Fjords: Cunard v P&O

[buchanan101]

Having a browse round cruises from Cunard and P&O for the fjords next summer with a view to booking 2024 when cruises are released.

 

PG suites on QV and around £5700. Suites on P&O are about £3700 (though full fare is £4600)

 

How different is the experience? Really liked QM2 QG recently, and the P&O cruises seem to be on Britannia or similar crowded monsters and their adult only cruises are Norway + Iceland

 

I'm still leaning towards Cunard grills. P&O cabins look bland, but their suites look better proportioned than Cunard PG so QG may be a better comparison (about £6700). And there doesn't seem to be any Grills type dining on P&O

 

As you can tell, I'm new to all this with just the one QM2 crossing under my belt. I do like the Cunard interiors, but have heard that P&O are one of the more classic alternative lines?

 

 

[Bell Boy]

You would be completely out of your mind if you took P&O 'Britannia' over Cunard 'Queen Victoria' 

P&O Britannia v Cunard  Poles apart , Understated elegance as opposed to a crowded Monster 😉

[buchanan101]

3 minutes ago, Bell Boy said:

You would be completely out of your mind if you took P&O 'Britannia' over Cunard 'Queen Victoria' 

P&O Britannia v Cunard  Poles apart , Understated elegance as opposed to a crowded Monster 😉

Kind of what I was thinking...trying to justify the 50%+ premium for Cunard.

 

Loved the space on the QM2 - couldn't believe how uncrowded it was (maybe that was partly a Grills thing - but that's only really the restaurant on the QM2, but the whole ship seemed so quiet and it was supposedly at 2500 passengers). Guessing the QV doesn't seem quite as roomy...?

 

Of course, there is the P&O Iona that does the fjords...makes Britannia look like the QV I reckon

[exlondoner]

QV always seems pretty spacious to me. If you were able to find something on Aurora or Arcadia, those are much more like Cunard, I believe. Indeed Arcadia was going to be a Cunarder.

[buchanan101]

18 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

QV always seems pretty spacious to me. If you were able to find something on Aurora or Arcadia, those are much more like Cunard, I believe. Indeed Arcadia was going to be a Cunarder.

Great, thanks for the tip!

 

[Host Hattie]

There are no special dining arrangements for suites on P&O so you need to pay extra for decent food at the added cost restaurants.

[buchanan101]

13 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

There are no special dining arrangements for suites on P&O so you need to pay extra for decent food at the added cost restaurants.

Thanks.. that was the conclusion I'd come to as it didn't mention anything included..

 

Looks like Cunard grills on QV for me then...

 

Apart from anything else the made to measure dinner jacket/suit has cost me £275 per occasion worn so far

Edited November 25, 2022 by buchanan101

[majortom10]

The PG suites on QV are very poor efforts and very disappointing. Food in PG in the evenings is very good. It might be worth considering  booking the suite on P&O, which are far superior to PG on QV, and having the flexibility of booking speciality restaurants on P&O i.e Epicurean and Sindhu and still save you a large amount of money. Breakfast in suites on P&O are taken in Epicurean and not MDR and are just as good as in PG on QV.

[majortom10]

54 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

There are no special dining arrangements for suites on P&O so you need to pay extra for decent food at the added cost restaurants.

"Decent food" you make it sound as if you get "slops". If you compare on a level playing field of P&O and any Cunard ship in Britannia restaurant there is very little difference. Unfair to compare PG or QG with anything P&O offer because they are not comparable and are a lot more expensive.

[majortom10]

Having just returned from QV in PG and the new introduction of open dining as a dining option I honestly don't think it is worth the huge extra cost of PG over booking a balcony and having meals in Britannia MDR.

[buchanan101]

7 day P&O fjord cruises are all on Britannia (maybe) or Iona (no thanks). The adult only ships are all 12 day trips - which may be suitable.

 

I note that P&O have summer 2024 cruises up - I think Cunard ones are due soon - maybe waiting on seeing when QA is ready as that was supposedly going to the fjords in April I think...

 

Perhaps Cunard will have some early savers; PGs - I know, not oversold on the rooms - are almost all the same, though QG would be nice overlooking the stern

[Host Hattie]

11 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

"Decent food" you make it sound as if you get "slops". If you compare on a level playing field of P&O and any Cunard ship in Britannia restaurant there is very little difference. Unfair to compare PG or QG with anything P&O offer because they are not comparable and are a lot more expensive.

