tillybilly321

I'm not sure why you are changing from a saver fare to select, but just be aware that it is quite often the case that you will only be able to book a guarantee cabin if you choose the lowest grade even on a select fare, particularly if it is fairly close to the sailing date.

Personally I would stick with the saver fare and take my chances on an upgrade to a higher grade balcony. At the end of the day the worst you could end up with is an HF grade ! ;)

Theoretically those that booked a late saver fare would be at the back of the queue for upgrades. However as they have only booked a type of cabin not a particular grade, forward, aft, midships etc, they can be allocated any cabin of the type they have booked, which some might see as an upgrade. These are allocated about 2 weeks before departure so will literally be the leftover cabins.

Select fares rightly have first dibs on upgrades, but most who have booked a select fare have done so because they want a specific cabin and as such will have ticked the no upgrade box.

This leaves those that book an early saver fare. They can pick a grade within a cabin type and will be allocated this grade or above, so if you have booked a top grade inside cabin you could be moved to an outside cabin, but if you have booked the lowest grade inside cabin you are most likely to be allocated a higher grade inside cabin. Early savers are allocated about 4 weeks before departure so should get the remaining " better" cabins. The only difference I have noticed about allocation is that those booking 3 or 4 berth cabins are usually allocated much earlier and rarely changed.

We have an early saver booked for July and have not been allocated a cabin yet, but would not be be disappointed if we are given the lowest grade forward balcony as it will be exactly what we booked. We had the option to pay more for a higher grade midships balcony but we're not really bothered about the position of our cabin as long as we get a balcony . Unfortunately the only way to guarantee the type of cabin you really want, is to book it and not to hope the upgrade fairy visits. :)

I'm with you HomelessBear. We have only sailed Celebrity once, on the Solstice out of Fort Lauderdale. I did all my research and felt Celebrity was a good fit for us, and we were really looking forward to our cruise. Oh was I disappointed. It was definitely a case of style over substance. We won't sail Celebrity again.

We did a short cruise on Eclipse last year and would agree with you. Whilst it is a beautiful ship with very spacious cabins and fantastic public areas, the basics were not as appealing. The cabin staff gave me the impression they would rather not be there. The food in the MDR and buffet looked amazing but the quality was poor, plastic ham, chewy meat, rotten broccoli.

My daughter was not keen on the kids club either, but perhaps that is because she is so used to the P&O clubs.

Overall, very glitzy but " All fur coat and no knickers " as my late gran would say ;)

Well our e-tickets have been issued and check in time of 14:30, but still no departure or arrival times! Confirmed as Mayflower terminal though.

 

Most amazing thing is that we have been given an upgrade! Now A deck, midship, no change in cabin type, still a balcony but now category HA instead of HB.

Hi, I see you only have one port on your cruise which is Zebrugge. The usual arrival time is around 8am and departure at 5pm.

To be honest these are pretty much standard times for P&O. Ports which are a fair distance from the main attraction eg Rome have a slightly later departure time but in general the above times are usual for a days stay.

Does that mean that families do or do not go for a 17 day cruise whether they are in official school holidays or not> I take it that this is for 2016?

In answer to your question, yes families will do 17 night cruises. We certainly have. As someone else has mentioned, there is sometimes very little difference in price from a 14 night. There is also the fact that all cruises to the Greek islands which are non flying are 17 nights, so if that's a destination you want to go then 17 nights it is !

Any family ship is going to have a great number of children aboard during the holidays as the majority of parents are abiding by the new rules regarding time off during term time.

I would agree with the above posts that the kids clubs are fantastic. However if you have children who don't like the organised clubs, then I feel there is very little else to do on most P&O ships. There are very few " family friendly " activities onboard, apart from the swimming pools, and these are very deep in most cases.

I haven't travelled on Brittania so don't know if there are more kid orientated things to do, but there certainly aren't the water slides, climbing walls, ice rinks etc like other child friendly lines.

