Why is everyone still cruising with P&O ?

[ScratchTheRat]

15 hours ago, Yorkypete said:

 Why is everyone still cruising with P&O?

 

Because it's cheap.

[kalos]

7 hours ago, Ardennais said:

I hear what you’re saying but I disagree with ‘it’s hard to fault what P&O are providing’. The food offering is inconsistent - we thought Iona did it well in February but Britannia last month was disappointing. I actually don’t expect anything fancy, but I like food served at the correct temperature, and that definitely wasn’t the case on Britannia. 
We have actually cancelled our next P&O cruise before the final balance is due. 

 

Makes sad reading when people are cancelling cruises for reasons that should and could be avoided in the welfare of the ships passengers . Thirty or so passengers wanting to move cabins on a full ship is one thing but serving food not at the correct temperatures is out of order, no excuse such as, short staffed or the old pandemic excuse.

Hope you find a suitable replacement for your cancelled booking.  

[ohnonotmeagain]

We too came off Britannia last month and we also we disappointed. Couldn't say it was a bad cruise and difficult to pin point the  reasons but it was just a bit "off". 

The food choices were limited and not very exciting ( I don't expect cordon blu on a budget holiday but lamb stew????in MDR evening service)

The temperature of the food was warm at best and tepid at times -MDR for dinner and breakfast. Eggs benedic inedible, just plain cold....didn't have time to send it back, things to do!

Dinner service lasted approx 2 hours,  that's fine for us,  nice and  leisurely but some complained as it made them late for other things. 

Service was OK, nothing more or extraordinary. 

Steward noticable by absence, requested ice daily on first day, he told me that there was an ice machine in buffet  but others along  corridor had ice delivered, saw empty buckets daily.  Again,  not a deal breaker just IMO service just a bit  lacking, never had to get my own before. 

Whilst some of this appears a bit  picky, it just takes shine off the cruise for me. 

It's not that I will never travel with P &O again, I probably will but it would  need to be a cheap "filler " cruise and not a main holiday that  comes with greater expectations. 

 for additional information.... been on approx 5 cruises with P&O before C....d, so not entirely a newbie but not jaded. 😉

[jeanlyon]

I shall be very interested to see what Aurora is like in October.  How good/bad the food is etc.  First cruise since 2019.

[daiB]

2 hours ago, kalos said:

 

Makes sad reading when people are cancelling cruises for reasons that should and could be avoided in the welfare of the ships passengers . Thirty or so passengers wanting to move cabins on a full ship is one thing but serving food not at the correct temperatures is out of order, no excuse such as, short staffed or the old pandemic excuse.

Hope you find a suitable replacement for your cancelled booking.  

I must be lucky, never had cold food, well not since they did away with that silly silver service. Never been on a table where anyone has complained about it either. We always ask for a table of 8 so thats a lot of people. 

[kalos]

3 minutes ago, daiB said:

I must be lucky, never had cold food, well not since they did away with that silly silver service. Never been on a table where anyone has complained about it either. We always ask for a table of 8 so thats a lot of people. 

 

Lets hope they keep the good work up ,to be fair I have never had complaints regarding 

the food and hope it remains that way the next time we go.

[Ardennais]

4 hours ago, kalos said:

 

Makes sad reading when people are cancelling cruises for reasons that should and could be avoided in the welfare of the ships passengers . Thirty or so passengers wanting to move cabins on a full ship is one thing but serving food not at the correct temperatures is out of order, no excuse such as, short staffed or the old pandemic excuse.

Hope you find a suitable replacement for your cancelled booking.  

Thanks! We’ve lost the deposit, of course, and as it was a long cruise, we didn’t want to risk booking anything pricier. If it had been a 7-12 nighter, we probably would have stuck with it. 
To be fair, it wasn’t just down to the food, but a combination of factors. Cruising has lost its magic for us, it’s just not as relaxing anymore. We still have one big cruise booked for next year. We’ll see how it goes! 

[Ardennais]

3 hours ago, ohnonotmeagain said:

We too came off Britannia last month and we also we disappointed. Couldn't say it was a bad cruise and difficult to pin point the  reasons but it was just a bit "off". 

The food choices were limited and not very exciting ( I don't expect cordon blu on a budget holiday but lamb stew????in MDR evening service)

The temperature of the food was warm at best and tepid at times -MDR for dinner and breakfast. Eggs benedic inedible, just plain cold....didn't have time to send it back, things to do!

Dinner service lasted approx 2 hours,  that's fine for us,  nice and  leisurely but some complained as it made them late for other things. 

Service was OK, nothing more or extraordinary. 

