Trying P & O again after 10 years away. Lots of questions.

[lovescarborough]

We’re looking at booking Azura for a Canaries cruise next January. We sailed on her on a Med cruise 10 years ago and although we enjoyed it we have stuck to our preferred Celebrity cruises since. However on our last cruise in January there was a noticeable decline in quality which I believe is happening on all cruise lines. Together with much higher prices we have now decided to try P & O again. So things I’m not sure about are , 

I’ve seen pictures of the superior balcony cabins but am not sure exactly what is extra over the normal balcony cabin ? Does it have a seating area ? 
If we book the select fare we get OBC which we would want to use in the speciality restaurants. I remember loving theEpicurean and the Glass house. Are these bookable before boarding using the OBC ?  any idea of the cost ? 
Is anytime / freedom dining available? 
Do they still have wine packages ? I think we had a package of six bottles of wine that we used at dinner. 
Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks 
 

[binman2]

You cannot use obc before boarding. If you wanted to use obc you would have to wait till onboard to book restaurants

[rainbowdragon]

Recently we weren't able to book any speciality restaurants until on board (at which point you can use your OBC). Freedom dining is available as are wine packages (these I believe you can book beforehand but would need to wait until you were on board if wishing to use your OBC for it). Just to let you know that if you have some of a bottle left over at the end of dinner, they will no longer store this for you until the next evening - you can take it to your cabin (to drink or bring it the next evening for dinner) or drink it in the bars/theatre.

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, lovescarborough said:

We’re looking at booking Azura for a Canaries cruise next January. We sailed on her on a Med cruise 10 years ago and although we enjoyed it we have stuck to our preferred Celebrity cruises since. However on our last cruise in January there was a noticeable decline in quality which I believe is happening on all cruise lines. Together with much higher prices we have now decided to try P & O again. So things I’m not sure about are , 

I’ve seen pictures of the superior balcony cabins but am not sure exactly what is extra over the normal balcony cabin ? Does it have a seating area ? 
If we book the select fare we get OBC which we would want to use in the speciality restaurants. I remember loving theEpicurean and the Glass house. Are these bookable before boarding using the OBC ?  any idea of the cost ? 
Is anytime / freedom dining available? 
Do they still have wine packages ? I think we had a package of six bottles of wine that we used at dinner. 
Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks 
 

You will probably notice a drop in quality from your last P&O cruise if it was 10 years ago, but the prices have also fallen in real terms to reflect it. 
 

Superior Deluxe cabins (if that’s the ones you mean are a bit bigger and have a seating area, although it’s a rather uncomfortable sofa or sofa bed. Balconies are a decent size but an important difference is that the vast majority of Superior Deluxe balconies are uncovered. Overlooking isn’t a major issue but lack of shade can be. There are a few other very minor benefits such as a half bottle of fizz, some flowers and fruit and, from memory, canapés on formal nights. 
 

You will be able to book Epicurean and Sindhu before your cruise (2 weeks before?) but cannot use OBC for this purpose. You cannot pre book the Glasshouse. Sample menus are online. Don’t know about current prices. I think that they still have wine packages but there are no wine waiters any more, so it may be more of a challenge. One of the many things stopped “because of Covid” was the ability to ask the restaurant to hold part used bottles for your next visit. That may have been re-introduced though. 

[gsmt47471015]

1 hour ago, lovescarborough said:

We’re looking at booking Azura for a Canaries cruise next January. We sailed on her on a Med cruise 10 years ago and although we enjoyed it we have stuck to our preferred Celebrity cruises since. However on our last cruise in January there was a noticeable decline in quality which I believe is happening on all cruise lines. Together with much higher prices we have now decided to try P & O again. So things I’m not sure about are , 

I’ve seen pictures of the superior balcony cabins but am not sure exactly what is extra over the normal balcony cabin ? Does it have a seating area ? 
If we book the select fare we get OBC which we would want to use in the speciality restaurants. I remember loving theEpicurean and the Glass house. Are these bookable before boarding using the OBC ?  any idea of the cost ? 
Is anytime / freedom dining available? 
Do they still have wine packages ? I think we had a package of six bottles of wine that we used at dinner. 
Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks 
 

