P&O Cruises 2023?

[lucas34]

Hi all, my first P&O Cruise was on Oriana in 1998, I would like to hear how the cruise line has changed since then and especially now after the pandemic; what is the quality of the food like (is there lobster for dinner?), etc.

I understood that the cabin will only be cleaned once a day anymore.

 

Is P&O Cruises a good choice for a solo traveler?

What kind of ship is the Aurora (I've heard it had some problems before the pandemic)? How easily can a solo traveler get the dinner time and table they want? Aurora would have an interesting month-long route to Canada and New York, what would be the pros and cons of such a long trip?

 

Or would it perhaps be worth looking at Iona or Arvia?

[Britboys]

My first P&O cruise was in 1997 and in general, I would say that the quality now is certainly nowhere near what is was then. I would also however say that in view of the significantly lower prices now charged, you get a fairly good product for the price paid. Food is now okay without being in any way exceptional. I spent 19 nights on board last summer and my only real concern was the amount of repetition on the menu.

Aurora is a lovely ship with a broadly similar layout to Oriana. The main differences being no large bar at the top of the atrium (as in Oriana's Tiffany's) and the sports bar Champions is nowhere near as good as Oriana's Lord's Tavern. I thought she was in remarkably fine fettle last summer and have happily booked her again for this year.

Being a smaller ship, it is easy for a socially confident solo to get to know others if you want. There was a solos coffee meet every sea day in the summer but it is no longer hosted by members of the Entertainment Staff.

The ease of getting your preferred dinner sitting depends upon which sitting you want. Freedom Dining and Early Set Dining are generally more popular than Second Sitting. If you are booking a Select Fare you can choose, if a Saver Fare P&O will allocate. If you book Select, you can also always request to be on a table of solo travellers if you prefer.

Oriana was my favourite and I still miss her but am very happy with Aurora. Iona & Arvia give, from what I can gather of reviews, a very different style of cruise. One particular difference is that there are no set dining sittings - it is all Freedom Dining. Additionally, they only have one Formal Night per week.

You pays your money and you takes your choice.

Happy to try and answer any other questions on Aurora.

Edited February 28, 2023 by Britboys

[Interestedcruisefan]

I think Arvia would be an entirely different experience for you than you've enjoyed before. Potentially overwhelming due to the size of the ship. Especially for a solo traveller 

 

I think you've got good advice above already

 

Arvia is brilliant in its own way IMO 

 

Probably a good ship to travel on board alongside younger members of your family if that's ever on your list of things to do.

[terrierjohn]

17 hours ago, lucas34 said:

Hi all, my first P&O Cruise was on Oriana in 1998, I would like to hear how the cruise line has changed since then and especially now after the pandemic; what is the quality of the food like (is there lobster for dinner?), etc.

I understood that the cabin will only be cleaned once a day anymore.

 

Is P&O Cruises a good choice for a solo traveler?

What kind of ship is the Aurora (I've heard it had some problems before the pandemic)? How easily can a solo traveler get the dinner time and table they want? Aurora would have an interesting month-long route to Canada and New York, what would be the pros and cons of such a long trip?

 

Or would it perhaps be worth looking at Iona or Arvia?

Just had breakfast on Iona with a lady on her first cruise, and she is thoroughly enjoying herself. Her daughter worried that she might be more suited to one of the smaller ships, but she is so glad she took no notice, because Iona has so many different and varied venues, and even with her limited mobility she does not find it too tiring.

[Bill Y]

On 2/28/2023 at 5:30 PM, lucas34 said:

Hi all, my first P&O Cruise was on Oriana in 1998, I would like to hear how the cruise line has changed since then and especially now after the pandemic; what is the quality of the food like (is there lobster for dinner?), etc.

I understood that the cabin will only be cleaned once a day anymore.

 

Is P&O Cruises a good choice for a solo traveler?

What kind of ship is the Aurora (I've heard it had some problems before the pandemic)? How easily can a solo traveler get the dinner time and table they want? Aurora would have an interesting month-long route to Canada and New York, what would be the pros and cons of such a long trip?

 

Or would it perhaps be worth looking at Iona or Arvia?

