P&O Question From the U.S.A.

[Woobstr112G]

My apologies if this question seems a bit dumb, but I was wondering of it is possible to book a P&O cruise (USA Citizen) directly from the P&O website? I tried doing a phantom booking but it kept reading my address as being in GB. This is even after I clicked on the manual address button.

 

I've been cruising Princess since 2008 but was thinking of trying something new as Princess has become a little stale as of late.....:):):)

 

Bob

[terrierjohn]

Sorry I do not know the answer but you could try e-mailing to reservations@pocruises.com I assume they can give you the correct answer.

As regards whether you would find P&O better than Princess I imagine not, but they do provide a reasonable quality main stream product, just not up there with Celebrity, Cunard or HAL.

You will need to consider that they are geared primarily to UK passengers and even their Caribbean cruises out of Barbados or world cruise sectors will assume flights to and from the UK, and getting P&O customer service to adjust their prices to reflect different flights might be a bit too much for them to cope with.

However best of luck if you do decide to cruise with them.

[dsrdsrdsr]

... even their Caribbean cruises out of Barbados or world cruise sectors will assume flights to and from the UK, and getting P&O customer service to adjust their prices to reflect different flights might be a bit too much for them to cope with.

They won't quote you prices for flights from anywhere else, but I'm pretty sure they do cruise-only prices and let you arrange your own flights from wherever.

[CCFC]

In reply to the original question:

 

"If you are a resident of a country outside of the UK you will be required to make a P&O Cruises reservation via our overseas department on +442380 657064. Unfortunately our website here in the UK does not currently support overseas addresses."

 

https://ask.pocruises.com/help/PO/before-you-sail/outside_uk

 

Hope that helps!

[Woobstr112G]

In reply to the original question:

 

"If you are a resident of a country outside of the UK you will be required to make a P&O Cruises reservation via our overseas department on +442380 657064. Unfortunately our website here in the UK does not currently support overseas addresses."

 

https://ask.pocruises.com/help/PO/before-you-sail/outside_uk

 

Hope that helps!

 

Thank you for the information.....:):):)

 

Bob

[jeanlyon]

In fact you might be better booking through an American Travel Agent and you would probably get it cheaper than we do here in the UK

[Dancer Bob]

I booked on Oriana earlier this year. My agent can book me on Cunard with no problems, but not P&O. I finally ended up snail-mailing a cheque to Southampton. The explanations my agent received as to why P&O won't deal with North Americans made no sense at all.

[kevinyork]

My apologies if this question seems a bit dumb, but I was wondering of it is possible to book a P&O cruise (USA Citizen) directly from the P&O website? I tried doing a phantom booking but it kept reading my address as being in GB. This is even after I clicked on the manual address button.

 

I've been cruising Princess since 2008 but was thinking of trying something new as Princess has become a little stale as of late.....:):):)

 

Bob

 

Im possibly going out on a limb here but having had 5 P&O cruises I would imagine very few US cruisers would be happy with P&O. The whole ship, entertainment and food is created for an almost wholly British clientelle. On our 5 cruises weve never encountered an American passenger (and just a couple of Aussies on a Baltic cruise). Having experienced Celebrity and RCI, both of whom I consider have a superior product to P&O, Im not really sure P&O is for US cruisers. You certainly would be in a minority and perhaps the only US passengers on board.

 

Our neighbours are very experienced cruisers and progressed from P&O to Princess and consider princess superior despite many of their ships being from the same structural design. As an example P&O Azura and Ventura are based on the Princess Grand Class of ships however P&O added an extra deck so they have 400 more passengers than their Princess sister ships.

 

Dont want to sound negative but also dont want you spending your cruise dollars on something that may not be for you.

[BrianI]

I booked on Oriana earlier this year. My agent can book me on Cunard with no problems, but not P&O. I finally ended up snail-mailing a cheque to Southampton. The explanations my agent received as to why P&O won't deal with North Americans made no sense at all.

The reason is probably historic. Prior to the merger with Carnival, Princess was owned by P&O and was their North American cruise operation. All North American marketing was done with the Princess brand and not P&O. It seems that this has continued under Carnival.

 

It is correct that the P&O ships, Azura and Ventura, based on the Grand Class ships have the extra deck but so do the later Princess ships, Caribbean, Crown, Emerald and Ruby.

Brian

[CCFC]

And on the bow of all Princess ships is the P&O rising sun emblem!