Steward noticable by absence, requested ice daily on first day, he told me that there was an ice machine in buffet  but others along  corridor had ice delivered, saw empty buckets daily.  Again,  not a deal breaker just IMO service just a bit  lacking, never had to get my own before. 

Whilst some of this appears a bit  picky, it just takes shine off the cruise for me. 

It's not that I will never travel with P &O again, I probably will but it would  need to be a cheap "filler " cruise and not a main holiday that  comes with greater expectations. 

 for additional information.... been on approx 5 cruises with P&O before C....d, so not entirely a newbie but not jaded. 😉

Just a bit “off” is a good way of putting it. Exactly how we felt. 

[Yorkypete]

18 hours ago, CruisingConnor said:

- Good value. Far cheaper than other lines when I've looked, though I usually cruise off-peak.

 

- I know what I'm going to get.

 

- Modern fleet.

 

- Most cruises are out of Southampton, and those that aren't the flights are included, which doesn't always seem to be the case.

 

- Designed for British tastes.

 

- They are generally good at putting things right when they go wrong (more so on board than shore-side).

'I know what I am going to get.' Apparently not from the points made on Cruise Critic recently.

The two new ships are very noisy so this is not true.

'Designed for British tastes'. Only if you like your drinks and overpriced food.

Absolutely NOT if you take note of them ignoring the majority of complaints. They will 'investigate' at a later date which is no good when it is actually happening and they refuse to act.

[Yorkypete]

19 hours ago, jaydee6969 said:

 

Because the majority have a great time, and do not have issues.

 

 

And where does this info come from. No-one issues any figures for complaints so there could be a vast majority who will not cruise again on P&O.Remember posts on here are from only around 70 people who cruise out of thousands.

[Yorkypete]

18 hours ago, Landon90 said:

Hotel prices across Europe are crazy expensive these days. 
 

Value for money is great on P&O. 
 

I’m pretty easy when it comes to where I’m going, as long as it’s away from home I can relax and enjoy something new. Bonus points if it’s warm, has a beach, has a cold beer etc. 
 

£4.80 a pint of moretti (after the 5% peninsular discount) 

 

I love a casino. 
 

I’m pretty easy going when it comes to where my cabin is and the noise. I’m in my 30s and usually out late drinking and enjoying myself, I can sleep through anything. 

Hotel prices are much cheaper than a cruise in most cases. We pay around £2300 for both of us in a 4* hotel, all inclusive with a sea view and including flights, luggage etc. The hotel has a casino 200 yds away.

[Yorkypete]

18 hours ago, Britboys said:

Because generally speaking they provide a reasonable cruise experience at a reasonable price. My only current gripes with P&O are that the mdr menu in operation at present is really not to my taste and that the itineraries have got far too samey across the whole fleet. That's why I only have one cruise booked with then at the moment...

So you are not happy with them?

[Yorkypete]

18 hours ago, Wonky said:

That’s a brave call, to find a perfect holiday with a guarantee of nothing going wrong. Good luck!

Well I have done it for the past 15 years or so both to America(Florida, Vegas and Iowa)  and to Europe. Only delay was a time change on an American flight which did not really bother us.

[Yorkypete]

17 hours ago, daiB said:

I cruise with P&O because we enjoy the experience. I have read this forum for years and many others.and I have found that the vast majority of passengers have a great time and post about it. I have learned to get things dealt with at the time on the ship. On the few occasions this has happened this has been resolved fairly quickly to my satisfaction.

 

Possibly why we have 12+ cruises booked with P&O.

 

Gan Canny

 

Dai

Each to their own. Only about 70 people post on here and most are regulars who love P&O. We have never had aproblem resolved on board and have had to wait 28 days after a written complaint. Fortunately we have only had two.

 

[LondonLad60]

10 minutes ago, Yorkypete said:

'I know what I am going to get.' Apparently not from the points made on Cruise Critic recently.

The two new ships are very noisy so this is not true.

'Designed for British tastes'. Only if you like your drinks and overpriced food.

Absolutely NOT if you take note of them ignoring the majority of complaints. They will 'investigate' at a later date which is no good when it is actually happening and they refuse to act.

One could be forgiven for thinking that P&O's customer service policy could be something like, 'We are attracting a new, younger cruising demographic, so why worry if we lose a few older and established customers? There are plenty of potential younger  and family cruisers out there'.

[Yorkypete]

16 hours ago, Cruise_Rookie_2010 said:

We've found P&O's new ships to be comparable to anything we've previously sailed (Princess / Celebrity) but with a distinctive British flavour which we found very enjoyable. Obviously anyone can have a bad experience but that doesn't mean everyone will. At the moment it's hard to fault what P&O are providing, from our perspective having never sailed with them previously (before lockdown) we don't perhaps notice things that more experienced past passengers feel are missing. And the most obvious reason to book is that the value on offer is unbeatable, try booking a land based holiday at the same price we're paying for a cruise right now.

