Food and dining on P&O ships

[Selbourne]

12 minutes ago, Roytonboy said:

Hi can anyone advise where / when I find out on which nights are the formal dress nights on Britannia - 14 night cruise early Aug.

It should say on your cruise Personaliser. If you look at the page that shows the itinerary for each day, it should say what the dress code is. However - a word of warning. It was initially incorrect on our 14 night Britannia cruise, which was irritating as I wanted to book the Limelight Club when it wasn’t a formal night. When it corrected itself, I had to change the booking. 
 

On a 14 night cruise on Britannia you will have 4 formal nights. The first (Celebration Night) will be the second night (first sea day). The other 3 will almost always be on the sea days, but never the last day. Using that knowledge, I can usually predict when the formal nights will be and 9 times out of 10 my guess work is correct 😂 I hope that helps?

[Gettingwarmer]

18 minutes ago, Roytonboy said:

Hi can anyone advise where / when I find out on which nights are the formal dress nights on Britannia - 14 night cruise early Aug.

It should be on your Cruise Personaliser Itinerary

[snaefell]

I know for our Arcadia cruise back in May checking the itinerary  on the cruise planner showed when the formal nights were

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, Roytonboy said:

Hi can anyone advise where / when I find out on which nights are the formal dress nights on Britannia - 14 night cruise early Aug.

It should be showing on your cruise personaliser, on the itinerary.

 

[Roytonboy]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

It should say on your cruise Personaliser. If you look at the page that shows the itinerary for each day, it should say what the dress code is. However - a word of warning. It was initially incorrect on our 14 night Britannia cruise, which was irritating as I wanted to book the Limelight Club when it wasn’t a formal night. When it corrected itself, I had to change the booking. 
 

On a 14 night cruise on Britannia you will have 4 formal nights. The first (Celebration Night) will be the second night (first sea day). The other 3 will almost always be on the sea days, but never the last day. Using that knowledge, I can usually predict when the formal nights will be and 9 times out of 10 my guess work is correct 😂 I hope that helps?

 

1 hour ago, Gettingwarmer said:

It should be on your Cruise Personaliser Itinerary

 

58 minutes ago, snaefell said:

I know for our Arcadia cruise back in May checking the itinerary  on the cruise planner showed when the formal nights were

 

12 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

It should be showing on your cruise personaliser, on the itinerary.

 

 

Thanks for taking the trouble to respond much appreciated 👍

[elmsliebev]

2 hours ago, Roytonboy said:

Hi can anyone advise where / when I find out on which nights are the formal dress nights on Britannia - 14 night cruise early Aug.

it should be on your planner when you log in. 

[tring]

We have not been able to book dining pre cruise on our cruises, but if we did, would we be able to cancel any of those bookings without charge, should we wish to do so?  Is there any advantage in booking ahead?  Do the restaurants all get booked up for popular times before you board some of the bigger ships.  We have cruise on Arcadia and Aurora.

 

[snaefell]

We were not able to book ahead for Arcadia back in May,originally it said on the Cruise Planner that we would be able to book from April 30th,when that date arrived it changed to enquire on board,when we got on board & tried to book the Ocean Grill for the first night I was told it was full,making a fuss got us a table!😮

[tring]

7 minutes ago, snaefell said:

We were not able to book ahead for Arcadia back in May,originally it said on the Cruise Planner that we would be able to book from April 30th,when that date arrived it changed to enquire on board,when we got on board & tried to book the Ocean Grill for the first night I was told it was full,making a fuss got us a table!😮

 

Sorry, yes I am aware of that, which is why I am not fully aware of the system.  What I am wondering is what happens on the bigger ships if you are allowed to book pre cruise, (if we booked one of those), but now see I have made a very bad job of my first post here.  I was thinking if we did book one of the other ships, would we be able to cancel any bookings which we may be able to make pre cruise.

Edited July 28, 2023 by tring

[happy v]

10 hours ago, tring said:

 

Sorry, yes I am aware of that, which is why I am not fully aware of the system.  What I am wondering is what happens on the bigger ships if you are allowed to book pre cruise, (if we booked one of those), but now see I have made a very bad job of my first post here.  I was thinking if we did book one of the other ships, would we be able to cancel any bookings which we may be able to make pre cruise.

If it is an included restaurant you can cancel any bookings you make. If it is an extra charge. You can cancel before you board and the charge would be returned to your card. If you wanted to cancel onboard you would have to get the restaurant to refund to your card. I think you also have to cancel 24/48? hours before the booking 

[tring]

6 hours ago, happy v said:

If it is an included restaurant you can cancel any bookings you make. If it is an extra charge. You can cancel before you board and the charge would be returned to your card. If you wanted to cancel onboard you would have to get the restaurant to refund to your card. I think you also have to cancel 24/48? hours before the booking 

 

Thanks for the reply, it was the speciality restaurants I was thinking about.  Must admit I did not realise there is a charge when you book those pre cruise.  We have booked them when onboard Aurora and Arcadia and were not charged until we went to the restaurant for the meal, but I suppose that is sensible as people could make loads of bookings and then cancel at a later date. 

