MX-Drew

14 minutes ago, bee-ess said:

Had this offer by email today - Cannot see how they are making much out of this

 

They’re not, I for one have cancelled two cruises, a 14 night and a 28 night cruise because of these offers. I will not be booking any further cruises with P&O.

19 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

Seems random! I have done 49 cruises with P&O in past 10 years. All balcony, all select and paid single supplement each time. Never had extra obc.  As I have said, so much for loyalty!

It doesn’t seem random to me, the more you cruise with P&O the more they p*** on you. 
Marketing have been told “Get new customers” but no one told them they had to keep customers as well.

9 minutes ago, zap99 said:

I doubt our money will find its way to P&O's account.

I hope many more people will follow suit, that might teach P&O that if they want customers they can’t take them for granted.

25 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Just checked our Oct Iona Canaries and the current select price is £1300 per cabin higher than we paid on launch. Even with the extra £660 OBC it's still £650 more expensive, and  there is no mention of a 5% discount.

Just proves that booking on launch is the way to go.

The majority of my cruises are booked at launch but I had no option with some because of various reasons. 

Whe 5% discount is not mentioned in my experience no one gets it but it it says 5% for previous customers and you don't put your Peninsular Club number in the price at the end includes 5% discount for new customer, I know this as I saw it when I booked the cruise where I booked a cabin for my son and family (it was completely a separate booking, I just did the typing).

13 minutes ago, zap99 said:

At least you can cancel and rebook. We can't. Plain contempt.

I agree but I'm in both positions as I have a fully paid cruise in September that granted the OBC hasn't changed as far as I'm aware as all balcony cabins are fully booked and I have one in August 2024 that I had to pay a high deposit and now the cost hasn't changed but it is a low deposit and £460 more OBC, a right piss take if you ask me. I have two others that I'm willing to lose the deposit on.

I just hope this discussion gets fed back to P&O marketing dept.

First they piss off loyal customers then, not content with that they piss of those whole have booked early, showing faith in the company and put cash in their bank. Well no more money from me in the form of new bookings, I'm off to Celebrity and also take a look at RCI.

55 minutes ago, emam said:

For the (inside) cabin next door to us it has gone up £400 with an obc offer of coach plus £450. It works out we would save less than £60 per cabin. However I don't know if the 5% loyalty would have come off that price. 

That 5% is totally false because if you don't get 5% loyalty discount you get 5% new customer discount. 

I have a cruise booked for August 2024, I have just checked and the price is the same but with reduced deposit and an increase of £460 OBC. I'm not happy at all and I'm afraid to say this really is the final straw with P&O, I have 2 cruises booked on Arvia that I will cancel (only paid a low deposit) and I have one in September that is fully paid so when these 2 (September and 2024) are over I'm done with P&O.

If other cruise lines follow suit then I'm back to land based holidays where I don't feel ripped off.

1 hour ago, Trevor Fountain said:

Well just done a dummy booking for same grade as I paid final balance for yesterday.

Price has gone up by £100, but now with £780 OBC per cabin.

Having spoken to them yesterday, this absolutely stinks.

For sure I am not going to dwell on it, and it won't ruin my cruise, but I won't be back with P&O again. 

If I were you I would get onto P&O and let them know how you feel, after what does an email cost?

Write to executive.correspondence@carnivalukgroup.com it can take a while for a reply but I have found a much better response.

I complained to P&O after my cruise on Azura about the number of things not available and I received a very generous amount that could be used as OBC or FCC.

Knowing this I’m not so sure I would get so excited about the extra OBC as you might find it hard to find anywhere to spend it other than the usual handbags.

I’m on Iona in September and haven’t received an (other) extra OBC …….. yet.

4 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I think that’s very sensible. When it comes to P&O ships and children there’s a very simple logic. The newer the ship the better. 

Whilst I agree, sometimes the obvious is not always the right answer.

1 hour ago, davecttr said:

1) Yes the bridge cam channel which also has the onboard radio but you can turn the sound down if you want

 

2) I have a weeks worth from two weeks ago but can I post them on here with enough resolution to be able to read them?

 

3) I would reckon the Crows Nest or maybe Anderson's but not a cocktail drinker so did not check

I would say the Anderson's bar for manly gin based cocktails, I believe from memory there were other cocktails in there too.

We are going on a cruise with the grandchildren. Their mother would really like them to be together in the kids club. The age groups are 2-4 and 5-8 but the grandchildren will be 4 1/2 years old and 7 years old.

