Have I made a big mistake?

[PRINCESSTHE BEST]

12 hours ago, Red Ray said:

And yet here you are on the P&O board....🙄

Of course. I cruised with p&o during the good times for many years and I check in with the board now and then to see if there is any improvement, apparently not. 
 

I post this comment from my balcony on the Caribbean Princess in Cobh. It’s heaven on earth and I’m living the dream. 😀👍

[Red Ray]

46 minutes ago, PRINCESSTHE BEST said:

Of course. I cruised with p&o during the good times for many years and I check in with the board now and then to see if there is any improvement, apparently not. 
 

I post this comment from my balcony on the Caribbean Princess in Cobh. It’s heaven on earth and I’m living the dream. 😀👍

Good for you - we are all delighted for you. Make sure you tell everybody on the Princess board too!

[gsmt47471015]

13 hours ago, Red Ray said:

And yet here you are on the P&O board....🙄

We were awarded a very considerably amount of fcc following major alterations on our 2024 world cruise ,after attempting to use it as a deposit on a 2025 cruise and been informed this was not allowed and a cash/card deposit was required with the fcc been taken off the balance, we wrote it off, used our money elsewhere and booked with Fred, Celebrity and Azamara .In reality this refusal by P and O to use the fcc as a deposit has made up our minds that our future cruising lies elsewhere and of course lost the company thousands, although it isn't the only reason  We have two future pre  booked cruises on Aurora but have decided that our time on P and O  after those will be our last,  we have enjoyed our time cruising with them but it has become so evident of penny pinching and poor ship maintenance  and unaltering itineraries that the time has come to move away from them. The deal with Celebrity and Azamara is only slightly more expensive but having cruised with them before are well aware of the superior experience , Fred will be a new experience but the ability to board a ship nearer home is another major plus. Am well aware this is a P and O board but keep an eye on all relevant boards to us  ( personal opinion of course)    

[terrierjohn]

3 minutes ago, gsmt47471015 said:

We were awarded a very considerably amount of fcc following major alterations on our 2024 world cruise ,after attempting to use it as a deposit on a 2025 cruise and been informed this was not allowed and a cash/card deposit was required with the fcc been taken off the balance, we wrote it off, used our money elsewhere and booked with Fred, Celebrity and Azamara .In reality this refusal by P and O to use the fcc as a deposit has made up our minds that our future cruising lies elsewhere and of course lost the company thousands, although it isn't the only reason  We have two future pre  booked cruises on Aurora but have decided that our time on P and O  after those will be our last,  we have enjoyed our time cruising with them but it has become so evident of penny pinching and poor ship maintenance  and unaltering itineraries that the time has come to move away from them. The deal with Celebrity and Azamara is only slightly more expensive but having cruised with them before are well aware of the superior experience , Fred will be a new experience but the ability to board a ship nearer home is another major plus. Am well aware this is a P and O board but keep an eye on all relevant boards to us  ( personal opinion of course)    

I guess your experience with the FCC was an example of the poor training of their sales agents, because we certainly used our FCC  as deposit on one of our cruises.

[kalos]

1 hour ago, PRINCESSTHE BEST said:

Of course. I cruised with p&o during the good times for many years and I check in with the board now and then to see if there is any improvement, apparently not. 
 

I post this comment from my balcony on the Caribbean Princess in Cobh. It’s heaven on earth and I’m living the dream. 😀👍

 

We are humbled that you sat on your Princess balcony and your thoughts turn to

the P&O cruise boards and ships , hope you have a great time,enjoy your cruise .

[zap99]

14 hours ago, Red Ray said:

And yet here you are on the P&O board....🙄

Brilliant comment.🤣

[zap99]

1 hour ago, PRINCESSTHE BEST said:

Of course. I cruised with p&o during the good times for many years and I check in with the board now and then to see if there is any improvement, apparently not. 
 

I post this comment from my balcony on the Caribbean Princess in Cobh. It’s heaven on earth and I’m living the dream. 😀👍

Look in again one day. I must admit sitting on a balcony in Cobh isn't something I often dream about.

