Caribbean cruise with P&O

[dancewithmeninnie]

We did a P&O cruise out of Southampton a few years back and it was awful. Age group about 70+ and entertainment consisted mainly of lots of old men playing a piano. Just about our worst holiday ever. Can anybody advise if a Caribbean cruise with P&O is likely to be the same (@ Xmas)? We did a Celebrity far east one last year and it was brilliant. Fab service, great food, much younger crowd and far more sociable. Thanks in advance.

[richleeds]

To be safe, stick with Celebrity.

[davecttr]

If you cruise out of southampton at xmas you will probably get a older demographic, those who for medical reasons etc won't or can't fly.

 

Oceana out of southampton this year had just under 130 children aboard, say 60 families and 120 adults. The leaves over 1900 adults without children. A lot of these were elderly as evidenced by the vast amount of sticks on display, not that I am complaining but apparently some idiot did, moaning that there were too many sticks and wheelchairs, plus too many children :rolleyes:

 

Maybe younger families with money would rather fly and avoid the long drag from and to southampton.

[Turbofun]

We did a P&O cruise out of Southampton a few years back and it was awful. Age group about 70+ and entertainment consisted mainly of lots of old men playing a piano. Just about our worst holiday ever. Can anybody advise if a Caribbean cruise with P&O is likely to be the same (@ Xmas)? We did a Celebrity far east one last year and it was brilliant. Fab service, great food, much younger crowd and far more sociable. Thanks in advance.

 

How old are you?

I'm 66 but I do know how to use the resources of the Internet to research any subject I'm interested in, to provide me with information that will help me to make a decision.

So, to help, use the reviews forum here and elsewhere, many reviews include videos. Use a search engine to provide a comprehensive overview of any cruise lines you might consider using.

We've not done a P&O Caribbean Christmas cruise, just a late January fly cruise and it was great.

Then, we love the Caribbean and a cruise means we get to see many islands in an easy way.

Perhaps you should also consider Carnival and Royal Caribbean from US ports if you want a younger passenger demographic.

[Rollingstone65]

We did a P&O cruise out of Southampton a few years back and it was awful. Age group about 70+ and entertainment consisted mainly of lots of old men playing a piano. Just about our worst holiday ever. Can anybody advise if a Caribbean cruise with P&O is likely to be the same (@ Xmas)? We did a Celebrity far east one last year and it was brilliant. Fab service, great food, much younger crowd and far more sociable. Thanks in advance.

 

We did a carribbean cruise on Arcadia from Southampton, in November. I am 58 and my OH is 64 we are young at heart and found the ship to have mostly older people on it. The entertainment wasn't very good, you can see better on the karaoke at the local pub ! Also endless quizzes !! I don't know why the "entertainment" team couldn't come up with anything more exciting. You will find the longer cruises have older people as they are retired and are on the longer cruises because they don't fly. Why not spend your money elsewhere and maybe fly/cruise.

[the english lady]

We did a P&O cruise out of Southampton a few years back and it was awful. Age group about 70+ and entertainment consisted mainly of lots of old men playing a piano. Just about our worst holiday ever. Can anybody advise if a Caribbean cruise with P&O is likely to be the same (@ Xmas)? We did a Celebrity far east one last year and it was brilliant. Fab service, great food, much younger crowd and far more sociable. Thanks in advance.

 

 

Working on the info you have given I would either stay with Celebrity or do a fly cruise with P and O.

Why not to cruise from Southampton with P and O -If its a long cruise (anything more than 7-14 days) most young families would still have parent(s) working, so cannot afford a longer time off work.

We did the recent Caribbean transatlantic in November, and yes we were down the younger end as well. However some of the older ones were certainly more agile than me...plus age is just a number ..doesn't signify if you will be able to hold a sensible conversation or not.

Entertainment..well yes quiz or quiz or quiz or quiz. There was a choir and talks..however not anything that really grabbed you by the pants.

However as people want cheaper and cheaper cruises something has to give way and it is certainly the entertainment.

