks and I will be embarking Aurora........can't wait......:D:D

I booked 2 x guaranteed CD mini suites this summer on an early saver fare. We were able to request our dining times (hopefully will get them) and bookings are linked for this reason.

Our friends have already received their cabin allocation and have been placed in a CB grade several days ago but we are still waiting for ours. We depart Southampton on Aurora on 6 December 2017. As there are not a great number of these mini suites (they are all on B deck) and are only about 12 in total I cannot understand why we have not been allocated one. Anyone have any ideas how P&O do cabin allocation? It's a mystery to me!!!

Sooooo wanting to know which mini suite we have.:D:D

Why only 1 bottle of wine or 1 LITRE of spirits. Hardly a reasonable comparison. Us wine drinkers are being duscriminated against.

 

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I agree entirely. It's ok for my hubby he can still take his bottle of gin but I'm only able to take a bottle of wine? I do not drink spirits and do like a glass or two of wine when in our cabin getting ready for the evening. Would have been better if P&O let you bring 2 bottles of wine or 1 litre of spirits or maybe some cans of beer/lager per person. Doesn't seem fair as 1 bottle of wine will only last me approx 2/3 days whereas a litre bottle of spirits will last quite a while longer. Not too bothered as will just have to purchase bottle of wine from room service.

Not sure but will you still be able to bring soft drinks on board? Thinking about tonic water - hubby usually brings a dozen small tonic mixers.

We are due to join Aurora on 6 December and have booked a mini suite. Will we get an early embarkation time? Usually get a 1530 time as we have always had balcony cabins before but decided to push the boat out for this one. Soooooo excited!!!:D:D

I also received an email on 18 Aug asking me if I would be willing to attend a 45 min face to face interview with regard to P&O cruising. We are based in Leeds and the interviews are being held there on 6 Sept. They will pay £50 for a single attendee or £75 for a double (take who you usually cruise with). I replied to the email with contact telephone numbers for myself but have not heard anything since. The places are limited as they want people who meet their criteria but don't know what that is??? Will let you know if anyone gets in touch with me.

One more point - unless things have recently changed, you don't get tea, coffee & kettle in your cabin on Cunard.

 

Not sure of the reasoning behind this, but it was a real relief to find these on our first p&o cruise.

We were on a transatlantic to New York on QM2 in November 2016 and there were tea, coffee and kettle in our cabin. Not sure if the other Queens have them yet.

The excursion that is wait listed is the tour of the city plus visit to Anne Franks home. Maybe will have to go on the wait list.