AchileLauro

On some previous cruises especially one on Ventura several years ago it was an absolute nightmare, but we disembarked off Aurora two weeks ago and the system employed that day worked superbly. Basically following a relaxed breakfast in the main dining room we collected our overnight bags and coats from our cabin and went to the theatre. On entering the theatre we were informed that we could disembark immediately. There were very few people in the baggage hall and we quickly and easily located our cases and were de-icing the car within 10 minutes of leaving the theatre. On the road by 08.10 a.m.

I sincerely hope that it hasn't been changed as we too are on this cruise and specifically booked it because it is one of the last opportunities to visit Amsterdam on Aurora before future restrictions introduced by the local authorities will restrict cruise ships entering the port. We certainly haven't been informed of any changes. If we had received notification we would consider this to be a significant change as its the only port of call so 100% change and would be cancelling. We should have visited Amsterdam a few years ago on Azura but that was changed mid cruise due to weather conditions which was extremely disappointing at the time. Going on previous experiences with P&O it wouldn't be entirely improbable that the company would only inform you of a change once you have boarded the ship and are underway.

P&O can be a bit hit or miss when it comes to cooking venison and game dishes. The worst dish that I have ever eaten on all of the cruises we have taken with P&O was wild boar sausage. Now I've eaten wild boar dishes numerous times both at home and in France and always enjoyed then, but on this occasion the sausages were truly bad. I would go so far as to say that they were inedible. On the other hand a spatchcock partridge dish that we had on board some years ago was probably one of the nicest meals that I have ever eaten on a cruise. The Chefs definately got that dish right. We regularly eat venison at home so are quite fond of it. On the odd occasion that we've had it on a cruise in various forms it's been O.K. but not brilliant. I tried grouse for the first time on a cruise a few years ago. Nothing wrong with the cooking or presentation just not to my own personal taste. Still it was very nice to have the opportunity to try something new to me.

Assuming that you have gone for select fare it's probably a simple mistake and easily rectified. Freedom dining on Ventura is not so bad, we've done it a couple of times. However we are in total agreement with you regarding freedom dining on Iona, it just didn't work and we absolutely hated it. Never, ever again! To be absolutely honest with you I very much disliked Iona for a number of reasons not just the freedom dining farce and am extremely unlikely to sail on her again, or on her sister ship.

P&O as a company are not without their faults, the usual main criticisms levied against them being poor public relations, dreadful communication and an IT system that often fails them. We as a family have experienced this in the past and have criticised them for it. However on this occasion let's be fair to them and remind ourselves of three things. 1. The winds were absolutely exceptional. 2. It has been the perfect storm for the company, with the disruption of the air traffic system totally frustrating their best efforts to repatriate a limited number of passengers. 3. How many of us have ever attempted to find hotel accommodation at short notice for over 300 people never mind in high season. I certainly wouldn't relish that challenge. Just be thankful that none were seriously injured and that all will return safely home, perhaps not immediately but within a few days.

There's been some brilliantly sensationalist reporting in various national and regional newspapers regarding this event but I think the report in the South Wales Argus possibly takes the biscuit "ONE passenger and her family from Blackwood are having a “horrific experience” after a storm hit their boat and caused them to crash off the coast of Palma in Mallorca during a P&O cruise. According to people on board, strong winds from the storm blew the top deck off, broke the anchors and sent them careering into a freight vessel." Blackwood passenger's "horrifying experience" of ship crash | South Wales Argus It's well accepted that this newspaper is notorious for their alarmist sensationalism reporting but they have certainly excelled themselves on this occasion, unless of course the wind did actually blow the top deck off!

We had similar reassurances when we booked a family cruise with daughters and granddaughter when on Aurora some years ago. I had a bit of a premonition that things might change, but the agent on the future sales desk said " No way are they going to change things after spending all that money recently on improving the children's facilities". Three months later we received an email from P&O saying " You will be glad to hear that Aurora is going adult only". My daughter received an email from P&O at the same time saying " We are sorry to inform you that Aurora is going adult only and that your future booking is cancelled". That was the second time that P&O disappointed us greatly, the first time they cancelled a cruise on Arcadia and never notified us, we found out about the cancellation which was only 3 days ahead purely by chance. Since then I wouldn't rely upon them honouring any promises until I was actually on the ship and casting off, even then there's no guarantee that the ship will visit the ports that you signed on for.

We were aware but unfortunately we had no choice of dates. Also for various reasons it would not have been our choice of ship so it was a matter of taking the only option available in order to accommodate all members of the party. We even looked at other cruise companies. We travelled several times on Aurora with children during the school holidays and while the pools may have been busy at times it was never anything near that on Iona.

It's worth checking to see if P&O have advertised or are operating price matching.

They are adopting the philosophy of Jack Cohen, the founder of Tesco - “pile it high and sell it cheap” They certainly proved that on Iona last July, all the pools were absolutely crammed mostly with children. If you replaced the water with olive oil you could have sold them as sardines.

