tring

21 hours ago, Leither said:

We’ve been on  quite a few FO cruises and never seen a casino as such but I think I recall seeing a rather lonely roulette wheel. Can’t recall if that was on Bolette or not.

 

Regards.

 

Yep, that sounds about right for Fred.

They had got rid of the very small casino tables post COVID, but last I heard in November, they had re started a trial one on Balmoral only.  Not sure of the current situation, but you could ring head office and ask.  Very little interest for casino services on Fred, so unlikely to be much there, if any tbh.

We are currently travelling on Aurora.  Four black tie nights and only two align with the dates given on our login pre cruise.  Big nuisance as we were relying on the dates given to arrange pre booked dining, so has to make changes.  Not unusual to have black tie dates changed, but personally do not see why they cannot get them right first time around.

Moan over, but having a great time in Cagliari at present.  Do not have to be back on the ship until 9 pm latest, so we have just sauntered down from the old city and hAving a drink in a cafe before searching for a restaurant for a meal.  Lol veblate nights and not many with P&O.

On 4/22/2024 at 6:24 PM, EM35 said:

The other thing to think about is that the deposit can only be transferred to a cruise that has a later start date than the original one that is booked. 

Now clarified this with an onboard sales rep yesterday.  The cruise you transfer to has to be within 1 year of the original cruise start date.  That means a cruise cannot be more than one year before, or after that date.  So there is some restriction if you want to book an earlier cruise, but can still book something up to a year ahead. 

Sadly that just misses a cruise we wanted to transfer one of ours to by about three weeks.  Oh well have to think again, but plenty of time until our balance due date of June 2025.

11 hours ago, Daisybops said:

I’ve made the right choice - thank you. 
 

We want to take the wine home, so that’s ok. We’re not actually going to Porto. Any of these places to buy ? 
 

 

Praia da Vitoria, Terceira, Azores Horta, Faial, Azores
Ponta Delgada, São Miguel, Azores Cruise by Vila Franca Islet, Azores
Cruise by Cristo Rei & Abril 25 Bridge Lisbon, Portugal
Leixões, Matosinhos, Portugal

I have no particular experience if bringing wine home, so cannot help there.  Just thought I would point out though that your last port of Leixoes is the port for Porto - it is perhaps about 4 miles away, but not sure.  You can take public transport to Porto, which you would need to find out about, or the ship will run various excursions, some to Porto.

1 hour ago, david63 said:

I'm not sure about the transfer being in the future. I recently transferred the balance for a 2025 Cunard cruise to a 2024 cruise without any problems and with things like this P&O and Cunard are in step.

Yes, I am pretty sure you are right on that as I had mentioned above.  We have recently seen the T&C's on the P&O website as well, but not got link to hand and busy today.

7 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

End September early October is traditionally the rainy season in the Med. Although global warming might have changed that.

Can get storms at times, but have had a number of hols at that time and most of the time it has been nice warm weather.  We have had storms on about three hols, but only one of about a day in a two week hol.  Weather gods do tend to have a mind of their own though. 

We tend to avoid the bob at that time of year though,  admittedly that can often be bad then, but in the Med we have done well, unless we have just been lucky.  We have had worse weather at the end of Oct and into November though.

22 hours ago, john watson said:

 

This is true, but you are a long time into the future, your fare basis is acceptable and length of cruises similar.  I think you have a good chance of success.

 

Regards John

We had tried that in the past and we were not allowed. 

4 hours ago, EM35 said:

The other thing to think about is that the deposit can only be transferred to a cruise that has a later start date than the original one that is booked. 

I do not think that is the case, I think we have changed to an earlier date in the past, but had to be to another select fare, cannot change to a saver fare and cannot be more than a year after the original booking.

On 4/21/2024 at 6:44 PM, frozenflowers said:

Just an idle wonder - I have two weeks booked on Iona in July 2025, back to back but they are as I understand it two totally separate bookings. If I wanted to transfer the booking to a 2 week sailing on Britannia in the same month, would I be able to do this with both weeks or would I lose the deposit on one of them? 

No you have to transfer to two separate bookings before balance payment date.  Need the cruises to be of a higher price and more than a year after the original booking start date and they have to have been select bookings, not saver.

We are in that situation ourselves, having booked a cruise with another cruise line about a month ago which clashes with b2b Azura bookings.  I was pretty sure they were the rules as we have had to adhere to them in the past, but did ask about a week ago and had those criteria confirmed, especially having to be two separate cruises, (though of course could be more b2b's).  Our Azura cruises are not until late next summer, so we have a while to think about what we want to book instead.  Of course you can change the cruises one at a time and leave the other a bit longer, as long as you do not pass balance payment date.

Could always double check yourself, but think it was correct about a week ago.

Edit

One other point is that you can only transfer a cruise once, so important to check you choose a cruise you are sure about.

