Selbourne

Sorry to hear that whilst you mentioned a lot of aspects of the food that you liked, your overall impression was very poor. We haven’t cruised on Arvia (and, in all honesty, aren’t intending to), but we have been on sister ship Iona. Whilst there were a number of things that we didn’t like about the ship, we felt that, with just a few exceptions, the food was very good. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that the food is probably one of the few reasons that we might go on her again! Maybe it’s because we live in a fairly expensive part of the country, but we have always found P&O drinks prices to be extremely reasonable. I appreciate that they probably pay less tax and duty than land based pubs and restaurants, but I think it’s unrealistic to expect them to pass all of those savings on to customers, especially with P&O cruise prices being so low these days. The wine by the bottle versus individual glass prices is down to the fact that you used to be able to buy a bottle and, if unfinished, it would be returned to your table the next time you dined. That facility has gone on almost all the ships now, so I actually see the pricing policy by the glass to be positive, as you aren’t penalised by being forced to order by the glass now. We have cruised on Britannia, Iona and Ventura this year and whilst some of the speciality restaurants have been a bit hit and miss, the main dining rooms have all been very good (we don’t use the buffet so can’t comment on that aspect). We are on Aurora in a few days time and will be interested to see how that compares.

We did a ships tour (and lunch) on Adonia whilst she was with P&O. We absolutely adored the ship and would have loved to cruise on her, but she was sold not long afterwards. We haven’t cruised with Azamara, but my understanding is that they are considerably more upmarket than P&O. The combination of a lovely intimate ship with an upscale operator sounds like a winner to me. Enjoy your cruise. It sounds fabulous.

Will do. As I say, I think they will accept it as the small print in their website says it’s OK (which we only know because another forum member found it). My beef is that not a single one of the many communications that we have had about this issue mentions it, with every single one stating that a GP letter is required and no other option given. Obviously this means that we can’t risk not having one, even though it should be unnecessary.

😱

Yes, force 8 is nothing for Aurora. We were on her in a force 11 and felt completely safe, unlike when we experienced the same on Azura and felt that the ship was going to be torn apart 😱

Yet it’s an internationally recognised Yellow Fever exemption certificate, which a GP letter isn’t 🤔

I can’t speak for Arvia, but on our last Britannia cruise almost everything changed from what was shown on the cruise personaliser, and none of it was down to weather or port changes! Usually it’s quite easy to work out when the formal nights are. Firstly rule out the first and last nights, as it’s never those. Then rule out port days. If, after doing all of that you are left with one clear sea day per week, then those are your formal nights. If you are left with more than one then it’s an educated guess, but they are usually well spaced, so that sometimes helps to predict them. Using the above methodology I usually get it right 90% of the time 😂

Yes that’s very true. From memory, the walls in the bathrooms are a moulded plastic rather than tiled which, as you say, makes them fixed. I wonder who decided that pink would stand the test of time 😂

It is, and therefore debating which ship, if any, might eventually replace that ship as adult only is naturally part of that discussion. It would be odd if it wasn’t. After all, when Adonia went Aurora was switched to Adult only.

On those month long cruises I’m not surprised that there are so few children, but the long Caribbean cruises only occupy a couple of months of the year. When the first of Aurora or Arcadia go, it would be nice for passengers seeking adult only normal length cruises to have a choice of more then one ship, but this of course assumes that P&O will still be targeting that market.

The bathroom furniture can be changed on Aurora. The reason I know this is because in one of our cabins we had a white toilet, surrounded by the usual pink everything else 😂 Agree that the TVs need upgrading, but can I add Ventura (and presumably Azura) to the two adult only ships? As far as I know, only Britannia, Iona and Arvia have anything approaching a decent TV!

