P&O (UK)?

[shuyak]

Hi,

 

I originally mixed up P&O (UK) and P&O (Australia) and posted the questions in the AU/NZ board.  Was advised to post the questions in the UK Cruisers board instead.  I did tagged along a thread in the P&O (UK) Cruises board.  Apologize for the repeated questions. Thank you!

 

We came across some P&O's good Norway itineraries from UK with quite attractive pricing, compared to major cruiselines here in the USA market.

 

Read reviews on line, but would love to hear the opinions from fellow CC about how is P&O compared to cruiselines in UK market such as Princess, Norwegian, Holland American, Cunard, etc.?

 

We are budget conscious and low maintenance in terms of room/food/ entertainment but will not hesitate to take unique experiences (such as flying over Mt. Delani).

 

It appears that here in USA we need to call P&O to book.  Not sure what other options there might be to hopefully get some better pricing and/or perks in addition to offered by the cruiseline?

 

Also saw its mandatory insurance coverage for " all UK guests".  Kind of strange - assume because it is UK based cruise?  We always purchase insurance anyway, just are not familiar the products offered by P&O's partner.

 

Appreciate any thoughts you can share!

[John Bull]

Nearest equivalent to P&O is probably Princess.

Princess is more ............ errrrr "refined" ? ... than NCL, P&O is further down the "refined" route. Some parts eg the buffet are rather bland.

 

Staff are quite reserved - depends how you feel about the rather in-your-face crew on US ships.

Nobody tells you to "have a nice day" - but if they did, they'd mean it.

 

Standards overall are much the same as Princess - perhaps the food not quite as good, and choices include pub favourites like curries and meat pies (which may or may not be a good thing for you to try, but other choices as well).

 

95%+ of passengers are British, and they speak a language quite similar to your own 😏.

You may have the occasional problem understanding Scottish or Geordie accents of some passengers - but so do he rest of us Brits. 😀

 

Most P&O ships are family ships, but kids aren't attracted to the fjords. 

2? (3?) P&O ships are adults-only

Drinks prices are lower than on US and Italian ships. And no daily gratuities or service charges added to your bill - what it says is what you pay. Very probably the same for you.

 

Yes, booking from outside the UK I can understand the need to book direct (or via a Brit cruise-specialist agency?).

Terms and conditions are much more favourable to the cruiser than in the US, because laws in the UK (and other parts of the world too) are ore onerous for cruise lines. So it surprises me a little that P&O are good value to a North American. 

 

Ys, P&O require passengers to have travel insurance - sometimes they don't ask to see it, when they do they give it a cursory glance.

(you've made me think - next time we cruse P&O I'll present my car insurance certificate  to see if anyone notices 🙄)

 

JB 🙂

[Ray66]

4 hours ago, shuyak said:

would love to hear the opinions from fellow CC about how is P&O compared to cruiselines in UK market such as Princess, Norwegian, Holland American, Cunard, etc.?

 

There's currently a thread on the Cunard forum about Cunard v P&O.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2906674-cunard-v-po/

 

When you book with Cunard, you need to buy travel insurance and then put your insurance details in your Voyage Personaliser.  In my experience they don't ask to see your actual insurance certificate.

[shuyak]

7 hours ago, Ray66 said:

 

There's currently a thread on the Cunard forum about Cunard v P&O.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2906674-cunard-v-po/

 

When you book with Cunard, you need to buy travel insurance and then put your insurance details in your Voyage Personaliser.  In my experience they don't ask to see your actual insurance certificate.

 

@Ray66, thank you for the link.  Since we are not as formal individuals, especially when travelling, P&O appears to be the better fit for us between the two.

 

9 hours ago, John Bull said:

Nearest equivalent to P&O is probably Princess.

Princess is more ............ errrrr "refined" ? ... than NCL, P&O is further down the "refined" route. Some parts eg the buffet are rather bland.

 

Staff are quite reserved - depends how you feel about the rather in-your-face crew on US ships.

Nobody tells you to "have a nice day" - but if they did, they'd mean it.

 

Standards overall are much the same as Princess - perhaps the food not quite as good, and choices include pub favourites like curries and meat pies (which may or may not be a good thing for you to try, but other choices as well).

 

95%+ of passengers are British, and they speak a language quite similar to your own 😏.

You may have the occasional problem understanding Scottish or Geordie accents of some passengers - but so do he rest of us Brits. 😀

 

Most P&O ships are family ships, but kids aren't attracted to the fjords. 

