Captain in a panic

[Two 2 Tango]

Just back from Iberian cruise on Ventura. Having had a not very pleasant experience a few years ago with P and O we have been trying other cruise lines with very good result, but we decided to venture back to see how things had changed.

Embarkation went much as normal big queue at Southampton, all a bit late following a deep clean due to Noro. As usual everyone seemed to be ticking the no boxes on the health questionnaire, it seems to be a waste of time as no one will admit to feeling ill and missing the cruise; it would be better to strip us all off and send us through a sheep dip. We were on the ship after about an hour so not too bad, the ship itself looked quite drab and "beige" following experiences on other lines. I was expecting better after the refit. We soon realised once on board that the ship was still under red alert and this does disadvantage you in many ways. The question ever one was asking was if they have done a deep clean why are we still under red alert, we can't go near any food, we can't touch anything in the shops and meal times feels like school dinners when you have to ask the teacher for salt and pepper and they come in paper packets.

 

The cabin was a superior deluxe balcony cabin, again it looked a bit drab with various stains on the carpet and walls and a lot of mould round the bath but in general it was clean and dusted. There was plenty of hanging space so we got busy unpacking. The champagne and chocolates were in the room and made for a good start. The cabin has a bath with shower over it though the shower is no more than a dribble, and you had to move about just to get wet. I will elaborate on cabin issues later. We were greeted with the sight of people with masks and gowns going into the suite next to ours, it was later we found out that they were under isolation; why were we not informed then we could take extra precautions. It was l a few days later that we found out one of the children was sea sick and the medical staff had over reacted.

 

The food in the MDR was good, plenty of choice, well presented and well served. Our waiters were very good. I can't understand why some reports say the staff are surly, they are trained to be distant until you break the ice with them because some people don't want to have anything other than being served. Chat and laugh with them and they will respond. The food in the buffet was very much the same every day, it was served to you by staff up until the last 2 days. The food area is very small compared with other lines, just one side open and this is as i said before very compact. A lot of passengers were trying to avoid the hand gel, making waving movements near the machine and walking away rubbing their hands (why), staff did chase them when you brought it to their attention but then they would still insist they had done it. Most people did all in their power to have a table all to their self even though it becomes quite packed, why will the "beige" people not share?

 

Entertainment was very good, from the shows though these are the same ones we saw 4 years ago, to the individual acts. But the main issue was with the dead spots between acts and vast areas of the ship with nothing going on. During the day on sea days there was the usual quizzes and bingo, come on P and O; Pontins closed years ago because people have moved on. Can we at least have a bit of musical entertainment during the day, other lines have strings and piano's playing in the bars and atrium. We are keen dancers, I don't think P and O have ever seen any one dance; it is impossible if more than 3 couples are on the floor in the joke of a dance floor in the atrium. Judging by the amount of people wanting to dance and the amount of people who wanted to watch it should be in one of the larger venues with a larger floor.

Ports of call were Vigo, Lisbon, Porto and Cherbourge. The stop at Vigo went off very well the ship docks in the centre of town so going on foot is not a problem, we didn't do a trip here so nothing much more to report on Vigo.

 

We docked near the centre of the city in Lisbon, that was quite a surprise as in the past we have docked near the bridge, well out of town. We did the trip to Obidos, this is a nice little place and I would recommend anyone trying it if you have never been. Try the Ginja in the chocolate cups, try a few they are very cheap around 1 euro and each one is different.

 

Porto was our next stop, the port is very good and well set up for cruises. They put on free shuttles to the city and to the port gates. The one into town takes about 30 minutes and runs about every 15 minutes. The one to the port gates is just as regular, as you walk out of the gate just turn right and you are on a fantastic clean white beach.

