Selbourne

Interesting. We haven’t been on Britannia since 2017, but on all 3 previous cruises on her the crepes Suzette in Epicurean were flambé’d table side in exactly the same way as they were in Princess Grill last week. We are on Britannia in July, so will see if Epicurean is still as good as we remember it. I hope, so as we intend to use it quite a bit over our 14 nights!

That’s excellent news. Many thanks for confirming. Stopping it under the excuse of it being a Covid measure was laughable. At least those tenuous excuses can’t be used any longer!

My comments weren’t related to MDRs on either line. I was simply trying to establish if flambé dishes had returned in Epicurean and, if not, whether the excuse for its continued absence made any sense.

When we were last on Aurora the toilet had definitely been replaced. Easy to tell as it was white and stood out from the rest of the bathroom which is a very dated pale pink / peach colour 😂

Are the dishes (that state as such) now back to being carved or prepared at the table (e.g. Crepes Suzette)? I recall reading that it was one of the many “because of Covid” cutbacks, some of which have become permanent. We were on Cunard last week and a la carte dishes (inc flambé’d dishes) were prepared table side. Interestingly, there was also an evening cabin service every day (in addition to the morning) which included chocolates 🤔

I think that’s happening already.

I think the term “multi £ million” when it comes to refits can imply something far more than it is. With something the size of a cruise ship, just replacing carpets and selected soft furnishings will always run into a multi £m cost! The most recent refits were trumpeted as multi £m refits and the changes, from what I read, were purely cosmetic!

I agree that the disembarkation process was absolutely brilliant on QM2 and took away all of the hassle that puts a downer on your last few hours on other cruise ships. It’s a shame that P&O don’t adopt it.

In all honesty, if I saw someone wearing a T-Shirt with that logo on it I would be fearful of offering them assistance, even if I felt that they needed it.

Unfortunately, a very small number of disabled people have a sense of entitlement or ‘rights’ that must rub some of the crew up the wrong way when they are doing their level best to help. We have used some very steep ramps to get on and off ships, including last week when we were in Liverpool on QM2. Many organisations would say that it was too unsafe and those unable to walk on and off the ship unaided must remain on the ship. However, two members of staff got my wife on and off, one controlling the wheelchair and the other holding that persons back. We both always make a point of thanking them most sincerely as I know from experience that it’s really hard work.

I didn’t mean to cause offence by using the term carer. What I was trying to say was that P&O make it very clear that anyone who needs assistance must not rely on staff and must travel with a companion who can assist them. That being said, there is absolutely no excuse for staff standing idle whilst someone is clearly struggling. We haven’t been on Iona yet, but we have been on around 20 P&O cruises, most of which have been since my wife became disabled, and we have never experienced any of the attitudes that you came across. in fact, quite the opposite. Some cruise reviews suggest that there may be staffing shortages on the larger ships or, more likely, P&O have decided to work on tighter staff ratios on these ships in order to improve profitability. We shall find out for ourselves when we are on Iona in August. It’s a shame if this has put you off cruising. I’d like to think that your poor experiences on Iona are not representative of the usual high levels of service that P&O provide to disabled passengers. Levels of assistance may be better on some of the smaller ships but, being older, they weren’t constructed with the needs of disabled passengers taken into account in the same way as the newer ships, so present their own challenges.

Given where you live I can see that makes a lot of sense. Thankfully we are less than 2 hours from Southampton, and it’s always a breeze of a journey, so no need for hotels. Most of our cruises are 14 nighters, but we have just returned from 5 days on QM2 and amazingly we felt as though we had been on her for double that time. Something about cruises where time seems to slow down!

That’s a great shame, as one of the reasons why we use P&O is that they deal with people with disabilities so well, far better in fact than other types of holiday. My wife is a full time wheelchair user and cruising is the only type of holiday where she feels safe and (mostly) comfortable. From memory, P&O make it clear that anyone who needs assistance must travel with a carer to assist them and not rely on the staff. Obviously that is a challenge if you are solo and don’t have someone with you to assist. Even with a carer, certain things (such as getting onto the Promenade deck through heavy sprung doors and over thresholds) can still be problematic. Whilst there are rarely staff on hand to assist with such things when you need help, I always find that a kind hearted fellow passenger always offers to help, for which we are always most grateful.

