Interestedcruisefan

46 minutes ago, doog442 said:

 

Yes in particular the Caribbean. We normally do land based AI but avoid Jan / Feb as the prices literally double. Our latest cruise (14 day aft cabin Arvia- ) was coming in at less than half the price of some of our favourite hotels in Antigua / St Lucia and it was weird sat on their beaches this time around. The OBC paid for our drinks (and two tours). 

 

Having last sailed P&O in 2019 and comparing it to now I honestly can't say any changes have put us off. As a matter of fact nice as it is we didn't miss turn down as we always felt we had to leave the cabin looking presentable before going out 🤣. We did Princess in 2022 and I'm damned if I could tell any difference between the both apart from Arvias cocktail menu being woeful - especially the Crows nest.    

 

Looking ahead I've noticed Caribbean prices aren't really softening for next winter (unlike 12 months ago) with less OBC, probably due to strong demand for what I think is still a very good value product. I think I'll hold off and monitor but that Arvia 22 night TA plus Islands looks tempting. We also saw the bookings desk was very busy most days. 

 

 

So many new cruisers using Arvia for the first time who then can recommend the value to others

Whole new generations of cruisers are being created from people seeing the value on arvia in the Caribbean

3 minutes ago, zap99 said:

We had a week in Menorca in October. About £700pp for a week in a 4* AI hotel in a Premier sea view room. P&O are quite good value, but incredible is a bit of an exaggeration. Our hotel didn't have inside rooms without windows. As a 74 year old who likes big, modern ships, I find your comment about older people an incredible generalisation.

I'm thinking of my parents who struggle walking far and don't like things too busy and noisy

Would prefer a holiday without too many kids running around

(We also enjoyed smaller ship experience on azamara)

So yes it's a generalisation and a mistake so I apologise

26 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

That's fine ICF, glad it was good for you.  However others had a lot of problems with delays etc.  I do not think the overall flight comfort is the problem, it's the unreliability and very long delays.  A couple of January cruises lost a port while waiting for arrivals.  

 

I do understand where you're coming from on comfort in standard but that's across virtually every airline nowadays and is why so many pay to upgrade.  Unfortunately no one is going to be able to get airlines to put passenger comfort top of their list.

 

It's not a case of what we are wishing for, it's very much a case of P&O acknowledging it simply wasn't good enough.

 

Back at the being September it was discussed about TUI legroom and acknowledged that in standard there's remains a market leader.  P&O need to charter, TUI do charter (the England football team frequently use their planes) so if it's the best available that's what it is. It's not what people are wishing for so much as something they know and in most cases trust.

 

Potential flight delays were never the complaint that dominated when Maleth was announced MB

It was all about flight comfort and no longer being able to pay for premium seats

If you remember back?

Something you wouldn't need half as much if the planes P and O used offered the same legroom as my Maleth flight. I hope I get the same plane going back.

Now the Maleth debate has switched to focus on two flights severely delayed due to technical issues etc?

From what I can see?

Yes I sympathise for those that faced that. But it's an entirely different debate. Goalposts got moved to still criticise Maleth IMO

I sat next to a lady who normally flies business class on my Maleth flight out. She was so relieved at what she found on Maleth compared to what she expected.

2 ladies behind me said they will never take notice of social media again having been dreading flying with Maleth.

The "scaremongering" had really worried all three of those ladies. 

I imagine many many others were also severely worried about the experience on board

I personally couldnt believe the legroom and wondered why nobody had been saying how great it was. I walked around to check it wasnt just me

Meanwhile my wife kept saying the staff on here are brilliant. She wouldn't even know who we were flying  with! Stuff like that she's not interested in

The staff were a mixture of French, Spanish, Brazilian, Portuguese, Maltese. All with personality and smiles. They seemed to enjoy their jobs for sure. 

Mostly male staff - all were very charming etc. 

I just warned her to take a puzzle book. Which she's still using now on the ship.

