Windsurfboy

Good food today , loved look of Thai curry and the blueberry souffle , did they taste as good as they looked. How easy is it to get into Quays fusion at lunch?

Thats the cruise I saw, Pity it's not my cruise , I looked at my November 7th cruise with same travel agent, unfortunately no discount vs Saga website even though plenty of availability. Booking at launch still looks best

I've always booked direct , but reading today's paper noticed travel agent , with low prices . I was curious, so checked. A standard cabin as only just over a hundred pounds cheaper than Saga guarantee, but a midships suite was over six hundred cheaper. It seems travel agents do have last minute bargains. Will this trigger price promise

Good point

Using ABTA arbitration is a waste they are a trade body. However the code is useful firstly to make your point. Once the discusion with P&O is exhausted . It can be used with bank , try asking for charge back first they are more ready to accept this route rather than section 75 as they dont have to pay. Or finally small claims court.

I agree , but it will hold you in good stead if you use section 75 or go to small claims , rather than use ABTA .

Àlthough the one case mentioned earlier, Iceland and fjords , loosing Iceland, would clearly have, been a significant change under ABTA wording. I think many tour companies hope rightly that people font read codes of practice.

Two questions The first I think it's been made clear. A significant change is measured against the orginal intinerary. So 5 insignificant changes could end up being significant The second, is there any timescale in which the company must act. For example it was immediately clear that our cruise to black sea would be changed from the day the war started. However Saga waited till late May well after final payment to admit it couldn't go ahead and major change needed. Delaying refund. So in this case if Panama canal is shut to big ships, can they wait till last minute hoping for rain or are they obliged to make a decision .

To our American friends, if a flight is flying out of Europe, EU , then European rules apply even to US airlines. If they cancel they are legally obliged to find you another flight same day, even if they have to book it with an other airline

But does it include leg irons?

If you want to gamble there is a new airline starting up London to New York in 2024, Global airlines. Good opening bargins

No need to wait this would pass for black and white night, if it was charcoal grey😁

Maybe that's the new dress code. "Dress as if you are in front of a Jury" We could have special orange themed nights "dress as if you've been convicted"

Not wearing a jacket is 100% in line with Cunard's dress code, so Cunard do not see it as a drop in standards, just a change in the definition of smart attire. So there is no question standards have changed, but dropped is a personal judgement and out of line with Cunard's view . As to trainers, if they looked as if they had been used for a cross country run , then I'd agree standards have dropped. If they were fashionable shoes in the style of trainers, it's a sign of standards changing not dropping. No doubt many will disagree

I should have said choice of table rather than special treatment

I love the speculation on CC and how there's always a difference of opinion. It looks like there are some things that P&O can do to make things better, but at the margins if there is fundamentally a shortage of tables when full. Please anybody got any numbers @molecrochip can you dig some out. Anyway here are some contentious ideas. To increase capacity encourage sharing. Have more big tables and if you want to share you go straight to front of queue. Publicise way to get table straight away is to share Introduce a maximum table time of 1 and half hours. Stop serving tea coffee in included dining rooms Pre covid and pre big ships, select got preference as to dining slot. In all freedom dining like Arvia perhaps select get to front of virtual queue , or the app opens hour earlier for select.

The Q5s feel more spacious than a Q3 and have a far nicer balcony. However they are st back if you feel sea. Q3 and Q4 are almost identical except Q3 dead midships. I'm not sure on Q.E. that Q3s get any special treatment, they are basically standard Queens grill suites only a small difference in price above 4,5 and 6s. It's only Q1 and Q2 that are the premium suites

All I go by is on my first cruise on Aurora, everyone had an allocated place at one of the two sittings. So the buffet capacity, plus Sindhu and the glass house were extra. If I read the P&O promise correctly , everyone if they choose should be able to eat at a waiter served included venue every night. Do they have anywhere near the capacity for this. Or have they planned for significant numbers eating in paid for restaurants and buffet to make it work. Can't tell without numbers. Key is how many included waiter served covers

Reading various posts including @Damiang latest and informative thread. Arvia seems to have plenty of good dining choices but always a nightmare to get into. This could be due to two things A) The way it is organised : the app that is not an app being misused or rubbish, maybe combined with the mixture of fixed times and freedom leading to an inefficient use of dining rooms B) simply too few seats or covers as they call it in trade for amount of people. In the old days with club dining two sittings you knew for 6000 people they would have to have 3000 covers. I've tried hard to find out have many people each of the venues can seat, does it add up to 3000. Or is Arvia based on faster turn over than twice per evening. Or are they hoping / forcing more people to use buffet. Don't want a whingefest, but if anyone, perhaps Molechip , has any numbers could they share them,

It's a carnival problem same happened on Cunard

Thank you, very interesting. My read is Arvia has some good food and a good variety of choices of types of food, also some good entertainment. As someone rightly said above it's all the problems booking that let it down.

Looking at this choice, the Brittania Club premium seems redundant. For less money can have exactly same cabin and eat in the 4 very nice speciality restaurants.

Do you think your dining booking problems are due to party size or is it a more general issue PS my wife ,who I nickname widow twanky would love the article on laundrette

My argument is there should be no link. That is what professional training is all about , everyone likes a different level of interaction. Chat to the chatty people yes, but provide equal service to all. What you describe is yes human nature, but professional training should override this and give everyone the attention and service they require.

This started off with the premise interaction resulted in better service , which is different to chatiness , it's remembering what people like, acting on request etc etc. For a retiring person may not want chatiness.