redabby

 The women I spoke to on the phone was extremely brusque, she also said to me "  Every-one wants to get on early we can't just let them all on, you will just have to wait until your time ". I've emailed  P@O and have spoken to a lady who deals with all the ships at Southampton and she said she has never heard such a thing. If I don't hear from P@O in time i am just going we are just going at the earlier time. I was unlucky I spoke to a jobsworth .

 I  also had the same issue as  bbtablet, and rang P@O shoreside.  I have been told an that if you are a higher grade and qualify for the early boarding but are sharing the cabin with a lower grade and you all wish to all board  on the higher grade members earlier time that it is an  unequivocal no , you will all have to board at the lower grades later time.  As this information is different to    bbtablet's email so  I will e-mail them myself and see if the response is different to the phone response. 

bbtablet  make sure you print your e-mail and bring it with you.

Hi, I don't know if this link will work for Champers http://www.champersrestaurant.com

Hi,

Been to Champers for lunch and was very nice, lovely views. This was quite a few years ago but it still gets very good reviews. It is not too far from the port for a taxi ride and afterwards if you wish you could go on the lovely beach next door for a swim.

In fact I am booked for Sunday lunch on the 26th January 2018.

Well what then is the point to even having a formal menu.

I have never thought that the reason to dress up on formal night was anything to do with the food. I always thought it was to give a different ambience to the evening.

Being used to black tie do’s with Round Table and Rotary and 41 Club you don’t expect anything special in the way of food. Most of the time it turns out to be chicken.

Yes it does seem to be the norm and it's a shame. On one of the formals on my last cruise we had a very strange menu and when the maître d asked if I enjoyed I said it would have been nice if we had been served a more formal menu.

His reply was that the chef chooses the rotation of the menus.

I does make a bit of a mockery of a formal and you wonder what is the point of getting dressed up.

Yes I'm afraid on Arcadia last year there were unpleasant smells emitting from around the promenade deck and I spoke to a few people on E deck who had complained.

Quite a few of the toilets had problems, I think Arcadia is due for a re-fit soon and needs it.

Interesting comments

I am booked on a 35 night cruise on Oceana for January 2018 and have asked for a table for 2 club dining.

I booked in April 2016 so have a chance I might well get it , but I am not so sure after reading that the tables are very close together.

My mother and I had a 2 table on Arcadia last year again very close to the next 2 table and it marred our whole dining experience.

In the end we had to ask to be moved and I think we were just very unlucky.

We felt we would have been better being on a table for 8.

I might still see how it pans out and if we are unhappy ask to be moved to freedom.

Well I don't think I'll find my favourites even as a tribute band on P@O, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Hoping to see them sometime for my 50th.

Hi the black and white night is formal as others have mentioned but I like to have a little fun, and as I make crepe paper flowers I make some as either a corsage , or to decorate a hair grip or handbag. You can do the same with silk or fresh.

I always find the tropical night well adhered to with many men in Hawaiian shirts. I always wear the most tropical looking dress I have and coincidently have quite a few and I also wear a lei, again some-thing you can make at home, and some bright floral decorations in your hair if you want to continue the theme. I even saw two ladies once in matching tropical shirts. The funniest incident was when my husband had bought his first tropical shirt when we were in the Caribbean. We noticed some people chuckling at him in the bar for pre-dinner drinks and we found out why when we went to the dining room, he had the same shirt as the waiters and took a photo with them . Our friend on the table for six next to us tapped my husband on his arm and asked for some more water as she hadn't noticed his face and thought he was one of the waiters.

Sadly I don't think the waiters wear the tropical shirts any-more.

I must admit I don't bother with the country and western evening, but my husband will wear one of this checked shirts. But if you are a country and western fan and line dance why not wear some checks and defiantly doll those jeans.

Again 60/70s nights are not really one I bother with but a few do, and if you love a bit of fun fancy dress this is one where you can go to town. On my first cruise there was a gentleman who always had to use an oxygen tank resplendent on 60/70s night as Elvis.

Just a few ideas, have fun and enjoy your cruise.

By the way the photo in the link makes me look much wider than I really am, due to cruise critics strange dimensions for jpgs but I hope it gives you an idea for tropical night.

I was on the same cruise as Florry and am in total agreement about the buffet quality.

This was the worst experience where the buffet was concerned of any cruise I have been on.

Hi,

I am on a cruise with stops in St Petersburg on the 8th-9th July and have found out that White Nights Marathon is on the 9th.

I am unsure of which excursions I plan to take but one of the excursions I am interested in is on the 9th and called the St Petersburg explorer.

