UK staycation cruise details launched

[Bertie Doe]

3 hours ago, Beckett said:

 I just checked the Cunard website to see if there were any announcements (there weren't) and saw that my original June cruise was still on sale but the price had risen to an unbelievable level. I booked an outside single for around £1400. Today, the cost of an inside standard single occupancy is £1973!  What's happening! I still think we'll be cancelled next week though. Jane.x

We have a 14th June QE cruise out of Southampton for 10 days. We paid £1000 for a balcony but they stopped selling, maybe a week ago. Still not cancelled by Cunard.

 

The Philippines Government hope to vaccinate all those in the top 5 'high risk' categories by the end of July. Needless to say, cruise workers are not in the top 5. Has there been any announcements by cruise companies, that they have access to private supplies?

 

[Selbourne]

13 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

Not on any we have done, even when at anchor. The only place I have been where there are cruise byes worth seeing on a 7 night cruise are the Norwegian fjords. 

That’s been our experience too, but we haven’t done a round UK cruise. The Norwegian Fjords are spectacular and the cruise down the fjord is the highlight (certainly in the case of  Flaam, Olden and Geiranger) but the only other place that springs to mind is the archipelago on the run into Stockholm. Elsewhere, the 30 mins in or out of ports are usually interesting, but the rest of the time we are usually too far from land to make anything out. 

[Gettingwarmer]

21 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

That’s been our experience too, but we haven’t done a round UK cruise. The Norwegian Fjords are spectacular and the cruise down the fjord is the highlight (certainly in the case of  Flaam, Olden and Geiranger) but the only other place that springs to mind is the archipelago on the run into Stockholm. Elsewhere, the 30 mins in or out of ports are usually interesting, but the rest of the time we are usually too far from land to make anything out. 

The sail into Kotor is special as it is similar to the fjords. 

[terrierjohn]

3 minutes ago, Gettingwarmer said:

The sail into Kotor is special as it is similar to the fjords. 

The Alaska coast is also similar to the fjords, and the sail into Akureyri in Iceland is interesting, and the sail into Venice is extra special, but probably not very environmentally friendly.

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, Gettingwarmer said:

The sail into Kotor is special as it is similar to the fjords. 

Never been there, so will keep an eye out for it as we always try to do at least one new port on every cruise. 
 

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

The Alaska coast is also similar to the fjords, and the sail into Akureyri in Iceland is interesting, and the sail into Venice is extra special, but probably not very environmentally friendly.

 

A 21 night cruise to Iceland was one of the 3 cruises that we had cancelled unfortunately. We’ve done the sail into Venice, which I’m pleased about as I believe that they are stopping it (if they haven’t already). Doubt we will ever get to Alaska as flights are out for us now. 

[tring]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I haven’t cruised to any of those places, but are ships the size of those in P&O’s fleet able to cruise close enough to the shore of these places to afford good views, rather than just distant views? 

 

I would suggest it depends what they want to do as there is plenty of scope to get nearer to land if they sail near, as though they were going to dock or tender there, linger a short while and retreat, but would likely need to pick up a local pilot and be booked in.  Greenock, the port for Glasgow is in a very scenic location on a sunny day and other standard ports as well.  Fred does a lot of scenic cruising of Scotish coastal areas and there are ports in the northern islands so could sail in, turn around and go out again.  There would be lots of birds around in the summer nesting season on cliffs etc. as well, which is an interest in itself, though binoculars would be handy.  Would only take a day or two to sail north.

 

The limiting factor may well be the weather as no good if misty, though summer days are long so should be some chance to get somewhere in say 5 - 7 days.

 

[MX-Drew]

42 minutes ago, tring said:

 

........would likely need to pick up a local pilot......

 

A question, is picking up a pilot a problem with the Covid restrictions?

My not be in the UK but could be something to consider for foreign ports.

[Selbourne]

25 minutes ago, MX-Drew said:

A question, is picking up a pilot a problem with the Covid restrictions?

My not be in the UK but could be something to consider for foreign ports.

I don’t think it would be a problem from a Covid perspective, but it’s very expensive to pick up a pilot. I remember chatting to a Solent pilot on board Aurora once (he was a passenger, not working) and he told me how much companies like P&O have to pay each time they use a Pilot and Pilot vessel for a cruise ship the size that P&O use. I can’t remember the exact figure but I remember being amazed at how expensive it was. I don’t think I’m exaggerating if I say that it was something ridiculous like £10k. Knowing how tight fisted P&O are I can’t see them paying Pilots fees just to get the ship a bit closer to land!
 

Anyway, has P&O actually said that these will be ‘scenic’ cruises?

