Selbourne ‘Live’ from Aurora’s 2024 Grand Tour

[Fionboard]

1 hour ago, TigerB said:

Personally, I like it when it is cut into segments and roasted.

Swede and peas today. Things are looking up! 

[Fionboard]

Keep seeing offers on select, with increased obc. I would prefer a cheaper select cruise price with no obc! 

[Mickb]

The thing about P&O is that over the last 10 or so years it has changed from having 2 small ships with 4000 bednights to sell to having 7 ships with more more than 20000 bednights. The existing traditional UK market is waning due to age demographics so the company has had to attract a new market - people who previously went on package holidays but would never have considered a cruise. Pricing and floating resorts are the way to attract them aboard. P& O are being very successful in this. That is how the company will survive.

[Valfan]

5 hours ago, Mickb said:

The thing about P&O is that over the last 10 or so years it has changed from having 2 small ships.

It's a lot longer than that since P&O had only 2 small ships.  Four of the current fleet (Aurora, Arcadia, Ventura and Azura) arrived in 2010 or earlier. 10 years ago the small Adonia was also in the fleet.  That's the year I went on her.  And Oriana and Oceana had been around for many years by then as well.  So that was 7 ships ten years ago.

[lincslady]

The important difference between P and O and Saga is that only on P and O do people have the option - according to how much they want to spend - of having a basic  cruise or adding on a few extras, like a superior cabin and extra paid for meals and drinks,  whereas on Saga you have to be able to feel like affording the whole package from the word go.  And it is an important difference, in my opinion.

[Lee Jones Jnr]

4 hours ago, Valfan said:

It's a lot longer than that since P&O had only 2 small ships.  Four of the current fleet (Aurora, Arcadia, Ventura and Azura) arrived in 2010 or earlier. 10 years ago the small Adonia was also in the fleet.  That's the year I went on her.  And Oriana and Oceana had been around for many years by then as well.  So that was 7 ships ten years ago.

..... and Artemis?

[Selbourne]

2 hours ago, S1971 said:

I'd be more than happy, do a like for like price comparison, you may be surprised at the result.

During our three and a half year pause in cruising (the staycation cruises and those with on board Covid restrictions didn’t remotely appeal to us), we became concerned, based on all the reports that we were reading, that P&O may no longer be for us. By contrast, having read loads of extremely positive reviews on Saga cruises, we decided that we would give them a go and we pre-paid for access to the pre-sale releases so that we could book before general on-sale dates. This was essential, as we need an accessible cabin (and they only have two at the entry level) and because this would also afford the biggest discounts. We were under no illusion that the Saga experience would be superior to P&O, but at a greater cost. We were fine with that, especially given the all inclusive aspects. 
 

Since then a number of things have happened that have changed our mind, both regarding P&O and Saga. 
 

Having done a lot more research on Saga, most notably informed by @Dermotsgirl excellent reports (a respected frequent P&O cruiser who tried Saga for the first time), many of the all inclusive aspects weren’t quite what they seemed. I might be wrong about some of this (and will be happy to be corrected), but my understanding is;

 

Private transfers - Due to where we live, this would have to be shared, which doesn’t appeal. My wife is a full time wheelchair user so we’d need a large vehicle to accommodate us, luggage and wheelcair, plus the driver and potentially other passengers and their luggage. My understanding is that they generally use mini-van type vehicles for this purpose and they are too high for my wife to get in and out of. By contrast, travelling in our own car it’s just us, my wife can get in and out OK and we can stop for loo breaks whenever we like. Also, Southampton is half the travel time compared to Dover. 
 

Included Excursions - These are limited to a few per cruise and tend to just be fairly basic excursions. My wife cannot board a coach or minibus and would need a car or wheelchair accessible vehicle. I’m not sure if that’s an included option. 
 

Drinks Package - I believe that there are some limitations on choice with wine (we tend not to drink the basic wines) and frankly we don’t drink much anyway. On our recent 65 nighter with P&O (this blog) our on board drinks bill was only around £20 a day (admittedly I had a throat issue that meant that drinking alcohol aggravated it, but it helped with avoiding weight gain). I’d also be concerned that if I’d paid for an inclusive drinks package I’d want to get value out of it!

 

Speciality Dining - The cost of this on P&O is very low, especially if you book pre cruise and get the discounts. On Saga, spaces in these restaurants, whilst included, are rationed.

 

WiFi - We have never paid for it, so free WiFi wasn’t a massive benefit for us. However, due to the length of cruise I took it out for our 65 nighter and it cost less than £7 a day. 
 

Dining times - We have always been able to dine when we wanted to with P&O and have always been able to secure good tables for 2. @Dermotsgirl had problems with both these aspects with Saga.