 

Then we get to Cherbourge or not as came to pass. We were greeted the day before on the sea day with a letter telling us about the terrorist activity in France and to keep out of crowded places, this goes a long way to putting you in the holiday mood; it's not as if everyone had not heard about the issues in France; basically tell us what we already know. Then during the evening meal the Captain came over the loud speaker with more doom and gloom saying he had reports that the sea was getting a bit choppy, the rumour then started to go round that we would not go to Cherbourge. So come the morning after a quiet run over the B of B and not much movement during the night, the Captain came on the loud speaker with the expected news that due to the very rough weather and the impending storm we would be spending the day at sea again. He said he did not want to put the safety of his crew at risk, but it seems OK to put us all at risk and leave us at sea during a major storm. I did think the procedure during a major storm was to run for home or find a safe port, we were in reach of Southampton and could have stayed overnight there. As it happened the storm was 2 days away, all seems a bit suspect to me. We were then treated to another sea day so decided to go and watch the film in the morning, we went to the first venue advertised and were told after some time that we would have to go to the theatre; after waiting there we were told to go back to the original venue only to find the majority interest film had been replaced by a minority interest hairdressing event, I can do that waiting to pick my wife up from the hairdressers. They re vamped the programme taking off some of the good things and putt on more quizzes, My view is that if it had been a port day they would have had offers for the spar and hairdressers but if we have a captive audience we can charge the full amount. We went to our cabin to watch a film on the TV , it was quite a calm sunny day and we tried to open the balcony for some air but found it to be jammed shut; I reported it to reception they said someone would fix it; but no one ever came. This was the day that our dressing gowns arrived, I had thought they had stopped using them but they appeared in the cupboard. If you are susceptible to static don't use them as they are made of nylon and give you quite a shock when you come to hang them up. We were invited into the large suite next door because she was not happy with the state of the cabin, for a suite I would have expected better it was like going into an old caravan, with even more old stains than our cabin. She said the bedding had not been changed all week and on reflection neither had ours but we had presumed that was because of the red alert. I advised her to ask for the house keeper. I also asked our steward if he would change our bedding, he broke down in tears and said they had given him too much to do; my wife spent the next hour trying to console him. Later that day the housekeeper came to our cabin very apologetically, we did ask him to look after the steward as he was close to breakdown. I explained that the balcony door would not open he showed me that you need to kick it in several places and then pull it very hard, I wish I had known that at the start of the cruise; I could have asked reception for a big hammer to facilitate the process. So in summary no storm and no Cherbourge.

 

Disembarking went well, we chose to take off our own bags so were off before 8 o'clock. I would recommend it if you are able enough as you are requested to put your bags out by 8:30 in the evening. This means you either spend the evening in the clothes you are going home in or go home in your evening clothes.

 

Sorry it's a bit long but I do like to say it as it is, I understand others will have different views on it and die hard P and O groupies will lambast me for writing this. Will I be giving it one more try I don't think so, even though we have amassed a lot of peninsular points from the past when P and O were not "affordable cruising" and I guess it is our own fault for looking for a bargain for a short break.

Edited March 30, 2016 by Two 2 Tango
Put in a few spaces for easier reading

[brillo]

You must go with a mind set that says I am going to find fault wherever I can !

[KirkNC]

Thanks for your report.

[jeanlyon]

The Captain of the ship makes the best decision for his crew and passengers. Actually you are wrong, it's safer to be at sea in a storm than trying to make a port in rough seas.

[LondonTowner]

If you start your holiday with a negative attitude, then you will find fault with petty things.

[sogne]

The Captain of the ship makes the best decision for his crew and passengers. Actually you are wrong, it's safer to be at sea in a storm than trying to make a port in rough seas.

 

correct, sea room is required in bad weather, ships are at their most vulnerable when they have restricted sea room in which to manoeuvre

[the english lady]

I think I have read a couple of times that if noro has visited a ship they tend to keep things in place like no salt and pepper cellars, only being served by crew in the buffet for the first few days of the next cruise. This is in case anyone else comes on board a little unwell.

You are basically stopping the germs spreading so easily from the start.

Me thinks a sensible option if all cruises on all lines had this in place for the first couple of days

[jeanlyon]

and I doubt very much that the Captain was in a panic. Captains of ships and aircraft and not usually known for panicking!!

[Two 2 Tango]

You must go with a mind set that says I am going to find fault wherever I can !