I'm not trying to put the OP off but just making clear that the clubs are the main form of entertainment for children on P&O.

Disappointed tbh - there are no family friendly cruises sailing from Southampton for Easter Holidays. Only fly cruises - one of the reasons I cruise is because I don't like flying, So not much good for us I'm afraid.

 

Don't want to take our daughter out of school and we cannot take time off in Summer holidays.

 

Not sure what we are going to do tbh as most other cruise lines don't seem to sail from the UK that early in the year.

 

Fed up - any suggestions would be welcome

 

Sue

I have just had a quick look and found 7 nights Iberia on Ventura, 14 night Med on Azura and 12 nights Canaries on Brittania. These all leave on the 2nd April next year. As Easter is so late next year, it would seem that the majority of schools will be taking the 2 weeks before Easter with the children returning on the Tuesday after Easter Monday. This is certainly the case with my children's school, the dates I have are; break up Fri 31st March, back to school on Tuesday 17th April.

I know that school holidays vary across the country, but I guess the cruise companies have to go with the majority.

Thanks for your feedback, but I am only going off the information provided by P&O veterans on here and the P&O website which states that after 6pm on Azura:

 

"The dress code applies to a majority of public areas after 6pm and helps to set the ambience of the evening

 

Azura

Blue Bar, Planet Bar, Meridian, Peninsular, Oriental, Sindhu, The Glass House and The Epicurean restaurants.

 

Should you wish to dress more casually in the evening, then you will be able to dine in any of the restaurants stated below

 

Azura

Verona, Venezia"

 

So if I look at the venues on Azura, this leaves me with Brodies Pub in addition to Verona and Venezia mentioned on the web site.:confused:

That really does surprise me. I have travelled on both and never noticed they had different codes. Though hubby was once thrown out of the serving area of the buffet on Azura for wearing shorts at 6.15. Apparently they couldn't be worn after 6pm. We were told that he could sit in the buffet but not go to the counter. I had to collect the items we wanted. Guess what I was wearing ? Shorts ! :confused:

Perhaps it is a fairly new thing as I'm sure the Glasshouse was not included in the areas with a dress code. The Verona buffet turns into the Beach House restaurant in the evening which I can thoroughly recommend.

I have been advised in very strong terms unfortunately that this is the case, even on a 2 night sailing I would be denied access to the MDR and all bars after 6pm (unless dressed according to the formal dress code), with the exception of the pub and so would have to eat in the buffet.

 

Therefore, we have to ensure we are carrying a tux (and all that goes with it) for a 2 night cruise. This has now meant we have to pay for checked baggage on a flight from Manchester to Southampton!

 

According to P&O FAQ's there will be normally be 2 Black Tie events on a 7 night sailing. There is a link where you can check the dress code for your specific sailing.

 

https://ask.pocruises.com/help/PO/life-on-board/dress_code_all

I'm sorry but I think you have been seriously misinformed with regard to the black tie evenings. The dress code only applies in the MDR , the couple of pricier restaurants and the bars in the atrium area. There is no code for anywhere else on the ship including the Glasshouse. I have never found myself restricted if I decide I don't fancy a formal evening.

Funnily enough the short 2-3 night cruises seem to have a huge take up of black tie, due in the main, to large amount of family occasion groups on board. There are usually lots of people celebrating birthdays, anniversary's, stag & hen do's etc.

Firstly my apologies to Tom the OP. I should take more notice of the icons at the end of his comments ! My excuse is that they are very small on my tablet.

I personally think school holidays will have to have a radical overhaul over the next few years if these silly rules and regulations continue. The timing and duration of the holidays have not changed in decades whereas people's working hours and jobs have. Gone are the days of factories closing for the same 2 weeks in the summer, shops staying closed on bank holidays and the traditional Mon- Fri 9 to 5 working week. We live and work a 24-7 life now. Added to this is the fact that most women also now work, trying to coordinate annual leave with both your partner and the school is sometimes almost impossible.

