terrierjohn

So they would sit in one of the lounges having conference calls with colleagues, or phone calls with their customers. Sounds far worse than having groups of oldies playing cards, and taking up table space in the coffee shop or the buffet.

At least you were speaking to a human, even if he was a bit dim.

In my experience the P&O staff could not judge whether the baggage hall was full or empty. Which is why I much prefer the more relaxed way that Princess, RC and Celebrity do disembarcation, by announcing over the ships tannoy which colour groups can proceed to the gangway. In this way there is no need to make the wasteful trip to the disembarcation lounges, and in my experience passengers time their breakfast to finish about the time of their disembarcation slot, and once their colour has been called they can head straight to the gangway. That process also takes the pressure off the lifts and massively reduces your wait time.

Could Starlink be used to carry TV channels, maybe replacing or improving satellite TV transmissions?

But where do you propose they would do this remote working?

They could manage this by limiting the number of free meals you can have per cruise. The current system with such small numbers, can only be providing a small revenue stream, but it it must be putting extra strain on the MDRs, as well as leaving the Alfredo staff under utilised.

I agree, but does anyone know why definitively? Are the later times far more popular and that's why you find it difficult to book one, or do Princess hold them back?

Does that map mean that there is no continuous link across the oceans, which I assume is incorrect.

As far as the UK is concerned future pensioners, with defined contribution pensions, will not have anywher near the same amount of disposable income as today's, who are on defined benefit pensions. I rather think that we are in the last decade or so of the golden age for the leisure industry.

The passenger demographic will always affect the ambience on the cruise. But in Ventura's defence the school holiday periods will see a marked difference in the feel of the cruises. I suspect your lady passenger would feel very different about Iona if she sailed on one of her 35 night Caribbean transatlantic cruises.

They do seem to take the chaos in the baggage hall into account though David. I remember in the bad old days, when I religiously waited in the assembly (cell) venue, overhearing a radio conversation between the "prison warden" and the baggage hall guy, advising not to release anymore passengers until the chaos subsided.

I was just using 14nts as our normal cruise length, and it makes it easier for me to compare with our own cruise fares. As I commented to @zap99 I know there are low season prices below £100pppn, but once you get into the warmer months, that price is very difficult to achieve unless you are on a saver, which we have sampled ourselves recently, and may do so again in the future. Now we know that savers are available for adapted cabins, then it is maybe one advantage of needing one. On most ships we now know where the adapted cabins are, and if there are cabins available we can readily decide if they would be acceptable to us. But of course that is not always the case for the able bodied who could end up in a very unsatisfactory cabin.

Yes I know there are some, but they are mainly low season and usually saver fares, and for us select with high OBC is not much use as our shareholder OBC, plus our normal smaller amount of OBC is normally above our usual drinks and spec restaurant spend anyway.

I don't know how you are managing to a obtain a 14nt balcony cabin at below £1400 pp, especially for Aurora cruises.

I think your GP will want to charge you for the letter.

I guess there would be many on here who would love to be on a poorly selling cruise, with lots of space and sunbed availability.

The last few cruises that we have been on, we have found no queues at all at the gangway, and only the usual crush in the baggage hall.

I assume that demand for cruises from North American passengers must have improved significantly otherwise the cruise lines would not be increasing their prices. Let's hope this trend does not spread across the pond.

Did not request assistance, and yes there were stubs, but no number although they were yellow, but there were about 5 yellow groups if my memory is correct.

I could not find a stub on my luggage labels, but was not asked for it and not prevented from disembarking from our July cruise.

You are missing my point. If the luggage and disembarkation is done by time, then passengers are only searching in one section of the luggage hall, rather than searching all over the place. This also means that if you disembark later your listed time, it is far easier to find your luggage, as it stands out like a little island in the empty sea.

Since you can choose your own disembarkation time then there is no possibility that arranging luggage by deck is ever going to be beneficial to luggage collection. However arranging disembarking and luggage by time slot will still enable passengers to choose their own time, and it makes it much easier for luggage collection with passengers no longer searching all over the baggage hall at the same time.

I assume they will try to squeeze in the usual 2 a week, we have had 10 planned on a 5 week Ventura cruise. However most passengers seem to start skipping a lot of the later ones, and the buffet does get busier.

Before your flight, because you dont see your luggage again into on the ship.

It works for Princess and the RCI ships at City Terminal, but P&O don't seem to want to learn from other cruise lines.