technoman

In all honesty i found the food to be 100% better in the MDR on Arvia in April than on Azura last december when it was very poor and tiny portions. Im glad we booked all restaurants in MDRs and olive grove prior to boarding on Arvia but even the we could not book meals later than 6.30pm in advance.

All your help has made me decide to bite the bullet and book it for December and because its an early saver the agent Cruise UK told me that P&O will contact me (not sure how) a few weeks before to ask our dining preference . This doesnt happen on late saver?. Maybe its in the planner nearer the time. I will keep ya posted. Thanks again

Yes Selbourne , i found that on Azura too , that people who turned up in most cases just got seated straight away.

Thanks for all your replies. Can i just confirm the freedom dining and club dining arrangements if anyone knows the answer. When we were on Azura in December last year we booked an early saver and they gave us club dining when we boarded the ship but for the later sitting whereby we prefer the earlier one. We asked the Maitre D if we could change to freedom dining and he arranged that straight away. So is this how it might work on Brittania and if so and we opt for freedom dining is this on an app or do we just turn up and get given a bleeper if we have to wait because the restaurant is full. Thanks again

Can you book the main Dining room venues on Britannia 14 days before and shows in theatre 15 days before like you were able too on Arvia.? Appreciate everybodys time and views so far, thank you.

Hello my fellow cruisers, some of you may remember we went on Arvia earlier this year and we have never been on Brittania but are looking to go to the Caribbean in December. We like the itinerary for Britannia the first week of December but looking at some of the recent reviews re food it is putting me off. Has anyone been on her recently and have any views either way or maybe been on her in the Caribbean?. I know Megabear had issues on Arvia on a trip following mine earlier in the year but i wonder if things have improved. Any help or views either way may help us make a decision. Thanks In advance

Ok i take all your points and i have experienced poor service and surly waiters in the US too because quite frankly in some places the tips are taken as a given and taken for granted. Waiters in the US can be paid well below the minimum wage i.e $2 -3 dollars per hour which is not the case here where it is legally over £9.50 here for the national living wage. Anyway i can see how you culture vultures feel about this but let me tell you i will not have a problem going to customer services and having the gratuity reduced by 50% because i think it is too much and if i feel the cabin steward has been exceptional will tip a nominal amount extra.

The comment in post 4 was from the Princess website on why they make the charge. We would be on the standard fare on the package in my original post, i should have been clearer. So the basic cruise if booked in the UK is £999pp and the Plus is £1699pp. Have been to the US on at least 4 trips and i have paid my fair share of tips Orlando and Clearwater twice, New England in the fall including New York and Boston and the Grand Canyon, San Francisco Boston Mohawk Trail. I would much rather do that than sit on my bum in Mc Donalds or Wendys and worry about how much i should tip. I have also read the Tip Etiquette on Tripadvisor. I seem to remember that tips used to be 8-12% it wont be long before you might as well double the bill rather than be concerned about offending anyone. I still feel the Gratuities and the 18% is too much but it is just my opinion and if it makes happy to pay that percentage then everything is ticketyboo. https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel-g191-s606/United-States:Tipping.And.Etiquette.html

Ok i get it. Its a cultural thing where people follow the heard like sheep because its the 'Done Thang' From my point of view i guess i would consider the princess plus as part of the package and not paying the $50 plus dollars per day pp. I dont object to paying some form of gratuity but i do object to the amount being charged. In a hotel you would pay $2-3 per day maybe for the maid service and i did say i was prepared to pay around $10 per day per cabin . Its Princess that is stiffing the crew by not paying them the correct level of pay and again lets not forget the 18% Service gratuity on drinks pathetic when the price of the drinks are expensive. Thanks to all posters who contributed sensible comments.

Thanks to all the posters for the useful information you have provided me with.

A few bucks, your joking right 29 bucks per day per cabin is ridiculous. P&O dont charge gratuities and they are part of the same group and even cruises starting in the UK dont charge those kind of prices surely the 18% extra they charge on drinks should be enough to supplement the crew pay. We have worked all our lives in low paying jobs and therefore have to make the most of our limited pension pots so we are always looking for the best package deals too see parts of the world we have not seen before and are not trying to remove supplementary income of the crew members.

for info https://www.carnivalcorp.com/static-files/50351a91-4dc0-4f6b-bfec-684647e6129f

Our "Princess Plus" fare includes our Princess Plus Beverage Package, Wi-Fi and Crew Appreciation! Wow those crew appreciation charges apx £353 for the trip and then 18% on top even if you take out the Princess plus package seem eye watering expensive. It says on the princess website you can adjust the crew appreciation amount ? is this done at the end of the trip as realistically i would not want to pay more than £150 per cabin. Maybe i should consider buying some carnival shares (100 shares i think) to get some on board credit but this only works when you book direct and not through a travel agent. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions

Do yourself a favour and call them at 8.30 am in the morning. I was on hold 75 mins last week. Rang on saturday at 8.30 and got through in 5 mins

This is just a heads up for the Gatwick flight for this cruise. When we booked this a couple of months ago all we could get confirmation of was a london flight but not which airport (so we took a flyer pardon the pun cos it was cheap). Anyway we now have confirmation that it will be a chartered Jet2 flight. As i thought that Jet2 didnt fly out of gatwick i rang them today to confirm that it was correct and they said it was a specially chartered flight just for P&O customers.