Selbourne

I stayed up late last night and literally at the stroke of midnight the speciality restaurants opened for booking for our cruise on Iona in 14 days time, but not the shows. Presumably they will open tonight?

That’s a very recent change then, as we were on Britannia last month and we couldn’t book any of those restaurants until we boarded. The only restaurant that we could book prior to the cruise was Limelight Club and, as of yesterday, @Megabear2 was told by P&O that this was still the case. A cynic may say that the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing at P&O 😂

Sounds good. We are seriously considering Saga, but the prices are eye watering, even allowing for the fact that everything is included. I fear that my expectations would be sky high as a result! I really do hope that you will report on your Saga cruise and how it compares to P&O, as this will help me decide. I know that one or two people can get very defensive when comparisons are made with P&O, but the vast majority of us have an open mind and genuinely want to know how other lines compare. This thread on the comparisons with Princess has been interesting.

We have rarely been given a card, but the restaurant just looks up our cabin number and we’ve never had a problem.

So I wasn’t mad thinking that shows were bookable a day before restaurants, but I had assumed that restaurants were bookable from midnight tonight, as that will be 14 days before the cruise. So it looks like two nights where I shall be up way past my bedtime then? 🙄😴

Thanks. That’s really helpful and will save me looking every hour today just incase it’s a glitch that gets resolved! We don’t do excursions and our daughters have already booked the two that they want to do (they’ve been bookable for months). I can take or leave most of the shows, but I have offered to book for all 6 of us (under 3 booking numbers) - hence why I was keen to get that out of the way today as it will take me some time. The speciality restaurants are my personal priority, but I guess I will have to do that last now. I presume that I can book tables for 6 under my booking reference, even though that booking number only applies to 2 of the 6 people. Thank goodness it’s all so straightforward 😳🤔😂

Ah, OK. We are 19th so it looks like it’s tomorrow for us then. I knew that it was tomorrow for speciality dining, but thought it was today for shows. Out of interest, did you look to see if entertainment was bookable on the Friday for your cruise, or was Saturday the first day that you looked?

That’s similar to us Andy. I have never paid for WiFi on a single cruise that we have been on. My mobile phone provider, at the princely sum of £10 a month, gives me all my calls and data not just in the U.K. but at every European port that we have been to (through national operators, not just WiFi) and I can usually pick up a signal when in sight of land. On our recent 14 day cruise I was only without signal for the sea days (although I managed to pick up a signal on some of those when we passed near places) and I had no issues in any of the ports. Didn’t cost me a penny. I did see a number of people who had paid a fortune for WiFi getting fed up with how poor it was though! We did a Cunard cruise a few months back and it was indeed far better than P&O, but we were in grills, for which there is no equivalent on P&O, so not really a fair comparison (although other aspects of the cruise, available to all, were better also). Friends regularly cruise both P&O and Cunard (standard balcony cabins on both) and reckon that Cunard is much better, but obviously it’s more expensive. We really enjoyed our first Cunard experience and have booked 2 x 14 night cruises with them for next year, but having to pay extra for gratuities grated, especially as we tipped our dedicated restaurant staff directly as well. Our friends have also cruised Princess and reckoned that it had the edge on P&O (overall - they felt that some aspects were better on P&O), but wasn’t as good as Cunard from a quality perspective. Finally, also like yourselves, we are nowhere near £100 a day on drinks. On our 14 day Britannia cruise our on board spend was less than £700, and that included 4 visits to Epicurean, 2 to Sindhu and 2 to the Beach House - and we had £510 OBC to come off that!

Yes, it could be that, although on our recent Britannia cruise a number of the shows changed dates whilst we were on board (and our bookings amended automatically on the My Holiday app - no notification though) and other acts were added that hadn’t been bookable before. My guess is that they will now be bookable from tomorrow which, by my understanding, is the same day that the speciality restaurants will be bookable, which is a pain as I’d hoped to get all the shows booked today and then book the restaurants around them tomorrow!

Hi. Yes, I’m on that page but no ‘Book Now’ button is showing. Which departure date are you? It may be that our cruise isn’t bookable yet (as I say, I thought it was 15 days out they were bookable). Thanks.

Wow. I didn’t expect an immediate reply at this time of the morning but thank you. It sounds as though I am looking in the right place then (Entertainment tab) but there is no button under ‘Signature Performances’ yet. I felt sure that I’d read that shows could be booked 1 day before speciality restaurants opened, and thought that had been the case when we were on Britannia recently, but maybe I misunderstood, or there’s yet another P&O IT glitch!

We cruise on Iona on 19th August, which is 2 weeks tomorrow. My understanding was that Speciality Restaurants would open for booking tomorrow (14 days prior to departure) and entertainment would open for booking today (1 day earlier). I have got up early this morning in order to book the shows for all 6 of our party and the booking facility doesn’t appear to have been enabled (assuming that it would be under the ‘Entertainment’ tab in the Cruise Personaliser). Can I expect it to suddenly pop up at some point during the day, or is it now likely to be tomorrow (I’d assumed that it would go ‘live’ from midnight)?

