P&O Aus - getting the most of your cruise - on board cash - other benefits ?

[Past it]

:) I think we did well with ours,myself and daughter and 8 yo grandson in outside main deck 8 nites for $3800 4 stops. I'm happy. Saw the 50% special brochure in TA window and couldn't resist checking it out.Couldn't squeeze anymore out of them for past pass as they said it was reduced enough. Got upped a deck to Main.Was on Empress last time,don't think it will make much diff,only closer to the laundry!!!! :p Can't wait!!!!!

[Past it]

Edit the last post, had another look at paper work. That price should have been $3400. I thought it seemed a bit high when I wrote it

[Rb_leas]

I to am going on my first cruie in 2006:)

Whilst I admit to being British and not ashamed of it (actually, think about it, I'm quite proud of the fact!), I was not sure if a cruise was really for me. Im a mountan man by nature (20,00 feet and -25% in the Himalayas is more my type of holiday) but any concerns have been answerred at http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/review.cfm?ShipID=302. They are a great bunch of peple and have a wealth of experience and I am sure that they will be able to help to answer any questions/concerns that you may have.

I hope you enjoy your holiday/vacation as much as I will make sure that I will.

Regards

RL

0;)

[karmac]

This is my first time on Cruise Critic and my family of 5 are also booked to go on our first cruise in June 2005:) . I found that being a family of 5, we were unable to take advantage of any specials because we needed to book a long time in advance to get the cruise we wanted with a 5th rollaway bed, kids club and a good deck (we booked in July 2004 and cruise in June 2005). You mentioned that you got an extra 5% discount for being a past cruiser ( was that cruise on the Pacific Sun with your children? ). I was wondering about the Kids clubs. I have been reading Cruise Critic and cant wait for reviews ( can only find 1 other review ). I know there is a few people that are on the ship now and will be returning in a couple of days.

 

Hi Kazza1

I've just found this site and have been reading your posts. I found them rather interesting because I too have 3 kids (1 regarded as an adult) and we are booked to go on N611 in April. We booked 17 months in advance to make sure we got the 5th berth so we've already been waiting almost 12 months. My kids will be 15 (boy), 11 (girl) and 10 (boy). we've wanted to do a cruise for a long time but was unable to until the Pacific Sun came along because of the fact we have 3 children. I did a cruise 19 years ago on the Fairstar and had a ball. Of course I was single then so this will be different but I'm sure we'll have a great time. We can't wait and I'd be interested to know how yours went.

[Truebliss72]

When we booked to go on our cruise aboard the Pacific Sun we were originally told that we would have to book 2 cabins which was very expensive and our 2 eldest girls aged 11 and 15 would sleep in there.

We got a call back 10 minutes later with a deal for 5 in the one cabin with a HUGE reduction in price which suited us as we are a 1 income family.

Anyway apparently none of the ships are allowed to take 5 in a cabin anymore...but as you can see it can be done when they are short on numbers.

 

I will however mention this...the way they done our booking due to P&O not having 5 per booking was the 4 of us went on 1 booking and get this! our 2 yr old son went on his own booking number! Different cabin...lol

 

I told the agent well seeing that there is no kids club for under 3 and my son who is 2 1/2 has a booking alone you can all take care of him whilst I lap up the sun..lol...didnt work..but thought I would share our experiences with you. My husband said he doesnt like the fact our little man is on a diff booking when he is so young but we will see how it goes when we board and get our tickets which should come this week sometime.

 

Have a good day!

[kaseyoz]

i seem to recall that the 5th person having his own booking ticket is the norm. it happened to another person on here (maybe kazza) he was "placed" not only in a different cabin but a different floor. I think this is just to comply with numbers. I think kazza also has a picture of the cabin with the rollaway bed in situ. a very tight squeeze but when you compare the costs it si definately worth it i think. I would worry more about your girls using the bathrooms. You will have to alternate morning and evening showers i think. But hey you are going ona cruise this is a minor chore.

have fun

karon

[keepcruising]

We travel with 3 kids all the time, when we sailed on the sky, this did work out very difficult, however on the Sun there are limited cabins where they will bring in a 5th rollaway bed for you. Will tell you how this goes. Even though we've been on the sun befors, one of our childeren shared a room with the grandparents, so we haven't had a 5th bed yet. Wednesday will be the first we see how it's done.

One interesting point, we are having the same cabin as we did in March. Back then we were told they couldn't put a rollaway in that cabin, but this time round there was no problem, they said they could. Interesting how you get a different responce from different people in head office.

And yes they always give you two booking numbers, there system can only handle 4 per booking number.

[Kazza1]

Truebliss

 

On our cruise in June the travel agent booked myself and our three boys on one booking number and had my husband on the other (as the computers will only allow 4 to a booking). This time around I booked with P&O and they put my 4 1/2 yr old on a seperate booking. When we checked the details on the P&O cruise personaliser, P&O had made a few typing errors and he was on a different deck to us (check your details). As we had transfered our booking to the travel agent, she called P&O and got it fixed.

 

Kazza

[Truebliss72]

Yes Kazza, I did notice this that Thomas was on a different level tha us as well and when I aksed th travel agent he said this was the norm.

 

Thanks for everyones response on the way it is done. Being new it has really helped me understand how it works. Much appreciated!

When will we receive our room allocations?

[timeisright]

Hi

 

We got our room allocations 1 week prior to departure. They update them on their website once they have been done.

 

We depart on Wednesday (only 2 more sleeps) and can't wait. Will enter a review when we get back.

 

I look forward to meeting lots of new people on our trip

 

Cheers :cool:

[Kazza1]

Truebliss

 

When I called P&O about the typing error, they informed me that I had to go to my travel agent and get them to call so they could fix up the errors.

 

Did you post somewhere else that you took a "captains cabin choice" or something?

 

When you go on your cruise, relax, enjoy and celebrate the great news that you dont have to have an operation.

 

Kazza

[Truebliss72]

Yes it was something like that so we have an inside cabin guaranteed but we could get bumped up a grade as it appears that our cruise is a little on the quiet side! Our tickets havent arrived yet so I hope we get them this week.

 

You are correct Kazza when you mentioned about the 5 berth. I clarified this with P&O and you can have a 5 berth on any ship with an infant under 3. Once they reach 3 you must pay for them and your fare than becomes expensive.

 

I looked into the ASIA one today as we would love to do it but it was going to cost us so much money as there is airfares involved and the majority of the cruises have now been waitlisted as well. It would be lovely but I think we will have to stick to doing another one within the Pacific first I think and maybe if they have another Asian one we could do that the year after. I am already trying to plan anther cruise but wandering about whether we should book or wait till after we come back and closer to the time to get a good deal like we did this time. I guess there is the possibility that it wouldt happen again. Any thoughts?

[Kazza1]

I am already trying to plan anther cruise but wandering about whether we should book or wait till after we come back and closer to the time to get a good deal like we did this time. I guess there is the possibility that it wouldt happen again. Any thoughts?

 

Truebliss

 

I would wait till you come back. We got 40% off our next cruise.

 

Now that the whole family has passports, there is nothing stopping us from taking a trip at the last minute when P&O have those great specials.(if 5 berth is available).

 

Kazza