Selbourne

Worth noting that, as with afternoon tea, the loyalty tier cocktail parties won’t be appearing on Iona and Arvia.

And two Auroras (this one at Loch Ness, which I don’t think the real one goes to) 😂

Interesting that the small print says that neither afternoon tea or loyalty cocktail parties will take place on either Iona or Arvia, and it sounds as though that’s a permanent thing.

We’ve had the same issue in Blue Badge spaces. My wife’s disability started to affect her badly in her late 40’s, early 50’s (although she would have had what would now be described as ‘hidden disability’ initially) but has been a full time wheelchair user since mid 50’s. The ones who glare are often those who have acquired a blue badge due to age related infirmity, rather than life changing disabilities in mid-life. Like you, I will take my time whilst they continue to glare and then it’s funny how they look away awkwardly when I unload the wheelchair. In all honesty, we find that 99% of cruise passengers are very considerate to wheelchair users, but we’ve not been on Iona or Arvia yet! We have had people jump in front of us to get in a lift and disembarkation day is a nightmare. Like you, after a 20 minute wait with countless packed lifts, I have asked a whether anyone is able to manage the stairs, but nobody has ever offered to alight, even if they only have light hand luggage. We have had to resort to going up in order to come back down. It is also true that some wheelchair users (and pushers) can be very rude though, expecting the crowds to part before them like Moses with the Red Sea. I just use “excuse us please” and that usually suffices. My wife often says “sorry” when people have to move to one side when we get in a lift (people don’t realise that lining up along the back doesn’t work) but I try to dissuade her as most people are quite understanding and those who aren’t certainly don’t deserve an apology. The worst example that we saw of rude wheelchair users was on Aurora, where a chap had fitted a loud horn to his wife’s wheelchair and sounded it regularly as he was trying to make his way through crowds. I saw the funny side of it and whenever my wife criticised my wheelchair piloting I would threaten to get one, but my wife was horrified and insisted that we never went near them or in a lift with them 😂

Yes I can imagine all of that and more! Hence the need to find a way to clearly separate pre-booked (which should move quickly) from walk-ins (which won’t). Sounds as though on Arvia the pre-booked are stuck behind Auntie Ethel, either virtually or physically! I shall be very interested to hear how you find Iona as we are on her in August. If there are problems off season in March then I can see us booking the extra cost dining venues for all 7 nights in August 😂

That’s very interesting. Thanks. We have been on 3 cruises on Britannia and I had no idea that they were offering that facility. Seems odd when they have a dining room offering fixed dining anyway, but I get the point about utilising down time in Freedom dining. We always dine much later, so maybe that’s why we’ve missed it. Is it the case that they only offer this facility for very early diners on Arvia and Iona? If so, I wonder what the cause is of the queues being reported on Arvia? The other two issues being reported are the fact that the pre-booked and walk-up queues seem to be merging and, as you say, Arvia has less MDR options. If so, they should be able to resolve the first of those issues, but the second one will be less easy to fix. Regarding QM2, no we haven’t cruised on her, just done a ships tour. We have, however, booked Britannia Club on Queen Anne as we like the concept. As you say, cabins are the same size, so P&O could contemplate it and use one of the smallest dining rooms, but with the shift in market position that P&O is adopting I suspect that you are right that there wouldn’t be enough people willing to pay the premium. Thinking about it, it’s why we will no longer book suites on P&O. If paying that sort of price we would now rather look at other operators.

I agree. Even if there’s not enough demand for fixed dining to fill one of the two MDRs, perhaps they could section an area off in one of them. Cunard do a similar thing on QM2 between Britannia and Britannia Club. As you say, that would satisfy those who like the same table and time every night, whilst leaving the bulk of the MDR provision as Freedom dining, operating as it should. We use Freedom dining on the other ships because it works really well, and we vary our dining times based on port departure times (we like to watch the departures from our balcony) and how hungry we feel. From the reports I am reading, it strikes me that in trying to pacify those who like fixed dining (which isn’t advertised as being available on Arvia and Iona) they are causing problems for those who use Freedom Dining (which is advertised) - hence the queues.

