crompton21

I bought something from Amazon yesterday, it was £69 at 8.00 am, £63 at 2.00 pm and today as their Black Friday event has started it’s £99…..

14x (54.95-10%) is £692.30. So if you are going on a 14 night cruise yes it’s 10% discount, plus the loyalty discount on top to follow as you say. I supposed that technically as the offer expires before departure date it could be deemed to be limited. The email is certainly disingenuous but probably not quite false advertising. I could buy a fur coat for that sort of money lol

I have the same email, I assume it is special because it is limited. If you just go to the website and pre book a drinks package the discount is the same but it’s less special as it’s not a limited offer….

You may already be aware of this one, if you are not do a google search on the 2019 Viking Sky incident. Similar in the sense that the difficulties were caused by inbuilt safety systems causing unforeseen consequences.

What sort of test are you expecting? You can test a battery for strength with an understanding that over time it will degrade meaning that the strength of charge doesn’t indicate that it is actually faulty. What you cannot easily do is open up the battery and inspect inside . The problem with lithium batteries is that failure of one part can lead to a rapidly escalating fire and there isn’t a quick way of inspecting the internal condition as the battery is a sealed unit.

It probably cost more than that to write a computer programme that can calculate upgrade costs for things that don't exist. Alternatively, is it possible the highly complex programme is actually a random person making up numbers as they go along.

Maybe put in a bid for an aft suite, it would be interesting to see where you ended up. It's quite amusing that you can bid to upgrade to a room that doesn't exist...

For those newer to these boards.... Back in 2012 after the Costa Concordia incident when selling cruises was presumably quite hard, P&O came out with a price guarantee, along very similar lines of the price won't be cheaper and if it is we will refund the difference. As those cruises approached sailing date, P&O invented a new type of fare (possibly the saver fare) and then stated that as it was a different fare the price guarantee didn't apply. Please be aware that they have form with this sort of offer not being quite what it seems.

Go to the website landing page, scroll down until you find the box entitled secure your winter 2025/2026 holiday today, click on that and it explains the dates (although it will not explain what I have told you as the fact that you cannot choose a room isn't mentioned)

I would think that would involve a phone call as I have never seen the ability to change a room being available online.

Assuming you mean November 2025, not November 25th 2023 then I assume she has booked a pre release "slot" for one of the newly released cruises. When they go on general sale, which starts tomorrow (dependant on loyalty tier) then you can book a specified room at time of booking. Booking select at pre launch does not allow you the opportunity to specify a room number.

Disclaimer, I haven’t a clue what I am on about here, but thought I would share an observation/ ask a question. The maritime agency guidelines on mooring appear to have recommendations/regulations stating that only one rope should be used per bollard (where practical). The video showing the ropes snapping has two ropes on one bollard with the adjacent bollard unused. Anyone actually know if that situation would be a factor?

Yes, I understand that option, the point I was trying to make was that the size/layout of the ship and presumably the number of butlers available didn't make for a particularly good experience. I thought it was a valid point when discussing Arvia/Iona suite benefits in general. As I said, I have not seen others posting similar thoughts so maybe we were unlucky. We have been fortunate enough to have had suites on all the current ships, and some of the old ones. Our experience on Iona was significantly different to any of the others. I would sail on Iona again, but wouldn't book a suite.

On a serious note regarding suites on Iona/Arvia, when we travelled on Iona there were two butlers (we were told there should be three but only two on our cruise). The suites are at the fore and aft which is a mighty long walk, particularly if one of them is on a break. In the end we gave up trying to use the butler as the timescales involved from trying to order some food to it actually arriving were sometimes over an hour and a half. I haven't seen anyone else post similar so maybe we were just unlucky.

I've heard a rumour that a similar thing is about to be trialled with the canapes, the customer agrees to be paid £8ppn in order to allow Canapes to be delivered to their room on a daily basis. The only downside is that they have to consume all of them for the payment to be made...

A question for the literary among you, to my mind spontaneous means without thought or planning. If I turn up for dinner at my set time of 8.30 pm, and haven't asked for a dining time when I booked then I have neither thought or planned. Is that more spontaneous than having to think about what time I want to eat before I do so? Asking for a friend...

The multiple and varied tastes that we all have mean that tastes in dining (times, companions, style etc) will be so varied that it is impossible to suit all of the people all of the time. What doesn't seem to be in question is that at certain periods there is a chance that having a relaxed evening meal may become a challenge on Arvia. Not always, but certainly there is enough feedback to indicate that this could happen. To me, the risk of an inconvenience that may or not happen is enough not to book on the ship, there are plenty of others to choose from. I don't think my view is too controversial, but it is a problem that they need to find an answer to.

Apparently he's not the only one to be promoted.....

Back when Britannia was launched (so eight or so years ago) an early cruise featured Ant and Deck appearing live from the ship on their Saturday night tv programme. Presumably that was because it was seen as marketing with an appeal to the demographic profile that P&O were aiming at. We now need to believe that in the past eight years that target demographic still has the same tastes in holidays but now wants to eat bland, small portioned food that is only available if you are prepared on occasions to wait a few hours to eat it. Personally, I am not convinced in the market research on that one.

I saw a review video where the poster suggested that the drop in food quality/choice was as a result of the cabin stewards doing food prep in the evenings rather than room turndown. Hadn't thought of that as a concept, and not seen it mentioned elsewhere. It might be an explanation for various changes though. Not saying it's a fact, just sharing someone else's opinion.

It may be unpalatable, but if you are a customer who turns up regularly and hands over your cash regularly than the perception is that you will continue to do so. Giving money away to a customer who is happy to pay what they currently pay doesn't make a lot of financial sense from a companies perspective. If someone is top tier (200 nights sailing in 3 years?) then they will presumably be seen as happy with their current offering and not needing further incentives to book.

The wording states to claim at least 3 weeks before departure and then further on no later than 4 weeks before sailing...... "Applications to receive these benefits should be made at least three weeks prior to cruise departure date" "no later than 4 weeks prior to your sail date"

There's a number of threads on here where you appear to have done that already.

But is it more popular than the fact that if the price of your cruise goes down then you receive a reduction? Why not introduce another part of the American booking process? (I think I know the answer btw)

For quite a while now, Costa cruises appear to have been marketed with a low headline price whilst anything that could be charged for was. The focus being to upsell or charge for everything other than a very poor basic experience. For some strange reason the brand now appears to have failed (unconnected I am sure).