NavyPanda

I never had an opportunity to choose my dining preferences, although I never pushed the idea by quoting the booking confirmations with P&O. In the end I was fortunate to be allocated what I wanted on embarkation and I didn't have to queue up and get it changed. All my future cruises are booked on Cunard at the moment, their 'Early Saver' fares DO allow you to choose dining preferences. This I'm very happy with (choice of cabin doesn't mean much to me), so will continue to book this fare type with Cunard unless the OBC situation means I'm likely to spend less booking the Cunard fare instead.

I've already booked to go on her twice this year. The lack of a 'proper' promenade deck isn't a deal breaker for me, as long as there is space to walk around and get some sea air. Curious to see what the design choices for the interior look like in reality.

Whilst not strictly 'off-menu' the Children's menu is always available. 'Adult' choices on the menu include; Tomato Soup, Fruit Plate, Spaghetti Bolognaise, Hot Chocolate Brownie and Fresh Fruit Salad childrens-menu.pdf (cunard.com)

I've been looking at some pricing data which I saved from last year. Comparing prices at 26 Feb 23 (I have nothing earlier than that) vs 15 Jan 24. If we look at the Top 40 cruises on sale ranked by price per night. In Feb 2023, 10 of the Top 40 cheapest cruises were within 60 days of sailing. Today, only there are only 4 in the Top 40. This does suggest that P&O aren't lowering their prices at the 'last minute' quite like they used to. Instead, it could be argued they are lowering them earlier instead! In terms of overall pricing, not a lot has changed. The cheapest cruise to book last February on a per night basis was as 14 night Iona cruise sailing 23-Nov-24 for £699 (£49.93/night). Today, the cheapest is another 14 night Iona cruise sailing 6-Dec-25 for £729 (£52.07). Given inflation is currently 4%, this is exactly the price you would expect. Effectively, there has been no change in the 'cheapest'. Looking another way at the Top 40 cheapest per night, last February the mean price per night was £59.32, the range £49.93-£64.14 and median £60.83. Whereas today, the mean is £63.55, the range £52.07-£69.93 and median £64.21. This is about 5-6% increase, which given inflation is around 4% (and previously a lot higher) means that there has effectively been very little increase in pricing. Finally, looking at overall pricing (of all cruises on sale) for the cheapest cabin. In February, the mean was £100.86/pn, the median £92.79/pn. Today it is £106.37/pn with the median being £99.86/pn. Again, just above inflation. Will be interesting to see what the situation is like at the end of February when 'Late' Saver fares for late April and May will be on sale, when the two ships will be back from the Caribbean and Arcadia is back from her world cruise (world cruises and Caribbean tending to be more expensive per night) Also, out of the 817 cruises currently on sale, 429 of them are under £100/pn.

If your loyalty tier is Red then Cunard sees you as a first time cruiser. If this is incorrect, it is likely your booking isn't connected to your Cunard World Club number.

Looks like you are correct. Now appears to be £6/day, was £5 back in August. Parking in Southampton | Westquay Shopping Centre (west-quay.co.uk)

I've parked in the ibis/Novotel car park on a few occasions now without issue, although I didn't stay at the hotel (you can pay for the parking separately at around £4/day). The hotels which share the car park do packages including parking for 8 or 15 nights. Alternatively as already has been suggested you can park at the Westquay multi storey, £5/day, pay on exit which is located next to the Premier Inn.

It seems to be 60% for the vast majority of cruises available with P&O. 75% with Cunard.

Some early insights from a quick analysis... There appears to be 201 cruises which are newly available to 'Secure Now'/Pre-book. A significant number of these will be overlapping fly cruises. Average number of itinerary nights by ship (some cruises will overlap with each other due to flights) Arcadia 41.4 Arvia 14.6 Aurora 18.6 Azura 10.8 Britannia 14.0 Iona 12.3 Ventura 13.7 Average cost per night of Southampton round trip Arcadia £87.66 Aurora £91.33 Britannia £64.21 Iona £68.25 Ventura £77.50 Average cost per night of fly-cruise Arcadia £120.07 Arvia £119.18 Azura £83.29 Britannia £112.72 Cheapest cruise (per night) by ship Arcadia Portugal And Canary Islands, 16 Nights (J519) 17-Nov-25 £53.06 Arvia Caribbean Transatlantic, 22 Nights (K522B) 24-Oct-25 £76.32 Aurora Caribbean, 24 Nights (R520) 02-Nov-25 £74.13 Azura Mediterranean And Canary Islands, 16 Nights (A539C) 09-Oct-25 £56.19 Britannia Portugal And Canary Islands, 14 Nights (B525) 17-Oct-25 £64.21 Iona Portugal And Canary Islands, 14 Nights (G536) £52.07 08-Nov-25 (or G537, G538 both also of the same itineary name at the same price) Ventura Portugal And Canary Islands, 14 Nights (N528) 01-Nov-25 £52.07