 

As for P&O, whilst it has undoubtedly changed its market position, the prices have reflected this. We used to book suites and have used them on Britannia, Ventura, Arcadia and Oriana. We no longer book them, partly because we now need an accessible cabin (and most ships have only one accessible suite - in a poor location - or none) and, with the poor suite benefits, we no longer consider them to be value for money. We would rather spend the equivalent (or less) to cruise with Cunard at Club level, which gives far better dining privileges.
 

Our minimum cabin grade with P&O is a balcony cabin (the lowest level you can book with Saga), and we are now able to secure these with P&O for less than £100 per person per night (managed that on Britannia, Ventura and Aurora over the last 8 months). Even with the pre-launch access and discounts, we can’t get a Saga cruise for less than £250 per person per night. Given the limitation and restrictions of the ‘included’ aspects, we reckon that even taking into account our on board spend with P&O, a Saga cruise still works out at more than double the cost so, in our case and how we cruise, that doesn’t seem like a good idea. If paying double the price of P&O our expectations would be sky high and, based on @Dermotsgirl experience, it sounds as though we could be disappointed. Consequently, I’ve currently given up on Saga and have asked for our pre-sale deposits to be refunded. Never say never, but our next two cruises are with Cunard in Club and we shall see what we make of that in comparison to P&O. 

[Selbourne]

1 minute ago, S1971 said:

 

Hi Selbourne.

 

I respectfully understand everything you've posted and accept the Saga style cruises doesn't fit with the type of cruise you want to experience.

 

Obviously the all inclusive aspect is not a necessity for you given the additional requirements mentioned in your post, such as door to door travel, excursions etc.

 

For me the cost difference represents the additional services, add those to P&O's base price, I can't see much difference.

I think that part of the challenge of making comparisons is that the prices that P&O customers pay for the same cruise can vary enormously, far more so than is the case with Saga. Some of us are quite anal about monitoring P&O prices, from launch right through to a month or so before sailing. It is quite common for those who aren’t as obsessive about these things to book a cruise at a time when prices can be more than double what they could have paid had they got the timing right. That can be the case with Select fares alone, but then there’s Savers just to complicate matters even further. 
 

I think I’m right in saying that the maximum discount with Saga is around 40% and, even booking late it is still possible to get 10% or even 20%, so the variations are much narrower compared to P&O. Therefore, someone comparing a Saga launch price with a P&O cruise booked at a ‘bad’ time will no doubt find the price gap to be much closer, especially if they drink a fair bit and so benefit more from the all inclusive aspects of Saga. 
 

However, when comparing the cheapest that I can book P&O cruises (no longer always launch prices) with the cheapest that I can book Saga cruises (pre-launch) I have never been able to narrow the gap below a level where the Saga cruise carries a price premium of at least £300 per day per couple (balcony cabin versus balcony cabin). I don’t ask this in a judgemental way, but would you say that the ‘included’ aspects that you get with Saga are worth anywhere near that? I accept that the quality of the Saga product (cabins, food etc) is probably much better, but even if we went mad on P&O and pretended that we were all inclusive I don’t think we’d spend half that difference. 

[Somerset Cruiser]

21 minutes ago, S1971 said:

 

Excursions, door to door, speciality restaurants, balcony etc, etc.

 

Hope you enjoy you B2B, sound like you got a good deal.

Excursions and specialty restaurants can be paid for from obc, up to a point. Even so, if we spend an additional £1,000 on those and a door to door service, even 'upgrade' to a balcony, we would still be at half the price for 28 nights to Saga 18 nights. I also appreciate that we got a good deal and the price is dearer now but your claim that there is not much in it is ludicrous. 

[zap99]

14 minutes ago, TigerB said:

 

I think this has secretly been orchestrated by Selbourne to push his reply count up. I mean, he hardly had any before this!🫢

What a popular  thread this has been. It's as if we have been along for the ride. There once was a reputation table on cc. I think Graham was in the top 10. Selbourne must be up there now. These things are of no consequence, but I was 104 out of 1.6m. We are on Arvia in a few weeks.....that will drop me out of the top million🤣

Edited March 16 by zap99

[Slugsta]

I also thank Selbourne for this every enjoyable thread. It has really helped pass the dark winter days between Christmas and our first cruise of the year.

[happy v]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I think that part of the challenge of making comparisons is that the prices that P&O customers pay for the same cruise can vary enormously, far more so than is the case with Saga. Some of us are quite anal about monitoring P&O prices, from launch right through to a month or so before sailing. It is quite common for those who aren’t as obsessive about these things to book a cruise at a time when prices can be more than double what they could have paid had they got the timing right. That can be the case with Select fares alone, but then there’s Savers just to complicate matters even further. 
 

