P&O Arvia Construction

[zap99]

1 minute ago, wowzz said:

Club coming home will be nice.

I got upgraded to Club on one of my  business trips, flying back to LHR from Toronto. Unfortunately,  due to the prevailing winds the flight barely lasted more than 5 hours! I was mortified - as it was a night flight I couldn't avail myself of the full wine list!

Going out club was about £1200 more than premium, coming back it was about £150. No contest .

[wowzz]

3 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Going out club was about £1200 more than premium, coming back it was about £150. No contest .

Sounds like a bargain.

[besberry]

16 hours ago, joeecco said:

Guess this good in terms of adding Gala2 then, means (hopefully) they won’t be looking to get rid of Aurora or Arcadia. 

I hope so, Aurora is my favourite ship!

[Britboys]

On 12/14/2020 at 1:51 PM, tring said:

Can I ask which month that was?  If we did do it we were thinking mid June which may give time for ice to melt so ship can get nearer to the coast, but hopefully not the busiest, but do not really know about that.  Did you find the excursions expensive and were they beneficial from what you know - I assume you researched a trip like that fairly well.

 

Also have you been to Spitsbergen or Greenland?  A comparison would be good.

I went mid-July Barbara.  We did a pre-tour in Alaska and apart from one wet evening, it was t-shirt and shorts weather the whole time and unbroken sunshine.  We were also lucky with the weather on the Inside Passage voyage from Whittier to Vancouver too.  Chilly when glacier viewing but again, lovely in the ports.  Yes, I did a lot of research and we booked all of our tours independently.  A mini-bus & rail tour from Skagway up into the Yukon, Helicopter flight for an easy Glacier Hike in Juneau and Flightseeing by float-plane to the Misty Fjords.

I haven't been to Spitzbergen or Greenland to compare (they are on the wishlist!) but can honestly say the whole experience was incredible.  I felt truly humbled that I had been able to do it.

[Britboys]

On 12/14/2020 at 2:21 PM, zap99 said:

We were there 2 years ago. This year was cancelled so the next visit is 2021. Can't remember it being particularly busy. A trip up to the Yukon next time.

I can highly recommend Dyea Dave for a tour.  That's who we used and it was a great day in a small group.

[zap99]

58 minutes ago, Britboys said:

I can highly recommend Dyea Dave for a tour.  That's who we used and it was a great day in a small group.

Thanks,will look into that, If we don't get cancelled, again.

[tring]

15 hours ago, Britboys said:

I went mid-July Barbara.  We did a pre-tour in Alaska and apart from one wet evening, it was t-shirt and shorts weather the whole time and unbroken sunshine.  We were also lucky with the weather on the Inside Passage voyage from Whittier to Vancouver too.  Chilly when glacier viewing but again, lovely in the ports.  Yes, I did a lot of research and we booked all of our tours independently.  A mini-bus & rail tour from Skagway up into the Yukon, Helicopter flight for an easy Glacier Hike in Juneau and Flightseeing by float-plane to the Misty Fjords.

I haven't been to Spitzbergen or Greenland to compare (they are on the wishlist!) but can honestly say the whole experience was incredible.  I felt truly humbled that I had been able to do it.

 

Thanks a lot for that answer, it does sound like a great experience, especially with your choice of trips, though a helicopter and float plane must have upped the cost a tad.  Must admit when we have splashed out on a specific holiday, because of location/experience, we have never regretted it though.  Talking it over last night I think we will likely concentrate on the land holiday side and calling in to see a relative or two will mean a pretty long trip even then, though your tour further north does appeal, so a cruise would be a good transfer between the two and the sort of thing we have done in recent years.

 

The specialist agent I mentioned had suggested a very scenic driving holiday from somewhere in the Rockies (?Edmonton) going north a bit then down towards Vancouver, which sounded very good but we are a little wary of the driving as we are now 70 and I cannot act as a second driver since I was banned about ten years ago because of an eye problem.  Having an agent oversee part of a holiday like that (and available as a contact) could be a bit reassuring though, and an individual plan means we could spend longer in each base to relax.  We had spoken to him a couple of times at the holiday exhibition which is held in Manchester in January (held in London as well), but unfortunately will not happen this year.  If we are to do something like that it would need to be soon due to our age.  Must see if I can find that agent's brochure and phone number for use when travel starts to open up.

 

We have 4 year's to run on our Indian visa's, but I am not convinced we will be returning there for a while, sadly.

[wowzz]

9 minutes ago, tring said:

 

Thanks a lot for that answer, it does sound like a great experience, especially with your choice of trips, though a helicopter and float plane must have upped the cost a tad.  Must admit when we have splashed out on a specific holiday, because of location/experience, we have never regretted it though.  Talking it over last night I think we will likely concentrate on the land holiday side and calling in to see a relative or two will mean a pretty long trip even then, though your tour further north does appeal, so a cruise would be a good transfer between the two and the sort of thing we have done in recent years.

