Booked P&O

[davecttr]

Marco Pierre White.....

 

I can't remember the show times, but they are not up to the usual Thomson standard, however the guest artists are good and there are a few of them rather than the one that Thomson fly in.

 

I remember wandering around on Christmas eve at 11.30pm and the only ones in the Atrium were us and some staff members taking pictures by the tree. Even the disco was empty.

If that was a southampton cruise the average passenger age is high. Vast numbers of elderly. Oceana is a family friendly ship and probably the most relaxed in the P&O fleet but departing from Southampton meant only 128 children aboard and large numbers of those who won't or can't fly. The ship did essentially shut down by late evening although the disco was open to 3ish on a couple of occasions. The main lounge Tiffanies resembled gods waiting room on most occassions.

 

Honestly the ships i heard mentioned most often were Oriana and one called Fred, these were both infinitely superior to Oceana apparently. I felt as if maybe those passengers would be better off there.

 

At least is better tha Arcadia in the Baltic where they had Vera Lynn singing 'bluebirds over' at midnight in the mainbar, at midnight, with little flags, honest :eek:

[CRUISIN LINDA]

I suggest you check out my recent P&O Oceana threads over there. I seem to have stirred up some people ;)

:D:D:D Naughty Dave, just read your posts. Not sure if you were being serious or winding people up - not difficult on there.

 

I am giving up posting on P&O boards as I always get ignored. Perhaps I should post something controversial!

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Dave, can I ask you a question on here about P&O?:D

 

On Princess cruises there is a separate dining room for Freedom dining guests. Is this the same on P&O? If not how on earth do they accommodate all the guests in two sittings in the Club dining rooms?

Edited January 5, 2015 by CRUISIN LINDA

[davecttr]

:D:D:D Naughty Dave, just read your posts. Not sure if you were being serious or winding people up - not difficult on there.

 

I am giving up posting on P&O boards as I always get ignored. Perhaps I should post something controversial!

A bit of both :D;)

 

i am getting a bit bored with P&O, however;

 

my next cruise is a caribbean transatlantic, a bit like the marie celeste but the islands will be nice.

 

then i am trying brittania for a week

 

then a 14 nighter on Princess

 

then the Madge.

 

next xmas it is Oceana again, with the funchal fireworks

 

then it is Sydney to Singapore on aurora, i will forgive the ship for the itinery.

 

Maybe NCL, MSC etc for summer '16

[davecttr]

:D:D:D Naughty Dave, just read your posts. Not sure if you were being serious or winding people up - not difficult on there.

 

I am giving up posting on P&O boards as I always get ignored. Perhaps I should post something controversial!

Like me on another forum which is very cliquey and can go days without anything of relevance being posted.

 

posted from my cheap supermarket tablet by.....my cheap supermarket tablet. ;)

[kruzseeka]

I suggest you check out my recent P&O Oceana threads over there. I seem to have stirred up some people ;)

 

I believe out of the box thinking and trying new ideas is what all cruise lines should be doing. Rest on your existing offering and customer base and you are in danger.

 

I agreed with you dave! ;)

[shot2bits]

Having been on Thomson, Celebrity and P&O, I can only speak as I find:

Thomson- ships are hopelessly outdated, staff are constantly trying to sell you something, food average, entertainment good, staff good, fellow passengers variable.

P&O- similar to Thomson in many respects though ships are much more up to date, food, I thought, was better than Thomson, entertainment much the same, staff good and fellow passengers much the same as Thomson ( though no sign of loud, drunken louts, unlike our last cruise with Thomson).

Celebrity- ships much larger and bang up to date, staff happy to go the extra mile, fellow passengers mainly American, occasionally loud ( but good natured), entertainment was, on our cruise, outstanding, as was the food.

So, my vote goes to Celebrity but you won't be disappointed with P&O.

You pays your money etc etc.

 

Reading all three boards, it would be difficult to choose any one of them based on the comments, all three get mixed reviews.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[CRUISIN LINDA]

I like your idea of Black tie on Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner in the afternoon. We had ours at 1pm this year, but sometimes we have it a bit later. Never at 8.45pm though:eek:

[davecttr]

Dave, can I ask you a question on here about P&O?:D

 

On Princess cruises there is a separate dining room for Freedom dining guests. Is this the same on P&O? If not how on earth do they accommodate all the guests in two sittings in the Club dining rooms?

Yes, essentially all ships that have 2 or 3 main dining rooms have one or two allocated to freedom dining. Adonia has no freedom dining and Arcadia has a 2 tier restaurant, one of which is freedom.

 

Theoretically the main dining rooms on all ships should be able to accomodate all passengers in 2 sittings.. The problem with the xmas dinner on my Oceana cruise was that freedom late sitting at 8.45 was very unpopular. this leads me to believe that passengers wishes are somewhat different to what P&O provides.