[daiB]

Im possibly going out on a limb here but having had 5 P&O cruises I would imagine very few US cruisers would be happy with P&O. The whole ship, entertainment and food is created for an almost wholly British clientelle. On our 5 cruises weve never encountered an American passenger (and just a couple of Aussies on a Baltic cruise). Having experienced Celebrity and RCI, both of whom I consider have a superior product to P&O, Im not really sure P&O is for US cruisers. You certainly would be in a minority and perhaps the only US passengers on board.

 

Our neighbours are very experienced cruisers and progressed from P&O to Princess and consider princess superior despite many of their ships being from the same structural design. As an example P&O Azura and Ventura are based on the Princess Grand Class of ships however P&O added an extra deck so they have 400 more passengers than their Princess sister ships.

 

Dont want to sound negative but also dont want you spending your cruise dollars on something that may not be for you.

 

But you are always sounding negative about P&O, perhaps our friend from across the pond wants the different experience from that in sailings from the US.

 

We have friends also who were Princess cruisers and were on our cruise to the North Cape. They like the product so much that they have now booked on Arcadia for a world cruise.

 

Not everyone is the same. As ever the only way to see if it is for you is to try it.

 

The main problem for cruisers from the US is that they have to get to Southampton or Barbados under their own steam as as far as I know P&O do not do all in prices from the US.

[kevinyork]

But you are always sounding negative about P&O, perhaps our friend from across the pond wants the different experience from that in sailings from the US.

 

We have friends also who were Princess cruisers and were on our cruise to the North Cape. They like the product so much that they have now booked on Arcadia for a world cruise.

 

Not everyone is the same. As ever the only way to see if it is for you is to try it.

 

The main problem for cruisers from the US is that they have to get to Southampton or Barbados under their own steam as as far as I know P&O do not do all in prices from the US.

 

Not negative, we have sailed 5 times with P&O so they have something for us. However having experienced US cruise lines I wanted to state my view about how a US cruise passenger may experience P&O..

 

Out of interest Dai how many US cruise lines have you tried in order to be able to offer a balanced opinion without simply supporting P&O whatever?

[terrierjohn]

Not negative, we have sailed 5 times with P&O so they have something for us. However having experienced US cruise lines I wanted to state my view about how a US cruise passenger may experience P&O..

 

Out of interest Dai how many US cruise lines have you tried in order to be able to offer a balanced opinion without simply supporting P&O whatever?

15-love to KY I believe.;)

[besberry]

Im possibly going out on a limb here but having had 5 P&O cruises I would imagine very few US cruisers would be happy with P&O. The whole ship, entertainment and food is created for an almost wholly British clientelle. On our 5 cruises weve never encountered an American passenger (and just a couple of Aussies on a Baltic cruise). Having experienced Celebrity and RCI, both of whom I consider have a superior product to P&O, Im not really sure P&O is for US cruisers. You certainly would be in a minority and perhaps the only US passengers on board.

 

Our neighbours are very experienced cruisers and progressed from P&O to Princess and consider princess superior despite many of their ships being from the same structural design. As an example P&O Azura and Ventura are based on the Princess Grand Class of ships however P&O added an extra deck so they have 400 more passengers than their Princess sister ships.

 

Dont want to sound negative but also dont want you spending your cruise dollars on something that may not be for you.

I was on the Aurora world cruise earlier this year, and we had about 25 (I think) different nationalities on board as passengers, including Americans. They all seemed to enjoy it and the Britishness of P&O. I've sailed RCI & Celebrity and I'm about to try Norwegian. My preference is American, but I'm sailing on Aurora again in 2015 on another grand voyage. So I'd say, give a try, it's not as glitzy as the American lines that I've been on. some of the food could be improved, but it's a great experience.

[NSWP]

We were on Ruby Princess in 2011, Med/Transatlantic with the author of this thread - Woobstr. Go for it Bob, you will like P&O UK as we do, a little different from Princess, but not that much. You just will not get the nuked bacon you guys like.

 

Above all, enjoy !

Edited December 29, 2013 by NSWP

[Scrapnana]

I was considering the Aurora World Cruise for 2014. I asked on here and on the forum that was on the P&O website (I believe they removed it) about the line. As a number of people on here mentioned, many did not think I would like the "Britishness" of P&O (the food and entertainment came up frequently). When I talked to my TA about P&O, she said that she would not be able to book me that P&O only allowed one large US TA to book for Americans (this was over a year ago so that may have changed). I ended up going with Cunard.

