terrierjohn

Quote:

I believe they may be over extending themselves and should consider a cheaper holiday.

This sort of off hand statement misses the advantage to somebody on a very very tight budget in that the cost of the cruise can be almost totally contained. And it can be a cheap holiday if managed carefully.

You are obviously quite a politician, taking this statement on its own and out of context like that.

Flags, badges, and labels are not enough for me to feel proud or part with cash. It does look like a very nice hotel from what I've seen online, but it doesn't look like a cruise ship.

 

There's nothing about "Hotel Britannia" that makes me want to choose her over another ship, quite the reverse in fact. If I get hooked on my upcoming cruise on Ventura, I'll be looking to book another place on something that feels it belongs on the seas, not on land.

Ventura is not really the prettiest ship afloat either,and Britannia is very similar to Ventura in many ways.

As regards it being built in Italy, I do hope that quite a large chunk of the fitting out cost was sourced from the UK, maybe P&O will gice us a breakdown sometime.

It depends. For many it's a trivial sum.

 

But we've sat at tables where there are couples who are grumpy that they couldn't book a mini-suite and had to settle with a balcony cabin because of availability - and others who have saved hard from a pension to share an inside cabin and are sticking with water in the MDR and not taking excursions and counting every penny.

I would not want to deny anyone the opportunity to take a cruise holiday, but if the cost of gratuities on P&O at £5pppd would be sufficient to break their bank then I believe they may be over extending themselves and should consider a cheaper holiday.

It probably would be far better if the cruise lines added it to the invoice price, however I believe this would more than double the current level of auto tips levied (see my post #90 on this thread) but I accept it would be fairer.

However this would likely create major problems for the hotel management if the current system of paying bar waiters a commission on drinks sold was maintained but stewards and MDR waiters were only paid a flat sum.

Perhaps those passengers who regularly chat to hotel staff could ask their steward/MDR waiter what they think of this idea next time they cruise.

Yes not just the balconies but all the ships side rails, this always worried me when our girls were younger. It was not however a problem on Aurora as the siderails are of a different design.

Perhaps this was one reason why they made Oriana adult only as it was not child safe.

 

Personally I wouldn't book a balcony cabin if I were taking young children as the temptation for them to climb may just be too much. I would just feel more relaxed and at ease without that possible worry.

On most ships it's only the promenade or boat deck that have rails, all the upper decks now have glass panels and they are too high for toddlers to climb over.

17 cabins per steward

34 passengers

£2.50 per person = £85 per day

30 days per month = £2,250

8 months contract = £20, 400

 

Mmm, makes you think!.

Your figures assume everyone pays the full amount, which I guess is quite unlikely so the actual amount will be much less. However it will still be well above what they could earn back home, but however much they "earn", it is no excuse for some passengers to opt out at the expense of those that do pay.

What a beautiful ship! I'd love to get a chance to sail on her someday.

Speaking of P&O, we were docked next to the Ventura last month in St. Maarten and were greatly entertained by their 'farewell' when they left the dock...or should I say, bye, bye baby, baby bye bye....LOL! The passengers were all on the top deck waving British flags and singing the Four Seasons hit song. Hilarious! We were on the 14th deck of the Oasis of the Seas. (click on the photo)

Yes that song gets quite a hammering on a lot of the "Great British Sailaways" on P&O, the version you heard though was probably the UK hit by the Scottish band the Bay City Rollers, quite a bit later and a very 70's group with short flared tartan trousers, but they did quite a good cover.

Yeah, the biggest issue I have with this whole concept is the implied obligation, particularly the double tipping. A tip in my mind should be an additional thank you for exemplory service. If I go to a restaurant and get a fanstastic meal and service, I tip accordingly. If it's mediocre, rushed, and without that personal touch, I just pay the bill. I should be free to do the same here, and certainly not have staff "hovering around" waiting for their envelope when you have already been billed for one set of tips as part of their basic wage.

 

I'll not be taking any envelopes aboard. I would have tipped for good service anyway if I wasn't already getting billed for it, but I'm not going to be emotionally blackmailed into giving two lots of tips out because people are waving envelopes about. A tip is a bonus, and a bonus is not automatic. Handing out envelopes demeans the first bonus (billed) to something taken for granted rather than a genuine show of appreciation.

First thing you should understand is that the "tip" on a cruise holiday is not actually a tip but the major part of the hotel staffs wages, just like American waitresses rely on their "tips" to make their wage up to acceptable standards.

Second thing is, if it were incoropraterd into the cruise price the company accountants would need to add the usual overhead charge to it, which in most large companies is at least 100%, which would of course double the cost.

