More bad publicity for P&O

[zap99]

7 minutes ago, tring said:

 

Personally we would not be bothered about that, since the view out from the ship was not obstructed.  We were on a deck C balcony cabin on Azura in Oct and could not see down because the balconies from the deluxe balcony cabins on the deck below protrude out from the ship more than the deck C balconies and did not feel that was a problem.

 

We would not be at all happy being moved from our booked cabin though if we had paid select fare.

 

 

 

We were on deck 10 on Iona. If we looked down we could see onto the deck 9&8 balconies. As we much prefer looking out to sea, or close to the ship to see the marine life, we weren't too bothered. We have been on that deck (8?) On Britannia. No complaints from us. It reminds me a bit of the sea view sketch in Faulty towers.

[Megabear2]

5 minutes ago, zap99 said:

We were on deck 10 on Iona. If we looked down we could see onto the deck 9&8 balconies. As we much prefer looking out to sea, or close to the ship to see the marine life, we weren't too bothered. We have been on that deck (8?) On Britannia. No complaints from us. It reminds me a bit of the sea view sketch in Faulty towers.

These photos were not looking down though. They were in a normal seated position looking forward as much as you can from the slant of the chairs due to the narrow balcony.  We had a deck 8 last year further forward. Nothing in front of us and had to lean out and look left to see the boats. No problem at all which is why we booked same grade in virtually the same spot this year on deck 9 but were moved to this instead. It's apparently the same grade but they are poles apart.

Edited January 1, 2023 by Megabear2

[Gettingwarmer]

@Megabear2 our balcony is very important and we take care in choosing our cabin. I will not cruise on Britannia due to the awful small balconies where you have to sit sideways.

I can understand your frustration. 

Edited January 1, 2023 by Gettingwarmer

[kalos]

Regarding more bad publicity ..

Look at these poor souls who were given free bottles of wine with their meals as they 

struggled on with this ruined cruise ... 😉

 

 

 

[yorkshirephil]

4 minutes ago, kalos said:

Regarding more bad publicity ..

Look at these poor souls who were given free bottles of wine with their meals as they 

struggled on with this ruined cruise ... 😉

 

 

 

Those that weren't there probably complained about the noise

[pete14]

29 minutes ago, kalos said:

Regarding more bad publicity ..

Look at these poor souls who were given free bottles of wine with their meals as they 

struggled on with this ruined cruise ... 😉

 

 

 

Free bottles of wine with their meals? Just wait for the complaints when the cellar runs dry. 

[Fionboard]

To be fair, most maidens are a disaster. I remember Britannia. 

[Dermotsgirl]

5 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

To be fair, most maidens are a disaster. I remember Britannia. 

I was on the Britannia maiden. I remember that they couldn’t get my special diet right, no matter how many times I spoke to onboard staff. When I returned home, I provided feedback to head office, and I was surprised to get £100 OBC for my next cruise. But that was all personal to me, as far as I remember the cruise itself was pretty good, I don’t remember it being a disaster 

[yorkshirephil]

14 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

To be fair, most maidens are a disaster. I remember Britannia. 

You are probably right which is one reason we have never been on one, however it is poor really when you have a new ship which has had a multitude of tests and trials plus experienced staff which should be well trained, we all know things can go wrong any time but we now seem to accept that maidens can be poor as it is ingrained.

[Yorkypete]

1 minute ago, yorkshirephil said:

You are probably right which is one reason we have never been on one, however it is poor really when you have a new ship which has had a multitude of tests and trials plus experienced staff which should be well trained, we all know things can go wrong any time but we now seem to accept that maidens can be poor as it is ingrained.

Seeing there is a mass shortage of staff in this industry I wonder which ships will suffer most to ensure Arvia has a crew?

[yorkshirephil]

13 minutes ago, Yorkypete said:

Seeing there is a mass shortage of staff in this industry I wonder which ships will suffer most to ensure Arvia has a crew?

Arcadia certainly did when they moored her up for several weeks, she was short staffed when we were on in December but as she was only 2/3 full it was fine but not sure about a full ship, we did have quite a few new staff board in Barbados, I would hope they are sorted for the worldie.

