Megabear2

They keep emailing me inviting me to book though!

From my Christmas cruises on Britannia and Azura I can confirm you will get a questionnaire with preferences about 3 weeks before departure. Those making late bookings are sorted onboard. You will be allocated a restaurant, time and table - unfortunately you are not guaranteed if it is a sharing or non sharing table. There are two sitting times - these are half an hour longer than normal fixed sitting and start earlier than on other days. Podiums are set up in public areas where you can go to discuss if you can change times, table size etc. TBH apart from 2021 Christmas it gets a bit messy but generally is sorted okay to most people's satisfaction.

Now look what you've gone and done!!

Best be careful not to start telling everyone how cheap is best ICF. Our esteemed and much respected board host is a big Saga cruiser along with quite a few others who post here. You obviously wouldn't sail Saga as you don't consider balconies important or worthwhile. Others however wouldn't sail without one and the AI on Saga is also a big attraction. Personally I dislike the Saga brand in all things - land based holidays and insurance included - but many others value it for it's small ships and low numbers. It's their money (including your parents) so let's not you or I as non believers start knocking the product we have no intention of using.

I think the photographers are considered very much redundant on these two ships for the simple reason the repeat passengers have been there done that. However on Arvia, Iona and Britannia the photographer is much sought after by families etc so has a big income stream. On Britannia for several years the area was hosting a beauty outlet and an electronic shop. In December last year the beauty outlet remained despite the gradual reappearance of the photographer. With digital photography being the way there is in my opinion no need for any space on any ship to be handed over to banks of printed photographs and a decent bit of reimagining of the areas is overdue.

Hurricane Lee is being forecast to have weather impacts through the entire coastal area of New England and the Canadian maritimes. The impacts in the area will start to be felt from Friday and to continue through the weekend. Halifax and Newfoundland are apparently going to have very severe weather even if the storm hits further down. Assumedly plans are already in place as there have been marine warnings for several days.

Have you considered Dartmouth/Totnes area? Plenty of food and wine festivals in both towns, several Michelin starred restaurants, steam trains, close to lovely beaches, the castle in Totnes, short drive to visit DDay landing preparation area and access to Dartmoor. The restaurant Gather in Totnes is very good. I recall you mentioning Burgh Island before, this area would give you relatively easy access if you wanted to take a day or two there.

Mystery solved!!! You're Gary Neville.

Funnily enough there are quite a few of these cruises where London and Birmingham flights are sold out. There were even a couple early on where London was also being charged a premium too. We used to fly from Birmingham every year for our Christmas cruise and visit friends over New Year when we returned. I recall that always cost the £100 extra and we were told that was because the airport charges were high for those types of flight.

ICF, delighted you are sorted. Quite a shock to see no last minute deal or waiting for the bargain bucket shop price. Nearly five months of boundless enthusiasm ahead ...

It will as you say be interesting. My one off putting concern for Iona on a cruise of this length and itinerary would be the swimming pools being small and the Dome being fixed rather than being able to open. Assumedly the clientele will not be lots of families and children so I might have been worrying needlessly but after seeing the Arvia pools I assumed they would be the same with probably a very high number of users. On a long cruise I swim fairly long distances most days so the pool size is fairly important, on Arvia I only managed to get in for a proper swim once in the fortnight due to even the early mornings being too busy.

I think Selbourne was referring to the number of port calls in the Caribbean not overall. I notice it is already £700 less than the Ventura offerings at the lead price.

Yes, a considerable difference. As an avid Caribbean cruiser every year I've noted 2024/5 fly cruise itineraries also have shrinkflation! Britannia will no longer call at St Kitts with no replacement and Arvia loses La Romana. We aren't booked for the Caribbean in 2024/5 with P&O as we have booked the 35 night Queen Mary 2 for January 2025, which offered 9 Caribbean ports with an overnight in Curacao which will be interesting. Out via Tenerife and back via Madeira so hopefully warm most of the way.

I understand the Canary Islands cruises were very much the most popular on sale when I spoke to future sales whilst on Arvia in May. I gathered that a lot of families and groups having tried Iona and Arvia wanted to cruise again but didn't wish to do the same itineraries. Looking at the Canaries cruises currently on sale they offer more ports of call as well, often 7 compared with 5 with an overnight on the other warm weather itineraries. That is clearly a big draw for people, warm weather with more ports. As was said above British families want more or less guaranteed sunshine and no matter how lovely the Fjord sailings are they aren't going to offer that and the Baltic cruises are also not really something those with children are going to pick either. Whoever is planning P&O's itineraries they really should understand their market better. The constant referral to "feedback" whilst misleading is most likely based on what they can see interest and demand for rather than on comments from those already sailed. The other "problem" is the cutting of the number of ports, interestingly even 2024/2025 Caribbean cruises are seeing the number of ports dropped and this is in an area where they are quite literally within hours of each other.

Are Caribbean Islands Tours only available by Facebook? They don't come up with a website when searching Google and as a non Facebook user I wonder if they are available to contact any other way. Thanks.

No, sorry.

Thank your for the review. Unfortunately most of the mainstream cruise lines are cutting down to one service and no turndown. Very interesting regarding the food situation. I agree totally that P&O's buffet offering is poor in comparison with RC, Celebrity and Princess. Sadly it is worsening on every cruise I sail on their ships.

