Valfan

I've done a lot of P&O cruises at Easter time as Easter often coincides with my birthday. The catering department used to (before the pandemic anyway) have lovely displays of hand-made Easter eggs and cakes in the atrium. I don't remember any actual Easter themed activities. But there may well be some for children and families organized through the kids' clubs. Hope you have a great cruise on Arvia and an enjoyable Easter.

I was on that cruise with the fire in the engine, the forced return to Miami and the missed port of Key West. It was in 2015, returning in early May. We had terrible humidity for 11 solid days and nights which I found quite scary. I'd never experienced anything like it. Yes a lot of passengers put in complaints and we ended up with £100 OBC each and a free bottle of wine. The complaints obviously continued from some people after we got back as we all received a big hamper out of the blue after we'd been back home for a week or two. It was the best hamper we'd ever seen.

They entered service a couple of months apart, Oceana in Feb 2000 as Ocean Princess, transferring to P&O Cruises in 2002. Aurora entered service for P&O in April 2000.

I've done six P&O cruises since my own restart 18 months ago, mainly in the cheapest grade of inside cabin. And I've never had any problem getting face flannels, body lotion or conditioner. I just ask the cabin steward on the first day. Some other small items which I thought had stopped being available and they weren't important anyway, I discovered from other passengers that you can still get them by asking your steward. This happened with a P&O note pad and pen on my last cruise in Dec. I noticed that other solos were using them and wondered if they'd got them onboard. I was greeted with a chorus of "Ask your steward".

It's a lot longer than that since P&O had only 2 small ships. Four of the current fleet (Aurora, Arcadia, Ventura and Azura) arrived in 2010 or earlier. 10 years ago the small Adonia was also in the fleet. That's the year I went on her. And Oriana and Oceana had been around for many years by then as well. So that was 7 ships ten years ago.

Lovely to read a glowing recommendation of Roy Locke's show. I hadn't come across him until I was on a 19-nighter on Arcadia last April. I enjoyed his first show so much that I went to both houses of each of his two shows - something that I hadn't done for an individual artist's show (I often go to more than one performance of Headliners shows) since the days of Leo Andrew back in the 1990's to early 2000's. I had a quick chat with him after his final show and, as well as being a very good singer with good stage presence, he was very chatty and polite, very personable. In fact, meeting him and seeing his four shows was a real highlight in an otherwise godawful cruise.

The allowance is higher since Brexit. It's 4 litres per person of spirits or strong liqueurs (as well as 42 litres of beer and 18 litres of still wine, not that anyone could carry all that). The 4 litres of spirits each is a great way of using up some OBC for people who have their cars parked in Southampton. But it's not very practical for someone like myself who has a long journey home on buses and trains.

I've done 6 cruises on 4 different ships in the fleet since resuming cruising 16 months ago and have always received body lotion, conditioner and flannels as soon as I asked cabin steward for them. On the non-toiletries front as well, I noticed on my latest cruise on Ventura last week that the usual little packs of biscuits and notepad and pen in cabin were missing. I just put it down to yet more cutbacks and didn't enquire about them. But someone at my table mentioned towards the end of the cruise that these are now "on request". So I asked next morning and the steward produced them right away.

Is Wes Dunlop on Arcadia now? I thought he just did Iona. I liked having him as Captain on my Iona cruises last year and this. As you say, very friendly. And good at giving updates on our progress each day, and letting us know in advance when we were going to be passing or berthed near to another P&O ship.

I was on Aurora's 30-nighter as well. I always said if they ever brought back Afternoon Tea in MDR and/or Chocoholics buffet I'd definitely go. I did and thoroughly enjoyed both. It was great to see the lovely spread of goodies at Chocoholics, with some people even taking photos of it, like in the good old days. And the return at Afternoon Tea of huge cake stands and tiny square napkins, that were never very practical but helped to evoke memories of days gone by. The other thing I hope to cruise long enough to see the return of is an Officer at each table on Peninsular Club lunches. As someone pointed out on the cruise, they can mix with passengers and sit near them when big groups of Officers come in together and sit in the theatre for the 10:30 show most nights, yet we can't get one of them at each table for the luncheons. Someone else said they'd never bring that back as the Officers would be constantly bombarded with comments and complaints about all the changes and cutbacks. And I suppose they could be right.