[tring]

1 hour ago, MX-Drew said:

A question, is picking up a pilot a problem with the Covid restrictions?

My not be in the UK but could be something to consider for foreign ports.

 

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

I don’t think it would be a problem from a Covid perspective, but it’s very expensive to pick up a pilot. I remember chatting to a Solent pilot on board Aurora once (he was a passenger, not working) and he told me how much companies like P&O have to pay each time they use a Pilot and Pilot vessel for a cruise ship the size that P&O use. I can’t remember the exact figure but I remember being amazed at how expensive it was. I don’t think I’m exaggerating if I say that it was something ridiculous like £10k. Knowing how tight fisted P&O are I can’t see them paying Pilots fees just to get the ship a bit closer to land!

 

I do not see a problem re covid as loads of space on the bridges and other port work will have been going on throughout.  Not sure I understand any relevance to foreign ports.

 

I do, however totally agree that it is highly unlikely P&O be would bother because of extra cost for pilots, extra planning and possibly insurance.  They are more likely to sell the cruises as cheaply as possible as per their standard procedure and is probably also the preference of most of their passengers, in fact price has already been discussed here.

 

Someone had mentioned potential scenic locations, which had been widely disagreed with as possibilities.  As I said, I am of the opinion it would be quite possible, IF that was what they wanted to offer.

Edited March 6, 2021 by tring

[wowzz]

28 minutes ago, tring said:

 

 

I do not see a problem re covid as loads of space on the bridges and other port work will have been going on throughout.  Not sure I understand any relevance to foreign ports.

 

I do, however totally agree that it is highly unlikely P&O be would bother because of extra cost for pilots, extra planning and possibly insurance.  They are more likely to sell the cruises as cheaply as possible as per their standard procedure and is probably also the preference of most of their passengers, in fact price has already been discussed here.

 

Someone had mentioned potential scenic locations, which had been widely disagreed with as possibilities.  As I said, I am of the opinion it would be quite possible, IF that was what they wanted to offer.

You are right. P&O are not going to worry about the scenery - indeed, they don't need to do so. The cruises will be sold as a "hotel experience at sea".  Kids in the children's club, adults in the spa or gym, and entertainment for all the family at night. 

Without being unkind, most of us on here are of a certain age and background.  What P&O will try and do with these cruises,  is to attract the younger families,  which in the longer term will mean that they will fill Iona and Vera. A sort of loss leader, but one that in the long term could be very profitable. 

[Selbourne]

9 minutes ago, wowzz said:

What P&O will try and do with these cruises,  is to attract the younger families,  which in the longer term will mean that they will fill Iona and Vera.

If they are clever, and price them at low enough prices, I think they can target several very different groups. As is evidenced by this forum, there are a lot of traditional cruisers who are so keen to get back on a cruise ship ASAP that the lack of a proper itinerary, risk of poor weather etc won’t be any deterrent whatsoever. Then, as you say, there will be those who are in the new target market who will see these as ‘taster’ cruises to see if cruising is for them. Another group could be people who live within a couple of hours of Southampton who might have never considered cruising but see these short cruises as ‘something different’ and a new experience after a year of not being able to do much. Yet another group could be experienced cruisers who see this as a low cost way to experience a new cruise ship that they haven’t been on before, or even a new cruise line altogether.
 

This last group could include us. We aren’t desperate to go on a cruise any time soon, especially whilst there are on board restrictions, but we would like to see Iona (we were due to be on the maiden voyage)  and have contemplated trying other cruise lines but have yet to take the plunge. We couldn’t face a week without getting off the ship, but as we are less than 2 hours from Southampton we could consider up to 3 nights if it was a new ship for us, but it would have to be at a cheap price - certainly much less than £100 pppn - for us to even consider it, given that we have paid less than that for a balcony cabin on a proper cruise to interesting places with no on board restrictions. 

 

 

[wowzz]

11 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

If they are clever, and price them at low enough prices, I think they can target several very different groups. As is evidenced by this forum, there are a lot of traditional cruisers who are so keen to get back on a cruise ship ASAP that the lack of a proper itinerary, risk of poor weather etc won’t be any deterrent whatsoever. Then, as you say, there will be those who are in the new target market who will see these as ‘taster’ cruises to see if cruising is for them. Another group could be people who live within a couple of hours of Southampton who might have never considered cruising but see these short cruises as ‘something different’ and a new experience after a year of not being able to do much. Yet another group could be experienced cruisers who see this as a low cost way to experience a new cruise ship that they haven’t been on before, or even a new cruise line altogether.
 

