sammybonny

I have never heard anything like this before. I would have expected Princess to organise an alternative arrangement for the passengers involved or at least said they would cover costs.

If a on a flight, and the plane couldnt land at an airport because of weather and was diverted to another airport the airline would make arrangements to take you to your expected airport. It may involve a coach transfer or posssibly hotel stay. They wouldnt charge you for it.

I think next year Le Havre is an option for embarkation on the British Isles cruises, maybe not a good idea.[emoji848]

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If you press and hold your required floor, whilst holding the close door button (not keep open door button) until the lift doors close and the lift moves. Then you will go directly to that floor without stopping at any other floors, whether they have been requested on that floor or even been pressed by the people inside the lift.

This is a trick used by the emergency service people and I get a lift to myself or to my floor very quickly.

Maybe it would appear to work sometimes, but it was just that no one had pressed the call button so the lift didnt stop and went straight to the floor wanted.

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Thank you for your answer :):):)

We only have VISA-card which is a debet card and I believe it then is the same condition as a Maestro card and then we will end up getting a refund in EURO which is what we would like to avoid.

The cruiseline will do a pre-authorisation for a set amount then at the end of the cruise that will be cancelled and the full amount of the bill is charged.

As previously said it can take quite a while for the pre-authorisation to be cleared from your card account and can reduce your available credit until then.

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We find that booking with the specialist cruise agents are the cheapest option, we usually get about a 5% discount and they will usually beat any other quotes you get. They sometimes give you free extras like parking or internet.

We dont stick to any one in particular but shop around, they all seem to give a similar service. We have 3 cruises booked all with different travel agents.

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Those days are long gone. Now we too have to queue up to be abused and mistreated even when returning to our own country.

It seems to be the same at all airports in every country we visit![emoji51]

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Depart 08.45. Return 16.00. We have been sent these timings by P&O.

 

 

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There are several flights at different times either on TUI or Thomas Cook so will vary but the latest we have had was 11.30am.

We have paid the upcharge to fly in Premium on our flight from Manchester to Barbados. Our travel agent tells me that we will have to pay another £100 to choose seats on top of the £800 ish we have paid. Can anyone confirm this? TA says it’s the only way to guarantee we will be sitting together. Considering the amount we are paying for the cruise another £100 is not major but it seems the airline is squeezing every last penny out of P&O cruisers.

 

 

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I dont think it is the airline squeezing the money but P&O themselves as they charter the plane and also the extra £100p.p we have to pay flying from Manchester!

However we always book our seats because it is a long flight. Make sure you book as soon as available as they quickly get booked up. I think it opens online in the cruise personaliser about 12-14 weeks before the cruise.

This is from my cruise personaliser for my June cruise, quite shocking really.

 

Looks like I will need to buy some at our first stop! No way am I paying £1.36 for a small bottle of water. I must admit though before the increase I did think it was very cheap.

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Apparently Princess have recently started a new system where you can pay a fee to have priority boarding, maybe P&O will follow shortly another way to make a bit of money!

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We stayed at the Holiday Inn and just walked over which is why we arrived so early. Our check in time was 2.30 but they were not sticking to those, in fact no one even checked. We also sailed at 8. We had priority boarding with Black card but they let everyone on at the same time, it was just a shorter line to the check in desk.

 

Julie

Have a great time.[emoji4]

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Will be watching your post with interest!

We will be on Magnifica in September and this will be our first MSC cruise so we are not quite sure what to expect.

I see you were on the ship very early what time do you sail/ were you given an embarkation time? Did you have priority boarding?

We are staying in a Southampton hotel the night before so we are hoping to be able to get on board early because we will have to check out at 12pm but we dont sail until 8pm.

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Yes that will be the same ones.

I politely say excuse me I need to pass you ,after the second time and still being ignored I just give a big shove and push past them😸

Agreed, and the other thing I notice is how perfectly able bodied people lose the ability to use stairs when on a cruise ship, even if to only go up or down one or two floors, which can be irritating when you are waiting for a lift with a wheelchair!

Maybe they will do it when it us due a refurb.

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Celebrity and Norwegian haven't had a ship sink.

 

Carnival Corp have which has perhaps changed their mindset.

We are Britannia next month and I think from memory (or I may be mixing up with another ship) they have the new style lifejacket with a strap that goes between the legs, very awkward if you are wearing a skirt!

