Dobbers

Captain last month was Martin Sharples, I only remember that because of Ena.

All this talk of grandchildren is making me broody. My kids are 36 & 34 and still no sign but that’s their choice (I’m sure we explained the birds and bees right) 🤣

On Britannia in April the MDR couldn’t be booked. On freedom dining you just turned up and we’re shown to a table or given a pager (tables for 2) the other option was to share a table.

Thank you for such a great review and for giving us an insight to the problems wheelchair users encounter. 

23 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Thank him very much. I'm glad you have such lovely company while you're under the weather. I hope you feel better very soon.

Thank you, my first look at this thread. One of the other threads I was following was giving me a headache this morning 😉

1 minute ago, Megabear2 said:

Gorgeous dog.  Does he/she have a name to share please?

Yes, he’s Dobby 

Grey and cloudy here.

Im off work with a lousy head cold, watching rubbish tv and drinking lots of tea (getting steps up with toilet visits 😳)

I’m so sorry for myself even the dog is avoiding eye contact 🤣

Thanks for a great thread, balanced and very informative. Have really enjoyed reading it.

Ocean Grill booking before cruise was £12. per person. With our discount it was £10.80, great for a Yorkshire woman 🤣

Britannia had ballroom dancing some nights in the Crystal Room, this was in April.

Sounds like an absolute nightmare and I’m really sorry that you’re having such a poor cruise. Have you been offered any kind of recompense for all the problems?

We were on the cruise before yours and were not aware of any issues with norovirus, though I doubt they would announce it if there was.

On Ventura last year we were unable to book any speciality dining. The restaurant manager said she had only been allowed 70 covers per day due to staffing. 
Sindhu was almost empty every night (apart from ships officers🤔)

Did a Christmas Market cruise last year on Ventura (26 Nov) and ship was fully decorated. Looked really good.

44 minutes ago, Valfan said:

Is Wes Dunlop on Arcadia now?  I thought he just did Iona. I liked having him as Captain on my Iona cruises last year and this.  As you say, very friendly.  And good at giving updates on our progress each day, and letting us know in advance when we were going to be passing or berthed near to another P&O ship.

It’s Martin Sharples on Arcadia at the moment.

Just come off Arcadia and really enjoyed ourselves. 
The staff were excellent and friendly. The ship is compact and easy to navigate with a full and proper prom deck for walking or just sitting and watching the waves. 
The Ocean Grill was very good and we wished we had booked more than 2 nights. Main dining was good, again no complaints. The buffet was hit and miss and very crowded at times, we only used for light lunches.

Entertainment was good and varied, plenty of daytime pub quizzes, bridge/dancing/craft lessons and guest speakers. Lots more which I’ve probably forgotten. We were never bored.

We would happily sail on her again, yes she is an older ship but we found nothing to complain about.

I think how you were treated is awful.

We had the same problem with boarding times but managed to get onboard for 12.15. I hid the timed section of my husbands boarding pass behind mine to get through the entrance and once inside no one questioned the difference. 

8 hours ago, janieb1962 said:

We were on azura recently and saw one person on the drinks package order multiple drinks by handing over the cards for the others … 

We must have got a grumpy server the first time we tried so didn’t bother again 🤣

Have sailed in Azura 4 times, the earliest was 2012 and have had this smell each time, just can’t remember which area of the ship 🤪

The main problem we found is that you can only order your own drink. So if one of us was in the toilet or still getting ready the other couldn’t order a drink for the two of us. Seems silly as both adults in the cabin have to take the package and is more time consuming when ordering on two cards for one round, although that’s probably to stop those who would abuse it.

Found this on the FAQ, should put your mind at rest 

Will children still receive a complimentary package when an adult in the same cabin purchases a drinks package?

Check in has just opened for our cruise, my boarding time is 12.30 and husband has 15.00 🤣🤣

Will just show my pass and go through together. Does seem really silly that this happens

We use the bath towels a couple of times before wanting fresh but do like clean hand towels daily. 
We haven’t missed the turndown service, just the chocolate. OH is diabetic so I got both chocs’ 😋

Never sailed with Princess but the dancing to pop music in the atrium sounds great. Always thought P&O were missing out with this, unless you stay up late. 
Recently on Britannia the Crystal room was jam packed for the silent disco, on other evenings it was half full. Not wanting to take away from the pax who enjoy ballroom dancing as I quite enjoy watching but they need to maybe alternate evenings.

I’m not a young raver (late 50’s) would just like to have a dance a bit earlier before my hot choc

Great balanced review, glad you had a good holiday

4 minutes ago, Neecy1 said:

Sorry don't want to hijack this post. Do you just go here independently by taxi? 

You can do easily by taxi as there are plenty around. We have always booked the excursion as it was reasonably priced (pre covid)