Why Do the Brits Like P&O

[wowzz]

6 hours ago, KnowTheScore said:

 

Now moving to Celebrity

Which is in a totally different price range to P&O.

 

[SarahHben]

8 hours ago, Vampiress88 said:

 

plus I’m gonna blog this one like another poster and probably drive some of you love people nuts with my over planning and dislike of foods. 
 

I'm already looking forward to reading all about your trip Vampiress 😃

[kalos]

7 hours ago, KnowTheScore said:

 

Not for me any more

 

Now moving to Celebrity

 

on 2/9/20 at 9:57 pm, know the score said:

Like I said, cruising just now is a bit of a none starter for me personally.  Itineraries are gong to be impacted  Not worth paying £000s for that imho.  Each to their own though.

Which ever one you decide on, I really hope you have a nice time . 

[P&O SUE]

Just to give another opinion my friend has just come off the recent Oceana cruise and she is quite fussy and won't tolerate poor service. With the change to ports and the bad weather I was worried what she thought - she absolutely loved it and didn't want to get off! She also made the point that the Oceana is a very happy ship with great staff.

[eddie11]

We are all individuals and experience things in our own way.  Such is life.

 

Imo (and everything written on here is simply that, an individual’s opinion) there is limited value in an individual detailing minutiae of niggles during one, possibly ill-chosen, cruise.  If complaints are serious and substantiated then they should be taken up with the company.  If, on the other hand, they are niggles, they might be addressed with onboard crew at the time, or noted in the post-cruise questionnaire.  I’m not sure there is much value in broadcasting to the (few) readers and contributors to a (?fading) online messageboard.

 

Live and learn.  If an experience has been bad for you then mull it over, think if there’s anything you could do to improve it, were you to repeat it; if the answer is no then, it seems to me, the answer is to avoid it in future.

[AndyMichelle]

1 hour ago, P&O SUE said:

Just to give another opinion my friend has just come off the recent Oceana cruise and she is quite fussy and won't tolerate poor service. With the change to ports and the bad weather I was worried what she thought - she absolutely loved it and didn't want to get off! She also made the point that the Oceana is a very happy ship with great staff.

That's interesting Sue, as there seems to be a lot of complaints from that cruise about the staff, condition of the ship etc. 

I'm glad your friend managed to have a good time. 

Life is what you make it. 

Andy 

[Adawn47]

41 minutes ago, davecttr said:

I used to worry about that until I found out that in the average adult about 80% of the words you speak are spoken to yourself. Somewhat like entering a room and forgetting why you went there. It is not senility, everyone does it all the time!.

I've found myself doing it more and more often lately , then retracing my steps to try and jog my memory. All this extra exercise is doing me the power of good 😆. Just to touch on Seibourne and Eddie's brilliant responses I'd also like to add that there is no such thing as perfection, which is why some people are often very disappointed. You pay your money you take a  chance. It is what it is. Make the most of it.

[brillo]

How some people think they have the right to look down their noses at other just because they have different opinions on cruise lines beats me.

[Harry Peterson]

2 minutes ago, eddie11 said:

 I’m not sure there is much value in broadcasting to the (few) readers and contributors to a (?fading) online messageboard.

A lot in that. It's probably only about 20 of us talking round and round and round. Everyone else is on social media. 

[terrierjohn]

Posted by Harry Petersen

1  It's cheap

2  It's still living on its past reputation

3  It's now aiming at what the CEO recently referred to as the Saturday night ITV  market, which says it all - think Wetherspoons.

 

I've seen it change dramatically in just a few years, but others who've been cruising longer will see even more of a difference.  But, to be fair, it is cheap, and basically it's a question of getting what you pay for.

Just to add my comments.

Yes it is cheap, and its become even cheaper since Sterling's devaluation, not only the cruise fare but drinks prices as well. I compared Celebrity and P&O prices back in 2013/4 when the USD was about $1.65 to the pound, and drink prices were on a par, now they are about 50% higher.