I'm really not sure what the answer would be, but the old system of having 10 discretionary days to play with, was a help. This didn't mean that parents would take all these days, just that there was an option to start or end a holiday a few days later or earlier. A particular bonus when you look at a week's half term holiday which you find leaves on a Friday or Monday !

Sadly I can't see any changes happening soon, and even if they did, I'm sure the holiday companies would just extend their peak seasons :mad:

Schools have many different holiday dates and probably more change to come once the academies are in place. Goveners could vote to scrap the traditional holidays altogether and have something different.

 

While I agree with TEL that it is a matter for parents to know when the holidays in their area are, P&O are perhaps sailing (parden the pun) close to the wind in terms of advertising standards unless there is small print somewhere that indicates it is school holidays say in Southampton. When you are aiming at a UK wide market it is perhaps a little unwise.

 

Do they actually impose fines?

In P&O's defence, they do actually have a disclaimer on both their website and brochures stating that school holidays vary from region to region. As another poster has stated Scottish children have much earlier holidays, they return to school in August and I believe that Northern Irish schools have extremely long summer breaks.

Easter is always a problematic holiday as the dates vary from year to year, meaning schools have to decide whether to include it in the end of term break or just treat it as an additional bank holiday weekend.

Schools have much more control over term dates now and there are certainly no " standard " holiday dates. My own 2 children attend the same academy, one in Primary, the other in Secondary, and whilst the holidays are broadly the same, teacher training days are not. This meant that my son finished for the summer last year almost a week before his sister.

I certainly wouldn't book any holiday without checking with my children's holiday list and to threaten to remove tips due to a mistake made by the OP himself is a little silly.

As the others above have said, you will be charged for an upgrade at the same price it would have been when you made your original booking. As your cruise is a school holidays one, there may be little chance of many spare cabins being available when you board. Many of those who chose to " jump ship " on the Ant & Dec cruise would have swapped to this one due to it being the same date.

They must all be gutted; we were considering this cruise - so much so we have booked the same 4 night break for next year just to be in Amsterdam overnight New Years Eve. Truly hope P&0 COME UP WITH A GOOD VALID REASON FOR NOT BERTHING AND NOT JUST THE OLD FOB OFF.!!! The New Years eve short cruise is always sold at over inflated prices as it is a New Year break ! They mustn't be allowed to get away with lame excuses for this. If the winds were so bad how come Q Victoria got in. They really must check their fob stories when another ship of the Carnival UK group does manage to get in !

 

Also why didn't she take a local pilot with her from Previous Port of Zebrugge - Sorry but something just doesn't seem right here ----- Again

Unfortunately missed ports due to bad weather are pretty common at this time of year, particularly in the English channel and North sea. If you book a cruise in this area between October and perhaps March, then you have to accept that you may NOT visit the ports on the itinery. In fact it has been known to spend the whole trip at sea as it has not been safe to dock anywhere !

I'm not sure if you are aware that the port of Amsterdam is somewhat inland and can only be accessed via a canal which starts with a very narrow lock system. I was lucky enough to have a day time sailing into Amsterdam earlier this year, and can fully understand why the Captain would not risk entering the lock in high winds. With minimum room to manoeuvre, it would be a very risky task.

I also fail to see how taking a pilot from Zebrugge would have helped at all. Pilots specialise in their own port and are experts in the vicinity of their port only. Even pilots have to give greatest thoughts to the prevailing weather conditions.

Hi, we have not cruised on P & O this year with the kids, but certainly last year and in previous years they have had a peninsular gift. As the op has said these are usually P&O sweatshirts.

Normally an invitation will appear in the cabin at some point of the holiday for the children to visit the cruise sales desk to collect their gift. Mind you, they are not always accurate with the invites as last year my daughter had one and my son didn't ! Easily sorted when we got to the sales dek though. We have only done longer cruises, 10 nights + so I'm not sure if the gifts are given on a shorter cruise.

