Summer 2024

[zap99]

8 hours ago, Host Sharon said:

Possibly because some (many?) of us are becoming disillusioned with P&O selling off their smaller ships. Physically I'd need a mobility scooter on Iona to get from one end to the other. I still love Aurora though and have three cruises booked on her. My others are with Saga, Fred Olsen and Oceania - all with under 1000 pax. Yes, it is a P&O board, but that doesn't preclude comparisons with other lines. People often ask about Princess or Celebrity and no one complains. 

Ok. Point taken. Our next cruise is with Celebrity, then Royal Caribbean, then P&O . As I am not a Saga fan, I'll go away.

[Britboys]

8 hours ago, cruisefan2012 said:

And back to P&O Cruises - They are launching Summer 2024 this week !!

 

I`m tempted to sail to the med on Arvia - Depending on the price of course...........

 

I want to go to Barcelona 

 

New ships with P&O are normally very competitively priced as they want them to be successful. Especially so with over 5000 berths to fill. Barcelona is lovely - always enjoy a stop there.

[amajaa]

Have I missed something here, it says Summer 2024 holidays go on sale soon and to register your interest, but how can you register your interest if you don’t know what holiday you want to book. When do they publish the holidays please? 

[jaydee6969]

7 minutes ago, amajaa said:

Have I missed something here, it says Summer 2024 holidays go on sale soon and to register your interest, but how can you register your interest if you don’t know what holiday you want to book. When do they publish the holidays please? 

 

The itineraries etc will be available to view and register your interest from 08:30 on 23rd March 2022, with booking following soon after.

 

https://www.pocruises.com/new-collection

 

Edited March 21, 2022 by jaydee6969
time added

[Britboys]

6 minutes ago, jaydee6969 said:

 

The itineraries etc will be available to view and register your interest from 08:30 on 23rd March 2022, with booking following soon after.

 

https://www.pocruises.com/new-collection

 

So we can expect the P&O website to crash at 0835 on Wednesday morning then...😂

[jaydee6969]

6 minutes ago, Britboys said:

So we can expect the P&O website to crash at 0835 on Wednesday morning then...😂

 

I wasn't expecting it too last that long!🤣

Edited March 21, 2022 by jaydee6969

[Billish]

19 minutes ago, Britboys said:

So we can expect the P&O website to crash at 0835 on Wednesday morning then...😂

Which is why it is better to register your interest with a well known TA and let them book the exact cabin you want.

[Britboys]

13 minutes ago, Billish said:

Which is why it is better to register your interest with a well known TA and let them book the exact cabin you want.

Yes, I've used one of the best known with P&O for years.

[twotravellersLondon]

12 hours ago, Host Sharon said:

Possibly because some (many?) of us are becoming disillusioned with P&O selling off their smaller ships. Physically I'd need a mobility scooter on Iona to get from one end to the other. I still love Aurora though and have three cruises booked on her. My others are with Saga, Fred Olsen and Oceania - all with under 1000 pax. Yes, it is a P&O board, but that doesn't preclude comparisons with other lines. People often ask about Princess or Celebrity and no one complains. 

 

Like many other people we choose to travel on a number of different cruise lines... and it's just natural for us to compare P&O with the other options available.

 

We travel most often on P&O, Fred Olsen & SAGA but also on Cunard, Princess and a variety of smaller, more specialist lines. We chose where we want to cruise, look at what's available, carefully cost out what is included and what needs to be added... then we "takes our choice and pays our money". We feel that things have changed in the last couple of years and that "cruise-comparison" shopping... comparing the quality and what's on offer is more important than ever.

 

P&O certainly has its advantages for us. For short cruises with overnight stays to places that we know well... we'll chose a budget cabin on something like P&O. If we go on a short hop to Amsterdam, we'll aim to spend a day in someplace like the Rijksmueeum, the Van Gough Museum or the Stedelijk Museum and then we'll enjoy the evening meal and entertainment that we've already paid for back on board. If the cruise is across to the Chanel Islands... we take the P&O excursions... which on P&O we have always found to be brilliant and exceptionally good value for money. We get what we pay for and we arrive back at the quay happy. 

 

For couple of weeks up the coast of Norway we've tended in the past to choose Fred Olsen rather than P&O... mainly due to the advantage of less people in the smaller ports. For instance in Tromso we'd choose to spend most day in the Arctic/Alpine Botanic Garden at the University... taxi there and local bus back. The atmosphere is amazingly tranquil, peaceful, mindful and that last thing that we want is to have thousands of cruise tourists flowing through the place all day as part of a "city excursion." But in other places, like Alta or Honningsvåg, especially in winter, it's far more economical to take and excursion rather that hire a car.

 

For long cruises where we want to have a balcony, lots of deck space, great dining in a variety of restaurants, fresh and exciting entertainment with drinks, gratuities and all manner of other things that really interest us and make our holiday a really worthwhile experience that we'll cherish for years... we'll chose another line... and cost-wise... it is increasingly SAGA. For what we want  they are offering us the best value for money. We're also prepared to cruise less... to pay the price of an exceptional experience.

 

For really exciting destinations such as Svalbard.... we use Expedition Ships but fly in and out. We extend the trip so that we have extra time in Longyearbyen and an extended stop-over in Oslo on the way home. We can do all the things that the cruise lines offer as excursions and more but far more economically... the town is transformed late in the afternoon as soon as the cruise ships leave... we can have a drink under the midnight sun while Reindeer grazing only a few yards away below our balcony.