There was a great deal of difference for us. We found the food and service in the MDR on P&O very poor compared to Britannia on Cunard.

[buchanan101]

6 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

There was a great deal of difference for us. We found the food and service in the MDR on P&O very poor compared to Britannia on Cunard.

Then there's the Britannia Club option - which seems to have the biggest swings in prices: sometimes not far off a PG price, sometimes a fair bit cheaper.

[majortom10]

14 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

7 day P&O fjord cruises are all on Britannia (maybe) or Iona (no thanks). The adult only ships are all 12 day trips - which may be suitable.

 

I note that P&O have summer 2024 cruises up - I think Cunard ones are due soon - maybe waiting on seeing when QA is ready as that was supposedly going to the fjords in April I think...

 

Perhaps Cunard will have some early savers; PGs - I know, not oversold on the rooms - are almost all the same, though QG would be nice overlooking the stern

QA doesn't start cruising until May so nothing available on April also Cunard very rarely, if at all, offer PG or QG as Early Saver.

[majortom10]

5 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

Then there's the Britannia Club option - which seems to have the biggest swings in prices: sometimes not far off a PG price, sometimes a fair bit cheaper.

But staterooms in BC are exactly the same as balcony in Britannia and now you can get open dining in Britannia MDR is it worth the extra cost for the only benefit is an uplift in food.

[buchanan101]

1 minute ago, majortom10 said:

QA doesn't start cruising until May so nothing available on April also Cunard very rarely, if at all, offer PG or QG as Early Saver.

Yes, saw that for other cruises. However when I booked QG for QM2 (18 months ago now) there was a slightly cheaper fare where they allocated room (I chose to pay extra to have a port side room going west this last October: glad I did - was lovely on the balcony in the sun on some days...and the wifi worked better there).

[buchanan101]

1 minute ago, majortom10 said:

But staterooms in BC are exactly the same as balcony in Britannia and now you can get open dining in Britannia MDR is it worth the extra cost for the only benefit is an uplift in food.

Some BC were redone in 2017(?) QV refit I believe - and/or some were added?

[majortom10]

10 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

Some BC were redone in 2017(?) QV refit I believe - and/or some were added?

Yes they were but they are only the same as Balcony cabins.

 

Edited November 25, 2022 by majortom10

[majortom10]

11 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

Yes, saw that for other cruises. However when I booked QG for QM2 (18 months ago now) there was a slightly cheaper fare where they allocated room (I chose to pay extra to have a port side room going west this last October: glad I did - was lovely on the balcony in the sun on some days...and the wifi worked better there).

Perhaps you did but I have never known QG or PG be advertised as Early Saver.

[Host Hattie]

Please don't discuss travel agents, it's against our guidelines.

 

Thanks 

[buchanan101]

Ok, sorry!

[Cathygh]

On P&O you do get separate room for breakfast. On Aurora it was in the Glass House and was far better than the MDR. Some P&O suite guests use Speciality Dining Restaurants most nights, using the money they save by booking a P&O suite rather than Cunard. 

[Lanky Lad]

6 hours ago, Bell Boy said:

You would be completely out of your mind if you took P&O 'Britannia' over Cunard 'Queen Victoria' 

P&O Britannia v Cunard  Poles apart , Understated elegance as opposed to a crowded Monster 😉

I agree completely. When I was on Britannia she was sailing at about 50% full and it still felt overcrowded.

[Windsurfboy]

There are a few considerations

 

P&O suite is QG sized not PG, is that important.

 

Food , For £2000 saving per person,  at £30pp per night for speciality restaurants,  that's £210 over 7 nights . So you  can get very good food on p&O. You do get seperate breakfast restaurant.

 

Finally the real difference decision wise is , price savings versus  ambience . That's your choice. 

 

 

[buchanan101]

23 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

There are a few considerations

 

P&O suite is QG sized not PG, is that important.

 

Food , For £2000 saving per person,  at £30pp per night for speciality restaurants,  that's £210 over 7 nights . So you  can get very good food on p&O. You do get seperate breakfast restaurant.

 

Finally the real difference decision wise is , price savings versus  ambience . That's your choice. 

 

 

£420 total… I do get $100 shareholder OBC…

 

Quite like the look of the QG at the stern … but they cost a bit more again. 
 

Really liked the QM2 ambience even though I’m usually not one for ceremony, or dressing up smart. Just went with the flow and really enjoyed it!