Almost zero chance of upgrading to a suite if you leave it until you are on the ship, especially as P&O now have a ‘bid to upgrade’ system which encourages people to trade up. If you are thinking that you want a suite, you’d be far better calling your travel agent (or P&O if you booked direct) ASAP and enquiring if there is any availability. The policy is that you will pay the price difference that applied at the time that you booked.

I still maintain that cruise companies get away with things that no other travel operator could, and a lot of cruisers defend them to the hilt for it, but I take your point. In fact, a family member told me that they wanted to book their first cruise, as they had always wanted to go to Amsterdam. I have strongly advised them not to and to book a city break by plane instead. At least that way they know that they will end up in the place that they would be paying to go to!

Glad it’s not just me then 😂 I’ve looked at a few other operators and lost interest as it all seemed so ruddy complicated. I coped with Cunard, as the main differences were that the prices were in dollars and service charges were extra - plus, of course, the class system that they have 😂. Saga is dead easy to work out as everything is all inclusive - but the prices reflect that 😱.

Whilst it’s true that every cruise terminal has a short stay car park a very short distance from it, they have handled your query very poorly and I’m not surprised that you have stuck two fingers up to them, especially with a car like yours. Incidentally, whenever we see one, my wife drops hints that the Cayenne might be a nice car when we next change, but I’d be concerned about my driving licence, not to mention the 25mpg that I’d probably achieve on a good day (a relative had a Macan GTS and used to get that) 😂

Is that £1,200 per person or per couple? If it’s per couple then that does indeed compare very well to P&O given that it includes a drinks package. If it’s per person then, even with drinks included, that wouldn’t seem to be that much of a bargain, albeit I know that the P&O adult only ships can carry a hefty price premium.

😂 A typical P&O response that tells you absolutely nothing at all!

I registered with Princess this morning and my P&O loyalty didn’t cross over. I’ve called them and they weren’t sure why, but have taken my P&O loyalty number (and my wife’s) and are emailing that info to someone in the hope that it will be rectified. They mentioned that only P&O cruises prior to 2017 would be recognised?

Well cruises are always an adventure, as well as a holiday! I see that you are just entering the Bay of Biscay now, so let’s hope that Neptune is looking favourably upon you! At least it will take your mind off the aft vibration 😂 We’ve had our fair share of heavy sea conditions on cruises. Plenty of force 10’s but the force 11 was scary, with some passengers voluntarily donning their life jackets and heading to the muster stations! A number of passengers disembarked at the next port, but the rest of the cruise was like a mill pond, which just goes to show how unpredictable it can be!

That’s very interesting. We have done 8 cruises on Aurora, more than any other P&O ship, as we find the itineraries to be far more interesting but, as a result of re-evaluating how much we are prepared to pay per night for a cruise with P&O, we have no future cruises booked on her. We will very happily cruise on her again, but prices would have to drop, as we can book Cunard for the same price or less. Seems like we aren’t alone. I wonder how long P&O can get away with the adult only ships carrying a price premium?

Those of us who have done multiple cruises will be aware that cruise ships can miss ports for various reasons. We then make a calculated decision whether to potentially pay extra for an insurance policy that includes missed port cover. P&O are very much targeting the ‘new to cruising market, with some cruises now having as many as two-thirds of the passengers on their first cruise. I wonder what proportion of those people book a cruise in the full knowledge that they may not even get to the location(s) that might have been the catalyst for booking that particular cruise and therefore ensure that they buy an insurance policy with missed port cover? Obviously it’s a peculiarity of cruising, and not an issue that’s unique to P&O, but if you book a trip to a location by any other form of transportation you will end up there and, if you don’t, the operator has an obligation to compensate you. Years ago, we were on a short cruise on Aurora that was advertised as a cruise to Bruges (via Zeebrugge). Due to wind we never got there (ironically another ship did manage to dock in Zeebrugge that day) and there was no replacement port, so we just spent the entire cruise at sea before returning to Southampton. It wasn’t a show stopper for us as we had booked the cruise as a back to back with the following cruise and had been to Bruges before, but there were a lot of very unhappy people who had specifically booked that cruise as they wanted to go to Bruges and were staggered that there wasn’t even a goodwill gesture from P&O, who simply referred people to their insurers. I wonder how many of those people who were on their first cruise, and when they got home found that they were unable to claim anything, rushed to book a second cruise?

Interesting. That strikes me as a lot of unsold cabins for a cruise that is now just 4/5 weeks away, especially as it’s a long cruise that requires a completely clear month in people’s diaries, which a lot of people wouldn’t have at that sort of notice. I suspect that’s why the solo prices are so keen.

Only if you have a policy that includes missed port cover. Many don’t.

I just had a look and solo prices are coming up as 50% of the double price. The double prices don’t seem that cheap, so maybe as it’s now only weeks away they are doing some deals to tempt solos to fill the cabins. Maybe cruises of that length tend not to be booked at the very last minute by as many couples as say shorter cruises? Complete guess work of course but as any booking would require full payment I’d be tempted just to book and pay. They can’t come after you for more money after!