Winkster

Good I hope as we'll be in a mid-ships A-deck balcony cabin too.

Just pass the gin along the balconies and we'll all be fine!

sorry only if you purchase some and put them there

2 small bottles of water only

ice and lemon can arranged with your steward

 

take some cans on board with you

Just order cans of mixers through your cabin steward. We just bought packs of the small individual cans.

hello on ventura xmas/n.year cruise whats the currant situation on the duty free shop can you buy & take away to drink in your cabin ....only 27 more sleeps :):)

In a word - no.

Duty free is ordered then can be collected on the day before your cruise finishes. It can't be taken there and ten and drunk in the cabin.

Course there's nothing to stop you buying alcohol in a port and taking that back on board to drink.

I have never succumbed to drinks packages, on any cruise line. I refuse to be sold wines that are - to all intents and purposes - bin ends.

We opted for the top package on our last cruise (lots of OBC thanks to the price promise that nobody thought paid out - it did!).

The wine was, on the whole, excellent. Sure, there were a couple that were ok rather than excellent but we found it great value and a good way of trying things we may not have tried before.

Our "find of the cruise" was a French rosé. We never drink rosé but really liked this one. We found an excellent red too.

When the package ran out, we then went off-piste and ordered the wines we liked from the package (which weren't on the wine list) and enjoyed them all over again!

The only exception is if the passenger has left the auto tip on and given a little extra. They can keep the extra.

Oh really? That's the bit I was hoping to hear - thanks.

We leave the auto-tip on the put extra cash in envelopes for the waiters and cabin steward. I wouldn't like to think the money we give specifically to them has to go into " the pot".

Also if you take off auto-tipping your name is made known to the staff, presumably so they know they have to hand back the envelopes.

That can't be right can it? Surely the staff member could just say that particular passenger didn't leave a tip - and then pocket the cash.

We too were disappointed with the quality of those on Aurora.....better on Ventura but still could be better!!

 

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So there's hope for our next cruise on Oceana? Good stuff!!

Just wondering if any of the recently refurbed ships now have better graphics for the on-screen route maps.

On our last cruise on Aurora, they were almost unreadable.

The inner-geek in me likes looking at the maps to check our progress but it's a never ending source of frustration that P&O can't seem to get this (albeit insignificant) thing right.

Yep - I found cider on Aurora.

See this is what I am really unsure about. Major dilemma as being young (20), I am lucky to be able to afford a cruise and to be able to pay £300 towards my girlfriend's ticket. I think the crew provide absolutely great service, would be very appreciative and are in desperate need of the money, it is just £50 is a lot of money on top considering they say it is optional. Shame they can't include it as mandatory as I feel I may have to remove part of it at least. Is the only way to cancel at reception? You can't ring up or email before your cruise?

£3.50 per day really isn't a lot when you think it covers all waiters for all meals (usually 2 waiters for dinner), a wine waiter and a cabin steward (plus I'm sure others who I've forgotten).

Removing their tip (remembering that's often what these people live on or send home for their families to live on) just so you can save yourself a few quid seems a bit harsh and, dare I say it, mean.

We leave the tip on then leave extra cash for the waiters and cabin steward. They do a fantastic job and really make the cruise for us. They deserve it in my opinion.

I think, if the service you receive is poor then it's fine to reduce the tip but it's very unlikely that you'll receive poor service on board.

The way I look at it is that if we're fortunate enough to be able to afford a cruise, an extra £3.25 really shouldn't put us under the breadline.

So why aren't you happy now that P&O have corrected their error? Surely if you bring a problem to their attention and they resolve it then that's mission accomplished.

Or were you hoping to profit out of this?

Thanks for the replies. Looks like the buffet is best avoided!

 

Maybe Cafe Bordeaux on Aurora would be a decent place to get some breakfast lunch if we want a change from the MDR, the menu looks OK in there.

 

Please tell me they have more imaginative dishes than meat and 2 veg in the MDR for dinner?:)

Cafe Bordeaux is great for a lighter brekkie. Handy for shore days too if you get in early.

Good for lunches too - but can get v busy.

I found the MDR always had a meat & 2 veg option but far more imaginative stuff too.

Yep - same with us. We leave the auto-tip on then leave extra for the waiters, wine waiter and cabin steward.

Have you considered leaving the car at home and travelling by coach to Southampton? We have used CPS numerous times with absolutely no problems but when we take a "winter" cruise my husband prefers to leave the cars tucked up in the garage at home and we take the Eavesway coach service. We have found Eavesway to be very good and from Staffordshire the cost for 2 of us is comparable to CPS charges for 2 weeks and we don't have the cost of fuel so it actually works out less expensive.

Only issue there is Eavesway tend to arrive later in the day. It seems a great service but if you want to get onboard earlier and grab some lunch it's a bit more limiting. Less time to get unpacked and settled before muster and sail away too.

