PJ's

Hi Everyone

Whilst we were on Azura earlier this month we booked a fly cruise to the Caribbean on Britannia for January 2016. As we are flying from Manchester we were charged a £100pp flight supplement. Upon looking on the P&O website I noticed that the flights for Manchester are included in the price quoted. Should we have waited until we returned home before booking? Could we have saved £200?

I know that in the P&O brochure it does say that there are flight supplements but why are they included in the price on their website? Bit confusing!!

When I was looking for travel insurance for my mum and her friend (both over 80yrs old) last year I logged onto the moneysupermarket website for pre existing medical conditions. You only have to input the information once and it will bring up a selection of insurance companies and the prices etc.

Do they have a muster drill on the Friday and the Saturday. We fly out to join Britannia on the 2nd January (Sat) and sail that evening. Booked this onboard Azura last week whilst in Norway - got a good deal!!!! Does anyone know when the flight seats can be booked? Is it normally 9 weeks before. Really looking forward to going back to the Caribbean. Yipeeee.........................

On a 7 night cruise there are usually two formal nights. Most men wear a Tux (including my OH) but some just wear a dark suite with a tie.

We booked an early saver fare to the Fjords on Azura departing 1st May whilst onboard Arcadia last December. We received our cabin number two weeks ago so now able to print off luggage labels, e-ticket etc. Not long to go now - we love Azura.

Sailing on her 1st May to Norway so she should be looking great.

Just my luck - we are sailing on the 1st May so looks as though it will be £5 per person for us.

We always leave auto tips on and will do so again but I must agree that it is very embarrassing when envelopes are given out. Hopefully these people have removed the auto tip and are doing the right thing by the waiters. We would never do both.

As long as all the bookings are linked you should get the same dining. Each cabin should have their own booking reference and will be able to submit dining preferences.

When we book our cabins (ourselves and friends) we each submit dining preferences (sitting & table size) through the cruise personaliser even though I actually do the booking. On our last cruise which we booked as early saver we were put on 1st sitting, table for 4 but had requested 2nd sitting. No problem we just joined the queue and it was changed to 2nd sitting, still a table for 4.

No - an early saver is only 15% deposit, the same as select but I don't think it is refundable. The saver fare is full payment because these come out when balances for the select & early saver fares have been paid. Think that's right. You can also request your dining preferences for early saver fares. We have always booked early saver and have always been given our preferred dining.

Does anyone have any idea what if any changes will be made to Azura in her Dry Docking in April. Obviously a key aspect will be general maintenance and hull inspections and I'm guessing she will also receive the flag. Can we expect any changes to the bars and restaurants onboard? Many details of Aurora's extensive refit were shared well before she entered dry dock, so I'm guessing changes will be at a minimum. I'm sailing on her in June so I'm excited to hear of any potential modifications.

 

 

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Would like to know of any changes as well. We LOVE Azura. We are sailing on her in May to Norway and it looks like we will be sailing from Mayflower terminal - never been to this particular terminal but I think it is getting a makeover??

One time when I booked with a TA they said the same but I logged into my CP to check the details myself. Good job I did as they had entered my passport details wrong. I amended them myself. Best to check just in case!!

We stayed at the Hilton a few years ago when we were booked on a FO cruise. The hotel was excellent and the room was very nice. You had to park your car round the back of the hotel and there was a designated cruise person who looked after you. They put your cases in a locked room (they have a designated area for cruisers luggage) and they are brought out the next morning when your taxi arrives. We had a short time to wait for the return taxi at the end of the cruise when we arrived back in Southampton. We ate in the hotel bar in the evening but you could book a table in their restaurant. The breakfast was very good, there was everything you wanted. The only thing about the Hilton is that it's on the outskirts of Southampton and not a lot around it, that's why we ate in the hotel.

We haven't stayed there again and this is only because we like to be in the centre of Southampton and now always stay at the Holiday Inn. We always now go to a certain Italian restaurant on Main Street - we'll be there on 30/04/15. Yippee..........:D:D

That sounds a great idea - wish P&O would agree.:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Happy Christmas and New Year to everyone. :)

Been reading with interest this thread on auto tips. We have just disembarked earlier this month from Arcadia. We always leave the auto gratuity on but got the impression that our waiters were wanting an 'extra tip' on the last night. It made me feel very uncomfortable.

