tassietravellers

Yes, we've done it twice. No problems.

I'm interested too, was that in your luggage or carry-on?

Thank you :-)

Hi David,

Can you please add us to the list too.

28th May 2018 - P&O Arcadia - 17 night Spain, Italy & Monaco from Southampton

Thank You :hearteyes::-)

We have flown Emirates economy often to Europe from Australia, never had a problem at all. The entertainment is good, as I dont sleep theres hundreds of movies to keep me entertained.

The crew like to sleep or rest too, so late at night we've found that if you order an alcoholic drink , you'll receive a couple, which is ok with me :-)

P&O Australia are a separate division to P&O UK after spliting years ago, but are able to book on UK ships I think.

 

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well our TA booked through them, so must be possible in Australia

Because P&O is basically just aimed at the UK cruiser, whereas the others are aimed at worldwide cruisers so their sites are setup to accept bookings from all over the world.

 

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We booked with our TA through P &O Australia

Great photos thanks for posting, we will be there for the first time in early June. So many lovely places to see. Hope we get good weather too, we plan on just walking the city and taking it all in! :-)

I live half way between London and Southampton and along the train route. Having commuted to London on a regular basis, I am very familiar with the trains on this route peak and off peak.

 

The trains are not designed to hold luggage. So even a couple of suitcases and some hand luggage can be a pain as there isn't storage space. Disruptions are frequent which cause trains to get very busy even off peak.

 

You may get lucky and enjoy a comfortable journey but chances are you will end up on a crowded train. So for me, coach is a more comfortable way to travel. Not sure why others on this thread think train is somehow better or more convenient.

Thank you, not having storage for luggage was a concern for us as well.

Plus the large price difference we are definitely leaning towards a coach

If you have a look on trainline they have tickets from London-Southampton from as little as £9pp eachway on most dates in May the journey is less than an hour and a half and I find the experience a damn site more civilised than some of the coach journies I have encountered, it may be worth a look.

Thanks for that, checked and cheapest the day we want is 71 pound for 2, the booking fee is only 75p though :-)

I've booked two return tickets on National Express Coach for next month from Heathrow for £57 for both of us. I find it easier than trains where you have to watch your luggage all the time and as previous posters have said chances of a strike or maintenance on the line.

Thank you, I've just checked for the date we want and its only 17.40 pounds for 2 tickets one way, it would have been about 40 pounds each one way on the train. I'll book tonight.

Hi again, I see you replaced your Adonia one with Arcadia, nice ship been on her 3 times. We replaced ours with Princess ones. You enjoy it and take your Hawaiian shirt for tropical night.:*

thanks Les you too, its still our first P&O and really looking forward to it, no overnights, but great ports anyway.

I've been on quite a few P&O cruises, and usually it's just a smattering of folk who dress up. I have a Caribbean kaftan, and OH has a cheap tropical shirt, but we're some of the few... it really doesn't matter that much.

Thanks good to know, I have a couple of leis, might just toss them in, alot less weight than taking extra clothes :-)

I seem to remember that they hand out leis on the tropical nights....not sure if they still do but as Florry said not many people bother

Thanks, one less thing to worry about :-)

In my experience very few people bother with the other themed nights. You get a few tropical shirts dotted about and some groups do dress up, but I’d utilise the packing space for something else if I was you!

 

 

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Thanks, that's actually what I was hoping to hear, I didn't really want to waste space on something I would be wearing once :-)

Hi all

Formal and black and white nights I can work out, but what do you wear for tropical and 60/70's nights.

Would love to see some photos if anyone would like to share, males and females.

We're coming from Australia, with only one case each and limited allowance, plus being away from home for 8 weeks we'll need extra clothing anyway...ohh dear, its a dilemma!! :-)

thanks for any help that you can give this bewildered Aussie :eek::eek:

In September of last year we stayed several days near Victoria Station (within walking distance of the bus station). I purchased bus ticket to South Hampton about 2-3 months prior to my trip costing less than $7 USD/pp. it was a very pleasant ride with only one stop that allowed a few passengers to get off. After arriving at the bus station in SH, we walked across street to large grocery store to purchase our wine. Walked Back across street to bus station and Cabs were available to take us to ship. I think the cab fee was about 7 pounds. I would definitely take the bus again. So easy and so inexpensive. On a side note victoria Train station is about 3 or 4 blocks from Victoria Bus Station. Hope this helps. Enjoy your trip!

