Menus at cruise end?

[Son of Anarchy]

23 hours ago, zap99 said:

I wasn't actually jesting. That is the procedure in many restaurants now, particularly the big national chains. Our Costa's beans are on an app. App to park the car, app to go to the Doctor, app to buy a paper...oh !, no need for a paper, it's  an app. On my phone I have the Royal Caribean app, Celebrity, Melia, various booking apps and P&O's splendid effort.

And Wetherspoons App.  Thinking about it, Paul Ludlow ought to have a chat with Tim Martin regarding Wetherspoons' app and take notes.

[Leomins]

12 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Wow. Never seen one of those but do remember when the Passenger Manifest was out on display by the Purser's Desk for all to leaf through...

That’s hilarious, it would never get past data protection regulations now 😂

[BandBlady]

Forgot to say they were handing menus out on Britannia last week only fixed dining though .

[Snow Hill]

16 hours ago, Son of Anarchy said:

And Wetherspoons App.  Thinking about it, Paul Ludlow ought to have a chat with Tim Martin regarding Wetherspoons' app and take notes.

Does the Wetherspoons App make your phone screen sticky? 😂

[Cloudyrain]

On 5/30/2023 at 2:24 PM, Britboys said:

They were still doing it on Aurora pre-pandemic lockdown...

I haven’t been on the Aurora but Ventura 2013 and 2019 (or thereabouts) they definitely weren’t offered: although they did those ship logs then, those I miss because I thought they were a lovely keepsake. In fact I really don’t know why they don’t sell them as I am sure many people would pay for them. Rather pay £20 for that than a teddy in a T-shirt 😂

[Fionboard]

1 hour ago, Cloudyrain said:

I haven’t been on the Aurora but Ventura 2013 and 2019 (or thereabouts) they definitely weren’t offered: although they did those ship logs then, those I miss because I thought they were a lovely keepsake. In fact I really don’t know why they don’t sell them as I am sure many people would pay for them. Rather pay £20 for that than a teddy in a T-shirt 😂

Menus were given out on Ventura pre covid. 

[zap99]

1 minute ago, Fionboard said:

Menus were given out on Ventura pre covid. 

In Menorca we went to a nice restaurant and were given a ceramic tile with a QR code on it. Come on P&O..paper menus.  Why can't we have a QR code and order on the app ?.

[carlanthony24]

2 minutes ago, zap99 said:

In Menorca we went to a nice restaurant and were given a ceramic tile with a QR code on it. Come on P&O..paper menus.  Why can't we have a QR code and order on the app ?.

Personally Paper menus are great to keep and show other family members what its like. 

[Fionboard]

8 minutes ago, zap99 said:

In Menorca we went to a nice restaurant and were given a ceramic tile with a QR code on it. Come on P&O..paper menus.  Why can't we have a QR code and order on the app ?.

Being silly now! 

[terrierjohn]

3 hours ago, zap99 said:

In Menorca we went to a nice restaurant and were given a ceramic tile with a QR code on it. Come on P&O..paper menus.  Why can't we have a QR code and order on the app ?.

Cos my phone doesn't do QR codes. 

[WestonOne]

On 5/29/2023 at 2:29 PM, Selbourne said:

When we first cruised (Oriana 1996) the menus were quite special. They were card and each one had a beautiful artwork on the front from the P&O collection. How things change!

Yes, that's how it was in the 80s when we started.

 

It is one of the cost cuttings we regret.  They will have been much more expensive to produce than A3 prints, but probably a few tens of pounds over a two week cruise.  If you want a simple indication of trading quality for price that is one that stands out.

 

[Snow Hill]

I am not surprised P&O has stopped printing the menus at the end of cruises with a 40% increase in the price of printing paper. 
 

Use my local printers to print charts for some of my clients, their prices have gone up by 20% in the last 12 months a cost I have to pass on. 

Edited June 1, 2023 by Snow Hill

[WestonOne]

1 minute ago, Snow Hill said:

I am not surprised P&O has stopped printing the menus at the end of cruises with a 40% increase in the price of printing paper. 

That may be part of it, but going back to when we had card menus: they were also advertising.  Our children always wantwd to see them and pick out what they would have chosen. Other friends and family would as well.

 

But are the current menus good advertising? Would anyone picking them up think "Wow, this sounds fantastic! I must try it'?

 

In my judgement, no, so there is no advertising spinoff in making sure every passenger leaves with a copy.. 

[TigerB]

Wrong thread

 

Edited June 1, 2023 by TigerB

[Cloudyrain]

15 hours ago, Fionboard said:

Menus were given out on Ventura pre covid. 