[pete14]

1 hour ago, Fionboard said:

To be fair, most maidens are a disaster. I remember Britannia. 

We were on this cruise and cannot recall anything that could constitute being disastrous. A few weather related things but that is hardly the fault of the ship, new or old. Small and at times overcrowded lifts  and the lack of a midships staircase but these are design flaws that I believe still exist. Inconvenient but not disastrous.

[Josy1953]

2 hours ago, Fionboard said:

To be fair, most maidens are a disaster. I remember Britannia. 

We were on the Britannia maiden and I don't remember it as a disaster, we enjoyed it.  We haven't be on Britannia since but if she was doing an itinerary that we wanted to go on we would go on her again.

 

[zap99]

48 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

We were on the Britannia maiden and I don't remember it as a disaster, we enjoyed it.  We haven't be on Britannia since but if she was doing an itinerary that we wanted to go on we would go on her again.

 

We have cruised on Britannia 7 times.  We haven't experienced a disaster yet. Best try another one before we complain. 

 

[Josy1953]

1 minute ago, zap99 said:

We have cruised on Britannia 7 times.  We haven't experienced a disaster yet. Best try another one before we complain. 

 

I think that we perhaps need to try it again but it would have to be a short cruise, 7 days max, because we have become a bit disillusioned with P&O and have been avoiding them since our poor cruise on Oceana.

[Snow Hill]

9 minutes ago, zap99 said:

We have cruised on Britannia 7 times.  We haven't experienced a disaster yet. Best try another one before we complain. 

 

Only been on Britannia once, didn’t like it so not been back. 

[Josy1953]

My favourite place on Britannia in the evenings was the Crystal Room, does anyone know if they still have dancing in there every evening ?

[happy v]

4 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

My favourite place on Britannia in the evenings was the Crystal Room, does anyone know if they still have dancing in there every evening ?

Yes, they do. Some during the day also 

Edited January 1, 2023 by happy v

[majortom10]

4 hours ago, Fionboard said:

To be fair, most maidens are a disaster. I remember Britannia. 

Britannia is our most favourite P&O ship and like many have said we were also on Britannia Maiden cruise and certainly wasn't a disaster. The only problem we had was the standing in the rain in a queue to get back on the ship on St Patrick's Day. Would be interested to know why you say it was disastrous.

[DS_Dean]

Seems no surprise the issues are partly (mostly?) down to IT. Carnival UK seem to always be in perpetual IT disaster. The old P&O Cruises "My Booking" web app was always a mess, slow and broken. Then they released a new "My Holiday" web app that looks shinier but again seems to be broken most of the the time. Giving you a countdown when entertainment/dining can be booked only for the day to come and when you try it just spits back error messages.

 

On board the My Holiday app is equally as bad. On Iona recently it was terrible, so slow, and it went down more than once for more than an hour, causing on board chaos as people queuing outside venues and staff not knowing what to do. The ship has WiFi access points everywhere but if you have the app open and move around the ship it cant keep you logged in. So you can be thinking you are in a queue but if you refresh you are just sent back to login page.... despite the web page telling you to 'stay on the page'. If you do though you'll have no idea if you are logged in or if it has logged you out and stopped refreshing.

 

On Azura earlier in the year the on board My Holiday app seemed to work better, so quite surprised to see it being some how worse on Iona a few weeks ago as a newer ship.

Then theres the WiFi. They offer two packages one for slower speeds and then another "ultimate" package which promises faster speeds and streaming. However.. if you start on the basic and upgrade mid cruise to ultimate... the WiFi speed is exactly the same (ie. very slow). P&O then says "ah it is subject to satellite signal". However it never improved over any of the remaining five days I used it. 

 

Anecdotally I have heard from people who work at Carnival House in Southampton that internally the IT is a disaster also. 

 

They should just get some expert, outside help, or something to help overhaul everything they are doing IT wise and bring it up to an acceptable working standard.