Welcome to a fellow Yorkshire coaster!! All the above points are correct ,however on our last cruise wine could be saved by the waiters in the mdr and used for another evening(on Aurora) 

[gsmt47471015]

1 minute ago, gsmt47471015 said:

Welcome to a fellow Yorkshire coaster!! All the above points are correct ,however on our last cruise wine could be saved by the waiters in the mdr and used for another evening(on Aurora) 

Might also add that I agree with Selbourne that things are not the same as they were ten years ago, but suspect this to be the case with most other lines, personal opinion of course

[lovescarborough]

Many thanks for your replies. We would only have OBC if we go for the select fare so maybe would be best to forget that and go with the saver fare, then we could book speciality restaurants in advance as we would be looking to dine there for at least half of the cruise. I’ve been reading other posts on here regarding MDR long waits for tables and am concerned we might not be able to dine in there at our preferred later time. Is there a chance we might be given early fixed dining which we absolutely wouldn’t want ?. I’m amazed that cruise lines are making things so difficult for people whilst all reducing quality and choice as well as service levels. They should be trying to retain their customers. We want a holiday not an obstacle course ! 

[gsmt47471015]

1 minute ago, lovescarborough said:

Many thanks for your replies. We would only have OBC if we go for the select fare so maybe would be best to forget that and go with the saver fare, then we could book speciality restaurants in advance as we would be looking to dine there for at least half of the cruise. I’ve been reading other posts on here regarding MDR long waits for tables and am concerned we might not be able to dine in there at our preferred later time. Is there a chance we might be given early fixed dining which we absolutely wouldn’t want ?. I’m amazed that cruise lines are making things so difficult for people whilst all reducing quality and choice as well as service levels. They should be trying to retain their customers. We want a holiday not an obstacle course ! 

From what I understand the problems with the mdr appear to be mostly on Arvia and Iona, We have been on all the current P and O ships in the fleet (except Arvia ) and have never had a problem gaining access at our preferred time ( always freedom) although on an odd occasion we have had to take a pager, with a saver you will not be given a dining time option but have to accept what you are allocated 

[jh1809]

2 hours ago, rainbowdragon said:

...Just to let you know that if you have some of a bottle left over at the end of dinner, they will no longer store this for you until the next evening - you can take it to your cabin (to drink or bring it the next evening for dinner) or drink it in the bars/theatre.

They were happy to do that for me on Aurora just before Christmas. However that was in club dining, and it may be they've decided it's too difficult in freedom dining.

[rainbowdragon]

On Britannia last summer they kept the wine for you in freedom dining but wouldn't on Azura a couple of weeks ago (I cant comment for club dining) - we just switched to having glasses of wine instead but that wouldn't have been an option if we had bought a wine package

[rainbowdragon]

2 hours ago, gsmt47471015 said:

From what I understand the problems with the mdr appear to be mostly on Arvia and Iona, We have been on all the current P and O ships in the fleet (except Arvia ) and have never had a problem gaining access at our preferred time ( always freedom) although on an odd occasion we have had to take a pager, with a saver you will not be given a dining time option but have to accept what you are allocated 

We did not have to wait for a table on freedom dining on Azura a couple of weeks ago as we always opted to share a table.

[Interestedcruisefan]

3 hours ago, gsmt47471015 said:

From what I understand the problems with the mdr appear to be mostly on Arvia and Iona, We have been on all the current P and O ships in the fleet (except Arvia ) and have never had a problem gaining access at our preferred time ( always freedom) although on an odd occasion we have had to take a pager, with a saver you will not be given a dining time option but have to accept what you are allocated 

Problems on Iona and Arvia are only at school holiday times when they can have an extra 800 kids on board

[Interestedcruisefan]

I suggest the money you will save cruising with P and O rather then Celebrity would allow you to dine Epicurean, Limelight and other higher end speciality every night and still spend less. Dining better than on Celebrity

 