Easily done if you are paying over £2000 for 14 nights.

[Landon90]

9 minutes ago, Yorkypete said:

Hotel prices are much cheaper than a cruise in most cases. We pay around £2300 for both of us in a 4* hotel, all inclusive with a sea view and including flights, luggage etc. The hotel has a casino 200 yds away.

How is £2300 for 2 people ‘much cheaper’ than a cruise? I’ve never paid more than that to go on a P&O cruise…

[Yorkypete]

3 minutes ago, Landon90 said:

How is £2300 for 2 people ‘much cheaper’ than a cruise? I’ve never paid more than that to go on a P&O cruise…

Which cruises have you been on? I am talking fully  inclusive, entertainment, great choice of food, drinks and flights with sea view  and all transport and luggage. I have been on many cruises and in the last 5 years  I must have been unlucky as most cruises were approachin £3000 for basics.

 

[Landon90]

4 minutes ago, Yorkypete said:

Which cruises have you been on? I am talking fully  inclusive, entertainment, great choice of food, drinks and flights with sea view  and all transport and luggage. I have been on many cruises and in the last 5 years  I must have been unlucky as most cruises were approachin £3000 for basics.

 

I’ve been on 4 P&O cruises in the past year alone. I’m off on another one next month. You’re evidently doing something wrong. 

[Britboys]

9 minutes ago, Yorkypete said:

So you are not happy with them?

I don't think it is quite as simple as that. There are lots I still like but those two aspects I am not keen on. I have been lucky to have sailed with P&O for 26 years now and - like many other cruise lines - they have changed a lot in that time.

I still really like Aurora and would happily try Arcadia again - for the right itinerary and if I felt the menus were going to improve as far as my palate is concerned.

Last December, I sailed on Ambassador Ambience. The ship is a similar size to Aurora and is nice in places but isn't really a patch on Aurora. The menus are better for me and some of the entertainment was of a higher quality than P&O. I don't however feel excited enough about them to commit to a full-length cruise with them.

So, in summary, I am left in a quandary as to what I feel about cruising now. It really isn't what it was on any cruise line as far as I am concerned - and yes, I fully appreciate the prices are significantly lower than they were. Yes, I have some concerns about P&O but I doubt I am going to find what my heart yearns for in terms of cruising anywhere now.

I am very seriously thinking about a river cruise for next year. I would need to pay a similar amount for a 7-night cruise that I would pay for 12-14 nights on an ocean cruise but at least it would be something different and I wouldn't have specific expectations...

[davecttr]

It is inertia, the increasingly massive ships make it difficult for me to stop. I like the several hundred pounds of onboard credit a year I get as a shareholder as well 🤑

[carlanthony24]

57 minutes ago, Yorkypete said:

'I know what I am going to get.' Apparently not from the points made on Cruise Critic recently.

The two new ships are very noisy so this is not true.

'Designed for British tastes'. Only if you like your drinks and overpriced food.

Absolutely NOT if you take note of them ignoring the majority of complaints. They will 'investigate' at a later date which is no good when it is actually happening and they refuse to act.

According to other sites people are also having no problems on the ships. We don’t know if they are first timers or even seasoned cruisers

[Splice the mainbrace]

I have 2 future cruises booked with P&O because of their itineraries fitting in with our ‘ bucket list’ destinations. We were on Arcadia last October and had a really enjoyable cruise. 

[kalos]

6 minutes ago, Splice the mainbrace said:

I have 2 future cruises booked with P&O because of their itineraries fitting in with our ‘ bucket list’ destinations. We were on Arcadia last October and had a really enjoyable cruise. 

 

Good for you and hope you enjoy them both . We are all big boys and girls and would like 

to think we are grown up and capable of choosing a cruise ourselves.

I had a fantastic holiday the other week ,so good I have booked again but reading the review

sites ,some posters would have had us running for the hills.

If people want to go on a cruise , that's their choice, live and let live .

If I want to cruise ,I do and I will just like I will return to my choice hotel.

You get your bucket list ticked off it's your dream your choice ,you enjoy .🙂  

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, Landon90 said:

How is £2300 for 2 people ‘much cheaper’ than a cruise? I’ve never paid more than that to go on a P&O cruise…

Depends what grade of cabin you take.  We paid just short of £8,000 for two for Britannia last Christmas and it was an extremely disappointing experience so much so that we cancelled our already booked Christmas 2023 cruise.