On the morning of disembarkation we went for breakfast in the MDR (which we have done every morning). Our waiter was always there at breakfast showing people to empty tables and very chatty with us during the holiday but on this particular morning he completely blanked us. It was not very nice. Has anyone else had this experience? Do most people still tip extra to their waiters even though they leave the auto gratuity on?:confused:

Just back from a nice break on Arcadia

While on the ship there was an old lady confined to a wheelchair, she had 2 carers and as the lady seemed unable to do anything herself I assume that there were 2 so that she had round the clock care.

How ever the carers seemed to spend every night getting drunk and swearing and not in the company of the lady who they were caring for

Now I know some will say I'm nosey but if they are being paid to care for someone they should do just that.

We have just returned back from a Canary Island cruise on Arcadia. We did see a lady in a wheelchair with 2 carers with her quite a few times. We saw them sat on the promenade deck getting fresh air in the morning with the lady well wrapped up when we were doing our circuits!! Also saw them in the lift a couple of times and they were always in the dining room on a table for 3 when we went to dine on second sitting - walked past them every night and they were definitely not drunk then. They would not have left the dining room until at least 9.30pm. They certainly seemed to be caring for her ok.

Maybe these were not the ones which you saw?:confused:

On ours it is '8M'. No idea what this means as we are on A deck. They are coloured red with a brown square in the middle but my printer is useless. It says you can print in black & white so maybe the colours are not relevant?

Noticed on the Cunard site that there was a thread about the new style luggage labels so thought I would check on my CP to view mine for my P&O cruise on Thursday even though they sent them with my information booklet. Lo and behold - yes they were changed so have now been madly printing off the new ones. They are now coloured but it states that you can print in black & white. Apparently they are for embarkation and disembarkation and show a 20Kg weight is allowance. Managed to fit them into my plastic holders.

Are these now standard for all Carnival ships?

Hi Paul1924 - not going to panic yet. Will wait patiently for a few more weeks and hopefully we should have a cabin allocated within two weeks of sailing. Enjoy your cruise on the Adonia next week. Have you been on her before or is this the first time? Not sure that she would be large enough for me, we do prefer the larger ships but not the mega ones. Azura & Ventura are quite large enough but might try the Britannia next year to the Fjords. Enjoy!!!

What I am taking is that there is a few areas on board that are designated for smokers? The particular ship I am looking at is Queen Victoria.

 

TheCruisingQueen

Hi CruisingQueen - do not worry. We were on QV in May 2014 in the Baltic and there are smoking areas around the ship. There are always ash trays on the tables where smoking is allowed.

I've had no problem accessing my CP. Go on every day to check for a cabin number!!!

We booked an early saver fare in July for a cruise departing Southampton on 27 November and still waiting for a cabin to be allocated. Go on our CP every day to check. How much longer do you think we will have to wait?? Just over 4 weeks to embarkation. The saver fares for our cruise have been out for quite a few weeks and I was of the impression that early saver fares received 2nd priority for everything, including cabin and dining and the saver fares are slotted in after. Nothing wrong with that as we have booked saver fares in the past but decided that the price was right and booked the early saver.

Will have to be patient.............counting down...........

Thanks for your replies both. Pennbank was that yes to we have to stick to the time we are given or yes to we can turn up earlier?

 

Do we definitely gat bathrobe and slippers with a balcony cabin? I don't want to not pack any and find we don't have them. It says we do on their info page but I saw someone said on facebook the other day you might not get them

 

My clothes shrank on P & O after I had the chocoholic afternoon tea, strange that.

Hi there - YES you do get bathrobe & slippers on QV - we have sailed on her a couple of times in a balcony cabin.

We checked in at about 12 noon and were on board and having lunch approx. 30 minutes later - no queue, went straight through. QV is a brilliant ship. Be sure to sample the fish & chips in the Golden Lion!! The only thing I missed on QV was the coffee & kettle in the cabin - I do love a cup of coffee in the morning but had to send OH down to the buffet.

We have also been on a couple of P & O cruises and will be on board Arcadia in about 6 weeks time - counting down............................

Enjoy your cruise.

Thanks for all the replies.

NauticalMiss - good idea, use OBC for wine!!!

Will book them within the week to ensure the tours.

Counting down now...............................

If you book shore excursions before embarking your cruise do you still receive the Peninsular discount or do you only receive this if you book onboard as this will show on your onboard account. We are booked on a Canary Island cruise on Arcadia at the end of November and have just received our holiday information book through the post, (really excited, never had one of these before). We do have some OBC to spend and wonder if it would be best to wait until we are onboard before booking although we do want to visit the speciality restaurants and the OBC will come in handy. There are only a couple of tours which we want to do, namely La Palma and Lisbon. What do others think? Book nor wait?

Sooo excited, never been on Arcadia and I understand she has had a makeover recently.