This last group could include us. We aren’t desperate to go on a cruise any time soon, especially whilst there are on board restrictions, but we would like to see Iona (we were due to be on the maiden voyage)  and have contemplated trying other cruise lines but have yet to take the plunge. We couldn’t face a week without getting off the ship, but as we are less than 2 hours from Southampton we could consider up to 3 nights if it was a new ship for us, but it would have to be at a cheap price - certainly much less than £100 pppn - for us to even consider it, given that we have paid less than that for a balcony cabin on a proper cruise to interesting places with no on board restrictions. 

 

 

That's a pretty good summation.

We are about 5 hours from Southampton.  More than doable on the day of a cruise if we leave early enough, but being an old f**t , I prefer to travel down the day before. So, a 3 night cruise is really of no interest, especially as in reality you only get 2 full days at sea. 

I've just been pricing up holidays in Mexico in December as part of my Plan B. £2000 pp for14 nights AI in a good hotel, including Premium Economy flights on BA . Suddenly the P&O cruise prices are starting to look outrageously expensive. 

However, I do appreciate that many people do not have the good fortune to be able to choose other types of holiday. But, P&O are in danger of pricing themselves out of consideration of customers such as ourselves, that are not locked into cruising.

[ann141]

41 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

If they are clever, and price them at low enough prices, I think they can target several very different groups. As is evidenced by this forum, there are a lot of traditional cruisers who are so keen to get back on a cruise ship ASAP that the lack of a proper itinerary, risk of poor weather etc won’t be any deterrent whatsoever. Then, as you say, there will be those who are in the new target market who will see these as ‘taster’ cruises to see if cruising is for them. Another group could be people who live within a couple of hours of Southampton who might have never considered cruising but see these short cruises as ‘something different’ and a new experience after a year of not being able to do much. Yet another group could be experienced cruisers who see this as a low cost way to experience a new cruise ship that they haven’t been on before, or even a new cruise line altogether.
 

This last group could include us. We aren’t desperate to go on a cruise any time soon, especially whilst there are on board restrictions, but we would like to see Iona (we were due to be on the maiden voyage)  and have contemplated trying other cruise lines but have yet to take the plunge. We couldn’t face a week without getting off the ship, but as we are less than 2 hours from Southampton we could consider up to 3 nights if it was a new ship for us, but it would have to be at a cheap price - certainly much less than £100 pppn - for us to even consider it, given that we have paid less than that for a balcony cabin on a proper cruise to interesting places with no on board restrictions. 

 

 

We too may be interested to do a short cruise to try a new ship (Iona) or another cruise line e.g Saga but we tend to choose cruises by Itinerary so would not be interested in a cruise to nowhere particularly if there were restrictions on social mixing which is one aspect of the cruise experience we like.We have 2 self catering breaks booked and are considering another to Scotland.We won't be restricted to ships excursions and can get takeaways or eat out (at least hopefully by July and September) when we have 2 holidays planned.I really dont want to fly so to go somewhere warm cruising is the best option.Hopefully  our cruise in October will go ahead but I still think its only got a 60% chance of sailing.

[MX-Drew]

Thanks for the replies to my question re a pilot, as I said it was just a thought.

 

Another (in my opinion) more relevant point. P&O and other cruise lines need to launch the new summer cruise very so as I for one and I’m sure there are others are looking at their plan B and seeing things getting booked and prices rising so we may not wait for an unknown and book the plan B. I have done that for my New Year holiday and about to do the same for the summer holiday.

[janny444]

14 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I haven’t cruised to any of those places, but are ships the size of those in P&O’s fleet able to cruise close enough to the shore of these places to afford good views, rather than just distant views? 

We have done this cruise a couple of times  and mainly the view is endless grey sea

[Selbourne]

29 minutes ago, janny444 said:

We have done this cruise a couple of times  and mainly the view is endless grey sea

That’s what I feared. If they stop at UK ports that would appeal, as would trying a new ship like Iona for a few days, but going nowhere and seeing nothing on a ship that we already know well has no appeal whatsoever. Much prefer to spend the money on a UK break where we can get out and about and see places, especially as restaurants and pubs should be open by then. 

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Whilst i cant wait to get back to cruising i dont fancy a cruise around the uk. Its just not for me.

 

However i am excited to hear and see how those cruises go and i hope all that go have a great time. 

[Beckett]

Good Morning Folks. I hope everyone is well today.

 

Just been catching up and I'm interested to read all your comments about the Cruises to Nowhere as I expect to be in one of the groups Selbourne described very soon. I still have a Cunard Fjords booked for July as Cunard haven't declared yet. I'm sure they will, and I just wish they'd get on with it, either way, because everyone deserves to know where they stand.