2? (3?) P&O ships are adults-only

Drinks prices are lower than on US and Italian ships. And no daily gratuities or service charges added to your bill - what it says is what you pay. Very probably the same for you.

 

Yes, booking from outside the UK I can understand the need to book direct (or via a Brit cruise-specialist agency?).

Terms and conditions are much more favourable to the cruiser than in the US, because laws in the UK (and other parts of the world too) are ore onerous for cruise lines. So it surprises me a little that P&O are good value to a North American. 

 

Ys, P&O require passengers to have travel insurance - sometimes they don't ask to see it, when they do they give it a cursory glance.

(you've made me think - next time we cruse P&O I'll present my car insurance certificate  to see if anyone notices 🙄)

 

JB 🙂

 

@John Bull, thank you very much for the very detailed info! 

 

Cruises provide us the convenient way to explore different culture /scenery /wildlife without the need to unpack/pack frequently and with food readily available.  🙂  We are not looking for gourmet food or being pampered through cruising.

 

For us aurora hopeful, 🤞 P&O's Norwegian itinerary goes farther north than any major cruiseline's offering (including Cunard) and some overnight ports at a relatively reasonable price.  The alternatives will be via ferry by Hurtigruten and Havila which are less desirable due to short port time.

 

Based on all the feedbacks, P&O (UK) seems to be a good match for our purpose. 

 

We started to search UK based TA sites and found unlike in US where one can book online and choose cabins, UK's TA sites requires one to make inquiry for quotes.  Learning as we go. 

 

Thank you.

 

 

[Will&Hel]

Our friend from Ft Lauderdale has just cruised with us on Iona 14 nights Southampton to Madeira, Canary Islands, Spain and Portugal Lisbon overnight and really enjoyed the experience - quite difficult to book as US citizens cannot book direct but need to go through a TA . She has just booked to sail Norway including Lofoton Island on Arcadia (adult only ship) in 2024.

 

[John Bull]

7 hours ago, shuyak said:

 

We started to search UK based TA sites and found unlike in US where one can book online and choose cabins, UK's TA sites requires one to make inquiry for quotes.  Learning as we go. 

 

Thank you.

 

 

 

We can book on-line with UK agents or cruise lines, but we always do it by phone. 

It builds a rapport for any up-coming complications, it helps to avoid pitfalls, they can help with updates, cabin availability etc, and we can often get freebie upgrades and perks.

 

P&O's over-complicated pricing may be the reason that you can't book on-line from the USA.

Here's an explanation of their three price-levels, although you're probably aware of them

https://www.pocruises.com/our-prices-explained

There are big differences between the "Saver" fares and the "Select" or "Early Saver" fares, we've only ever booked P&O on the "saver" fare because we can sail anytime and if one cruise sells-out early we just wait for another one.

Differences between "Select" and "Early Saver" fares are usually pretty-well negated by the "select" freebies.

"Saver" fares are only available from a few months before sailing and may not be offered for cruises which sell particularly-well. This is an example of where a cruise-specialist TA's inside knowledge of booking levels can give an indication of whether waiting for a "saver" fare makes sense

 

We live just down the road for their Southampton sailings and their cruises in the Caribbean and the Med. are inclusive of flights from the UK on their chartered aircraft (therefore a late booking doesn't ramp up the flight cost), but for you the savings on a late-booked cruise can be negated by late-booked trans-Atlantic flights.

 

Booking in the UK gives you more legal rights than booking US ships from the US, but there's one major disadvantage -  In the US  if you change your mind you can cancel before final-payment day and be refunded your deposit (which to me makes a nonsense of paying a deposit in the first place, but that's a different topic for discussion 🙄) . But in the UK your deposit is forfeit from the moment it's paid.

I'm presuming that your rights and obligations are the same as ours if you book via a UK agent, I don't know the situation if you book direct with P&O.

 

JB 🙂

 

 

[Will&Hel]

1 hour ago, John Bull said:

 

We can book on-line with UK agents or cruise lines, but we always do it by phone. 

It builds a rapport for any up-coming complications, it helps to avoid pitfalls, they can help with updates, cabin availability etc, and we can often get freebie upgrades and perks.

 

P&O's over-complicated pricing may be the reason that you can't book on-line from the USA.

