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We are sailing in just over two weeks. Finally got our cabin assignment yesterday (and very pleased with it too!)

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The exchange rate situation is unfortunate. But it did mean I ended up booking with p&o rather than Princess this time.

If I were already booked I'd probably pre-pay my onboard account if the exchange rate was favourable. The gratuity amount going up at the same time is rather unfortunate timing, but as the Canadian poster says it's not just the UK which is suffering from the strong dollar.

The tempers on this tread have gotten a little out of hand. Remember the people that post on these boards are the new friends you make onboard. If you wouldn't get into a stand up argument with each other outside the Horizon Court, then please try not to do it on here [emoji848]

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I don't think that just because they are turning a fridge that generates zero revenue into something that might generate some, is a slippery slope to a bring your own drinks ban.

Princess for years had mini bars, you just had to ask the steward to clear it out or if you couldn't be bothered you just stack the contents behind the tv and filled the fridge with your own stuff.

This only changed their alcohol policy a few years ago and the mini bars predated that decision by at least a decade!

Changing the alcohol policy would be a game changer for p&o. In the same way that people regard the onboard bar costs as fairly reasonable, the fact that prices are in sterling and you can bring on your own cabin drinks and 3 three things in their favour that were the deciding factor in booking with them. I didn't want to go with any other line for those three reasons.

So I'm fine with the fact that you can no longer order large bottles from room service but you can use the new purchasing opportunity right there in my cabin. I won't use it and continue to enjoy my own booze, but hopefully the extra money they make will keep the prices reasonable and allow the liberal policy to continue.

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First of all I agree that you should have to be able to ask to remove the tips; but as far as I was aware that if you remove to auto amount and tip directly, they have to turn in the amount anyway so it goes into the tip pool.

I think the individuals only get to keep it if you've kept the automatic charge on.

Personally I'd prefer it if the whole tipping thing would just be wrapped up in the fare and the staff were paid a decent wage rather than the over complicated present system.

I agree that it shouldn't be a barrier to remove it. The cruise contract says these are discretionary and i wouldn't jump through form filling hoops to exercise the right to remove them if I was so minded.

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Great news that there is a new ship on the stocks.

 

Several people have claimed that they could not find any quite areas on Britannia, this I find very hard to believe, what about the Serenity area and pool ?

Well that's the only adults only pool on the ship. And not particularly large and it doesn't have any hot tubs. Compare it to the grand class of ships and you have the pool just by the gym (with two hot tubs) which is nicely tucked away and then a large aft pool, which is also adults only. Plus you also have a full promenade deck, that Britannia doesn't have.

Open deck spaces are important to me and the more places there are, the better distributed your fellow passengers are. So leaving more areas less busy. In terms of pure square footage of open deck space there's less on Britannia and a hell of a lot more passengers, and that was the deal breaker for me.

Not that it's a bad ship. It looks visually stunning. But when the choice came down to two identical sailings, I put my money where my mouth is and paid £100 more per person for Azura over Britannia.

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Sharing the costa design would make sense. I wondered how they'd make a one off stack up finically.

The lack of pools and quiet outdoor space (and balconies you can relax on) put me off the Britannia. But if they can build a mega ship, but design it with some nice public spaces that don't feel like overcrowded sun bed racks, I'd give it a go.

And I bet they end up naming it Canberra!

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We are returning to p&o for the first time in three years in a few months. Like you I've probably got used to the free ice cream (and other extras) on Princess and Cunard.

Cunard starting listing their menus as three courses a while back the same as p&o but I find if you just order it as 4 courses that's how it arrives. I'll going to try it out and report back!

I must remember to take my Princess tote bag with me!

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We took the majority advice and booked Azura.

I watched a 30 minute YouTube video review on Britannia and it swung it for me. Although I take other people's reviews with a pinch of salt, 8 days at sea, 4,000 passengers and just two no-charge hot tubs, the sums didn't add up. So I stumped up the extra £150 for the Azura instead!

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I've done 6 cruises with princess, 1 (long cruise) with p&o and 2 cruise on the queen Victoria.

So the good news, I like all three lines. You can tell there is definite shared corporateness between the lines as many things are very similar (like the bathroom pods, other than the toiletries you'd have trouble remember which ship you are on when you stepped out of the shower!).