100 per cent comfort was the stick to beat Maleth with when they were announced

Now it's become a delayed flight with no compensation paid to date and now a second long delayed flight

It's no longer comfort or scaremongering about  poor meals or poor service

FWIW the meal I had was cottage pie and later a panini 

My wife had vegetable stew and later a panini

All similar to any food on any plane outside of business class

The debate has changed IMO

Ours was a very happy and I would say surprised and relieved flight

Never heard so much laughing and conversation and fun on planes for so long

Due to the lack of headphones !!

And reclining seats didn't spoil others flights!!

Which is why I say "be careful what you wish for!"

What we now take for granted as being standard on other planes is not good at all in comparison

Comfort wise in standard I give Maleth a 9

Would struggle to give standard in Tui more than a 6 or 7 at best

13 hours ago, Russyboy said:

I’m on ARVIA now in the Caribbean having done the same trip on the same ship as I did last year. The ship is lovely as are the crew onboard and we are really enjoying it to the point that we have booked three more cruises with P & O for the next two years. I do feel that the accountants have been sharpening there pencils and cutting back where they can. Is this spoiling my cruise ? No. Do I still consider P & O good value for money considering what you get and the number of islands you get to visit on one trip in glorious sunshine and warmth when it’s raining at home? Yes absolutely. Each time we cruise we meet a lot of cruising first timers the vast majority of which want to do it again. So whilst accepting the genuine complaints above I think we’d all miss cruising and what it has to offer if it suddenly didn’t exist. Let’s be grateful for what we’ve got.

Yes. It's still incredible value for money compared to other land based holidays 

And whilst that's the case more people than ever before will continue to choose to enjoy holidays with P and O cruises

Some older people will understandably prefer smaller ships and will be prepared to pay more to cruise In them

But P and O continue to get more right than wrong IMO

Having technical issues and planes delayed is a different matter and different debate. For all airlines hopefully it's a rarity

I do say it again though

The plane I flew on with Maleth was way more comfortable and enjoyable to fly on then Tui and Virgin dreamliner and BA

I think we give other airlines way too much credit

All of a sudden P and O cruisers taking about Tui like it's a great flight experience?

Come on guys? 

Not  in standard seats it's not. Nor is Virgin. Nor is BA

The Maleth plane we flew on was significantly better in standard seats than all three of those airlines

In terms of legroom and comfort

Which is a huge benefit on a long flight

Have any of you experienced just how bad it is on Tui and Virgin dreamliners in standard when people in front of you recline their seats ?

It's almost bizarre what you are left with?

Theres no wonder so many people feel they need to pay big money for premium economy 

The only advantage those 3 airlines have in the cabins IMO is the entertainment but on Maleth everyone brought their own entertainment and actually talked and interacted far more as well

Never seen so many word searches and puzzle books and crosswords for so long!

Lol

Was a breath of fresh air flight in that respect

Compared to everyone wearing headphones and watching 2 or 3 movies etc

As solos!!

Be careful what you wish for!!

12 hours ago, Yorkie69 said:

I can guarantee premium economy seats with BA and have status with them too. Believe me, BA is miles ahead of Maleth and I know that they can rebook if anything did go wrong as they have options of other aircraft and/or airlines. In regard to price, you are correct it is more but I would rather pay the extra and be happy that I know who is providing the flights compared to what we received this year with Maleth. 

Well not only are you paying more for the holiday you are having to pay premium economy to get a comfortable seat?

Honestly after recent flights with Tui and Virgin where I had so little legspace in standard and even worse the people in front of me fully reclined their seats to seemingly end up on my lap I was starting to think I needed to pay premium just to get a comfortable journey

On Maleth Airbus I was shocked by how much leg room I had

I'm just under 6ft. Could stretch my legs fully out and still be 2 or 3 inches from the seat ahead of me. 

You get nowhere near that legroom on BA in standard? Which was also uncomfortable and uninspiring when we flew with them recently?

Also maleth airbus the seats don't recline anywhere near as severely as on the current planes so it doesn't feel like passenger in front of you is impacting you badly when they recline

I wish we could get same legroom and some type of seating every time we fly

Far less people would feel the need to consider premium seats to get more space

I think modern planes have conned us into taking lack of legroom as acceptable and forced way more people to start requiring premium seats or extra legroom seats

Sorry the photos are poor and sorry you have to see my legs!

