When a holiday is not a holiday

[oligopoly]

We have our 14 night Mediterranean cruise this May/June. It was originally scheduled for 2020 and then it got pushed back twice.

 

We are relieved to finally be able to cruise but I am apprehensive about how different the holiday will be and utterly dismayed at some of the changes.

 

Asking my 8 year old to wear a mask in the heat during kids club (when it has never been government policy!) is a small annoyance but requiring that a parent stays with our 4 year old at all times in kids club seems a step too far. A large part of choosing a P&O cruise is so mum and dad can have a short break sans-kids. Is this actually going to be enforced? I can see them losing a lot of future business over this...

 

What are the other changes, do we know? Do we need to pre-book time in the swimming pool? Will be need to reserve tables/seats for evening entertainment? Will we no longer be tabled with strangers for dinner?

 

I get that P&O needs to adapt - and this is a very testing time for the industry - but I must admit that excitement is starting to be consumed by frustration and regret over these policies.

[kalos]

To answer the title of your post .."When a holiday is not a holiday?"

That would be when your stressing about it ,instead of looking forward to it .

Some of the things you ask cannot be answered until you are onboard as you 

say yourself it is a changing industry. You never said if you had booked with the

select fare and if you have you could move the cruise as so many on here have

done to a later date like 2023 -24. Or the other option is try not to worry and go 

with "what will be will be / cross the bridges as you get to them." Only you can

decide if now is the time for you and your family to cruise .If you do I hope all 

your worries fade away and you have a great one and come back to tell us all about it . 

Take care and hopefully have a good cruise 

[Denarius]

To require that parents stay with children in the kids club sounds bizarre. I thought that the whole point of kids clubs was that children could play with other children in a supervised enviroment whilst their parents took part in adult activities elsewhere on the ship. Methinks that P&O have lost the plot.

[Bobblehat71]

Can't comment on the kids club but you need not worry about all the other things you mentioned. On my Canaries cruise just before Christmas, other than wearing a facemask when walking around the ship everything else was pretty normal. 

Relax and look forward to your Cruise.  If you still have concerns then give P&O call and get the info from them .Forums are a great source of information but not all of it is correct 😅

[indiana123]

Honestly, after 10 minutes of wandering around the ship in a mask you just forget about it. This may sound strange but it's true and it makes no difference to the holiday.  What would make a difference is if everyone got covid.  

 

Just look forward to the cruise, and have loads of fun when it arrives.