molecrochip

I believe the same happened on Iona across Christmas & New Year. The dress code was not strictly enforced that night. Its the one cruise a year where more than 2 celebration nights work well.

Explains why he left Iona in Barcelona, to the surprise of some passengers.

Bear in mind that when you order a drink, especially in a bar/restaurant, the server logs your table number. It may not be written on the table but they can get a diagram on their tablet. I've only once ever known the kids club need to get hold of someone in an emergency and not be able to do it via tracking them down quickly. The announcement was similar to "could Mr & Mrs X from Y deck please contact reception by dialling xxxx from the nearest telephone". In this case the kids had fallen awkwardly and was in the medical centre receiving treatment. They got called to reception so as not to alarm - and could then be directed to the medical centre. The kids club had already taken the kid to the medical centre so where a staff member short - they didn't need to lose another one dealing with the parents so rely on reception.

Arvia was officially welcomed to Southampton during a ceremony in which the city’s Bishop, the Right Reverend Debbie Sellin blessed the ship and her crew. The commemorative plaques were exchanged between ABP and P&O Cruises president Paul Ludlow and Captain Robert Camby. Photo copyright P&O Cruises.

Rotterdam - do you not stop at the city cruise terminal in the city center?

Sharon - do you know who?

The blessing happened before her first cruise in Southampton. Olly Murs jumped in the pool at the end!

In the old day, the EP used to handle an awful lot more cash and financial matters. With the increased use of cards both for paying onboard accounts, and reducing the amount of foreign currency sold on board, the finance functions were reduced. There is still a Purser on board. Call 7000 - it goes to reception not the myHoliday menu. Captain takes priority over HGM. Its his ship and everyone onboard is a report of his in one way or other. No. There is a chain of command. There is at least two grades of people between reception staff and the HGM. Issues get escalated through the grades until they reach the appropriate person. A water pressure problem would probably be dealt with by the lowest of those grades who will contact engineering to resolve. Assuming its Paul Brown he is a great example of a true team leader. That's what a ship is, a team, with the captain as player manager. The captains primary concern is the health, safety and wellbeing of the ship, its crew and its passengers. He discharges this responsibility by using a defined hierarchy of responsibilities. Broadly on the ship side you have the Capital > Staff (deputy captain) > Senior Officers > Officers > Other grades. On the hotel side you have Captain > HGM > Hotel Manger / F&B Manager / Entertainment Manager Each ship has a management team made up of Captain/HGM/F&B/Ents/Chief Engineer etc who meet daily/most days. Issues do get fed back up, logs looked at etc. Financial performance will also be an area. If a captain feels ANY area could be better then its on them to work with their team to push commercial opportunities. One way they can do that is through direct actions. Finally, captains are proud of their ships, they want to show them off, for people to enjoy them. Why should they not encourage people to tell their friends. As for scripted announcements, some are, some are not. Often the safety ones are. PR announcements are just easier to read that reword.

Yes, there are no standard issues with any of the ports above. Weather is a different matter. Geiranger and the SeaWalk is still a problem I understand.

So you would rather turn up at 8pm and wait for 30 minutes in a long queue to ensure you get a seat because its first come first served? Not for me thanks. I'd rather book. There is no requirement to use the app onboard. You can just turn up, but then you take the chance. A lot of people are not that socially outgoing at dinner. If they want a table on their own, let them. You can - some ships use it, some don't depending upon voyage. But its there.

On Iona, they had two queues, people who wanted a buzzer as 'walk-ups' and those who were returning having been called. I have seen a fight because someone thought someone else was queue jumping - but that was largely poor queue management rather than IT failing.

On Iona its open for lunch and dinner as a paid restaurant. On Arvia its dinner only as its included. I love Medallion but am not keen on the myholiday 'app'. I don't recall the Medallion app having queues - just allowing bookings, or walk-ups. Firstly Medallion is a proper app. You do your check-in through it, your reservations can be made through it, choose your embarkation and disembarkation times instantly, and more. Secondly, Medallion has a "wearable" instead of a cruise card. Its the size and weight of a round pound coin. Stick it on a chain, lanyard, wristband, in your pocket - it doesn't matter. The technology can place the wearable to precision of about 5 meters anywhere in the public areas of the ship - or it can tell you are in your cabin. For example, go sit on deck somewhere random and order a beer from the nearest bar using the app. The bar gets the order, sends a waiter with it to you. The technology shows the waiter where you are and as they get within range, it shows your picture so they correctly identify you. No more finding a waiter, waiting while they take 4 other orders before returning to the bar. Not just drinks, want a snack, a sandwich, burger, some fries - order in the same way. The app also allows you to do all of this to your cabin, as room service. If you don't want to use the app, there are big screens around the ship you can use. Tap your app and browse shows or make a dining reservation. Need help, visit the Medallion store in the atrium. As you can see - I'm a big fan.