 

The specialist agent I mentioned had suggested a very scenic driving holiday from somewhere in the Rockies (?Edmonton) going north a bit then down towards Vancouver, which sounded very good but we are a little wary of the driving as we are now 70 and I cannot act as a second driver since I was banned about ten years ago because of an eye problem.  Having an agent oversee part of a holiday like that (and available as a contact) could be a bit reassuring though, and an individual plan means we could spend longer in each base to relax.  We had spoken to him a couple of times at the holiday exhibition which is held in Manchester in January (held in London as well), but unfortunately will not happen this year.  If we are to do something like that it would need to be soon due to our age.  Must see if I can find that agent's brochure and phone number for use when travel starts to open up.

 

We have 4 year's to run on our Indian visa's, but I am not convinced we will be returning there for a while, sadly.

You could always fly into Banff or Calgary and then join an escorted coach/rail tour through to Vancouver, with a company  like Globus/Cosmos, before picking up your cruise.

[Angel57]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

You could always fly into Banff or Calgary and then join an escorted coach/rail tour through to Vancouver, with a company  like Globus/Cosmos, before picking up your cruise.

I flew into Calgary quite a few years ago and then travelled to Vancouver stopping off in places like Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, then a night on a train thru to Vancouver and into Victoria Is. A wonderful 7 days which I would thoroughly recommend. At the time it was a bolt-on to my Princess cruise up to Alaska and back.

 

[tring]

4 hours ago, wowzz said:

You could always fly into Banff or Calgary and then join an escorted coach/rail tour through to Vancouver, with a company  like Globus/Cosmos, before picking up your cruise.

 

3 hours ago, Angel57 said:

I flew into Calgary quite a few years ago and then travelled to Vancouver stopping off in places like Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, then a night on a train thru to Vancouver and into Victoria Is. A wonderful 7 days which I would thoroughly recommend. At the time it was a bolt-on to my Princess cruise up to Alaska and back.

 

 

I think that was the route suggested, now it is mentioned and a train journey was a part of the plan with a hire car picked up and dropped at appropriate points.  Booking a set tour is not what we would like as we prefer to take our time, spending longer in most if not all places rather than be herded round in a fairly rushed fashion.  We have done very well with Kuoni going East in recent years doing similar sorts of things, though car and driver tends to be involved then, rather than hire car.  We were able to get our driver to drop us at a station for a very impressive rail journey and met us at the other end, having transported our luggage.  Sadly we would likely have to manage that ourselves in Canada - will perhaps finally make us pack less 🙂

 

[zap99]

5 hours ago, wowzz said:

You could always fly into Banff or Calgary and then join an escorted coach/rail tour through to Vancouver, with a company  like Globus/Cosmos, before picking up your cruise.

Today we had our return leg from Calgary cancelled as BA have stopped flying that route. All very fluid at the moment.

Edited December 16, 2020 by zap99

[tring]

1 hour ago, zap99 said:

Today we had our return leg from Calgary cancelled as BA have stopped flying that route. All very fluid at the moment.

 

Sorry to hear that, but always pretty inevitable with many flights for what could be a couple of years, perhaps a lot more.  I hope your holiday was arranged as a package, so you are covered.

 

We have no intention of booking anything until just before we hope to travel for the next year or two,, but even then things could go amiss.  At our age it is getting to a now or never level as well, so really hoping there is somewhere warm we can go during next winter, if only for a shorter time than we usually do.   

[zap99]

29 minutes ago, tring said:

 

Sorry to hear that, but always pretty inevitable with many flights for what could be a couple of years, perhaps a lot more.  I hope your holiday was arranged as a package, so you are covered.

 

We have no intention of booking anything until just before we hope to travel for the next year or two,, but even then things could go amiss.  At our age it is getting to a now or never level as well, so really hoping there is somewhere warm we can go during next winter, if only for a shorter time than we usually do.   

We cancelled the flights, but don't need to do anything else until final balance time mid April. We can rebook flights, push it back a month or so, or call it quits and think again. Never mind, we have Iona booked at the end of August. That will go and we have Gary to look forward to. The money can stay in the BS and earn us a few..........pence,🤣

[wowzz]

2 hours ago, zap99 said:

We cancelled the flights, but don't need to do anything else until final balance time mid April. We can rebook flights, push it back a month or so, or call it quits and think again. Never mind, we have Iona booked at the end of August. That will go and we have Gary to look forward to. The money can stay in the BS and earn us a few..........pence,🤣

Zap - sorry to hear of your problems with your flights. We were hoping to do an Alaska cruise/land tour/ Rockies trip in 2022 , but at the moment I can't be bothered due to all the uncertainties,  which is not like me at all.