Edited December 29, 2013 by Scrapnana

[daiB]

I was considering the Aurora World Cruise for 2014. I asked on here and on the forum that was on the P&O website (I believe they removed it) about the line. As a number of people on here mentioned, many did not think I would like the "Britishness" of P&O (the food and entertainment came up frequently). When I talked to my TA about P&O, she said that she would not be able to book me that P&O only allowed one large US TA to book for Americans (this was over a year ago so that may have changed). I ended up going with Cunard.

 

I am not sure I would suggest anyone to go on a new cruise line for a long voyage eg a world or half a world. It must be better to try the line on a short cruise first to see if, you, like it.

[Host Sharon]

I am not sure I would suggest anyone to go on a new cruise line for a long voyage eg a world or half a world. It must be better to try the line on a short cruise first to see if, you, like it.

 

 

Not really practical though Dai when you have to fly from the USA to start with, unless you add a short cruise onto a longer land holiday. I think more and more US people are starting to try P&O and enjoying them. Surely the very Britishness might make it a different experience for them much as UK people like to try US lines? The main differences to beware of IMO are that itineraries are not so port intensive as US lines and that the food will be geared to UK tastes so don't expect huge steaks! I believe there is only one US agent that can book P&O UK. If you do as search you find out which one that is as I can't remember it.

[besberry]

I am not sure I would suggest anyone to go on a new cruise line for a long voyage eg a world or half a world. It must be better to try the line on a short cruise first to see if, you, like it.

P&O was a new line to me before I did the world cruise.

[daiB]

Not really practical though Dai when you have to fly from the USA to start with, unless you add a short cruise onto a longer land holiday. I think more and more US people are starting to try P&O and enjoying them. Surely the very Britishness might make it a different experience for them much as UK people like to try US lines? The main differences to beware of IMO are that itineraries are not so port intensive as US lines and that the food will be geared to UK tastes so don't expect huge steaks! I believe there is only one US agent that can book P&O UK. If you do as search you find out which one that is as I can't remember it.

 

Yes I would agree entirely, the Americans I have met on P&O have been staying in the UK possibly with relatives and they have added a cruise on.

 

However there a number of Aussies who use P&O for the worlds and that is further away.

[kevinyork]

Yes I would agree entirely, the Americans I have met on P&O have been staying in the UK possibly with relatives and they have added a cruise on.

 

However there a number of Aussies who use P&O for the worlds and that is further away.

 

Dai. Still waiting for an explanation of your term ' miss kevin of york'. As a gay man I'm not enthralled by your terminology.

[welwyngirl]

I would just like to add that my husband and I have often been the only (or almost only) Brits onboard certain cruiseships. We've also done lots of different American land tours, too. We had no problems whatsoever on any trip. We booked sometimes with American TAs or directly with American companies. We were quite a novelty but there's quite a few Americas who now know a few cockney songs and I know all the words to The Star Spangled Banner. At least we all speak pretty much the same language. On some European ships (Costa, MSC etc) we've had to listen to the same announcement in 5 languages! Just a thought!

[NSWP]

I think the Australian cruising culture fits somewhere between the British and Americans, my view anyway.

 

On Arcadia last year Sydney to Southampton, 49 days WC, there were around 300 Aussies on board and 1700 Brits, from my observations everybody got on fine and we found the P&O tucker very suitable for Australian tastebuds.

 

So I would think the average American would find P&O UK to their taste.

Edited December 29, 2013 by NSWP

[daiB]

Dai. Still waiting for an explanation of your term ' miss kevin of york'. As a gay man I'm not enthralled by your terminology.

 

Sorry Kevin if I have upset you. There was something I read some time ago from you which led me to believe you were a lady. I was wrong. I thought you had taken the name you have for your own reasons. I have no problem with that if it was the case.

 

I certainly have no problem with your sexuality or indeed anyone else's. that is entirely your concern.

 

Once again I apologise for my miss understanding.

[kevinyork]

Sorry Kevin if I have upset you. There was something I read some time ago from you which led me to believe you were a lady. I was wrong. I thought you had taken the name you have for your own reasons. I have no problem with that if it was the case.

 

I certainly have no problem with your sexuality or indeed anyone else's. that is entirely your concern.

 

Once again I apologise for my miss understanding.

 

Thanks Dai. Puzzles me what may have led you to believe I was a lady though........ 'miss understanding' lol.