What is P&O cruise line like in 2024?

[Traderboy]

We started our cruising with 4 P&O cruises .

We have never returned for 2 main reasons:

1. we came to dislike the ‘solely-British’ vibe 

2. the ‘always included’  trend seemed to pass P&O by.

 

We have recently seen the new 2026 P&O  cruise programme. There are some nice European itineraries with what seem to be quite attractive prices.

 

Can anyone please update us with the current P& 0 experience.

Is it possible to pay about £40 a night for a drinks package, WiFi included and tips paid?

 

Another issue is whether our Princess loyalty package of Elite is transferable on to P&O?

I expect not, though our initial 4 P&O  cruises did count towards our Princess loyalty level.
 

 

[yorkshirephil]

1 minute ago, Traderboy said:

We started our cruising with 4 P&O cruises .

We have never returned for 2 main reasons:

1. we came to dislike the ‘solely-British’ vibe 

2. the ‘always included’  trend seemed to pass P&O by.

 

We have recently seen the new 2026 P&O  cruise programme. There are some nice European itineraries with what seem to be quite attractive prices.

 

Can anyone please update us with the current P& 0 experience.

Is it possible to pay about £40 a night for a drinks package, WiFi included and tips paid?

 

Another issue is whether our Princess loyalty package of Elite is transferable on to P&O?

I expect not, though our initial 4 P&O  cruises did count towards our Princess loyalty level.
 

 

The P&O experience is fine in my opinion, still very British vibe, but sometimes that can apply to other cruise lines that sail out of Southampton. It is usually more than £40 a night for the drinks package although if they have an offer (10-20% discount) with any loyalty deductions you would get close. Wi-fi is not included. P&O cruises have tips built into the cost of the cruise.

The Princess loyalty level is not transferred to P&O, it used to be.

As you say there are some European cruises with good prices, however depending on how popular they are the price may go up, or on the other hand there may be good discounts if the cruise isn't selling well.

[david63]

12 minutes ago, Traderboy said:

Is it possible to pay about £40 a night for a drinks package, WiFi included and tips paid?

Firstly tips are included in the fare foe all P&O cruises. Secondly there is currently no inclusive drinks/wi-fi package - the either have to be bought as two packages or pay as you go.

 

13 minutes ago, Traderboy said:

Another issue is whether our Princess loyalty package of Elite is transferable on to P&O?

Unfortunately not.

[ovccruiser]

Have a good look at the pricing of P & O cruises, as said they do include the tips and they also offer onboard spend depending on grade of cabin on some cruises. If you then up this with stockholder benefit, it may well cover a large portion if not all of your drinks.

[Selbourne]

The ‘British Vibe’ is one of the biggest reasons that we like P&O 😂 As others have said, tips are now included, which is a big positive. You can get drinks packages, but as on board drinks prices are very reasonable it’s much cheaper to pay as you go for many people. 
 

If you haven’t cruised with P&O for some years you will notice that they have repositioned themselves as a more mass market cruise line, with all that entails, and lots of little touches have gone, but the prices are keener than ever, especially if you can book late, so the value, if you book at the right time, is unbeatable. 

[snaefell]

P&O are as close as you get to bargain basement cruising IMO,hard to beat the prices you see in the tv ads like £1099 for a 15 night Caribbean cruise which I have seen even lower near the sailing date,tips included,drinks at UK pub prices(depending on where you live of course),specialty dining at reasonable prices,likewise shore excursions.

I am sure many will say that it isn't as glamorous as it once was,room servicing is only once a day,food isn't what it once was,I think you just have to look at how little you are paying & not expect the golden 'good old days',be realistic & you will hopefully enjoy yourself!😎

[TRLD]

Definitely British vibe. I think we were the only Americans  on the Iona on our cruise last October

 

The fares we have seen have been slightly higher than the base Princess fare, but no gratuities give P&O the edge.

 

Princess status not recognized.

 

Specialty dining less expensive than Princess

 

Biggest difference is food with P&O very much aimed at British tastes.

 

We have another cruise booked on Iona this fall. Unlike the first one, not during a school holiday.

Edited April 17 by TRLD

[Traderboy]

Hi TRLD

 

Presumably you know that Princess have two ships operating all summer out of Southampton.