2 hours ago, edinburgher said:

tring, as nobody has replied and you yourself give so much info to others,  I googled  "Casements Square to Catalan Bay" and many results appeared.  I didn't look into any of them, but noted from the titles that the distance is short and that there should be buses and taxis, but I would check that the bus route numbers are still current, and you would need an idea of the timetables depending on which day of the week you will be there, so the Gibraltar Bus company website would be the one for you. If the buses are still current, you would have the option of buses both ways or taxi one way and bus the other.

 

We have only visited Gibraltar twice, but might struggle with options were we to visit a third time.

Thank you, that is very kind.  We have had a lot on our plate recently, so I was taking the easy way by asking, but with no reply, DH had been able to look up the buses.  We even took to Google Earth, so we could see the route, once we discovered how near it was and I meant to answer my own question here for future reference of others. 

You are right getting there looks easy enough and could even be walkable back to Casements Square if any problems arose, though not an attractive walk and pavements are narrow, so not a preference of ours.  DH has managed to find up to date bus timetables, though as we are there on a Sunday, buses would only be about every half hour or so for us.  We have previously used the buses and been able to get a day ticket very cheaply to cover most routes, but a taxi may be best in this instance.  We have also looked into museums, but they are closed on a Sunday, as is the Moorish Castle, which is the only attraction up the Rock which we have not visited.

You are right about subsequent visits belong a bit of a struggle to find something to do, but we will leave the ship for a stroll to somewhere.  The beach area and marinas may well be our go to area this time, though we are also toying with doing a dolphin watching boat trip as a ship's trip.  We looked into the dolphin boat trips and none are offering that Sunday morning to book direct and our ship leaves mid afternoon.  If I remember on return, I will give feedback here.

We will be going soon, so need to start packing 🙂

50 minutes ago, MyriamS said:

Thanks for your feedback, but I'm bit confused about the "wait for regular disembarkation". Why would I need to wait? I always thought they staggered disembarkation times because people have luggage, sometimes a lot of it, so they don't want everyone to try and grab their suitcases at the same time. But my luggage is with me, so I can just... walk off the ship at basically any time and not be in anyone's way, right? 

Everyone will have a specific disembarkation slot and if you ask for self disembarkation, it will be early as others have said.  After that a lot of people will constantly be leaving the ship with just hand luggage.  Someone going through with more than the usual hand luggage will likely delay the movement of passengers off the ship at that time.  What P&O will do if you turn up then, I do not know, but you will not have been allocated that time slot, so in theory they could well ask you to wait until after the other groups have disembarked.  Does not seem to be a good idea to test that system imo if you want off the ship early.

I suggest you look at the route to the station from Ocean terminal on Google Earth street view and distance it on a map, to confirm if walking to the station is a good idea for you.  With four ships in port, taxis may not be so easy to find and roads in Southampton do get gridlocked at busy times, though an early self disembarkation may assist with missing the worst of the busy spell.

3 hours ago, Waju said:

I started to do some research yesterday for our cruise on Arvia later in the year.  When looking at Valencia it recommended I try the drink Horchata so I googled it and found this picture - the information under the photo made my day 🤣

We tried horchata in Valencia a number of years ago.  The ones we had certainly fitted the bill as we were a bit peckish at the time, but eating anything like the fartons pictured with it could have provided enough calories to match our total normal daily intake.  The drinks were just nice at the time, but very thick and sweet, though must admit the one in your picture looks more like a drink, so they must vary.

Good to try different things when going ashore.  We have taken to having lunch out in ports quite a lot now and the Med is a place where that can be affordable. 

We have been to Gibraltar more than once and exhausted all the standard tourist attractions, but thinking we may just have a stroll and drink or two in Catalan Bay.  Just wondering what is the best way to get there?  Are there regular buses from Casements Square, or would we be better getting a taxi?  Also wondering how difficult it would be to get transport back or if it may be walkable, not sure if it would be walkable along that road.  Our ship leaves at 2pm, so an early dart as is often the case with Gibraltar.

Another point we have found with pre booking restaurants.  DH booked  one and I have booked a couple of others, all in place for two people.  When we go into our login, and look at the itinerary the bookings are only showing for the cruise we had each booked.  So the itinerary on my login does not mention the booking DH made (under the relevant date) and his login does not mention the ones I have made.  I hope all is well onboard.  

That was very confusing, as initially looked like some bookings were not in place.  I hope it all shows for both of us on the app as only DH uses that as he cannot go anywhere without his phone, but I do not carry mine all of the time.  Must admit he usually uses my login and I have usually made any bookings, which is presumably why we have not had that problem previously.

34 minutes ago, sandancer said:

There are some items on the Beach House menu that carry a supplement and you will be charged for those at the time. If you eat from the standard menu then then the cover charge is all you will pay and that will have been charged to your cc in advance. 

Thank you for the information regarding both Sindu and The Beach House.  Can I ask if a pre booking (made with CC) can be cancelled once on the ship, or if a date/time can be changed, subject to availability obviously?  If it can be cancelled, is the cost refunded to your CC, or to your on board account?

Out on deck when at sea, you will need some very warm clothes.  However, on a calm sunny day, with the help of the 24 hours of sunlight, it can be quite pleasant in Longyearbyen.  We have photos of each other sitting in the Jacuzzi on the back of the ship taking in the views, one July several years ago, not that it was in any way sun bathing weather mind.  It is certainly very special, just the sheer remoteness, rather than the scenery as such.

