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Again only a personal experience , but we have noticed the price difference between ships excursions and independent booking has narrowed considerably , more so since the pandemic, and also in some ports some of the smaller traders who sell trips do not appear to have returned? As I said its only what we have noticed and others may have different experiences

Just a general question, are the coaches now running at full capacity as port testing has been withdrawn? Five of us will be using the coach in July and the last time we used it the coach was only a third full

It turned out to be irrelevant who we booked with as the whole trip got cancelled!!! However we did try to book independently before trying the ships excursion and it was fully booked , can only assume there were other ships in port on that day

Only a personal opinion ,I would never use a debit card for our on board account ,always a credit card, in fact we use it for all major purchases and settle it at the end of the month, its a useful tool if anything is faulty or is not what you ordered. Hope you enjoy your cruise on Ventura😃

We are very selective with the shore excursion we want to take , however they are sometimes the most popular , Flam railway a prime example, the day after they were announced it was sold out , same with the Jazz and meal in New Orleans, In these instances we have no issue with giving our money early, but appreciate that less popular trips are still readily available closer to sailing dates. When they have been cancelled our money has been back in our account within two days, that applies to all the lines we have sailed with

Our travelling friends booked the same cruise as us on the 29th May and received £900 per cabin spend, we booked very early and got a third of that, however the cost of their holiday was £1700 more than we paid for, ( we, and they always choose select price)

While I understand the thinking behind not been able to book too early to avoid changes/cancellations ,if its a long cruise, say a month or longer or if its port intensive, its nice to stagger the bookings and not have one big bill all at once. We have learnt from past experience that popular trips book up very early

Also have to say we love New York even allowing for the fact we were robbed there once , but after so many visits it still has the buzz, just keep your wallet/ purse/ handbag close🤔

Yes that is our sailing , we have two elderly guests who travel with us a lot and for the two of us mobility and walking hold no fears but obviously they are in their early eighties and although are in pretty good shape they will not be able to walk along with us but still want to see a Broadway show with us .They will do a ships tour to see the sights but we will need to be sure we can get transport from the terminal to the theatre ( and back) as it will be too much walking for them, hence the question of docking location. our only concern is that when we had this exact trip booked prior to been cancelled because of covid our dock suddenly became unavailable and we only would have had two days in NYC, so although it was fortunately cancelled if the same were to happen again it would cause us a problem

Thank you Waju and kruzseeka ,where the ship docks will be the important part as we are expecting to do a show on one of the nights ( under our own steam). We assumed the dock would be around Battery Park at the bottom end of Manhattan, however your information would indicate otherwise. We will try and find out from P and O where the expected dock will be , may have to wait some time for a reply though !!!!!

We are due in NYC in September and have never sailed in before ,though visited many times, does anybody know if P and O run shuttles to anywhere in the city? Thanks

Well that would be classed as been economical with the truth

Agree with the comments that P and O beverage package is not one of the best in the cruising business, we hardly drink at home ,cant remember the last time we were in a pub, but do like a glass of wine , or a bottle with our evening meal while on holiday, we always thought the drinks prices to be reasonable on P and O and never considered the beverage package, but as we have a couple of longer cruises upcoming considered it , but it would appear that the choice is becoming more limited by the day and as others have said why end up having to drink something you don't really want. Our recent experience on an American line when the package was put on without our knowledge and at no extra cost proved to us that we would never get the value out of it , even with a few sea days, what was quite obvious was the size of the drinks we received , large glasses and nearly full to the brim, and as soon as they were a third empty staff were asking if you would like another. What would be nice is if P and O did a half size drinks package ,say maximum eight drinks , for a smaller fee ,then we would probably go for that ,we will await to see if the alleged change to the packages in June actually happens

I believe that everybody in the country is well aware that everything " up north " is cheaper 🤣

If it is the case that the gangways were incompatible than I find it hard to understand how a ship that was always going to spend every summer in the Fjords was not designed to accommodate them, bit of an amateur mistake if that is the issue, that said will we ever find out what is causing so much consternation about docking in Geiranger?

That sensation happens to my other half every time ,and the longer the cruise the longer it takes to resolve itself, I must be immune as it has never affected me at all, glad you had a great time and as I suspected you have got the cruising bug, its the one addiction nobody wants to cure !!!!!

I believe formal nights on the two new ships will possibly be phased out as the target passengers would appear to be the younger element who by and large do not always want ,or believe in formal attire. I agree with your point about people booking with P and O when fully aware of the dress code, whoever we book with it is with the full understanding of their accepted standards

Thank you Megabear for the update , luckily for us none of our next six cruises are with either of these companies , however it is obvious that if it gets hold the consequences for any cruise line could be dire, and also for the affected passengers, much as none of us like certain restrictions if it stops these mass outbreaks we would happily accept them

Not read about NCL and Celebrity problems , could you enlighten me ?

That I didn't know , however all the excursions etc are in Geiranger, which makes staying in Hellisylt pointless.

Well even if the sun bakes us dry in Hellisylt I can guarantee that a town with a population of 300 will hold no interest for us at all. When we originally booked this cruise we knew that it was a stopping point and nothing more, spending a full day there is not what we envisaged

No ,ours was the five week cruise in February , only 900 on board, definitely right about no atmosphere by 1045 we were probably the only people around , the only good thing was you could get up at 11 am if you so wished and still easily find a sunbed

I believe she was the pianist, she was indeed very very good ,just a shame that whenever we went in there were only three or four people in the place, but that was like the rest of the ship, talk about Billy no mates !!!!!

There appears to be a theme running here ,recent posts regarding cancelled ports in Croatia, up to four on one cruise, the uncertainty over Geiranger , the whole of the USA leg of the five week cruise on Ventura in February ,which we were on lost, and three days before departure another port cancelled, it looks at times as if P and O are just taking the rise out of paying passengers who have paid to visit specific places, and in the instance of Geiranger, (if true) will have to pay AGAIN to get from Helisylt . It just feels as though you are paying for something you don't really want, and with the questions about Arcadia and Aurora resurfacing (which we are booked on three times up to 2024)we are certainly glad we are sharing our cruise's with lots of other lines and have to say up to now every one of them has been a far better experience than with P and O, which is a shame as we have enjoyed most of our time with them, in these days of belt tightening the customer experience will be the thing that keeps any company in business

Well until its official we will remain optimistic, however if this does turn out to be fact then we ,and our cruise relative newbies are not going to be very pleased ,and have to say if it wasn't for them and the fact we have made arrangements for pre cruise accommodation and taxis and covid testing we would cancel or transfer, really feel that Iona is not suited to this part of the world and appears that when planning this itinerary P and O did not do their research