I wish I had twigged on the ship. I saw you a couple of times with the bear and one time you were sat in the G32 nightclub during the daytime on your iPad when I was showing my wife the areas of the ship that she hadn’t yet seen. I said good morning to you as we walked past but am now kicking myself that I didn’t realise who you were as I would have stopped to have a chat. I hope that you enjoyed the cruise as much as we did.

That’s good to hear. As you know it was our first non-P&O and therefore first Cunard cruise. We were hugely impressed with many things that we felt Cunard do better and the disembarkation process was one of them. We thought that it is strange that as the two cruise lines are part of the same company why best practice from one isn’t adopted by the others. Bit of a random question, but given your user name (the penny having just dropped), were you by any chance the lady who was accompanied by a teddy bear? 🤔

I’m not suggesting that you are trying to do this, but those who try to ‘play’ the assisted boarding service in order to try to queue jump can often find that it backfires plus, of course, it delays those who genuinely need the service. We disembarked Queen Mary 2 yesterday, which is relevant as they use the same shore based assistance staff as P&O. During the cruise, my wife was one of only a very small number of wheelchair users on the ship. We also saw very few people with walking difficulties. However, when we went to the Golden Lion (the area used for assisted disembarkation) it was absolutely rammed with people who all of a sudden needed assistance to walk the very short distance off the ship. We have noticed this on every P&O cruise we have done as well. We arrived after our designated disembarkation time as we were a little late leaving breakfast and my heart sank when I saw the crowds waiting for assistance, because I cannot push my wife and our luggage at the same time. I went to the assistance desk to ask if there were porters available, with a view to pushing my wife off the ship myself and getting assistance in the luggage hall. Anyway, as we had arrived after our designated time, we were allocated a ‘pusher’ immediately and taken straight off the ship without even needing to wait at all, whilst all those in the assistance lounge continued to wait. As we disembarked I noticed that there were virtually no queues at all, so those not needing assistance would have been walking straight off, whereas by requesting assistance and arriving early for it most likely resulted in a delay.

👍 I thought that a week wouldn’t be long enough for you Dai 😂

In all honesty, there is no difference in ease of payment paying as you go versus using a package, as whilst you sign for your drinks you just pay one bill at the end of the cruise. Family members were absolutely convinced that they were going to get the drinks package on their first P&O cruise. They drink a lot more than we do. Anyhow, I explained the numerous restrictions (that exclude much of what we drink, for example) and that drinks on P&O are very reasonably priced. They eventually listened to me, bought what they want when they wanted it and kept a log of all expenditure in order to prove me wrong! However, they thanked me when they got back as they saved a fortune by not paying for the package. I read a review the other day of someone who bought the drinks package and was most unhappy, feeling that they had been ripped off due to all the restrictions that they foolishly hadn’t researched properly.

Will all those of you on the 30th June cruise please ensure that any issues on board are ironed out, especially any to do with Freedom Dining, as we board Britannia for 2 weeks the day that you disembark 😉

There is a time limit on automatic refunds for cancelled tours or restaurants. I think it’s three days before the event. It may be that an exception is made for special events causing a clash, hence the manual process so that you don’t lose out?

No. Both adults have to have the alcohol package. Be aware that there are lots of restrictions in addition to the price and number of drinks limits. For example, no doubles and no premium mixers, just the cheap and nasty pump dispensed ones.

Ditto. Arrived 1130. Had to check in as couldn’t online. Through security and on ship at 1150. Lovely lunch in Princess Grill. Very quiet and civilised. Walked through the buffet afterwards. That looked the same as P&O on embarkation day ! Golden Lion looked pretty busy also. Great to be back at sea after 3 and a half years and lovely to see Aurora next to us (and Arcadia in the distance). Wishing all those who are on those ships a fabulous cruise. Sitting in the sun on our balcony passing the Isle of Wight 👍

😱

Two Union Jack flags in the cabin and a few things on screen around the ship. Not noticed much else yet but maybe it will crank up before the weekend. Street Party yet to be finalised, according to Concierge

correct. We’ve just passed Calshot and are doing the S bend before Cowes!