I only really started sailing on P&O in 2011 so don't know its past reputation, but in those days its standards were way below Celebrity. By our last Celebrity cruise in 2016, their standards had begun to decline, and I understand from reviews they have deteriorated further, whereas P&O has actually improved, both in cleanliness and food standard, and they have continued to improve since then. You can check with Dai, with whom I had many discussions about comparisons of both lines back then, and I was less than complimentary about P&O.

I imagine that, a bit like Ratner, P&O's CEO is now regretting his Saturday night ITV comment, however I suspect he was a bit carried away with Ant & Dec's performance on Britannia.

Clearly my views are at variance with Harry's, but then everyone is entitled to their opinion, I have tried to validate mine with genuine comparisons, and from my perspective P&O are offering a better service at a much more competitive price than they used to, whilst Celebrity is the one where standards have slipped a bit, and yet their prices are significantly higher than they were in 2016, which is a cautionary note for those wanting to jump ship.

 

[DamianG]

Coming back to "Why do Brits like P&O" we took our first cruise with Carnival back in 2001. We enjoyed it but it didn't inspire us to immediately book the next cruise. Then we tried NCL in 2003 with the same result.

We went on Adonia (the original version, sister ship to Oceana) in 2004 and were hooked. We learnt so much on that cruise from our fabulous table companions Phil & Gill (from Stoke, not sure if they read these pages?) and really embraced the on-board experience. We enjoyed the dining arrangements, the friendliness of passengers and crew and whilst the onboard entertainment is not critical to us there were plenty of offerings that we tried and enjoyed. We followed that up with 2 cruises in 2005 and never looked back.

Since 2013 we are seeing cruises through different eyes (our son's) and though many things have changed (often for the worse for our tastes) P&O still offer a value for money product. Every year I look at other cruise lines for an August cruise and we simply cannot afford it. People may have different opinions on the loyalty perks but we appreciate them, especially priority embarkation and the upper tier lunch. Our son has never used the kid's club but without exception staff have always been fantastic with him.

It's a shame the OP found so many things upsetting but that doesn't mean every cruise throughout the fleet will be the same. Honestly, call me odd if you like, but if I'd walked past that tissue on the floor next to the bin I'd have carefully picked it up and binned it (then thoroughly washed my hands of course)!

Edited February 24, 2020 by DamianG

[P&O SUE]

2 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

That's interesting Sue, as there seems to be a lot of complaints from that cruise about the staff, condition of the ship etc. 

I'm glad your friend managed to have a good time. 

Life is what you make it. 

Andy 

Exactly and I’ve never had a bad cruise. Believe me my friend would have moaned if she hadn’t been impressed.

[Vampiress88]

29 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

Do you think there'll ever come time Harry when you'll make a positive remark about anything at all on here or are you naturally a negative thinker?😉. Just being curious and not meaning to offend.

see I think I’m a lot like Harry in that if I get bad service I will moan about it and probably quite loudly too. But with p&o even though there have been issues for me with them the good far outweighs the bad hence I keep coming back. 
we all get that he’s had bad service and you can definitely make use of that to help you decide on cruise lines but it’s been 9months? Maybe more. 
I might be getting too much into my Disney planning but “let it go” 

so terrible at jokes. 
 

what I’d like to know if is Harry will go on another p&o cruise? 

[ToxM]

This is an interesting thread. I’ve cruised with three different lines - Celebrity, P&O and Oceania. There is no contest with who I would choose given a blank and unlimited budget - Oceania definitely. After only two cruises with Celebrity we saw a decline and realised that we didn’t like the big mega ships. 

