Burgmeister

The size of the ship doesn't bother me - most of our cruises have been on big ships - IOTS, FOTS and Epic. The other 2 cruises were on the slightly smaller (but still big) Explorer of the Seas and the actually smaller Sapphire Princess.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to add your input - much appreciated.

Thanks Presto that's very helpful.

When Andy mentioned that you could take 1L each aboard I assumed it was wine so that's really interesting.

I understand that Ventura isn't the best ship in the fleet but, if we book, I'm sure we will make the most of it. 

Thanks both of you, very helpful

If I can get the kids package without needing to buy any others then that would be OK. Neither my wife nor I drink enough to make a drinks package worthwhile.

Good that they have kettles in the cabins - we rarely go anywhere without a supply of teabags!

Just another query, can you take soft drinks on board with you - should you so desire?

Hi

We have cruised with RCCI, Norwegian and Princess but not, so far, with P&O. we are looking at possibly  booking a cruise on Ventura for 2020 and wondered whether anyone could clarify where P&O stand on some points?

Firstly, are there any drinks available through the day that you don't need to pay for (thinking Tea, Coffee, juice) as there are on other cruise lines?

Are you able to take any wine on board with you as you can with Princess and RCCI? 

I understand that P&O do a kid's drinks package. How old can you be to still be classed as a "kid" for the package (our daughter is 16)? Can you get a kid's package for your offspring if you don't get any other packages for the adults?

Any other tips/differences that would be worth knowing if you are experienced cruisers of other lines trying P&O for the first time?

Thanks

Great, thanks.

Is it $89.99 per person or per cabin?

Thanks

Thanks to everyone that has answered my query.

@Garth2 & bstel: I apologise for having upset you by asking a question, but thank you both for your very helpful input.

Brilliant. Thanks five.

Everyone has been very helpful. Thanks

Thanks, that's very useful to know. It doesn't seem like they nickel and dime any more than any other line we have been on.

$52 a day for Cheers doesn't seem too bad but we probably wouldn't get value out of it as neither myself nor my wife drink much (maybe a couple a day whilst on board). Do they do a soft drink package? 

Do they allow you to take any wine on board like RCCL and Princess do? Not a problem if they don't, just curious as to their policies. We don't seem much of Carnival cruises in the UK so I'm really not familiar with them

Hi

Never been on Carnival before but have cruised with RCCL, NCL and Princess in the past. Am thinking of getting a short Carnival cruise out of Florida next February and just wondered what Carnival include in their basic fare and what you need to pay extra for?

Obviously you need to add on tips and alcoholic drinks but does your fare include any soft drinks (tea, coffee, juice, water etc)? Do they do drinks packages and are they worth doing as a moderate drinker? 

Do they include room service without a fee? Are there plenty of included food options?

Is there anything else they charge extra for? I appreciate that Carnival fares are very competitive and so, I imagine, they "nickel and dime" at every opportunity. I don't necessarily have a problem with this as long as I know what to expect.

Thanks for any help that anyone can provide.

Here are the just announced rules.

 

 

https://www.princess.com/html/global/personalizer/ssv/beverages/coffee-physical-card-disclaimer/index.html

Yep, the new rules state that existing cards are no longer valid "forever" and will all expire on the 31st August 2019

Interesting that they have changed the rules on already purchased coffee cards. I bought the card on the understanding that any unused punches were valid indefinitely - this is now not the case.

Classic mis-selling (bait and switch). Don't know about US law but that is defintiely illegal in the EU.

I purchased the card for our recent cruise on the Sapphire. I used it for tea and then got the thing clipped for my wife to have the speciality coffees (she used 6) and I thought it was money well spent. If we cruise Princess again we won't bother with the card if it can't be used in this way. I can get free tea in HC and the wife can pay individually for her coffees - if she chooses to have them. She hasn't had speciality coffees on any of our other cruises so she may not even bother.

No I didnt miss the fact that Alfredo's was a pizzeria but on reading many threads on cruisecritic on other ships was given the impression that they also served starters and desserts. Also was disappointed with number of pizzas and the fact that they stayed the same for the whole 14 nt cruise.

Perhaps if you had realised that they will custom make a pizza for you it would have been better?