All gave good things going for them. I've had some amazing meals on all three lines plus a few bad ones; but nothing vacation running. The service is more formal on Cunard, relaxed on princess and variable on p&o. I personally prefer princess for the main dining room, as I like the bread rolls, service and freedom dining. However there isn't much to separate any of them.

Drinks are clearly better value on p&o. They are cheaper to start with and without adding 15% onto the price.

While princess is more American I feel, i always feel it's a fairly anglicised version an has the best international mix of passengers. P&o feels more British and Cunard is slap bang in the middle.

It depends on what you look for in a holiday. I found all the cabins, bed comfort and room stewards equally as good accross all lines. P&o has the edge for me as I like having a kettle but the Cunard and princess room service will bring you a pot of warmish brown liquid too fairly quickly.

Princess has a far more restrictive policy about brining drinks onboard; and the other two lines are more relaxed about it.

The Cunard ships have a better passenger : space ratio and feel less crowded when full. Although having said that other than on the ridiculously under-pooled newer princess ships I've never really felt crowded out during a cruise.

I was concerned that Cunard would be too formal for me; and that the passengers would be too snooty. I can say it's not the case. Cunard is mildly more formal overall, but not very different to p&o and princess is much more relaxed.

Personally I'd say any is a good choice and you'll probably notice more similarities than difference.

If you are up for it the walk from Westminster Tube to Waterloo is not all that far. You say you won't have any heavy checked luggage, so as long as the pilot bags have wheels you could manage.

 

It looks to be a little over half a mile and takes you over Westminster Bridge and along the river behind The London Eye where you turn your back on the river. That would be a little under half way - the rest is fairly boring city pavement.

I'd personally agree with this. I did the same walk a few weeks ago and it's took about 30 minutes. Westminster tube station literally pops you up above ground right next to Big Ben - so if your kids are into Instagram there's a whole host of London photo opportunities along the walk.

From the other side of the river it's pleasant walk past the London eye and then just follow the signs to Waterloo. There's a few steps (down) at Royal festival hall, and then steps back up again to Waterloo... But if you're up for a quick adventure en route, stick with plan A [emoji3]

Having cruised on Princess a lot, I find the two companies very similar in many respects; but quite different in a few others.

I think the food quality is about on par between lines, but the service on p&o isn't as good. However it's much cheaper and drinks are better value and tip charge more reasonable.

P&o ships might have a pretty atrium but there's not a lot goes off there and the equivalent of the international cafe doesn't work and doesn't have much of a draw (my favourite place for breakfast on princess ships).

Princess ships (apart from Royal / regal) seem a little more dated, but have a better mix of international guests.

I like both lines but this year I'm booking P&O mainly because of the exchange rate and I like the fact that things are better value in the first place.

Very interesting work.

Well, I think about my own cruising history. I loved the Star Princess. But since then I've been on lot newer ships. And if I went back to the star would I be as delighted? Probably not as I'm comparing it to a product where things are much more polished, newer looking and in some ways much better (and in other ways definitely not).

It's a hard task for Princess. With so many new build ships coming out all the time, including their own fleet, older ones look and feel tired. And the sort of major upgrades to make them comparable cost a * lot *.

I know this is a really silly one, but the newer ships pool areas have little trees around them. And modern furniture. Compare that to a photo of, say Crown, the pool area looks a bit sparse; slightly lower-grade.

I'm glad I'm not the Carnival Corporation trying to make the decision of what the upgrade and when. People like thing to be premium. Do I want a tired old Ford or a newer BMW? No brainer [emoji3] specially if the BMW is the same price...

I'm really enjoying the level of detail! And I don't know why but the reference to the "Jam lady" has given me the giggles.

We were a full day late arriving in port (a Princess South American cruise) due to weather. The cruise line were offering airline change fees.

But that was for a full day delay. I would have thought it would be difficult claiming as they still got you in on the day they were supposed to. I guess it doesn't hurt to ask.

The Christmas decorations on board are quite pretty. Especially around the main public spaces and stairs.

It's also amusing after a night of rough whether to see the crew rounding up the escaped Christmas decorations (if you are up early enough) and having everything look perfect again by 07:00!

We stayed at the holiday inn Winchester last time we sailed from Southampton. It is most of the way to the port and takes 30 minutes or so to get to Southampton. If your regular hotels are all booked up and you don't mind breaking up the journey it's not a bad bet (modern and clean too).

