Selbourne

Thank you so much Paul. That’s great news. Enjoy the rest of your cruise. Miserable here!

Speaking as a couple who are unable to cruise unless we can secure an adapted cabin (my wife is a full time wheelchair user), thank you for trying to offload your allocated cabin to someone who has no choice but to use one. They are very difficult to secure and those of us who need them are rarely able to secure last minute cruises as a result. I do think it’s a great shame that P&O don’t have a waiting list system for adapted cabins. We would do more last minute cruises if we had a call to say that an adapted balcony cabin was available at a late save rate, but this is not a service that they offer. However, far better that the cabin is used than sit empty, so if you know that you are not depriving a disabled person from cruising then just enjoy the extra space!

I’ve only just caught up on this thread. The title didn’t interest me as neither of us use a walking stick, but I now realise that it is about the emails that we’ve all received and the clamping down on people not declaring issues. @molecrochip I’m glad that Carnival are clamping down on those who claim that they need assisted embarkation and disembarkation when they clearly don’t, in order to gain some perceived advantage. This has been abused for years and the numbers of people who now claim to need assistance deters many of us who would genuinely appreciate some help from using the service. The irony is that, in the case of disembarkation, it takes far longer using the assistance service than just walking off the ship (as we now do). As my wife’s problems are primarily her legs, I dislike having to pile up our hand luggage on her lap in the wheelchair, but we would both rather do that until we get into the luggage hall (where we grab a porter) than go to the assistance lounge, as the blatant abuse that we’ve witnessed there infuriates us and we’d rather avoid it. @terrierjohn Like you, I have completed the online ‘on board needs’ forms via the cruise Personaliser for all our future P&O and Cunard cruises, even though we had already submitted the previous versions via email. With all the threats in the emails I decided that a ‘belt and braces’ approach was the best bet. @Megabear2 Years ago, when my wife still had some use of her legs, she was called for the ‘step test’ assessment that was mentioned to you. It was usually held in the show lounge at the back of the ship during the daytime on a sea day. Those required to take the test were given a 1 hour window during which time they needed to attend. It wasn’t a private 1:1 thing as implied to you. Basically you turned up, gave them your name, took the test, they made a note as to whether you pass or fail and off you go. Took seconds. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it was stressful, worrying if my wife would be able to do it or not, but it’s obviously essential for everyone’s safety so something that we have to just accept. If your cruise has no tender (or possible tender) ports they won’t conduct this exercise, as it would be pointless. Since my wife has been unable to pass the test we try to avoid cruises with tender ports, but where we’ve had them and I’ve gone ashore on my own I’ve seen the same step test markings on the approach to the tenders, although use of them has been patchy.

Yes

When we were on Ventura recently, they had a dedicated area within the Glasshouse for diners, leaving large areas for those just wishing to have a drink.

I can’t say that I noticed. They wouldn’t have registered in all honesty, but now you’ve intrigued me!

No it was Australian. We don’t drink French wine. Like you, we much prefer New World wines.

Probably still the same. Arvia has a capacity issue with main dining rooms as they only have two with a capacity of 1700 covers when there can be well in excess of 5,200 passengers. They need to fill the MDR very early in order to be able to churn the tables 2 or 3 times during an evening. As a result they create an incentive to encourage people to dine early by allowing bookings. A table that is first used at 5.30pm can be used 3 times during an evening.

You can only pre-book on Arvia, Iona and Britannia. Bookings usually open around 2 weeks before your cruise. You book via your Cruise Personaliser.

If you are going on Iona you will definitely be on Freedom Dining, as Iona and Arvia don’t have fixed dining. They are both 100% Freedom dining.

You raise an interesting point that I hadn’t considered. Out of interest, when we were on Ventura a few weeks ago we had loads of OBC and I decided to treat myself to a large glass of the most expensive red at £20.95 (a Shiraz) and I wasn’t impressed. I much preferred the cheapest Shiraz which was £8.45 for a large glass. It hadn’t occurred to me that the most expensive one might have been open for a few days whereas the cheaper one would almost certainly have been opened that day. I also agree that it’s a bit naff having to carry wine around the ship.