So the moral of my story is just pay the auto tip, give extra if you think someone deserves it, or if it makes you feel better, but don't worry if you don't.

But be aware if you continue to demand change to make it fit your accepted idea of tipping it will end up costing you, and more importantly me, more money.

There is a rumour that P&O will publish the details of people who request removal of the auto tip in the daily Horizon!!!!!!!!!!;):rolleyes:

If you don't have free parking from X you can still get a good deal from the port, ABP parking are offering £99 for a 14 nt cruise, so this would apply to Celebrity and RCCL.

Doesnt really matter how many staterooms have been sold it all depends at what price and profit margin and nobody has the knowledge that 70% of all staterooms have been sold out only P&O and they arent going to say its selling poorly for obvious reasons . Like I said in my previous post it isnt good if they have to advertise 14nt cruises for £969 on the 11th April when less than a month old and to my knowledge apart from Maiden do not think any cruise is completely sold out.

Not sure why you think £969pp is indicative of P&O having to "fire sale" cabins, the launch price for inside cabins on B504 was £1149pp for select, or £1090 with the 5% launch discount. Select fares are now £1279 with saver fares at £969, which is in line with a lot of other cruise offers, and as Dai keeps saying, there are plenty where even the saver fares are now higher than the launch price.

I'm no P&O cheerleader, but this years late deals don't seem as low as some recent years have been, I just hope next years launch prices from Southamprton are not as galactic as sister line Princess's offerings.

PS also only just noticed that the only saver fares now available on this cruise are for insides, balconies and suites are now only available as Select fares, and at much higher prices than launch.

If the OP's supposition is correct then anyone able to book a cheaper deal on Azura should do. Yes the Britannia will be new and have extra features but in the Caribbean a balcony is, IMO, a must have and Azura's balconies are all at least 35% bigger than Britannia's and if you book a C deck cabin then you could comfortably fit 3 or 4 Britannia balconies on it.

I would imagine you can, I know Celebtrity permit switching, I would definitely ask.

The photos look exactly like the animations. It looks like a lovely interior design. The pool area looks like the Celebrity Eclipse. Its certainly much more contemporary than previous P&O ships.

 

 

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Yes it does look a little like Eclipse round the pool but it's missing those shady awnings that Eclipse has.

However I am impressed with how similar the decor looks to the computer simulations, I just hope they used enough glue to stick that icicle chandelier to the ceiling.

We received no OBC when we booked last April for Britannia this April, the current offer for our grade would have saved us £46pp, taking account of the current price and £120 pp select OBC. BUT we need an accessible cabin so we have no option but to book early, however the premium for early booking this year is much less than normal, so for us the pricing model does seem to have improved.

I couldn't agree more. The speculation, guesswork and probably duff information in this thread is not helpful to anybody, most importantly the bereaved family. I know it is a discussion forum but imo it is best to base discussion on evidence not supposition, including that published in the Daily Mail from a single source.

If supposition is good enough for politicians and the BBC news team, then it's good enough for me.:rolleyes:

Whatever the reasons for P&O offloading this particular passenger, I still feel that they could have offered to let the passenger and her family sign some sort of disclaimer, which would have allowed her to stay on board for the last 3 days until their departure port.

If they had we probably would only be hearing about the wonderful care and superb customer service that P&O had provided to this passenger and her family.

I hope that maybe someone on the P&O management is thinking the same.

If you refer back a few pages, I've done the math to show the issue is not going to be as bad as people think it will. All my figures came from Celebrity issued fact sheets for the ship.

 

On the S class ships, as shown by photos by Arno, on Reflection, they have NOT used the select dining seats upstairs, and instead are using one of the wings off the main dining room floor as you enter the DR. There is only a net loss of about 200 or so seats in the MDR field dining section, when you account for the suite guests who already were to be booked into the space still using the space. Factor in those guests who don't do MDR even though they have a seat waiting on them (i.e. specialties, buffet etc) there will still be empty, unused seats in the MDR. each night.

 

The number of select dining seats, at least on the S class redo, has remained unchanged it appears unless as you surmise they start putting some fixed diners upstairs. The lost seats are in the fixed sections, where many seats go unused every night anyway, likely more than the net loss of seats.

You're missing the point, Celebrity will tailor the number of fixed reservations to the seats available, which you state will be a nett loss of 200, but the slimmed down fixed dining MDR will lose far more than this. Which means there will be more many than 200 non suite guests who will need to be allocated to Select dining.

I accept that some of the reduced fixed diners will currently be suite guests, but by no means all of them. Similarly fixed diners who decide not to go to the MDR will not alleviate this problem.

