cruise saint

7 hours ago, Norwayfan1 said:

Yes, but they are pretty low key.

 

I've just disembarked Aurora. There seemed to be two photographers. They didn't go round taking the usual embarkation photos, tours of the main restaurants, gangway photos in ports etc. On formal nights they offered the opportunity to have a photo taken at a fixed location. I didn't see any of the usual 'offers' in terms of pricing.

 

When we were in Sindhu, one of them came round and took photos. We were unlikely to buy one, but we had one taken anyway. The photos weren't printed and displayed, they were accessed on machines by inputting a cabin number.

 

We did look at ours, but didn't buy. They wanted £25 for what was nothing more than a hastily taken snap. 

Thanks. The photography is one area that has regressed badly since the pandemic. When we went to the Fjords last June on Britannia, in Olden the three photographers were too busy taking pics of each other to bother about the customers.

Are there currently photographers on board Aurora?

3 hours ago, Paulant said:

Hello, thanks for the info.

 

We booked early saver fare which it seems doesn't give you very much in the way of additional perks (well non to be exact!). Lesson learned for the next adventure.

We are travelling down from Worcester so 3hrs max I'd say.

There are several advantages to booking Select fare, not least the free parking option.  It's usually about £300-£600 more depending on the length of cruise (obviously more if you go on a very long cruise). But in my experience by the time you factor in parking, OBC etc you actually get a fair bit of that extra money back. 

There are obviously other cheaper parking options but I like the security and convenience of CPS.

Hello and welcome. Hope I can provide some useful information. The best place to park is CPS parking as it's the closest to the ship. However this means it's not the cheapest. We always book Select fare and take the free parking with CPS because it's a great service. Iona sets sail at 6pm but final boarding is usually 4.30pm. You will NOT be allowed to board after this time. About 2-3 weeks before your cruise yo will get your boarding time via your cruise personaliser.

If you're travelling anymore than a couple of hours, I would suggest travelling down the day before. It's much more relaxing to arrive early and not have to worry about traffic problems. Where are you travelling from?

Thanks to everyone for the replies.  I'm not too bothered if they use the virtual queue tbh. I just think the MDR worked better on Britannia before it was introduced. 

You would worry about a sunbed? I take it they get snapped up quickly?

In November we will be on Aurora to Portugal and the Canary Islands. It will be our sixth P&O cruise but our first time on Aurora. (4x Britannia, 1x Azura).  We do not fancy trying to bigger ships (they appear far too crowded for us).  Aurora looks much more our cup of tea.

I have a few of questions:

Is it correct that there is no virtual queue for restaurants on Aurora?

Is it easier to get a sunbed?

How does embarkation compare to the bigger ships?

On 6/19/2023 at 1:15 PM, jules57 said:

I see P&O state they require proof of insurance including Covid. I have insurance via my bank account which does appear to include Covid cover. I haven't been issued with a policy schedule as such and the policy wording forms part of a very large document which includes all account benefits. I have downloaded a copy and taken a screenshot of the page referencing the inclusion of Covid cover. Will that be sufficient? Do they physically check to see if you have a policy?

The question for me would be does it include cruise cover? A lot of holiday insurance provided through bank accounts doesn't.

We've never done B2B, but I  would call CPS.  I've called them before on other matters and they are always very friendly and helpful. 

When we booked our very first cruise, the travel agent advised us to book a cabin as close to the middle of the ship as possible. It was good advice and something we've done ever since. (I should mention we always book a balcony cabin).  You get less movement and tend not to be too close to entertainment venues/bars etc. Our first cruise was on Britannia and our cabin was D411.  We have sailed on Britannia another three times and sailed in D411 twice more. The last time we sailed on her, D411 was already booked so we booked the cabin next door, D407.  It's about as central as you could get and I would certainly recommend it.  As for which side of the ship, I'm not sure it matters that much in the Med. However if doing a Fjords cruise, I would try to find out which way round the ship docks in Olden. Purely because we love the friendly sailaway there.