 

Just thinking that must mean you cannot use any OBC as those payment are not made from your onboard account, which is the main reason we book the speciality restaurants.  Have to hope we can book onboard or find another  use for the OBC then. 

[jh1809]

On 7/28/2023 at 12:57 PM, snaefell said:

We were not able to book ahead for Arcadia back in May,originally it said on the Cruise Planner that we would be able to book from April 30th,when that date arrived it changed to enquire on board,when we got on board & tried to book the Ocean Grill for the first night I was told it was full,making a fuss got us a table!😮

For my cruise on Arcadia on 8th August, an email I had from from P&O the other day encouraging me to pre-book things like wi-fi and (I think) spa treatments did mention that the specialty restaurants couldn't be pre-booked.

[snaefell]

1 hour ago, jh1809 said:

For my cruise on Arcadia on 8th August, an email I had from from P&O the other day encouraging me to pre-book things like wi-fi and (I think) spa treatments did mention that the specialty restaurants couldn't be pre-booked.

They seem to make it up as they go along,same with the app!

Enjoy your cruise,we did!

[davecttr]

I see the latest dress code answer on the web site Q&A is useless as well.

 

the question about what area of the ship dress codes apply to and the answer only mentions dining venues where the code does NOT apply. So apparently on Arvia/Iona formal dress on formal nights is required in the Quays because they are not mentioned.

 

No mention of the 'pop up' lunchtime Glasshouse on Arcadia either.

 

they do like confusing passengers 🙄

[Sunshine453]

Hi,

 

We are cruising on the Iona for the first time in a couple of weeks..does anyone knew what time is the earliest you can eat in the main dining room for dinner? The theatre shows are available to book and I’m wondering if it would be possible to eat at 5pm to make it to the 6:45 showing (we have young children!!). Also, how does it work with dinner time slots, are they just bookable each day on the app? Thanks!

 

Emily

[Selbourne]

The earliest time in the main dining rooms is 5.30pm. I believe that those who wish to dine that early can pre-book slots, but hopefully someone else will confirm. There is a kids tea in the buffet from 5pm if that works better for you. No need to book, you just turn up. 

[Sunshine453]

That’s helpful, thank you!!

[TigerB]

Further to what Selbourne says, if you check on your Cruise Planner when the dining reservation options appear (two weeks before your sail date), you may be able to book the early slots.

[Sunshine453]

Thanks for this….someone else mentioned this but I can only see speciality dining and shows?

[happy v]

3 hours ago, Sunshine453 said:

Thanks for this….someone else mentioned this but I can only see speciality dining and shows?

We couldn't pre book on Iona. You will have no problem getting a table at 5.30pm and you will be able to make the 6.45pm show. You may have to leave the tea/coffee.

 

[Britboys]

15 hours ago, davecttr said:

I see the latest dress code answer on the web site Q&A is useless as well.

 

the question about what area of the ship dress codes apply to and the answer only mentions dining venues where the code does NOT apply. So apparently on Arvia/Iona formal dress on formal nights is required in the Quays because they are not mentioned.

 

No mention of the 'pop up' lunchtime Glasshouse on Arcadia either.

 

they do like confusing passengers 🙄

I wouldn't be surprised if they've cut HQ staff to the bone and if so, no surprise that things like this happen...

[davecttr]

2 hours ago, Britboys said:

I wouldn't be surprised if they've cut HQ staff to the bone and if so, no surprise that things like this happen...

Producing public information leaflets was part of my job and at one stage we had a staff grade who's job was basically proof reading, that grade was abolished later to save money. The Horizon newsletter suffers from a lack of proof reading as well. If you pay peanuts...........

[snaefell]

5 hours ago, davecttr said:

Producing public information leaflets was part of my job and at one stage we had a staff grade who's job was basically proof reading, that grade was abolished later to save money. The Horizon newsletter suffers from a lack of proof reading as well. If you pay peanuts...........

Had to laugh one day during our Med cruise back in May when the Horizon had an item advising how Norwegian currency would be needed at our next destination,available at the travel bureaux....oops!😂

[lebreos]

If you can get the kids into the Kids club, get them kids dinner at 5pm and then your own when it suits is an option..

[tring]

On 7/29/2023 at 9:46 PM, davecttr said:

 

No mention of the 'pop up' lunchtime Glasshouse on Arcadia either.

 

 

As it is only lunchtime, there would not be a formal dress code anyway.  That area is a bar for the rest of the day.