[Solent Richard]

15 hours ago, majortom10 said:

Britannia is our most favourite P&O ship and like many have said we were also on Britannia Maiden cruise and certainly wasn't a disaster. The only problem we had was the standing in the rain in a queue to get back on the ship on St Patrick's Day. Would be interested to know why you say it was disastrous.

Morning Major.

 

You and I are on the same wavelength here.

 

It's a real problem for some when some SA turns up with a review and photographs. 😉😉

[Solent Richard]

14 hours ago, DS_Dean said:

Seems no surprise the issues are partly (mostly?) down to IT. Carnival UK seem to always be in perpetual IT disaster. The old P&O Cruises "My Booking" web app was always a mess, slow and broken. Then they released a new "My Holiday" web app that looks shinier but again seems to be broken most of the the time. Giving you a countdown when entertainment/dining can be booked only for the day to come and when you try it just spits back error messages.

 

On board the My Holiday app is equally as bad. On Iona recently it was terrible, so slow, and it went down more than once for more than an hour, causing on board chaos as people queuing outside venues and staff not knowing what to do. The ship has WiFi access points everywhere but if you have the app open and move around the ship it cant keep you logged in. So you can be thinking you are in a queue but if you refresh you are just sent back to login page.... despite the web page telling you to 'stay on the page'. If you do though you'll have no idea if you are logged in or if it has logged you out and stopped refreshing.

 

On Azura earlier in the year the on board My Holiday app seemed to work better, so quite surprised to see it being some how worse on Iona a few weeks ago as a newer ship.

Then theres the WiFi. They offer two packages one for slower speeds and then another "ultimate" package which promises faster speeds and streaming. However.. if you start on the basic and upgrade mid cruise to ultimate... the WiFi speed is exactly the same (ie. very slow). P&O then says "ah it is subject to satellite signal". However it never improved over any of the remaining five days I used it. 

 

Anecdotally I have heard from people who work at Carnival House in Southampton that internally the IT is a disaster also. 

 

They should just get some expert, outside help, or something to help overhaul everything they are doing IT wise and bring it up to an acceptable working standard.

 

Once again, either I am heavenly blessed and must cruise when these 'problems' aren't available.

 

Just a year ago on Iona...

 

https://solentrichardscruiseblog.com/2022/01/02/iona-a-pre-christmas-cruise-diary/

 

...I had zilch problems with the app and indeed, comprehensively reviewed same on the above blog.

 

 

Maybe of course, and just maybe, I'm in the fortunate position of upgrading my iPhone regularly and by definition have the latest in technology. 

[Harry Peterson]

27 minutes ago, Solent Richard said:

 

Once again, either I am heavenly blessed and must cruise when these 'problems' aren't available.

 

Just a year ago on Iona...

 

https://solentrichardscruiseblog.com/2022/01/02/iona-a-pre-christmas-cruise-diary/

 

...I had zilch problems with the app and indeed, comprehensively reviewed same on the above blog.

 

 

Maybe of course, and just maybe, I'm in the fortunate position of upgrading my iPhone regularly and by definition have the latest in technology. 

Or maybe you were just lucky enough to avoid all the problems which have been so well documented by others…….

[Bazrat]

29 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Or maybe you were just lucky enough to avoid all the problems which have been so well documented by others…….

We also have been lucky to avoid the problems, there was a person who complained on our last cruise you could only get curries until I uploaded the menus which showed one curry on in the buffet, he also complained his cabin was dirty so I asked did he complain at the time still waiting for a reply, lastly the entertainment was very poor I asked which shows was the problem still waiting for a reply but he did say he enjoyed the cruise.

[Bazrat]

1 hour ago, Solent Richard said:

 

Once again, either I am heavenly blessed and must cruise when these 'problems' aren't available.

 

Just a year ago on Iona...

 

https://solentrichardscruiseblog.com/2022/01/02/iona-a-pre-christmas-cruise-diary/

 

...I had zilch problems with the app and indeed, comprehensively reviewed same on the above blog.

 

 

Maybe of course, and just maybe, I'm in the fortunate position of upgrading my iPhone regularly and by definition have the latest in technology. 

I have an android phone wife as a iPhone no problems on either we must be lucky.