izzywalker Posted September 18, 2018 #1 Share Posted September 18, 2018 We have just returned from a 3 nighter cruise. Many passengers joined this ship wanting a "taster" cruise. The age range was 20-60 rather than just over 60s. The ship had a vibrant upbeat atmosphere due to the younger passengers. We dined with some lovely people. The reason for our cruise was to see the D-Day Landing day beaches. We went on a P&O excursion to the American landing day beaches which was great. The second excursion we booked was for the Enlish landing day beaches which was cancelled due to lack of interest!! We have been on many cruises where excursions are cancelled but we really didn't expect this cancellation! We tried to go independently but the taxi was £400 ! so we passed on this. This cruise attracted many Hen and Stag parties mostly all good but again a small minority just behaved badly. Some completely drunk,/noisey/rowdy/ and inconsiderate to their fellow passengers meaning getting no sleep. So I will never do a 3 night cruise again!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P-L-B Posted September 18, 2018 #2 Share Posted September 18, 2018 We have just returned from a 3 nighter cruise. Many passengers joined this ship wanting a "taster" cruise. The age range was 20-60 rather than just over 60s. The ship had a vibrant upbeat atmosphere due to the younger passengers. We dined with some lovely people. The reason for our cruise was to see the D-Day Landing day beaches. We went on a P&O excursion to the American landing day beaches which was great. The second excursion we booked was for the Enlish landing day beaches which was cancelled due to lack of interest!! We have been on many cruises where excursions are cancelled but we really didn't expect this cancellation! We tried to go independently but the taxi was £400 ! so we passed on this. This cruise attracted many Hen and Stag parties mostly all good but again a small minority just behaved badly. Some completely drunk,/noisey/rowdy/ and inconsiderate to their fellow passengers meaning getting no sleep. So I will never do a 3 night cruise again!!!! I am afraid that shorter taster cruises can attract Hen and Stag parties and have been discussed in the forums many times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izzywalker Posted September 18, 2018 Author #3 Share Posted September 18, 2018 We cruised on Ventura and visited Cherbourg - excursion to Utah beach and la havre port hoping to visit the English beaches Will have to visit again maybe by coach or by car. What arrangements do you make to visit there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AchileLauro Posted September 19, 2018 #4 Share Posted September 19, 2018 We have just returned from a 3 nighter cruise. Many passengers joined this ship wanting a "taster" cruise. The age range was 20-60 rather than just over 60s. The ship had a vibrant upbeat atmosphere due to the younger passengers. We dined with some lovely people. The reason for our cruise was to see the D-Day Landing day beaches. We went on a P&O excursion to the American landing day beaches which was great. The second excursion we booked was for the Enlish landing day beaches which was cancelled due to lack of interest!! We have been on many cruises where excursions are cancelled but we really didn't expect this cancellation! We tried to go independently but the taxi was £400 ! so we passed on this. This cruise attracted many Hen and Stag parties mostly all good but again a small minority just behaved badly. Some completely drunk,/noisey/rowdy/ and inconsiderate to their fellow passengers meaning getting no sleep. So I will never do a 3 night cruise again!!!! I think that you would have to get back on the ferry to get to an English beach Izzywalker. If you meant Gold or Sword landing beaches then they weren't the preserve of solely the English and are normally referred to as the British beaches though they did have large contingents from other nations also. Juno beach was mostly the Canadians along with free French and Norwegians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P-L-B Posted September 19, 2018 #5 Share Posted September 19, 2018 We cruised on Ventura and visited Cherbourg - excursion to Utah beach and la havre port hoping to visit the English beachesWill have to visit again maybe by coach or by car. What arrangements do you make to visit there? I assume your question is in response to the text that I deleted from my previous post which you may have seen before it was deleted. As I said in my deleted post we have been visiting Normandy(4th-7th June) for the past 5 years with my uncle and family. My uncle was a war veteran and was involved in the capture of Pegasus Bridge. Sadly he has recently passed away but the family hope to return next year which will be the 75th anniversary of the D Day landings. We take our car and use Brittany Ferries Portsmouth to Ouistreham service. It then takes just a few minutes to get to our hotel in Ouistreham and Sword Beach is just across the road. We then have a busy few days attending the various organised events in the area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandancer Posted September 19, 2018 #6 Share Posted September 19, 2018 I am afraid that shorter taster cruises can attract Hen and Stag parties and have been discussed in the forums many times. When we booked our cruise our TA was aware we had no experience of P&O and mentioned that fancy dress and t shirts with inappropriate designs were banned and she thought it was because of the short cruises out of Southampton attracting stag and hen parties. