Whilst P&O have, as usual, made a pigs breakfast of these new rules, I can understand why it is important that the ship knows how many, and who, need extra assistance in case of an emergency.

However their interpretation of just who needs an adapted cabin and an evac chair, has certainly reduced the availability of adapted cabins to passengers who could not sail without these facilities. Not everyone who brings a manual wheelchair on board needs help on stairs, never mind requiring an evac chair, but that is the result of P&Os new rules. Surely P&O should be prepared to accept the word of their passengers, that they would be able to manage stairs in an emergency.  Similarly they should be prepared to accept the word of passengers like @TigerB when he states that the now so called partially adapted inside cabins are perfectly acceptable for his wife's motorised chair.

I accept that scooters and larger motorised chairs do probably need a larger cabin if they are to be safely stored in the cabin.  However if they were prepared to provide a small storage space on each passenger deck for powered wheelchairs, they could kill 2 birds by limiting the number of power chairs as well as freeing up accessible cabins for passengers who genuinely need them.

1 hour ago, Cathygh said:

I think we hahve established that there are a limited number of evac chairs available and a limited number of staff who can operate them.

 

Meanwhile, there a number of passengers who need an evac chair but who do not need an adapted cabin eg someone with bad arthritis can manage to walk around the ship but can not climb or descend stairs, and they are often the people who need assistance on embarkation/disembarkation as the walkways are too steep and long for them to walk unaided. I know of someone about to sail with P&O who is in the situation and who has an evac chair allocated.

 

How many chairs can P&O operate on their ships currently? They aren't saying. There seems to be no willingness to invest in additional chairs and the staff required to use them. A quick google shows the chairs cost from £143 to over £800. I guess they could get the cost down for a bulk buy. 

 

I don't think P&O need to dilute the policy, but they do need to get more chairs and staff trained to use them asap.

According to their response to BBCs Watchdog, the evac chairs can service several passengers, so I guess it is the number of staff P&O are willing to allocate to the evac chair assistance that is the determining factor, and they must have already made that decision.

2 hours ago, molecrochip said:

I think a couple of Pinnacle class ships for P&O would be a fantastic idea.

 

I would also phase out the older Holland America Line ships for more Pinnacle class vessels.

 

Same for Island Princess.

 

As for Grand class ships, whilst Ventura is only 16 years old, the first in class Grand Princess is 26 years old. So no real win by receiving these now.

If Queen Anne will be the last solely diesel ship that Carnival build, I imagine HAL will have a new design for any new upcoming LNG vessel. 

56 minutes ago, Rupert2251 said:

Ours were at the doctors surgery with the nurse, no one there at all not even for normal appointments.

I booked ours on line on the NHS website, our local chemist uses the church hall, and has a number of vaccs days durind the jabbing season.

9 minutes ago, sandancer said:

P&O on the One Show Watchdog again tonight. This is not going away!  

But there clearly had been no comments from P&O, it's amazing how deep the management can bury their heads in the sand.

3 hours ago, Rupert2251 said:

Just got back from having our flu and covid jabs, only rang this morning and was given a 3:15pm appointment (wow) in and out in less than 2 minutes both of us.

 

P.S. no sticker and no sweetie 😔

We had our covid and flu jabs today, both in the same arm and so far no aches and pain, touch wood. However the church hall venue was significantly  busier than last year.

2 minutes ago, GOQ said:

I wonder if the next stage in the evolution of cruise ships will be hydrogen powered ships. There are already hydrogen powered buses and trains. I have even seen proposals for off shore wind farms directly generating hydrogen fuel rather than cabling electricity back to the mainland.

Just think your cruise ship in 10 to 15 years time might dock alongside a windmill in the middle of the ocean for a few million litres of liquid hydrogen. No pollution then, only water vapour. 

I have always thought that Hydrogen was the ultimate environmentally friendly fuel, and offshore windfarm generated electricity would be the ideal method of production.

3 minutes ago, janny444 said:

If you go through a TA you can pre register and book your cabin number

But you will probably need to give them 3 or 4 options, in case your first choice has already gone.

7 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I’d be surprised if P&O wanted any new ships as small as Aurora. The way that they have shifted their brand position over the past 10 years or so very much suits the much larger resort style ships, which also have the enormous benefit of economies of scale. Besides, the proportion of the retired population on gold plated pensions (who are a sizeable proportion of Aurora and Arcadia’s customer base) gets less and less every year, and judging by the likely life cycle that @molecrochip mentions, smaller ships with premium prices will probably only be cost effective on the premium lines. Just my thoughts though. I have no inside knowledge. 

As Moley says, things may be changing, environmental demands may well mean that smaller ships, like Cunards pinnacle class Queen Anne, could be the way forward for the future of multiple port voyages, leaving the big ships to increase their floating resort type cruises, where the ship and an island resort stop are the norm.

46 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

All these people that seem adverse to washing their hands.

