mandylennon

We had an excursion cancelled the day before due to not enough passengers and as we were not given sufficient time to book another all others were full. It was just a trip to a water park and apparently there were only 7 wanting to go. We did ask if they could arrange transport to take us, but the answer was no. They did obviously refund us.

We don't mind the P&O excursions, yes they are expensive but they do seem to get good quality guides.

Who's making the fuss !!!! ..... not me it was my very FIRST post however watch out any after may create one ..... thanks for the warm welcome to CC !!!!!!!!

 

When one is on a very very very long cruise every little bit of discount you can get counts, we aren't all filthy rich, be it loyalty % or just getting 3 or 4 pounds off a bottle of spirits to drink in our cabin....for us that saving gets spent elsewhere onboard.... i call that "SMARTS" ....I don't have a problem with only being able to bring a token amount onboard, especially spirits no other line i can think of allows this....Unfortunately POUK's liberal carry on policy of the past has made a lot of people loyal to just them.....it's no wonder when they make quite a large change that folks feel hard done by........In that case I say walk away there are many great brands out there to choose from.... have never been loyal to just one brand we have top tier loyalty with 2 other major players don't get to bring alcohol on with either however we do get fantastic loyalty perks...

I do agree that he new system is a bit unfair to longer cruises and world cruises, but also think that is why it is not being implemented until February 2018, when the longer cruises have departed. I know they scan cases but do wonder if say you have quite a few cases and 1 bottle in each, whether they are going to check who the cases belong to and how many each person has bought onboard.

We did European package holidays when our children wereyoung. Then our parents inherited somemoney and said they wanted to take us all to Florida, which we did 3 yearsrunning. We enjoyed the USA so our next holiday we went to Los Angeles and then to San Diego. Great holidays but the long hours flying put us off doing it again. We had friends who cruised several times a year and so were always talking about it, so when it came to booking a next holiday looked into cruising as my teenage sons did not want to fly. This was 2009 and we booked a 14 day cruise school holidays on Oceana. My youngest son who was 14 said it was hisbest holiday ever. We all enjoyed it butwere not sure if we all wanted to do it again, so following year we booked apackage holiday to a lovely hotel in Madeira. My 15 year old son, hardly left his room, he kept saying it was boring and my eldest son who was 19, said whenwe arrived “it doesn’t compare to a cruise”.

My only regret, as I am sure a lot of people have, is that my parents would have loved cruising and wish we had taken them with us whilst they were fit and able to go. We took my 85 year old father-in-law this yearto the Fjords and he absolutely loved everything about it and have booked againf or next year.

Thanks for this. I have some leftover from our cruise in June and was obviously hoping they would be OK for next June, will have to get them out and have a look.

Well - it's happened.

 

As of Jan 1st.

Each guest aged 18 years and older may bring one bottle of the following; wine, Champagne, beer, spirit or liqueur (up to 1 litre in size) on board as they embark the ship for the first time only. Alcohol over this limit will be stored and returned to the guest on the last evening of the cruise, at no charge. There is no corkage charge for this bottle.

You’re welcome to buy bottles of alcohol at ports along the way, but you won’t be able to drink it while on... board. We’ll look after it until your cruise comes to an end and return it to you.

 

https://ask.pocruises.com/help/po/before-you-sail/alcohol

Yes Sharon, it has happened.

There seems to have been quite a lot of changes with P&O this year, alcohol allowance, mini-bar and room service charges.

What's next I think will be a drinks package and tips included in cost of cruise.

We will see. Do you have any inside information?

Mandy

Well they might as well ban the stag and hen do's then as I think this is directed at them with regards to outfits and improper clothing.

Good luck with implementing it P&O.

Yes they do, we were able to open ours we were on B Deck.

Is it possible to pre-order a bottle of spirits for your stateroom to drink there.through cruise personaliser.?...I did it on Princess, but only half bottles. Thanks

No you cannot pre order, just order through room service when you get onboard.

I would like to think if you all turn up together they would not let you embark all at the same time. As for the breakfast have a word to the restaurant manager, if not eat in the main restaurants which you will all be seated together. I am sorry you did not get the response you hoped you, but hopefully it will be resolved when you get onboard.

Yes, I presume there was a reason for a 1.00 pm embarkation, but this was a first for us, we usually have a 3.30 slot, so it made a nice change that we got to have lunch at a reasonable time. We could not fault the check in, no queue for the car, first to check in, cup of coffee and biscuit, short wait, then first on ship. Cabin ready with 3 out of 4 cases waiting outside our cabins.

