Carter7568

We are on a 12 day Fjord cruise on Arcadia late May early June...... We booked then as we told by staff that the best time was then.... Looking at rainfall levels on research May and June are the driest as Scandinavia is a wet area..

It doesn't diminish its beauty though.....

I too wish that P and O would offer an alternative to the "Snatch and Grab" on embarkation day. It's taken me 15 years to get to Caribbean Tier next summer, and my goodness am I looking forward to the alternative buffet that my daughter and I were treated to the time we got upgraded to a suite.

I didn't know suite customers got an alternative buffet on arrival. How does that work then, anyone know?

Unfortunately our flight doesn't leave Bournemouth for Genoa until 10:20, so when do you think we'll be on board Oceana?

We were hoping to have time to find a shop for some bits and pieces, and have a quick look at Genoa.

Will this be possible? It's our first cruise so any advice welcome.

It's a two hour flight so adding on passports and coach at Genoa and boarding things would estimate you would be on board by 1330-1400. So a trip out is a possibility if your quick....

We have a really early flight to Venice so hoping to get onboard then head back out, what time did you actually get on board? Our flights at 620.

Answering this, I would say you will be onboard by 1200 Europe time, 1100 UK time. The flight is only two hours.....

Oceania is child friendly you will love it....

We are on Oceana from 14th October.

Yes the router was connected to the ships internet and we only got charged for the time the router was connected no matter how many devices we connected to it. It is one of those credit card sized routers so perfect for travelling.

Can you give me details of the router as I am on a 24 day cruise soon and think it's a great idea....

Never had a problem here with the Commodore package either, we find it good value :)

Are there any particular wines on the package you would recommend. We don't mind and drink red and white....

Did you order before you go?

Thanks

Thanks for all the replies, it has given me food for thought....

Dave, honestly we are not Posh but good hard working folk...... Lol

Yes I did use the Americanism for soft drinks package...... Too much looking on forums like this...... Lol....

That is a good question is it cheaper to order before you go or when you arrive on ship?

Lastly any one had a particularly good wine in the Commodores package as I always like a good recommendation to try.

Thanks again

We are thinking of going for a 9 bottle wine package and Coffee and soda cards bought before the cruise.

We are on board for 24 days so will consume reasonabl quantities of all three.

A couple of questions.

Is the commodore wine package good value?

Are the coffee and soda cards worthwhile getting?

Or should we just order a bottle at a time or buy coffee/soda as we go.

We have never used these before so any comments are welcome.

Thank you

Some might find this useful.?

 

http://www.disabledpocruisers.co.uk

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

An excellent link thank you so much for posting it.

It will help me enormously with my wife who is predominantly in a wheel chair on excursions.

Aren't they all?

 

David.

We have only ever been with P&O and Princess. Princess we didn't really like after P&O. But we have noticed some differences.

We will probably try other lines, I have heard NCL are good but don't know much about them.

Steve and Wendy

Well said, we do the same. Mostly it's common sense, but you also get the types who if they don't moan, they don't have a good holiday..... Sad really.

My review of our Oceana cruise Genoa to Genoa fro June is in the reviews section. I hope it has some helpful info, and if anyone wishes to PM me with direct queries I'm happy to help. Best regards all.

Andrea thanks for your review, we are on Oceana for the second time for 24 days from 14th October, hope it will be a bit cooler then.

I was particularly interested in your port reviews. The taxi prices at 10 euros don't sound too bad, I take it that was total price?

Thanks again

When I look at it like that your definitely right.... On the two P&O cruise we have tipped over at the end, we have not told them before hand.... But I wondered what others thought....

Can't wait for our up and coming Med cruise, so need the break.....

I do think in the future we will have to try other lines as P&O are cutting back on quite a few things....

I am so grateful I can afford to go on a cruise. I am not poor but also not very well off... I understand why P&O have auto tips and will always leave them on. I agree that this is hiding some of the cruise cost but we should all do some research before spending on such a holiday, so it should be no surprise.

Some of the staff work hard on these ships and send an awful lot of their wages back to their family. The hours they work are extreme and they don't get a lot of time off. If they can still be very courteous and helpful under such pressure they deserve the tip, especially if you can afford it.

I would only consider removing the auto tip if a cabin steward or butler is rude or not very efficient.

On the cruises we have been on, a couple of them we have been lucky enough to do a suite and therefore got a butler... Both him and the cabin steward were very very good and we tipped extra in envelopes at the end of the cruise.

A question though.........

Should you inform them you will also tip extra at the end of the cruise?

Hi all, I'm new here and haven't been on a cruise before. I want to try one next year and was wondering if anyone knows when P&O cruises tend to sell out. I am looking at June 2016 in the Norwegian Fjords. Should I book now and get the Early Saver fare or wait longer?

 

Thanks. :)

You will find the cheapest and most expensive cabins will go quickly. By .that I mean the inside cabins and suites.

The rest such as balconies and obstruct.ed sea views etc will take longer to sell. So it depends what cabin type your going for.

