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Are P&O really family friendly?


crosby99
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Several years back we had a very unhappy cruise with P&O. We found the Ventura staff cold towards children. Not 1 member of staff attempted any interaction with them away from the Kid's club. The Kid's club was excellent though. I felt they were not really welcome though on the ship BUT could not decide if it was a Ventura thing or the whole cruise line..

This was the first time I had actually managed to book a P&O cruise. Repeatedly they refuse to accept 1 or other child due to supposedly too many of that age group.

Today again they have refused a booking on the April cruise to Canaries on Britannia(keen to give this a go to see if the poor onboard atmosphere is just a Ventua issue) as the are too many 5-8 year olds.

Every other family friendly cruise line accept my bookings but P&O refuse and refuse again and again....why?

No other cruise line e.g. Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, MSC, Carnival, NCL etc ever seem to have a problem with too many children of 1 age group. Why is it just a P&O problem?

Ae they really family friendly or are children just welcome when they can't fill their ships BUT as long as they are restricted to the clubs?

Am I getting it wrong? Wouldn't you think a Cruise Line would want the money?

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You usually have to book very, very early to access school holiday cruises with P & O as they limit numbers of children by age categories and they are very popular. Leaving it until November for an April cruise can be too late - there is a big demand for school holiday cruises which you have discovered unfortunately. You need to book much, much earlier.

 

They are very good for families and they have always been very welcoming for the children in our family so perhaps you were just unlucky with what you experienced. Try to plan earlier - occasionally it has to be a year in advance, sometimes more to get the particular cruise you want.

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I wonder if some of the other cruise lines you mention get as many children as P&O do. The pricing structure on fares at P&O is favourable to children by comparison to many US lines where a baby pays full adult fare. The gratuities policy only applies to 13 year old children or older whereas on many US lines babies also pay full gratuities. These two policies attract a huge market share of children. When it's a school holiday period the numbers shoot up enormously.

 

The kids club can only successfully deal with a certain number of children and ensure it runs properly they need to control numbers by either shutting the club after enough children reach the door or not accept bookings from parents with children of a specific age range. They have adopted the latter policy.

 

As far as interacting with children outside of the club house, it makes sense to me under child protection and I should think it normal that any interaction outside the club house should be only where an activity has been arranged by the club to take place elsewhere on the ship.

 

Regards John

Edited by john watson
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Thanks for your comments...I think we might have just hit unlucky on Ventura with the staff...why keen to give a second chance on Britannia...I suspect we will continue to take our money elsewhere as very difficult for us to plan a year in advance.

However few other observations Easter holidays are split very much around the country this year. Our kids holidays are actually a fortnight before Easter. The ship having looked at availability is probably not even half full.

Although air travel makes an obvious difference not sure it is that much cheaper(in fact I think it is more) than other cruises sailing elsewhere at same time.

 

I think some of the other lines I mentioned carry considerably more children although I can't find statistics. I wonder if because P&O carry few kids outside of holidays they can't up staff enough to cover demand in holiday seasons.

I guess one of the other issues here is if they are governed by British law regulations might well be stricter on numbers etc.

However; you would think me paying full price and for 4 is better than discounting to get 2 adults only into a cabin at a later date. Just me paying would pay for an extra kid staff member for the week.

 

The interaction I was talking about with kids was really just saying "Hello how are you?" something you would get pretty much anywhere but didn't on this ship. It was just after Britannia launched so perhaps the was lot of new staff. Hopefully it wasn't due to child protection as world has gone mad if staff can't say hello to children when their parents are present.

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The pricing structure on fares at P&O is favourable to children by comparison to many US lines

 

 

I can't necessarily say that I agree with this completely. When looking at our 2018 cruise the child discount rates were 15% during the summer holidays - when considering you're spending £1,500 per person it's next to nothing. For our cruise in Summer 2013 we paid £2,600 for two adults and £2,100 for our two children which is really quite bad. They're a bit better around April/October half terms but they aren't crazily good. On the good side however, their child fares are until the child reaches 18.

 

NCL gave us a really good child discount, even with the cruise being during August. Even Princess have had some really amazing 3rd/4th passenger discounts - in 2014 our kids went for £150 each I believe it was. I think Carnival also have good child discounts. I may be wrong, but I recall that Royal Caribbean's child rates only end when kids reach 12.