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After you have checked in where you will get your cruisecards and authorise your credit card you will wait in a seating area until you are called, there arent shops like an airport but you can buy drinks and snacks. Before boarding you will go through security like an airport where your bags will be screened

Depending on your check in time your cabin may or not be ready when you board they are usually ready before 2pm. The buffet restaurant will be open for lunch but gets very busy and bars will be open but no shops until you leave port.

Your luggage will arrive some time later outside your cabin.

There will be a muster safety drill that everyone has to attend before the ship sails.

We usually explore the ship if there is time before the drill and try to find our way around. You will get lost a few times, everyone does my husband still does after 2 weeks on board![emoji6]

Have a great cruise![emoji41]

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Yes, most people dress in long gowns and a dark suit or tuxedo on formal night on all European cruises. Some of the dress styles described here as acceptable are the every night dress for many including us.

We did 2 Princesss cruises from Southampton a couple of years ago. The first was a British Isles cruise and most of the passengers were American and on formal night the dress mostly was very 'informal'. The second cruise a Norwegian Fjords cruise most passengers were British and the dress on formal night was noticeably very different and 'formal'. Infact on casual nights the dress was still quite formal.

Sometimes people say the reason for not taking formal wear with them is because of weight restrictions on flights but we always manage to do so when we do fly cruises.

It seems strange to me to want to dine in a formal dining room but wear shorts and t-shirts.[emoji848] but then again here in the north of England due to the climate we do not get the chance to wear shorts so it isnt normal for us.

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We have cruised many times but never with P&O so hoping for some help. Our cruises these days tend to be more about the itinerary than the ship so we loved the Azura Christmas cruise sailing out of Barbados. We have chosen a promotional fare and we are aware of the restrictions that come with a lower fare. This includes not being able to choose a dining time. We would much prefer Freedom dining so my question is, can you request a change of dining once you are onboard with the Maitre’d?

We have had saver fares a few times and have always been allocated Freedom Dining which we prefer.

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To be honest, in the past we have found breakfast in Epicurean to be exactly the same as the main restaurants, but as we eat very little at breakfast anyway, we will just have it on the balcony - or in our cabin.

Yes, food options not a lot different but service is a bit better and you cant sit outside in the sun on a nice day in the mdr.😎

These can be good value, Royal 12 days inside £524.

 

Regards John

We are doing the same cruise again in July this year but not quite as cheap because we have gone for a mini suite(or superior deluxe balcony as P&O describe them).[emoji6]

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We also have an aft facing suite, which will help, and have close friends nearby in a Super Delxe cabin portside aft. Ventura wouldn’t have been our choice at all, but the itinerary is great and so we have bitten the bullet. Plus it was INCREDIBLY cheap for 35 nights.

 

I suspect we’ll not eat in the main restaurant very much though.

Dont miss out on Epicurean for breakfast the best part of being in a suite in our opinion.

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Round Britain cruises have never been a part of P&O’s main schedule. There have been one or two recently in the fast few years but not on a regular basis. I suspect they have agreed with Princess that they do the round Britain cruises as they will be able to pull in more clients from the US.

 

 

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It seems to be that not many passengers from the UK want to do these cruises but we enjoyed the last one very much and visited many places we hadnt been to before.(the rock bottom price also helped[emoji16])

Also Royal Princess looks almost the same as Britannia (from the outside anyway) if you take off the logos!

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Olden is a lovely village and you dont really need to bother with the ships excursions. When we were there a couple of years ago we did an open top bus trip that took us to a large lake and there was a glacier. You didnt have to get off the bus and walk if you didnt want to.I think it was about a 2hr trip and cost less than £20 each and you could pay by credit card. Much cheaper than anything on the ship.

There was also a little road train but I cant remember where it went to.

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We sail 20th May got ours last week.

However no one informed us neither TA or P&O I just noticed on Cruise Personaliser so I would check it out.

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Just received a letter from Holland America, first thing I have ever had from them. I know they are part of Carnival group but we

have never sailed with them or received offers or brochures etc before.

However not had anything from P & O yet!

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I hate it, too - but not because I am particularly worried about theft. I am always afraid I will put some essential item in the bags to be collected - despite double and triple checking - and I will miss that item overnight or in the morning. I guess I am somewhat obsessive!

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