Muster, a drink in an open deck bar and then go to cabin and unpack if the luggage is there. Then a wander round the ship.  We like to be on our balcony with a drink for sailaway, absolutely love sailing down Southampton water. Then dinner, a drink and a fairly early night so we're ready for an early rise on the first sea day.

All of this strengthens my resolve not to sail on the bigger ships. We've cruised five times with P&O, four times on Britannia and once on Azura. Even the last cruise on Britannia, a ship we absolutely loved, we noticed that dining had become much more chaotic. To the point we probably won't sail on her again and it's hard to say that. However, our next cruise is on Aurora and it appears it's a much more relaxed experience.  We are very much looking forward to it. As others have said, a holiday should not require the level of planning that appears to be required on Arvia and Iona.

I should add that we must shoulder some of the responsibility for our last Britannia cruise. Being Scottish we forgot about the English school holidays and it was  a fourteen day Med cruise with a lot of kids aboard. While we have nothing against kids, it was very apparent that a lot of parents were willing to allow kids to roam freely and while most kids were OK, one group of teens in particular were very obnoxious in the first week.  (Not sure if their families were spoken to as didn't see them in week two).

In short, I think we'll avoid the mega ships and stick to the smaller ones in future. 

On 2/10/2024 at 9:15 PM, Presto2 said:

We've just returned and after a disappointing cruise in June am pleased.to say we had a great time. Loved it. Our review is in the review section for more info.

Yes the cabins need some tlc but nothing major this time. 

We've already booked for Jan 2025 and don't care of the cabins are the same as now..

What cruise were you on in June? We were on her to the Fjords on 2nd June and had a fantastic cruise.  It was our fourth time on Britannia and we've always enjoyed being on her.

21 hours ago, tring said:

 

It was fine for Aurora back in November, but on an Arcadia related social media group, there have definitely been problems in the last month or two. which is when the problems have been mentioned on these boards.  One coach arrived early (1pm) and even everyone form that were made to wait outside for a whole hour, without access to toilets, yet a very long time since they had a rest stop and the coach loo was not flushing.

 

Perhaps P&O want to do similar to all passengers, to make it clear it is now a company policy - would be confusing if the rules can be evaded on some ships, but not others.

 

Surely they wouldn't do it if it wasn't necessary?  Making people queue just because passengers have to for boarding a different ship on a different day at a different terminal?  That would be terrible customer service, not to mention they'd be stopping people spending money on board.

3 hours ago, Scots Couple said:

We do a similar drive from Fife except the last time there was an accident on the M6 and we were stuck there for 4 hours before they turned us round  and of course it was nose to tail for another couple of hours we eventually made it to the Premier Inn at 9.30 pm. When driving down in October have planned a 2 day non motorway drive after Manchester see how that works out.

That's the main reason for us travelling down the day before, unforeseen circumstances like accidents. Even on the morning of the cruise we tend to leave the Premier Inn at 7.30ish to avoid traffic. It means we're in Southampton very early,  but I'd rather that than get stuck in traffic around lunchtime. 

48 minutes ago, Tan210 said:

Yeh we stayed in Birmingham the night before so thought we had planned it quite well, have you ever done a cruise that leaves from Scotland? 

No, we've only ever sailed P&O.  Driving to Didcot usually takes me about eight hours including a couple of 30-45 minute breaks. We usually leave at 6am the day before the cruise to get past Glasgow before the rush hour.  Stop at Gretna services for breakfast. This allows Manchester area rush hour to pass before we get there.  Second break at Stafford services and then take the toll road to avoid Birmingham. Usually get to Premier Inn about 1.30-2pm.

10 hours ago, Tan210 said:

Aww I’m glad you had a good time yes we enjoyed it but having driven from Glasgow  the traffic jam was a pain!! Lovely weather yesterday ☀️. I would say it wouldn’t cover it but I really hope for the people who missed out  it does 💜 

We drive from Perthshire but I wouldn't try to do it on the day of the cruise.  Usually stay the night at Premier Inn in Didcot and have an hour to drive in the morning.  Close enough to take an alternative route in the event of traffic jams.