The 4th suitcase, well that is a story on its own. It belonged to my 85 year old father in law, his first cruise. He lost his suitcase key, my husband managed to get it open, but he forgot to pack his suit. A trip to the shop and £120 for a dinner jacket. But at least we all had a fabulous cruise and have booked to go to the Fjords again next year, this time on Azura but back to balcony cabins

Interesting, because suite passengers get allocated 12.30pm and are usually boarded closer to 12pm now. High level loyalty members (Caribbean and above) get 1pm (unless in a suite). So not sure what to make of 1pm in a mini-suite as that is not the same time as full suite passengers. :confused:

1.00 pm was the first boarding time for the ship that day, we all sat together in the priority lounge and boarded at 1.30. We were the first on board. Not all ships are ready by 12.30 to board. We did not get tender priority cards, wish we had took over an hour to get on tender boat for a 2 minute journey.

We are doing the fjords next year for the first time and I was wondering if it is possible to do the Glacier on your own or do you have to do an organised trip?

 

Michele

You can do it on your own at the port there are black mini buses that go about half way, you then have to walk the rest of the way up hill. There is also a open top red bus that goes part of the way.

I dont really think it matters which one you choose unless you specifically want to go to one of these ports. We were on Aurora last year and visted Olden but we have booked to go on Azura next year when we will visit Flaam. Also we were port side and seemed to get sunshine on balcony every afternoon and evening (if that helps).

Our first and second cruises were on Oceana, we loved it.

When and where are you going to?

We are due to join Aurora on 6 December and have booked a mini suite. Will we get an early embarkation time? Usually get a 1530 time as we have always had balcony cabins before but decided to push the boat out for this one. Soooooo excited!!!:D:D

We had a mini suite on Aurora in June and we had early embarkation of 1.00 pm.

When we were on Aurora in June, they had a new show called "New Romantics", it was quite good.

My 85 year old father in law thought all the shows were fantastic (although it was his first cruise).

I think the American Diner referred to is the Beach House.

I travel with my husband and two sons, all sports mad and we have found that if it is on the schedule it is usually shown, in the cabins or in the bar. We were on Aurora this June, and we were due to do a quiz in the bar, but when we arrived there about 100 people watching the rugby. The entertainment guy asked for a show of hands of who wanted to do the quiz - he said that if more than 10 wanted to do the quiz he had to do it, nobody put their hands up, so the quiz was cancelled and everyone was happy.

Haha no surprise Disney won best for kids. It would be a bit disappointing for them if they didn't as they are possible the only cruiseline that puts kids first. Anyone been on Disney?

No, did think about it when children were young, but after staying in a disney hotel in Disneyland Paris, we were disneyed out, its a small, small world being played constantly.

Also we like the towel aminals on RCI, some of them were very impressive, although we hardly saw our steward all cruise, as he was probably too busy doing the towels.

Just received the latest copy if Moments from P&O, where it says they have won an award for this.

Well done P&O, we feel it works well and the members if staff who get this do a wonderful job.

From the P&O website:

We will generally allow a small, reasonable amount to be taken on-board for you to enjoy in your cabin however, taking bottles of alcohol into restaurants or lounges will incur a corkage fee of £15 (prices are subject to change) per item (any size) per occasion.

I would also say that whilst we have only done 7 cruises we have been to Rome 4 times, Lisbon three and yes Vigo 3 times I do agree it is what you make of your visit. When on P&O excursions, we have always been impressed with the agents that they use who are very knowledgable of the local areas. In Geiranger this year we had a really interesting young guy who kept us entertained all day and really made the trip for us, apart from the obvious beautiful scenery.

1. Wine purchase is so many bottle, you have a card left in your cabin and when you go to restaurants, bars or order from room service, they tick off what you have had, so you do not have all bottles ordered at once and you dont have to stick to one particular wine, you can select from several.

2. Yes, you can keep the wine in your room in your mini fridge.

3. No, but I don't think it will be popular at the moment with people being able to bring their own drink on board, there was a thread on here a couple of weeks ago saying that P&O were thinking of taking away the ability to bring own your own drink, so maybe after that they will introduce a drinks package. The prices on P&O at present, we feel are very good. There will then be a debate on how much a drinks package would be.

Yes, I totally agree. It also seems that the 17 day cruises are now 18 or 19 days, which I know does bring the daily cost of a cruise down, but not many of us can take that many days holiday and these are the cruises that seem to be going to new interesting places (Apart from the fly cruises). An email from P&O a couple of weeks ago regarding the exciting new ports, there were 2.

We have always gone Freedom dining and have never had a bad meal, although there are 4 of us to a table all seated at the same time which helps with ordering and receiving food. Have been to Sindhu on Ventura which we really enjoyed, although do not know whether we would pay the extra £20 now to go. We find that the curries served in the MDR lunchtime keep our curry intake satisfied.

Also we could not get a table on Aurora in June in Sindhu is was full for the last 4 nights (out of a 7 day cruise).