 

I wouldn't want to be on any cruise in the school holidays, especially not P & O.

[TRLD]

Certainly. We are on the Iona for 14 days, just before we catch a Princess TA.  Princess is not going where we want to go when we want to go there this time.

 

No school holiday this year. Last year for the 7 day Iona cruise, it was a day after we got back from the Princess northern lights cruise. We had booked it earlier in the year and had missed the school holiday timing.  Even so we enjoyed the cruise once we got use to the ship and the line.

[Bazrat]

P&O are good value for money and in our opinion we have had many enjoyable cruises with them, as for the British vide that happens to be the people they are aiming for I would have thought 

 

[Cloudyrain]

I think the “British Vibe” is less now than it was 10 years ago: I mean there is no denying it’s a massive part of the branding, and the customer base is mostly Brits. But over recent years I think the offerings regarding food and entertainment are more similar to what you find on the American lines on European sailings.

 

Drinks are reasonably priced, no grats or tax on top, no daily grats, reasonably priced wi-fi. 

[Camberley]

Just from a personal view, it’s very much a “no frills” cruise company, but arguably without being too tacky. For the prices involved I think it’s absolutely fine, even in school holidays, but not particularly special if you crave something a bit more upscale - but it is, I feel, decent value for money for what it is.
 

We used to just do P&O but we now do far fewer P&O cruises in favour of other cruise lines which tick our boxes much better, but we still keep our options open with P&O.

Edited April 18 by Camberley

[TRLD]

4 hours ago, Camberley said:

Just from a personal view, it’s very much a “no frills” cruise company, but arguably without being too tacky. For the prices involved I think it’s absolutely fine, even in school holidays, but not particularly special if you crave something a bit more upscale - but it is, I feel, decent value for money for what it is.
 

We used to just do P&O but we now do far fewer P&O cruises in favour of other cruise lines which tick our boxes much better, but we still keep our options open with P&O.

It is basically a UK focused equivalent of the North American focused Princess. Though P&O currently has a bit of a split personality between it smaller and larger ships. With the larger ships having a bit more family focus, instead of adult focused.

 

Being from the US I give the nod to Princess but mostly due to the differences between NA and UK targeted audiences.

 

Both tend to give good value. Princess costs less than it's competition (HAL, Celebrity) in the NA adult focused market. Just as P&O does compared to other options in the UK focused market.

Edited April 18 by TRLD

[Traderboy]

TRLD,

I think you are right about the P&O split personality.

 

Those hankering after the good old days prefer Aurora, Arcadia .

Azura, Ventura (once described as the 'Butlins' cruise ship) and the Britannia  heralded the move to much larger ships such as Iona and Arvia.

I'm assuming that the change in ship size allows them to be very competitive on price.

 

As others have said  the drink prices and the ship excursions are more reasonably priced than the American cruises ships.  However, on Princess and Celebrity,  we find that the basic drink package/ basic WiFi /tips paid is an excellent way of avoiding the extra costs.

 

How did P& O get away with the tips included pricing?  This seems a complete anathema when you consider the low pay of the excellent cruise staff.

Perhaps people have generally returned to the old notion of tipping for good service.  I hope so.

 

Anyway those P & O old days are gone now.  We loved it while it lasted : Arcadia,  Adonia, Oceana, Canberra, Oriana, etc... 

 

What do others think?

 

[Goosebear Mum]

I just wish that Aurora, etc, had food matching the far higher p&o smaller ship prices! Prices are far lower on Iona, but Aurora has recently had very poor meals/food. We only started with P&O in 2015, but even in these 9 years, there has been a huge decrease in quality. 

[Ardennais]

4 hours ago, Traderboy said:

TRLD,

I think you are right about the P&O split personality.

 

Those hankering after the good old days prefer Aurora, Arcadia .

Azura, Ventura (once described as the 'Butlins' cruise ship) and the Britannia  heralded the move to much larger ships such as Iona and Arvia.

I'm assuming that the change in ship size allows them to be very competitive on price.

 

As others have said  the drink prices and the ship excursions are more reasonably priced than the American cruises ships.  However, on Princess and Celebrity,  we find that the basic drink package/ basic WiFi /tips paid is an excellent way of avoiding the extra costs.