Hi, sorry can't help with the nursery situation, but I think your girls would be too old for the night nursery anyway. My kids are older so not used it for quite a while. If I were you I would make sure you go to the kids club meeting which is usually late afternoon on embarkation day.

The clubs are fantastic and well worth signing up for, even if you only intend to use them on an " as and when " basis. You will have an information pack about the clubs in your cabin when you board.

Juice is only provided free of charge at breakfast time, all drinks have to be paid for after then. I usually pack a small bottle of squash and a couple of sports bottles for drinks in the cabin, handy for going ashore too :) Don't forget the kids tea provided in the buffet between 5 & 6p.m. This is ideal if your girls can't wait for dinner or you & your partner fancy a meal on your own.

If your girls are anything like my kids, you will have to drag them away from the club just so you can spend some time with them. I pretty much have to book an appointment with my 12 year old when we are onboard !!;)

Hi, Just wondered if any of you kind people could confirm the number of beds in this cabin please. Booked a guarantee and have been allocated it, but according to the deck plans that I can find, this is a 3 berth cabin and we have booked as a group of 4 !

I know that the ship is in for a refit and wondered if they were adding additional beds to some cabins ?

Many thanks for any replies

Tilly

Hi - last time we were onboard we enquired about the 9-12 age group and whether they had to be signed in and out of the kids club or not. We were told that at that time (last May) kids in that age group could sign themselves in and out. However - P and O would be changing that policy for this year and there would be new security measures in place which would change the signing in and out process. They did say that kids in the 9-12 age group would no longer be allowed to sign themselves in and out. Something I am very pleased about as I felt my daughter who has only just turned 9 would be too young to sign herself in and out.

 

Anyway - we are onboard soon - so we will soon find out what changes have been made.

 

Sue

They did indeed change the policy for 9-12's at the beginning of last years summer holidays. They now have the same restrictions as the lower age group. This means that a parent must go with them to sign them in the club and also go back to collect them at any time they need to leave. At the initial sign up, all adults who may collect the kids had a sticker placed on their cruise card. If you didn't have a sticker then you couldn't collect any child.

This did put a bit of a damper on our sons holiday as he used to take himself off to get a drink or a pizza if he did not fancy the activity planned. It also meant we were clock watching a lot, as we had to go and sign him out on occasions when he would have normally done it himself.

We found it also led to huge queues of parents all trying to pick their kids up at the same time. This was partly caused by the fact that you had to wait for a member of staff to check your signature against your cruise card. As ours was one of the first cruises to implement these changes I'm hoping that the problems have been ironed out now as it certainly seemed pretty complex at the the time ! More so than the 5-8 club which our daughter was in.

I can understand that 9-12 is a difficult age but I much preferred it when the parents judged whether their child was mature enough to be allowed the freedom to come and go. My son is reluctant to go to the clubs this year, as he feels like they are treating him like a baby. As he is heading towards his second year at secondary school and manages to make his own way there and back, I tend to agree with him. Perhaps P&O need to rethink the age grouping more in relation to the school stage they are in.

Just go to reception and ask for an extra key card for whichever ever cabin you need one for. This will just be a plain card, not an additional cruise card. I did this last month as I got fed up of trying to get into my husband and sons cabin whilst they sat on the balcony oblivious to me banging on the door :rolleyes:

I was told to take good care of it, as they would not be able to disable it if I lost it, unlike they could with my cruise card.

I actually wrote to David Dingle about children under 16 being allowed to share a cabin, I was advised it was not permitted and the booking system wouldn't allow it..I did a dummy booking and it let me and I know of many people bragging on Facebook pages about their children being in separate cabins, sometimes on a different deck, I am appalled, I actually think it's against the law it's no different from leaving your children home alone and going out for an evening.

