Megabear2

I would think 2024 bookings would be more of a marker as all the FCC will have washed through? The evidence on land based holidays in Europe at least is questionable depending on where you look and in what price ranges. The Azura fly cruises have offered good value along with the rearranged Baltics and Iona Norway "shuttles" but certainly not most others unless they are the last minute savers. All cruise lines are about to see what people think of the 2024 offerings and pricing before we say it's all okay.

I agree about Americans - I cruise out of the US on a regular basis. My point, trying to be polite, is that the AI packages are ideal for that market as apart from a few isolated younger people there are not so many intent on drinking as their main recreation (not just on a ship). Unfortunately that is beginning to creep in to their society too - see reports of drunken fights in Epcot at Disney World Food Festival for example so even travelling with children does not curtail the enthusiasm. We would be lying to ourselves if we do not admit since the 80's heavy drinking has become a symbol of the British abroad and as a result we are perceived in some places as a bad influence - all inclusive resorts in Majorca limiting drinks at some all inclusive resorts for instance. P&O rightly need to be careful with their image and as a result want to make an offering but not one which allows excess. I'm not in anyway judging people as that would be pot, kettle and black. I have nights in good company where I get drunk, hopefully not to nuisance levels, but I could not drink to that level every day. Regarding Princess my experience on a fly cruise with predominantly US guests was completely different to my staycation on the same ship with only UK guests. Boisterous and excitability Americans were a totally different animal to the latter who got progressively more rude and self centred at they neared their 15 drink daily limit - the bottles of beer being used to make a pint running out for many before dinner leaving the men in particular cross as their allowance was gone. I include my own friends in that one and I know it repeated on their cruise to Norway and Denmark this year.

The well dressed man - you get what you wish for 1980's style.

Excellent. Are any areas off limits, ie locked so you can't go from one end to the other on any deck apart from the normal rear restaurant dead end? If not then hopefully no quarantine zones which would tally with my having no recollection of any displaced Britannia passengers. All good news here hopefully. Thank you Walkingdude for your detective work in our cause!

I find this latest debate quite interesting. Am I to assume that the provision of a decent drinks package as discussed by our two most recent posters is one of the more important aspects of choosing a cruise nowadays. If that is so I wonder how the lines such as Princess, Celebrity and RCI who threw it in as a freebie on most of their cruises after the pandemic are fairing. The Princess offering for instance is much the same as P&O and Cunard one in the 15 drinks a day. I know that draft beers were almost non existent on Regal with beer offerings bottled. Now that it's no longer automatically included how many are paying to upgrade or indeed upgrade twice? Celebrity also offered two levels of package when I sailed with them in June and it was totally unlimited. As someone who doesn't drink alcohol a great deal I was glad of it for the "free" iced coffees etc but can truthfully say I wouldn't necessarily choose it if I hadn't been given it. Passengers' alcohol consumption on the Celebrity and Princess cruises I took this year was I would say substantially higher than on my P&O ones and the crowd (mainky American) as a result louder and more boisterous. This isn't in any way a criticism as each to his own but perhaps P&O are aware of the UK's sad reputation abroad with alcohol and are deliberately walking a fine line to temper their guests enthusiasm.

The toiletries removal on land has been happening since 2019 when IHG group decided to remove individual bottles. IHG offer 850,000 rooms worldwide and their saving is around 200,000,000 bottles! They aren't alone now: https://www.greenkey.global/stories-news-1/2019/9/16/hotel-chains-take-actions-get-rid-of-single-use-toiletries

I assume there still has to be an isolation section for crew and certainly on my last Britannia cruises these were deck 8 rear - it was impossible to walk through as they were blocked off. Also don't forget people are still being bumped from cabins (although funnily enough checking my records I can't find any for Britannia) so if they aren't becoming quarantine cabins what are they? The two Britannia t/a voyages were also shown as sold out so at 84% there must be cabins allocated onboard. Zap saw subtle red dots on doors on his Britannia cruise and if you know what you are looking for it's pretty easy to count - if you can be bothered! As a passenger who wanders round ships in the dead of night - I'm something of an insomniac on occasions - I'm generally aware of strange signs and stickers that appear and often come across peculiar scenarios. If P&O wanted to hide anything - which was the case early on - moving passengers with disease happened in the dead of night accompanied by a team in hazmat suits spraying all over the place. Having accidentally bumped into a small chain of people being herded I was convinced big brother would have me locked away fairly soon but thankfully it never happened.

I want one of those!!!!!

For us it's twice bitten now very shy! We are already nearly two grand adrift on this year's Christmas cruise and fully expect the select price to drop again before we sail in 55 days. We are booked on Arvia for next Christmas and already the price is £400 less so it's dejavu! Not going to get caught again so no booking day 1 for 2024.

Here is a list of the cabins on Iona which have the largest balconies: 9236 9239 9320 (sleeps 3) 9321 10238 10245 (sleeps 3) 10320 10321 10509 (sleeps 3) 10514 (sleeps 4) 11242 (sleeps 4) 11243 11320 11321 11514 (accessible) 11515 (sleeps 3) 11711 11712 12242 12255 12320 12321 12514 (accessible) 12515 (sleeps 3) 12711 12712 14242 14255 14320 14321 14512 14515 (sleeps 3) 14711 14712 15242 15253 15316 15317 (sleeps 4) 15514 15515 15711 15712 16242 16253 16320 16321 (sleeps 4) 17317 17320

For those wondering why I've asked Walkingdude the question about Serenity this is from my personaliser: Serenity Additional cost For a little extra Additional cost Spa and Wellbeing I'm therefore trying to find out what this is and how much it costs.

