crusingdan

1 hour ago, Jonesthecat said:

This is so helpful, thank you ever so much for posting it. I'm going on my first cruise on the 16th April, on the Iona, and I have no idea what to expect. So this is really good to be able to read.  Disappointing to read how early the restaurants stop for breakfast as I had hoped to get the gym in before hand.

 

Can I ask you a question Damian, we are thinking of the drinks package and use the on board spend towards it, but I saw somewhere something about a 15 drinks per day limit-is this true and if so is that all drinks (e.g. a combination of hot, soft drinks and alcohol? if so its seems really poor value?) Many thanks. 

There is a 15 drink limit per day but this is on alcoholic drinks only.

So you can have essentially an unlimited amount of soft or hot drinks a day and this does not count towards the limit.

There’s more details and the Ts and Cs on the P&O website - https://www.pocruises.com/onboard-activities/bars-and-lounges/ultimate-drinks-package

We’re on Britannia now and we changed a show from a late show to the middle (8:30pm) show with no problems through the onboard website. It was extremely busy when we went but no problems getting space on the onboard ‘app’.

We did have a problem where we couldn’t book in at Limelight through the ‘app’ as it appeared sold out for a table of 2 but you could book tables of 3 or 4. We went down one night when they opened and they booked us in for the following night.

26 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Now that is interesting, after having our last cruise on Britannia cancelled because our accessible cabin had been placed in a new quarantine area, I had asked  executive correspondence to confirm that our 4 future cruises would not suffer the same fate, and they confirmed this was the case.  Now I find that cabin 12623 on Iona, one of the four, is currently in a quarantine zone.

However the launderettes all seem to be situated just forward of the mid ship lift foyer, so should not be affected by the cabin closures, unless the deck plans are wrong.

We’re on Britannia, not Iona.

Not sure what the situation is on Iona.

Things may change as always as well.

28 minutes ago, Mrk2868 said:

That is really bad as it means the only stairs one can use will be right at the Bow of the ship and it will make the situation with the midships lifts being overcrowded even worse.  Never mind no laundrettes!  Plus no easy access to the Oriental MDR.

Sorry if I’ve confused you, the aft stairwells and lifts are open and the cabins right at the aft are accessible, it’s just the corridors from cabins 601-631 that are closed on each deck, which is also where the laundrettes are.

The Oriental restaurant is currently not in use. I read on another thread that this is being used for crew as an additional restaurant for social distancing.

2 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Surely not all the launderettes are in quarantine zones?

So I’ve checked every cabin deck and that corridor is closed on all of them. 

You can kind of see the doors that are closed on the deck plans, it’s all cabins in mid-aft up to the aft stairs that are closed off. Cabins 601-631 on all decks.

13 minutes ago, Baggy178 said:

Did you try the Adnams or Batemans and was it in good nick ?

 

Unfortunately not much of a beer drinker really, had a few coronas today but that’s as far as my beer experience goes to!

17 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

There is thread on here that gave aworkround to make iCloud emails work, maybe someone knows where it is?

Thanks terrierjohn, just found it on page 3, it appears if you access the website - www.iCloud.com/mail then it works.

Just caught up on my 5 emails that were in there!

10 minutes ago, silkworms said:

We are also on board, enjoyed the Limelight last night and have booked again for next week Toyah Wilcox.

 

The Buffet is now self serve again. The Epicurian is as good as ever.

Just back from the Baltic lunch, no officers on tables, Captain made

a welcome back speech.  Food OK.

 

Worst thing for me (thank goodness I made a note from Bestguessed)

the wifi system will not recognise iCloud.  So no emails sent or received.

This is our first time on Britannia, has it always been like this.? Anyhow,

big disappointment and have actually written to IT manager on board to

complain.

 

Terri

Yeah my emails through iCloud are not working either until we’re on 4G in port.

My partner has Hotmail and that’s working fine.

29 minutes ago, Baggy178 said:

The missus is keen to know this too.

But my query is altogether more important - do you know what beers are on draught in Brodie's Bar ?🤪

So after a trip to Brodie’s for research purposes of course they have Stella, Peroni, John Smith’s and Fosters. Also Adnam’s Ghost Ship and Batemans.

2 hours ago, Mrk2868 said:

Change of subject.  Are the laundrettes open on Britannia?  Is washing powder provided?

We went on a search today, however it appears the laundrettes are in the isolation corridors on the decks, so I don’t think they are.

We do need to do some laundry at some point so when we find out for certain I’ll report back.

