Britannia Itinerary Changes/Cancellations

[1980]

2 hours ago, Lady Meer said:

How disappointing. What was the original itinerary and what is the new one?

We were off to Kiel, Copenhagen, Tallinn, Helsinki etc. New one is described as Canary Islands via Madera and stops in mainland Spain and Portugal, but no confirmed details yet. 

[zap99]

We were so impressed with the comments about Arvia that we have booked a cruise on her for next year. So appreciative of all the praise.🤣

[Megabear2]

20 minutes ago, 1980 said:

We were off to Kiel, Copenhagen, Tallinn, Helsinki etc. New one is described as Canary Islands via Madera and stops in mainland Spain and Portugal, but no confirmed details yet. 

I understand the Canary Islands cruises were very much the most popular on sale when I spoke to future sales whilst on Arvia in May.

 

I gathered that a lot of families and groups having tried Iona and Arvia wanted to cruise again but didn't wish to do the same itineraries.  Looking at the Canaries cruises currently on sale they offer more ports of call as well, often 7 compared with 5 with an overnight on the other warm weather itineraries. That is clearly a big draw for people, warm weather with more ports.

 

As was said above British families want more or less guaranteed sunshine and no matter how lovely the Fjord sailings are they aren't going to offer that and the Baltic cruises are also not really something those with children are going to pick either.  Whoever is planning P&O's itineraries they really should understand their market better.  The constant referral to "feedback" whilst misleading is most likely based on what they can see interest and demand for rather than on comments from those already sailed.

 

The other "problem" is the cutting of the number of ports, interestingly even 2024/2025 Caribbean cruises are seeing the number of ports dropped and this is in an area where they are quite literally within hours of each other.

 

 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Megabear2

[Selbourne]

30 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

The other "problem" is the cutting of the number of ports, interestingly even 2024/2025 Caribbean cruises are seeing the number of ports dropped and this is in an area where they are quite literally within hours of each other.

 

As you say, the ‘port light’ itineraries on the new mega ships are most noticeable on the longer Caribbean cruises. There are three 35 night Caribbean round trip cruises on sale at present. The two Ventura cruises (Jan 24 & Feb 25) have 13/14 Caribbean port calls each. The Jan 25 Iona trip, which is exactly the same duration, has just 7 Caribbean port calls. Quite a difference. 

[zap99]

40 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

I understand the Canary Islands cruises were very much the most popular on sale when I spoke to future sales whilst on Arvia in May.

 

I gathered that a lot of families and groups having tried Iona and Arvia wanted to cruise again but didn't wish to do the same itineraries.  Looking at the Canaries cruises currently on sale they offer more ports of call as well, often 7 compared with 5 with an overnight on the other warm weather itineraries. That is clearly a big draw for people, warm weather with more ports.

 

As was said above British families want more or less guaranteed sunshine and no matter how lovely the Fjord sailings are they aren't going to offer that and the Baltic cruises are also not really something those with children are going to pick either.  Whoever is planning P&O's itineraries they really should understand their market better.  The constant referral to "feedback" whilst misleading is most likely based on what they can see interest and demand for rather than on comments from those already sailed.

 

The other "problem" is the cutting of the number of ports, interestingly even 2024/2025 Caribbean cruises are seeing the number of ports dropped and this is in an area where they are quite literally within hours of each other.

 

 

We booked Arvia for next year to the Med. 6 ports, but still a bit mean. Sailing at a proper speed would enable at least one more. We now have a preference for fly cruises.

[Jazzytelly]

We have done 3 British Isles cruises with Princess in the last 2 years , the last one being 11 ports in 14 days. I think the equivalent P &O ones only had 6 ports in 14 days, and there lies the difference.  There were at least 50% Brits on each cruise we did.

 

I wish they would start up the Strictly Come Dancing cruises again, they were fab-u-lous. 💃🕺😀🚢

Edited September 12, 2023 by Jazzytelly
Typo

[Megabear2]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

As you say, the ‘port light’ itineraries on the new mega ships are most noticeable on the longer Caribbean cruises. There are three 35 night Caribbean round trip cruises on sale at present. The two Ventura cruises (Jan 24 & Feb 25) have 13/14 Caribbean port calls each. The Jan 25 Iona trip, which is exactly the same duration, has just 7 Caribbean port calls. Quite a difference. 

Yes, a considerable difference.  As an avid Caribbean cruiser every year I've noted 2024/5 fly cruise itineraries also have shrinkflation! Britannia will no longer call at St Kitts with no replacement and Arvia loses La Romana.

 

We aren't booked for the Caribbean in 2024/5 with P&O as we have booked the 35 night Queen Mary 2 for January 2025, which offered 9 Caribbean ports with an overnight in Curacao which will be interesting. Out via Tenerife and back via Madeira so hopefully warm most of the way.