 

If you read it as it is, the negatives were on the last day, apart from being on red alert the entire cruise when the ship had had a "deep clean" and we were new passengers. Regarding the storm I googled it on the day and all reports said it wouldn't hit that area until Sunday afternoon. Check the archives if you don't believe it. To rub paper packets of salt into the wounds, the cruise log stated we had been to Cerbourge.

We have had many cruises going back many years to the days of white gloves and leather document wallets. In all that time I have never known a steward to be such a broken individual and had to spend time consoling them.

So back to the groupies.

[Mysticalmother]

Thank you for posting your review.

 

For the benefit of others, particularly new cruisers, you do NOT have to put all your luggage out by 8.30 pm. the night before you disembark. You are asked to do this if possible to aid the flow of collection of luggage but you can still put luggage out quite late. We usually pack (at least) one case with a mix of both of our clothes and put that out before we go to dinner. The final case with our clothes from the evening goes out when we go to bed.

 

But do remember to keep something back to wear in the morning....... bathrobes look silly when walking off the ship!! (And it has been done....!)

[john watson]

What an absolute nightmare Two 2 Tango.

 

Regards John

[Two 2 Tango]

The Captain of the ship makes the best decision for his crew and passengers. Actually you are wrong, it's safer to be at sea in a storm than trying to make a port in rough seas.

 

I guess you must be an expert on maritime law, could you please reply with the link to enable me to make a full apology.

[Two 2 Tango]

If you start your holiday with a negative attitude, then you will find fault with petty things.

 

Started the holiday with a great attitude and enjoyed all the ports we went to, the part about the red alert at the start was an observation if you have the skills to read it effectively. The observation was why after a deep clean and new passengers, why was it felt that the ship was still in a condition to spread the virus. Further more if the suite next to yours was in isolation would you want to be informed then you could take extra precautions, would you expect if you had a balcony you could use it, and that your requests to fix it would be answered. Would you expect that your steward was so overworked that you had to console him and ask the housekeeper to look after his welfare.

Lets face up to things and realise that you face a back lash if you dare to say anything negative about the beloved P and O on this site.

 

I do't intend to get into a slanging match, so basically like it or lump it. We are very seasoned cruisers and due to personal choice don't seem the need to list all our previous cruises, you will just have to accept that we have been round the block a few times.

[Two 2 Tango]

correct, sea room is required in bad weather, ships are at their most vulnerable when they have restricted sea room in which to manoeuvre

 

I am fascinated with all the experts on this site, can anyone please give me a link to the correct maritime law; as I am only going off my naval history. Though that is a long time ago, and we are not on a war footing and friendly ports were in reach. Regarding the quote do am I to presume if a ship is in port during a storm it should make all effort to get to safety out at sea so as not to put its crew and passengers at risk? Just looking at it from another view and I am sure our resident experts will point me to the correct maritime law.

[Keith1010]

Thank you for your report.

 

Keith

[Two 2 Tango]

Just a final observation before I leave the site to all you experts; there wasn't a storm and it wasn't coming for 2 days. Just floating backwards and forwards in very calm sunny seas. Even the comic on the final show was joking about it. I've been in a force 11 so know rough seas when I see them. The last time this happened when we were on the same ship, Captain Charlie Carr missed the Italian port and went for safety overnight in Monte-Carlo, but that was a real storm.

[sogne]

I am fascinated with all the experts on this site, can anyone please give me a link to the correct maritime law; as I am only going off my naval history. Though that is a long time ago, and we are not on a war footing and friendly ports were in reach. Regarding the quote do am I to presume if a ship is in port during a storm it should make all effort to get to safety out at sea so as not to put its crew and passengers at risk? Just looking at it from another view and I am sure our resident experts will point me to the correct maritime law.

 

I have 25 years experience in Search and Rescue. It is not maritime law but basic seamanship to keep away from a confined area in a storm unless of course the ship is damaged in some way when the situation is different , could the ship board a pilot in conditions at the Nab, would winds have been too strong for safe berthing at a slow speed when there is virtually no way on etc all these are factors to be considered, in the case of being in port safely and securely tied up then of course a ship will not put to sea, that is not the problem, berthing in a storm is.