But I've never had so much space between my legs and the seat in front for years as I did on Maleth last week

The second image I my legs extended. I couldn't get close to the seat in front of me

Also didn't feel guilty reclining my own seat like I do on current planes as it doesn't impact the passenger behind like it does on the dreamliners which ridiculously impact those behind

Most comfortable long haul flight I can remember in standard seats

Staff were also far more laughing and joking and personable than we experienced on Tui and Virgin. Where although we had no complaints with staff the personality seems to have been taken away from them. And it's all robotic. 

I had to check on Maleth as I genuinely thought we might have been given extra legroom seats by mistake 

But they were definitely the standard seats everyone had

Could never stretch out like that on Tui, Virgin or BA? Without the seat in front being in the way?

You can pay for fast track security and it's not expensive. That helped us bypass a long queue last Friday morning

We were terminal 2 with Maleth

Checking in with Maleth was surreal. 7 staff on check in with only one flight to check in.

We had 5 check in desks without queues to choose from

Chalk and cheese from what we faced with Tui and Virgin on recent flights where we we faced 30 mins check in queues when we arrived

13 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

I'm sure you'll find a four leaf clover before then!  The pattern does appear to be mainly the Antigua flight being jinxed.  The Gatwick to Antigua flight seems to be doing okay most weeks and apart from a few minor delays they were picking up.  Looking at the flight history of the three aircraft there seems to be one which goes technical far more than the other two.  

 

Have they said anything about sailing time and if the delay will cause port schedule to be okay?  You seem to have seadays tomorrow.

When we left the ship this morning it was still saying be back by 8pm 

Not mentioned anything since

We had a great day today jet skiing in Antigua

Definitely our favourite island. Stunning.

Had to book the Jetski through the ship as they book all the slots 

I booked direct last year 

Almost double the price now through the ship and less time on the Jetski!

Still amazing though

Having a great holiday. 710 at 7pm followed by Epicurean at 8pm tonight 

As you know we make the most of the big ships. But we can also see the attraction of smaller ships in comparison as well now

Green and co was a great meal earlier on last week

1 minute ago, Megabear2 said:

Very sensible not to get involved!  The flight left a short time ago scheduled to arrive around 1.00am and depart 3.00am so you may well be right about sitting at the airport for a while.

 

Will this impact your scheduled departure or did they not say anything?

 

 

We are next week from Barbados to Manchester

So who knows what happens then!!

2 hours ago, molecrochip said:

I understand that P&O didn’t charter two planes specifically. Maleth voluntarily chose to bid to provide the appropriate number of A330 aircraft and crew to meet the flight schedule included within the tender. That agreement apparently included access to a replacement aircraft if the original aircraft would be more than X hours late due to mechanical defect.

 

Maleth have breached their contract multiple times this season.

 

I’ve been annoyed by people who believe that P&O chose Maleth on the cheap. My understanding is still that they were the only option for 23/24. Pick Maleth or cancel thousands of cruises.

 

When the bad option is the only option, you take the bad option??? Turns out the bad option was shockingly appalling. Maleth were not ready.

Our Maleth flight out was better than Tui last year

Way more leg room. Zero queuing for check in. Staff who seemed to genuinely love being on the plane?

Great service. Everybody seemed very happy and surprised

Complimentary Bells whisky, Smirnoff vodka, Gordon's gin and wine etc

Everybody reading books, crosswords, word search,  watching films on iPad's or phones

Or actually just chatting to each other

People on different rows helping each other with cross words

Shame they are now having plane issues again. 

Lots of laughing and joking all flight. Was like the old days!

Way more sociable than when everyone has headphones on

I find It hard to find anything on  Tui I preferred

The amount of leg room was a genuine bonus and surprise

3 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

ICF, if you're passing through are you able to give us an update on what's happening onboard re the passengers scheduled to leave Arvia today in Antigua.  It appears the Manchester Maleth flight which should have left this morning is delayed to 8.00pm this evening and I just wondered how it's being handled onboard.

Hope you're having a brilliant holiday. Looking forward to hearing about it when you get back!

