terrierjohn

You could switch to Princess, just turning up at the dining room when you want, and ignoring any pre bookings, you will 99% be taken to a table for 2. We like sharing tables but are having to almost demand they open a shared table for us if we want to share.

Agreed and at only 20 if Alcarez is still learning then he could end up very special indeed.

Who knows, however nearly all tennis seem to argue with the umpire about infringements, so maybe they don't know either!!

Mr Google says the next violation he loses a serve, then a point then a game then the match.

What is the punishment for this???

Why do I still cruise with P&O? As others have said between Nov and March the US ships are in the Caribbean, but maybe I will try MSC sometime. I have also found a couple of Princess offers that are not too dissimilar to P&O prices. So overall my P&O cruises are well down on previous years, and this would not have happened if they had been trying a little harder to keep older loyal cruises more satisfied with their standards. But more importantly having experienced the better offering that a Princess cruise provides, I may not be as keen to "suffer" the poorer standards on P&O in future.

Thankyou Jane that was quite informative, but I hope you realise my comment was made a little in jest, although I agree it was tinged with a little irony. 😇

I can enjoy a holiday in either 5 star luxury or 3 star standard, it just means I have to adjust my expectations. However many of my complaints about P&O reflect their inability to do things more professionally, and this would not require higher costs that need to be recovered in higher prices, eg the embarkation procedure and the way senior staff manage their junior staff. When I see other cruise lines doing things far better and without more staff, then I question their professionalism.

MSC and RCI cope with smaller terminals than Ocean and have 4000 - 5000 passengers, and offer far faster service than P&O, which is why we are complaining. If it was simply a capacity issue then your comments would be valid, but other cruise lines do not make their passengers suffer because of their inefficiencies, so why should P&O get away with such poor service?

I think the cocktail parties are for all Portunus club members, even pre covid they were far too crowded to be enjoyable. We intend to skip tomorrows on Princess to avoid the scrum.

It's a pity the company are not as keen on all their lines providing the same customer service. We are on Sky Princess at present and staffing levels seem much higher than on P&O, and the standard of service is significantly better.

I wonder do GPs get paid extra for every diabetic assessment they make?

Can only assume that a reduced child offer has now lapsed.

I think it is a generation thing, I used to wear shorts on holiday in the UK when we were a young family, but only in very hot weather. However both my sons have routinely worn shorts in summer when not working, and IMO they both look rather good in shorts, whereas I avoid looking in the mirror when I now wear shorts on holiday, even.though Mrs TJ encourages me to wear them.

Early boarding will not affect disembarkation, it's just that the other lines also do disembarkation better than P&O as well, sort of an ongoing issue here dont you think????😊😇

On the 3 newest ships you can check your on board spend via the TV, not sure about the 4 older ladies.

My experience on RCI and Celebrity was exactly as I have explained, they start boarding earlier than P&O, normally 11:00am or a bit earlier if they have finished disembarkation. Both allow you to choose your time of arrival, and we have never had our early request declined. What is different is that at City terminal security is done first, there is generally a queue here, but it seems to run quite smoothly and once into the check in lounge the check in process seems much slicker than P&Os. It is some time since we last cruised with RCI, 2019 pre covid, but we usually found that we were on board in 15 to 20 minutes from parking our car.

I have no idea how they do it, but they do, in which case maybe a P&O senior manager should wander over to their terminals and seek some help and advice on how to run a fast and efficient embarkation.

Only since Iona and Arvia have P&O had the biggest ships at Southampton, MSC and RCI both ships of almost 5000 capacity and they manage embarkation far better than P&O. That is my main complaint, holiday companies should be 100% customer focused and asking people to queue because they cannot manage a simple task is very unsatisfactory IMO.

Probably correct, however HA is the top grade and HF the lowest grade.

The hotline was fairly tepid, if not flipping cold the last time I was on Iona.

Dai, since you, like me, get priority embarkation, then we no longer have a right to criticise those who have not yet reached Caribbean level. I remember how frustrated I was that P&O were unable to manage their embarkation in anything like the speedy systems that most other cruise line manage at Southampton. They really do need to catch up with the other lines.

Moley, its OK saying to report such infringements to reception and someone will be with you promptly. My experience of ringing reception on Iona is that it can take up to 30 minutes for the phone to be answered. The reception phone number is the only one provided for everything, and for the first few days semaphore would probably get a speedier response.

Strange then that Princess still continue the formal night tradition, although they do have a more relaxed attitude to the dress code and do not fully enforce the tie and jacket requirement.

They seem to be accepted on Princess, there were a few in the MDR last night. However the men in shorts looked quite respectable, however a few of the girls would have looked better in a bell tent, shorts displayed way, way, way too much flesh.