Selbourne

I’m fully aware of that, but I was referring to the mess that P&O have now made to Freedom Dining. What was a simple system of first come, first served (that we loved and always worked well for us) has now morphed in to a mix of fixed dining (on some ships, people can reserve tables at early times in the Freedom Dining restaurants), bookings made via the app that isn’t an app, pagers and walk-ins. Having tried the new system and experiencing the chaos that can ensue, like many others, we have ditched it and reverted to fixed (Club) dining which, having enjoyed proper Freedom Dining for many years previously, I never thought we would do.

What a sensible idea. Far better than the crazy situation that P&O have got themselves in by having fixed dining, reservations, pagers and walk ins all operating in the same dining room, because they are too bloody minded to acknowledge that the original Freedom Dining system that they had before worked far better 🤔😂

I bought a couple of individual 24 hour periods of the basic essentials plan at the end of last year on Ventura. It was absolutely fine. It even let me do voice calls and video calls via WhatsApp.

I could fancy a round Ireland cruise, but tender ports would be problematic for us as my wife cannot use them.

I’ve now had the revised booking confirmation from our TA showing the $250 OBC (Cunard) has been added. Interesting that you get more OBC with Cunard than P&O. In my case, using Stockperks was a much slower and more frustrating experience than applying to Carnival directly, but at least it’s done now. I reckon that the OBC that I’ve been credited with in the first year that I’ve owned the shares is now over 150% of the total cost of the shares, and the shares themselves have increased in value by over 50% so, in total, I’ve trebled my investment in 12 months. I wish that all my other shares in the past had been as lucrative 😂

Thanks for the review. Very interesting. If anything, the food sounds far worse than when we were on board. I had hoped that things might improve with 40% of the crew changing after our 65 nighter. I’m pleased to hear that you enjoyed the cruise in spite of everything. As I was reading your review, I thought that you were going to end with “so that will be our last cruise with P&O” 😂

Even though their stance on smoking and vaping will ensure that we never book a Fred Olsen cruise, it’s interesting to see the price comparisons. I have no doubt that the MDR food may be better, but Jean is paying double what we have been paying lately for a balcony cabin on P&O for an inside on Fred Olsen, even after allowing for the OBC.

We have been on Aurora, Iona, Britannia and Ventura over the last year and the MDR in 3 of them was very good - the sole exception being Aurora.

We haven’t been to Visby, but there’s not a lot to see at Skagen. It’s quite pleasant, but the town has the look of a designer outlet village! I love Baltic cruises, and suspect that the next cruise that we book with P&O will be one, but it’s a shame that since St Petersburg has been dropped they still do a 2 day stop somewhere. I’d rather do an additional port, as nowhere else holds enough interest for me to warrant 2 days. We’ve also done Copenhagen to death (a bit like Lisbon).

With respect, I bet I could smell it.

Well I’m staggered. Even those that don’t emit the smoke clouds still smell, and imagine walking in to a cabin on embarkation day to find that the previous occupant has vaped in it 🤢. As we all know, give people an inch and they’ll take a mile, so you can bet your bottom dollar that this already relaxed rule will be stretched. I’m grateful to you for flagging this.

Yes, the same thought crossed my mind. They probably see it as a unique selling point as it’s the polar opposite stance that all the other lines take. Great if you are a smoker / vaper, but not for me I’m afraid.

Many thanks for the info. I have as much of an issue with e-cigarettes as I do normal cigarettes, so the fact that they will still allow them on balconies (and in cabins???, surely not?) continues to rule them out for me. I find the smell of both to be revolting, even when I’m some distance from them and not directly getting ‘smoke’, so it’s a risk that I just wouldn’t take - even if they were half the price of P&O! As the only cruise line that allows this sort of thing, their liberal attitude will attract a higher percentage of those who smoke or vape, which would compound the issue.

I’ve always said that I wouldn’t walk around the ship with a part used bottle of wine as it looks naff, but you’ve got me thinking now 😂. All joking aside, I bet that plenty of people have wised up to that cunning ruse. Just one of the unintended consequences of the policy change, another being that we find that we now spend much less on wine than when we could always have a white and red on the go and have them within minutes of sitting down 🤔

Thanks. They shall remain off our list until at least that time!