[zap99]

20 minutes ago, gsmt47471015 said:

We were awarded a very considerably amount of fcc following major alterations on our 2024 world cruise ,after attempting to use it as a deposit on a 2025 cruise and been informed this was not allowed and a cash/card deposit was required with the fcc been taken off the balance, we wrote it off, used our money elsewhere and booked with Fred, Celebrity and Azamara .In reality this refusal by P and O to use the fcc as a deposit has made up our minds that our future cruising lies elsewhere and of course lost the company thousands, although it isn't the only reason  We have two future pre  booked cruises on Aurora but have decided that our time on P and O  after those will be our last,  we have enjoyed our time cruising with them but it has become so evident of penny pinching and poor ship maintenance  and unaltering itineraries that the time has come to move away from them. The deal with Celebrity and Azamara is only slightly more expensive but having cruised with them before are well aware of the superior experience , Fred will be a new experience but the ability to board a ship nearer home is another major plus. Am well aware this is a P and O board but keep an eye on all relevant boards to us  ( personal opinion of course)    

P&O will probably get by without you. We are with Anthem next, then Britannia and then RC again. Good to try different experiences.

[zap99]

11 minutes ago, kalos said:

 

We are humbled that you sat on your Princess balcony and your thoughts turn to

the P&O cruise boards and ships , hope you have a great time,enjoy your cruise .

We sail on Anthem on the 20th September. Britannia is in Southampton as well. There will be thousands of Britannia guests sitting on their balconies looking at our giant plastic giraffe.  Green with envy they will be. We will be just dreaming about Cobh.

[PRINCESSTHE BEST]

19 minutes ago, kalos said:

 

We are humbled that you sat on your Princess balcony and your thoughts turn to

the P&O cruise boards and ships , hope you have a great time,enjoy your cruise .

 

11 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Look in again one day. I must admit sitting on a balcony in Cobh isn't something I often dream about.

 

19 minutes ago, kalos said:

 

We are humbled that you sat on your Princess balcony and your thoughts turn to

the P&O cruise boards and ships , hope you have a great time,enjoy your cruise .

Good morning everyone, Kalos my thoughts did not turn to P&O, my phone pinged to tell me a reply had been posted to me by someone called Red Ray (post 50).Thank you for your kind comments, I’m sure we will.

zap99, I would be intrigued to know what you dream about? Cruising wise that is of course 😂

Edited August 31 by PRINCESSTHE BEST

[zap99]

1 minute ago, PRINCESSTHE BEST said:

 

 

Good morning everyone, Kalos my thoughts did not turn to P&O, my phone pinged to tell me a reply had been posted to me by someone called Red Ray (post 52). 

zap99, I would be intrigued to know what you dream about? Cruising wise that is of course 😂

Look in again one day. I may tell you.

[PRINCESSTHE BEST]

7 minutes ago, zap99 said:

We sail on Anthem on the 20th September. Britannia is in Southampton as well. There will be thousands of Britannia guests sitting on their balconies looking at our giant plastic giraffe.  Green with envy they will be. We will be just dreaming about Cobh.

How on earth did you get that Giraffe through customs 🤣

[Leomins]

1 hour ago, PRINCESSTHE BEST said:

Of course. I cruised with p&o during the good times for many years and I check in with the board now and then to see if there is any improvement, apparently not. 
 

I post this comment from my balcony on the Caribbean Princess in Cobh. It’s heaven on earth and I’m living the dream. 😀👍

This post is a good example of why people can get despondent reading these boards. Generally, more people are willing to post about bad experiences than good.
 

There are plenty of threads and posts about falling standards on the Princess forum and people would be encouraged to have read about your positive experience on there.

[gsmt47471015]

45 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I guess your experience with the FCC was an example of the poor training of their sales agents, because we certainly used our FCC  as deposit on one of our cruises.

I suspect you are correct as we didn't understand why it couldn't be used , however tried twice , by telephone and via e mail and got the same response both times, as stated earlier it was only the straw that broke the camels back. Never say never however😉 

[gsmt47471015]

35 minutes ago, zap99 said:

P&O will probably get by without you. We are with Anthem next, then Britannia and then RC again. Good to try different experiences.