 

It’s up to them if they think that getting germs and catching viruses is somehow ‘good’ for them.

 

But it’s not all about the individual, especially in a closed environment like a cruise ship, where people live closely together, and viruses spread easily.

 

You may welcome the chance to ‘give your immune system a work out’. But at least have consideration for your fellow guests who may not be so keen to catch viruses from you. I hope these people as a bare minimum are washing their hands after using the toilet and before meals. 

 

 

Of course we are, no one is suggesting that basic hygiene should be abandoned, but the tenor of some posts seems to suggest that hand washing and sanitising should be an over frequent activity.

It's also worth pointing out that unless you are ill you are extremely unlikely to be passing the bug onto others, and I would certainly quarantine myself if I did catch the bug, if only to be near a toilet in an emergency.

@Selbourne following on from @TigerB's reply regarding sailing again on Iona. I feel certain that the passenger profile on Iona's 35 night round trip to the Caribbean will not be the same as on her summer school holiday cruise, and there are already a number of CC posters booked on this cruise, so you would be in good company.

19 hours ago, amurray88 said:

Definitely...and to put it into context,we're normally happy to walk a couple of miles (well, my wife does it and I'm happy to do it 🤣). We booked East Gate last year - unfortunately we had some very very last minute change of plans and I dropped wife and baby at the terminal (Horizon), parked then I just ran round. 

Parking4cruises operate a very similar service to CPS, but a lot cheaper, their drop off and pick up point uses the short stay car park, which is convenient at both Ocean and Mayflower, and if the return terminal differs or is changed  they will change the collection point.

1 hour ago, GOQ said:

Right OK, on exiting my cabin the handle of my walking stick is clean having just washed it with soap and water.

I told a handrail or push a lift button and pick up germs onto my hands, I then grab hold of my walking stick handle transferring germs to the handle. I then wash my hands or use the gell before eating, I don't realise that my stick handle is now recontaminated and get germs on my hands again.

That's how I recon I got Noroviruson on Azura. 

I suspect that the small amount of material you transfer from most surfaces to your stick, via your hands  are 99.9% unlikely to be harmful to you.

By all means wash your hands regularly, and encourage others to do so before eating, but don't worry too much about it, my understanding is that stress has a negative effect on one's immune system.

10 hours ago, Snow Hill said:

Might work for some, however the immunity to norovirus is short term due to the number of strains of the virus according to the U.K. HSA

 

“Norovirus immunity is short lived and there is no cross-strain immunity, therefore it is possible to have multiple norovirus infections in a short period of time if you’re exposed to different strains.”

 

https://ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/2022/11/17/norovirus-what-to-do-if-you-catch-it-and-helping-to-stop-the-spread/

That may be true  but a robust immune system gives you a fighting chance of beating off many germs and viruses.

I dont advocatei living in squalour, but equally an overuse of cleaning and antibacterial wipes and sprays must surely dilute and slow down your vital immune system.

2 hours ago, amurray88 said:

Thank you - and Britannia would be classed as (reasonably) small?

Britannia would dock at Ocaen, if Iona or Arvia are not in port.

52 minutes ago, kalos said:

Yep Southampton ,teach me clicking auto fill words on my phone .

Tell you what though would be handy for us ,saves a trail down south 🙃

It would need a heck of a long pier at Southport to ensure your ship always had deep water under its Keel.

8 minutes ago, purplesea said:

I haven't received any e-mails regarding the dates either.

You should have, have you checked your junk mail.

5 hours ago, Ardennais said:

Never sailed with MSC. However our Iona cruise in April was so much better than our Caribbean Princess cruise in June. Food and entertainment better, and also condition of ship. 

Not surprising that Iona was in better condition than Caribbean Princess, she is a good 16 years younger.

3 hours ago, NewWestwardbound said:

Just for everyone else, here’s the entirety of the 2• (not 1•) review commenting on 34 chairs in the smoking area. It seems that wasn’t the only observation the reviewer made : 
 

 

not good enough

Review for the Caribbean Cruise on Arvia

Chin00k47

2-5 Cruises • Age 60s

Rating by category

Cabin

Value for Money

Embarkation

Dining

Public Rooms

Entertainment

Service

Additional details

Sail Date: Mar 2023

So, let do an honest review with some suggestions. To the positives:

boarding - very smooth process, straight off plane, out back gate of airport to ship, into reception area and on ship within 10 minutes. Key cards to cabin are outside of cabin. Really good system

Cabin - balcony, good size, very clean, no complaints

Food - Good selecion, English Breakfast is amazing as are other meals, P&O have got the food perfectly correct in my opinion.

Entertainment - one word, outstanding, although the skydome bounces sound around and you cannot hear the singer very well.

To the bits that need some serious re-thinking:

Skydome - what a waste of space, a 3 deck hole with only room for about 300-400 people sat in deckchairs, whoever thought you could have a sail away party at the bottom of this hole (deck 16), no one can hear you or see you on other ships - designed by a 16 year old I think with an O level in design.

