GSPG

Thanks showingdiva. That’s what I thought that extra money goes a long towards another cruise. Surely accommodation they put you isn’t going to be that terrible?

Sorry as there probably a number of threads on Saver v Select Prices. The cruise I am looking at on Britannia, the Saver entices you in at £1,798 for two people for a standard balcony. The select price then wants to add a whopping £1,380 on top bringing the total to £3,178 for two. Granted you get £480 per cabin to spend and the other extras like booking your own room, priority dining etc choosing the Select option. But I was wondering just how big a gamble would it be to take the saver rate. I assume in the first instance they can’t downgrade you to a Fully Obstructed balcony as you specified and went in for the standard balcony? Are there ‘bad’ standard balcony rooms on Britannia that could spoil your holiday?

Good to hear everyone. Just don’t want to hear one of one of those ‘whoops, sorry’ moments.

I see P&O have several cruises this year to Scandinavia and the Baltics. My geography isn’t great, but noticed one of the countries, Estonia is adjacent to Russia. Finland is too. I have noticed what looks like Typhoon aircraft patrolling over Estonia on FlightRadar. Seems hard to believe what’s going on a bit further south in Ukraine, but having cruise ships so close to Russia at this time seems a bit risky to me not knowing what may happen with all the missiles and uncertainty so close.

Thanks tring. I did think of that briefly about exploring Valetta itself. We have been to Ajaccio on another cruise and may stay on and enjoy the ship there. I have never done a fly cruise. Are these set up and organised pretty well by the company. Do they allow enough time for the aircraft to land and get people to the ship? Are people very well looked after to get to the ship? Thanks

Yes it is tring, one week around Italy mainly then the second week around the Adriatic with our main port at Valetta, Malta. Seems good ‘on paper’, but wonder what it feels like returning to Malta, then departing it again for the second time. There are some cruises where you just don’t want to get off and wish you could stay on. In this case you can stay on. Okay if you are up for it and have no issues, a problem however if you have had enough but are locked in for another seven long days.

The cruise is a flight then can be taken as a whole fortnight, or both weeks in isolation. I just wondered what a ‘problem’ might be doing the two weeks. Obviously if you dislike the ship and you can’t wait to get off will be a bummer!

I was listening to a live q&a with two well known vloggers or bloggers yesterday. There was a comment from their two friends in the background about staying on the same ship for another cruise, back to back. Obviously depends on availability and the port, but the suggestion was to get off the ship and use another line. Is there a problem staying on the same ship for a back to back cruise? I am actually looking at doing one in the Med. I could of course might be in the mind that I can’t wait to get off the ship after 7 days, but then again I can see the bit in between when most have disembarked and you have the ship to yourselves while the new batch of guests wait to embark. The ‘second’ week has different ports. Thanks and interested to hear any views.

Thanks, will do.

Good idea and thanks very much. At the mo, just can’t find anything it all looks so expensive for us. Think we have been spoilt by the ‘bargains’ seen post pandemic.

Our reminder for final payment came in this morning for our Mediterranean cruise on Beyond in May, but due to financial reasons only we will be cancelling it. It’ll mean we’ll lose 3x £150 deposits, and we can’t see another cruise we could transfer this to, if we were allowed to. I have never cancelled before. Is it a case of just phoning them? Is there anything else we should be aware of? Thanks

Thanks. Would you know how many days I have before the cruise I booked to choose another one?

Thanks. It just says Amount Paid. I can’t see anything on the invoice which suggests if it’s refundable or not.

We have booked a cruise in May, but because of a wedding do not wish to sail on this cruise. We have paid our £150 deposits for the cruise and do not wish to lose this if we book another cruise. Does anyone know how many days prior to sailing Celebrity would swop our cruise to another one without losing our deposits? Thanks

I agree about them pricing themselves out currently and it will be quite ‘interesting’ to see their next moves. Emptier ships perhaps although with people paying more it may offset any shortfall in revenue. Not exactly encouraging people back though is it, and so I understand the company’s make so much money from passengers paying for excursions and additional items and services bought on the ship.

What can we expect thereafter, much the same? At present for say a £6k cruise for 2, the first guest is paying £5k and the other with a large discount is £1k. Will the £5k price suddenly reduce, while the 2nd guest increases? I can see sailings due out in less than 4 months with plenty of rooms still available. Has the need to recoup money so fast going to bite Celebrity and others on the harris?

I am aware that Celebrity have had this 75% off the second guest offer for some while now, but the overall price has gone up! A breakdown of two people averaging say £3k for a £6k total shows the first person’s occupancy at c£5k. I am sure this first person’s pricing has gone through the roof. Either they don’t want single people on board, but either way feel very uncomfortable how this price has been hiked. They’ll come a time when Joe Customer says no!

We had 4 cabins on Iona. 2 of these complained to reception on issues a few times, the other 2 didn’t have any qualms. The two that didn’t visit reception received the survey the day after arriving back, the two that did visit reception did not receive a survey, and looked in the spam folder. Make of that what you will.

Or so I am led to believe in today’s CC email. Personal reviews suggest otherwise, unless a 3 out of 5 is the best the UK can offer? https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/news/7158/

I travelled on the two week Canaries cruise before your voyage. I too noticed coughing at the start, but by the second week this became less noticeable, even gone. Early in week 2, the staff were allowed to take their masks off. Poor things a number seemed tentative to start with having to endure these things for well over a year. But gradually in all areas the staff demasked, and was great to see!

For the ship itself, or for the company? Has this affected the price for other ships in the company?

Yes there is the skydome, love it or loathe it, the cinema, the promenade deck. But for getting on with nearly twice as much capacity, what benefits are there for the passenger with a bigger ship? In contrast, the buffet layout is actually worse on Iona, and the food, though perhaps that’s general P&O cutbacks recently. Even larger queue’s sometimes to get back on ship once visiting a port, is it really a better experience overall being on a larger ship? What’s in it for us?

Thanks, and I was unaware of this. That answers the question when the two winning cards were called out, both with the same supposedly unique number on the card, and the bingo caller said the casino had to deal with it. I suppose with all the very technical slot machine’s on board as well, you would need ‘specialists’ to look after this. I just hadn’t guessed these operations weren’t by P&O.

Imagine that, winning a cruise. What a good idea that would have been and in relative terms for the company wouldn’t cost them much at all.

Sadly not on this cruise. There was literally no break in the daily planner for sales etc, with just a few quizzes, some line dancing and gear would be made available on the sports court if you wanted a battle with the kids on board.