Having sailed on many of the P&O fleet and several times on some ships I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to cruise on any of the P&O ships again other than on Aurora and possibly on Arcadia. Our plans to try Arcadia were scuppered when P&O cancelled the cruise without warning. Quite simply the other ships simply do not float my boat (No pun intended). When P&O do decide to dispose of Aurora which I don't think will be too far in the future, unless they replace the ship with something very very similar my long association with P&O will be ended (first cruised with them in 1986) . P.S. I have a daughter named Canberra, another named Oriana, and a granddaughter named Aurora.

Not just want them to, but actually depend upon a certain percentage of the passengers using these restaurants on the larger freedom dining only ships. Should all the passengers decide to use only the main restaurants of an evening, because perhaps the specialty restaurants may not be in use (insufficient staff?) I don't think that they have the capacity to cope. That certainly appeared to be the case when we sailed on Iona last June.

We've had both good and bad experiences with P&O regarding boarding times. On one cruise on Aurora from Mayflower we decided to take a chance to see if we could board early because we were already in the area. We walked in through the door and were immediately directed to the check in desk and within 10 minutes we were on board. Absolutely amazing it took our breath away. I'm not complaining but we didn't even have time to savor the whole boarding process. On another cruise on Azura from Ocean terminal we turned up 10 minutes before our allocated boarding time of around 2 p.m. and ended up as the very last group to board some 2 or more hours later. For some reason our allocated letter simply wasn't called and it was as if the staff thought that they had finished and then looked up and wondered what all these people were doing still sitting in the hall. As for Iona in July of last year, well we were fortunate that we had priority boarding but our daughter who arrived on time at 3.30 said it was pandemonium, the whole boarding process at Ocean was simply overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of passengers and that was after the traffic issues getting into the port.

I thought it was but I didn't trust my memory.

We too loved café Bordeaux and were hugely disappointed when it was replaced with the Glasshouse. However most of the other changes that were made at the same time of the refit that removed it were pretty much welcomed.

Just wondering but have you confused your ships? Aurora doesn't have an Orangery. The only restaurant that may present the problem you mention is the Alexandria restaurant at the rear of deck 6 and that is because the galley is sandwiched between it and the Medina restaurant.

Haven't P&O discontinued the use of coasters as part of their going greener movement?

Correction to the above - It was the Olive Grove that we couldn't get a booking for and not the Glass House.

I hope that you have more luck than we did one evening when we cruised on IONA last July. The app would not allow us to book online because there was 7 of us and it only allows for a maximum of six. So we approached the desk outside the restaurant late afternoon and enquired to see if we could book there and then for later in the evening and was told that they couldn't do it and that we had to come back at 6.30. When we returned at 6.30 we were told that the restaurant was fully booked for the evening and to try another restaurant, we then tried another two restaurants with the same result. My frustration was starting to show especially as we were dragging around an elderly relative who has mobility issues. The last restaurant fitted us in but rather begrudgingly and they made quite a fuss about it as if they were doing us a great favour. We also tried to book the glass house on a couple of evenings, once again it was fully booked and could not accommodate us. It appears to me that P&O have totally misjudged the whole freedom dining thing on IONA and are incapable of dealing with it if significant number of passengers would rather sit down in the dining room of an evening to eat, rather than using the various buffets/cafeterias. Incidentally some of the other alternative extra pay dining venues were not in use for the duration of our cruise. While we have in the past experienced freedom dining that worked on some P&O ships, should we decide to cruise with P&O again it will only be if club dining is available. We have also experienced the equivalent of freedom dining on both Marella and Celebrity in both cases it was absolutely faultless.

My preferred dress of an evening would be described as smart casual, I don't particularly like wearing a dinner jacket. I consider it would be disrespectful to others not to adhere to the dress code so I live with it when sailing with P&O (much prefer the dress code on Marella).

When we sailed from the Ocean cruise terminal in July the CPS car receiving point was some distance away from the main terminal (roughly 50 yards ?) and it was necessary for us to wheel our bags over to the terminal building ourselves.

We were a party of 7 occupying 4 cabins on Iona in July. Three of the cabins were close together on one deck and the fourth on another part of the ship. The bookings were all linked, and we were all travelling together yet we were allocated four different boarding times varying from 12.30 to 4.00, we couldn't see any logic or pattern to the allocation of boarding times. We all turned up at 12.30 and boarded together.

Epicurean wasn't open when we sailed on Iona in July. It was also impossible to get a booking in one of the other restaurants as it was always full.

You may have very little choice as it will depend on which ones are open at that time.

We are all different and we thought that both Coral and Pearl restaurants were light and airy and so favoured them more on a recent cruise. While Aqua was smaller and quite pleasant we didn't like it quite as much. As for Opel, well that was just dark and unappealing especially when busy which it was on the evening that it was the only restaurant where we could get a table. To be absolutely honest that evening we were getting totally frustrated by the whole dining booking system that simply didn't work for us (a party of 7). We've experienced both club and freedom dining in the past, and each suited us well at the time for those cruises. However, that evening on Iona we weren't very happy at all with the system in place at that time, and we would have been extremely unhappy if the only alternative open to us was to resort to the buffet for dinner. Again, it looks like work in progress in the shake down of Iona.