I'm looking at book the west bound transatlantic from Southampton to Barbados this year, but can't work out which ship to choose!

Thinking of Azura I've cruised lots of times on Princess Grand class ships, plus 2 weeks on the Ventura. I would regard this ship choice as a safe choice for me. But not particularly modern or cutting edge. But does have better pools, better balconies and something that make me feel instantly at home.

During the Ventura cruise I didn't care much for some of the service standards, but I've heard previously that Azura is better.

For Britannia I like the idea of the fact that ship is very of the moment, a lot more modern with an interesting choice of additional entertainment and dining choices. I've also cruised on its sister ship, Regal Princess but that was literally as it left the ship yard and was only a 3rd full.

I enjoyed the updated rooms, the interactive TVs (perfect on lazy sea days) and the layout, but didn't care that much for small balconies, lack of promenade deck, annoying absent centre staircase and under provision of quiet places to swim.

So I'm honestly torn! I'm only going to get one holiday this year and want to make the right decision. Try the latest offering or stick with what I know?

Help [emoji3]!

Sorry, just to be picky.... We are Bermudian, not Bermudan... Microsoft got it wrong in their spell check. Thank you from the 40,000 Bermudians [emoji12]

 

 

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This is why I love cruise critic. I genuinely learnt something new today!

JAGMAP, I think you will find that Cunard is not bound by the regulations you quoted.

Exactly. As I said in my response above. A Bermudan registered ship, operating in European waters, owned by corporation that is listed in more than one jurisdiction, is very unlikely to be bound by a US a very specific regulation.

I do hope you have a great cruise despite your initial disappointment.

I did read your post and while I do have sympathy for your position as it appears you've had rather bad service. And I flexibility is often an example of bad service.

But as another poster pointed out you did book a fare with no allocation to stateroom and I assume that a higher prices fare was on offer and you declined to take this.

So you took a gamble and lost.

They agreed to let you back out of the booking without penalty, which I presume was a goodwill gesture on their part?

Quoting US department of transport regulations and assuming they apply to a Bermudan registered ship, sailing in European waters is probably clutching at straws a little.

If you found a cheap hotel room and they allocated you an accessible room because it wasn't otherwise booked, the short of complaining there's not a lot you can do. You did complain and got your money back.

It seems you had a bad experience in the past. If you don't appreciate their customer service, perhaps you should have chosen a different line in the first place?

But it comes down to the basics. You gambled. You lost. And they refunded you. But you were so incensed by the whole thing you promptly went and rebooked again.... You pays your money and take your choice...

Well I am not cunard's biggest fan (I've sailed with them twice with my partner who is more enamoured than I!)

However I wouldn't say there is anything in particular to fear. The ships are nice (if not entirely to my personal taste), cabins are a good size with excellent beds and the food and service is very difficult to complain about.

I wasn't a fan of fixed dining times. The first cruise we were allocated early sitting which really wasn't my preference. The second time we had late sitting (and a table of 2!). This was much better.

However on both cruises we made use of either the buffet one (the buffet side) and the buffet alternative. The buffet alternative Asian style menu was by far the best meal we'd had (completely faultless).

Both times our cabin was a balcony GTY and we were allocated about a month out.

I wouldn't be nervous at all. You will have an excellent cruise and if you assigned dining times don't work for you, there are alternatives that won't leave you feeling short changed. Enjoy your holiday!

The only twice I've used the hoopa bus I found it to be an unpleasant and expensive experience (although it might have changed in the last three years).

Whichever option you choose you are either going to have to pay for parking at the hotel or pay for transportation. If the hotel parking around is £10 for overnight I'd park the car at the hotel and then drive it to hertz in the morning and get the hertz courtesy bus to the terminal. The only caveat would be whether you need to contact the hotel and arrange a parking space or chance they will have one available as it's by no means a certainty.

Other posters might disagree but I'd always rather just take a cab than ever use the hoppa service again...

They won't expect a tip. They'll ask you what's being checked and what you are carrying on and it'll be out the boot of the car and whisked away within about 30 seconds of your arrival

They would sell this in the onboard shop, they have quite a good range. However it's likely to be small and expensive!

I've done the walk a times, it's fairly steady and easy. Although dragging your suitcases along does slow your progress, especially if one of the case's wheels decides to fall off (as did happen the last time I did this!)