I’d be staggered if they wouldn’t do this for you.

I would also be interested in the price comparisons, but as Jean usually books an inside cabin on P&O I can’t imagine that she’s booked a cruise at anything approaching some of the prices suggested. I’ve never considered Fred Olsen as on the two occasions I have asked they still allowed smoking on balconies. I remember the days when our use of the balcony was ruined by smelling cigarette smoke, and nowadays you have the added issue of vapes as well. Does anyone know if they’ve moved with the times and banned smoking and vaping on balconies yet?

I have since discovered that some (but not all) ships now hold unfinished bottles in club dining only. For example, on Aurora last month they would, but on Britannia they wouldn’t. It appears to no longer be possible on any ships for freedom dining. However, the revised prices mean that a 250ml glass works out at one third of the price of a bottle, so there’s no money to be saved by buying whole bottles (other than through wine packages - but choice is restricted with those).

The private dining room is behind the Glasshouse, not Sindhu. We have dined in there several times and it’s quite small (capacity around 12). The room is also used as a meeting room by senior officers (daily briefings etc) so I don’t think it would be available for private hire. Worth asking, I guess, but as I say it’s very small. The only venue that springs to mind is the Uganda Room, behind the Crows Nest. That is rarely used and seems like the obvious place. It could certainly take 23 people. The only issue I can foresee is that it’s miles from any dining venues, so catering options may be a bit limited.

Confirmation just received that OBC has been applied (having complained about how longs it was taking). Will await confirmation from TA before considering it done!

Could be. Mine are with Hargreaves Lansdown. Doesn’t explain the delay in getting OBC applied once the shareholding has been verified though?

Did you apply direct or via Stockperks? Have to say I am deeply unimpressed with Stockperks. I registered and uploaded proof of shareholding. Took well over a week to get it recognised and that was only after I chased them. Once that was done I applied for shareholder OBC for a Cunard cruise. That was a couple of weeks ago. I’ve heard nothing. When I used to apply direct to Carnival the response was far quicker.

Peter - people who are not disabled might answer yes to your suggested question! With respect, what you are concerned about (those who don’t have a genuine need for an accessible cabin getting one) is already covered in P&Os booking conditions. When we book an accessible cabin it is made clear that anyone booking one who does not have a genuine need for one is liable to have their booking cancelled with no refund. Our P&O insider has also confirmed that P&O has clamped down on this. I wonder if you are worrying about a problem that no longer exists?

As using a mobile phone at the wheel in the U.K. is now deemed a very serious (and reckless) offence, carrying a 6 point penalty (or worse if you cause an accident), I agree that it comes as a shock now when travelling overseas to find drivers texting or making calls whilst driving. On our recent cruise, where we visited 21 different countries, I witnessed this in almost all of them when on excursions. I must confess that I didn’t make a compliant, but I certainly felt that it was extremely dangerous, especially when in charge of a minibus or coach containing large numbers of people whose lives are in their hands. Although the law in most countries still allows this dangerous practice, I think it would be a good idea to flag this with P&O. Even though it might not be illegal, P&O could issue instructions to the tour operators that they use saying that they should not do this when carrying their passengers.

I think that those who feel that the world will end seem to think that everyone is desperate to be first off the ship. Those who fall into that category already have a self disembarkation facility that gets them off the ship before the rest of us. Others are governed by the departure times of organised transport, such as coaches. For those of us who drive, we are not all desperate to dash off at the first opportunity. In our case we don’t leave the cabin until we have to (usually 8am) and we go to the MDR for a leisurely breakfast. We take our time over this in order to let the rush subside. When we are good and ready we just walk off the ship. Often, by this time the bulk of passengers have already left so it makes finding our cases significantly easier. For clarity, I am not instructing anyone to do as I do. Those who wish to vacate their cabins earlier, possibly skip breakfast and wait in crowded public rooms until told that they can leave are perfectly free to do so. It’s not our choice but we are all different.