If you read the posts by TigerB, including the Arvia TA thread, you will see that he was able to make MDR bookings for the whole cruise prior to boarding, and others have reported similar. No prizes for guessing why there are long queues for the MDR when the system isn’t being operated as intended (I.e. freedom dining, first come, first served)!

Another great review. Many thanks. As a fellow husband of a full time wheelchair user, I completely relate to your frustrations about lifts on cruise ships, but you need to brace yourself for ‘incoming’. Whenever anybody raises this they are usually inundated with comments about ‘hidden disabilities’ and lifts being there for everyone. You have been warned 😉

Looks like you can book any of the P&O ships then, as it appears that those ships with freedom only dining are allowing people to pre-book fixed tables at a time of their choosing for the entire cruise (well, that’s certainly happening on Arvia)!

Based on recent comments about portion sizes in the MDRs, if you add a desert and cheese to that you may not need to do a raid of the buffet later in the evening 😂

It’s the same with all pre cruise purchases (excursions, dining etc). You get your loyalty discount but cannot use OBC. If you make any purchases on board it works differently. Any OBC is deducted first, and then your loyalty discount only applies to any outstanding balance. Why the difference? Win, win for P&O 😉

Given that the ability to have breakfast in Epicurean is one of the few perks of being in a suite, this seems a very odd move. We have used suites multiple times, but we no longer feel that they are worth the price premium, given the overall changes in the product that P&O now offers. Paying that amount per night gets us on Cunard in Britannia Club, which is what we are switching to next year to compare and contrast. However, being able to pay half the price of a suite (with a Balcony cabin) and pay £8.50 to dine in Epicurean seems like a good deal, but I’d be pretty miffed if I’d paid for a suite and then found that this option was available to anybody!

On our first cruise (Oriana 1996) people were commenting on how big she was compared to Canberra. I wonder how many years before people are talking about things being different on the new ships compared to the smaller ships like Iona and Arvia? 😂

Certainly much better than it was during the Truss debacle, but as recently as 15 years ago it was 2 dollars to the pound and the broad trends have been downwards ever since!

I think you may have hit the nail on the head. Allow bookings for the quieter / less popular times, thus pulling pressure away from the peak times?

😱 😂

Interesting and further confirms my concerns. People making block bookings at the restaurant desk and the staff having to work around ‘reserved’ tables, along with the issues that Eglesbrech raised, all result in a much slower and less efficient process than the first come, first served process that has worked so well for decades!

Now that international travel has opened up again, I think that there will start to be some correction in U.K. pricing as people will refuse to pay some of the inflated prices. We rent a very nice property on the Isle of Wight for two separate weeks of the year. Being retired, we can avoid school holidays and the prices are therefore reasonable, albeit they have increased quite a bit. However, I find it interesting that the property is pretty much fully booked for the whole of this year, with the sole exception of the school summer holidays, which would usually be the first to be booked in any U.K. holiday home. The reason? The prices for one week at this time are now around £2,000. Bearing in mind that it’s self catering, once you add on the cost of dining out every day, ferry travel etc it would be cheaper to go on a cruise. Ok, neither the cruise accommodation nor the food are anywhere near as good as what we enjoy on the Isle of Wight, but I know what my kids would have preferred when they were at school!

Thanks again. That’s incredibly helpful. I had absolutely no idea that you could pre book the MDR for the entire cruise before you even sail. Whilst I can see that being useful and reassuring, I can also see it as being the cause of many of the MDR problems that are being reported, as any people will inevitably change their plans during the cruise (dining time or choice of restaurant) yet not cancel their original bookings as you did. It completely explains why people are waiting a long time for a table, only to find the restaurant half empty when they eventually get in! I’m staggered that this hasn’t been debated at length on this forum, especially as there’s a tendency to debate at considerable length matters that have far less impact on the cruise experience! I really feel that P&O will need to review this. We have never experienced the long queues or delays that people are reporting, but neither has there ever been the ability to block book tables before. I can’t help but feel that the two issues are directly related. However, now that I know that you can pre-book the MDR I will do as you did and then cancel if we change our plans (assuming that the same system will be in operation on Iona in August).

