day time activities

[minikiss]

Hi

I'm wondering is someone on here can help me.

 

My husband spotted a cruise on Oriana that he quite like the itinerary of.

We've sailed Princess a couple of time and Royal Caribbean once and we're in our mid 40's. Love Princess and found RCCL ok so know what to accept from both of them. My worry is with my husband getting bored in the day on sea days.......

We always found something to do on Princess but he got very bored on the Indy. I could not believe it myself but he really did and that's supposed to be a fun ship.

So when he said he fancied the 18 days from Southampton cruise, alarm bells started to ring. I can see it has a lot of sea days and most of them 2 at time. Having not sailed P&O before i'm wary he will be bored with nothing to do.

 

So what's the day time activities like on board a P&O ship???????

 

I've tried to get an idea from the website but all it mentions is the evening entertainment nothing about what sort of things there are for in the day.

We don't gamble and don't drink that much, plus we are not big on lying on a lounger all day cooking.

So what sort of things do they put on on sea days apart from Films in the cinema.

 

any input would be grateful received

 

Jules

[petina73]

P&O generally:- talks [various subjects], art classes, dancing [line &/or ballroom], photography, to name a few plus you can always walk on the promenade or just relax in the lounge with a good book.

 

 

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[PurpleMoonlight]

Bingo session am & pm - 30 mins duration

 

Quiz session am & pm - 30 mins duration

[PurpleMoonlight]

The cinema is large with comfortable seats and a film every afternoon.

[jaceyar]

We play quoits and shuffleboard plus we join the choir which is a lot of fun. Doesn't hubby like relaxing and reading?

[chocolateduck]

Have also been on a couple of cruises where they have guest speakers during the days at sea.

[jeanlyon]

My husband likes the talks, but I like to out and about. So I play quoits and shuffleboard which are usually twice a day and you meet other people at the same time. I couldn't get bored on a ship. At worst I would take my Kindle or a book on to the Prom Deck and read.

[gadabout60]

I'm glad I like reading as I do find there isn't much to do on P&O in the day that suits me.

I like going to an interesting talk but not on Concord or WW2 bomber planes etc.

I don't want to go to a talk on spa treatments etc - badly disguised sales pitch.

I do like going to talks about other cruises to new places but P&O don't seem to do these.

I haven't tried Cunard but their speakers seem more interesting.

The first cruise I did about 5 years ago had bridge lessons which were great but I have never seen that repeated.

Bingo is not for me.

I have gone to a few quizzes but when on Adonia last Christmas was really put off by several over enthusiastic people constantly putting their hands up and acting like the school swot!

Last Christmas on Adonia I was also put off a lot of Christmassy type entertainment by the Cruise Director who was patronising and IMHO talked to the passengers as if they were about 8 years old! I am an adult and I don't want to shout for Santa to appear (this was on an adult only cruise) and then be cajoled to have my picture taken with him

[jeanlyon]

Ha ha, you and me both re the CD#s. I do hate to be patronized and a lot of them do the Butlins thing "are we all having a lovely time - put your hands in the air if you are"!. YUK

 

Bingo - no - quizzes - no. Spa disguised talks - no.

[evyfueloil]

Hi,

On cruises with 6 days at sea or more, there are watercolour painting classes- I tried this for the first time in my life on a cruise about 5 years ago and immediately got hooked on it. You will need to buy the kit of paints, brushes and paper though which set me back about £25 but I am still using the Cotman paints & brushes (but I used up the paper). There seems to be an equal number of men and women at these classes. If you are unfortunate and get Frank Holliday as the "teacher", he works at such a fast pace it is difficult to keep up and he is not helpful! Good luck. :p

[minikiss]

Thanks for all the replies I'll bear them in mind.

But for now it looks like we're heading back on board a Princess ship.....

[Jo and Rob]

Thanks for all the replies I'll bear them in mind.

But for now it looks like we're heading back on board a Princess ship.....

 

Daytime entertainment is severely lacking compared with Princess who seem to make a real effort to entertain in a variety of venues. We were surprised at the lack of day time activities on board Britannia having taken a break from P&O. Fingers crossed that Ventura is more animated on Sunday. :o

[Esprit]

I think you'll be hard pressed to beat Princess's day time activities

[PurpleMoonlight]

Does Princess have bingo?

[kruzseeka]

It surprises me and disappoints when cruises with a fair number of sea days don't capitalise on the itinerary. We've been to Iceland twice and not had speakers about our destination - the Geology of Iceland would be an ideal topic I would have thought for travellers who have chosen this itinerary.

 

We did have an excellent series of lectures on the Siege of Leningrad on a Baltics cruise. Also an expert on the Middle East on an itinerary featuring Israel and Egypt. A Marine Biologist on a Norway cruise was superb too. An ex-producer with BBC light entertainment did five lectures/anecdotes all without notes and was excellent - his lectures were standing room only and he was more entertaining than the comedian!

 

But they have been the exception - and not on P&O. It's sad that they rely so heavily on a few, albeit good speakers, who seem to pop up rather regularly. It's a pity imo that they aren't more imaginative and should try to source some more varied and speakers appropriate to the itinerary where possible, especially those with a lot of sea days. I'm hopeful our cruise involving a TA will provide some interesting input!

Edited May 22, 2015 by kruzseeka

[themanwithahat]

http://www.studio2.org.uk/Horizon.pdf is my scan of a 7 day cruise in the Med on Ventura. Oriana will be slightly different because it's adults only (?) but it may give you some idea.

[jeanlyon]

What activities do Princess do during the day?

[kersh]

We are on the 18 day Oriana itinerary departing June 6 th. not that many sea days compared to other cruises. On the 24 night Caribbean Xmas cruise I couldn't fit everything in I wanted to do. We had Line dancing at 10 am which clashed with both quoits and shuffleboard. Zumba at 11 am which clashed with a quiz. Battle if the sexes at noon went for lunch at 1 pm. 2 pm shuffleboard then quoits which clashed with a quiz and art class. At 3 pm I had a couple of hours in the sun however there were talks going on in the theatre.

 

I found not enough hours in the day to do everything I wanted to do.

[jeanlyon]

that sounds like P&O - what do Princess do that is different?