I think I’m right in saying that the maximum discount with Saga is around 40% and, even booking late it is still possible to get 10% or even 20%, so the variations are much narrower compared to P&O. Therefore, someone comparing a Saga launch price with a P&O cruise booked at a ‘bad’ time will no doubt find the price gap to be much closer, especially if they drink a fair bit and so benefit more from the all inclusive aspects of Saga. 
 

However, when comparing the cheapest that I can book P&O cruises (no longer always launch prices) with the cheapest that I can book Saga cruises (pre-launch) I have never been able to narrow the gap below a level where the Saga cruise carries a price premium of at least £300 per day per couple (balcony cabin versus balcony cabin). I don’t ask this in a judgemental way, but would you say that the ‘included’ aspects that you get with Saga are worth anywhere near that? I accept that the quality of the Saga product (cabins, food etc) is probably much better, but even if we went mad on P&O and pretended that we were all inclusive I don’t think we’d spend half that difference. 

Selbourne could you say how it has been returning home. Usually after 14/21 day cruise things are normal after a couple of days and you forget you have been away. I was just wondering if such a long cruise has been different 

[yorkshirephil]

26 minutes ago, happy v said:

Selbourne could you say how it has been returning home. Usually after 14/21 day cruise things are normal after a couple of days and you forget you have been away. I was just wondering if such a long cruise has been different 

I cannot speak for Selbourne but we find it no different whether it is 14 days or 40 days and whether it is a cruise or a land holiday. We recently returned from a 6 week land holiday and albeit we have the memories life just falls back into a routine. We then start planning for the next one.

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, happy v said:

Selbourne could you say how it has been returning home. Usually after 14/21 day cruise things are normal after a couple of days and you forget you have been away. I was just wondering if such a long cruise has been different 

Interesting question. Our biggest worry was that we might come back to some issue(s) with the house, which thankfully we didn’t which was a huge relief. Within 24 hours of returning home I had done all the remaining washing and ironing and mowed the lawns. As I have to do everything at home, I often feel quite down after a holiday as I return to doing all the domestic stuff that I’m sure that none of us enjoy, but getting on top of everything so quickly really helped. In fact, it seemed less effort to get back on track than it did after our previous 2 week cruise!

 

We've had a heck of a lot on this week so, yes, it does feel like some time ago that we were away, but we are so glad that we did it as I doubt that we will ever do anything remotely like it again and we will have those memories, aided by the blog and the photos, for life. 

[Selbourne]

25 minutes ago, Cynthia Darch said:

Nothing inaccurate about what I've noted, it's each to our own and bye bye P&O as far as we are concerned, Saga is far far better in our experience but there you go, if you pay cheap you get cheap, pay a decent price and what you get is an amazing difference.

A year ago, from what we were reading about P&O, we thought that our days with them might be numbered. However, having now done 4 cruise with P&O on 4 different ships over the past 8 months, we are now happy to continue cruising with them, albeit at a lower cost than we’ve paid in the past. We now use Cunard as well but, as already mentioned, we just can’t see the value in Saga given the relatively low worth (to us) of the included aspects. Like others, we prefer to pay for what we use rather than pay for everything (as you do with Sagas high prices) to only use some of it. I respect the fact that we are all different though and I have no doubt that the Saga product is better. As to whether it’s 2 to 3 times better (as it would need to be to justify the price difference) is, I guess, subjective. 
 

Where we differ though is that if ever we get to the stage that we abandon P&O, I would vacate this forum as well. Whilst still using P&O I feel that I can comment on the good and the bad aspects in a balanced way that is hopefully of interest to people. However, if all I had to say was negative things then I’d consider it to be bordering on spiteful to just rubbish the P&O product in a forum where people are spending their hard earned cash and looking forward to their cruises. 

Edited March 16 by Selbourne

[Eglesbrech]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

Where we differ though is that if ever we get to the stage that we abandon P&O, I would vacate this forum as well. Whilst still using P&O I feel that I can comment on the good and the bad aspects in a balanced way that is hopefully of interest to people.

We do a minimum of one cruise with P&O per year, we used to do more. Like you we recognise the bits we don’t like (the cheese plate😀) but also comment on the good bits (speciality restaurants, some of the shows etc) and balance that against the price we actually paid.

 

Is P&O as good as say the MSC Yacht Club experience. Absolutely  not but then the two experiences can’t be compared based on the price paid.

 

I don’t think I would however abandon the forum if I stopped cruising with P&O. There are some valued members of our cruise community who for health or other reasons haven’t cruised in quite a while and they still join in here and add greatly to the conversation.