If it is a P and O family ship you may get some families onboard (so younger), but not like the med in summer.

[soobs]

We are 55 & 62 and don't feel we are the oldies on board and do see pleanty of older than us about but we also see loads younger than us. Another reason that cruises out of Southampton have the more mature passenger is that they are retired so have more time to cruise and good luck to them.

We don't have that luxury and need to fly there and back to get the most of the annual leave.

 

Age doesn't matter to us we find people of all ages and nationality make interesting dinner partners and the cross section we have met have all mostly been very interesting some with very different views to us, some appear a little strange but maybe we appear strange to others.

[richleeds]

Age doesn't matter to us we find people of all ages and nationality make interesting dinner partners

 

Age doesnt matter if you have a sensible mix of ages but cruises can be top heavy in one age range and this changes the dynamic of the cruise.

 

Carnival at spring break is full of late teens who want to party

Thomson during the 6 weeks holidays is full of families with children

P&O out of Southampton is Gods waiting room

[richleeds]

The entertainment wasn't very good, you can see better on the karaoke at the local pub ! Also endless quizzes !! I don't know why the "entertainment" team couldn't come up with anything more exciting.

 

The quizzes are there to give the grandly titled yet talentless Assistant Cruise Director a job to do and a sense of purpose on ship.

[cruisefan2012]

" P&O Cruises out of Southampton are Gods Waiting Room..."

 

I hope I dont fall into that category, I`m only 31 !!

[davecttr]

The quizzes are there to give the grandly titled yet talentless Assistant Cruise Director a job to do and a sense of purpose on ship.

they don't have an assistant cruise director anymore. nor a assistant entertainement manager either. At xmas they had 3 staff to do everything that 4.5 used to do. The assistant manger post was dropped and they also had a vacency.

 

Yes, there are far too many quizzes, especially as they infest the Yacht and Compass. too many deck quotes(sp) as well as it uses up a now very rare entertainement person.

 

I did notice a certain feeling of lack of direction and sloppyness but maybe this was because the entertainment manager and captain were newly aboard.

 

If they want to maximise resources I suggest they give the headliners more to do. They certainly seem have an easy life. Have them helping out around the ship. Come to think of it, i don't remember seeing any other than in a show but maybe i don't visit where they lurk.

[richleeds]

they don't have an assistant cruise director anymore. nor a assistant entertainement manager either. At xmas they had 3 staff to do everything that 4.5 used to do. The assistant manger post was dropped and they also had a vacency.

 

There is still someone who would step up to the mark if the CD was ill and in effect they are the ACD, on many lines they are still titled as such.

[richleeds]

If they want to maximise resources I suggest they give the headliners more to do. They certainly seem have an easy life. Have them helping out around the ship. Come to think of it, i don't remember seeing any other than in a show but maybe i don't visit where they lurk.

 

We have cruised before and found the show dancers working in the retail outlets on their non performance days but this seems to be a thing of the past.

 

Sometimes you will find a lead vocal from the show will do a solo spot in a lounge but usually their vocals arent up to it.

 

They do tend to mosey around the ship on days off looking like lost souls, praying to be recognised - peacocks anyone?

[Host Sharon]

 

If they want to maximise resources I suggest they give the headliners more to do. They certainly seem have an easy life. Have them helping out around the ship. Come to think of it, i don't remember seeing any other than in a show but maybe i don't visit where they lurk.

 

This is standard on Oceania and CMV where the dancers and singers are the ent. officers too, but then they have small ships.

 

Of course it will be an older demographic on a 3-4 week cruise as not so many employers are as relaxed about taking that in one chunk as mine have been. And incidentally one of the most fun people I have met on a ship was in her 80s.

[jaceyar]

It is an obvious fact that wheelchair and scooter users will prefer not to fly. Flying is not particularly pleasant for any of us these days.

[caber]

We are flying to the Caribbean in a few weeks. We are also retired.:rolleyes:

We mix with all ages on our cruises. Age is just a number.