 

How did P& O get away with the tips included pricing?  This seems a complete anathema when you consider the low pay of the excellent cruise staff.

Perhaps people have generally returned to the old notion of tipping for good service.  I hope so.

 

Anyway those P & O old days are gone now.  We loved it while it lasted : Arcadia,  Adonia, Oceana, Canberra, Oriana, etc... 

 

What do others think?

 

I love the fact that tips are included. 

[david63]

5 hours ago, Traderboy said:

How did P& O get away with the tips included pricing?

Nothing to get away with - P&O renegotiated crew contracts.

5 hours ago, Traderboy said:

This seems a complete anathema when you consider the low pay of the excellent cruise staff.

Do you know for a fact that the crew are on low pay. If the pay, and conditions, are so bad why do they keep coming back?

5 hours ago, Traderboy said:

Perhaps people have generally returned to the old notion of tipping for good service

Some do but many don't and from what I read/hear it is not "general". For the record I will tip something extra if somebody has gone above and beyond, but otherwise I leave it to the company to sort it out.

[TRLD]

6 hours ago, Traderboy said:

TRLD,

I think you are right about the P&O split personality.

 

Those hankering after the good old days prefer Aurora, Arcadia .

Azura, Ventura (once described as the 'Butlins' cruise ship) and the Britannia  heralded the move to much larger ships such as Iona and Arvia.

I'm assuming that the change in ship size allows them to be very competitive on price.

 

As others have said  the drink prices and the ship excursions are more reasonably priced than the American cruises ships.  However, on Princess and Celebrity,  we find that the basic drink package/ basic WiFi /tips paid is an excellent way of avoiding the extra costs.

 

How did P& O get away with the tips included pricing?  This seems a complete anathema when you consider the low pay of the excellent cruise staff.

Perhaps people have generally returned to the old notion of tipping for good service.  I hope so.

 

Anyway those P & O old days are gone now.  We loved it while it lasted : Arcadia,  Adonia, Oceana, Canberra, Oriana, etc... 

 

What do others think?

 

Tips included is a UK thing, Paying tips is an American thing. 

 

Adding tips to a US Princess fare ends up about the same as booking a P&O fare with tips included.

 

The employees on P&O do their jobs professionally but with less interaction with passengers, than on US focused lines. Might be more of the British vs American vibe or may be influence of tipping vs non tipping.

[Fionboard]

33 minutes ago, TRLD said:

Tips included is a UK thing, Paying tips is an American thing. 

 

Adding tips to a US Princess fare ends up about the same as booking a P&O fare with tips included.

 

The employees on P&O do their jobs professionally but with less interaction with passengers, than on US focused lines. Might be more of the British vs American vibe or may be influence of tipping vs non tipping.

I find plenty of interaction between waiters and passengers on the small ships. One of the reason I prefer them. 

[Gettingwarmer]

34 minutes ago, TRLD said:

Adding tips to a US Princess fare ends up about the same as booking a P&O fare with tips included.

Don’t tend to find that booking from UK. Princess is more expensive. 

[TRLD]

1 hour ago, Gettingwarmer said:

Don’t tend to find that booking from UK. Princess is more expensive. 

Booking from the US P&O tends to run a bit more per day.

 

UK residents book Princess under different terms and conditions, which includes UK travel protections, than US. Where as P&O has little US business and no different booking terms.

Edited April 19 by TRLD

[FamilyCruiserUK]

On 4/19/2024 at 4:17 PM, Gettingwarmer said:

Don’t tend to find that booking from UK. Princess is more expensive. 

Totally agree princess is way more expensive then P&O cruises. 

[purplesea]

On 4/19/2024 at 3:42 PM, TRLD said:

Tips included is a UK thing, Paying tips is an American thing. 

 

Adding tips to a US Princess fare ends up about the same as booking a P&O fare with tips included.

 

The employees on P&O do their jobs professionally but with less interaction with passengers, than on US focused lines. Might be more of the British vs American vibe or may be influence of tipping vs non tipping.

Having just returned from Arvia, we found that there was plenty of interaction between passengers and staff.