 

When that happens I will book a 7 day to nowhere as I will have 2 pre-warned but fairly disappointed granddaughters who just want to go somewhere on a ship in the school holidays. They are both seasoned cruisers and don't mind not "getting off" at all. So, it all comes down to price. I don't want to be ripped off but as long as I can get a decent balcony cabin I'm not too fussed about price.  I've looked at other UK holiday options but so much is either already booked or prohibitively expensive. So I suppose what I'm saying is that I might grizzle but will probably pay what the asking price. 

 

As an aside, but still with pricing, we are travelling as a whole family in August 22 on Ventura, and the price is already £1700 more than at booking. Phew! 

 

Keep well, keep safe, and have a good day. Best wishes. Jane.x

[crazy cat lady 83]

We are really keen to do one of these short cruises whether it be with Princess or P&O - as long as it fits in the dates with my cancelled Azura cruise. The restrictions don’t bother us. We both have to wear masks for work and I’m at the stage I forget mine is even on! 
 

I would love to sit and watch the grey seas at the moment instead of just seeing the usual walls of home and work. I’m in my late 30’s so I’ll just have to wait and see if they allow me on with only one vaccination. 
 

 

[zap99]

14 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

The Alaska coast is also similar to the fjords, and the sail into Akureyri in Iceland is interesting, and the sail into Venice is extra special, but probably not very environmentally friendly.

We found the Alaska cruise, particularly right up to the Glaciers stunning. Should have been there again in June. Looks like 2022 now. Beats Norway.

[crazy cat lady 83]

8 minutes ago, Beckett said:

Good Morning Folks. I hope everyone is well today.

 

Just been catching up and I'm interested to read all your comments about the Cruises to Nowhere as I expect to be in one of the groups Selbourne described very soon. I still have a Cunard Fjords booked for July as Cunard haven't declared yet. I'm sure they will, and I just wish they'd get on with it, either way, because everyone deserves to know where they stand.

 

When that happens I will book a 7 day to nowhere as I will have 2 pre-warned but fairly disappointed granddaughters who just want to go somewhere on a ship in the school holidays. They are both seasoned cruisers and don't mind not "getting off" at all. So, it all comes down to price. I don't want to be ripped off but as long as I can get a decent balcony cabin I'm not too fussed about price.  I've looked at other UK holiday options but so much is either already booked or prohibitively expensive. So I suppose what I'm saying is that I might grizzle but will probably pay what the asking price. 

 

As an aside, but still with pricing, we are travelling as a whole family in August 22 on Ventura, and the price is already £1700 more than at booking. Phew! 

 

Keep well, keep safe, and have a good day. Best wishes. Jane.x

I hope you manage to find something that can give both you and your granddaughters something to look forward to. We cruise with my parents so i know how precious these times will be after all we have been through.

[Beckett]

4 minutes ago, crazy cat lady 83 said:

I hope you manage to find something that can give both you and your granddaughters something to look forward to. We cruise with my parents so i know how precious these times will be after all we have been through.

Thank you so much. You're spot on. Precious times with precious memories. Jane.x

[purplesea]

We were booked on Iona last July for her naming ceremony, and then rebooked for this August instead.

My mother who was coming with us, wants to re-book again as, as she says it might be the last chance she gets to go on holiday as she is getting too old to travel. 

[zap99]

10 hours ago, wowzz said:

That's a pretty good summation.

We are about 5 hours from Southampton.  More than doable on the day of a cruise if we leave early enough, but being an old f**t , I prefer to travel down the day before. So, a 3 night cruise is really of no interest, especially as in reality you only get 2 full days at sea. 

I've just been pricing up holidays in Mexico in December as part of my Plan B. £2000 pp for14 nights AI in a good hotel, including Premium Economy flights on BA . Suddenly the P&O cruise prices are starting to look outrageously expensive. 

However, I do appreciate that many people do not have the good fortune to be able to choose other types of holiday. But, P&O are in danger of pricing themselves out of consideration of customers such as ourselves, that are not locked into cruising.

Not  just P&O. NCL, RC and Celebrity are all becoming expensive compared to Med/Canaries. BA have 2 weeks in the Dominican Republic ,AI and Premium flights for less than £2000 and 2 weeks AI with club flights for around 1000.

[wowzz]

5 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Not  just P&O. NCL, RC and Celebrity are all becoming expensive compared to Med/Canaries. BA have 2 weeks in the Dominican Republic ,AI and Premium flights for less than £2000 and 2 weeks AI with club flights for around 1000.

I assume you mean £1000 more, which would be cheap for club?

Long term the prices now being quoted for cruises next year are, imho, unsupportable, as those of us that are not totally committed to cruising will find other holidays at more attractive prices.