snaefell

P&O are as close as you get to bargain basement cruising IMO,hard to beat the prices you see in the tv ads like £1099 for a 15 night Caribbean cruise which I have seen even lower near the sailing date,tips included,drinks at UK pub prices(depending on where you live of course),specialty dining at reasonable prices,likewise shore excursions. I am sure many will say that it isn't as glamorous as it once was,room servicing is only once a day,food isn't what it once was,I think you just have to look at how little you are paying & not expect the golden 'good old days',be realistic & you will hopefully enjoy yourself!😎

On Arcadia last year we weren't able to book until on board,that became fun when the App wasn't working half the time!

Forgot to mention ciders,there are quite a variety available,some of the fruits varieties are quite superb IMO but of course you have another demon to worry about there & that is sugar,in some cases one bottle can contain your daily quota!😮 In my drinking days I would tend to only drink Guinness mixed with cider(poor man's black velvet!) as I found the black stuff a bit heavy,glad to say that mixing 0% Guinness with LA/AF cider tastes just like the alcoholic version...happy days!

We have done 2 repo cruises so far with another coming up soon,all have been sold out so whoever says repo cruises are not popular is telling porkies or the last minute sale prices are working well!😁😁

Before we left on our cruise last year there were reports on these forums of an outbreak on a/the previous cruise prompting many to think that when it was announced on our cruise that it hadn't gone away,these ships are hardly ever idle for long,they don't make money if not sailing,so once established on board it can't be easy to get rid of especially if the passengers don't help!

I have been alcohol free for some years now,I used to be a keen real ale drinker so like the taste of beer,happily as has been said there is a huge & growing variety of LA & NA beers now available,many of which IMO have a taste which is a bit on the sweet side,including Guinness,my favourite is Adnams Ghost Ship which to me tastes as good as any real ale I had in my drinking days,of course we are all different & different beers will be available in different areas & countries. As for spirits I was once given a miniature bottle of Gordon's AF gin with pink grapefruit,all you could taste was pink grapefruit which made me question the point of buying AF Gin which,here in the UK at least,tends to be pretty much the same price as the alcoholic version! That leads me to the biggest bugbear when it comes to drinking AF IMO,that is the price you will pay when out & about,in bars & restaurants here in the UK LA & AF beers can be twice the price of the alcoholic beers,to me if I was the designated driver out for a night with my mates I wouldn't be too pleased at having to pay twice as much to stay sober as my mates who were happily getting sloshed!😆😆

We sailed on Britannia when she was in her first Summer season,at the time these forums were filled with posts from people saying they wouldn 't go on such a huge ship...how things change😆😆 Our cabin was at the blunt end & we kept wishing for a bus service from the Crows Nest at the end of a long,hard night,seemed a blooming long way!😁😁

We had an outbreak on our Med cruise in May 2023,it happened 2 days into the cruise,staff were there to try & make sure everyone washed & sanitized their hands while crew members served the buffet,it made it hard work as some crew members obviously didn't want to be serving food & some passengers obviously knew better & didn't wash their hands,helped themselves & were rude to the crew & anybody else that said anything. As much as we loved Arcadia 3 weeks of so many rude people meant we were glad to get off at the end of the cruise!😎

Absolutely,beginning to wonder why they don't list it as one of the features!😵😵 Shame,love Arcadia.

The OP rather confused things by saying $54pp for 2,,is it $54 for 2 or $54pp,the latter is more in line with what I have seen offered for our upcoming cruise on Anthem,if that is so I can't really call it a good deal IMO

James Martin was the chef when we sailed back fr o m the Caribbean in 2018,we used to bump into him most nights after he finished as we made our way from the Crows Nest to our cabin at the blunt end!