Aurora is a sister ship of Oriana, although not coming into service until 2000. Before the pandemic there used to be lobster on one formal night and beef wellington on another but people have reported that since cruising restarted that the MDR menus have been dumbed down, to encourage the use of the speciality (extra cost) restaurants.

 

Although not a solo traveller we have meet and dined with many solo travellers and it seems that cruising is an excellent holiday for solos, the age demographic of travellers on the smaller ships ensures that it’s not full of couples that only wish to stare into each other’s eyes.

 

The New England and Canada cruise from the UK is a specialised cruise that is only done by P&O in the autumn to hopefully coincide with the fall colours. There is normally one sailing on Aurora and one on Arcadia. As there are only these two sailing a year they tend to hold their prices. When we did this in 2018 on Aurora we visited both New York and Quebec City, they do not appear to do that now so you must choose whether to visit NYC or Quebec C. these cruises can be done with other cruise lines as a fly cruises but if do not like flying and don’t mind two trans Atlantic crossings and longer cruises they are something different. During the TA crossings there were two or three guest speakers per day plus port talks on the outgoing. We have found on cruises with a lot of sea days there are more speakers than on shorter cruises, although people have reported since covid there are less speakers.

 

If this appeals to you go for it.

[Thejuggler]

Your cruise 25 years ago would have been a different experience to those of today.

 

There are now far more cruise ship cabins to be filled on much larger ships  so pricing is now far more competitive and prices on P&O have barely changed in the 15 years since we first cruised.

 

You need to consider how they are saving money and whether it affects service and quality of offer as fixed costs of running a ship haven't reduced in that time.

Edited March 6, 2023 by Thejuggler

[Valfan]

On 2/28/2023 at 5:56 PM, Britboys said:

Being a smaller ship, it is easy for a socially confident solo to get to know others if you want. There was a solos coffee meet every sea day in the summer but it is no longer hosted by members of the Entertainment Staff.

 

I'm not sure if it's going to be across the fleet, but I just got off Iona on Saturday. We were told by the Assistant Entertainment Manager that, as from the cruise after ours, the solos morning group would be hosted on the first sea day of each cruise.  Still no return of the "coffee" aspect of it though.

[Valfan]

13 hours ago, Bill Y said:

The New England and Canada cruise from the UK is a specialised cruise that is only done by P&O in the autumn to hopefully coincide with the fall colours. There is normally one sailing on Aurora and one on Arcadia. As there are only these two sailing a year they tend to hold their prices.

With regard to these cruises holding their prices, that has usually been the case over the years. But not for the Aurora one this year.  I managed to swap my deposit for the Aurora one to something else when the price I had been quoted for it at launch fell by several hundred pounds. When I checked the price again recently it was over £2000 less than I had originally agreed to at launch. And that was just for the cheapest inside cabin, albeit with a single supplement. So balcony and suite prices have presumably fallen by huge amounts this year.

[Bill Y]

8 hours ago, Valfan said:

With regard to these cruises holding their prices, that has usually been the case over the years. But not for the Aurora one this year.  I managed to swap my deposit for the Aurora one to something else when the price I had been quoted for it at launch fell by several hundred pounds. When I checked the price again recently it was over £2000 less than I had originally agreed to at launch. And that was just for the cheapest inside cabin, albeit with a single supplement. So balcony and suite prices have presumably fallen by huge amounts this year.

I am pleased that you managed to get a saving by rebooking. I can only speak of our experience. We wanted to do this cruise and watched the prices for a couple of years, the price was dropped by £300 for a few days but we were not quick enough and it went back higher. So we resolved to book at the next years launch.

 

Surprised that the price has plummeted by more than £2k, we did not pay much more PP, admittedly ours was only 24 nights. So it must have been inflated in the first place, P&O knowing that its customers were awash with FCC. I assume that this massive reduction happened after final payment date. It would seem P&O’s strategy now is to woo new customers with bargain bucket prices while exploiting their long term customers who wish for interesting itineraries and a traditional experience. I hope that you enjoy your trip and see the autumn colours.

[Denarius]

My first P&O cruise was in 1997, on Oriana. My most recent was in September of last year, on Azura. During the intervening years many things have been cut out, cut back, or are now a chargeable extra. But the price of a P&O cruise in 2023 is in real terms much less than it was in 1997 and undoubtedly represents excellent value for money. Just don't expect the cruise experience you had 25 years ago. For that, you would need to trade up to the next tier and sail with the likes of Saga, Viking, or Oceania. But it would cost you considerably more, although in real terms probably no more than it cost to sail with P&O in the 1990s.