Here's an explanation of their three price-levels, although you're probably aware of them

https://www.pocruises.com/our-prices-explained

There are big differences between the "Saver" fares and the "Select" or "Early Saver" fares, we've only ever booked P&O on the "saver" fare because we can sail anytime and if one cruise sells-out early we just wait for another one.

Differences between "Select" and "Early Saver" fares are usually pretty-well negated by the "select" freebies.

"Saver" fares are only available from a few months before sailing and may not be offered for cruises which sell particularly-well. This is an example of where a cruise-specialist TA's inside knowledge of booking levels can give an indication of whether waiting for a "saver" fare makes sense

 

We live just down the road for their Southampton sailings and their cruises in the Caribbean and the Med. are inclusive of flights from the UK on their chartered aircraft (therefore a late booking doesn't ramp up the flight cost), but for you the savings on a late-booked cruise can be negated by late-booked trans-Atlantic flights.

 

Booking in the UK gives you more legal rights than booking US ships from the US, but there's one major disadvantage -  In the US  if you change your mind you can cancel before final-payment day and be refunded your deposit (which to me makes a nonsense of paying a deposit in the first place, but that's a different topic for discussion 🙄) . But in the UK your deposit is forfeit from the moment it's paid.

I'm presuming that your rights and obligations are the same as ours if you book via a UK agent, I don't know the situation if you book direct with P&O.

 

JB 🙂

 

 

Good info JB but unfortunately US residents cannot book direct with P&O nor use a UK TA agent they have to use a P&O agent in the USA at P&O Americas  

[John Bull]

8 minutes ago, Will&Hel said:

Good info JB but unfortunately US residents cannot book direct with P&O nor use a UK TA agent they have to use a P&O agent in the USA at P&O Americas  

 

Well at least that avoids expensive phone calls. 🙂

The OP needs to check whether US or UK terms & conditions apply, cos I don't know.

Ditto with things like service charges - I recall a SE Asia cruise with now-defunct UK-based Voyages of Discovery where we met up with American passengers. No service charges for us, which was normal - but they had a daily charge added.

 

JB 🙂

[Will&Hel]

33 minutes ago, John Bull said:

 

Well at least that avoids expensive phone calls. 🙂

The OP needs to check whether US or UK terms & conditions apply, cos I don't know.

Ditto with things like service charges - I recall a SE Asia cruise with now-defunct UK-based Voyages of Discovery where we met up with American passengers. No service charges for us, which was normal - but they had a daily charge added.

 

JB 🙂

our US friend sailed with us on Iona last month- UK Ts&Cs, no service charges, got the same on board credit as us including her Carnival shares obc, could manage the cruise on the web after she had booked through the US agent booking speciality restaurants, excursion etc - she was unable to pre-book WiFI but when she went to guest services onboard they apologised and gave her free wifi for the 14 days. She has posted comment on this thread. She has now booked Arcadia with a little help from us as we can look at availability of cabins (she booked Select) which she then passed to the US agent

[LetsSailAway]

One correction -- they gave me 50% off the WiFi package for my troubles.  Not free but still very generous, I thought.  

[Will&Hel]

4 hours ago, LetsSailAway said:

One correction -- they gave me 50% off the WiFi package for my troubles.  Not free but still very generous, I thought.  

my bad

[Grumpella]

I did a very detailed review in May, 2 Americans on the Iona, April 29th.

[senior lady]

On 2/21/2023 at 6:44 AM, Will&Hel said:

Good info JB but unfortunately US residents cannot book direct with P&O nor use a UK TA agent they have to use a P&O agent in the USA at P&O Americas  

I live in Canada and was able to book a cruise through a UK travel agent.  Leaving Sept 7 / 23 on the Azura.

[wineoclock]

Anyone know how P&O compare to Celebrity please? We usually Sail in suites. They are possibly allowing vaping in casino…. 
TIA

[Thejuggler]

Never sailed in suites, but have done two cruises on Ventura and two on Celebrity Eclipse, all in balcony cabins.

 

 Much prefer Celebrity as an overall package.  Better designed ships, prefer ABP parking at Southampton.  Food options and buffet far better on Celebrity, its more of a food court with cooking stations.

 

We had two really good prices for balcony cabins (one a guarantee fare) both included drinks and enough OBC to upgrade to the full drinks package.  It made the trips all inclusive.  Only downside was the second was fixed time dining and on Celebrity it is too early if you do afternoon excursions.  They do however have far more tables for smaller groups than the 8+ which P&O favour.