Thanks. Hope you're having a great time - excellent sleuthing! The attached is from Regal in July and shows what I'm talking about in case I've confused you!

A big mark up on the thermal suite sessions from last year - was £25 a session. Do y9u know if when you book The Retreat you still get a thermal pass included? Are there any changes in the serenity pool area - there was talk earlier in the year that the "shaded" structures with four beds would become a type of cabana area with upgraded sunbeds as they are on some Princess ships and would be charged for. The Caribbean cruises were mentioned as the introductory ones.

Will be interested to see what happens with the rest if Arvia's cruises which are currently reduced by £100 per voyage. It's not just Arvia that early bookers had over priced, I'm watching my Britannia cruise drop like a stone and the cabin next door to mine is now £1,500 cheaper than I paid for my select opening day booking and they're getting £30 more OBC than me including my "bribe". As a result I'm monitoring very carefully my Arvia cruise next year.

Just to prove it does exist!!!

??? I never mentioned the Canaries or if I did it was unintended! I am looking at the Amazon/South America and would happily go on any ship P&O chooses to send there.

I must admit the brochure is very good. It's sadly the choice I found lacking. For instance I cruise the Caribbean every Christmas. The ports used to be more varied, yes always Anyigua, Barbados and St Lucia but others were different year on year - Dominica for instance was a great change. I was on Britannia January 2020, December 21, will be on her this year and the itinerary is identical save for Aruba becoming Bonaire this year. We booked Arvia for next year just for variety as Britannia is identical again. Now looking at 2024 both Britannia and Arviaxare doing exactly the same again which means Britannia hasn't varied her ports of call in 5 years.

It's quite depressing. 187 pages of repeats. Am going to think about the 65 night Amazon once I can choose a cabin. Apart from that I'm looking elsewhere for my requirements, very sad.

I'm searching for the film as we speak ... after young Horatio's experience I definitely won't be camping in the arctic wilderness though. Mind you my poor old bones probably wouldn't tempt Pippaluck too much but he would no doubt love my excess blubber. Thank you. Fascinating to see how some of them have adapted. I will continue my search for a suitable trip. I note there are a couple of new entrants in the expedition market so will take a look there as well. Looking at the Fred and Princess itineraries I assume Fred's will offer more rare sighting. I'm just a bit worried with him cancelling and laying up ships at short notice - reading into it Hurtigruten has also been a bit dodgy in that respect. Still certainly someone a bit more exciting than an Iona mystery trip up the fjords!

Down here in Salisbury we had a young lad die from a polar bear attack on land. Certainly don't want to get up close with one as a result although I did meet Klondyke the polar bear cub at Sea World many years ago. Understand he's now an enormous creature kept far from the public. My husband has been watching videos of Churchill in Canada where the bears get up.on two paws and look through the window of a tractor you sit inside! I'm doing more research for Greenland as suggested by Happy V, you can never tell.

Thank you all. It's quite exciting. I can't find Fred's excursion list but Princess have a very thorough list here: https://www.princess.com/cruise-search/details/?voyageCode=2313 How do you experts who've been think these would work? Would any of them offer the opportunity to see the whales, puffins and hopefully bears? I've read the CC Destinations section on the area and they say might see the bears floating around on ice! I know absolutely nothing about the region I'm afraid. I take it the Aurora 21 day cruises don't go far enough north? I've found three possibles with Ambassador, two with Princess and 2 with Fred. Any advice on other ports that make a good itinerary much appreciated- there's a big difference in Fred and the other two but it might be far superior itinerary for all I know. Appreciate I'm wandering from P&O as they don't seem to go there at present but these are sample itineraries on Fred, the Princess one is above: https://www.fredolsencruises.com/cruise/exploring-the-arctic-t2316 https://www.fredolsencruises.com/cruise/spitsbergen-with-the-midnight-sun-l2317 As this is a bit of a one off for us - I'm not a fan of cold weather normally - all help much appreciated. Luckily I have piles of ski wear which looking at this I think I might need.

Whales will be good too. Loved whale watching in California. Been doing a bit of research into Churchill in Canada but think that Pippaluck is most definite not going to happen there. More or less guaranteed to see him but at £20,000 for 10 days he will have to wait for me to win the lottery. Looks like P&O is sadly no longer interested in that part of the world so it's a hike to Rosyth from Salisbury for Balmoral or a hop skip and a jump to Southampton but on Island Princess. I can’t see any mention of whales and bears with Princess though. Looks like May to August is best for possible bear sightings just need to find a tour from the ship. Looking at Hattie's photo looks like I'm in the right place!

That has been ongoing for months. If it's going to happen assumedly they're pretty advanced.

I have investigated! Is Spitzbergen the correct place in Norway? I've found a couple of Fred cruises to there but it means leaving from Scotland on Balmoral. I'll no doubt regret it but there appears to be a couple of Princess ones from Southampton next year which state Spitzbergen. The Fred one is around £6500 for a window, couldn't stretch to a balcony, the Princess ones cheaper. Nearly fell of my chair looking at Hurtigruten and Saga ... Nothing on P&O goes near as you say sadly. Pippaluck better be worth it!

Regardless of that having "parked" next to one of these monstrosities in Cannes they must go down as the ugliest ships at sea! Is it correct they don't actually have beds but pull downs? All too OTT for me but would be very interested in how you get on.