So the strict reliance on the 'app' has now gone. The official line is that the 'app' is now optional. I think its fair to say that we are now in a middle ground. The 'app' is optional yet P&O are keen for people to use it as the next logical step has always been Ocean Medallion (like Princess). For me, Ocean Medallion is lightyears better than the 'app'. Its still optional but because it uses technology to identify your location, it makes things like ordering a drink so much quicker. If it wasn't for Covid, I think we would have seen a Medallion trial on Britannia by now. I've never had it confirmed, but there were strong rumours that Britannia was kitted out for Medallion as part of her return to service post pandemic (being the first ship). The thought was to use Medallion for contact tracing however with protocols changing rapidly, that never happened. Iona and Arvia have been built to allow easy conversion to Medallion too, as I understand. Ultimately, Medallion is a cost first, therefore I expect the bigwigs to want to see a business case to support it.

It goes to all however I feel lots of people have had issues with getting P&O emails since their last system upgrade (during the pandemic). Do you actually get other email? Do you get your booking confirmations and marketing emails etc? Hmmm. I suspect so. I know of P&O staff members who have not received certain booking emails until the system was kicked. I know some TAs put their email address in and therefore provide all info via them and therefore you don't get emails. They should put your details in and theirs separately in the relevant agent space. My suggesting is to call P&O, check your email address, set your preferences to everything, and then start again.

I didn't think this was possible. Certainly you couldn't do this with the shows when I was last on board. The problem you have is that reservations are not called one by one. The restaurant manager tends to walk around the restaurant, note the available tables and then call the next 4, 6, however many groups to the restaurant. I would therefore expect that the chance of two restaurants calling close together is therefore high. It was never meant to be like this. It was mean to be buzzers like Britannia's freedom dining restaurants. The pandemic caused P&O to create the 'app' to avoid people queuing in close confines to get a buzzer.

As I understand it, the same engines can run using either fuel. Southampton LNG bunkering has restarted however its still easier to arrange for it to happen at other ports if the itinerary allows hence why its usually marine oil bunkered in Southampton. No point burning cleaner fuel if you have to make a polluting bunker ship travel half way around Europe to bring your the LNG.

Yes they can as long as they don't breach a fire zone, broadly when you cabin number changes from 1xx to 2xx to 3xx on the bigger ships. That said, they are still logged as being open for fire purposes, and to ensure they are shut on the last day of the cruise.

The MDR booking was indeed a trial - you'll note that its something that other cruise lines allow. People get really upset about the virtual queues but i've never heard someone complain about waiting 30 minutes with a pager on Britannia.

A few points from me: @Selbourne This does seem to be an Arvia problem, due to the lack of two smaller dining rooms. @ElmaLee How do you join multiple queues? Last time I tried, you had to cancel one to join another. Also, as each booking is given 15 minutes to turn up, having multiple requests just leads to more tables sat empty unless you're actively cancelling your reservation? @Interestedcruisefan How do you swap queues? Again, this is new on me. Also, the Chef's Table has proved popular in the buffet - that is probably the tables you're seeing all nicely dressed - they have been pre-booked, although A lot of research has gone into working out how many formal and informal covers should be available on any given night. I wonder if Arvia is suffering from new ship syndrome - everyone wants to do thinks as they have always done. Currently, the number of returning customers will be high as people want to try the ship, some will never go back, some will love it. Ultimately, the hope is that offering the variety of dining options similar to an RCI or MSC will entice a younger new breed of passenger - the type who are less bothered about dress code to get into the MDR. Hence it really might just be teething problems.

Yes! I actually thought one bit was bordering on culturally racist stereotyping. An unusual 'miss' from me. To add, it wasn't the performers fault - it was executed well. It was just the concept I hated!

Sky’s the Limit, is in my opinion, the worst show I’ve ever seen on a P&O ship. It completely didn’t click and I like to think I’ve a very broad taste in music, musicals and theatre. I saw ODYC on one of their earlier performances in their current contract. Spectacular. Not yet seen Greatest Day but everyone I know who has have been impressed. Finally, if you want proper well known musicals, the larger Royal Caribbean ships each have a different resident musical on board. Anthem has We Will Rock You and it lasts about 90 minutes.

It’s such a blunt tool.

Because Iona and Nicole were both in the same place, whereas Arvia was in the Caribbean.

Correct. You also see Iona's skydome in the background of one of her pieces.

Lets play spot the deliberate mistake..... if anyone has watched the videos published by P&O of the new godmother on Arvia, let me know what is not quite right!