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the english lady Posted September 19, 2018 #7 Share Posted September 19, 2018 Somebody has posted elsewhere there have noticed a lot less of the 2/3 day cruises out of those released last week. Maybe Pando have realised it is tarnishing the brand having them. Some people book them as they think it will give them an idea if they would like cruising. As we know the 2/3 nighters are nothing like a real cruise so don't give you the correct idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DS_Dean Posted September 19, 2018 #8 Share Posted September 19, 2018 My parents were on this cruise and equally disappointed about the d day landing cancellation. They were booked on that excursion, very surprised it was cancelled for lack of interest ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweep2907 Posted September 19, 2018 #9 Share Posted September 19, 2018 Not only this but the crew hate them, I was chatting to entertainment team recently on board and they absolutely detest them. They are spoken to and touched inappropriately and have to stay up until 5am entertaining them at late night disco etc only to be abused about how they are not as good as professional DJ ! Maybe too many dissatisfied staff and P&O regulars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britboys Posted September 19, 2018 #10 Share Posted September 19, 2018 Somebody has posted elsewhere there have noticed a lot less of the 2/3 day cruises out of those released last week. Maybe Pando have realised it is tarnishing the brand having them. Some people book them as they think it will give them an idea if they would like cruising. As we know the 2/3 nighters are nothing like a real cruise so don't give you the correct idea. Because all the larger ships are doing a limited number of repeat itineraries in 2020, almost all the 2-night cruises are on Ventura, being one of her three repeat itineraries. She has 9 of these, 8 to Guernsey and 1 to Cherbourg. Britannia is doing one 2-nighter to Bruges in April 2020. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweep2907 Posted September 19, 2018 #11 Share Posted September 19, 2018 Because all the larger ships are doing a limited number of repeat itineraries in 2020, almost all the 2-night cruises are on Ventura, being one of her three repeat itineraries. She has 9 of these, 8 to Guernsey and 1 to Cherbourg. Britannia is doing one 2-nighter to Bruges in April 2020. Poor staff who will be working on Ventura for that period... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scriv Posted September 19, 2018 #12 Share Posted September 19, 2018 Because all the larger ships are doing a limited number of repeat itineraries in 2020, almost all the 2-night cruises are on Ventura, being one of her three repeat itineraries. She has 9 of these, 8 to Guernsey and 1 to Cherbourg. Britannia is doing one 2-nighter to Bruges in April 2020. Are there really so few to Bruges in 2020, Andrew? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britboys Posted September 19, 2018 #13 Share Posted September 19, 2018 There are four listed in the new brochure between 10th April & 10th October. One 2-night on Britannia and one 2-night on Ventura. Britannia calls in there once on a 7-night cruise that also includes Rotterdam & Cherbourg and Arcadia calls in once on a 7-night itinerary that also calls at Hamburg & Amsterdam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare P&O SUE Posted September 20, 2018 #14 Share Posted September 20, 2018 I've been on a 4 night and 5 night cruise with none of these hen/stag parties. I'm really surprised that exursion was cancelled too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captainclive. Posted September 20, 2018 #15 Share Posted September 20, 2018 We have only done one “Taster” read “Stag/Hen” cruise, and I must say it was an eye opener. As someone whose father lived in Benidorm for the last 10 years of his life, and thus I spent many holidays visiting him, I am fairly broad minded, but the sight of a dozen drunken woman resplendent with a 5’ inflatable Penis on board Ventura was truly unexpected!! The cruise certainly was different to our normal P&O experience, and was our first and last, shame as the day in Bruge was a nice short break option. We recently returned from a 14 night cruise on Aurora, and when leaving our cabin at Southampton we spoke with our lovely helpful cabin attendant, and she was saying that she was dreading the next 3 days as Aurora was on a short trip. I imagine the room stewards end up cleaning up a lot more than used bath towels bless them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izzywalker Posted September 20, 2018 Author #16 Share Posted September 20, 2018 Oh well we live and learn! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP&LK Posted September 20, 2018 #17 Share Posted September 20, 2018 If it wernt for these short cruises, we wouldn’t have got the cruise bug in the first place. It’s a great way to get a taste of a cruise! We mostly do week cruises now but sometimes a mini break between longer ones is nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P-L-B Posted September 20, 2018 #18 Share Posted September 20, 2018 Oh well we live and learn! Don't let it put you off going back to Normandy and visiting the many interesting sites. As said, you can arrange your own traveling arrangements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalecousins Posted September 22, 2018 #19 Share Posted September 22, 2018 Were doing a B2B as our first ever cruise which is a Bruge 3 nighter and then on to Canaries, i had originally booked just the Canaries but when i saw that the route directly before was just 3 nights it was perfect to give us more than 15 nights to join the club i was fully aware that this may attract a different group of people but also thought it would give us a few days to get used to the ship before our actual cruise started on the Monday and now i can look forward to spending more that 2 weeks on a cruise ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DS_Dean Posted September 22, 2018 #20 Share Posted September 22, 2018 Were doing a B2B as our first ever cruise which is a Bruge 3 nighter and then on to Canaries, i had originally booked just the Canaries but when i saw that the route directly before was just 3 nights it was perfect to give us more than 15 nights to join the club i was fully aware that this may attract a different group of people but also thought it would give us a few days to get used to the ship before our actual cruise started on the Monday and now i can look forward to spending more that 2 weeks on a cruise ship. Your post made me think and I see there is a 3 nighter cruise preceding our Canaries cruise next year too.. wonder if we should do the same! Did you get any additional discount for the second cruise being B2B? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalecousins Posted September 23, 2018 #21 Share Posted September 23, 2018 No extra discount as such as we are on select but i do get a nice amount of OBC and we do get a full extra day as we don't have to leave our room as we booked the same room for both, where it did come in handy is i have booked next year 2019 and i should be able to get the discount from day one of that. I don't know if you have ever heard of the term mileage run in air miles / airport lounge context where a person may book flights to somewhere and return the same day or next day just to build up miles to keep a status? well i kind of viewed our 3 day tester in the same way it enabled us to go over the 15 nights required to join the club without having to travel from Norfolk were we live a second time to get status before next years main cruise. it saves on fuel in the car and only one night hotel and as it starts on Friday instead of Monday Thursday night hotel was cheaper that Sunday night was. also 1 less work holiday days used as if i had done the tester first before the main i would have had to take the monday off work. I'm hoping to get some discounts onboard on the change over day maybe in the spa or one of the specialty restaurants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izzywalker Posted September 23, 2018 Author #22 Share Posted September 23, 2018 Your post made me think and I see there is a 3 nighter cruise preceding our Canaries cruise next year too.. wonder if we should do the same! Did you get any additional discount for the second cruise being B2B? I am sure you will enjoy your 3 nighter we just unluckily had the cabin next door to the rowdiest party goers! Have fun.:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lottie A Posted September 23, 2018 #23 Share Posted September 23, 2018 I do quite a few 2/3 nighters on P&O because my my GP partner and I can't be away from our practice at the same time, except over a weekend. There have been hen parties (rarely stags) onboard at the same time as us but I have to say they are usually having great fun ....but not in a rowdy way. Never had noisy neighbours either. I think it's a great alternative to a city break for a couple of days and the younger vibe onboard is refreshing. In fact, we are off on Azura for two nights on Friday and I know we will have a good time. I just wish P&O could go somewhere else rather than the usual Bruges! Been there about 10 times now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john watson Posted September 23, 2018 #24 Share Posted September 23, 2018 I do not think the hen or stag parties cause much of a problem on board. The only time I have noticed them is when a couple of ladies dancing together wanted to continue dancing whereas the Robbie Williams tribute act needed to use the stage and dance floor. It took a bit to convince them they should sit down. On another two nighter a lady in a Black Dress asked me to take a photo of her with her friends, there was a short wait while the other twenty came out of the cabin. I went on a short break on Cunard with three ports scheduled. It turned out that due to circumstances outside anyone's control we could not dock at the first port. This meant only two ports would be visited. The captain said he would sort things out and get back to us. In the end two of the scheduled ports were reversed and Rotterdam was added in. There seem to be options open to cruise lines beyond Bruges and Guernsey. It just needs sorting out and mixing up a bit in my view. Regards John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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