Please: compare P&O and Cunard

If you've traveled on both these lines, could you share your thoughts about how P&O and Cunard compare with each other, please (on board, not itineraries).

Thanks.

I've been on all 3 current Cunard Queens and on Oceana and Oriana from P&O.

Food - not a huge amount of difference but the curry night on Oriana in the buffet was very good.

Ships - I like Oriana because she's a bit smaller and a very pretty ship and I love QM2. The Cunard ships are a bit glitzier and newer (not been on Britannia yet). I love the cinema on Oriana and thought the shows were pretty similar on both lines though on the QM2 Transatlantic we had afternoon theatre which was interesting.

Crew - great on all ships

Passengers - P&O tend to have many more Brits on board than Cunard, though that may well vary depending on the itinerary.

Overall - I'd happily go on either - for me it depends on the itinerary and price. We have also been on Costa and Thomson and have never had a bad cruise yet! Our next booked one is Thomson but I'd like to do Adonia as well.

We have sailed on QM2, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria along with Oriana, Azura and Aurora...for us we far prefer Cunard, we like the formality and the mix of nationalities on board, we prefer the entertainment as we like to listen to decent music rather than the endless list of tribute acts which you seem to get on P&O these days....the food is similar on both but Cunard tends to be aimed at the US passengers with more meat and less veg (you can always ask for more though), drinks on p&o are cheaper but cunard spirits are almost doubles and come with a mixer (pumped) you do pay 18% service charge on drinks with Cunard though...

We tend to find more, shall we say, refined passengers with Cunard, P&o seem to more holiday at sea rather than conventional cruise these days and the dress code is more lax than it's ever been.

We are off on Queen Elizabeth in a few weeks and then back on Queen Victoria in September....we have always enjoyed our Cunard cruises with very little room for complaint whereas with p&o there always seems to be a few problems,

Chalk and cheese i.e. P&O chalk Cunard cheese.

The big difference is the availability of Grills cabins/staterooms/suites on Cunard. We like to travel in Grills and have our own, dedicated table so that we can go for breakfast/lunch/dinner whenever we like and know we will get the same table (always asked for a table for 2 and always got one so far). On P&O there is no such option and if you want a table for 2 for dinner with Freedom Dining it's usually a case of queue for 30 minutes before the dining room opens, or eat 90 minutes after it opens - nothing in between (and with fixed dining, a table for 2 is scarce). Grills also get a separate lounge and deck area.

Some see this either as a disadvantage or an irrelevance, but having the option is the big difference. I know this thread is not about itineraries, but they are the only reason we now go with P&O - we only sail with P&O if Cunard don't go there.

I have travelled on three Cunard ships and six P&O. Both cruise lines offer excellent cruises and voyages but they are different.

Cunard has multi-national passenger base and aim entertainment at a wider audience, more often at the finer arts end of the market with their enrichment approach. Their vast experience in transatlantic voyages, or cruises without ports of call as some see it, mean they have vast expertise in filling out a day from beginning to end with a huge range of things to do. Cunard no longer operates different classes of passengers, but has introduced Princess and Queens Grills dining and suites. My experience is limited to the Britannia dining. Cunard is far more formal than P&O and gentlemen will often dine in jackets on non-formal nights. Standing as ladies approach the table may well occur, depending on who you are sailing with. Sharing tables for breakfast can be fun as you meet a lot of interesting people, Americans want to know where you come from, and there are lots of them on transatlantic voyages. They tend to flocculate as the voyage progresses and after a few daysI seem to know loads of people and they know me. Quite often they will let you know what the others are doing. In general the staff are more smartly dressed, I have even seen lift engineers in spotless boiler suits who will speak to you in a very proper manner. If you are looking for a lovely cruise with going out in the evenings dressed up and mixing with a good mix of nationals Cunard is for you.

P&O have been around a long time doing cruises, so their experience is enormous. Their passenger base is UK cruisers doing round trip ex-Southampton cruises and fly cruises to Mediterranean or Caribbean. This means they know the ports and have excursions available of a wide variety for each. Their cruises are pretty cheap if you look at other cruise lines and much of the stuff would be dearer on a US line, tips are actually moderate and start at 13 if you have children this is a saver. Charges are in pounds sterling so you can track finances more easily. The itineraries vary enormously as does the cruise length, so if you have not cruised previously they are a good starting point. The weekenders are a popular introduction but not a true reflection of a typical cruise but an economical and sensible way of trying different cabin grades. They are very much aimed at the typical UK cruiser but also offer unique things like adult-only ships, which I have never tried and world cruises.

Regards John

I have travelled on three Cunard ships and six P&O. Both cruise lines offer excellent cruises and voyages but they are different.