They got told on the tannoy this morning to meet in Headliners theatre at 11.45pm tonight instead of 2.30pm!! 

Apparently when leaving from Antigua everyone has to leave the ship in the morning and queue to go through an immigration check as well

And there were only 2 people doing the immigration checks so that took 90 minutes plus

Heard a load of people complaining around the  pool earlier on about it all

I stayed out of it

Didn't want to bring up the fact they might end up stuck in the airport all night!!

2 hours ago, Chrisclaire said:

Hi 

Going slightly off piste!

We are looking a doing a similar 14 night Barbados cruise this time next year. 

Do you mind if I ask?

Are there many children on board?

Many Thanks in advance ☺️ 

Plenty of kids these 2 weeks as one of the weeks is half term

And people come for a week with them or do 2 weeks and they are off school for a week. Spoke to a family of 4 doing that on  sunbeds next to us yesterday

Just to say we flew out with Maleth last Friday to Barbados

We took off about 30 mins late and landed 20 mins late

The staff were great. The atmosphere on the plane was great. And the legroom was WAY more than on our recent Virgin and Tui dreamliner flights

Wouldn't want to fly with Tui again given the chance

And people upto about 6ft2 wouldn't need extra legroom seats on the Airbus planes maleth use. It's like Tui and Virgin must have made legroom bad on dreamliners to force people to pay for expensive upgrades?

Could not believe the legroom. In standards seats. I actually had a comfortable long haul flight for once!

Will send some photos

Way more comfortable than Tui and Virgin dreamliner

Honestly

Well Im on arvia now halfway through a 14 night Barbados arrival holiday and never completed the Barbados immigration form (I forgot all about  it) as I normally do complete it

And was never asked for it nor was it mentioned on the flight

Ps flight on Maleth was great. Loads more leg room than on our recent dreamliner flights with Virgin and Tui?

And we were in standard seats

And the staff were brilliant

Would prefer flying with them again next year ahead of Tui given the chance

No idea why people rate Tui flights so highly?

2 ladies behind us said they were absolutely dreading the flights due to things they had read on social media and will never take any notice of stuff like that again

(Will post more details and some photos  in maleth thread when I get time)

Getting ready for 710 Club shortly!!

We fly with Maleth to barbados this morning from Manchester at 9.30am

So for so good. Flight is boarding on time.

And here is a real bonus of flying with maleth:

They only have 1 flight out today

7 staff checking cases in. When we arrived only 2 were being used.

So ZEROS queues at all to check cases in

Compared to 30 mins last year checking in for same cruise with tui from Birmingham

So good start so far Maleth!!

We've  got vat return to complete again. So that should pass the first 3 to 4 hrs of the flight going out!!

32 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

See my post #1174. Barbados is aware of the problem with their airport and are taking steps.  Unfortunately the proposed special sea passengers terminal plans were halted by the pandemic but are now back and being worked on.

 

I hope you have a good Maleth experience.  The last couple of weeks' flights have been okay so hopefully no problems.

 

In fairness to all concerned - Maleth and the passengers - it looks as if the bulk of the problems have been on a number of fairly tightly connected flights particularly after the unfortunate CAT incident which stranded the aircraft and put it out of service.  The problem now appears to be the complete lack of communication on Maleth's behalf regarding the compensation issue.  Maleth have clearly not taken their responsibilities of at least replying to claimants and this is adding to the building unrest.

 

I look forward to hearing your views on the flight. Meantime wishing you a fabulous holiday.

I looked at that compensation chat

Does seem that maleth have sent messages now saying they are  "processing" the claims

Which is better than no reply at all I guess

If I'm going to be delayed my preference would be 4hrs1 minute late landing coming back!!

Lol

8 hours ago, Skiptonguy said:

 

I was on the Manchester flight that left before you on the same day and agree that the organisation at Antigua was appalling and the delays boarding (and with luggage that we experienced to a lesser extent than you) were totally unacceptable, but entirely not Maleth's fault.

 

I'll be honest I was dreading the flights, but both ways the service was friendly, food was good and we landed on time on the way in and 45 minutes late on the way back.