I had a similar question a couple of days ago which I put on the food and dining sticky thread which I guess has hidden it from any answering it! It is interesting that the booking confirmation for Early Savers does make reference to being able to choose dining but I can't see any option in order to make that choice. The website also says something which may infer having a choice vs (Late) Saver. I'll copy and paste most of what I wrote previously below. (From my P&O Booking Confirmation) "Thank you for choosing to book your holiday with P&O Cruises. Your booking has been made on P&O Cruises Early Saver. Your cabin grade has been secured. We will assign your cabin number either in the grade secured or in a higher grade before departure. As you have booked under our Early Saver price you will receive second priority for dining. We will capture your dining preference nearer to sailing and we'll do our best to accommodate it, subject to availability. You will receive notification of your allocated dining once on board. Please note that shuttle buses will be chargeable on board, except in ports where they are compulsory for health and safety reasons" The P&O website on the link below says the following for Early Saver "Flexibility required for your desired dining style, dining time and table size in the main restaurant" Our Prices Explained | P&O Cruises (pocruises.com) Whereas the description for Saver (as expected) is Dining allocated upon boarding Is this another case where P&O Booking documents say one thing but the reality is quite different? Has anyone with an Early Saver booking actually being contacted or been able to record their dining preference?

If it is a cruise you will have to get on a plane at some point, there is a possibility that it will be a 'net' fare and therefore ineligible for Shareholder OBC. I think it may be likely that most packages sold by travel agents as cruise + nights in a hotel + flight are likely to be at 'net rates'. If it is a cruise Southampton round trip then I think it would be very unlikely to be a net rate. Of course, the only way to find out for sure is to ask the travel agent at booking / quotation.

I've been reading my Booking Confirmation from P&O for my Early Saver booking and it says the following "Thank you for choosing to book your holiday with P&O Cruises. Your booking has been made on P&O Cruises Early Saver. Your cabin grade has been secured. We will assign your cabin number either in the grade secured or in a higher grade before departure. As you have booked under our Early Saver price you will receive second priority for dining. We will capture your dining preference nearer to sailing and we'll do our best to accommodate it, subject to availability. You will receive notification of your allocated dining once on board. Please note that shuttle buses will be chargeable on board, except in ports where they are compulsory for health and safety reasons" The P&O website on the link below says the following for Early Saver "Flexibility required for your desired dining style, dining time and table size in the main restaurant" Our Prices Explained | P&O Cruises (pocruises.com) Whereas the description for Saver (as expected) is Dining allocated upon boarding I've read reports on here about people being unable to choose their dining option if they book early saver. (We are regular cruisers on Cunard where Early Saver fares CAN choose their dining option on Voyage Personaliser). When I log on to My Voyage, I can't see a way to choose my dining option. Can anyone provide an update of what the reality is for choosing (or not) their dining option (First/Second/Freedom) if they have booked Early Saver. Perhaps I am just being inpatient and it isn't close enough to sailing yet? If you booked Early Saver and were able to choose, how were you able to make your choice and how many days/weeks before sailing were you able to make your choice? I have a feeling that this may be a case where P&O Booking documents say one thing but the reality is quite different! It is not the end of the world if I can't choose the dining option, it would just be nice to know for future reference as I booked on the assumption I was unable to choose and would get what I was given.

A 'net' rate is where the travel agent puts together their own package instead of simply selling the official cruise + flight package from Cunard (you will know if its an official package because flights will be in your voyage personaliser and will probably be on your Cunard issued booking confirmation) In your case, you presumably booked a flight + hotel + cruise. Cunard would have sold the cruise part of the package at a discount as they don't have to provide flights and/or transfers.

Can anyone confirm the specific benefits when using the Blue Light Card? Can it be used with Early Saver or Saver bookings?

What time does open dining begin each evening? I've seen references to 6pm or 6:30pm. Does it vary by ship?