 

Cunard has multi-national passenger base and aim entertainment at a wider audience, more often at the finer arts end of the market with their enrichment approach. Their vast experience in transatlantic voyages, or cruises without ports of call as some see it, mean they have vast expertise in filling out a day from beginning to end with a huge range of things to do. Cunard no longer operates different classes of passengers, but has introduced Princess and Queens Grills dining and suites. My experience is limited to the Britannia dining. Cunard is far more formal than P&O and gentlemen will often dine in jackets on non-formal nights. Standing as ladies approach the table may well occur, depending on who you are sailing with. Sharing tables for breakfast can be fun as you meet a lot of interesting people, Americans want to know where you come from, and there are lots of them on transatlantic voyages. They tend to flocculate as the voyage progresses and after a few daysI seem to know loads of people and they know me. Quite often they will let you know what the others are doing. In general the staff are more smartly dressed, I have even seen lift engineers in spotless boiler suits who will speak to you in a very proper manner. If you are looking for a lovely cruise with going out in the evenings dressed up and mixing with a good mix of nationals Cunard is for you.

 

P&O have been around a long time doing cruises, so their experience is enormous. Their passenger base is UK cruisers doing round trip ex-Southampton cruises and fly cruises to Mediterranean or Caribbean. This means they know the ports and have excursions available of a wide variety for each. Their cruises are pretty cheap if you look at other cruise lines and much of the stuff would be dearer on a US line, tips are actually moderate and start at 13 if you have children this is a saver. Charges are in pounds sterling so you can track finances more easily. The itineraries vary enormously as does the cruise length, so if you have not cruised previously they are a good starting point. The weekenders are a popular introduction but not a true reflection of a typical cruise but an economical and sensible way of trying different cabin grades. They are very much aimed at the typical UK cruiser but also offer unique things like adult-only ships, which I have never tried and world cruises.

 

Regards John

I enjoyed reading your "assessment" of both cruise lines. Thank you.

gentlemen will often dine in jackets on non-formal nights.

Wearing a jacket on non-formal nights is part of the Cunard dress code, so isn't really optional (a tie is). P&O dress code does not require a jacket or tie for non-formal nights, although one occasionally sees them.

It is not possible to make a comparison between apples and pears.

The two lines are aimed at different areas of the market.

Chalk and cheese i.e. P&O chalk Cunard cheese.

One is classy (Cunard) - less said the better about the other. Although Pando is only let down by the small things. The problems we had in the Freedom Dining are obviously known to Pando - hence the satisfaction cards on the tables!! But that's often what happens when auto grats are put on the bill.

Pando needs supervisors less set in their ways - too many just walking around looking important.

But that's often what happens when auto grats are put on the bill.

But they are also added automatically on Cunard so the mere presence of auto gratuities can't explain any differences.

P&O

Grats 6.50 GBP a day

Drinks at Pub prices , cheaper than London more than Devon!

Very British atmosphere.

Avoid the whingers and moaners

Around 2 formal nights a week.

Lots of quizzes.

Headliners shows a bit manic but they are talented.

The adult only ships are the ones to go for. More civilised.

Cunard

Gratuities 13USD per day. That's a lot.

Drinks London pub prices. Wine extortionate. Nothing under 40USD a bottle.

More international usually lots of Americans.

Bit more up market.

3/4 formal nights a week and jacket required other nights.

American quizzes led to mutinous British quizzers as they give American answers which for us are just wrong. Name Denis the Menace's dog. Gnasher marked wrong. It is Ruff in the states.

Good entertainment and some very good and well known speakers. Much better than P&O here.

We use both depending on itinerary.

Next year we have 35 days on QM2 and 24 on Arcadia.

Both will be fun.

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Here is Cruise Critic's article on the same subject

Cunard vs. P&O

I sailed on P&O Oriana in 2015 and Cunard Queen Elizabeth last year. I felt in general that food on the Queen Elizabeth was a better quality than P&O. The menu is quite different and designed to please American tastes as opposed to British. Service aboard both lines is usually very good but I did feel it was just a little better aboard Cunard. Decor on-board is generally much more traditional on Cunard than most of the P&O ships - a lot of Art Deco touches and acres of (fake) wood panelling on Cunard. I wasn't particularly impressed with the theatre entertainment on Cunard but the bar/lounge based acts were very good. In many ways I felt that Cunard kind of upheld the standards I used to experience on P&O a number of years ago. It felt a slightly more 'refined' atmosphere on Cunard and afternoon tea served in the Queen's Lounge is so much nicer than being rushed through it in one of the dining rooms as P&O do. As others have said however, a voyage with Cunard will cost considerably more.

