Pine Man

Just got home from a Britannia cruise that dropped us off at the Science Park on the shuttle. No advice whatsoever from P&O, or the shuttle, on how to get to the Old Town. Lots of passengers started the long walk through the park but most gave up as they didn't really know where they were going and turned back. My wife and I set off through the park but had no idea how far to go, or where to leave the park. Luckily we came across a park keeper. He spoke a little broken English and my broken Spanish helped a bit resulting in him showing us to his office where he gave us a map and instructions! It was a very hot day and, for some, the distance involved would have been far too much. Lots of complaints to P&O were met with, 'Should have used the app'. I checked the app and there was no port info.

So you actually complied with their required dress code to satisfy them. How about complying with the dress code set by some cruise lines?

My cruise history so far has been with P&O and, enjoyable though it has been, nobody ever provided me with service that I considered warranted additional tipping of any sort. It used to be charged on a daily basis but now it is included in the price. My first Princess cruise is early next year and, reading this post, tipping appears to be something of an obsession, certainly from those 'across the pond'. So it will be interesting to see if the service I get from Princess exceeds that which I got from P&O and, in the event that it is, I might, just might, consider some sort of reward.

No.

No, only the local paid for transfers are available.

As a Brit, so am I, but a growing minority of Brits are fighting against it!

It's really just a matter of educating the staff who clean the decks, move the loungers around and restock the bars, in the 'earlyish' hours of the morning. We had a problem being woken up on our last cruise in that area and a word with reception sort of resolved it for most of the remainder of the cruise. However there is no way that anyone can educate the passengers dragging chairs and loungers around during the day!! We were offered earplugs but declined. Good luck. Edit: I don't remember any wine but we did have a bottle of champagne, fresh fruit and the occasional plate of, inedible, canapés.

Well if you're a genius that makes two of us! I am also a disenchanted P&O cruiser. It got more and more like Butlins at sea with fights and drunkeness etc. and the food nothing like as good as it used to be. After many, many years of cruising with only P&O I've only got one booking left with them next month BUT, having looked into Princess, I decided to try something different and booked 14 nights next summer on Sky Princess. Obviously a bit dearer than P&O but I'd sooner spend a bit more to get something a lot better - hopefully.

I just did a test booking on my next cruise under the new 'rules' and I would have been about a couple of hundred dollars worse off. You just can't beat special offers!!

Sailed on Britannia last June and found no issues whatsoever with the decor/furnishings. The only difference from previous cruises was that they would not allow us to leave a part used bottle of wine in the restaurant for the next night. Lots of people carrying bottles of wine round with them but we just bought it by the glass.

From the P&O web site

This is an aerial shot of CPS Parking at Ocean Terminal. They do reserve the right, however, to move vehicles within the port.

Unless they use the wooden fence from the housing area at the back! Nice place to get in and hide at the back of the car park and remove all sorts of bits from your car which wouldn't be noticed for weeks. I also share, not only, your concern about the proximity of cars to each other but also the location of the 'secure' parking area and its surroundings. I've only ever used CPS and never had any issues whatsoever. However one of the cruises I've booked for next year doesn't subsidise the parking like P&O so its a bit of a toss up whether to pay CPS or get a taxi, which might actually work out fractionally cheaper and my car would then be in my own 'secure' garage at home!

I was considering P4C as an alternative to CPS but that site you show appears far from secure. It looks like it may have a gate but when I looked it was wide open. Not too sure now🤔

If he's got one why not take it. He won't be overdressed and there's no limit to the amount of luggage you can take as long as it fits in the cabin!

Nor me!

Every plane that has taken off landed. The same can't be said for cruise ships😉

Looks like starboard.

Done the same except that when I got to the door it wasn't shut properly so, when I tried to put the card in, the door opened and I walked in to find two people sitting on 'my' bed!!.

Good to hear that you are enjoying your first SAGA cruise. Your report is excellent and highlights a number of things I'd wondered about. I've only ever cruised with P&O and have recently being considering the alternatives. Unfortunately, on a purely cost basis, SAGA always seems to come near the bottom of my list and, as I live near Southampton, that also tends to keep it near the bottom. I know it's difficult to compare cruise companies, and what is included, but I've recently decided on Princess for my next cruise, which is roughly half the price of SAGA but without some of the extras. I will certainly keep my options open and continue looking for alternatives to P&O, which has been likened, on recent cruises, to Butlin's at Sea!!

I have been cruising for many years and only used P&O. I have now booked a cruise next June on Sky Princess and saw that, although the C5 program featured Regal Princess, it appears to be the sister ship of Sky Princess but a few years older. Seemed like a great way to find out about Princess and their cruises BUT what a waste of time. It's got little or nothing to do with Princess. The people featured might just as well have flown to the various locations as the ship hardly ever appeared to be at sea! As has been said, they never queued to get on or off the ship. They did very little on the ship and, as yet, don't appeared to have had any meals, apart from afternoon tea. I'm not sure what criteria were used to select the 'lucky' passengers, but, and at the risk of upsetting someone, what a bunch!

My wife and I are creatures of habit, and taking into account our last ten cruises we know precisely what our needs are likely to be on a day to day basis. Each of us will pay for two coffees, one soft drink, one cocktail and one glass of wine each day. Maybe fractionally less on port days depending on how long we are likely to be ashore. Neither of us has any need for WIFI as we can get ourselves updated free of charge when ashore. On our next cruise we will have $300 OBC. Taking this into account with the current prices, the gratuities and the service charges, it should be about $200 cheaper than taking out the Plus package. There could be additional savings if we substitute drinks in the Platinum lounge for the cocktails, where I believe they are discounted to members. Better to buy what you want, when you want it without having to worry about making sure you use up all your Plus allowances and also consider that it is unlikely that Princess are selling packages that risk them loosing money!!

One surprising thing about Princess that is different to P&O - I've just booked an excursion on my forthcoming cruise and it was paid for out of the On Board Credit!

I did see share with others and that is what I selected but no facility for the table size. I'll wait and see what happens on the first night and take it from there. Thanks for your response.

I was able to reserve a dining plan for every night at the same time sharing a table in Cielo on Sky Princess but no choice of the size of table was given. Have I done something wrong?