I hope you finally get away.

[zap99]

9 hours ago, wowzz said:

Zap - sorry to hear of your problems with your flights. We were hoping to do an Alaska cruise/land tour/ Rockies trip in 2022 , but at the moment I can't be bothered due to all the uncertainties,  which is not like me at all.

I hope you finally get away.

Thanks Wowzz. All a bit uncertain. We will leave things as they are until April. 🤔. Looks like Devon and Cornwall are back in the agenda. That's fine, just less bears.

[Son of Anarchy]

On 12/13/2020 at 9:40 PM, molecrochip said:

I honestly think that ship sales are done for now. That said, P&O have always seem to look for a disposal rather than have seven/eight ships in the fleet. In 2022, Arcadia will only be 17 however due a dry dock in November 2022. Aurora will be the oldest at 22 so heading in the right age bracket for moving on. She is due her next big dry dock late 2023 - Easter 2024 so logically that may be a guide. to her departure (no basis for saying this - pure speculation). 

 

Interestingly, Aurora has no cruise R119 in 2021. This is 16 days followed by a short-break cruise. This sounds like a drydock but she only had one in March 2019 so it seems to early. It could be a private charter by 16 days seems a lot.

 

I don't see P&O launching far east cruises at present - a risk of being spread too thin. They have Cunard and Princess who can cover off this area. P&O only have one ship doing world cruises because Cunard has sufficient capacity. In the same way that I don't see P&O doing Alaska.

 

I believe, Iona can carry enough fuel for her 7 day Norway trips. When she does her winter trips, I believe Tenerife (or is it Gran Canaria), Barcelona are her main bunkering ports. Its worth noting that Iona uses shore-supply for when in port and does have an amount of diesel capacity.

I've just noticed that R114 has disappeared as well.  I think this would have been 30 nights to USA & Canada.

 

Anyone on here had that one cancelled? Or any other info?  Just being nosey as might have been interested in this one.

[molecrochip]

As with Cunard, P&O have removed their USA voyages which are over 7 days long from sale but have not cancelled them. R114 is in this category. This is while the US CDC make their minds up about whether they will allow such cruises to call in US waters.

 

Rumours seem to be that R119 is a dry dock.

[brian1]

On ‎12‎/‎17‎/‎2020 at 8:46 AM, zap99 said:

Thanks Wowzz. All a bit uncertain. We will leave things as they are until April. 🤔. Looks like Devon and Cornwall are back in the agenda. That's fine, just less bears.

Grockles can be vicious and devious.

[zap99]

49 minutes ago, brian1 said:

Grockles can be vicious and devious.

You can buy I'm not a grockle sticker to put in the back of the Range Rover. That confuses them.

[brian1]

23 minutes ago, zap99 said:

You can buy I'm not a grockle sticker to put in the back of the Range Rover. That confuses them.

Next to the GB sticker.

[batholiver]

12 minutes ago, brian1 said:

Next to the GB sticker.

And the Mebyon Kernow sticker.

[brian1]

2 hours ago, batholiver said:

And the Mebyon Kernow sticker.

LOL,don't they realise that they,the Welsh and Brittony are the original Brits.

[Purdey16]

14 hours ago, Son of Anarchy said:

I've just noticed that R114 has disappeared as well.  I think this would have been 30 nights to USA & Canada.

 

Anyone on here had that one cancelled? Or any other info?  Just being nosey as might have been interested in this one.

We are also booked on this one but not had any cancellation yet , full payment due in March it’s for 24 nights, it’s beginning to look like another cruise less year for us as only today found out our 24th April on Iona is cancelled, also expecting our June 16th one to be cancelled on celebrity to St Petersburg etc, 

[Son of Anarchy]

Thanks Molecrochip & Purdey 16.  Seems like a prudent move to suspend new bookings pending CDC decisions.

[tring]

2 minutes ago, Purdey16 said:

We are also booked on this one but not had any cancellation yet , full payment due in March it’s for 24 nights, it’s beginning to look like another cruise less year for us as only today found out our 24th April on Iona is cancelled, also expecting our June 16th one to be cancelled on celebrity to St Petersburg etc, 

 

The 24 night one next Sept is Arcadia up the St Lawrence and is still on sale. R114 is Aurora to NY and back.  We were booking on that and were not really expecting it to go ahead, but we jumped ship for a one week fiords with a cabin at the back and have no regrets we did.  Just a lot less hassle and risk of wasting a lot of cash on a cruise we would not want with covid restraints