NoFlyGuy

Not sure, we booked the two above at the same time whilst on Ventura in January.

You get a 10% discount off both cruises. We are keeping the same cabin on Oriana for the 16 day Christmas Canaries cruise followed by the no fly Caribbean cruise at the end of thisyear.

gillybean1974 - Not sure exactly what your point is. As long as this thread is, nobody seems to have come up with a figure as to what a typical cabin steward or restaurant waiter actually earns over a year.

You feel they are being exploited, perhaps but, compared with their prospects and likely pay back 'home' they probably feel they are the lucky ones.

I am sure they do get paid less than a low paid worker in the UK but once they return home their money goes a long way.

One could argue that a typical UK worker is being exploited because their salary is so much lower than an equivalent Norwegian worker. Anyone who has done a cruise that includes Norway will know just how expensive the cost of living is there. It's like comparing chalk and cheese.

The bottom line is are these crew being paid at least a living wage commensurate with their country of origin and where they will almost certainly return to once their stint on the cruise ships is over. If you answer 'no' then please explain why any of them would willingly sign up to work on cruise ships (P&O or any other) rather than remain in their country of birth and where they are likely to have family ties.

Max 12c min 6c. But these are just averages. We had quite a mix when we went in May 2015.

Shineson - No I didn't book my cruise knowing it's price if you expect me to pay the 'new' suggested service charge in full. True I can waste my deposit by cancelling but, why should I. Like most other purchases in life, give me a price for the goods or services you are providing up front and allow me to decide whether to take up your offer or not.

I could add that the change to the alcohol policy is another example of altering my contract with P&O after I have booked in good faith. I, along with many others I suspect, book well in advance of our holiday and accept the terms and conditions at the time of booking. Whilst I have never abused the earlier, more lenient, policy on alcohol used by P&O it becomes very difficult to decide which company to book a particular cruise with if the terms can be changed between booking and departure.

Pay the new DSC? Why a 40% increase in suggested DSC in such a short space of time. Inflation may have picked up a bit but not to that extent! Shooting themselves in the foot as more and more passengers will have had enough and just remove them in IHO.

Well done grapau27 for making the effort of contacting P&O, maybe it'll make no difference but a least you and others tried.

I'm a little ashamed now that I didn't add my voice.

Ciggies, lighter, cruise card and reading glasses, all in my pockets.

The swell on the course that cruise ships tend to steer outside Biscay often is worse than in Biscay itself. I like to keep an eye on what's happening by going on www.windy.com which is a great site for showing current and predicted wind, swell and isobars for up to about 6 days ahead. Not just for nearby areas such as Biscay but for transatlantic crossings as well.

At least then I know if it's likely to be lumpy or not!

No idea why captains say they are crossing Biscay. Agree with Jean - from the Isle de Ouessant (Ushant) to rounding Cape Finisterre it's probably at least 50NM outside of Biscay.

If you visit ports such as Santander or La Rochelle then you would cross Biscay but not for the Med, Canaries or Azores.

That's the problem - all our future booked cruises have the correct tier on the personaliser with the exception of the May 2019 cruise showing Baltic rather than Ligurian. Maybe it has something to do with the amount of payment to earlier cruises. Some of ours are paid in full whilst others still have a balance.

Who knows? Thanks for all the comments - it may well become irrelevant if P&O make sweeping changes to our Peninsular benefits!

Thanks JH.

Only problem is they have moved us from Caribbean to Baltic thus counting 'some' of our upcoming cruises but, apparently, not all of them. I did read somewhere that the tier quoted reflects the 'expected' tier of the customer at the time of the cruise.

Our 21st December cruise correctly shows Caribbean although at the time of writing this we only have 145 days as we have a few booked ahead this year prior to the 21st December.

We get to the 'dizzy' heights of Caribbean when we embark the Oriana Christmas cruise on 21st December. Will not be best pleased if things change for the worse in the meantime.

As an aside, we have a cruise booked for May 2019 which shows us as 'Baltic' although according to my calculations we should be Ligurian as I reckon we would have 213 days during the prior 3 years.

Not going to chase it up at the moment as it's way in the future, but does anyone know why

As others have said, just let me know the cost of my holiday up front. I'll then decide whether to book it or not.

