CarlaMarie

My parents mentioned drunken behaviour on Aurora as well. They were heckling in the theatre and being generally disruptive. It does seem to be on the rise, and more so on the Caribbean cruises.

I would be very surprised if the deck plans were that wrong. Many families will have stayed in these cabins before, as well as couples, so P&O would have had to update the deck plan by now if the beds were fixed. On YouTube there are videos showing Ventura's cabin E507. This is the same cabin type as your E421 on Azura. The videos show the cabin in both a twin and double configuration. The fixed twin bed cabins only accommodate two passengers, and are located on deck 5.

Family cabins and prices If you’re travelling with children or teenagers our family prices on Arvia, Azura, Britannia, Iona and Ventura offer generous reductions, utilising the extra beds that are contained in a number of cabins. In twin cabins these extra beds are pull-down beds which your cabin steward will stow away by day (please note in selected Arvia, Azura, Britannia, Iona and Ventura cabins there are sofabeds instead; see deck plans for details). To calculate the family price, the first two occupants pay the adult price for the grade concerned minus any applicable savings, then add the reduced price for a child/teenager aged 2-17. Family reductions can vary by cruise, so talk to your travel agent or call our Customer Contact Centre for the reduction amount of a specific cruise. Azura, Britannia and Ventura have a number of cabins that can accommodate a travel cot for an infant aged over 6 months and under 2 years. In these cases you pay the rates available from our Customer Contact Centre. There are limited infant, child and teen places available on all cruises. It is advisable to book as soon as possible if intending to take advantage of the family prices offer. Please note family prices are not available on the first two occupants or on single occupancy, and family prices do not apply on Arcadia or Aurora - these ships are exclusively for adults. Please note there is limited availability for cabins with additional occupancy. For more information call our Customer Contact Centre on 03453 555 111 (local call charges apply). https://www.pocruises.com/essential-information/family-cruising

Here are the cabin notes for you @amurray88 (I meant to upload them in the previous post!).

The fixed twin bed cabins all appear to be on deck 5, P, forward. As you can see they have the empty circle alongside their cabin number.

Like others have said, according to the deck plan, your cabin E421 does have additional beds in the form of two pull down beds. However nowhere on the deck plan (in the brochure) does it state that the twin beds are fixed. Who has told you that they are? In the brochure it does state that the twin beds cannot be converted into a double if the pull down beds need to be used. Hence, you should be able to have them converted considering you have a baby requiring a cot. Once onboard you should be able to request that your cabin steward alter the layout. Any good TA should have explained the implications of the different fares and not choosing your cabin yourself. Plus they should have given you advice on which cabins would be most suitable to your needs. I noticed earlier that you mentioned you had been upgraded. An upgrade is considered an upgrade if you are assigned a different cabin type (inside to outside, outside to balcony) or an improvement in cabin grade (for example getting a more midship location, or going from standard to superior stateroom). Hope that helps. I have double checked, and E421 is not above the theatre.

Did you choose your cabin or did P&O assign you a cabin?

They have been doing it for many months and they do not solely operate in Southampton. Various other ports/airports have had issues with the same owner (i.e. family name) who has various companies with similar sounding names (once one gets dissolved, a new one appears with a flashy website to go with it). The cars get dumped in car parks and left there for the duration of the cruise, and passengers upon returning then have to find their cars. Cars have been stolen and vandalised also. I very much doubt they had any agreement with a car park that went sour.

My parents got theirs on Saturday too, folded through the letterbox! They should have received one last year but didn't, so this is their first also.

It is a good job that you checked with your TA, because if the requirements have changed then many passengers in the same situation as your wife could be denied boarding. I never understand why P&O create so much confusion with conflicting advice. Transparency is so important and I am sure that passengers would understand for example if P&O were to say "the vaccination booklet is normally accepted however in some ports a GP letter is recommended so please carry both". This is the link from which I copied that information: https://www.pocruises.com/essential-information/travel-information#:~:text=If a yellow fever vaccination,with you to the ship.

I am not surprised you are frustrated with this. I just read the guidance about it on the website and even that seems very contradictory, plus they seem to want alot of information in the letter. You must provide the original certificate which must be fully completed, signed and stamped by the medical practitioner. The vaccination must be given 10 days before entering a yellow fever area for it to be effective and valid. If a yellow fever vaccination is contraindicated for a medical reason an exemption can be issued by your medical practitioner and this must be brought with you to the ship. Local port health authorities will decide if a vaccination waiver can be issued. The exemption should either be documented in the international vaccination booklet or on a headed letter. The letter should be signed by the clinician and contain the practice stamp. Your name, date of birth and dates of travel must be included in the letter. Guests without the correct documentation will be denied boarding.

Everyone booked on a cruise from mid November into December received an email of what to expect on their Christmas cruises - pantomimes, christmas music, decorations, food etc... My mum and dad sailed on Aurora last week so they did take a Christmas jumper/shirt each just in case. However other than the decorations and a pantomime, nothing else stated on the email happened.

They are all different and it heavily depends on the size of the port and the port location. Smaller ports will have a years schedule on their sites, whereas others will have their schedule going into the following year.

I search for example 'Port of Amsterdam arrivals and departures' and then the official port website should appear (Very similar to the Southampton VTS page). Most ports will list their cruise call schedules separately. I don't use the what's in port site as like you say it is vague and is not updated like the port pages.

Although the cruise overview is misleading, the booking confirmation however would have been correct by stating an 'early' morning departure and not promising 2 full days in both ports. If you go via your arrival time, which was 'morning', 'early morning' would have been any time prior to this.

This is similar to last weeks 4 night cruise to Amsterdam on Aurora, with an overnight stop and early morning departure of 4am. Before booking any cruise we check each ports arrivals/departures schedule, especially where an overnight is mentioned.

Just read a review by a passenger who was meant to fly to Barbados on the 12 hour delayed Maleth flight on 1/12. They finally got to the ship at 230am yesterday morning but they were told that their luggage was stuck at the airport and not due until 9am, and at 10am they still hadn't received their cases.

Manchester airport have the flight scheduled as arriving at 13:25 tomorrow.

Unfortunately wait times of an hour are fairly normal, even more. The only advice I can give is to try phoning first thing in the morning when they open or towards the end of the day. You will likely still have to wait, but hopefully not as long. Also when you call do not state you have booked via a TA, as the automated voice will cut you off!!

I was wondering that, too! 😂

Something Gareth Gates and his partner tried to do on the same cruise that I believe the OP was on.

If I recall rightly, I think there used to be a notice in the Horizon inviting anyone who has mobility issues to try the step test in one of the theatres before the tender port. I cannot understand why your husband has to go and prove that he can, especially where you have declared he doesn't need any assistance.

We did the step test on both Oceana and Arcadia when we needed the tender, but this was done just before we got on one.

I assume that any passenger with noro, or any who had concerns they may be developing symptoms, remained onboard?

Thank you for letting us know. Must have been very frustrating for you all.