Any idea if they could go together in the 5-8 group?

@molecrochipdo you have any idea?

Many because of the itinerary and molecrochip's comments I have now booked two cabins on Arvia (or should I say Our Vera?) August 2024, fingers crossed things improve.

53 minutes ago, BouncingWheel said:

I see where you are coming from but do hope that you are wrong. Only time will tell. I just hope that sometime over the summer we find out one way or the other for this and the other few remaining "COVID changes" that are still in place.

I hope I'm wrong too but things like no turndown service and very limited room service breakfast lead me to think this way.

21 minutes ago, BouncingWheel said:

I would also say that I am paying special interest to the activities for children as I am trying to book a cruise with my niece and her 3 year old for later this year. It will be their first cruise so am waiting for night nursery etc.. to return.

I fear (no grounds for this) that the night nursery will be the last thing to return if ever it does and even then like many other things it may be chargeable.

3 minutes ago, BouncingWheel said:

My understanding is that it is only sent to those that have children and not to all passengers. Planned cruise of 2024 means current state of play should not really be a factor anyway. I'm sure that you will find lots of options for your family to choose from.

Completely agree regarding state of play in 2024, but when it comes to the said email I'm afraid the usual poor P&O communications team were at fault as we had 2 young children in our party and we did not receive an email regarding the facilities that were or were not available. However we did receive multiple emails prompting us to book the Sindhu restaurant which was closed!!  

24 minutes ago, BouncingWheel said:

 When are you planning to go? At present the Kids clubs are not operating normally - it seems to be one of the last things to be returning. Other posts have indicated that it will not be back by July and P&O have sent out emails to those on these cruises informing them of that. If you are planning on a last minute cruise be aware of that although and although there are still items for children they are reduced. If it is in the future then I am sure you can book and move to a later cruise (before payment date) if normal operations have not returned if that is what you are after. 

The planned cruise is for 2024 and I suspected Covid was the reason.

Just for information we didn’t receive an with any information regarding lack of kids clubs etc for our cruise on Azura just gone.

18 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

Yes I know this is a P&O forum but Disney is the obvious choice. However they are expensive and sailing from Dover this year I believe. Lovely looking ships though.

I asked specifically about the P&O ships I mentioned because of not only cost but the itineraries. Disney ships do look nice but the price is way out for my son and his wife. Perhaps I should have said they really want to go for 14 nights this time.

2 hours ago, davecttr said:

Iona and Arvia are not really resort style ships as they don't have the interesting activities such as crazy golf, climbing walls, fancy water slides, dodgems, indoor bowls etc etc. If your kids are happy with just splashing around in pools they should be OK 🙂

Not really looking for the RCI resort style of ship. The problem we did find on Azura which fingers crossed was down to short staff due to Covid, was there was very little entertainment aimed at children and also lacked things like an afternoon tea for children that we saw when we were on Britannia Christmas & New Year 2019 / 2020. 

I'm hoping P&O did have not taken the view that in hot weather children are happy in the pool so no other children's entertainment is required.

Your input @molecrochipwould be appreciated.

20 hours ago, molecrochip said:

Arvia will be best once she launches.

@molecrochipWill Arvia have more areas and activities for children in the 4 to 7 year old age range?

After a successful first cruise with the family and grandchildren we are looking to arrange another. We have an idea of a few itineraries so what to know peoples opinion for the best ship for a 4 and 7 year old.

We are looking at Britannia or Arvia but at a push back to Azura.   

1 minute ago, Josy1953 said:

Yes, we go to the local DAM Health dive and it is carried out by a nurse.

Thank you

11 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

I booked with DAM Health locally yesterday for our next cruise and it was £22.49 each for the LFT which exactly the same as it was in March.  Can you remember how much it was in Southampton  ?

Is that a supervised test?

6 hours ago, tim2go said:

Had complimentary bathrobes, champagne and chocolates in superior deluxe on Britannia at the end of April.

On Azura right now and all those things are provided in superior deluxe cabins.

6 hours ago, DS_Dean said:

It seems like the rules are changing on Azura today to match P&O policy. Masks recommended only but not mandatory. Just as we are leaving.

 

So gutted we had to endure masks and now as we leave it goes back to mask free. 

 

Good news for you @MX-Drew!

Yes we are onboard and found masks only mandatory in the casino and medical center.