oligopoly

2 hours ago, Riddoch said:

I wonder if the restrictions are no longer about  covid but a shortage of staff (or cost) issue.

I would say 100% it's this. There's 1 staff member for up to, perhaps 10 kids in the session. If there were 2 more staff members then it would be more than manageable for kids to be left. I even joekd with my wife that they could even charge extra for "babysitting" and most of the families would happily pay for it.

What I forgot to include previously is on our last cruise our kid was 3. We were able to put him in kids club the whole day if we wanted to (apart from collecting for lunch and dinner before returning him). This service was available up to 11pm or even later from memory. This gave us total flexibility on what we wanted to do on the ship and meant we could take him to dinner if we wanted or have adults only time if we wanted. We never put him in for the whole day - we want to spend time with him and explore the fun of the ship. But we chose P&O to give us the option of having a break from him. In hindsight we should have postponed this trip for the third time and waited till Kids club was back to normal.

We got back from Britannia last Sunday and I can say - without exaggeration - it was one of the worst holidays we've ever had. We loved the ports, the food, the entertainment but the provision of kids club was a disappointing farce and ruined the experience for everyone in our group.

Our 8 year old had only 1 kids club session a day. It lasts around 2 hours (and the staff ask you to pick them up early!). It's either a day one or an evening one - the latter is just watching a film. At least you can leave the 8 year old while you do something else...

Our 4 year old had 2 sessions a day but an adult has to stay the whole time. After a couple of days of making glittery pirate hats it gets old quick. But the worst part is the lack of planning. There are no adult seats available. So you need to either sit on a kids chair or sit on the floor. No refreshments other than water. One of these 2 daily sessions is invariably in the evening. Who is going to choose to take their kid to said kids club over going for dinner or a show? Perhaps I'm a bad parent for thinking this, I don't know.

The extra dining options (limelight) are adults only, so unless an adult fancies dining alone then you can't take advantage of these extras...

I recognise that a holiday with young children (in fact life in general with young children!) is a compromise but asking children to play ball while you drag them along to dinner is emotionally draining for everyone and felt like a channel 4 documentary experiment. The looks from other diners/theatre goers while our children make normal children noise was awful. We felt like saying "don't blame us - blame P&O". 

Even when kids club returns to normal I'd have to think long and hard about whether I'd want to do this again, such was the bad experience.

Thanks for the clarification, everyone

Is there any reason you guys are doing them in person? A government recognised LFT at home is good enough, right? That's what I did recently prior to a flight to the US and was very smooth process.

We're sailing from Southampton (not Malta!).

Ok so it sounds like I need to buy 4x LFTs from Randox or similar - one for me (vaccinated), one for wife (vaccinated), one for mother in law (vaccinated), 1 for 8 year old and none for 4 year old. The second test required for the unvaccinated 8 year old appears to be offered free of charge at the terminal:

"In addition to the above antigen test, all unvaccinated guests aged five to 11 years will also be required to take a complimentary lateral flow/antigen test once they arrive at the terminal, administered by our service provider, Prenetics."
https://www.pocruises.com/cruise-with-confidence/preparing-to-sail

Actually, the P&O cruise site doesn't seem to mention PCR at all - only the cheaper antigen/LFT, so now just as unsure as I was before!

Thanks MX-Drew. We set sail on a Sunday, so I guess we should book a PCR test for him on the Thursday after school? That should leave enough time for the results to get back to us?

15 hours ago, ElmaLee said:

Doesn’t the 8yo also need a PCR test 72 hrs before?

Ooh not sure - anyone know? I must say that despite P&O's emails and web content, I haven't found their requirements especially clear. Unprecedent situation admittedly...

15 hours ago, bbtablet said:

Went there and immediately saw loads of very negative reviews from April - a bit worrying! I shall stick with Boots.

Crikey yes I see what you mean about the negative reviews! Perhaps Boots is better...

Hi all. Sailing on Britannia at the end of the month and I just wanted to try and get confirmation of what we need to do in advance. There's 3 adults who are all fully vaccinated) and an 8 year old and 4 year old who have had no vaccinations. Am I correct in saying that the 3 adults and 8 year old will need to do a LFT test the day before departure? and the 4 year old is exempt? And is the REMOTE LATERAL FLOW TEST RANDOX CERTIFLY from Randox Health what we need? (£13.50 per test).

Thank you in advance!

We have our 14 night Mediterranean cruise this May/June. It was originally scheduled for 2020 and then it got pushed back twice.

We are relieved to finally be able to cruise but I am apprehensive about how different the holiday will be and utterly dismayed at some of the changes.

Asking my 8 year old to wear a mask in the heat during kids club (when it has never been government policy!) is a small annoyance but requiring that a parent stays with our 4 year old at all times in kids club seems a step too far. A large part of choosing a P&O cruise is so mum and dad can have a short break sans-kids. Is this actually going to be enforced? I can see them losing a lot of future business over this...

What are the other changes, do we know? Do we need to pre-book time in the swimming pool? Will be need to reserve tables/seats for evening entertainment? Will we no longer be tabled with strangers for dinner?

I get that P&O needs to adapt - and this is a very testing time for the industry - but I must admit that excitement is starting to be consumed by frustration and regret over these policies.

Sorry - I thought i'd posted on a sub-board! P&O Ventura 14 night Med cruise N714

Hi, going on my first ever cruise Saturday week. Two questions I have:

1. I'm a coffee snob - normal hotel stuff doesn't cut it. What's the stuff like on-board. Would I be a complete weirdo if I took my Tassimo machine with me!?

2. Luggage allowance. Is there a limit to what I can take on-board? I am already taking a pram for our toddler - can i take 1/2/3/4 luggage bags on?

Thanks in advance!