[yorkshirephil]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

As you say, the ‘port light’ itineraries on the new mega ships are most noticeable on the longer Caribbean cruises. There are three 35 night Caribbean round trip cruises on sale at present. The two Ventura cruises (Jan 24 & Feb 25) have 13/14 Caribbean port calls each. The Jan 25 Iona trip, which is exactly the same duration, has just 7 Caribbean port calls. Quite a difference. 

The Iona Caribbean cruise has 9 port calls plus an overnight in Barbados. We opted for this cruise as it is going via Tenerife out and back, albeit this is to fuel up but we prefer the southern crossing as opposed to Azores or Bermuda. These 35 night cruises are very popular and we have met many people on them that go every year for the winter sun and many rarely get off the ship, we do not always get off at all the ports as we just want to relax so I think Iona will be better suited to some people. It will be interesting to see how the price holds up against the Ventura cruises.

[Fionboard]

4 hours ago, daiB said:

No you mentioned the Well-being Cruises. Which have only been advertised since the change of itinerary on Iona. You wondered why they were not popular? An odd remark as they had only been released a few weeks ago. I know all about the changes made.

Oh dear!

[Megabear2]

15 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

The Iona Caribbean cruise has 9 port calls plus an overnight in Barbados. We opted for this cruise as it is going via Tenerife out and back, albeit this is to fuel up but we prefer the southern crossing as opposed to Azores or Bermuda. These 35 night cruises are very popular and we have met many people on them that go every year for the winter sun and many rarely get off the ship, we do not always get off at all the ports as we just want to relax so I think Iona will be better suited to some people. It will be interesting to see how the price holds up against the Ventura cruises.

I think Selbourne was referring to the number of port calls in the Caribbean not overall.  I notice it is already £700 less than the Ventura offerings at the lead price.

[Selbourne]

12 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

The Iona Caribbean cruise has 9 port calls plus an overnight in Barbados. We opted for this cruise as it is going via Tenerife out and back, albeit this is to fuel up but we prefer the southern crossing as opposed to Azores or Bermuda. These 35 night cruises are very popular and we have met many people on them that go every year for the winter sun and many rarely get off the ship, we do not always get off at all the ports as we just want to relax so I think Iona will be better suited to some people. It will be interesting to see how the price holds up against the Ventura cruises.

I wasn’t counting the ‘en-route’ ports, hence why I said ‘Caribbean ports’. We like port intensive cruises, and would probably only do it once, so would choose Ventura with 14 Caribbean ports over one with half that number, but I fully appreciate that for those who consider the ship to be the destination Iona has much more to offer. I look at these cruises every so often but the long runs of sea days put us off. A maximum of 3 sea days in a row is more than enough for us and unfortunately we can’t do fly cruises. 

[yorkshirephil]

4 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

I think Selbourne was referring to the number of port calls in the Caribbean not overall.  I notice it is already £700 less than the Ventura offerings at the lead price.

I had noticed the lead price had dropped however the select price is the same as what we booked at, we booked with the £50 deposit as we expect a drop in price so could rebook if required.

[Megabear2]

9 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

I had noticed the lead price had dropped however the select price is the same as what we booked at, we booked with the £50 deposit as we expect a drop in price so could rebook if required.

It will as you say be interesting.  My one off putting concern for Iona on a cruise of this length and itinerary would be the swimming pools being small and the Dome being fixed rather than being able to open.  Assumedly the clientele will not be lots of families and children so I might have been worrying needlessly but after seeing the Arvia pools I assumed they would be the same with probably a very high number of users. On a long cruise I swim fairly long distances most days so the pool size is fairly important, on Arvia I only managed to get in for a proper swim once in the fortnight due to even the early mornings being too busy.

[daiB]

4 hours ago, Selbourne said:

As you say, the ‘port light’ itineraries on the new mega ships are most noticeable on the longer Caribbean cruises. There are three 35 night Caribbean round trip cruises on sale at present. The two Ventura cruises (Jan 24 & Feb 25) have 13/14 Caribbean port calls each. The Jan 25 Iona trip, which is exactly the same duration, has just 7 Caribbean port calls. Quite a difference. 

More like 11/12 we are booked on both the Ventura cruises. However we would be now very happy with the Iona one. Sea days rule.OK. 🙂

[terrierjohn]

3 hours ago, yorkshirephil said:

The Iona Caribbean cruise has 9 port calls plus an overnight in Barbados. We opted for this cruise as it is going via Tenerife out and back, albeit this is to fuel up but we prefer the southern crossing as opposed to Azores or Bermuda. These 35 night cruises are very popular and we have met many people on them that go every year for the winter sun and many rarely get off the ship, we do not always get off at all the ports as we just want to relax so I think Iona will be better suited to some people. It will be interesting to see how the price holds up against the Ventura cruises.

After Iona my favourite ship is Ventura, and I would be quite happy to do another 35 night Caribbean cruise on her, but only if they install bigger TVs, and maybe freshen up her cabins.