Loved Cunard's Queen Elizabeth, but found a lot of snobbish and unfriendly people on board to be honest, We much prefer prices in pounds and the reasonable prices and auto grats of P&O. The staff were very professional, but we much prefer the more relaxed relationship with the staff on P&O. We didn't really enjoy the international atmosphere either and felt that the two main nationalities on board did not really integrate. Obviously, this is just our personal opinion.. We had also been looking forward to dressing up on the non formal nights, but were disappointed in that we were actually in the minority despite what we had been told, maybe because the other main nationality did not tend to dress up. We enjoyed dressing up anyway.

Having sailed with both I think Simonpjd has given an accurate analysis. Also if the weather is bad and outside activities are cancelled Cunard will put on something else inside. I did find Cunard menus to be similar to P&O but better quality & service. It is true the quizzes etc have a US slant. Only in the US is the Irish potato famine known as Black 49. None of my Irish educated friends have ever heard of this! On my last Cunard cruise we just fell about laughing in the quiz and turned it into a race to the bottom.

I also enjoyed the Cunard wine tasting. None of the usual swill, see, sniff, swig and spew. More- these are wines of the world - help yourselves and see what you like!

I think P&O should deliver what Cunard does, but in £s not $s.

Sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy your Queen Elizabeth experience Scriv. Mine certainly was not like that. I didn't find any snobbish or unfriendly people. We were on a round-Britain cruise and other than Brits, the majority of pax were American. We found them polite and well-travelled. We sailed on the day of the Brexit Referendum and there were many Americans keenly interested to hear our views. We were allocated a dining table for 6 but two never turned up the whole cruise. The couple we did share with were from Orange County, California and were absolutely delightful. Dress codes were pretty well adhered to. Our waiters were both friendly and professional, as were the bar staff in the Commodore Club, our favourite spot for a tipple.

I will be very happy to cruise with Cunard again - when I can afford it!

Ours was a short cruise and was a leg of a Baltic cruise via Hamburg and Kiel which might of course have been a factor. A very large proportion of the people were German, which in itself was not a problem as I used to live there and speak the language quite fluently, but those on this cruise showed no inclination to integrate or even exchange friendly polite greetings and quite a few were actually very rude. (Perhaps it was a good job that this cruise was not post Brexit Referendum ;) ) Despite requesting early dining ourselves, we were allocated second sitting - we were told that the Germans had been largely allocated first sitting in the restaurant as 'they like to eat early evening and the late sitting is too late for them'. Without flouting any dress code, very few of them chose to dress up. We didn't meet any other nationality, but also witnessed a lot of arrogance and demanding attitude from other Brits in the restaurant at breakfast towards the waiters and there were many Brits who behaved as if they were above a lot of us. I also don't like having places on the ship where I was not allowed to go either. So no, whilst appreciating that our experience was perhaps not typical, I'm afraid I don't really feel the urge to return to Cunard.

We've done Transatlantic crossings on QM2 and we find the whole experience restrained, particularly in the bars where the entertainers rarely interact with the audience and the entertainment is very samey. As others have said the quizzes are geared to an American audience. We also find the speakers over-rated. On one crossing we had journalists from the NY Times and they were very poor. We've also found the celebrity speakers spend their time name-dropping and showing video-clips of their performances. We love the more relaxed atmosphere on P&O and on Cunard, in general we find people more image conscious, for want of a better phrase.

However, QM2 is a lovely ship with a really traditional, luxurious and spacious feel The refit last year certainly gave more dining options and we'd say the food is generally better than P&O with the new buffet and Carpathia Room a distinct improvement.

We predominantly cruise with P&O but our second choice would be Princess then Celebrity followed by Cunard, Fred Olsen and finally RCI.

1) Cunard's QM2

2) Princess

3) Rest of Cunard

4) Some P&O ships but would never cruise on Oriana again.

I think the short cruises are always a somewhat different experience to those of a week or more Scriv. From what I have heard, Germans seem to prefer a more informal cruise but I have no experience of this myself. It might be worth giving Cunard another chance if you can get a good deal sometime.

TartanExile - The Transatlantic Crossings are quite different to a 'cruise' in atmosphere. On QE last year, there was a very good singer/pianist in the Commodore Club who interacted really well with passengers. Also, a nice friendly duo in the Golden Lion There were also a couple of really good (British) speakers on board too.

Majortom: Good job we are all different - Oriana is my favourite P&O ship :-).

simple reply - P & O 2 star +

CUNARD 4 star +

simple reply - P & O 2 star +

CUNARD 4 star +

Ouch! That's a bit harsh.

Ouch! That's a bit harsh.

One wonders how many cruises in each category Piatro has undertaken to come to this conclusion. If it were me one two star cruise would be enough not to return to the two star operator if that is the way I saw it..

Regards John

4 with P&0

arcadia,adonia and 2 on britannia all in suites on last cruise had major problems with flight

and P&O did not want to know also britannia which is a nice ship now has the feel of butlins, standards have slipped.We have now moved on to celebrity with 2 cruises booked with them for this year.

,We loved our cruise on Adonia good service etc etc.