 

Yes. P&O has had lots to offer and some people that we know would never dream of travelling with any other line... but times are changing and as far as we're concerned, we don't want the cheapest fare we want the best cruise, the one most suited to what we want, at the best value for what we're willing to pay.

 

[sogne]

just had brochure for 24 cruises March Oct delivered nothing very different  

[Son of Anarchy]

Got the same here as well. 

Arvia's itinery of to and froing for seven days to Norway doesn't appeal.

There's one or two Ventura itineries that may appeal, mainly due to price, and maybe Aurora's round trip TA.

Bit surprised to see St Petersburg being mentioned in the Baltic itineries

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, Son of Anarchy said:

Got the same here as well. 

Arvia's itinery of to and froing for seven days to Norway doesn't appeal.

There's one or two Ventura itineries that may appeal, mainly due to price, and maybe Aurora's round trip TA.

Bit surprised to see St Petersburg being mentioned in the Baltic itineries

If Arvia is doing Norway, what is Iona doing in summer 2024?

[Britboys]

10 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

If Arvia is doing Norway, what is Iona doing in summer 2024?

No, it is Iona doing Norway. Arvia doing 14 nights round-trip to the Med. Basically two itineraries but overlapping ports...

[Britboys]

As indeed we all thought, it really is by and large a case of same old, same old. Only two, maybe three departures that interest me remotely (on the two smaller ships of course).

[costalota]

Nothing really exciting in the brochure, few we may book when onboard Ventura 1st Aprill, Arcadia to USA etc in September

[Son of Anarchy]

1 hour ago, Son of Anarchy said:

Got the same here as well. 

Arvia's itinery of to and froing for seven days to Norway doesn't appeal.

There's one or two Ventura itineries that may appeal, mainly due to price, and maybe Aurora's round trip TA.

Bit surprised to see St Petersburg being mentioned in the Baltic itineries

Apologies, it is indeed Iona shuttling back and forth to Norway. 

Got me mega-ships mixed up. 🤡

[Britboys]

1 hour ago, Son of Anarchy said:

Apologies, it is indeed Iona shuttling back and forth to Norway. 

Got me mega-ships mixed up. 🤡

Well, they are much of a muchness...

[Jack McGowan]

Must say I'm kind of disappointed they aren't going to have a bit of a shake up, Iona doing Norwegian Fjords again is the bigger hit because without doing the same cruises (or going in winter) you aren't going to get chance to really try the ship out more than once. Obviously doing the same cruise again is ok every now and then but I would rather try different places swell - personal opinion.

 

Will be interesting to see if the itineraries for the other ships are much of the same or not...

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Jack McGowan said:

Will be interesting to see if the itineraries for the other ships are much of the same or not...

Nah - same old,  same old. But, to be fair, how many new ports are really available, given that P&O only use three home ports in summer months? 

[Britboys]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

Nah - same old,  same old. But, to be fair, how many new ports are really available, given that P&O only use three home ports in summer months? 

It's not just a question of finding new ports though. Aurora and Arcadia could easily visit some smaller ports that have been used by P&O in years gone by but for the last few years they just seem to be visiting the same ports year in, year out. They seem to be avoiding tender ports where possible too. My guess is that it's cheaper for them to use ports regularly as they might get some sort of 'bulk buy' deal from the ports and tour providers etc. I don't think Cunard are much better either...

[wowzz]

5 minutes ago, Britboys said:

It's not just a question of finding new ports though. Aurora and Arcadia could easily visit some smaller ports that have been used by P&O in years gone by but for the last few years they just seem to be visiting the same ports year in, year out. They seem to be avoiding tender ports where possible too. My guess is that it's cheaper for them to use ports regularly as they might get some sort of 'bulk buy' deal from the ports and tour providers etc. I don't think Cunard are much better either...

Our last booked cruise is for March 2023 -Azura repo to Malta.

In all honesty we can find nothing to get excited about in any future itineraries.  

I think we will revert to self catering villas for the remainder of 2023 and 2024. 

[mercury7289]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

Nah - same old,  same old. But, to be fair, how many new ports are really available, given that P&O only use three home ports in summer months? 

Were you been! 

 

[zap99]

14 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Our last booked cruise is for March 2023 -Azura repo to Malta.

In all honesty we can find nothing to get excited about in any future itineraries.  

I think we will revert to self catering villas for the remainder of 2023 and 2024. 

There are a few 8 night RC cruises from Barcelona next year going to some interesting smaller ports. Fairly good value. 8 nights, 7 ports. P&O from Southampton 14 nights, 6 ports. I think that's us for next year. Not Saga, but RC will do.🤣.

[showingdiva]

Will have a look.  Got Iona booked for next spring, but P&O aren't doing anything for me nowadays.   As others have said, same ports, but biggest difference is that I can go away with MSC for less than half the price, with much more sensible single supplements, tips, drinks and a big NHS discount.   I would never desert Queen Mary 2, but last year and this, I am currently happy see past MSC's confusing customer service and flaky website compared to anything P&O can offer.

At the end of the day, we're all each to our own.

[Peanut006]

8 hours ago, wowzz said:

Our last booked cruise is for March 2023 -Azura repo to Malta.

In all honesty we can find nothing to get excited about in any future itineraries.  

I think we will revert to self catering villas for the remainder of 2023 and 2024. 

We have the same repo booked but for 2024.
 

I booked select fare to choose my cabin and I have now found out it’s currently an isolation cabin. As I need an accessible cabin there is not a great choice to move me to. Hopefully isolation cabins will be a thing of the past by then

It might be a self catering villa for us too if they want me to move cabins. Playa Blanca would be a good option, we love it there 

Michelle