Thanks so much, very helpful. I will check back with the bus and train sites in a couple of months, sounds very doable :-)

The world does not revolve around you,who else is gonna care?

Sorry but I think this is really rude!! As my mother taught me, 'if you cant say anything nice don't say anything at all' !!

We are coming from Australia and I will be wearing a lot of my clothes especially evening wear a few times each, as with very limited luggage I wont have the room for too much.

Until recently, there were few reduced fares on the fast trains (1 1/4 hours) between London Waterloo and Southampton. The new operator, South Western Railway, has more deals than the previous operator. I checked a day at random and there were trains with standard fares of £11.60 and first class was only £19.10.

 

A cheaper alternative is to take Southern Railway from London Victoria. There is hourly service of a through train and fares as low as £5 are not hard to find. The downside is the trains are local (about 15 stops) and take well over two hours. Luggage space is even harder to find than on South Western.

Thanks for the information :)

I would urge caution about using rail if you have a lot of luggage. The trains to Southampton are designed as commuter trains with very limited storage capacity for cases ie there is no dedicated luggage areas at the end of the carriages. Think less overhead space than on a plane. You could put them on spare seats and hope the train doesn't get busy which should be ok unless travelling in peak rush hour. Just a thought

Thanks, we'll only have one case each, coming from Australia we don't have the luxury of being able to bring a lot of luggage :cool:. We definitely wont be travelling in peak times, so hopefully we'll be ok, but we'll look at the coach options too, this may work out better for us

If you have a look at times and prices via Trainline, there should be a link you can sign up to which will email you when the advance fares are available. You might have to do a dummy booking to get it though!

Thanks, good advice, I've just done that now :D

There is also significant engineering works taking place at the weekend resulting in a bus replacement service for part of the journey.

Thanks, hopefully that will all be finished by May :-)

Hi....I always prefer train travel and as ann141 said Advance ticket pricing becomes available 12 weeks before. The only point that would concern me is that there seems to be a lot of rail disruption at the moment....we have had 3 days of strikes this week ...so at this moment I would lean towards National Express for reliability.

Thanks, I always like going by train, as its something that I don't have at home here, but might be a bit of a worry if there's strikes. :-)

Advance train tickets only become available 12 weeks before departure date and generally depart from London Waterloo or Victoria.Its usually cheaper to travel after 9 30am. It can be cheaper getting the coach (National Express) but we managed to get advance singles from London to Southampton for £5 each for our forthcoming cruise (though that was with a railcard so add on a third without)

Thanks so much, so I need to check back again at the end of February, but I'll check the coach at that time too :-)

We have 2 nights booked at the Holiday Inn in Southampton prior to our cruise in May, so arrival times aren't an issue, but just wondering what would be the best way of getting to Southampton. I had a look online at trains for the day we're travelling and its 71 pounds for the 2 tickets, this is 4 months in advance, seems quite expensive for like a 90min trip. Do the prices go up a lot closer to the time? Is it easier and a lot cheaper getting a coach, we're staying in Paddington, so presume we'd just have to get to Victoria. thanks for any help :)

My agent contacted me today by E Mail, P&O are forwarding a letter soon, with my options. No options as far as I am concerned, I just want my deposit refund.:evilsmile:

 

As for gadabout60's post, agent/pax to cancel, don't do it or you will probably be hit with a cancellation fee. In this instance it is the responsibility of the carrier P&O to cancel the booking without penalty. That is the way I see it anyway.:rolleyes: I mean, no ship - no cruise !!!

We actually received an email from P&O today...... it took them long enough, they refer to a letter they sent me , not received. A$250 (approx 150 pounds) each future cruise credit, if we dont book another cruise by 27th October our deposit will be credited back to us.

We still havent made definite plans yet, but its looking like Arcadia J805, so we'll use the credit, theres just not any others that fit in our time frame