 

P&O is possibly the new comfy (and relatively) budget conscious choice for people who like familiarly and understand what they like, much in the way that British holidaymakers always used to go to the same resort in the UK. First cruise I did on P&O was on Britannia - too big for me and rather soulless. Cruised on Aurora on a cheap week last November to see if I could stand an inside and just to have a bit of a break. Turns out I really like Aurora, found the staff to be excellent, happy and I had a great time. Sure the buffet was awful (they need to do something, anything to rejig the offerings etc), the dining room was fine - but not into sharing tables (Freedom Dining is the way to go for us). I loved the size of the ship, I managed my expectations with regard to food and really liked it. Absolutely adored the Glasshouse. 

 

The key is due diligence. If you are going to be spending (to you) a large amount of money on a product - do your research! Know what product you are buying, what the negatives are, what the positives are. I can’t afford to cruise with Oceania Everytime I want to do a cruise - if I could I absolutely would, but I mange my expectations properly and research enough to know the product I buy will suit my needs. 

 

To put the above into perspective, next cruise is in November on Aurora with my husband to the fjords - he hasn’t been on Aurora or in fact P&O before - our cruise last November was to be a test for us for this year but circumstances changed and I ended up going with my sister. I half was hoping that husband travelling on P&O would realise what a great thing Oceania was so we’d do more cruises with Oceania (I know, I am sneaky) but I ended up liking Aurora a LOT. November will either cement us to Aurora or husband will be unimpressed and we will linger on Oceania once more. If he likes Aurora then the world cruise we are planning could well end up being on Aurora over and above Oceania (which has a much better pppd ratio than P&O if you add in all the added stuff). Why? After I just said I would always choose Oceania? Southampton. No flying, no hassle, unlimited luggage (within reason). 

 

Nothing is perfect, nothing is problem free, P&O certainly isn’t like the adverts on the telly, it’s comfy, relatively cheap and easy to do.For me if you add in a great ship - Aurora is absolutely a great ship and a great crew....why would you spend a lot of money on an unknown if you know what you can get time after time..? 

 

 

[Vampiress88]

I really would like to do a Disney cruise or royal Caribbean. 
 

just tight and don’t want to pay for them though. Might go have a nosy at prices now. 

[eddie11]

Sit down before you look at Disney!

[Rupert2251]

The reason we keep coming back to P&O is basically simplicity. You know exactly where you are because everything is in £s. There are no extortionate gratuities, additions to the bar bill, garnish water slides, fairground rides, if I wanted a theme park I would go to Alton Towers. Simplicity....simplest!!

[Adawn47]

1 hour ago, Harry Peterson said:

 

Given that my post was positively affirming the comment made by eddie11, which wasn't itself negative, I'm genuinely puzzled as to how you can possibly interpret the post as in any way negative.
 

I suppose if you're the sort of person looking to find negativity, even where it doesn't exist, you'll always manage to find it.

 

There's also some merit, surely, in examining and commenting on factual reality, rather than wearing permanently rose coloured spectacles.

I don't view life through rose coloured glasses. I've had more than enough complications in my life to ever do that.  Which is why I probably try to think now with a more positive attitude. I just feel more content with my lot in life if I try to find the positive instead of the negative in all kinds of situations. When I do that I find that I can cope with any arising issues  much better. I try to avoid negativity not search for it. I guess I'm just weird that way but it works for me.

 

[Britboys]

I do agree with comments made about the buffet restaurants on P&O.  I think they have served the same food for years and when it comes to lunchtime salad-stuff, it really is the same every day.  Since 2017, I have sailed on 4 different lines - P&O, Marella, CMV and Princess.  Overall, Princess was probably the best in terms of food quality and entertainment but of course they generally work out significantly more than P&O  The only one I would not jump back on is Marella.

 

Yes, things have changed over the years and P&O is no longer what it once was.  I will however once again make the point that the  prices are comparatively much lower now than when I started cruising with P&O in 1997.

 

When I board Aurora later this year, it will be over 3 years since I was last aboard her and it will be interesting to see how I feel about the quality of food etc.  My only P&O cruise last year was a long weekend on Azura and whilst she is a ship I really don't like, I felt the food and service was generally pretty good.