And no tips you have to pay unless you choose to

 

If you choose Iona or Arvia you will have way more entertainment choices than Celebrity as well each night

 

 

 

 

[Megabear2]

3 hours ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

I suggest the money you will save cruising with P and O rather then Celebrity would allow you to dine Epicurean, Limelight and other higher end speciality every night and still spend less. Dining better than on Celebrity

 

And no tips you have to pay unless you choose to

 

If you choose Iona or Arvia you will have way more entertainment choices than Celebrity as well each night

 

 

 

 

The OP has chosen Azura which has no Limelight Club and offers Sindhu and Epicurean as the only speciality dining along with the Glass House.

 

Dining on Celebrity is subjective. If the OP has been sailing on for instance one of the Edge class ships there is absolutely no comparison in any of P&O's offerings. The new Celebrity ships have four included MDR (if you can call them that as they aren't really) and each offers a different type of food/menu.  On top of this the array of speciality and paid for restaurants are unique in many ways and although expensive are often included in deals at the time of booking.  Eden and Le Petit Chef are truly unique experiences at sea.

 

I'm assuming a winter fly cruise to the Canaries is being chosen for some winter sun and Azura is clearly going to meet that brief very well.

[waddle]

We sailed Azura from Tenerife in November

 

Booking MDR on the app was a bit hit and miss, seemed to lose coverage in certain areas of the ship. We tended just to go down between 8-8.30 to ask for a table for 2. Most nights we were given a buzzer but never had to wait more than 15 mins to be called. We were seated in the same area most nights but not exactly the same table

 

We’ve also sailed Celebrity and their freedom dining tends to work in a similar way which suits us as we are never in a rush or feel we have to eat at the same table or time every night 

 

[lovescarborough]

8 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

The OP has chosen Azura which has no Limelight Club and offers Sindhu and Epicurean as the only speciality dining along with the Glass House.

 

Dining on Celebrity is subjective. If the OP has been sailing on for instance one of the Edge class ships there is absolutely no comparison in any of P&O's offerings. The new Celebrity ships have four included MDR (if you can call them that as they aren't really) and each offers a different type of food/menu.  On top of this the array of speciality and paid for restaurants are unique in many ways and although expensive are often included in deals at the time of booking.  Eden and Le Petit Chef are truly unique experiences at sea.

 

I'm assuming a winter fly cruise to the Canaries is being chosen for some winter sun and Azura is clearly going to meet that brief very well.

Correct. We chose Azura for the Canaries itinerary . Over the years we have done the Caribbean nearly every January and are getting a bit fed up with long haul flights and Miami airport in particular!  We love Celebrity but prefer the Solstice class ships to the Edge class. This January we were disappointed with both the food cutbacks and service  on Celebrity ( Aqua class which is usually really good ) and decided that the big price hikes are just not acceptable. We used the speciality restaurants for half of the cruise. They were still very good. It seems like all cruise lines have gone the same way with the cutbacks and as such we wouldn’t want to be stuck with MDR for the whole cruise and certainly not with a fixed early dining time as we like to eat late. 
We’re disappointed that, unless we pay extra for the saver fare , we can’t be sure of our dining arrangements and whilst we’re happy that we would then get OBC it seems we may or may not be able to get bookings in the speciality restaurants.( You can use OBC to pre book on Celebrity. ) 
I really don’t care for the take it or leave it attitude when we’re spending over £3000 for a holiday. Still undecided whether to chance it or book a land based holiday instead. 

[Megabear2]

29 minutes ago, lovescarborough said:

Correct. We chose Azura for the Canaries itinerary . Over the years we have done the Caribbean nearly every January and are getting a bit fed up with long haul flights and Miami airport in particular!  We love Celebrity but prefer the Solstice class ships to the Edge class. This January we were disappointed with both the food cutbacks and service  on Celebrity ( Aqua class which is usually really good ) and decided that the big price hikes are just not acceptable. We used the speciality restaurants for half of the cruise. They were still very good. It seems like all cruise lines have gone the same way with the cutbacks and as such we wouldn’t want to be stuck with MDR for the whole cruise and certainly not with a fixed early dining time as we like to eat late. 
We’re disappointed that, unless we pay extra for the saver fare , we can’t be sure of our dining arrangements and whilst we’re happy that we would then get OBC it seems we may or may not be able to get bookings in the speciality restaurants.( You can use OBC to pre book on Celebrity. ) 
I really don’t care for the take it or leave it attitude when we’re spending over £3000 for a holiday. Still undecided whether to chance it or book a land based holiday instead. 

