AndyMichelle

Yes, sorry Dai, our diaries seemed to clash... 😊 Have a great time, wish we were travelling with you. Andy

Have a great cruise, I'm sure you will. Andy

The app is still in use on Britannia, but the half hearted approach to it causes more problems than it is worth... You can join a virtual queue with say 20 people in front of you and watch others walk straight in without having booked... There was nearly fights at the Glasshouse because of this. The app said 'queue full' but keep checking as more spaces may become available, but if you walked up, you would be added to the queue that was supposedly full. This riled many people... One old chap shouting at us because we walked up just to ask if there was any real possibility of getting in that night and they added us to the queue immediately, we were seated in about 10 mins. I did feel guilty, but I was hungry😊 Andy

Oh definitely Sue. We just might need to decide whether we look at adults only again, plan dates/itinerary a bit better or embrace the changes and 'go BIG'... Our biggest issue was, despite being aware of a lot of the changes, we didn't realise how much some of them could affect our experience. I mean, whoever made the decision to drop Peroni needs firing immediately😂 Overall, it was great to be back cruising. Andy

Oh Baz, so sorry for your loss. Please take care, our thoughts are with you. Andy & Michelle xx

I was surprised how many dressed up for formal nights on Britannia this week, considering smart casual to a lot of them is ripped jeans, trainers and vest type tops... We saw the odd family wander through the atrium in casual clothes, but I would say over 90% of who we saw had made some sort of noticeable effort. After the casual night 'grunge party', I thought we were going to be the only ones dressed up, so was very pleasantly surprised. Andy

That's us back in Southampton. 😒 I will summarise properly later but a couple of quick things for Selborne mainly. Wine orders were taken quickly and delivered promptly. We went back to the mdr for the last 2 nights and it was much better, still efficient, but a bit more accommodating. Ice buckets were available to some, I think it is another thing you now have to ask for. No problem to order your desserts later. OK to have cheese plate after dessert as well. No issues to have 2 starters, 2 puddings and cheese... Yes, I did😂 A surprise as when we asked if we could order dessert later earlier in the week, the waiter just said 'so you don't want dessert then'... Have a great cruise Selborne & Dai, I think your experience will be completely different to ours as not so many party people on a 2 week cruise I guess. Overall, we had a fantastic time, everything seemed to settle down after the first couple of days and there was a great atmosphere on board at the end. Andy

Our wine of choice worked out 50p cheaper by the bottle, but others look cheaper to buy by the large glass. Andy

Thank you all so much for Michelle's Birthday wishes, I have read them all out to her and she was quite emotional at the outpouring of kindness from you all. A genuine thank you to all our fantastic CC family, you really are lovely people. Andy & Michelle xxx

Ours was just left on the table for us to pour ourselves, but I thought I saw ice buckets,? Let me check tonight. Andy

See, we don't seem to have a designated waiter and assistant, we are part of a section that has multiple servers doing different things. They are not very approachable or helpful, but efficient and hard working. You can tell their remit is to get you out of there as quick as possible. I get fed up with having to ask for absolutely everything, no sauces offered etc. These guys definitely don't have time or don't want to have positive vibes with anyone, we did try... Portion sizes are plentiful and all the food served hot, just the friendliness of service and quality of food on a couple of occasions has been lacking. We are going to try the mdr again tonight as its beef Wellington and we cancelled our Epicurean booking, so let's hope it's improved over the course of the week. Andy

I haven't checked, as an open bottle of wine is an empty bottle in our case, but plenty of people are carrying around half empty bottles, so I assume they no longer keep them. I will investigate further tonight. Andy

Good morning all, Just some positives to be getting on with. The breakfast and lunches in the Peninsula restaurant have been great with excellent service. A completely different vibe to Oriental and I think this shows when they are both open for breakfast and one gets booked and the other doesn't... Feedback from other guests is that the freedom dining restaurants are working well with only a few first night hiccups. Entertainment was good again last night and our Glasshouse meal was good. It's Michelles birthday today, so time to spoil her. Have a good day Andy

I think it's 8 till 9.15, definitely nothing later than that, and maybe some daytime bits. Andy

Glad it's not just us... Some people would like this and see it as efficiency. I think this is the first cruise where we don't know our waiters names. Perhaps now they are not working for tips, they don't make as much effort? They still work extremely hard and are polite, but the personal touch has gone. Andy