Here’s the main MDR wine list showing prices by the glass and bottle. It’s from Ventura but I suspect it’s the same on all ships. I suspect that this covers all bars and restaurants with the exception of the Glasshouse.

Nor the 3 we’ve been on (Iona, Britannia or Ventura). Seems to be restricted to Club Dining (only) on Aurora and Arcadia (only).

Yes and I believe Aurora does it in Club (only) also. I don’t believe that any ship does it in Freedom now.

I’ve just gone for the Essentials one as I will only use it for email, Snapchat and web browsing. Hopefully it’s OK for that!

When we were on Britannia in July (Freedom Dining) there was no facility to have unfinished bottles retained for your next visit. Any unfinished bottles had to be taken with you when you left. Obviously, as you don’t know which table you will be on the next time you visit, it’s not possible to pre order or have your next bottle waiting for you. You need to order once seated. Since the policy change we now order by the glass rather than by the bottle. Thankfully it’s no more expensive. In fact, we found that we spent much less on wine than under the previous system, where we used to always have a bottle of red and a bottle of white on the go.

Pete - the WiFi that you had problems with on Aurora, was it the basic (Essentials) package or the higher spec one (Ultimate?).

Much appreciated. We have never paid for WiFi in all our years of cruising, but we have some anxiety about being away for so long this winter, so wish to be in touch with home, hence buying the WiFi package for the first time, albeit at a heavily discounted price.

Thanks for an excellent blog and summary @pete14 It was an enjoyable read and I’m sure that we are all very envious of your mass whale sighting. I’ve seen Pilot and Beluga whales but they are quite small. We saw the distant water spouts from two much larger whales once but couldn’t see the actual whales (other than a tiny flash of their backs). I’d like to do another Northern Lights cruise. As previously mentioned, we’ve done it twice already, the first time having spectacular displays of the phenomenon (including red lights - all seen clearly with the naked eye) and the second time they didn’t appear for a single second the entire cruise, such is the nature of these cruises! However, Northern Lights aside, the scenery is spectacular and it’s a truly magical experience, being so different from other cruises.

Thank you. I recall @jeanlyon saying that when she was on Aurora in the summer they were holding unfinished bottles in Club but not in Freedom, but that may have changed. As our long cruise was booked on a Saver, we won’t know until we board whether we are Club or Freedom. Hopefully you will see engineers with ‘Starlink’ uniforms on board fitting the new improved WiFi that P&O assures us is now on all their ships - but isn’t! Wishing you both a fabulous cruise.

Am I correct in thinking that the facility to have the restaurant hold on to part used bottles of wine for your next visit is still restricted to Club (fixed) dining only on Aurora? On Ventura the other week they wouldn’t do it at all, even in Club

Why doesn’t that surprise me? 🙄

Have a great cruise Paul. It will be interesting to know if you can find out anything about when Starlink is being installed on Aurora. I asked at reception on Ventura if Starlink was ‘live’ (as I assumed that it was) and whether they knew if (or when) it was live on Aurora. The chap that I asked didn’t even understand the question, so a conversation ensured between all the reception staff and none of them even knew what Starlink was, let alone whether or not it was fitted to any or all of the ships. Strange given how P&O has been promoting it 🤔

Yet with the Black Friday offers (also 20%) you could still get your loyalty discount deducted 🤔 Given that these packages restrict your choice and, for higher loyalty tier customers the discount would effectively only be 10%, I can’t imagine that they sell too many of them?

It worked that way on Ventura as well. No need to log off. When either of us logged on, if the other hadn’t logged off we just clicked “Disconnect other device” (or whatever the words were). We just payed for the one device. It worked really well but I think Ventura had Starlink. I’m concerned that it doesn’t sound as though it’s been installed on Aurora yet or, if it has, it doesn’t work as well.