Magdalena Fjord, as mentioned previously, was indeed a lovely place, we stayed a while with the ship (Balmoral) sitting calmly in the centre of the fjord, surrounded by small ice floes from the nearby glacier. The ships do not go there now though, (well the expedition ships probably will), but I think environmental concerns have stopped average cruise ships going there and it is further north than Longyearbyen, so sadly you will not be going there.  The place to see icebergs is Greenland - somewhere worth going in the future, if you can. 

I am sure you will enjoy the cruise and I wish you good weather.

On 4/6/2024 at 7:50 AM, Geordie41 said:

My cruise onboard Arvia will be my first ever cruise, which im really looking forward to. I live in Newcastle Upon Tyne and have chosen to use the P&O coach transfer (Inter cruises) to & from the ship to Southampton. Has anyone used this service from Newcastle to Southampton, and how long does it take? I was chatting on a facebook group and one woman told me some friends of hers used this service and missed the ship due to delays on the motorway so the ship sailed without them(Not nice). This is now in the back of my mind so after a little reassurance from anyone who has used this service. My other question is on disembarkation day, everyone gets different disembarkation times so how does the return transfer work for example does the coach have to wait until everyone booked has boarded the coach then departs, or does it leave at a set allocated time. Many thanks.

From what I have read, there was a case of a very bad delay on a motorway a couple of weeks ago because of a big incident which left the road closed for a long time with vehicles trapped on the road for a very long time and people on a coach did not get to the ship.  That coach was not an official P&O coach (booked through P&O), so the cruise line had no responsibility to get the passengers to the ship at a later port.  Insurance may have been claimable by the passengers for a problem with public transport getting to the port, but will have obviously depended on the insurance policy. 

A coach booked through P&O would leave P&O with an obligation to passengers and, as mentioned previously, they will wait for the coach, or if a very long delay, do their best to get you on to the ship at another port.

52 minutes ago, bee-ess said:

I wish they would make them available to browse now to allow us time before the 16th to decide which (if any) we want to do.

6 minutes ago, Flo71 said:

Same here, would be nice to pick out the cruises interested in before they go on sale x

There is a full week between being able to see the itineraries and being able to book them.  Sogne said they go on sale on the 23rd.

Strange I have just been looking at the packages, there is a birthday one and I understand the question asked by smj777, but cannot answer it. 

Regards photographers, it depends on the ship, there are none on Aurora and might also be the case for Arcadia and others, but the bigger ships do have them.  I did see photos included in some packages, but the details did mention they were not done on all ships and it gave an alternative of some sort for that if they cannot be done - forget what, it may have been a credit.

We are scheduled to tender into both of these in August.  It looks as though we will be fine just going ashore and exploring those locations independently, though our cruise line are offering walking tours of both locations as well.  Can anyone confirm that independent exploration will be a good way to go - we do not really want to be tripped.  We have seen the Parks Canada website for those locations, so have a good idea what to expect.

October/November does have a bit of a reputation for rough seas in The Atlantic, so that could be a problem, but alternatively could be lovely weather. as others have said.  Having said that, Arvia is a big ship and may not rock about so much as smaller ships, which are what we use and should be plenty of things to do onboard. 

Highly unlikely to be anything like as good as the Med at that time of year though.

I understand the plaintiffs, (that is the people who rely on the cruise ship calls for their livelihood),  have now appealed, as we were told would happen by our guide last September.  it looks like this is going to continue, unsurprisingly. 

Whether the cruise lines will still be interested in calling there remains to be seen.  

On 3/26/2024 at 6:37 PM, csouffle said:

I edited my original post, now how do I cancel this extra/2nd post?

Touch the three dots at the top RHS of your post and then a drop down box will let you report your post.  You can then choose the appropriate options and write in a final box asking for the post to be deleted.  I just write, "Please delete my post which was made in error".  An admin will delete the post once they see your report, so may take 12 hours or so for it to happen.

You cannot delete it yourself directly.

14 minutes ago, Leomins said:

Yes standards have dropped but isn’t this just life in general?

I used to get a three course meal included with every short haul flight and never imagined having to pay for a suitcase.

Beefeater restaurants used to include a roll and butter and either ice cream or cheese and biscuits with the main course.

I think every company has trimmed their services to the basics and then it’s up to the individual if they wish to add the extras like speciality restaurants.
I can’t see P&O going back to their golden era now. If they had one ship which included all the extra niceties like the pillow chocolates etc, would you all prefer it and be happy to pay the extra fare? I’m not sure if I would, although it would depend on the itinerary.

 

Just what I had been thinking.  If we stayed in a Holiday Inn more than twenty years ago, we got silver service for dinner and a far better menu than we would expect now.  Prices were far higher for their meals though, so no different to P&O and is now what a lot of people are happy with if the prices are right.  There are plenty of other cruise lines and hotels which provide better service, but at very different prices.  Same with everything in life, you get what you pay for.