Sea Princess - Thomas Cook Charter Gatwick

[jackieo]

Hi there Has anyone out there done the Thomas Cook charter out of Gatwick this year. Either to Miami or Barbados - we are travelling out to Barbados early April to Join the Sea Princess. I note from the Thomas Cook website you can do early check in - i.e. if you fly before 12noon you can check in after 4pm the day before. Didnt know if anyone has done this for the Sea Charter - Also am I hoping too much for TVs in the seats? I know the leg room is dire especially with a 9 hour flight!

 

Thanks in advance

 

Jackieo

[haggis]

Hello Jackieo,

Theres a lot of information on the P & O Cruise Connections site regarding these flights and I'm afraid it doesnt make good reading. I would suggest you enquire about upgrading on the flight which does make it a bit bearable. Expensive I know but well worth it. My DW and I have done it a few times and if it wasnt for the fact that the Caribbean is our favourite destination, we would never do it again. We always go to Barbados, its a dawdle, straight off the plane (airside) and into the waiting coaches. No immigration formalities etc. From what I've seen of Miami on Sea Princess last year, I wouldnt dream of joining a cruise ship there. Some people who came on board there had been in the airport for 3 hours at immigration because of the passenger volume and the ship was delayed leaving because of this. I believe this could be the reason the Sea Princess has changed from Miami to Jamaica for these cruise.

I didnt know you could pre-book your seats on these flights. I thought it was first come first served at Gatwick and I cant remember where the TV's were located. Its a long flight out but I will admit, the crew, in our experience, have gone out of their way to make it as pleasant as possible but, how these cruise companies get away with it is beyond me.

I'm sure you'll thoroughly enjoy your cruise, she's a great ship and so far, we've always had a wonderful crowd of passengers with us.

Jimmy

[jackieo]

Thanks Jimmy for your info. I will try the P&O Connections site.

 

I have managed to find out from Princess you cant use the early check in however at least if we get to the airport well before check in opens we should have some choice! We are only flying out to Barbados as taking the ship back to Southampton, so we only have flight out to worry about! Jackie

[haggis]

Theres another thread regarding this on the P & O Cruisecritic threads headed P & O using A330 aircraft.

That is the way to do it Jackie, we've done the B2B on the Homeward Bound cruise on Adonia from Acapulco to Southampton and missing out the overnight flight back to Gatwick was one of my better decisions. We love sea days as DW loves quoits. (none on Princess)

It was our one and only trans Atlantic and everyone was rather emotional leaving Antigua on our way home to Blighty.

It'll be a great trip.

Jimmy

[bobbetty]

Hi

 

There are quoits on the Sea Princess.

[haggis]

Yes, I agree the quoits boards and equipment are there but nobody would play with DW. Ships staff werent prepared to organise the games. Hopefully things will have changed before our trip in June. DW has enough prizes anyway up in attic, but anything for a quiet life.

Jimmy

[CTGirl]

Hi All,

 

I couldn't resist from posting for 2 reasons. 1. What are quoits?

 

and 2. to Bobbetty - I noticed you are from the Hartford area. We live in Windsor. So I just wanted to say hi. We are are the Sea Princess on the 17th of this month. We are looking forward to warmth and sun.

 

Shelly

[haggis]

Shelly, Quoits is simialar to the rustic game of horseshoe throwing, a popular game all over the world. The difference is instead of throwing a horseshoe at a spike, you throw a flat ring of hemp rope at a circle target on a wooden deck. Its a game played on most UK based ships and attracts a large following amongst the passengers.

Jimmy

[robanddiane]

We flew thomas cook to barbados last year. Got to Gatwick over 3 hours early for check in and had massive queues in front of us. Could not get 2 seats together but had aisle seats which kept us virtually together. The aisle seats ended up a better option as we could get up and walk about without disturbing anyone else. If you get there early there are about half a dozen rows of just 2 seats which you might be able to get. The televisions were in the seat backs with a pretty good choice of films and music. Overall I enjoyed the thomas cook flight, the free drinks might have helped with that

[CTGirl]

Thanks Jimmy

[tenpin]

We are joining the Sea Princess but in Miami, and are flying from Heathrow with BA, although we prefer Gatwick was not offered that choice. Not looking forward the hell of MIA, but now getting excited by thoughts of the cruise and those long sea days in the sun.

[Wittonian]

Hello Jackieo,

Theres a lot of information on the P & O Cruise Connections site regarding these flights and I'm afraid it doesnt make good reading. I would suggest you enquire about upgrading on the flight which does make it a bit bearable. Expensive I know but well worth it. My DW and I have done it a few times and if it wasnt for the fact that the Caribbean is our favourite destination, we would never do it again. We always go to Barbados, its a dawdle, straight off the plane (airside) and into the waiting coaches. No immigration formalities etc. From what I've seen of Miami on Sea Princess last year, I wouldnt dream of joining a cruise ship there. Some people who came on board there had been in the airport for 3 hours at immigration because of the passenger volume and the ship was delayed leaving because of this. I believe this could be the reason the Sea Princess has changed from Miami to Jamaica for these cruise.

I didnt know you could pre-book your seats on these flights. I thought it was first come first served at Gatwick and I cant remember where the TV's were located. Its a long flight out but I will admit, the crew, in our experience, have gone out of their way to make it as pleasant as possible but, how these cruise companies get away with it is beyond me.

I'm sure you'll thoroughly enjoy your cruise, she's a great ship and so far, we've always had a wonderful crowd of passengers with us.

Jimmy

 

Where can I find the P & O Cruise Connections site please.

[Globaliser]

Where can I find the P & O Cruise Connections site please.

I think it's part of the P&O website - there's a link for Cruise Community in the header bar of the site.