It's not a case of engaging in conversations with people. At dinner tables, and particularly at solo get-togethers, I've found on more or less all of my cruises that people talk about their bargain prices, or moan about their high cruise prices, without me saying a word. On this particular cruise, a lot of people were saying in the first couple of days, "Did you all jump on at the brilliant price that this has been for the past few weeks?" They could tell by my face that I wasn't one of the lucky ones without me saying a word. I knew about the £828 price drop for many weeks before sail date, without any conversations with anyone. It was advertised in emails, cruise adverts, mailshots etc. The cruise was ruined for me long before it sailed. A lot of other things happened on the cruise as well which ruined it even more. But that's a story for another day.

I wish P&O had looked after me. My Arcadia cruise in April/May this year (booked at launch in Nov 2021) was completely ruined for me by a price drop of more than £800 after I'd paid full balance. And that was just for the cheapest inside cabin. I know it's all swings and roundabouts. I've had some brilliant solo bargains over the years, and been stung a few times. But it was such a big price drop. (All three of my Iona cruises in the preceding few months had cost me less than £800 each). And, as I knew would happen on the Arcadia one, I kept meeting people who had paid £828 less than me, right from coffee chat the first morning. I never really got going with that cruise. It turned into 19 nights of my life that Id rather have been anywhere else. And I'll certainly never book in advance ever again. So it will be interesting to watch developments with this latest P&O policy.

I saw the July 12th thread "Aurora - Good Solo Deal" about this cruise, which I'd been keeping an eye on for months. It was too late to do anything that night, but I looked up prices. It was still from £2299, same as it had been for a long time. But now it was 0% Single supplement instead of 60%. Price on TA website was from £2254. I called TA next morning (the one a lot of us use), and was very pleasantly surprised to be charged £2047, with the P&O price being £2069, same as you saw. The plot thickened later that morning when I looked at P&O and TA websites again and they were back to quoting £2299 and £2254. All I'd done was danced around the room all excited and phoned a couple of people to tell them of my good fortune. Maybe had a coffee. But it would be barely an hour after booking. So I never actually saw the £2069 or £2047 prices on screen at all. I was just quoted them by the girl on phone, then saw them on my booking confirmation paperwork, which came by post less than 24 hours later. And the £2047 price is correct on my Visa account. So I'm well chuffed!

There's no pre-booking for theatre or freedom dining on any of the four smaller, older ships thank goodness. It's been on P&O's website for a good while now, certainly since before I went my late Apr-early May Arcadia cruise, under "Here's how My Holiday works differently on each of our ships".

I'm on Arcadia at the moment. Well, I'm in a terminal building in Lisbon but you know what I mean. First time I've been on her in 6 and a half years. She's definitely showing her age: little bits of tiled walls round the pool areas have fallen off and never been replaced, corners in rooms look dirty, as if no one can be bothered cleaning thoroughly, etc. Maybe I've just been spoiled as my last 3 cruises have been on shiny new Iona. But the ship doesn't look great. As for the mask wearing, it's never been any more than "recommended" in Captain's announcements, and each day's Horizon says "It is suggested". Most people had them on the first couple of days after the suggestion, but I noticed a lot fewer masks in the theatre last night.

Thanks. It's very near sail date now. It sails on Thursday and I'm already staying down south at a friend's house an hour or so from Southampton. But I suppose I could try sending P&O an email from "disgusted of Edinburgh" to try my luck OBC-wise. Mind you, they've already given me the £100 sweetener OBC that a lot of people have had in recent months to try to encourage us to pay balances. It was added a month before balance due date. Did you just use the "Send us a message" thing on their website, or is there a specific email address I should use? If they take a long time to answer emails I suppose I could be back from the cruise before they even deal with it. But may be worth a try. Thanks.