There are quite a lot on here who've cruised Azura recently. Perhaps another topic based purely on how people found booking the speciality restaurants once onboard might give you an idea? A lot of the general hubbub is about Arvia and Iona so you may find the Azura updates more in line with your requirements.  Certainly I cruised a full up Britannia over Christmas and was able to book the speciality restaurants on day 1 including for Christmas day (the app didn't work for us so we used reception) however we had no dining options to book before departure apart from Limelight Club week  1 so the playing field was fairly level. 

[carlanthony24]

38 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

There are quite a lot on here who've cruised Azura recently. Perhaps another topic based purely on how people found booking the speciality restaurants once onboard might give you an idea? A lot of the general hubbub is about Arvia and Iona so you may find the Azura updates more in line with your requirements.  Certainly I cruised a full up Britannia over Christmas and was able to book the speciality restaurants on day 1 including for Christmas day (the app didn't work for us so we used reception) however we had no dining options to book before departure apart from Limelight Club week  1 so the playing field was fairly level. 

We booked the Beach House twice. Once on boarding and one on the day very easy. 

[Fionboard]

5 hours ago, lovescarborough said:

Correct. We chose Azura for the Canaries itinerary . Over the years we have done the Caribbean nearly every January and are getting a bit fed up with long haul flights and Miami airport in particular!  We love Celebrity but prefer the Solstice class ships to the Edge class. This January we were disappointed with both the food cutbacks and service  on Celebrity ( Aqua class which is usually really good ) and decided that the big price hikes are just not acceptable. We used the speciality restaurants for half of the cruise. They were still very good. It seems like all cruise lines have gone the same way with the cutbacks and as such we wouldn’t want to be stuck with MDR for the whole cruise and certainly not with a fixed early dining time as we like to eat late. 
We’re disappointed that, unless we pay extra for the saver fare , we can’t be sure of our dining arrangements and whilst we’re happy that we would then get OBC it seems we may or may not be able to get bookings in the speciality restaurants.( You can use OBC to pre book on Celebrity. ) 
I really don’t care for the take it or leave it attitude when we’re spending over £3000 for a holiday. Still undecided whether to chance it or book a land based holiday instead. 

If you book saver and get first sitting you should have no problem changing to second or freedom once on board. Just visit the MDR when you board and ask. They usually try to be accommodating. 

[Selbourne]

3 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

If you book saver and get first sitting you should have no problem changing to second or freedom once on board. Just visit the MDR when you board and ask. They usually try to be accommodating. 

As you say, it’s always worth asking, but we have been on a few cruises where there were notices outside the Freedom Dining restaurant on the day of boarding saying that the restaurant was full and they were unable to accommodate any requests to change from Club / fixed dining. 

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

As you say, it’s always worth asking, but we have been on a few cruises where there were notices outside the Freedom Dining restaurant on the day of boarding saying that the restaurant was full and they were unable to accommodate any requests to change from Club / fixed dining. 

But club 1st sitting is usually the more popular, so switching to 2nd should not present a problem, even if freedom is full.

[Selbourne]

32 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

But club 1st sitting is usually the more popular, so switching to 2nd should not present a problem, even if freedom is full.

I agree. I was referring to people attempting to switch from Club to Freedom. 

[Fionboard]

17 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

But club 1st sitting is usually the more popular, so switching to 2nd should not present a problem, even if freedom is full.

Absolutely. Luckily I prefer 2nd sitting!

[Britboys]

41 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

Absolutely. Luckily I prefer 2nd sitting!

So do I...