I am sure it will not make a jot of difference to them , its the previous experiences with other lines that have made us return to them😃

[zap99]

1 hour ago, PRINCESSTHE BEST said:

How on earth did you get that Giraffe through customs 🤣

He turned off his notifications. He doesn't like to have his dreams interrupted.

[Josy1953]

2 hours ago, Leomins said:

This post is a good example of why people can get despondent reading these boards. Generally, more people are willing to post about bad experiences than good.
 

There are plenty of threads and posts about falling standards on the Princess forum and people would be encouraged to have read about your positive experience on there.

Unfortunately there are plenty of threads on most forums about falling standards.  It is a fact of life that things change and not only on cruises.  We all have a choice whether we cruise or not.  We had our worst ever experience earlier this year on Sky Princess but it hasn't put us off cruising but it has meant that Princess is no longer our preferred line.

[Camberley]

3 hours ago, zap99 said:

 

I thought those ridiculous ducks were bad enough but from small things, escalation can happen. 

[bbtablet]

.... and don't forget the camels.

[yorkshirephil]

10 minutes ago, bbtablet said:

.... and don't forget the camels.

One hump or two?

[Son of Anarchy]

On 8/31/2024 at 9:38 AM, terrierjohn said:

I guess your experience with the FCC was an example of the poor training of their sales agents, because we certainly used our FCC  as deposit on one of our cruises.

Sort of interestingly, I just tried a dummy booking on P&Os site as we have an FCC as well.

 

The overall cost of the booking was reduced by the amount of the OBC.  However a 10% deposit still needed to paid, even though the FCC exceeded the deposit.

 

Like GSMT, I would have expected the FCC to be used as the deposit.

[john watson]

On 8/31/2024 at 8:36 AM, PRINCESSTHE BEST said:

Of course. I cruised with P&O during the good times for many years and I check in with the board now and then to see if there is any improvement.. 
 

 

 

I have been sailing with P&O since 1968 and wonder when you think the good times were and what constituted them which is no longer there.  The biggest change I can think happened was in the main dining room when they started plating the meals. Sitting with one's meat waiting for the vegetables to be served by the waiters was phased out.  I saw that as a good idea. Things change all the time and in general for the better. There have been cut backs but then the cruise industry was suspended for the Covid19 pandemic so value for money is going to be an issue industry wide not just on P&O.

 

Regards John

[yorkshirephil]

27 minutes ago, john watson said:

 

I have been sailing with P&O since 1968 and wonder when you think the good times were and what constituted them which is no longer there.  The biggest change I can think happened was in the main dining room when they started plating the meals. Sitting with one's meat waiting for the vegetables to be served by the waiters was phased out.  I saw that as a good idea. Things change all the time and in general for the better. There have been cut backs but then the cruise industry was suspended for the Covid19 pandemic so value for money is going to be an issue industry wide not just on P&O.

 

Regards John

The good times have never stopped for us, we love cruising now as much as we did in the 90's. The changes were slowly happening before covid, that just gave them a boost. I prefer the plated meals too, if you were the last to be served on a large table you had cold veg to match the cold meat. Sometimes you just have to accept the changes or move on and try something different. 

[terrierjohn]

2 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

The good times have never stopped for us, we love cruising now as much as we did in the 90's. The changes were slowly happening before covid, that just gave them a boost. I prefer the plated meals too, if you were the last to be served on a large table you had cold veg to match the cold meat. Sometimes you just have to accept the changes or move on and try something different. 

I agree re plated meals, of course some people liked to think that having it served was rather posh, but of course Downton showed that the posh people actually served themselves whilst the Butler held the the platter.

[Dermotsgirl]

On 9/1/2024 at 4:17 PM, terrierjohn said:

I agree re plated meals, of course some people liked to think that having it served was rather posh, but of course Downton showed that the posh people actually served themselves whilst the Butler held the the platter.

I much prefer plated meals.  Towards the end of 'silver service', the meal was nearly all plated anyway, with the waiter just dumping a spud and a sprout on the plate !