I must admit, if I hadn't read in this forum that they custom made pizzas then I would have been disappointed with the choice too. It certainly doesn't really explain that to you when you are there so you have to really be pre-armed with the knowledge. Of course, when they will custom make them the options open up considerably from 5.

As I'm not a salad fan I didn't miss the fact that I couldn't get any. We never went to Alfredo's for a set meal, it was for a "bite to eat" so I didn't miss dessert either. Probably, if I had foregone the MDR to eat there, I too would have been disappointed by the absence of these things but, as we didn't, it didn't bother me. Also, I was already aware they only did Pizza thanks to the good folk on Cruise Critic.

Further to Burgmeister's comments - when I was on Sapphire the buckets come with ice so I just left them in there and they stayed cold for hours. If you need more ice just ask the steward. The buckets can also be bought from the bar. When I ran out of pre ordered buckets I would just order one when I was on deck and what I didn't drink I took back to my cabin. We are Sapphire again in Feb and look forward to our cruise on her again. Lovely ship.

Ours arrived in our cabin without a bucket. The fridge didn't keep them cold enough but the bar staff were more than happy to exchange a cool one from my stock for a cold one from theirs.

I didn't run out - in fact, I brought one home with me.

There was only 5 choices of pizza and the menu was never changed throughout the cruise and unfortunately only one I liked so had to have Sapphire Princess every time we went in.

Whilst there are only 5 set pizzas, you can order any combination of the ingredients that you want. I didn't fancy any of the set ones but they made up one using the toppings that I did want.

If you go into your Princess account you can buy the 5 for 4 beers. When you arrive in your cabin you will have a receipt for the beers. You then just ring up and they will send someone down with your beer and you hand over your receipt. Unfortunately, the fridge in our room wasn't great so the beers didn't stay as cool as I wanted them to be. Its not a problem though, any bar will happily exchange your cool beer for a cold one.

As I mentioned in my original post, we also pre-bought the half bottles of spirit for our rooms. These were about £13 each and, along with the soda we took on board, meant we could have reasonably cheap drinks. I'd have one in the afternoon and then take one out with me in the evening. The bars were happy to give you glasses to take to your cabin. These also worked on the receipt/delivery system that the beers worked on. The steward always kept our ice bucket full but if you run out you can easily get a cup of ice from Horizon Court.

As for snacks, it depends what you want. For savoury snacks then the Horizon Court (buffet) has a better range. International Cafe has some nice sweet snacks and a few sandwich type options. I had a nice grilled Cuban sandwich one day but most of the time we went to HC for savouries.

Be aware that HC does close its savoury snack section mid-afternoon (sorry, I can't remember the exact time but it is in the "Patter" each day). We used the Trident grill a couple of times for a plate of fries when our timings weren't quite right.

Alfredo's has a menu that has 4 or 5 different types of pizza, however, you can ask for any combination of ingredients that appear on any of the menu pizzas.

There is afternon tea served in one of the restaurants (Santa Fe - I think) every afternoon 3:30 to 4:30. Unfortunately, we never made it although we had intended to so I can't tell you whether its any good or not.

As I mentioned in my original post, we also pre-bought the half bottles of spirit for our rooms. These were about £13 each and, along with the soda we took on board, meant we could have reasonably cheap drinks. I'd have one in the afternoon and then take one out with me in the evening. The bars were happy to give you glasses to take to your cabin.

If you drink coffee then the coffee card is a great purchase. I don't drink it but my wife does so I bought a card and had the free tea while she had a nice coffee in IC. My wife is by no way a coffee expert but she found the buffet coffee horrible. If we cruise Princess again (which I hope we will) we would definitely do the same again.

I don't know what itinerary you are on but if you go to Copenhagen then Princess has a free shuttle bus from Oceankaj to Copenhagen. They don't tell you anything about the bus in advance, we only found out about it on the day.

OK, so the dining room that was open on embarkation was the International Dining Room (back of the ship, Deck 6).

Our cabin was on Baja Deck (11)

Didn't really check out the lager range. I had pre-bought some buckets of Bud and Dos Equis so just drank those - sorry.

Couple more points I forgot to mention...

Really enjoyed our late lunch at Alfredo's Pizza. Nice option (if you like pizza!)

Formal nights were very well adhered to. I didn't notice any man without at least a jacket - even the table of more casual Americans had jackets (although they didn't go the whole hog and have dinner suits).

