P&O world cruise 2017

Hi my wife and I are going on Arcadia full world cruise Jan 2017 and want to know if any one has done the world cruise and had any good tips for us, also how does the tipping work as it would be pretty expensive for 114 nights ?

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Hi Andy, lucky you. Can't wait for our first worldie. We did a segment 2 years ago on Arcadia - loved her. You will find a 'Roll Call' on this site which will offer masses of information for you. It's a real trading place for invaluable hints and tips.

Have a great cruise.

Hi Andy, lucky you. Can't wait for our first worldie. We did a segment 2 years ago on Arcadia - loved her. You will find a 'Roll Call' on this site which will offer masses of information for you. It's a real trading place for invaluable hints and tips.

 

Have a great cruise.

Here is the Roll Call for the 2017 World Cruise

http://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2253286

If you can afford the world cruise the tipping should have been taken into account at the beginning

We have been fortunate to be able to do two full World cruises. Each one was made up of five sectors. At the end of each sector, our onboard account was charged to our credit card. At the start of each sector the automatic tips were applied. Yes it would seem to be a lot of money on tips but you are on the ship for a lot of days and the crew still have to work all those days. It would hardly be fair to reduce their tips because of this. If they were working on the ship for 114 days split into many shorter cruises they would still expect the tips for those number of days. To be frank, my opinion is that if you can afford a full World cruise and the other resultant expenditure in doing it, (travel insurance, extra house insurance) then the tips should not be a problem. We also gave some crew members extra as they became real friends over the time we were aboard.

A full worldie is very different from shorter cruises as the ship really feels as if it's your home. The pace is different too, much more relaxed. Lots of lovely sea days to relax and unwind. We also do not travel light any more. Who wants to spend lots of time in the launderette? We take plenty of clothes to cover all seasons and the extra suitcases get taken away by the cabin steward.

One tip to save some money is take your car off road and claim the road tax through a SORN declaration. We have two cars so we did not use them from Jan 1st through to the end of April so we had eight months tax refunded ( you can only claim for complete calendar months).

If you have toiletries or washing powder that you prefer to use, take sufficient for the whole cruise and keep them in a suitcase under the bed. This is then like your own shop where you can get the brands you prefer. Start a new bottle of shampoo now, make a note of the date, then again when it is empty. This will give you a clear idea of how many you need to take. Repeat this with toothpaste, deodorant etc etc. You will be surprised how long each lasts so start that exercise now. Of course, if you are not too fussed (I suspect most women would be) you can always buy onboard or at a port of call, although you might find it hard to get what you want. Same with makeup, hairspray for ladies.

You will certainly need a power extension lead. I also take a small hard drive with TV programmes or films I have downloaded. An HDMI cable from Poundland enables me to connect the hard drive either via my laptop or my magic box to the cabin TV. Sometimes during a very long cruise you just want to do something familiar like watch a programme of your choice. Most of the cabin TV is not to my taste.

I do not like using the dryers in the launderette for underwear so I have a cheap oval hanger with pegs attached. The underwear is pegged on that and then hung from one of the air con vents in the cabin. It dries very quickly. We have only sailed on the Arcadia once and I seem to remember that there were fewer laundrette facilities than on the Oriana or Aurora. My tip for using them is go at the quiet times. This tends to be around 1st dinner sitting i.e.6 to 6.30pm. I prefer not to stand queuing for a washing machine. Of course, you could always uses the ship's laundry.

If you have any more specific questions, just ask.

Hope you have a wonderful time, wish we could do another one!

Pat

Hi point taken about the tips and thanks for the extra info nice to know.

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Hi Andy

Gerry and Felicity here and joining Arcadia Southampton to NZ . (New to cruising and to the message board and not too sure I am using it right. Posts / Threads etc. Wanted to say hello and thank Pat for the useful tips posted in reply to you. I am interested in the connectivity of device like DVD to the in-cabin TV as probably to want to bring a few discs or downloads with me if that works.

Gerry 2819

Hi Gerry

When we were on the Aurora I asked at reception if I bought a universal remote control, at our first stop in Madeira, would it allow me to change the TV channels to get to HDMI. The Aurora remotes are very basic with no way to do this. I waited while they called the tech dept who asked me to go to my cabin and wait for them. Within 5 minutes a nice young man arrived and could see that our TV could not be changed manually with the buttons on the console so gave me his fully complicated remote control for the remainder of the cruise (114 nights). He showed me exactly what to do to change the channel to HDMI and ensured it was working OK before he left. On our last morning, while we were at breakfast, that remote was removed and replaced with the basic one. On that trip I only had the HDMI cable (£1 from Poundland) and the laptop through which to play the stuff on my external hard drive.

On a recent trip on the Oriana, I took a new gizmo that I had at home. It's a Sumvision Cyclone Micro 4 Media Player. This plays stuff from the external hard drive without the need for the laptop. You also need an HDMI cable and a power point to plug it into. I recommend a small multi socket power extension lead.

I cannot say if a USB stick would work as I have never tried one. I also played DVDs on my laptop through the TV via the HDMI cable.