 

I do think that for some people who sail regularly on American cruise lines, they can feel that P&O crew are not the happiest afloat - but that may be more to do with the possibly forced bonhomie often experienced on the American mass-market lines.  Personally, whilst I have found some P&O crew to be reserved, I haven't ever felt they were "miserable".

 

Assuming I have a decent cruise on Aurora, I see myself continuing to use them all the time they still have her and Arcadia - especially when I cruise solo as the solo prices are not astronomical for the product on offer.  Should the on-board experience or atmosphere change significantly however, I would probably defect to CMV or Fred Olsen.

[SargassoPirate]

19 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Yes have to agree.  For us, we choose the itinerary with different ports.  The cabins are always very comfortable.  The food is OK, not always very exciting.  The drinks are a reasonable price.  We don't ever do ships excursions.  Much prefer to DIY everywhere, part of the enjoyment is researching before we go.  We love our pre-dinner drinks in the Crows Nest.  I find the staff absolutely super.  Love sitting out on deck up top with my Kindle as the ship moves.  thats about it.

 

You summed up our basic requirements splendidly.  She Who Must Be Obeyed and I are both Yanks and have just under 50 cruises on several lines, including, Cunard, RCI, Celebrity, HAL, Princess, and Viking Ocean.  While her comfort requirements are a bit above mine, my travel benchmark is camping out on long Harley rides and eating military MREs warmed up on the bike's engine as I set up camp. Anything above that and I'm pretty much satisfied.

 

We cruise for the itinerary, but also try to avoid spring break and school holidays to reduce the number of feral children on the cruise.  We enjoy a wrap around promenade with deck chairs.  If I can scrape up a wee dram of a good, peaty Scotch before dinner, I'm good.  We always find something good to eat.  And we find that the crew return smiles and greetings in kind. 

 

We have yet to cruise on P&O, but after much research I have booked a World Cruise on P&O.  Conventional wisdom is never book a world cruise on a line on which you have not sailed before - BUT the price could not be beat by all of the lines that I researched.  And it's on the Aurora - adults only!

 

 

 

 

 

[Vampiress88]

1 hour ago, eddie11 said:

Sit down before you look at Disney!

£3900 cheapest 7 day cruise in Caribbean with Disney. 
 

£2300 cheapest royal Caribbean for 10days I could find. 
 

but again these don’t include flights. 
 

also found that I couldn’t understand royal Caribbean website so I have no idea what was included food and drinks wise. Disney included nearly everything. 
 

unfortunately for us Disney is way too expensive for a cruise. Cost me just over double that for three weeks villa flights and park tickets! 
 

while I can get a good deal with p&o that’s where we go. 

[terrierjohn]

Am I looking in the wrong place for price comparisons, because whenever I see CMV, Fred or Marella prices in the newspapers they are always significantly higher than equivalent P&O prices. Then of course their ships are much older and, for wheelchair users especially, have significantly inferior facilities, so why would anyone opt to change to them rather than staying with P&O?

[Rupert2251]

1 hour ago, Rupert2251 said:

garnish

Sorry should read garish, my tablet has got a mind of it's own!! 

[Adawn47]

Interestingly enough just to pick up on the  MDR food. We were on Aurora's Canary cruise the end of November last year on Freedom dining. We always have to wait because we want a table for two, and we had a couple of interesting conversations with the Maitre d'. Apparently he had been transferred from Britainnia for a few months to "help transform the MDR". We thought that the previous year on Aurora was fine although honestly we have had better. I have to say that the service and food were much improved from the previous year. He also wanted to know why most wanted two tops and unwilling to share. He said he'd worked for years on various lines and he only found this on P&O. I'd be interested to know if anyone else was on the same cruise and their opinion. 

[Harry Peterson]

No problems with the food for me, or the excellent staff, restaurants and cabins. 
 

Maybe one of the problems P&O create for themselves though is an apparent difficulty, particularly off the ship, in sorting out problems. Companies are judged by the way they handle problems, and it's not something they're good at.