I love to see people enjoying their holidays their way and have no problem with children on board. The kids are not the issue... A small toddler got onto the stage between sets and was pulling equipment onto herself. I was too far away to do anything, it was frightening. Thankfully, an adult, maybe her Dad, grabbed her just in time. The DJ made an announcement and the band mentioned it as well, but the kids were still left to do their own thing... Andy

Michelle absolutely loves Aurora, I found her a bit dated even in 2019. The solace of Andersons is calling though, especially now the Crystal rooms on Britannia are being used for Karaoke, silent disco and quizzes after 9.15. We used to enjoy the jazz band and watching the ballroom dancers with a night cap. Andy

The beauty of cruising is choice. Despite a few things not being ideal, we are still (mostly) managing to eat well, be entertained and relax. We will rethink our future plans going forward, whether P&O is still the right choice for us and, if so, do we accept the changes and embrace them on the bigger ships, or try to avoid them on the adults only ships. The Mdr experience is no longer what it was pre lock down. We chose 2nd sitting fixed dining, as previously this was the least rushed, but the emphasis is now on efficiency and speed. We were expected to order all courses at once, as soon as we finished our last mouthful, the next course was served. Coffee was served with dessert. On the first night, we were in and out within the hour, there was no choice to relax between courses or digest your meal before being shown the door... Add to this, Michelle had 2 very bad main courses, both overcooked and dry (seems to be a theme). One of these was a formal night, so extra disappointing. My food on both nights was great, well cooked, hot and plentiful. Again, no dress code on the evening casual night, we were surrounded by muscle t shirts, ripped jeans and trainers... In fairness, on formal night, everybody seemed to make some effort. I might as well mention all the toddlers, fairly unsupervised, on the dance floor (and the stage) at 11pm when I am trying to throw some shapes to Pulse, and the kids sitting on the bar in Brodies playing bingo at 10pm... Yep, Aurora it is then😂😂 Andy

We were just commenting on this today, they seem to have relaxed this rule a bit. The rowdy lot were not crew though. Andy

Oh how things have changed... There are a few groups of men only on here. Various ages and you tend to notice them as they take over venues. As prices have dropped, I think the encouragement for a group of mates from the pub/golf club, workmates etc has risen. It's not quite 'stag do' level but not far off. Andy

With us it's the other way round, Michelle gets angry and I don't like to make a fuss... The behaviour of the other guests definitely affected our service. All the attention was on them and we were forgotten. I hope it was a one off and your experience is better than ours. Make sure you get all your bookings in early, everything was fully booked after the first day, although being a longer cruise, the instant demand might not be as high. Andy

Must be a different version, this guitarist, also excellent, is a young lad called Will. Andy

I wasn't being evasive, just conscious that our experience will differ to others. The Epicurean food and service was just not what we expected or had previously... Firstly, no dress code. It was evening casual, we were smart, as we're many others. Others had tatty t shirts, jeans and trainers, not smart casual in my book. 1 party of scruffy guys were so loud, it spoilt the atmosphere. The amuse buche was missed completely for us and the pallette cleanser served after we had finished all courses as they forgot us... The steak I had was very poor quality and drastically overcooked. I ordered medium rare, it was very well done. When I queried it, the answer was that passengers don't usually like to see pink!!! Michelle had the pork t bone, it was also overcooked and very dry. The chips, ironically, were undercooked. The scallop starter just tasted of pepper. The desserts were good. No choice of petit fors, just 2 served in a dish. We spoke to the manager who said sorry, but that was it. We have cancelled our bookings for the other nights without penalty. Unfortunately, everything else is fully booked, we will take our chances joining the queue for the Glass House where we received outstanding service and great food. Andy

Waking up in Flam today, weather looks better. The Epicurean last night was disappointing, but not going to dwell on the negatives. On a positive note, this version of Pulse are by far the best we have ever seen on a P&O ship. Great musicians and 2 excellent singers, absolutely fantastic. Second shows tonight for the Privateers and comedian Herbie Adams. We enjoyed both first shows, so will be returning. Have a good day everyone. Andy

On Britannia at the moment, our itinerary says we are cruising by and not stopping at Olden and Flam... I am typing this in Olden. Just another P&O I T glitch I think. Andy