 

All those who have different thoughts have now rallied their forces and are mounting a counterattack. Their strategy is we like it as is and as P&O have always done it that way it must be right. :rolleyes:

[macren]

Dave, can I ask you a question on here about P&O?:D

 

On Princess cruises there is a separate dining room for Freedom dining guests. Is this the same on P&O? If not how on earth do they accommodate all the guests in two sittings in the Club dining rooms?

 

Yes Linda there is a separate dining room for freedom diners,and theFB page for P&O is dreadful a load of jumped up idiot's but have never met any of those sort of people on the cruises all the people have been good friendly types wanting to do same as us enjoy a lovely cruise have never gone to bed before 12 and always still lots of people up but only ever been on fly cruise so average age could be bit different,have a look if there is a FB page just for the ship you are on ,we are going on Azura and 2good pages for that nice friendly posts ....

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Yes Linda there is a separate dining room for freedom diners,and theFB page for P&O is dreadful a load of jumped up idiot's but have never met any of those sort of people on the cruises all the people have been good friendly types wanting to do same as us enjoy a lovely cruise have never gone to bed before 12 and always still lots of people up but only ever been on fly cruise so average age could be bit different,have a look if there is a FB page just for the ship you are on ,we are going on Azura and 2good pages for that nice friendly posts ....

Will have a look tomorrow at fb. I did join the breakaway P&O group once, but it was full of bitchiness, so "un-joined" it :D I'm sure we will enjoy the cruise. My brother has been on Oceana and liked it. We have been on Sea Princess, which is her twin, so shouldn't get lost ;):D

[jenny wren]

I like your idea of Black tie on Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner in the afternoon. We had ours at 1pm this year, but sometimes we have it a bit later. Never at 8.45pm though:eek:

 

The problem with that suggestion Linda is that the ship is usually in a port on Christmas Eve but at sea on Christmas Day so the formal night would be on a port day......I think the main reason the meal is in the evening on Christmas Day is that the crew have their meal served by the officers at lunchtime and then their fun and games during the afternoon....that was definitely the case on Oriana 2013/14.

 

:)

[kalos]

It must be catching ..

 

We have just booked P&O Ventura for a 4 day from Southampton .. Belgium & Guernsey cruise. :)

[kruzseeka]

It must be catching ..

 

We have just booked P&O Ventura for a 4 day from Southampton .. Belgium & Guernsey cruise. :)

 

Well done - will be interesting to sample something new. Enjoy - and don't forget to give us the low down when you get back. ;)

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Well done kalos. Looking forward to hearing all about it :)

[Jakanne1]

It must be catching ..

 

We have just booked P&O Ventura for a 4 day from Southampton .. Belgium & Guernsey cruise. :)

 

Sounds really good but I would be interested to know what you think about travelling to Southampton from Yorkshire. I live just over the Yorkshire/Durham border and could get the cruise coach from Scotch Corner but thought Southampton was a long journey for a short cruise. I would love to give Southampton a try though.

[geomagot]

It must be catching ..

 

We have just booked P&O Ventura for a 4 day from Southampton .. Belgium & Guernsey cruise. :)

 

have a good one kalos ... we liked Ventura (ahhhh all those lovely balconies):cool:

[P&O Lynn Knickers]

Have a great "New experience" Linda.

having been on RCCL, P&O, Sun, Celebrity I am sure you will enjoy the Oceana.

I have never cruised on the Thomson or Fred ships, well not yet anyhow.

 

Its great to see P&O prices coming down and matching and beating in some cases the TUI owned ships.

 

 

 

Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

.

[kalos]

Sounds really good but I would be interested to know what you think about travelling to Southampton from Yorkshire. I live just over the Yorkshire/Durham border and could get the cruise coach from Scotch Corner but thought Southampton was a long journey for a short cruise. I would love to give Southampton a try though.

 

Cheers peeps and I'm sure we will have a good time with P&O and I

will be letting you know how the cruise went for us .

It looks a lot like the Crown Princess minus the big TV screen ;).

 

Jackanne , .. We have no problems with driving down as we break our journey up into 2hr slots and take the trusty flask and a sandwich with us and our first 2 hour stop is Cherwell services . Then its a steady 1.5 hour run and we are there at Southampton or Portsmouth dependant on who we are cruising with .

 

We always go the day before the cruise and book into a Premier inn . We use the West Quays for Southampton as it has a multi story car park and the next morning we take our car over to a place called Marchwood and leave the car there. We jump on one of their buses who take us to the ship and they even sort out your cases , you just go and check in , once onboard you meet up with your cases again .

As Mrs Kalos has just pointed out to me ..We could go sit in an Airport lounge for a few hours and then do likewise on a plane for a few hours . (not that we mind flying)

So travelling South by road is not that bad really .