12 hours ago, Molly123. said:

We sailed on Iona the end of January this year. We always self -disembark on Southampton cruises and are usually on the road before 7.30am heading for home. On Iona I contacted the customer care number on the TV screen from the cabin a couple of days before disembarkation as the queues at the pursers desk were always very very long.We were given a time to leave and were off the ship straight after breakfast.

Do you have far to travel home?  We've never done self disembarkation, mainly because we're from Perthshire and usually travel to the Lake District for an overnight stay before finishing the journey the next day (When we come off Britannia on 9th June we've actually booked a cottage in the Lakes for a second week's holiday😁). I like to have breakfast on the ship before heading North.

11 hours ago, daiB said:

Then report them to admin. I am sure they would be delighted to get rid of them. 

I haven't got the time to report all of them. I just don't frequent these groups anymore, I get my info/advice from you much nicer people on here😇

2 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

To those who self-disembark, do you register to do that?  We have done this on our last 7 cruises and never registered, just didn't put our cases out.  Someone on Facecloth is telling me I should be registering and giving me grief.  Why on earth should I register to do that.  I am taking my own case off?

There's some really awful people on some of those P&O Facebook groups.  They only seem to sign in to be rude and aggressive. 

8 hours ago, LondonLad60 said:

That's what the cynic in me is thinking - they might be sprucing them up to make them more attractive to potential buyers.

If they do sell off the smaller ships and replace them with more mega ships, I could see a major shift in the P&O customer demographic. 

5 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

I'm not arguing with you.

 

However I'm a person that thinks the official statements and especially those in brochure which are part of contract , ie literally " we will whisk you straight onto ship" (obviously only once boarding starts), are firm commitments. I will not be shy in politely bringing this to attention of the senior staff at terminal.

 

If  people just accept P&O ignore their commitments , then they will continue. 

 

 

I'd be more inclined to just get on with my holiday. I go on a cruise to relax.  While I have experienced small issues with boarding on occasion, I've never found staff  to be deliberately making the experience worse or being lazy enough for me to complain. 

46 minutes ago, Happyoldercruiser said:

Hi Groovybusybee and all cruisers,

Thanks for your post. 🙂

We're on Britannia 5th May going to Norwegian fjords. We've only done one cruise before and it was on P&O Arcadia. We didn't have an app for dining, we just opted for early meal and show every night. What is this app please? Also, a friend who's taken lots of cruises told me about this site. She said you can share taxis with others when the ship docks rather than take the official tours. Do you know anything about this please? 

This ship seems massive. I feel daunted! 

It actually isn't an app, it's a web page which is only available through the ship's wifi.  The link for it is given to you either with check-in paperwork or in the paperwork in your cabin (can't remember exactly).  You don't have to use it for dining, but it does help and is easy to use and actually very useful.  As for sharing taxis, I would think that using a taxi in Norway is very expensive even if sharing.  Sharing taxis is more common in the Mediterranean and Caribbeann.  You don't have to take the official tours on any cruise but I would recommend some of them in Norway.

Yes, you can drop your luggage and wander back into Southampton. 

Just now, Groovybusybee said:

Hi All, 

 

I am an experienced cruiser (usually Celebrity) but first time on P&O.  I’m travelling with my sister who has limited mobility and we are booked in an accessible cabin on deck 12. This cruise has sort of snook up on me and suddenly I’m going on Friday and I feel as if I don’t know anything about the ship or how P&O operates.

 

A few questions………plug sockets, UK or American? Which adapters should I pack?

 

We have opted for anytime dining, I’m assuming I can book table times on the app? But we would quite like to sit at a larger table so that we can meet new people, do you still use the app or just turn up and wait to be seated?

 

When is muster, and do you need to take lifejackets? We like to get there early as my sister is in a power chair, ditto hanging around until the crush has dispersed after it finishes as we obviously need to use a lift.

 

Any help in answering these questions would be much appreciated. Thank you

Plug sockets are UK.

Yes, you book tables on the app. Although you can just turn up at the MDR. If they can't seat you straight away they'll give you a pager.

Muster is on your cabin TV. You attend your muster station when you board and have your boarding pass scanned.