 

Regarding the gratuities, the American lines are exactly that - AMERICAN. You can expect to pay a lot in tips and gratuities. Norwegian's £7/8 a day (in a 'normal' economy) isn't much more than P&O's £5.50.

 

On topic we've always found the youth staff great (not as good as NCL but better than Princess), and I agree with John where he says the "no interaction" thing maybe about safeguarding.

 

I'd personally say that I believe many people are drawn to P&O because of the quality of the cruises and the value for money.

 

Dan

 

 

 

 

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Edited by danielundecided
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  • 2 weeks later...

I was following a thread on Celebrity about the adult-child ratio at the kids clubs and the levels on P&O are significantly more stringent and in my opinion therefore better. They don't seem to limit children's numbers on American lines as they do on P&O and I think it is excellent that P&O does this. Surely it means children get better attention when you're not there to supervise them yourself? Would you rather have your children in a group of 8 supervised by one adult or a group of 20? For me, it's a no-brainer.

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I was following a thread on Celebrity about the adult-child ratio at the kids clubs and the levels on P&O are significantly more stringent and in my opinion therefore better. They don't seem to limit children's numbers on American lines as they do on P&O and I think it is excellent that P&O does this. Surely it means children get better attention when you're not there to supervise them yourself? Would you rather have your children in a group of 8 supervised by one adult or a group of 20? For me, it's a no-brainer.

 

True...I think the supervision on P&O was excellent.

However; I just feel they need to look at the number of staff. Surely 4 customers is better than 2 adults at a later date with some form of bargain basement price?

If we were a group of 4 with different ages they would happily sell the cabin.

The must be a better way as I can't be the only person P&O have lost repeated custom off?

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True...I think the supervision on P&O was excellent.

However; I just feel they need to look at the number of staff. Surely 4 customers is better than 2 adults at a later date with some form of bargain basement price?

If we were a group of 4 with different ages they would happily sell the cabin.

The must be a better way as I can't be the only person P&O have lost repeated custom off?

 

I feel the opposite. I love to see the children around the ship - I spent nearly 40 years working with young children - but cruise ships need to appeal to people aged 2-92 and it's good to maintain a balance. I have to say the only ship where children were over conspicuous IMO was Celebrity Equinox where hordes of teenagers ran around the ship at night.

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I feel the opposite. I love to see the children around the ship - I spent nearly 40 years working with young children - but cruise ships need to appeal to people aged 2-92 and it's good to maintain a balance. I have to say the only ship where children were over conspicuous IMO was Celebrity Equinox where hordes of teenagers ran around the ship at night.

 

I too want to see my children around Britannia they just wouldn't accept my booking......yet again :)

Suspect it is due to limited facilities on Celebrity...I have to say they have limited appeal when I have looked.

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Really surprised to read this. We found Ventura crew to be very very welcoming towards our kids. The cabin steward did a different towel animal every single day, in the kids buffet they knew them by name, the coffee shop staff used to make little airplanes for them, the security staff at the gangway always used to make jokes... I could go on. I think it's great that they limit the groups to small numbers for the under 7. We did a princess cruise one year when we didn't manage to get on P&O and it become very clear to us why P&O is in such high demand in the school holidays.

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We did a princess cruise one year when we didn't manage to get on P&O and it become very clear to us why P&O is in such high demand in the school holidays.

 

One thing Princess do which is totally opposite to P&O policy is on Port Days parents may both go ashore and leave children in the club. All children's signing in/out privileges are suspended on port days, a "lock in" occurs and the youth staff tend to take the group down to the buffet for their lunch before taking them back to the club facility.

 

P&O policy is that you cannot go ashore and leave unaccompanied children on board until they are 16 I believe.

 

Regards John

Edited by john watson
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P&O's Night Nursery is open amazingly late; 6pm until 2am with final admission at 11pm. The general children's clubs stay open until something like 11pm. All this is free of charge.

 

On Princess a nominal fee is paid if your child stays there for the final hour and I think it was something like $10?