Just shows however good the system is there is always an idiot around to muck it up!😆😆

We have used Intercruises several times,clean,comfy coaches with helpful drivers,the trips to Southampton have all been a breeze,the returns not so. as has been said you are at the mercy of latecomers but on our return fr ok m Arcadia last year traffic was the big problem,everywhere we went seemed like a car park,leaving the ship just before 0900hrs it was 1900 hrs before we reached our drop off point near Chester,makes you feel like you need a holiday!😕😕

We have only done one RCI cruise so far,the itinerary for that changed soon after we booked it,before we sailed & during the cruise! We booked another TA calling at Halifax,that was dropped soon after booking,another 6 night cruise we booked evolved into a Singapore to Tokyo repo cruise. They do it on a regular basis IME,swore we wouldn't book with them again but we will be sailing with them in a few weeks,until today that cruise had been unchanged,the cruise schedule hasn't changed but our cabaret booking has been changed,they just had to get us somewhere or other!

Computers weren't around when I started work,but I became pretty heavily involved with them when they came along supposedly ' to make our jobs easier',sadly there was never enough time & money put in to make the systems fit for purpose,IME that happens so often. you could be right,done properly they may be useful but..........

Love new technology!😆😆

We were on Arcadia last year,embarkation day was my Wife's Birthday so I was keen to book a table in the Ocean Grill for that evening,unable to book before boarding once in the cabin I tried the app with no luck,a phone call to Guest Services gave me a message to go to Reception,after reaching the front of the queue I was told they couldn't help,I wasn't taking no for an answer & after persisting a phone call was made & the table booked....couldn't be easier!!😒😒 The app,IME,was very much up & down,working great somedays,others not,after 3 consecutive days of it being dead as the proverbial Dodo I went to Reception & as soon as the young lady touched the screen it sprang into life....typical!😆😆

I wonder how much this will vary from Line to Line or even ship to ship,maybe depending on what happened to them during the pandemic. We were on P&O's Arcadia last year,OK she is an older ship,I haven't seen quite so much major work going on during a cruise before,replacing pipework,cutting out steelwork,,not just the usual painting. We were told by a member of the crew that nothing had been done for two years during the pandemic due to lack of money coming in,they were trying to make up for lost time! I know people who expected ships to have been refurbished while they were 'idle',obviously not!

I have no complaint with the cost of the actual cruise that we will be taking with RCI in a few weeks,what shocks me is the cost of 'extras' like drinks,specialty dining & shore excursions which are so much more expensive than we have been used to.

Our one previous TA was at the end of March from the Caribbean to the UK,stopping at the Azores. We didn't experience any really rough weather,the big thing was the drop in temperature during the last couple of days as we neared the UK which had experienced mega blizzard conditions,happily the worst had gone by the time we arrived! We had an aft facing balcony which with being sheltered by the superstructure meant we could sunbathe comfortably while the towels & beds were being blown about by the pool. My overwhelming memory of the journey involved the very talented Caribbean band that made the journey to the UK with us,they played by the main pool late each night but didn't seem quite so colourful & magical during the last few nights as the temperature plummeted,the crowds dwindled & they performed wearing coats,hats,scarves & gloves!😆😆

We were on Arcadia last year,there had been reports on these forums of Norovirus on the previous cruise,three days into our 19 night Med cruise it was announced that Gastric Enteritus had broken out,for the rest of the cruise the crew served on the buffet which was a pain,especially as some obviously didn't want to be doing it! They tried to stop people from entering the buffet without washing & sanitizing their hands but some just pushed their way in & helped themselves,I guess they knew better?!?!😒😒

We have done one TA with P&O & are about to do another with Royal Caribbean,both Westbound,we feel that we have had enough of flying so getting it out of the way early on is nice! if it is important to you P&O tend to be a fraction of the price of RCI when it comes to things like drinks,specialty dining & shore excursions,several days at sea give you nice 'chill' time!

I can relate to that,I had a knee op back in December which has temporarily(I hope!) left me needing to use,first crutches & now sticks,it has shocked me how few people seem willing to accommodate people with mobility problems.

We have been seriously tempted by a Med cruise with RCI,we can get the cruise for a very tempting price but it is the 'extras' that put us off,in a few weeks we will be sailing on Anthem & know how expensive speciality dining,shore excursions & drinks are compared to a recent cruise with P&O,drinks with P&O were similar to local pub prices while the other two 'extras' are around three times dearer with RCI.

Almost sounds like an invasion of your privacy,do you have any choice/input into what appears on the screen?