Especially if you want to go to the USA, given the strength of the dollar / weakness of Sterling.

A brilliantly written and highly informative review. Thank you for doing it. We haven’t cruised since the introduction of the booking app, but have two P&O cruises booked for this year (inc one on Iona) and I am a bit confused about the MDR arrangements. Perhaps you could clarify? I knew that MDRs on Iona and Arvia are Freedom Dining only and I was under the impression that you join a virtual queue each night as and when you want to dine. However, you mention that you booked tables for dinner for every night before the cruise. I had no idea that it was possible to book the MDR prior to even joining the cruise. I also assumed that you had to book each evening as it came, and had no idea that you could pre-book every night in one go. Were these things unique for that cruise or are they a standard thing now? Also, I didn’t realise that you had to pre book a table for breakfast rather than just turn up. Is that another new thing on all cruises and does the same apply to lunch in the MDR? Several reviews seem to mention long waits and yet when they get to the MDR there are loads of empty tables. It strikes me that this will be as a result of this new approach, as people will block book and then change their plans, but many won’t cancel MDR tables as you did. Perhaps I’m missing something? I was also interested to read that your wife uses a wheelchair as mine does also. I’ve seen screen shots of the booking app and I think there’s an option to select if you have a wheelchair user. My worry about that is that you always end up with poor tables in high flow areas, which we hate. My wife’s wheelchair is a bit narrower than most and we can easily get to most tables. Any tips or reassurance based upon your experiences would be most welcome.

I can understand your disappointment. A suite is a big financial commitment and you shouldn’t have to feel that you are making a compromise, especially if the compensation for being bumped from your chosen suite is negligible. The suite that you have been offered is a lower grade suite than the one you booked. On that basis, your cruise fare should be reduced, on top of any compensation offered. Hopefully you have also been made aware that the balcony is steel fronted (rather than glass) which will affect the outlook and the balcony cannot be used in strong winds. It is also directly underneath the bridge. Hopefully, not only has your TA alerted you to these points, but they should have used them to negotiate a better compensation deal for you. If you are deciding to go ahead then I’m sure that you will have a very enjoyable cruise. We have had two forward suites on Britannia (admittedly with glass fronted balconies to the side) and both times we enjoyed the suite far more than we did the one aft suite that we had on the same ship (which we had multiple problems with and wouldn’t book again). Forward suites are blissfully quiet (important on a busy ship) and also provide a unique perspective on where you are going, rather than where you have been! We would much prefer a forward suite over a more expensive suite on the side of the ship, which affords no special view and can suffer from noise from passengers passing your suite at night. You will also be the first to board the ship (helpful for securing those critical dining reservations) and will be able to enjoy a relaxing breakfast in Epicurean (assuming that’s where suite passengers dine on Arvia). Enjoy!

I have no knowledge of the airline industry, but find it hard to believe (and quite frightening if true) that an entire cabin crew on a plane could be brand new, given that they are safety critical roles. If it was a maiden flight of a brand new aircraft there’s no way that they’d all be newbies on their first flight! And we are talking about a maiden cruise with over 1,000 crew, of which many hundreds will have served on other ships, so not really a relevant comparison anyway!

If, as you seem to be suggesting, it is known that a P&O ship will not be finished and ready for its maiden voyage, why do they carry a price premium? If that’s the case, surely they should be offered to regulars at a hefty discount to ‘road test’ it, making it clear that it’s a learning exercise. Expecting passengers to pay a premium for what is effectively a ‘shake down cruise’ seems contradictory. With all due respect, this sounds more like making implausible excuses after the event. We were booked on the very original Iona maiden cruise, cancelled due to Covid. At no stage was it made clear to us that the cruise might be a learning exercise. We rightly expected the finished product. P&O seem to be overlooking one of the golden rules of business - that you only get one chance to make a first impression.