 

I intend going back to David Dingle on this..it's just wrong in so many ways...say there was a costa Concordia sort of disaster and children were on a different deck etc? It doesn't bear thinking about.

With respect, I am puzzled as to why you are so concerned about a matter that obviously has no relevance to yourself, that you would contact David Dingle about it ?

It is fairly common practice amongst cruisers I have met, to book a couple of cabins to accommodate themselves and their children. Usually these are opposite or adjacent to each other but I really cannot see a problem with this, particularly with teenage children. 4 berth cabins can be exceptionally cramped with 2 adults and 2 teenagers who are most likely bigger than their parents ! The pricing system also does not help when it is sometimes to cheaper to book an inside and a balcony than to pay for 4 people to share one 4 berth balcony. This was certainly the case on our trip last month.

I will make it clear that at 7 & 11, my children are too young to have a cabin to themselves, and, as they fight like cat & dog, they probably never will :eek:. But I fully respect a parents / grandparents decision that their OWN child is perfectly sensible, capable and mature enough to spend a few hours asleep in a cabin without a major disaster occurring !!!!

I have to agree with Jeanlyon that at 12 & 14 the OP's granddaughters are not what I would class as " children" and would be OK to share. I really think that some adults don't have much contact with todays teenagers and perhaps underestimate how mature some of them are, particularly girls.

Hi, sorry if I have not read your post properly, are you trying to say that you need two three berth cabins to accommodate your party, but you have only been allocated 2 berths ? If this is the case then I would certainly point it out to P&O or a couple of you could be sleeping on the prom deck !!!!!

Hi I'm sure you will really enjoy your holiday on Azura.

The only place I have ever smelt smoke inside, was in the corridors which the lido deck cabins were on. I think this was more due to the " vacuum effect " when the outside doors open. I certainly don't think it would have any impact on the inside of any cabin. As another poster has stated, it would be extremely unlikely to be able to change cabins but you shouldn't need to.

The kids clubs are fantastic and you will be able to take your little girl to play in the dedicated toddler area.

My children are 7 & 11 now but we have cruised since the first one was 3 so remember the baby days well ;)

The staff in the night nursery must see 1000's of babies / toddlers who all have different ways of going off to sleep. If you explain to the member of staff on duty your toddlers sleeping habits, then they will quite happily give her time to settle. If on the other hand you would prefer to be paged straight away then they will also do this. It is entirely your choice.

The spaces in the night nursery are fairly limited but it obviously depends on what time of year you are booked. There are always far more children and babies on board during school holidays so it might be more difficult to get a place during these times.

A few other tips.

1. Take a few washing powder tablets. There are laundrettes on most decks and with a little one you may need it !!

2. Take a good supply of wipes & nappies. I think they can be bought on board but are quite pricey. It is possible to buy them ashore if you should need to.

3.The buffet has a kids tea at 5pm every day. This is great as it has such a good choice of bits and bobs that even the fussiest eater will find something !

4. Your cabin steward will be only to happy to help with any requests for milk etc you may need.

5. Take a set of reins. They are handy for wandering around the ship safely and ideal ashore to stop any dashes for freedom !! My little girl had a little pink rucksack with a rein attached which she thought was wonderful as she could put her drink & snack in it.

6. Get used to all the attention that your little girl will receive. Most of the staff adore the children, many will not have seen their own children for many months. She will be made a fuss of but will probably love all the attention :D

I'm sure you will get lots more help from other members.

