danielundecided

Hi,

I know we've got 4 months to go, but I'm wondering about what the norm is for men on the black tie nights.

I was thinking I'd take 2 of my work suits (with ties etc) as I just do not like the look of dinner jackets/tuxedos/bow ties. DS 14 and me have talked about it and we'll probably get him a suit sorted as well as he doesn't like the sound of a tux either.

Is this frowned upon? I'm sure I'm overthinking things but most places seem to only mention dinner jackets/tuxedos.

Dan

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We should be ok self disembarking as we are catching the train to Gatwick to fly out to the ship. Hubby will be pleased as it will mean no shopping!!

Can't blame him for being pleased! Gatwick does have a wide array of duty free, however ;)

I think you ought to catch cruise connect. They are directly linked to P&O so if there are any delays caused by P&O (which there shouldn't be but you never know) the coach should wait for you. I'm quite the advocate for taking the train but I would only do so if there was a lot of time built in for delays.

Dan

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Yep - you pay the cost that the cabin you're upgrading to would've been when you booked.

Did it last month to upgrade to an oceanview for next year; it's really simple, just ring up and quite your booking reference.

Dan

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The other thing that seems odd is on the first cabin type price page the lowest lead price is sometimes not available on the next grade prices available. :confused:

I noticed this too. It quotes a price as "Balcony Cabin, from £999" (excuse me for plucking numbers out of thin air) but then you get to the next page and it says the cheapest balcony cabin is £1,250.

Dan

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Hi,

Paid the rest of the balance for our cruise next April and I've had a look at the cruise personaliser for the excursions. The problem I'm having is that only three are showing up for each port as available to book? We like the look of the Cies Island tour in Vigo so I'll be somewhat disheartened if we can't do it. I get that some tours may be seasonal but even some of the most basic, city based excursions aren't shown.

Anyone else had this?

Dan

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Is there a a hydropool in Ventura's thermal suite?

Dan

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I have just returned from a 14 day cruise on Azuara and we paid for the middle range 'Browsing' package. We had good coverage in our cabin (R235) and moderate coverage on the balcony even. My ipad worked fine. Browsing was steady, not fast, sometimes taking 30 seconds or more for a page to load and videos were generally not possible to view, but the Facebook App worked perfectly and my email (I use the inbuilt email app) worked fine too, including attachments although they were slow loading.

Thanks, it's nice to know I can still check faceache and every other pointless social media while I'm away.

Do you have to repeatedly log in everytime you use it or can you leave it on?

Dan

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I haven't really much to offer to this thread but it's true - you'll be searching for cruise deals (and trying to make dates for holidays to work even when they shouldn't!) for a long time. It definitely doesn't come cheap!

One tip if you choose to cruise again: if you already have the money saved up for the holiday don't pay up front along with the deposit; keep it in a high interest saving account and let the money build up. You'll find it handy ;)

Dan

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I've never been on a Carnival cruise but by looking at the itineraries and the price I would go for the magic. You go to 3 places you've never been before and you get an extra day on the ship, for $130 combined with a shorter drive.

Dan

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It's a combination of how close to midship the cabin is and if there are cabins above and below. Cabins on A deck on Britannia will be cheaper because the Lido deck is right above which may generate noise.

Dan

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I would recommend the train if it's not too late to get tickets that aren't stupidly expensive. Whenever we fly from London we get the train and it's so much easier, we'll be getting the train when we fly to Miami next year as it's much less stressful than driving - as you say, you have to get secure parking if you drive.

As others have said though whatever you do get there a day early so you have time to unwind a little! (This is always nice as well because I hate flying too)

Dan

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The pricing structure on fares at P&O is favourable to children by comparison to many US lines

I can't necessarily say that I agree with this completely. When looking at our 2018 cruise the child discount rates were 15% during the summer holidays - when considering you're spending £1,500 per person it's next to nothing. For our cruise in Summer 2013 we paid £2,600 for two adults and £2,100 for our two children which is really quite bad. They're a bit better around April/October half terms but they aren't crazily good. On the good side however, their child fares are until the child reaches 18.

NCL gave us a really good child discount, even with the cruise being during August. Even Princess have had some really amazing 3rd/4th passenger discounts - in 2014 our kids went for £150 each I believe it was. I think Carnival also have good child discounts. I may be wrong, but I recall that Royal Caribbean's child rates only end when kids reach 12.

Regarding the gratuities, the American lines are exactly that - AMERICAN. You can expect to pay a lot in tips and gratuities. Norwegian's £7/8 a day (in a 'normal' economy) isn't much more than P&O's £5.50.

On topic we've always found the youth staff great (not as good as NCL but better than Princess), and I agree with John where he says the "no interaction" thing maybe about safeguarding.

I'd personally say that I believe many people are drawn to P&O because of the quality of the cruises and the value for money.

Dan

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You will need an ESTA visa at first US port you arrive at to go through immigration. Presumably as you join the cruise in San Francisco that would be at the airport as you fly in.