In another cabin on the Oriana, the HDMI cable would not work. It was the connection on the TV that was the problem so I just watched everything on the laptop. I did find the tech people very helpful.

I do not know the setup of the TVs on the Arcadia as I haven't tried them. Perhaps someone else who has been on board recently will know. Don't try asking shoreside, they gave me the wrong answer.

Hope this helps and enjoy the cruise.

Pat

Hi Gerry

I have done lots of cruises but new to this as well and it is really great to talk to people doing the same world cruise and talking about tips and ideas not done the world or anything as long as this so I would also like to know the best device to Bring along to connect to the tv

Btw my wife's name is Sandra

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Hi Gerry have you joined the roll call for Arcadia world cruise 2017 ?

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Hi Andy, My wife and I are also on this cruise. We were on Aurora for the 2016 world cruise and enjoyed virtually every day ( we had a force 9 crossing the Bay of Biscay).

Regarding Tips. If you don't cancel the auto tips on your account, you will pay over £1200 in tips over the whole cruise (we just accepted this was part of the cost of the cruise). It is deducted at the end of each of the 5 legs. This is the easiest and fairest way of tipping if you are freedom dining. We cancelled the auto tips after the third leg, and started handing out tips individually, as by this time we had got to know the staff quite well. The cabin steward was also grateful when we changed tipping method.

Logistics before you leave; Make sure you have notified your Home Insurance you are away for an extended time. Check your travel insurance covers you for 114 continuous days and covers cruises. Also check that you are covered for cancellation, most don't automatically cover you for the cost of a world cruise.

As mentioned, you may want to SORN the car and suspend Sky for example, this will save you a lot of money. We also negotiated a discount from our gym membership.

One of the best things we took with us were 'Magnets' The cabin walls are metal, and you receive so many invites to cocktail parties, welcome drinks etc, you can pin them to the walls with magnets. Plus the daily horizon of course.

Take clothes for all weather. Most will be hot, but some were cold and wet.

If you are taking a camera with a memory stick; take several memory sticks, if you lose the camera you won't have lost all your photos. I would also download my photos so I had more than one copy. Don't post them on social media whilst still on the cruise, it may invalidate your insurance.

Check out the 'roll call' for this cruise, the current topic is the Chinese Visa requirements.

Hope this helps, Regards, Brian & Carol

Hi thanks they are some really good tips look forward to thanking you personally

Andy

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I'm interested in taking a World cruise possibly in 2018 but my problem is that I'm always averse to booking a long time in advance.

Roughly how long in advance do you have to book a world cruise as I sense these trips get booked up very early. Would it be possible to get a superior deluxe balcony cabin for example say a few months in advance of departure?

Hi I think you would be lucky we booked a year ago to get our balcony cabin on A deck !!

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I'm interested in taking a World cruise possibly in 2018 but my problem is that I'm always averse to booking a long time in advance.

 

Roughly how long in advance do you have to book a world cruise as I sense these trips get booked up very early. Would it be possible to get a superior deluxe balcony cabin for example say a few months in advance of departure?

P & O are only sending one ship Arcadia on the world cruise in 2018. The other ship Aurora is circumnavigating South America.

The 2018 world cruise has been on sale since March this year. I would ask your travel agent to look to see how many (if any) of your preferred cabin choice there are left unsold for the full world.

The problem is that sectors go on sale at the same time so if your cabin choice is popular then it may already be booked for a sector so not available for the full world.

The deposit for The full world is only £750 Pp. Not the usual 15% deposit required.

Sue

Thanks Sue. We are going on the Arcadia next April for a 17 cruise. That will give us an idea whether we can spend 3 months onboard.

However, by then it seems as though it might be too late to book for 2018 but you never know as there may well be cancellations given the age profile of many of those who tend to take World cruises.

I get the point about sectors being booked but I'm not fussy about cabin choice as long as there is a balcony. Even changing cabins during the cruise wouldn't be an issue for me.

Some excellent advice above and I would personally only add an extra couple of suggestions .

Firstly keep a daily diary, whether it is written in pen or typed onto a laptop/ tablet . It's wonderful to be able to look back at what you were doing - on one of our Worldies a lady made a wonderful scrapbook, including photos / tickets momentous etc .

Secondly, at every port where we either had a late departure or stayed overnight, we always went out to dinner - it's great for a change and chance to try different cuisines - however the restaurant in Sydney on the Rocks was so expensive that we came back to the buffet for our dessert !

Enjoy your cruise, we loved every minute of our first one.

Hi thanks for that my wife has just done her big diary update as we have spent June in China and she has her pen and laptop poised for the P&O world cruise adventure thank for the tips

Btw do P&O use English type plug sockets ??

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Hi thanks for that my wife has just done her big diary update as we have spent June in China and she has her pen and laptop poised for the P&O world cruise adventure thank for the tips

Btw do P&O use English type plug sockets ??

Yes, 3 pin sockets , and the on board accounts are billed in pounds not dollars which helps.