[Britboys]

17 hours ago, Valfan said:

I'm not sure if it's going to be across the fleet, but I just got off Iona on Saturday. We were told by the Assistant Entertainment Manager that, as from the cruise after ours, the solos morning group would be hosted on the first sea day of each cruise.  Still no return of the "coffee" aspect of it though.

Even though it costs them next to nothing, as long as it is in a venue where coffee is available, I don't mind buying one! I suppose they want us all to buy a takeaway coffee 🙄

[Valfan]

5 hours ago, Britboys said:

Even though it costs them next to nothing, as long as it is in a venue where coffee is available, I don't mind buying one! I suppose they want us all to buy a takeaway coffee 🙄

None of us really needed coffee as most of us had just come from breakfast for the 10am solos get-together. And it was held in the Crows Nest, so I don't think the bar opens there until much later in the day. It just used to be a nice touch when they came round offering coffee or tea out of old-fashioned coffee or tea pots and the Entertainment Officers chatted with solo passengers.

[Valfan]

14 hours ago, Bill Y said:

I am pleased that you managed to get a saving by rebooking. I can only speak of our experience. We wanted to do this cruise and watched the prices for a couple of years, the price was dropped by £300 for a few days but we were not quick enough and it went back higher. So we resolved to book at the next years launch.

 

Surprised that the price has plummeted by more than £2k, we did not pay much more PP, admittedly ours was only 24 nights. So it must have been inflated in the first place, P&O knowing that its customers were awash with FCC. I assume that this massive reduction happened after final payment date. It would seem P&O’s strategy now is to woo new customers with bargain bucket prices while exploiting their long term customers who wish for interesting itineraries and a traditional experience. I hope that you enjoy your trip and see the autumn colours.

I haven't rebooked the USA/Canada cruise yet. I just moved my deposit to another cruise and am keeping an eye on the 30-night Aurora one. I'm focusing on my April-May Arcadia 19-nighter for now.  I will never again book at launch for anything after what happened.

It's definitely plummeted by over £2k for a solo passenger in cheapest inside cabin. I got an updated quote at the future cruises desk on Iona last week and the price had dropped even further then.

I never took the option of FCC for either of my cancelled cruises in 2020, just took a full refund of all monies paid.  No, the massive reductions have happened long before final payment date. It came down by several hundred pounds towards the end of last year, and is now over £2k less than the launch price. The cruise sails in early Sept so P&O's final payment date will be early June.

[jh1809]

15 hours ago, Britboys said:

Even though it costs them next to nothing, as long as it is in a venue where coffee is available, I don't mind buying one! I suppose they want us all to buy a takeaway coffee 🙄

As something of an introvert, I confess that the free coffee was the main attraction for me.🙂

[Deeliteful]

My first cruise was on Oriana in 2000. I loved that ship and it started my cruise addiction!

I sailed on my 32nd cruise in January.

Not all of my cruises have been with P&O but my next one is - Fjords on Iona in June.

I generally travel solo and don’t really mind how big the ship is, I will always meet people to chat to (if I want to!).

Yes, some of the dining has changed but P&O offer really good value IMO especially compared to some of the US ships ( and I know they are part of Carnival but it is still very much a British vibe). The tips and drinks being a great example of good value.

Enjoy whatever cruise you take.

[galeforce9]

On 3/7/2023 at 12:42 PM, Denarius said:

My first P&O cruise was in 1997, on Oriana. My most recent was in September of last year, on Azura. During the intervening years many things have been cut out, cut back, or are now a chargeable extra. But the price of a P&O cruise in 2023 is in real terms much less than it was in 1997 and undoubtedly represents excellent value for money. Just don't expect the cruise experience you had 25 years ago. For that, you would need to trade up to the next tier and sail with the likes of Saga, Viking, or Oceania. But it would cost you considerably more, although in real terms probably no more than it cost to sail with P&O in the 1990s.

Agreed. Mine too Oriana 1997, latest Oct 22 Aurora