We have cruised with Royal Carribean 3 times and Norwegian once. We have now added Princess to our list.

Some quick feedback on our experience..

Started off really well as we boarded in Southampton at about 11:30 although we had no expectation of our cabin being ready and I was loaded down with carry on. This is quite usual for us - lumbering around the ship with carry on until our rooms are ready. To my surprise I was informed by one of the welcoming staff that we could dump our bags in our cabins whether they were ready or not! Brilliant. Even better, as we got to our cabin our steward was just finishing off and was gone within a minute.

So bags dropped off we headed straight to the MDR for lunch. We were the only ones in there for a while before a few other savvy, buffet-avoiding, cruisers turned up Excellent lunch.

The general points I have when comparing to previous cruises are..

Cabin was quite dated. It was also the least well soundproofed of any cabin we have ever had. It was, however, clean and big enough.

The entertainment was OK. Better than NCL but not as good as RCCI. None-the-less it was very enjoyable.

Activities on board were good and well-organised.

The numerous pools on board offered plenty of choice - I liked this. I'm not a pool user mut wife and daughter are and I often hang about with a beer while they swim. It was nice to be able to find some relatively quiet pools.

The food was good althought the menus were not particularly well thought out. Many nights the choces of starters seemed to consist of "seafood" or "soup" (there were several options but they fell in to one of these 2 categories)

The main course options also seemed to show plenty of repetition on some nights. That said, I only failed to find an acceptable starter on one night and never had cause to go over to the burger for a main course.

I was impressed that they took note of our wedding anniversary and fully embarassed me by singing to us in the MDR while presenting a small "cake".

The choice in Horizon Court was limited compard to the other ships we have been on although it should be noted that the Sapphire was the smallest ship we have sailed on.

International Cafe was very good and the coffee card was well worth the money.

Our bar bill was pretty low as we took on our own soda and bought a couple of half bottles of spirit for our room. Add in the bottles of wine we bought with us and we didn't need much more.

We all enjoyed the Sapphire and cruising with Princess. If the cabin had been quieter and the menus more varied I really wouldn't have been able to fault the cruise at all. Needless to say, Princess is definitely added to the list of cruise lines we would happily sail with again

The centre of Winchester is actually MORE historic than Salisbury, it was the capital of Wessex from around AD 500. Wessex, the southern part of modern-day England, was one of the several kingdoms that united to become the United Kingdom around AD 900.

Its cathedral dates from before the Norman Conquest (1066 and all that), much older than Salisbury's.

The historic centre, right by the cathedral, is little more than one street - very easy for a flying visit.

I prefer Salisbury because it's more laid-back and rurally -based. But Winchester is the more historic and iconic.

Your driver will probably drop you near King Alfred's statue and collect you from there at an agreed time - parking in the centre of Winchester is next-to-impossible.

 

JB :)

 

Ps to Simon. Yes, my apologies to Brooklands - the WORLD's first purpose-built motor-racing circuit.

Without wishing to become pedantic, the United Kingdom didn't come into being until 1801 following the Act of Union in 1800 when its full title was The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. I believe that you meant "that united to become The Kingdom of England around AD 900".

Don't wish to confuse our overseas visitors

Having sailed with Royal Caribbean a few times, we are used to wandering around (well, sitting in an eatery) with our hand luggage. Our cabins have never been ready before 2pm with RC and we are usually onboard by mid-day. So, if we can do the same with Princess, that will be good.

Thanks fairy. Maybe I'll try that.

Sorry, just one more question (for now!) on the soda front.

We have bought 2 packs of coke (10 cans per pack) and a six pack of cloudy lemonade (Its a UK thing I think. Lemonade in the UK is very different to Lemonade in the US). If I put these inside one of my checked suitcases would it create a problem (other than if one splits of course)? Just wondering whether Princess security would want to see the cases opened up so they can look at the cans?

The packs aren't really big enough to have their own label.

Thanks

Thanks Lynn. We always like to avoid the buffet restaurant on our boarding day as it can get a bit hectic up there. Glad we can arrive early. We will be staying at a local hotel friday night and I'd rather hang about on the ship than at a Premier Inn

We used them for a transfer from the port to Pisa. We will probably be using them for a transfer from Zeebrugge to Bruges on Sunday