What sort of thing do you enjoy? St Kitts - how about going across to Nevis or doing the interior forest walks? Grenada - if you don't fancy the beach the gardens are beautiful and also the chocolate making St Lucia - the by land and sea is excellent if you've not done it, or how about the aerial tramway. There's a new option of the mud baths as well - I've never done the full day there but z short taster was fun. Antigua - Nelson's Dockyard is a nice half day. If it's available, possibly not as it's so popular the catamaran. There's also the magnificent beaches as a fall back option. St Maarten - walk to the beach nearby. Best tours includd the Admirals Cup yacht and the beach at the airport. I notice more opened up for the French side, presumably because the rebuilding and roads are now complete after the hurricane damage in 2017. The Caribbean is what it is, mainly water based sun and beaches or the tropical areas inland. The offerings therefore remain much the same year in year out. Great for R&R rather than activities!

All the "special offers" have ended on P&O and Cunard apart from extra obc on Caribbean cruises. A quick look shows the coming shortly P&O cruises - sailing before end of November - have dropped in price, but the obc has also dropped considerably as well. However the headline prices are now lower as the saver has kicked in. I would expect October/November to see a few"fire sales" on the Iona Spain cruises (not Canaries) and the remainder of Arvia sailings before she goes Caribbean. Very little movement to be seen yet in early new year sailings but final payment is coming in October so I'd expect the cheaper savers to kick in next month. Interestingly Caribbean sailings are holding well on select fares and already flights are only available from limited airports -this is early for that to happen. For instance I looked at March and a lot are Manchester only. It will be interesting to seeif any extras appear as they did last year. Select Caribbean fares having been cut quite dramatically earlier in the year are creeping up, not to the heady heights of day 1 fares but definitely a few hundred at a time. Savers are on the otherhand becoming bargains through November early December as balance due date is past. My old cancelled Christmas cruise on Arvia can now be bought for £6358 for 2 in a deck 12 mid forward balcony. My fare was £7350. The balcony saver is £5898. Interestingly the Prom cabins are shown and priced individually under the early saver option. It will be interesting to see if this changes when we go to full saver on 24 September. On another point on "special offers" at 12.05am and immediately after I clicked into both P&O and Cunard websites to do mock bookings. Despite the offer ending on 4 September the P&O site would still allow certain cruisesto be booked withthe expired offer - this remained until 8.00am this morning. Cunard on the other hand gave a message if you clicked the special offer banner stating the offer was finished. Same IT same parent company yet one could cause big confusion if you booked. From a personal/selfish note I'm delighted to say all three of my Cunard cruises have indeed risen by 10% and the obc is no longer doubled which indicates this was indeed a genuine sale! My remaining two P&O cruises in early 2024 show no price change - yet!!

I got an email asking me to book it - had 2 now - enquire on board! Maybe the wonder why they aren't selling it!

As the seats are 3-3-3 would it be worth considering saving the cash. The children cannot be alone and from what I've seen on previous TUI charters to Barbados you may well end up with 2 in front of each other anyway. The seat booker is quite particular on how it lets you buy the seats dependent on the number of singles and couples.

Iona's will be much more modern decor as well which will make it seem even lighter.

I'm not saying that. I'm saying that if help is offered and you refuse it you are doing so with a risk you will not get any money you spend out back. Of course if you are happy to make your own arrangements that's fine however the liability level is unfortunately at the standard set by the travel provider and the insurer if they become involved. You obviously can argue about that quality but in an event such as the one that occurred last week it would no doubt be considered very short term and an emergency beyond control - the argument by the tour operator/P&O could well point to the other unfortunate people sleeping in the terminal on the floor etc. in defence of their decisions. As evidenced by the hotel website it should have provided reasonable 3* accommodation which is industry standard. That it did not is an argument for P&O with the hotel and no doubt the former is being inundated with complaints from the passengers and will as a consequence deal with matters accordingly. A cruise is as we know effectively a form of package holiday and as such you are in the hands of the company. Assumedly the individuals affected and involved will be having their own conversations with P&O about how the hotel was chosen etc. We of course cannot be party to those talks so will most likely never know. Whether it's fair is another question but then life itself isn't always fair I'm afraid.

It should be good. Most of the noisy ones, inside, balcony etc are lower down, particularly deck 9 balcony cabins aft, deck 5 insides midships and those near the dome on deck 15. Be aware regarding upgrades you have no control where you end up. Having accepted a free upgrade from an inside to a small balcony on deck 9 of Arvia I can say with certainty that a good located inside cabin is vastly better if you want a good nights sleep before 1.30am.

With all the discussion and theories on these threads over the Britannia incident it might be time to actually assess as individuals how an event like this would affect us personally. Clearly there is shock from some at the emergency hotel quality, arrangements for disembarkation of passengers and the flight provision. Several others have stated they would refuse to leave the ship, others have stated categorically they will not fly, either for fear or medical reasons. Actually we probably don't have any control over these things if we let the cruise line or insurance companies deal with it. Of course you can make your own arrangements at your own cost but the truth is if help is being offered and arranged but you refuse it, you'd need a far better reason than the hotel isn't of the standard you would pick to persuade a pay out from either the cruise line or your insurer. My SIL will not under any circumstances consider flying. When all the covid protocols were in place she confidently stated her insurer would have to get her home some other way. She was shocked when my BIL checked with their insurer to be told you go home how we say and that will be by air on the cheapest flight available to your destination on the designated day, no choice if you don't like it do it yourself at your own cost. Perhaps in future when booking a cruise this type of rare event is something that will thought more about and how things will be handled - mind you I doubt it!