Still, if you're worried about the car, it's a great option.

I compare that to the one occasion when using a hotel near Gatwick to stay one night then park for a fortnight, where it was nothing short of a disgrace.

Hmmm. Been there, done that.

I used "secure parking" at a hotel near Gatwick that shall remain nameless. I returned to find the front end of my car disassembled and spread across the car park. Meanwhile my car had been knocked sideways out of it's space and now shared a space with the car next door (which had a dent the shape of my car in it's wing).

In comparison, CPS were a dream! Pull up outside, someone empties your cases out the boot and whisks them away, you hand over your keys and stroll onto your ship (via check in and security of course).

Easy - and safe!

I have never eaten lunch in the MDR on any cruise, it is not something that has ever entered my head, I have not particularly enjoyed the buffet lunches so next time I will definitely remember to try it out fur lunch

Just out of interest, why would it not have occurred to you to have lunch in the MDR?

I only ask as I know lots of people skip the MDR for breakfast and lunch. Buffets seem a second-best option to me so I always get my money's worth in the MDR. For me, it's a service and food quality issue rather than a food quantity issue btw.

Just curious!

We were on Aurora in June and the MDR food was excellent, especially the fish.

The only criticism I had was that the roast meats were a bit bland and the roast spuds were grim (in a soggy, mass-produced way).

The buffet was ok. We only ate lunch there on 3 occasions and many of the salads were repeated even then but we only are there if we were back aboard too late for lunch in the MDR.

I mean, why fight your way around a buffet to eat semi-warm food and salads when waiters will serve you fresh, hot food in the MDR?

Oh - and the pizza from the Sidewalk Cafe was TERRIBLE! I've eaten far better from Iceland!

An Aussie favourite is CURRIED SAUSAGES, can we get that on P&O ?

Oh I do hope not!

:-)

Hopefully you have booked on an adult only ship and that way you won't have to come into contact with any children or families having fun!

Like I said, we book during school terms and avoid the big ships specifically to avoid children "having fun".

Watching various cruise programmes on the Sky travel channels, many other cruise companies strike me as being far more child friendly than P&O who seem more geared up to the older crowd. I guess that impression was wrong!

Good for them.

Best Family Cruise Line?

Really?

That surprises me - but then I've deliberately only cruised during the school term and avoid the big ships. Don't want too many ankle-biters under foot (although you could argue that under foot is the best place for them!).

Congrats to P&O. A great cruise line getting the recognition they deserve in my opinion!

Fact...two shows a night...20:30 & 22:30

On the whole - yes. It's only on the occasions when there's a lot on the P&O have 3 shows a night. On our last 17 night cruise, it only happened about 4 times.

That being said, we never had any problem at all getting out of the second dinner sitting in time for the 10.30pm show. We even had time for cheese, coffee and a chat.

I cannot see how it would mean more tables to serve as taking the veg around is not exactly time consuming and the time saved would not be sufficient to serve another table.

Of course it's time consuming. It's a lot quicker to put 8 plates down in front of 8 diners than it is to put 8 plates down and then walk around the diners again asking them if they'd like veg 1, serving it then asking them if they'd like veg 2 and serving it.

They could get around another table easily in that time (provided the food was ready to be served of course).

The question is, will the time saved be dedicated to passengers or used elsewhere to benefit P&O? I'm all for the waiters having more time to chat with diners but will that happen? Or will they just get more tables to serve? Time will tell I guess.

And anyway, I'm not entirely sure that I really want to chat to a waiter while my meal sits in front of me getting cold? It's easier exchanging a few words while they serve the additional veg and then chat over coffee once all the serving has finished.

Who said the portions were to become stingy?

I think the comment was IF the portions become stingy.

I'm waiting to see if this will mean we get more veg on the plate instead of the smaller amount we got on the plate followed by the additional veg which was then served (and rarely matched the meal).

Has P&O lost my trust? In a word, no.

The whole vantage vs getaway issue hasn't worried me at all. We like the look of a cruise, we check the price and if we like the price, we book the cruise.

I make the decision on price based on whether I feel it's good value. If it was good value for me then, I ignore the price from that point onwards. Life's to short to constantly monitor prices to see how much extra I've paid. I've got enough stress in my life without looking for more!

As for shore times, we're generally early off and early back. Only once would I have liked a bit more time (in Dubrovnik) but there would still have been more than a days worth of things to do so even with more time ashore, I would have done all I wanted.

I really enjoy the shore days but really, for me, a cruise is about the sea days.

We had an amazing, relaxing time on our last cruise, enjoyed some fantastic food and wine and made friends for life.

So no. I haven't lost any trust in P&O whatsoever and am very happy with them.

But thanks for asking!

We saw him in '87. He was appalling back then too.

Great recording voice but terrible live!

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