 

Take care you apply through the official site though as some sites are acting as agents charging for the application and charging extra for the service but you can do it easily yourself. I think it costs $14 p.p. and lasts for a couple of years.

Yes, the ESTA is $14 pp; we've already got ours for next year as they do last two years. The process is really painless and you can do it on the US govt. website in 25-30 minutes.

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We were in St Lucia in 2008 with some family friends and me and my mate went on the zip line - I forget it's name but it was a lot of fun and I'd recommend it in a heartbeat!

St Lucia also has some beautiful beaches and the water was a glorious temperature; perfect to swim in.

Dan

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We went on a family holiday to St. Lucia in 2008 and when we went to our GP we were told we wouldn't need anything special and the difference antimalarial pills would be negligible bearing in mind all the side effects and the very low risk on the island. I think you could get away without anything extra but obviously you should consult your GP.

Dan

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If you want decent weather I'm assuming the Canary Islands would be your best bet but it still wouldn't be sit-on-a-beach weather.

Dan

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Yeah, we found this out too late to make use of it as well. If we would have knows it would be an easy way to get a bit of money off bearing in mind my account is with Tesco

Dan

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You pay for the Glass House on board - you don't have to pre book, you just turn up.

Regarding shore excursions you can book is them on your CP 12 weeks before your cruise or on board.

Dan

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Itinerary-wise I would go for the Oceana in January IMO - you visit ports that aren't visited often, if at all by P&O (like Cozumel) and as you say it's longer in the sun.

Ship-wise I would go for Ventura as Oceana is said to be showing her age and need for a refit by quite a few people and Ventura would be more stable. In addition, Ventura has more facilities.

I would personally book the cruise on Oceana and take a few travel sickness pills!

Dan

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You have all probably seen the Costa and P&O renderings by now:

 

 

 

https://youtu.be/ZpKGgKOgXn8

 

 

 

Interestingly only the P&O model has 'The Dome' entertainment centre. The Dome of course adds passenger space and a little gross tonnage.

What is THAT? I saw another rendering from Costa and I cannot understand that water slides would be put on a P&O ship. Yes, we enjoy using them when it's hot, but there is no way P&O's older clientele would appreciate it (probably including the ship itself).

Dan

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We book select fare because we like to select a cabin that suits us.

 

 

 

What is usually offered is the choice of extra on board credit/car parking or coach transfer. This may be suitable for you if you are flying to the UK you may be able to get free coach from the airport to the port.

 

 

 

Port shuttle transfers are included in select fares and can cost around £3 per person, so if there are a lot of ports on your particular cruise, you will not pay extra for the transfers.

 

 

 

As has been said you get to choose your preferred eating time, either freedom which is basically anytime, early evening or late evening.

 

 

 

But basically you won't know what the complete advantages are available to you yourselves until you call to enquire/book.

Expanding on what Mandy said you could fly to London, spend a few days there, and you would get a free coach transfer to and from Southampton from London.

In addition some cabins can be very undesirable ie. under/over a theatre, nightclub etc. or some obstructed views are better than others so I do think it is worth it knowing what cabin you're in and having the choice when you book.

Dan

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If you book a select fare you're first in the queue for upgrades. For us the select fare always works out cheaper because of the coach transfers - depending on the length of your cruise the OBC may make up a fair bit of the difference between the select and saver fare.

Dan

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Agreeing with CCFC and terrier.

As I'd said though, while you're in Europe (after you've booked your cruise through a certain travel agent of course) you could do a back to back cruise or stay in London for a few days to make to most out of your trip across the pond. If you're going for a balcony to the Fjords I would recommend Ventura or Azura as the balconies are bigger on those ships (C-Deck balconies being the biggest and best for the price) and you sail through more fjords. P&O is very similar to Princess in many respects.

Dan

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We have always done p and o but booked with NCL nxt year as they are starting to sail from southampton as their itinerary and their prices were excellent especially going in kids holidays and free drinks package included

The cruise we have booked is for 15 nights and goes to norway, iceland and also does Orkney Isles, Shetland Isles, Invergordan, Newhaven (edinburgh) and Newcastle.

I am really excited to visit these ports as I have never visited scotland before and have always wanted to.

There is so much I want to see like visiting Loch Ness etc. which I never get the chance to with p and o . As I will be taking my 11 year old daughter and usually the british isles sailings are on adult only ships.

I am a bit apprehensive with trying NCL but will see how it goes

I'm sure they'll love it. Ours were 9 and 11 when we took them on NCL and it's very different from P&O in that it's much more family oriented and relaxed but it's still a great experience nonetheless.

Dan

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Correct me if I'm wrong (haven't read this thread in its entirety) but I believe Oriana has had a British Isles cruise this year and has one scheduled for next year.

I also know that a few Iceland cruises stop off in the British Isles from my parents' cruise this August and the Azura cruise in 2018 but I don't see many cruises where the main selling point is the British Isles.

Dan

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