Not on the 2 times pre-Covid we went on the Ventura they weren’t given to us. I’m the sort of person that keeps everything so I definitely would have taken them if offered (even if I did’t want them) but they didn’t give them to us on the 2 Ventura Cruises we did: one 7 day and one 10 day. 

[Fionboard]

17 minutes ago, Cloudyrain said:

Not on the 2 times pre-Covid we went on the Ventura they weren’t given to us. I’m the sort of person that keeps everything so I definitely would have taken them if offered (even if I did’t want them) but they didn’t give them to us on the 2 Ventura Cruises we did: one 7 day and one 10 day. 

Strange. Mine were signed by my waiters (fixed dining).  Maybe you were on freedom dining? 

[Cloudyrain]

4 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

Strange. Mine were signed by my waiters (fixed dining).  Maybe you were on freedom dining? 

First time we were fixed (7 nights), second time freedom (10 nights).

 

I have to say the first time was a pretty poor experience (as in “I’m never going P&O again” - which I obviously retracted 😂) so maybe we just were unlucky.

[TigerB]

There have been a few cruises where we have been on freedom dining but had the same waiters throughout the cruise.  On only one of those, on Britannia about five years ago, did we receive menus at the end; they were signed.

[Cruisemeister2002]

On 5/29/2023 at 12:29 PM, binman2 said:

Do we still get them

Did get them on Ventura in April although not presented as well as on previous cruises. Were signed by our waiters, although a fellow passenger on our table thought that they had made a error as our names were on their menu's. Turned out that they had signed both the same. Didn't for the first time ever keep ours, except for the page signed by our waiters as was so disgusted with the poor quality and repetitiveness of the fare dished up that we threw the rest of the menu's away. I did feel for our waiter as he seemed to continually be apologising about the food which was bland, varied between warm and cold, brocolli with everything, thin custard, poorly cooked steaks which never seemed to be done as requested and the quality of desserts were nowhere near what we had been served on previous cruises. 

[SeaJane]

4 hours ago, Cruisemeister2002 said:

Did get them on Ventura in April although not presented as well as on previous cruises. Were signed by our waiters, although a fellow passenger on our table thought that they had made a error as our names were on their menu's. Turned out that they had signed both the same. Didn't for the first time ever keep ours, except for the page signed by our waiters as was so disgusted with the poor quality and repetitiveness of the fare dished up that we threw the rest of the menu's away. I did feel for our waiter as he seemed to continually be apologising about the food which was bland, varied between warm and cold, brocolli with everything, thin custard, poorly cooked steaks which never seemed to be done as requested and the quality of desserts were nowhere near what we had been served on previous cruises. 

Your experience of the food on Ventura sounds similar to ours last week. We made a formal complaint on board and have since written to Paul Ludlow’s office. I feel very strongly that anyone unhappy with the deterioration in the quality of food in the MDR should make their voice heard. In view of your comments above have you also formally complained? 

[FangedRose]

17 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Cos my phone doesn't do QR codes. 

If your phone doesn't do QR codes, it probably won't be a smart phone. Every phone I've had for the last 10 years has been able to do QR codes. If your phone is less than 10 years old you just haven't found the right button  to press. 

 

You can download a free QR codereader from the Google play store (android) ot app store (iPhone).

[Dermotsgirl]

17 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Cos my phone doesn't do QR codes. 

Does your phone have a camera?

 

If so, try hovering the camera over the QR code and see what happens 

[WestonOne]

Maybe it is more psychological than anything else, but in a good restaurant I expect a waiter to take my order.  QR codes and the like I associate with McDonald's.  True, in a modern restaurant is likely they tap it on their tablet rather than my typing it, so the actual difference is minimal, but they have very different ambiance.

 

Edited June 1, 2023 by WestonOne

[terrierjohn]

4 hours ago, FangedRose said:

If your phone doesn't do QR codes, it probably won't be a smart phone. Every phone I've had for the last 10 years has been able to do QR codes. If your phone is less than 10 years old you just haven't found the right button  to press. 

 

You can download a free QR codereader from the Google play store (android) ot app store (iPhone).

I did download a couple of free QR readers, but they were both full of adds that made using them difficult. My phone is only a 5 year old Samsung galaxy A20e, but only operates on 2g or 3g, and won't run Sainsbury smart shop either.

Edited June 1, 2023 by terrierjohn

[Angel57]

9 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

I did download a couple of free QR readers, but they were both full of adds that made using them difficult. My phone is only a 5 year old Samsung galaxy A20e, but only operates on 2g or 3g, and won't run Sainsbury smart shop either.

Not sure which network you are on, but Vodafone has started switching off 3G.

Edited June 2, 2023 by Angel57
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