If I was travelling from lets say Durham for example then my breaks would be around 2hrs stopping low side of Sheffield Woodall services and then Cherwell services then 1.5 hrs later your there .

Book a night out before your cruise and travel at your pace with more breaks if that's what you want , knowing you have a cruise to look forward to .

 

We have also done the same journey by coach once and the driver did breaks every 2 hours as well ,

but did not take our flask on that run :) .

Edited January 20, 2015 by kalos

[CRUISIN LINDA]

We used Marchwood for parking. Very good, except there were a lot of ships in that day and it took while to get to the ship :( Going back was fine and it was much cheaper than booking parking at the port :)

[Jakanne1]

Cheers peeps and I'm sure we will have a good time with P&O and I

will be letting you know how the cruise went for us .

It looks a lot like the Crown Princess minus the big TV screen ;).

 

Jackanne , .. We have no problems with driving down as we break our journey up into 2hr slots and take the trusty flask and a sandwich with us and our first 2 hour stop is Cherwell services . Then its a steady 1.5 hour run and we are there at Southampton or Portsmouth dependant on who we are cruising with .

 

We always go the day before the cruise and book into a Premier inn . We use the West Quays for Southampton as it has a multi story car park and the next morning we take our car over to a place called Marchwood and leave the car there. We jump on one of their buses who take us to the ship and they even sort out your cases , you just go and check in , once onboard you meet up with your cases again .

As Mrs Kalos has just pointed out to me ..We could go sit in an Airport lounge for a few hours and then do likewise on a plane for a few hours . (not that we mind flying)

So travelling South by road is not that bad really .

If I was travelling from lets say Durham for example then my breaks would be around 2hrs stopping low side of Sheffield Woodall services and then Cherwell services then 1.5 hrs later your there .

Book a night out before your cruise and travel at your pace with more breaks if that's what you want , knowing you have a cruise to look forward to .

 

We have also done the same journey by coach once and the driver did breaks every 2 hours as well ,

but did not take our flask on that run :) .

 

Ah thanks for those details, Kalos. It's the driving back that puts me off. We used to fly from Gatwick when we were younger but have got used to local flights now. Have a great cruise and I look forward to reading how you get on.

[geomagot]

southampton port is also v easy to get to by train, the station is v close to the port (about 1 mile, dependiing on ship/dock?) its a 2 minute taxi ride

 

you can pick up cheap first class advance train tickets if you book them online (trainline . com) about 3 months before you go;)

[Jakanne1]

southampton port is also v easy to get to by train, the station is v close to the port (about 1 mile, dependiing on ship/dock?) its a 2 minute taxi ride

 

you can pick up cheap first class advance train tickets if you book them online (trainline . com) about 3 months before you go;)

 

That's another option, Geo. Didn't want to go through London with cases but I see we could get to Southampton through Birmingham.

[kruzseeka]

southampton port is also v easy to get to by train, the station is v close to the port (about 1 mile, dependiing on ship/dock?) its a 2 minute taxi ride

 

you can pick up cheap first class advance train tickets if you book them online (trainline . com) about 3 months before you go;)

 

That's another option, Geo. Didn't want to go through London with cases but I see we could get to Southampton through Birmingham.

 

 

We have friends who always seem to be able to pick up good train ticket deals - but I've never been able to find them!

 

But I think you have the key there geo - if you can get them at the right time there are some excellent offers.

 

I've just picked up 1st class tickets to Gatwick (no train card involved) which are cheaper than the equivalent journey on National Express with the Senior Card discount of a third!!!!!! I double and triple checked as I couldn't believe it. They have recently changed the route for our National Express service to Gatwick - and it takes ages going round the houses on relatively slower roads so thought I'd be prepared to pay more for a quicker, less motion-sickness inducing journey. Well - you can imagine how pleased I am that it's cheaper into the bargain. Must start trying to plan trips for 3 months in advance now!!!!! :D

[geomagot]

We have friends who always seem to be able to pick up good train ticket deals - but I've never been able to find them!

 

But I think you have the key there geo - if you can get them at the right time there are some excellent offers.

 

 

yes you need to be quick booking the advance tickets (on popular routes...like gatwick) as soon as they are released;)

 

trainline will send an alert as soon as the advance booking window opens for your route

 

http://www.thetrainline.com/ticketalert

 

and if you split your tickets you can get an even better deal:cool:

 

fer-instance (us) salisbury - gatwick airport (on a monday afternoon to fly mobay thoms tuesday)

 

1st class advance (change at clapham) £63.40?

 

1st class advance salisbury - clapham 23.80 (plus seperate ticket for) clapham - gatwick airport 23.40 = £47.20

 

a saving of £16.20 :eek: just by splitting the ticket (ticketysplit . com) standard class tickets would be even cheaper

 

.