 

Regards John

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Really surprised to read this. We found Ventura crew to be very very welcoming towards our kids. The cabin steward did a different towel animal every single day, in the kids buffet they knew them by name, the coffee shop staff used to make little airplanes for them, the security staff at the gangway always used to make jokes... I could go on. I think it's great that they limit the groups to small numbers for the under 7. We did a princess cruise one year when we didn't manage to get on P&O and it become very clear to us why P&O is in such high demand in the school holidays.

 

 

We didn't get any of this...it would be a big shame if as suggested above this no longer happens due to child protection.

Something felt odd at the time. It was shortly after Britannia launched I wonder if it could have been due to best staff being moved to newest ship?

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One thing Princess do which is totally opposite to P&O policy is on Port Days parents may both go ashore and leave children in the club. All children's signing in/out privileges are suspended on port days, a "lock in" occurs and the youth staff tend to take the group down to the buffet for their lunch before taking them back to the club facility.

 

P&O policy is that you cannot go ashore and leave unaccompanied children on board until they are 16 I believe.

 

Regards John

 

Yes its interesting the leave your kids on the ship thing. I think the was a thread on another board recently were parents came back late and they sailed without them.

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We didn't get any of this...it would be a big shame if as suggested above this no longer happens due to child protection.

Something felt odd at the time. It was shortly after Britannia launched I wonder if it could have been due to best staff being moved to newest ship?

 

I'm sorry to hear you didn't have a good experience on Ventura. We only started cruising a few years ago when our children were teens. On our first cruise on RCI they didn't use the kid's club, but on the next, on Aurora, I prevailed on them to try it and they had a wonderful time. Years later they are still in touch with some of the friends they made.

 

The following year we were registering them for the kids' club when my daughter was delighted to see that one of the staff was the same as had been on Aurora. Much to our surprise, given all the children he must see, he recognised her and came over and had a friendly hug and chat. I do hope you get to cruise P&O again and have a better experience.

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I'm sorry to hear you didn't have a good experience on Ventura. We only started cruising a few years ago when our children were teens. On our first cruise on RCI they didn't use the kid's club, but on the next, on Aurora, I prevailed on them to try it and they had a wonderful time. Years later they are still in touch with some of the friends they made.

 

The following year we were registering them for the kids' club when my daughter was delighted to see that one of the staff was the same as had been on Aurora. Much to our surprise, given all the children he must see, he recognised her and came over and had a friendly hug and chat. I do hope you get to cruise P&O again and have a better experience.

 

It is common with first time cruisers with older teens to not use the kid's club. "I am sixteen/seventeen for goodness sake", at some point they work out that most other teenagers go there, not to cut out paper shapes but to do computer games. The main thing is not the computer games but that while they do this they "meet up" and thereafter amongst themselves agree to go to the theatre or whatever, swimming tomorrow etc. later on in the cruise. Then the club becomes a simple assembly point for the groups of friends to older teenagers.

 

Regards John

Edited by john watson
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It is common with first time cruisers with older teens to not use the kid's club. "I am sixteen/seventeen for goodness sake", at some point they work out that most other teenagers go there, not to cut out paper shapes but to do computer games. The main thing is not the computer games but that while they do this they "meet up" and thereafter amongst themselves agree to go to the theatre or whatever, swimming tomorrow etc. later on in the cruise. Then the club becomes a simple assembly point for the groups of friends to older teenagers.

 

Regards John

 

It wasn't our first time cruising John, just the children's. We'd cruised a couple of times many years before. I think their reticence wasn't due to fears about the activities, it was because they were worried they would not be able to communicate with/have much in common with the other children. It was an RCI fly cruise out of Venice, the passengers were much more international, in fact Brits were in the minority. Also it was all strange and new to them.

From what I saw of the RCI kids' club when they did activities around the ship, I wasn't that impressed, but as the cruise was port-intensive the children were off with us on excursions during the day. Daughter is sadly too old for clubs, son will soon be too...

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It wasn't our first time cruising John, just the children's. We'd cruised a couple of times many years before. I think their reticence wasn't due to fears about the activities, it was because they were worried they would not be able to communicate with/have much in common with the other children. It was an RCI fly cruise out of Venice, the passengers were much more international, in fact Brits were in the minority. Also it was all strange and new to them.