The bottom line is there will be far more passengers placed on Select dining than currently, and no more seats available, the result will be longer wait times.

I rationalize it in that they are pampering suite guests to death, and charging cabin fares that come along with that.

 

Suite fares have gone up a lot, which is covering the costs associated with the perks being afforded.

 

Again it's clear the new Suite Program's primary goal is to make the Suite experience be anything and everything the Suite guest desires with no hassles, especially the higher category suites.

 

I have no problem at all with high paying suite passengers getting these extra perks, if I were paying their price for a suite I would want the same.

My only concern is that Luminae will result in a loss of seats in the MDR greater than the number of suite guests, resulting in select diners having longer wait times, because this is the area that will have to accomodate the reduced MDR size.

Selfish maybe, but the select diner is likely to be the only one to suffer in this change.

Kalos quoted

Mr Wright, a haulage contractor, said they struggled to get help from their travel insurance so were forced to pay for hotels and medical bills and claim it back later.

He added: ‘I had to transfer our savings to the hospital … The insurance company was taking too long."

Insurance companies, like cruise lines, are subject to scrutiny by their shareholders, so they will always want to ensure that they are not being asked to pay out more than necessary.

So why do you want to name and shame them more than P&O?

My bad, you are correct here.

 

Strange the letter talks about Select diners being affected, even though the space being worked on is in the assigned dining sections.

 

Definitely deck 3 starboard side on the S class.

Obvious to me, they will have reduced fixed diners in line with the reduced lower tier seating, meaning an increase in select diners and therefore longer waiting times.

My concern as a regular select diner is will this problem continue when the Luminae is fully operational, I suspect it will.

They maybe could alleviate possible select problems by insisting that suite guest only use Luminae, and if they want to use the MDR they need to swap with a steerage passenger.

Not a bad story it's the Mail and sensationalist rubbish.

 

The company, any cruise company are in difficulty when someone is Ill they have to disembark the passenger. The person who has the final say is the Dr. As he is personally responsible.

 

If they were not transferred and the worst happened then the law suits would be flying.

 

For the family this is a great tragedy for the rag that is the Daily Mail to publish the way they have is disgusting

I read the story and agree that the Mail has emphasised the worst aspects, as is traditional with all papers.

However I am concerned that after treating this lady for several days and with only 3 days left till San Francisco, the family's departure port, the P&O doctor saw fit to disemark this passenmger in Cabo San Lucas, which despite being a popular tourist resort still has basically a third world health service.

If it had been my wife I would certainly have been demanding they allowed her to stay on until San Francisco, as I am sure you would have been Dai.

Browsing today's papers I spotted an advert for our Sept Eclipse canaries cruise, where the cheapest balcony price is now £880pp more than we paid, or £800pp against the lowest grade.

Got me wondering how this compares to P&O so being a cruise price geek I checked as best I could from the launch brochure data.

Of the 3 Eclipse cruises to the Canaries this year their current offers for the lowest grade balcony cabins range from £500-£800pp higher than the brochure launch price, which can be bettered for previous cruisers. There was one exception on a 10th Oct 11nt cruise, Celebrity are offering a 2D cabin for £1399pp vs brochure price of £1299, for other grades the price is £500pp more.

P&O have 3 cruises over the same period and their prices vary from a saving of £200pp on a Ventura 12nt, £75pp more on a Britaania 11nt cruise, and £280pp more on a Britannia 14nt cruise.

I chose the same destination for fairness and I think it clearly shows that Celebrity's pricing policy is much fairer to early bookers than is P&O's.

All obstructed OV cabins on Ventura and Azura are on E deck, as far as I know.

I've used the loss of 300 seats in the upper deck as the amount of lost space. Just assumed all select ding up there is now gone on M class. S class, half those - 1 wing gone. ...................

................

I'm envisioning fewer fixed dining seats and some of those being converted to Select dining over time. Not sure if there will still be any select dining upstairs or not on M class ships, but S class will still have half of the current seating there.

Have I missed a new post from Celebrity?

I thought the last one said that on S class Luminae was being carved out of deck 3, the lower level of the MDR, currently housing fixed dining, leaving the upper select area untouched.

There are quite a lot of cynical posts on this thread, personally I applaud the return of the chocolates as an indication of Celebrity's committment to customer service, but equally I agree with most of the sentiment in the CEO's letter.

There is no doubt in my mind that Celebrity's service is well ahead of the other 2 main stream lines I regularly sail on, and I do not feel that standards have slipped very much in my 8 years on Celebrity. But my recent experience is only on Eclipse in the UK which I understand regularly tops the satisfaction lists within the group, so maybe I have been lucky.