terrierjohn

Moley says the new app was rolled out on Britannia, so P&O presumably did think it was suitable for ships other than the Excel class.

Must be for HS2 preparity work.

Actually I doubt I would have any problem on the laptop, however mine is old and very slow, so I generally use my smart phone. Strangely changing the font size does work on most other websites, but poor old decrepit CC has a mind of it's own.

I was doing a dummy booking quite recently and it would only let me book a guarantee cabin on select. As the OP points out you may as well book a saver fare if that's the case.

It would be interesting to test this Selbourne, I suspect the answer would be that the virtual queue length would still increase at busy times probably to a point where passengers would be totally frustrated because IMO the MDRs on both new ships are not big enough to cope with peak demand.

A very wet and soggy morning here today, and forecast to remain so most of the day. On a different topic, does anyone know if you can adjust the viewing font size on CC. I can change my screen output font but can only increase font by enlarging the screen and over running the edge.?

I also quite like the virtual queuing on the app. however with a limited number of tables in the MDR and also allowing pre booking means that many tables are left unused for lengthy periods, this reduces the throughput and exacerbates the queuing delays that no one wants. Many passengers like this pre booking facility, especially since it allows them to enjoy the certainty that fixed dining gives them, but enables them to decide their own start time and not be restricted to the rigid early and late start times. I don't know how to square this particular circle, but IMO these 2 incompatible features cannot be allowed to continue.

I assume your last 2 sentences refer to free standing sat navs, compared to built in ones. Although I would guess there are still more cars sold in the UK without built in sat navs, and most older cars will not have one built in.

Hopefully back to the turn up when you want, and if prepared to share, get seated immediately.

Only time will tell whether P&O are able to fill the new ships, and at affordable prices that generate a reasonable profit. Personally I believe they will, because as in all the many other financial and economic crises that I have witnessed over the years, they only seiously affect less than 20% of the population, while the rest still seem to be able to afford holidays.

What you forget is that P&O is part of Carnival, as is Princess who offer lots of Med fly cruise options during the summer. If P&O were to offer more Med Fly cruises than the Azura eastern Med ones. they would more than likely be taking customers from Princess, not really a sensible corporate approach.

I doubt that any cruise line offers a speciality restaurant that is not a viable profit centre. They may be small but they do create significant revenue, with only a marginal increase in food and labour costs.

There are 5200 plus people on both Arvia and Iona, the Skydome can probably accmodate no more than 100 people around the pool area with the number of loungers available in anything like comfort.. So the remaining 5100 plus are not sitting around there just drinking.

It seems to favour tables for 2, but we like to share tables for dinner in the MDR, but it only seems to let you book before about 6:30pm. We tend to dine later, as well as at different times depending how we feel, so pre booking is not really suitable.

If you say so, but the cruise industry have a different opinion.

Because its measured against lower berth capacity.

TBH I prefer the P&O virtual queue system for dining, rather than the Princess Dine my Way abhoration. At least with the P&O one you do get 2 options, often the virtual queue works well, and when it doesn't you can just turn up and hope for the best, whereas with Princess we found that we could never pre book a sharing table at a time we wanted around 7:00pm, so only had the hope for the best queue. As for the medallion it was great for opening the door, but for everything else you still needed a smart phone.

IMO they are not too risky, holidays are always high on the list for everyone in the West, and becoming more usual in the developing countries. Add to that the fact that the share price collapse was based on the possible bankruptcy due to the pandemic, however the then swift recovery the world economy made will soon mean that the likes of Warren Buffet will see there are major short term profits to be made as these companies shares begin to respond to current factors rather than the now very unlikely collapse of a major cruise line.

I don't remember us having one, once we reached Baltic and maybe even before, so maybe there is something that triggers an invite for newbie Caribbean level loyalty members. Or is that asking too much of P&Os IT dept?

I take it you don't agree that Cunard, Seabourn, HAL, and AIDA are more upmarket than P&O then?

I think I agree with you, however I imagine that P&O are concerned that if they allow a refund for PE passengers, then very likely those in economy without in flight entertainment will also be clamouring for refunds.

Graham I think I owe you an apology for ridiculing your choice of baked beans over mushy peas with fish and chips. My wife decided she was tired of mushy peas yesterday and requested baked beans instead, and I have to say they were as good if not better. But please don't tell anyone as I might face having my Yorkshire citizenship revoked if this get out!!!

You need her Peninsular number to use via the cruise personaliser.

I no longer do fly cruises, and since I am only just about 5ft 9in, I was always happy with economy when I did fly, so maybe I am not the right person to comment on this situation. However I believe that P&O did hope that TUI would be able to supply all the flights needed, and only when it became apparent this was not going to be possible did they seek an alternative. And as the saying goes "beggars can't be choosers" and presumably available carriers did not have the PE or IE planes that would have been their preferred choice. That's unfortunate but it is what it is.

I always wonder about financial investment companies, if they really could predict successfully, surely they would keep it to themselves so they kept all the profits. I remember that the one my AZ shares ended up with, would regularly have them down as a weak hold or sell, whilst GSK were always a buy. If I had followed their advise I would have lost a heck of a lot of money. So I tend to go by gut feel, and my gut at the moment says that cruising will be very profitable over the foreseeable future, and that despite their significant debt, knowledgeable investors will consider them a safe haven for capital growth.