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9 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Takes us to places we would need to road trip to though from Cape Town

 

Richards Bay and Port Elizabeth 

 

And not too keen on driving over there 

 

I had looked at Rovos Rail but much more expensive to travel with them 

 

Are the drinks that are included good quality?

 

My wife would drink sparkling wine and I would drink gin and tonics mainly

 

Perhaps a glass of wine each with dinner as well?

 

I realise this is the opposite of Arvia in terms of ship but we like quality as well 

 

Looks like they have a jazz band as well on board which we enjoy

 

 

Absolutely loved Azamara , the drinks package is really good with plenty of choice of good quality wines and spirits ,you can upgrade to the superior package but tbh its not worth it (personal opinion ) , the food was superb as was the level of service in every department , smaller ships for sure but really well furnished , I would say two weeks would be enough for us as night time entertainment is limited , nice clientele on board and a classy feel to everything , as for comparing to P and O I feel you would notice the difference even before you step on board.

We will definitely sail with them again when the time and itinerary is correct 

2 hours ago, david63 said:

Inexperienced staff.

Lack of training.

Left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.

The script says so.

Make it up as you go along.

 

Take your pick of any of the above!

Or all of the above 🤣

As somebody who is embarking on this cruise all I will say is that the information relating to vaccinations ,testing and visas from P and O has been ,dare I  say, indifferent 

3 hours ago, Technoman2 said:

But throwing her boobs out whilst in the ruckus should be a determining factor. I kid you not.

Oh my stars😒

Interesting read, thank you, having done numerous Caribbean cruises it is always nice to get a new perspective on the cruise ,shame about the behavior problems caused by a few passengers , however upon reading other reports it would appear this is becoming a common theme  

On 12/19/2023 at 4:27 PM, Son of Anarchy said:

Worldie Formals have appeared overnight as well.

 

17 in all.

 

Which is just about right,  imho 😃

39 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

All ships have a limited lifespan and these two ships are no different, but I don’t accept the premise that the future is bleak for them. Admittedly, they don’t really fit with P&Os current direction of travel, or target market, but these ships can command hefty price premiums as they offer an adult only environment and tend to have far more interesting itineraries than the repetitive and limited schedules of the larger ships. They also cater for large numbers of passengers who would move to other lines, rather than move to bigger ships with P&O. I don’t think that P&O would replace them when they go, but for as long as the ships can keep going making a profit that exceeds their resale value, I feel that they have a future. 

We spent 65 nights on Aurora in January and so long as she is still in the fleet will be doing so again in January 2025 ,the cabins are a little dated ( mostly the bathrooms ) and we are about to spend 99 nights on Arcadia in January, same applies regarding cabins , overall if these two ships can still turn a profit after maintenance and depreciation and unless an offer to good to turn down appears then I suspect these two ships will be around for a good while yet ( personal opinion of course).I do agree with Selbourne that when the time comes for either or both to go they will probably not be replaced   

On 12/16/2023 at 4:40 PM, terrierjohn said:

We have been Caribbean since about 2016 and Baltic since 2017, but have never had a calendar or a printed copy of moments. 😥

Ditto 

34 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

I find it odd that an iconic British cruise line chooses to price drinks etc in Dollars rather than sterling. Do they charge your credit card in dollars when settling on board account at end of cruises, thus rendering customers liable to currency exchange charges. 

Yes they do ,best advice is to pay with a card that does not carry a conversion charge

In response to Terrier John and Selbourne, Re tv,  I was implying that any future bandwidth should be first made available to passengers paying for internet connection.  In no way was I suggesting that people should not watch tv . On a personal level tv is near the bottom of my things to do on a cruise , but as I have discovered in the past,  personal opinions are not the brightest things to express on these boards and I must therefore remind myself not to pass comment, unless of course it is to help answer specific queries or advice to help others    

34 minutes ago, davecttr said:

Sorry I don't know

Hope not ,T V is the last thing I'm interested in on a cruise, However if it provides better wi fi for those people that need it for work purposes etc then it has to be a good thing  

Interesting point regarding longer cruises, on every one we have done we have always ended up been some of the last people up ,and were talking as the last show finishes (11.15 ish) the only other people who we could talk to were the staff , the upside of that is we have made some long standing friends with quite a lot of them, it does however make for a pretty dull atmosphere. This does not apply to the biggest three ships of course as ,up until now they have never done longer cruises.

Couldn't agree more,  with regards to visas they just bat you away to some third party visa site, and obviously after this Januarys fiasco they have realized their error in communication ,and as such  we have received written notification that our 2025 Aurora 65 night cruise WILL require the YF vaccination/exemption letter .,suspect this is due to visiting the Caribbean following on from Brazil

One interesting snippet we picked up while pulling our hair out in January was that just because you are over sixty does not make you automatically exempt, the whole thing is a minefield☹️

We paid £25 pp for the official gp letter , in January we were lucky? That our gp e mailed us with a covering letter stating our exemption with fifteen minutes left before our luggage was to be removed from the ship  , we are taking no chances this time and that’s why we have paid for the official letter , even though P and O have said we don’t need one , I just don’t believe anything they tell us tbh

As somebody who had this issue in January I now know that nothing but an official gp or yellow fever clinic exemption certificate ( or the vaccination) will suffice .

