Ardennais

FO sent ours a few weeks before our planned cruise last month, but we had to cancel a few days before sailing.

Thank you for your reporting of this cruise. I am unlikely ever to be cruising over Christmas but it’s always interesting to hear your views as you report the facts fairly. However, the above post illustrates an important point to consider when reading reviews etc. If we had been on this cruise, the shortages would not have affected us one bit. We wouldn’t even be aware of them. For others, it would have had a detrimental on their enjoyment. We never use the speciality restaurants either (apart from the Glass House on a few occasions) so don’t miss them if they’re closed. There must be plenty of others who just use the buffet and MDR like us. So it’s really important that they get the core product right and manage flow through the MDRs.

You are now disclosing more background information and providing context to your opinions. I don’t think you have actually mentioned the incident described above before on this forum - you might possibly have done so on FB or another forum as you have said that you use other social media platforms. Hence the confusion and ambiguity in relation to some of your comments. You appear to have experience of dealing with passengers and their complaints and some might indeed be unreasonable, but that doesn’t invalidate all the complaints. You might have come across some media exaggeration too, but that also doesn’t mean that many stories/articles aren’t reporting the facts in a truthful fashion. As I said before, the newspapers also contain pages of positive coverage so it’s definitely not one-sided as you claimed.

You’ve articulated superbly what I was thinking. I try to be evenhanded when discussing P&O having enjoyed so many cruises with them. I even have two booked for 2023. But “exposed learnings” had me scratching my head in disbelief!

Beckett - I can only add to what’s been said and say that it’s great to have you back again. Hope that things continue to improve for you.

Do tell.

You’re being quite mysterious! On one hand, you say that things need be said, but on the other hand, you won’t go into detail and say that you can’t be bothered to find out! The plot thickens!

It’s always good to hear from people who have experience in the industry. We all know the identity of our P&O insider and we appreciate his input. I think that interests should be declared on forums such as this.

Interesting. Could you provide more context regarding the ‘we have dealt with’? You make it sound as if you work for P&O!

Do you work in the travel industry then? You did mention your ‘knowledge and experience’ so it would be good to learn more.

Yes, but what exactly?

Really? On what do you base that theory?

They were all genuine complaints. And I fully agree with your opening paragraph.

I really don’t know what you mean by ‘hoping to win big or what ever’. 🤷‍♀️

I’ve never seen any suggestion in the brochures that the wifi is unreliable. So you can’t blame people for assuming that it’s going to be adequate.

When are they told?

Exactly, but it’s great publicity for the cruiselines, hence why you can’t argue that everything is one-sided.

To be fair Zap, some people are self-employed and need to keep in touch. Not everyone is an office based employee enjoying annual leave. Others might want to keep in touch with elderly family members.

Not really. Newspapers on weekends are full of travel supplements with celebrities and the like reporting on their wonderful cruises. Nothing bad ever seems to happen, and everyone seems to have a wonderful time! Same with the Jane Macdonald cruise programmes. You could argue that these are really one sided!

We’ve never had any reason to complain in 13 years of cruising, and can easily dismiss minor issues. But in the past 3-4 years, I have had my eyes opened to the problems faced by people with limited mobility. When you’re in constant pain, when you’ve had new hips and knees and when your spine is crumbling, excessive queueing and standing about is very very hard. Now my parents would never dream of complaining, but in such situations, the enjoyment disappears. Nobody expects wonderful 100% of the time, but it’s quite reasonable to expect a professional product, akin to what is advertised.

If it was fixed time dining, why did some passengers have to wait until 11pm?!

I took it to mean that other companies can cope, but not P&O!

You’re in for a treat! Miniatur Wunderland is truly wonderful. It was very busy there so a baby pouch might be a better bet than a pushchair for the 6 month old. Just a thought! You could possibly email them to find out.

Glad to hear that you had a great Christmas day onboard. As a matter of interest, do you have to have the matched wines in the Epicurian? And if not, is the meal cheaper?

It depends on the table itself. I like rustic looking tables, not shiny ones. I don’t like shiny furniture.