Benpointer

I don't understand why they can't get a basic like that right. We had 6 or 7 great coffees on our cruise, every one of them was in a cafe in a port. Haarlem, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Oslo, etc. we didn't find a cafe serving bad coffee. On the ship though, it was terrible. Our previous experience on P&O and Cunard was that the dining room coffee was meh but the speciality coffees were fine. Not this time.

It's not the only thing that will leave a bad taste in your mouth... Having just been on the Island Princess for the 12 night 'Oktoberfest' cruise #2319, I can tell you that the coffee is awful. no matter where you get it from. I was shocked how bad it is tbh. Why don't they just franchise their cafes out to Starbucks or similar? (Cunard used Costa last time we were onboard IIRC - very acceptable coffee). I have fed back the same message to Princess via the cruise feedback.

We have the Princess Plus package for our up-coming (first) cruise on Island Princess. Is the only casual option Alfredo's? And where is that? I can't see it on the deck plans. Thanks!

Since I'm posting on here and there appear to be some experts around is there anywhere we can access the MDR menus or rather, sample menus?

Thank-you. We are always happy to share - we've only ever had one bad experience with rather obnoxious and drunk other guests on the table (we had to leave after one the main course) - but that was the only exception.

Thank-you! That makes perfect sense and is a bit of a relief. Apologies for any misunderstanding on my part of your earlier post.

Thanks, that's what I assumed. We just turn up right? I can understand that they allow people to book set times via DMW for a proportion of the capacity - one that proportion is booked, no more reservations just roll-up and maybe there's a wait of a few minutes if they are really busy? That I would class as acceptable (if a bit annoying that I didn't know we had to book early as Steelers36 implies).

Woah! You mean we can't dine in the dining room on those evenings when they are not showing any availability? That sounds crazy. I mean we've paid for a cruise that includes dinner right? Surely, they have enough capacity to cater for everyone on the ship?

Hi, we're first time Princess cruisers, trying to get our head around DMW. The website says "Dining Reservations have moved to the MedallionClass™ App" yay! (And yes the app is pretty poor.) For our cruise (Oktoberfest European Capitals, sails 18th October), most nights the App isn't offering any options to book dining in the main dining room "sorry we could not find any reservations at this time". Some nights it's offering just two times e.g 5:30 or 8:20, neither of which we'd choose. So... I am guessing this is all a bit of a red herring and that there's no point in trying to reserve a table in the main dining room, just turn up when we want to eat. We can use the app for booking speciality dining. Does that sound right? We are booked Princess Plus so I think that gives us flexible dining. Thanks

Ah, it must be my browser then (Safari). Re-reading my comments, I fear I have focused on the negative a bit too much. We are not going to be complaining, we were happy to leave the added tips and an extra tip for the cabin steward. It's still tough time for the cruise companies - I hope they manage to work through it.

Sorry, I did that previous post as bullets but the the bullet point marks haven't appeared so it looks a bit like a stream of consciousness. Hopefully it's decipherable to anyone who is interested.

Hi there, we were also on this cruise, Britannia club. A few thoughts: This was our first Cunard cruise (we've done just four P&O cruises before, so we're not really experts). The cabin, bar and restaurant staff were great - very helpful and friendly. We did wonder if the numbers of available staff declined during the week (covid cases?). There was no push to wear masks, although some passengers were and the all the crew were. I think the approach of 'monitor cases and introduce compulsory mask-wearing if the numbers increase during the cruise' seems sensible to us. The ship is very clean and feels fresh and well-cared for, although the decor is clearly of certain style and age (faux 1930s Art Deco). We noticed the large Mexican contingent but they didn't trouble us too much. Cunard have to sell tickets where they can. The Britannia Club food was ok at best I'd say, no better than standard P&O fare though. We used the Lido buffet a couple of times and it was better than the P&O equivalent. Afternoon tea was very good. The Verandah restaurant never seemed to be open, and the pub wasn't serving food, so we didn't have the choices we were expecting. Entertainment was poor overall - mainly due to no proper shows. These are something we look forward to and their absence was disappointing. There was a comedian who was ok but struggled a bit to engage the audience, a soprano who had a good voice but her choice of songs was a bit 'meh' in our opinion (personal preferences, I accept that). The best act were the Beatles Experience who were very good. They were (I assume) roped into doing a 2nd night in the Queens ballroom on the last night and got everyone dancing there. Also roped into doing more than they bargained for were an Irish folk duo (Cula?) who were good but probably not ideal for the big theatre. The talks were very good - Dr Becky Smethwick, astrophysicist, and Lord Dannatt, former army chief of staff, plus a woman talking about Norwegian Resistance who was apparently excellent but whom we missed, having already sat through two talks that morning... ...which highlights a bit of a problem with the talks - they were all crammed in to the the two sea days, rather than being paced out. Boarding and disembarkation were very smooth. The scenery was brilliant of course, the weather was a bit disappointing but not Cunard's fault of course, and actually the fjords look rather spectacular in moody misty weather. The last port of call was Haugesund, which really doesn't have a lot to recommend it. I am a wheelchair user and the cabin (8092) was excellent - couldn't fault it. The ship access is great too. However the wheelchair accessible trip options were extremely limited and many times more expensive than their able-bodied equivalents. I understand that not all trips are going to be accessible but in this day and age of wheelchair friendly buses, I find it odd that so much use is made of inaccessible coaches for trips that would otherwise be fine for a wheelchair user. (Sorry pet gripe - not just aimed at Cunard!) We did a trip from a dockside operator at Olden - much cheaper than the Cunard equivalent, and they SO helpful and friendly - even running the trip even though there were only four of us in total. One other pet gripe: The sales pitches masquerading as art, jewellery or watch lectures. If I wanted to buy art, jewellery or watches, I'd go to the West End shops, not come on a cruise! Sorry that's enough rants now! 😉 Overall, if this had been my first cruise I don't think we'd be doing another one. Maybe it's largely down to covid but the cruise companies are going to have to find a way of managing this better. We won't be booking Cunard again in the near future. Next year we are looking at two options for 19 night cruises to the Greek Islands: Cunard Club Balcony versus P&O Balcony + freedom dining. P&O works out at 25% cheaper (and includes tips). That's it from me. Sorry if it's a bit negative - the ship, crew, scenery and fellow passengers made it an enjoyable experience overall but not as good as our pre-covid cruises. Benpointer