We have paid for said exemption certificates as we do not want to be treated like naughty schoolchildren again ,even though P and O have said we do not need them for our upcoming world cruise , just as they never told us we DID need them for the aurora cruise in January!

Believe me this time we will be taking no chances and have our shoe size, waist size and inside leg measurements amongst other things .

The attitude at Southampton in January was nothing short of diabolical, also I believe the number who had to make alternative arrangements to be more than 40 , some losing the whole trip🤢    

Usually when you book your next cruise

Blimey miles away from 83 yet , but have our guide dogs wall calendar which is sent every year, prefer it to the I phone one tbh,  only ever received one calendar from P and O and that was many moons ago.

12 hours ago, The Med said:

This is what is concerning me about this huge ship, certainly more than double the amount of passengers on any ship that we have booked on previously.

 

If you have to book everything in advance, it does take away the relaxation of a holiday and the spontaneity.

 

We quite often like to decide on a whim what we want to do, where we want to eat and what we want to see.

 

I’m not sure that all this forward planning and trying to decide in advance what we might feel like doing on a certain point in the future in conducive to a relaxing holiday.

 

Well it’s booked now so it is what it is. 

The balancing act of modern ,up to date cabins and facilities against dated but easier to navigate ships

We have seen this on  three different occasions the idea of missing the ship is never intentional, however one incident last year highlighted how things can go awry, we joined a few other couple's on the quayside to visit a beach via minibus and arranged a return  pick up time , driver duly arrived and as we set off the minibus broke down ,never to start again, eventually (Caribbean time) a replacement arrived and we got back with half an hour to spare, having original allowed 3 hours to get back and have a drink portside before boarding

As you are new to P and O you will miss out on the pre booking discount so the price if booking onboard will be the same , if you wait to book whilst on board you may run the risk of your choices not been available as the popular trips are usually full before the ship sails, if you have an idea of what trips you wish to go on and are happy with the price the best option would be to pre book , over the last few years the prices between independent and ships excursions has narrowed considerably.

Whatever you decide have have a great cruise 😎

7 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

We dont care for overnight stays, or 2 full days in port.  As wheelchair users we have no desire to dine ashore, or to explore the night life, and much prefer an extra different port day. So we avoid booking cruises that do have overnight stays.

On a personal level whenever we have had a”proper” overnight we have always made a point of enjoying what that particular port had to offer in the evening and had some of the best times in doing so, the latest we have got back on board is around 2am 

6 hours ago, Denarius said:

To me "overnight" means "for the period between sunset and sunrise". Departing at 1:30am is not overnight. As regards manning the gangway, on all the cruises I have taken with an overnight stay the gangway has been manned throughout the ships stay in port. Indeed, in my experience the people most likely to arrive back in the early hours have been off duty crew members taking advantage of the local nightlife, as I would heve done at their age!

In total agreement about the crew, on our overnight in Uruguay this year we were wandering back to the ship around 01.30 and saw lots of crew members in various bars enjoying themselves , and why not ,if we could have kept up with them we would have !!! ( we didn't sail until the next evening so it was a true overnight)  

2 hours ago, yorkshirephil said:

Same here, the whole concept of going on holiday is to enjoy it not be concerned about what everyone else wears. Saying that I do agree that having a Christmas jumper night on formal night does seem a bit odd. 

 

We now have a dress sense thread and a tipping thread so things must be getting back to normal. Maybe I will go for the hat trick and start a sunbed reserving thread.

 You may need to start it as early as possible 🤣

14 minutes ago, laslomas said:

just a little aside, that came to mind after reading this thread. Maybe P&O should advertise their Caribbean cruises more widely in the U.S.  If they had more customers flying in from North America it would be easier to source enough planes for those coming from UK.

 

I have not been on a P&O Caribbean cruise, but have been with other cruise lines. The bulk of the passengers were from North America. They like the Caribbean. 

A lot of North Americans can sail out of there own country to reach the Caribbean, admittedly usually on seven day cruises but longer ones are available for them

On 11/16/2023 at 9:12 AM, JeanieC,Aston said:

We always buy the DP.

I may have a couple of V&T before dinner,,x2 glasses of wine with dinner and a few more drinks during the night,,,without coffee or soft drinks I’m quids in.

My wife easily makes it pay,,,she likes Prosecco,,,,,x6 tiny 125ml glasses a day @£6.50 a glass it’s easy.

The one thing about prosecco on P and O is the measure in the glass if your on a drinks package or not , my good lady drinks the aforementioned and has said its a half full glass ,on all our other cruises with different companies the glass is always full ,package or not