Good morning,

 

Has anyone upgraded their flights with Thomas Cook out of Gatwick? is it even possible and do you get the 30kg baggage they promote? If so do you do this through P&O or Thomas Cook?

 

Thanks

 

Dean

If it is short haul, I don't think you can upgrade the flight.... It's all cattle class...

Re the baggage increase I looked into that and you can pay for the 30kg but you do that with Thomas Cook direct.

This is a bit confusing.

We are doing the 24 days as a retirement cruise in October.

Will we be disadvantaged at all?

Does this mean prices on board will be cheaper one week then not?

Thanks

Thank you Carter, I see you are from the Wirral too.

 

The plan was to book a Balcony Cabin for myself and husband but just an Oceanview for the children, as I can see me worrying about my daughter and the balcony and I don't want my son to have to discipline her.

 

Right so formal nights are optional as you can choose where to dine. Gotch'a ;)

 

We are looking at July/August as we are tied to school holidays and exam results :(

We did something similar when we took our sons on a cruise. They actually went into an inside cabin which they found okay. There is no natural light but they said that didn't matter as they were out all day doing things or with us, so they just used it to sleep and get ready.

You might be able to save a few hundred pounds doing that and may get an upgrade to an ocean view.

Just a thought.

If you do go on the cruise we could do with a view from yourselves on the ports and suitability for disabled and wheelchairs as my wife is in a wheelchair on long trips.

Thanks

Ok, so despite my better half having been in the Merchant Navy for over 30 years we are close to booking our first cruise (a.k.a. Busman's Holiday) 7 nights Mediterranean Genoa - Venice

 

Reason for choosing a cruise is that I *thought* I could please our 18 year old son who loves to travel but NOT sitting around a pool or on a beach AND please our 11 year old daughter who basically only wants a pool.

 

Is our daughter going to be bitterly disappointed at the pool on board? They look fairly small and basic?

 

My concern is dress code. Am I looking at purchasing a whole new 'cruise wardrobe' of sparkly, glittery dresses that I am NEVER going to wear again? Would my husband need dress suit?

 

All the above is stopping me hitting the BUY button as the price is really not too bad.

 

Many thanks for any advice.

Hi we are confirmed P & O cruisers now and are going with them again twice in the next 12 months.

Oceania is a lovely ship with friendly staff, the Atrium is the best there is and will amaze you. We are on a 24 night all round the med cruise in October. It will have 7 formal nights, these are longish dresses for the ladies and dark suit or tux for men. We will be going to 1 maybe 2 at the most.

Other than those I would just say smart dress, jacket etc if using the main dining room (MDR). Not everyone will adhere to that but we like to look smart if using the MDR.

Other than that we use the buffets a lot and find the food to be excellent, only stipulation is no swimwear or shorts really.

Don't pack lots of fancy clothes you won't wear, just one or two posh bits if you want to go to the formal nights. You should have at least 1 formal night on a 7 day cruise. They are good for nice photos.

Pools, you will find there are more than one on the ship some smaller than others, with loungers around them. We always go for a balcony so can sunbathe on there. But if using the pool area to sunbathe then your daughter will need to get their early or she won't get a lounger.... But then again there are areas away from pools than you can sunbathe as well.

You will really enjoy the ship.

We are on it from October 14th.

If you need anything else PM and you could call us.

I was carrying a lot of camera gear in January when I flew to Buenos Aires to join Zaandam. There was no way I was going to risk my cameras and lenses going in the hold so printed off the bag size restrictions chart from the airlines website and went shopping. I found one that was the exact size of the hand bag allowed in addition to a cabin case. Once you have it it should be useable for any other fly cruises and well-worth the modest expense IMO.

 

Incidentally - it is also worth checking the size of cabin case allowed because I found most of those marked in the shops as "fits most airline cabin case sizes" didn't in fact match those for our airline (LAN) and were bigger!

Thanks everyone for the replies, I have now found a bag that will be ok and within the current Thomas Cook sizes.

What is interesting the tickets say weight limit of 5kg but Thomas Cook website now says 6kg?

Hi all

I have searched the forum and not found an answer to this.

You have the standard sizes for carry on and a weight of 5kg.

I have never been asked to put my baggage in the frame at check in.

How strict are Thomas Cook?

Do they make you put your bag in the frame and does it need to go in the frame freely?

The reason I ask is that I am taking some camera gear with me that might go overweight, so I will carry some in my pockets so I don't breach the weight requirement.

However the camera bag I am using is 29cm deep not 20cm Thomas Cook want.

If I was to push it in the frame and then pull it out would they allow that?

I can reload the bag when through check in.

What do people think?

Thanks for any replies.

Booked with some friends to go to Fjords for 12 days in May 2016. It's one we have always wanted to do..

Thanks for all your comments, I think I might buy a package from my mobile operator it might be cheaper

Can anyone tell me what sort of packages or charges P&O now have in place for wifi.

When did they stop free wifi for suite users, anyone know.

What do cruisers do to get wifi in Europe.?

Are any of the mobile phone company packages worth it?

Thanks for any replies.