From what I saw of the RCI kids' club when they did activities around the ship, I wasn't that impressed, but as the cruise was port-intensive the children were off with us on excursions during the day. Daughter is sadly too old for clubs, son will soon be too...

 

I remember RCI cruise Copenhagen round trip. It was the cruise following the ship transferring from South America to Copenhagen to be based there. Booked it because it fitted into half term holiday. Just over 2000 pax from many countries, they announced only 176 had come from the UK. Also met a Swedish guy who was from a party of 500 swedes who had chartered a train!

 

Childrens club was tricky, daughter met a few Portuguese friends who deserted her when Portuguese speaking children emerged. She found it hard to understand why they drifted off.

 

Regards John

Edited by john watson
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I'm sorry to hear you didn't have a good experience on Ventura. We only started cruising a few years ago when our children were teens. On our first cruise on RCI they didn't use the kid's club, but on the next, on Aurora, I prevailed on them to try it and they had a wonderful time. Years later they are still in touch with some of the friends they made.

 

The following year we were registering them for the kids' club when my daughter was delighted to see that one of the staff was the same as had been on Aurora. Much to our surprise, given all the children he must see, he recognised her and came over and had a friendly hug and chat. I do hope you get to cruise P&O again and have a better experience.

 

Well it does not seem like it will be this year. Perhaps it will be when the new ship arrives?

They are surely going to have to allow more kids then?

Wonder if they will start marketing to outside the UK more when this happens as suspect it might be a big challenge to fill outside of school holidays. That said I'm sure they know they will fill so must have a plan.

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Well it does not seem like it will be this year. Perhaps it will be when the new ship arrives?

They are surely going to have to allow more kids then?

Wonder if they will start marketing to outside the UK more when this happens as suspect it might be a big challenge to fill outside of school holidays. That said I'm sure they know they will fill so must have a plan.

 

I feel certain when they get a new and bigger ship with an increased passenger capacity they will increase the children's club facility proportionately. I see no reason why they should change the policy of only accepting bookings with a restriction on specific age range childrens groups. I believe lines which accept unrestricted numbers of children will restrict numbers allowed admission to the facility on a daily basis. This will mean parents getting up early to rush the kids down to the clubhouse queue and wait there with them or alternatively not get in. This would, in my opinion, lead to excessive children about decks with in many cases disinterested parents not supervising them closely. An additional problem with bigger ships is that fares per person are lower and this will attract parents who may well be looking at paying four fares.

 

P&O have never previously looked at the possibility at increasing their market share by positively seeking to attract bookings which are not from UK residents. In the US you will find it difficult to find a Travel Agent who handles P&O and they are not widely advertised. I think this stems from P&O Princess Cruises which separated into distinct different lines with a similar product but one being multi ship global and the other dedicated to the UK market.

 

When it comes to children P&O are fairly unique with their Family Friendly Ships and Adults Only Ships. Most other adult only lines just do not do children. Other lines do not do childrens clubs. So the parents with young children market is huge. One of the ways I think P&O misses out on maximising the revenue from this niche market is that they fail to closely analyse when the school holidays are in the UK which varies region by region. However when I was in the position of having to book within the school holidays, it was difficult on the shorter half-term breaks. The school holiday might be a week or a fortnight but the P&O cruises never seemed to line up. Surprisingly I squeezed a Princess holiday completely into half term by flying to Hong Kong and sailing to Yokohama. It would have suited me to do something a bit cheaper and closer to home. If only P&O got the shorter half-term holidays programmed accurately and coincided with the exact start of the main summer holidays they would get more parents with children bookings; increasing overall revenue, but these would be spread out leaving fewer children per voyage allowing a higher proportion of successful bookings with whatever ages your children are. Shorter itineraries around half-term would significantly increase bookings and people who do not like too many children on board would find booking at other times will lead to even fewer children on board at those times a win win situation.

 

Regards John

Edited by john watson
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We just got off Ventura and the staff were great with our 2 year old. The waiters/cabin attendants etc all chatted to her and helped us if we needed anything. I have issues with many things about p&o but the fact it is so good for my daughter is the reason we continued to sail with them - I think it's especially geared to younger children.

 

 

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