This is the 21st century, why should cruising be any different to a holiday we book in the south of France. Many other cruise lines seem to be going down the 'gratuities included' route. A 40% increase in suggested gratuities in little over a year really is getting excessive.

Just for once the French seem to have it right. When we drive to the south of France and eat out it's always 'Service Compris'.

Doesn't mean you can't add a tip for exemplary food and service if you choose.

As with everything, just let me know the total cost of the goods/services you are providing up front and allow me to make a decision as to whether to take up your offer.

I wasn't suggesting that nobody should pay the service charge - just attempting to put some figures on it. Having done the 'behind the scenes' tour on Ventura in January there are a great many of the 800 staff that we as passengers never normally get to see.

For the record we have always paid the service charge until this last Oriana cruise where the service in the main restaurant was poor. As a result we paid to eat in the Beach House on a fair few nights. So we removed the service charge and paid our cabin steward in cash.

I don't know how many get it but a lot don't get it - Bar staff, buffet staff, behind the scenes in the galleys, navigation, stores, maintenance, security, engineering etc. If it was, say, 250 then that would be roughly £52 each per day or £364 per week in tips.

Oops! Should have been £13160 per day in tips.

Just got back today from Oriana's second 12 day Canaries cruise.

Assume she was carrying her compliment of about 1880 passengers and we all paid our £7 that would be a total of £1386 in 'tips' per day.

This, not to shared between the whole compliment of about 800 crew, but just the cabin stewards and main dining room(s) serving staff.

Not sure how many of the 800 crew they account for but it l seems they can earn a quite tidy daily sum if they get a decent score in the passenger surveys.

Last year we were tendered at Parintins on the Amazon whilst on an Oriana cruise. There was a line to get back on a tender in the afternoon but, there was equally a line for the smaller Fred Olsen ship also anchored on the river. Personally I am more worried about price / destinations than I am about size of ship when I book a cruise.

Big, medium or small. Can't say which I prefer - there's always pros and cons. We do like Oriana and wouldn't want to see her sold anytime soon. We've got four cruises booked on her between now and Feb '19!

Hi Presto2! Many thanks for your frank and reasonable comments.

Normally I'm 'mister easy going, anything for a quiet life' but I do get the hump when certain folk accuse me of being antisocial without perhaps examining their own life choices, hence my various posts.

Time for me to stop boring you all with my opinions!

Not entirely sure why there would be any need to design cruise ships differently. If smoking, real or vaping, is dying out as some have suggested then what's the problem with the current crop of ships? If nobody smoked or vaped then there isn't a problem.

On P&O ships the area, both inside and outside, given over to smokers cannot be more than 1-2% yet there are still far more 'smokers' of either variety than that, so it's hardly we smokers who are selfish or antisocial is it.

Given up any hope of any non smoker attempting to answer my question regarding whether it's just the smell of tobacco/tobacco like products that they take umbrage to or whether they believe those who vape are going to cause them any health issues. If it's the health issue do please enlighten me and point me in the direction of some 'valid' research that supports your claim.

Ergates The Ant - Is it just the smell you don't like, hopefully, having read my post re vaping. If so I reiterate my point that you are selfish one(s). There are a lot of actions/smells I don't like but don't expect them to be banned from cruise ships or anywhere else unless illegal.

Joro44 - Of course tobacco companies sell their wares in many countries. My point was the sale of nicotine based products shows no sign of decreasing and is unlikely to in the medium term and, as a smoker, why should it.

It's now time for the non smokers to prove the difference between 'I don't like the smell of nicotine based products' and 'This should be banned, It's going to take 'n' years of my life. None of you have managed that so far!

My point was that there is no evidence that passive smoke out in the open air causes any harm.

As for thinking that smoking is dying out, I would have to disagree. Imperial Brands and British American Tobacco's share prices are up 30 - 50% over the past 5 years. Hardly a sign that markets think either of these companies are about to succumb any time soon.

True, they have been buying up smaller Vaping companies in recent years, where growth seems to reside. Although some of these products come in various 'flavours', many still smell just like tobacco. Should vapours not be allowed to vape anywhere?

Otherwise the entire gist of the non smokers argument appears to be 'I don't like anything that smells like tobacco and therefore they should be banned'.

Again I ask who are the selfish and anti social ones?