1996 to 2009 for us 😂

Sorry to hear that you aren’t enjoying Aurora, but please don’t be put off P&O by this one experience. We love Aurora, but she’s getting on a bit now (in cruise ship terms) and I agree that the cabins are now unacceptably dated. The ship has a ‘classic’ cruise ship style that many of us love, but to others can be perceived as dated. Unlike hotels, ships move (sometimes quite a bit 😂) and movement sometimes causes issues with mechanical and other equipment, but we have always been impressed with the on board maintenance teams who work tirelessly to keep on top of these things (where they can - some issues require work in dock). The three newest P&O ships (Britannia, Iona and Arvia) have far better cabins with, for example, large, modern interactive TVs (picture quality and stability still isn’t great, but on demand films etc are fine). Iona and Arvia look and feel very modern in public areas. We didn’t like it at all, as we felt that it was like a modern conference hotel and lacked a ‘quality’ feel to it, but our adult kids did. Nothing like a retirement home, so you may feel more at home on those ships. Britannia is perhaps somewhere in the middle. More modern than the older ships, but more ship like than Iona and Arvia, although she doesn’t have a promenade deck which is a rather big negative for many. I’d suggest giving Iona or Arvia a go. Chalk and cheese compared to Aurora and in most respects they feel like a different company altogether. Sorry to hear about Alta. I agree that’s poor. Alta is lovely just to wander around, even if the shops are closed, but the main purpose of being there is to see the Northern Lights, which are far better seen on land than from the ship.

I would argue that P&O already have at least two different pricing structures. If you take Select fares, the two adult only ships are already considerably more expensive per night than the other ships. Arvia and Iona are the other extreme, with very keen prices. The remaining ships fall somewhere in the middle. Always exceptions, of course, but broadly that’s what happens. If Ventura became adult only, it wouldn’t need to carry as much of a price premium as Aurora and Arcadia do. As you have rightly reminded us on many occasions, the economies of scale of larger cruise ships generate far more profit, so a Ventura full of adults will generate far more profit than say Aurora.

Because just one screaming baby or unruly kid can ruin the ambiance of any bar or restaurant, and parents these days rarely remove the little oiks until they calm down, as we did when our kids were young 😂 On a serious note though, an adult only cruise is a positive selling point for many and can command a price premium (as happens at present). You can’t do that whilst there’s any chance of kids or babies on board, however few there may be in reality.

I should think that Britannia is too big to be made adult only, but Ventura and Azura are now relatively small ships by todays standards!

I was allowing for you in the small proportion that wouldn’t be OK with it Jean 😉

The suggestion was that a ship like Ventura could replace whichever of Arcadia or Aurora goes first, as an adult only ship. This would be perfectly possible and financially viable. Most Ventura cruises out of school holidays are already over 90% adults and you’d only need a small proportion of the displaced passengers from the ‘sold’ ship to replace the kids. I think that only a very small proportion of Arcadia or Aurora passengers would consider Ventura to be out of bounds, especially if it was an adult only environment.

We found the same. We were amazed how many kids were on board during school time. I overheard one elderly lady (possibly a retired teacher) proclaim “of course, the parents of these children will blame everyone but themselves for their children’s poor performance at school”! No point in doing it unless you ‘eradicate’. Adult only means just that!

I intend to only show our yellow books at embarkation in Southampton (mine shows I’ve been jabbed, my wife’s is an exemption). If they insist on a GP letter as well, we can produce it, but I wonder how many won’t have one. Equally, I wonder if any ports might question the validity of a GP letter if people haven’t got the proper yellow fever exemption page completed in the booklet. Why they have turned something simple into a confusing mess is beyond me.

Interesting. The issue I am flagging isn’t about bureaucracy though. It’s about P&O giving out inaccurate information. Their website clearly states that a Yellow Fever exemption can include a stamped exemption page in the vaccination booklet (which is correct). However, not a single one of the countless email communications that they have sent out regarding the need for a Yellow Fever jab has mentioned this. Every single one of them, without fail, has stated that the exemption must be by way of a GP letter. When I asked my TA to clarify this with them, they insisted that an exemption could only be a GP letter. We have therefore had to pay for one when it is totally unnecessary. Also, as somebody else pointed out, the irony is that if a country decides to check all of our Yellow Fever statuses before allowing disembarkation, they are far more likely to accept the worldwide recognised exemption in the vaccination booklet than a GP letter, which isn’t as official.

Good point. I think Ambassador do that?

Terrifying statistic and no wonder that everything is now stretched to breaking point. Growth like that is simply not sustainable. Any redundant cruise ships will be needed for housing!

Exactly this. The next generation of older cruisers won’t (on average) have even remotely the same level of income in retirement as current retirees. That’s why P&O have completely changed their marketing strategy and why, sadly, I can’t see them replacing the likes of Aurora and Arcadia when they go. The best we can hope for is, as somebody suggested, converting Ventura or Azura to an adult only ship.

It was the fjords which they loved. They just didn’t like the ship and the fact that they were around 50 years younger than the vast majority of other passengers!. In all fairness, whilst we love Aurora, we didn’t particularly like Arcadia either!