It's lovely to read your encouraging words on Ceuta. One of the main reasons I booked to go on Arcadia this Thu was because it's going to Ceuta. I went there on my school cruise aged 14 (I turn 69 tomorrow!) so although I can't remember much about it I've always thought it would be nice to go back there for old times' sake. As for visiting ports multiple times, I stopped counting for Lisbon and Gibraltar when I got to 20 times each (both starting on the school cruise in 1968), and have been to a lot of other ports many times. But I always get off in every port and have a walk around if only for exercise and fresh air. And I can always try going in a different direction, or having a look inside some building or church etc.

It's on these two ships plus Britannia that they still ask people to book in advance for Freedom dining and theatre shows, but not on the four smaller, older ships. It's listed on P&O's website under the heading "Here's how My Holiday works differently on each of our ships". Although I muddled along and managed fine on my 3 recent Iona cruises, as someone with no tablet and no smartphone I'm looking forward to this aspect of my Arcadia cruise starting this week.

I couldn't agree more. After years of booking things at launch, I've not even looked at the last two P&O new season launches, and I won't do so ever again. I go on Arcadia this Thursday but the price has plummeted to £880 less than I've paid and that's just for the cheapest inside cabin. I can't work up any enthusiasm for the cruise at all. I feel used and taken for a mug.

You're right, the old idea of booking at launch has gone now. I've not even looked at advanced brochures for the last two P&O launches, and won't be doing so ever again. The trouble for me is I had a few future cruises booked before the goalposts were moved. I've been really stung and disillusioned by what's happened with the price for my forthcoming Arcadia 19-nighter, and I have another even longer future cruise booked, so I'll probably end up moving it to something else. I couldn't handle all the intrigue and heartache all over again. It's too soul destroying.

P&O announced weeks ago that the pre booking nonsense had stopped on the 4 smallest ships, so that includes Ventura. I've just checked their website and under the heading "Here's how My Holiday works differently on each of our ships..." it confirms that there is mercifully no booking involved for entertainment or Freedom dining on any of the 4 smaller/older ships. That's the one aspect of my April cruise on Arcadia that I'm still looking forward to. Everything else about the trip has been completely ruined for me by the fact that the price is now advertised as more than £800 less than I have paid for it after booking at launch.

One of my fellow solo passengers on Iona last week was on Arcadia's world cruise when Covid hit. She kept us enthralled with stories of the camaraderie onboard, P&O's generosity with future cruise credits etc. Apparently it was 33 straight days at sea.

I haven't rebooked the USA/Canada cruise yet. I just moved my deposit to another cruise and am keeping an eye on the 30-night Aurora one. I'm focusing on my April-May Arcadia 19-nighter for now. I will never again book at launch for anything after what happened. It's definitely plummeted by over £2k for a solo passenger in cheapest inside cabin. I got an updated quote at the future cruises desk on Iona last week and the price had dropped even further then. I never took the option of FCC for either of my cancelled cruises in 2020, just took a full refund of all monies paid. No, the massive reductions have happened long before final payment date. It came down by several hundred pounds towards the end of last year, and is now over £2k less than the launch price. The cruise sails in early Sept so P&O's final payment date will be early June.

None of us really needed coffee as most of us had just come from breakfast for the 10am solos get-together. And it was held in the Crows Nest, so I don't think the bar opens there until much later in the day. It just used to be a nice touch when they came round offering coffee or tea out of old-fashioned coffee or tea pots and the Entertainment Officers chatted with solo passengers.

With regard to these cruises holding their prices, that has usually been the case over the years. But not for the Aurora one this year. I managed to swap my deposit for the Aurora one to something else when the price I had been quoted for it at launch fell by several hundred pounds. When I checked the price again recently it was over £2000 less than I had originally agreed to at launch. And that was just for the cheapest inside cabin, albeit with a single supplement. So balcony and suite prices have presumably fallen by huge amounts this year.