 

I had a lovely conversation with one of the crew mid flight and it's clear that they love what they do, they care very much about both the service they give and the criticism they receive (and see) online. I've had much worse scheduled airline experiences.

Barbados  is also chaotic on departure days

The departure lounges/gates nowhere near big enough (or spread out enough_ to cope with the amount of people all leaving the airport together from the cruise at the same time

Queues for different planes ending up criss crossing each other and people at the back with no idea which queue they are in

And that can't be a Maleth problem AT ALL as that's been happening before Maleth were even asked to help out with supplying planes

9 hours ago, Beachlover62 said:

Luggage labels are on your cruise personaliser

Found them thanks

38 minutes ago, Beckett said:

@Interestedcruisefan. I'm envious! Sounds like a great night. Hope you enjoy it all. Jane xx

We've got a  nice night ahead hopefully

Driving in to the west end for a pre-theatre dinner at Scully St James. A fusion restaurant of Malaysian, Australian and Irish food apparently! With great reviews

We've booked two high stool seats overlooking the kitchen so we can see the chefs in action

Then we are heading nearby to the Haymarket theatre to see Sarah Snook in a one  woman play

For anyone who has seen the amazing Netflix series "Succession" - Sarah Snook is the brilliant actress who played "Shiv". This is a 14 week booking she has undertaken in London

Performing Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" - where she is playing all 26 different roles herself!!

Should be really special. She's a proper actress!!  Recently won an Emmy to add to her Golden Globe for leading actress role in Succession.

And what a challenge for her

Can't wait. 

44 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Alrhough I agree that we should all follow your personal hygiene suggestions, I suspect that If we followed the other actions every day, then the outcome could well be a very weak immune system.

As my old Mum used to say a little muck never hurt anyone, and after following her advice I have managed to reach 80 without suffering seriously from any gastro illnesses or from repeated coughs and cold.

Meanwhile we are mid to late 50s and really focussed on using the sanitiser everywhere we could and still caught what everybody else had on azamara

6 hours ago, nellydean said:

Lots of good info there. We are due to go on Arvia at the end of your cruise, and I have two questions if you can answer them please:

 

1/ Do you know how many formal evenings there are, and when?

2/ How do you know what the entertainment is going to be if you pre-book?

 

Thank you. Have a great cruise!

Helen

1 formal a week

They show the dress code for dining each night on the  itinerary when you log on to pre book dining

And for entertainment they tell you the options each night and times you can book on the app

I've booked every theatre show and a couple of epicurean so far

Not bothered about limelight

But if I have opportunities to book 710 club will cancel or switch some of those theatre bookings accordingly when we board on Friday

The app won't let you double book slots

We've chosen Friday to Friday cruise rather than Saturday to Saturday this year to give us more chance to secure 710 club bookings as soon as we board

Will add more restaurant bookings once we know where we stand with 710 club bookings

4 hours ago, amajaa said:

Thanks all, so will wait till 3 weeks before. 

 

We have booked a Saver Fare this time for the first time in years and I was thinking they might be waiting for us to fill everything in before allocating a cabin, but obviously that can't be the case then.

I am hoping 🤞🤞 that they won't leave it till embarkation to give us cabin number, I will be stressing out by then.  What happens to your suitcases if we don't know cabin number? Anyone know? 

We booked inside saver. 

We travel Friday on arvia 

We've got cabin number, have registered credit card and just printed our boarding passes and luggage tags

The one thing I've not done yet is upload photos. Wouldn't work from my phone. Might try from laptop nearer the time.

The luggage tags have your cabin number on them so they need to allocate to you in advance

2 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Quite a large number of ships are currently experiencing these viruses, including all three Cunard Queens and Celebrity Constellation.  Queen Victoria and Celebrity Constellation are under report by the CDC and Queen Victoria's outbreak is being regularly reported on both sides of the Atlantic as a "mystery illness" rather than noro.

 

https://www.travelpulse.com/news/cruise/outbreak-aboard-queen-victoria-cruise-ship-leaves-154-passengers-sick

 

Over the past year the increase of gastro illnesses across all lines has been very large in comparison with previous years.  

Azamara captain said theirs was a mystery illness being tested in labs somewhere