Just gutted we haven't been able to book ourselves a cruise this year !!! Going through the advice has made me want to pack my own suitcase !! :D

To be honest I'm not surprised they are struggling to sell the Ventura Med cruises. There was very little, if any, incentive to book early on these cruises. After thoroughly enjoying our Ventura cruise last summer, we thought we would look at booking again for this year. What a shock we got ! the price for the cabin had increased by a couple of hundred pounds pp. There were minimal childrens, 3rd / 4th person discounts, and then to cap it all off, they wanted another £300 per person for flights ! An extra £1200 for us :eek:

The flight charge did surprise me, as all the Caribbean and World sectors are flight inclusive. I notice now though, that Med fly cruises have been reduced substantially and flights are now included in the price. Had P&O done this last summer / Autumn when most people are looking at booking their next summer holiday, then perhaps they wouldn't be struggling to fill the ship now. I'm sure that there were many people that took one look and booked elsewhere. Lets face it if you are happy to fly to embark on a cruise there is a huge amount of choice out there.

It may be OK for them to charge a premium fare on Southampton sailings as there is a limited choice of cruise lines, but when it comes to Med sailings I certainly wouldn't pay several £1000's of pounds extra purely for the P&O brand.

I don't know if those who paid extra for their flights have been reimbursed in anyway, as they are now included ? But I'm certainly glad I didn't take the plunge :(

I would never put "Arcadia" and "party ship" in the same sentence :)

We did a 4 night cruise on her last year, and to be honest the only people looking like they were having a good time were the members of the crew getting off the ship for our evening in Amsterdam !

I'm no party animal, but was rather surprised at how few younger passengers were on board considering it was a 4 night cruise taking in Bruges and Amsterdam.

We found the ship a little dismal too. She had a lovely prom and aft deck but no atrium, and all the venues were tiny places off of long corridors. Even the shops were on a corridor, which caused major congestion every time they opened. This lack of any large communal area seemed to give the ship no heart, or meeting hub. All the passengers seemed to be tucked into their own little "cubby hole".

It is, of course, each to their own and purely dependent on what type of cruise you are after, but I would not book Arcadia again unless the itinerary was something I desperately wanted to do. This cruise was the first out the 7 or so we have done on 5 different ships, that I came home feeling that I wish I had not bothered. Loved Bruges and Amsterdam so it wasn't the destinations which put me off. It could be that we usually cruise on Ventura or Azura which are livelier ships but there just seemed to be something missing on Arcadia. There just didn't seem to be any " atmosphere " on board.

Personally I think it looks pretty good to me. Fresh, and dare I say it, "modern" !!!

Unless you are a particular P&O fan, the yellow funnel would mean very little. All P&O are doing is reinforcing the brand. P&O ships attract mainly British passengers, use British currency, with British customs such as dressing for dinner, afternoon tea, fish & chips etc. What better way to promote the " Britishness " of the brand but to stick a huge union flag on it ?

Other lines are starting to make their brand more identifiable, so P&O will have to keep up. It is all very well saying "if it ain't broke don't fix it" but it is not good business sense to ignore your competitors, and, as we are all aware, there is plenty of competition out there !

Cunard should be safe, as the ships already have a very strong branded look. However, to the untrained eye, one big white ship looks very much like another, hence the move move by P&O to try and stand out.

To be totally honest I'm sure that there wouldn't be any P&O cruise fan out there, who would stop sailing with them just because they didn't like the picture on the side :confused: The facilities & standards on board, are the only thing I would be bothered about !

I checked out the dress code for my recent cruise and made a list of the clothes I was going to wear and stuck to it but unfortunately they swapped the black/white night round and I hadn't read the horizon so I turned up in a coloured dress on black and white night. I wondered why people were looking at me. So a word of warning and check the horizon for the dress code of the day incase it has been swapped around.

The dress code guides seem to be pretty flexible at times. Did a 4 nighter on Arcadia recently, guide said that the 2nd night would be a formal night but, as is turned out, we didn't have it until the final evening. I was quite surprised as I have never known a formal on the last night before. It was a bit of a pain regarding packing and the knowledge that we had to be up early to disembark the next morning. If I considered formal night to be an important part of my cruise I would have been pretty cross ! Luckily I'm not that bothered either way but there were a few who were a little peeved.