I gather from the excursion information that you visit three areas in central St Petersburg and having printed information about the marathon route I wonder if such an excursion although bookable at the moment will run as expected.

Has anyone on the board visited St Petersburg when the marathon is on.

I'm glad you asked this Gina as I'm going to the Baltics in July. There seems so much to try to fit in in St Petersburg that it is quite difficult to know what exactly to do. I will be so glad when the excursions come online.

I don't think there is as it is too far. We are on a similar cruise to you in 2018 and the typical excursions shown do not include Chichen Itza .

Well Florry I am I've Still git two

Hi Florry ,

I know some people who were also told you only get port and stilton on first and last formal but I asked and got it on all of the formals :). Will do a review when less tired as I feel some of the port information might b useful for others doing this cruise next year. Claire

Yes florry you have hit the nail on the head. You are average height but a lot of ladies of your height and even taller have to wear petite because dresses are so ridiculously long. My mothers 5ft7 and she finds a lot of things too long, but my sister who's 5ft10 doesnt have as much trouble finding clothes too fit in length as she used too. Yes tartanexcile81 there are some nice things in Coast petite. Anyway ladies must get on with my packing.

Hi, Buddymum although I have quite a few fall length dresses and maxis I am barely 5.1 . Although I do wear killer heels with the more evening type dresses but lower toe-posts with the maxis. For me it's just a treat to get really dressed up once in a while as I rarely do at home.

Hi,

I miss the semi-formals as well.(.

Basically if you choose to dress for the formals then as others have said a dj or smart suit and tie for men.

And for women as an example for my next cruise I will wear a mixture of full length dresses, cocktail dresses, a pantsuit, and smart trousers with evening top. So all are fine.

Enjoy your cruise

I Hope there is a shuttle, but if not there is a 15 minute walk to get the local bus near the market at Saint-André / Saint-Thomas. I will get a taxi back as I am having dinner at a little restaurant in the lower town and it will be latish by the time we head back. Yes Florry only two weeks and I still got stuff to be dry cleaned etc. , and I'm visiting my son in Portsmouth next week so probably a bit of a panic on that last week

Hi ,:(

Some how I am not surprised but we dock in Quebec at berth 30.

I plan to walk from this berth to the upper old town for late afternoon then go to the restaurant I've booked in the lower old town in the evening and had hoped to walked back .

Will I have to get a taxi back.

Is this dock difficult to to walk from I have read it's more like a container port area.

Hi, My husband, grown up son and I did this trip last year and had a great time aboard the Oriana.

We didn't really see much of the Northern lights only catching a glimpse from the ship. I think the best way to enjoy this trip is to think well if I see them fantastic but if I don't I will just enjoy the lovely scenery.

We went on the search for the Northern lights trip and for the three of us was very expensive and we saw nothing but maybe you will .

The other trips we did were

1 Reindeer sledging - A lovely trip which includes a delicious traditional meal and a gentle sledge ride with beautiful scenery.

1. The Ice Hotel - lots of great photo taking of this place which is a potato field in the summer and rebuilt every winter. If I did this cruise again I would stay overnight. If you can think about doing the' Overnight At the Ice Hotel' excursion it's expensive but other cruisers who did it said it was worth it.

3. The dog sledging - Great fun and goodness the dogs do fast. My husband and son loved the speed, but I was on a sled with another lady cruiser and was terrified I was going to come flying off around the corners. I think for me it was a little like the Madeira wicker basket ride an experience just done the once. The dogs are very friendly and you can pet them after the ride.

As for the temperatures well my husband asked around about this and was given the advice that It wasn't as cold as you might think BUT I'm glad we ignored that because it was very cold and I did bring thermals and snow boots and grippers. Host Sharon layers post is spot on.

Another fun thing about these cruises are the drink specials. Hot toddy or Mulled wine. I have lovely memories of sitting in the crows nest with my warming drink and looking out at the wintery scenery.

Enjoy your cruise we did.

daiB you can come and queue for us as we are not early risers :)

Hi, I think that Kevin must be right as I cannot see that there is any other way of allocating the exit tickets which would seem fair.

Florry, I have also decided against panic booking an excursion and will also just wait and see. I was hoping to visit Central Park on the sunday followed by a restaurant booking. If I am late off the ship I will just go to the restaurant and leave Central Park for the next day. I have booked the Big Bus ho-ho for the Monday which takes us to lower Manhattan and upper Manhattan within a 24hr period, although I will probably collapse when I get back on the ship

I've already told my poor mum to set her alarm ready to queue on the day before. I will probably see you in the queue .

No I am not on any P@O facebook groups but anyone can get in touch via this site. Claire