10 minutes ago, Malcolm142 said:

Entertainment can only pre booked less than 15 days from departure date not 28

Sorry that is right, my mistake

4 hours ago, Shipsareus said:

Thanks for response re dining and room service.

 

Do you have to book all entertainment on the app? Theatre, Limelight club etc? 

Entertainment can be booked 28 days before the cruise through My Planner on the P&O website.

Speciality dining is through the MyHoliday website onboard. Also for main dining room you join a virtual queue through MyHoliday or you can go to the restaurant and get a buzzer. The only times you can book a table are between 6-6:15pm.
 

There’s a traffic light system where they say 6-7pm they’ll aim to seat you within 30 minutes, 7-8pm is within 60 minutes and 8-9:30pm within 90 minutes.

The longest we’ve waited was about 45 minutes for a table of 2 and we joined the virtual queue around 6:45/7pm ish.

They operate virtual queue for the Glass House at all times but I’ve never seen more than ‘2 guests waiting’ on the website and also it’s in place for the Peninsular dining room at lunch.

3 hours ago, Shipsareus said:

Hi there

others have reported that there is now a £2-50 charge for breakfast delivered by room service, although I can’t see that change on the website. Is that the case now?

Does the buffet flow well now that it is all served by crew?

Hope you are having a great time.

So from how I read the menu through the MyHoliday website onboard it does appear that there is a £2.50 on all room service. So both free breakfast items and anything else throughout the day and evening. I might be wrong but it does read that way. I’ve attached screenshots.

In terms of the buffet, it is back to serve yourself which was different as we did MSC Virtuosa on 20th May and Regal Princess on 28th August which were crew serving you. But it works well and when we’ve been there’s plenty of seats available and not many queues. Although we’ve stuck to the main dining room for lunch and dinner.

Went to Limelight last night, Gareth Gates is on in there until Thursday and Toyah Willcox for the remainder of the cruise.

Gareth said he was on for the next two weeks so I guess he may be on in the Limelight again for the first week of the next cruise on 22nd October.

13 minutes ago, kevboy said:

what are the practicalities of taking LFT prior to getting off for the day ? when and how are they done? is there a great queue? does it spoil any aspect of your cruise?

We don’t have to for any of the Spanish ports or Toulon as far as I’m aware.

Given that Gibraltar is only a half day stop in the morning and we’ve been before we’re going to stay onboard so we won’t know about LFTs or how they’re done. The only thing I can say is that in the Horizon daily planner anyone who wants to go ashore in Gibraltar needs to let Guest Services know by tomorrow and then details of how, when and where the LFTs are taking place will be notified to those guests. It has to be done within 72 hours prior to arrival in Gibraltar so will be taking place between Saturday and Monday I guess.

9 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Thanks, I'll take you up on your offer.

Are you still scheduled to visit Italy ?

Have you been advised of the need to complete documentation (eg Passenger Location forms) for any of the ports ? 

So we received notification on Friday (8th) that there was an itinerary change and Livorno was cancelled. We are at sea that day now and they’ve added Alicante in the day after.

No PLF or equivalent for any foreign ports although you do need to take a lateral flow test for £18pp onboard to be able to get off in Gibraltar. That’s for both organised excursions or getting off independently.

We’re on Britannia now for the second international cruise.

Ask me anything you want to know.

I had this and thought it was a glitch on P&O website cause it was declined when trying to book our drinks packages as well.

However I called my bank and initially they couldn’t see anything but put me through to Fraud Team who I guess have more access and they said ‘oh yeah it’s flagged up for security as it’s come through as Carnival and the pre authorisation is in USD’.

They cleared it straight away and she stayed on the phone whilst I tried it again and it went straight through.

I would contact your card issuer and double check it again as the ‘front line’ staff couldn’t see anything initially, it was only when I was put through to the fraud team that they could see it had been declined a few times and that it was flagged.

On the Loyal To You website, which is the American Travel Agents website for Royal Caribbean it says:

"Beginning March 3, 2016, Crown & Anchor® Society members enjoy early booking for 2017/2018 Europe Season. General booking begins March 4, 2016. Stay tuned for itinerary information."

So it looks like C&A will be able to book tomorrow and then general sale on Thursday. Bit disappointed with just the two ships from the UK next year. However Oasis 4 is due out of the shipyard in 2018 and then Quantum 4 and 5 due out 2019 and 2020 respectively so I can see a European homeport for these ships for at least their opening season.