Outside Bars - Whoever is responsible for the bars needs to be sacked, what cruise closes the outside bars at 6.30pm in the carribean!!! forcing everyone inside, my god someone needs to get a life and open these areas in the evening with some good background music. top of the ship (Deck 18) is a dead area all evening, what a waste.

Smoking area - This is dire, (we are smokers) yes we accept some people do not like smoking, but to provide only 34 chairs for a ship of 5200, in a covered area away from everyone in a forgotten part of the ship is NOT the answer. if you are a smoker very seriously consider NOT going on Arvia. P&) either make a decison to ban smoking and suffer the losses of revenue (from smokers and non-smoking friends/family) or do what ever other cruise ship does and provide a pleasant area where stuff is going on (like Azura and Britannia). There was regularly up to 80 people in this area constantly. Why not provide the Beachcomber bar as a smoking area, or possibly that bar from 6.30 pm onwards for smoking, and keep the bar open. The current area is totally unacceptable and EVERY smoker I spoke to will never return to this ship despite the good parts of the review. Your choice P&O if you want to pretend smokers are scum class even though we pay exactly the same as everyone else and only get under 1% of the spca or we will not book. Make a decision and publish your policy, there is plenty of other choice out there so Arvia is off the list for smokers if it does not change.

Booking system for entertainment - wow who introduces a system where 100% of entertainment can be booked up before you even get on the ship! I'll tell you who, a designer who has crammed to many people into the ship, and not built big enough venues thats who. A large number of people do not know what they want to do until they are on holiday, this sytem forces people to click and book to not run the risk of seeing no shows, how many cancel the booking, most just do not show up. I would suggest 50% can be booked prior to travel and 50% on the day of the performance to cover customer choices.

Summary - some things are very good, some not good, a few tweakes and this would be much better - never lose sight that it is the Customer you are trying to please, not yourselves, and definitely not UK rules on smoking. You should consider some "secret cruisers" from P&O to mingle with paying cruisers, they will hear all the comments and then you might sit up and do something.

Unfortunately for smokers, they now represent a small and reducing percentage of the passengers, and in general it is those non smoking passengers who set the tone of what the ship should provide for smokers. P&O like most other cruise lines are trying to walk a narrow line and keep both sets of passengers happy, but it is difficult for them. IncidentlyAzura and Britannia are also P&O ships, so if you feel happier on them, then maybe avoid Arvia in future.

3 hours ago, zap99 said:

Will they know where each guest is ?.

Not immediately, but I would expect there would be senior bridge officers checking the numbers at the muster stations and ensuring that anyone missing was located and arranging to have their evac chair and crew members despatched to bring them to their muster station, and hopefully all this talk of chaos and every man for himself would prove to be totally false.

1 hour ago, GOLDSURFER said:

I agree with that how they are going to implement it. Seeing it’s only P.O plus Cunard other cruises haven’t said anything yet. Theatre full Live Lounge full the evacuation chair assigned to my cabin and me I’m in Brodies.

I assume that all the evacuation chairs will be in one location and a designated members of staff will collect one to take to their designated guests location, should they need it to get to their muster station.

3 hours ago, Narinna said:

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! That’s a good call about choosing a cabin too, I like my sleep so I’ll have to ask what cabins people recommend.

Make sure you have a brochure with deck plans of your chosen ship. In general choose a cabin that has cabins above and below, and avoid being near blank spaces, which could indicate crew access points which could be noisy. For balcony cabins, look carefully at a few photos of the ship, and note which decks might have an overhang above that could restrict the sun on your balcony. Cabins near lifts are useful, but you may find them noisy, especially at night with happy passengers chatting with each other as they return. I have never found launderette areas to be noisy, but have never had a cabin near a launderette.

I doubt that is exhaustive, but should give you something to consider.

2 hours ago, david63 said:

Not that it is any consolation but it has been like that for years!

I do remember a time when it did seem to work perfectly, but then the IT team must have amended something, and it then went awry.

43 minutes ago, GOLDSURFER said:

Convert lower deck cabins for disabled passengers on next refit so evacuation chairs are not necessary.

Not really possible to convert standard cabins to accessible ones which are normally 50% wider, and would need the bathrooms and balconies adjusting to be step free.

In addition when the emergency happens disabled passengers could be anywhere on the ship, not just in their cabin

1 minute ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

I'm no expert on disabilities, but it seems to me quite fair to assume that, in the worst case scenario, someone who needs a powered mobility device will likely need an evac chair.  Finding out when an emergency occurs that they can't get themselves down perhaps 7 or 8 flights of stairs to the assembly areas / lifeboats would put them, the crew who would have to assist them without an available evac chair and other passengers at risk.

I am basing my comments on the many posts from scooter users, who only need them for longer journeys, stating that they can manage stairs and walk short distances without any help. But I am well aware that some scooter users will need an evac chair as well.