[P&O SUE]

The one thing I find strange is that Cherbourg was missed for bad weather. We missed Guersney because of bad weather - and went to Cherbourg instead!

[sogne]

I am fascinated with all the experts on this site, can anyone please give me a link to the correct maritime law; as I am only going off my naval history. Though that is a long time ago, and we are not on a war footing and friendly ports were in reach. Regarding the quote do am I to presume if a ship is in port during a storm it should make all effort to get to safety out at sea so as not to put its crew and passengers at risk? Just looking at it from another view and I am sure our resident experts will point me to the correct maritime law.

 

PS it is also of course possible that the Cherboug port authority had either closed the port or refused permission to enter, this has happened to me both as a cruise passenger and professionally. Dover Port was closed on Monday as were other ports.

[janny444]

As you say Two 2 tango you will be lambasted if you dare to say anything negative about P&O. I thought you gave a balanced realistic account of your experiences.

[sogne]

The one thing I find strange is that Cherbourg was missed for bad weather. We missed Guersney because of bad weather - and went to Cherbourg instead!

 

too rough for tenders but not for Cherbourg on that occasion?

[P&O SUE]

too rough for tenders but not for Cherbourg on that occasion?

 

Possibly I guess, it's a wide deep harbour so was surprised they couldn't get in. As least the OP enjoyed the other 3 ports!

[HikingPete]

Its funny. I've been on a couple of short cruises with P&O and am going on a longer Baltic cruise with them in a couple of months. As the previous cruises were so short, I was more interested in the destinations than the actual company - its only recently I've started reading the reviews.

 

It seems that P&O either get very satisfied reviews, or outright hatred or anger... and very little inbetween. I have to wonder whether the vast majority of people who love them are deluded or if the people who hate them have unrealistic expectations. Frankly, I think its the latter.

 

Having not experienced them, I have spoken to people who have used alternate cruise companies, and I think in some ways they can be better... but then you do pay more most of the time. And as for the Captain making a decision about where to go during the threat of a storm and possible terrorist activity, maybe he made the right decision, maybe he didn't, but ~3000 people and the ship itself remained safe and sound.

 

I certainly think that any company should be open to critique and if you had better experiences with other cruises, fine, use them! But you wanted affordable cruising and seem to be upset you didn't get what you would pay more for elsewhere.

[mrbluesea]

I'm not too sure that pando is a low cost option any longer. I think they have increased prices is recent years and so I think it's perfectly acceptable to have reasonable expectations and when these are not met to come on forums like this and express those views.

 

This would be a very boring forum if it just contained posts from satisfied customers.

[Presto2]

As you say Two 2 tango you will be lambasted if you dare to say anything negative about P&O. I thought you gave a balanced realistic account of your experiences.

 

I totally agree, but I don't like being called 'Beige' if I want to sit on a table for 2 with just me and hubby. If I have misinterpreted this then I apologise.

 

To be honest I am a typical 'glass half empty person' normally, but on holiday I am a 'glass half full' when it comes to reviews. We often just make the most and laugh off any issues we come up with. We sometimes think that we don't complain enough though when we are not happy and are just being too nice..

 

It was good to read that the OP looked after the poor Cabin Steward who was upset. That really is a worry above anything we have read, as staff are people / human beings and need to be treated as such. What a shame to be so upset ...

 

PS Last year on our first night on Britannia there was a major incident (suspected fire) where we were woken up at 11.30pm with staff being sent to Muster Stations. It was a genuine issue and it was about an hour before the Captain told us to go to sleep. It frightened the life out of us, but we never once questioned his actions. He was more concerned about the safety of the staff and passengers than anything and we respected that. That is how it should be re any decisions about ports of call and where to stop / or not. Any half decent Captain will put the safety of everyone on board first and not worry about the moans that follow. Give me a Captain like that any day.

Edited March 30, 2016 by Presto2