Norwayfan1

Maybe, if Virgin have had regular complaints about these cabins (even informal comments made to staff on board), they should consider warning bookers about potential noise, so cruisers can be informed before booking and decide whether they are likely to be troubled by it. A while back, we booked a UK hotel and the booking site pointed out that certain rooms at the front of the building could experience noise in the early hours, because of its location. On another occasion I remember seeing a warning about ongoing building work in the vicinity. Then it's 'buyer beware,' I guess.

Many thanks to TigerB, thornegirl and terrierjohn for the information and advice on Iona bookings - much appreciated. 😊 Hopefully, nearer the time, we'll be able to make a few pre-bookings for our forthcoming cruise. It would be easy enough to cancel them if we changed plans and wanted to do something else or eat at a different time.

Last month we stayed in a Social Insider on a six-night cruise on Resilient Lady. We didn't choose it - we just wanted to try out Virgin Voyages and travel as cheaply as possible, and that was what we got! It was certainly underneath The Manor and it was certainly pretty noisy. A sort of thud, thud thud into the early hours. I found it a bit irritating but it did not spoil my cruise and I got enough sleep. It stopped me falling asleep very easily, but I usually read a book before going to sleep and I always find that helps. I didn't try ear plugs, and I don't think I'd bother with them in future. I travelled with my husband who shares the same opinion. All things being equal I wouldn't choose that cabin, but I'd sail in it again if the price was attractive and I wanted to save the money.

It's quite a while since we sailed on Iona. I may be mis-remembering, but I think we were able to pre-book tables in the main (free) dining rooms, about three weeks before we sailed.(Although only for early or late time slots.) Is this the case? And, assuming it is possible to pre-book the main dining rooms, is it possible to pre-book one table for the occupants of two cabins? (Because there was a problem with the travel agent's website, we had to make two separate bookings for the two cabins, although the cabins have since been 'linked'.) Many thanks!

We are travelling on Iona in a few weeks' time, with family members. We paid for the holiday a few weeks ago when the offer for two of our family was a free coach, plus £60 OBC for a two-berth inside cabin on a guarantee basis. Seeing this thread, out of curiosity, I checked how much it would be, if I booked the same holiday today. The OBC is now £150 - but the cabin cost is £200 more. P&O, just like other companies, will tweak the elements of the holidays so they can promote it in different ways.

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Much appreciated.😊

Thank you very much for replying. That isn't my definition of 'nominal' either. No wonder they didn't specify the fee in print! I suspect our companion will be enjoying a exercise-free cruise. 😬

Thank you for posting this. Could I ask you something? Do you mean that the OBC that had already been successfully applied, has now been taken away and you have to reapply... or do you mean that you still have that particular OBC for your November cruise, but will have to submit updated evidence for any future cruises? I too have a cruise in November and have just uploaded my broker statement, to Shareperks (waiting for a reply). I know that evidence expires after 3 months, but I assumed that, once the OBC has been applied, that would be the end of the matter. Apologies if I've misunderstood!

I can see from old copies of Horizon that some activities/classes (eg yoga) attract what P&O refer to as a 'nominal charge.' Can anyone tell me how much a 'nominal charge' might typically be? We're going to be travelling with someone who might be keen, and they asked me this question. I've never been to a fitness activity in my life, so I'm hoping a fellow P&O cruiser might be able to advise. Many thanks!

I take it you're still single. 😁

Never. Sorry, I missed out 'self-service.' I meant he might find the self-service laundry strangely appealing.🤪

He might find that laundry strangely appealing. At the moment he's very worried he might be roped into line dancing or exercise classes.

That's good to hear. Fingers crossed.

When I started this thread, I never imagined it would come with all the benefits of relationship counselling. I'll be sure to pass on all these handy tips I'm getting!

Yes but those perks are the dreaded 'non-transferable'. Pretty sure that's in the P&O small print!!!!

I know. She can't wait!!! To me, it sounds like good business sense for a company to allow the partner of a 'loyal' passenger to share a few perks. Creates a good impression. But then, what do I know? Maybe if my son goes off to enjoy his perks and leaves his partner to enjoy the self-service laundry, that might be the end of the relationship anyway. 🤪

Thank you for your reply. Mind you - those slippers are very dangerous. I wore them at home and almost fell down the stairs, as the soles have no grip whatsoever. 😀

Thanks for that. Yes, the fifth person is sharing a cabin with my son, who is her partner. It would be nice if she could share a couple of the perks. Here's hoping.

I am travelling on Iona in a few weeks' time, with four of my family members. Four of us are Caribbean Tier in the loyalty programme. The fifth person will be a first-time cruiser, obviously with no loyalty status at all. I know the official line - the first-time cruiser gets zero perks, even when travelling with companions who have loyalty status... ... but I just wondered if any recent cruisers have experienced a scrap of generosity from P&O, extended to the 5th guest, in such circumstances? Or will we definitely have to leave our 5th guest with the luggage while we join the priority boarding queue, welcome aboard lunch etc etc? 😁

If you would have no difficulty carrying any confiscated port-purchased wine home at the end of your cruise, you could just take the view that you would be prepared to hand in that wine, if the cruise line were sufficiently organised and motivated to collect it on that day.

Yes, but they are pretty low key. I've just disembarked Aurora. There seemed to be two photographers. They didn't go round taking the usual embarkation photos, tours of the main restaurants, gangway photos in ports etc. On formal nights they offered the opportunity to have a photo taken at a fixed location. I didn't see any of the usual 'offers' in terms of pricing. When we were in Sindhu, one of them came round and took photos. We were unlikely to buy one, but we had one taken anyway. The photos weren't printed and displayed, they were accessed on machines by inputting a cabin number. We did look at ours, but didn't buy. They wanted £25 for what was nothing more than a hastily taken snap.

We are giving Virgin Voyages a try, later this year. My husband drinks virtually no alcohol, and I don't drink a great deal, so no cruise line will ever make a profit from our bar purchases! However, we like Virgin's concept of the bar tab - a cabin credit that can be spent on any drinks for anyone - that seems much more sensible to us than drinks packages we would not get the value from - or the nonsense about two passengers in the same cabin, having to buy the same drinks package, even if one of them doesn't drink!. Because of a special offer when we booked, combined with a loyalty match, we have a very generous bar tab, which we may well struggle to spend, especially as the cruise fare includes soft drinks anyway, and the loyalty match gives us a daily coffee credit. For passengers who want to buy a bar tab, I think it is possible to buy different values of bar tab and to get 'extra' added to the tab by Virgin as a perk.

A few years ago, we took a bottle of P&O-branded wine into the buffet with us, to drink at dinner. We had won it on board. (That was in the days when they gave out more prizes and fewer 'golden stickers'!!!) A member of staff soon appeared, to tell us politely that we would need to pay the corkage fee if we wanted to bring wine with us. When we showed him the label on the bottle and explained we had won it, he went off and brought us some glasses to use. If P&O have problems with the drinking behaviour of some passengers they should deal with that appropriately - just as they should deal with sun bed hogging and other anti-social behaviours. So I imagine the change to the alcohol policy is more likely to be profit-driven, rather than an attempt to deal with rowdy behaviour. It's clear to everyone that the company is aiming for a new generation of customers. So many of the nice touches have gone over the years, and the first-time cruisers won't miss them. I do wonder, though, are they creating a new generation of passengers loyal to P&O - or will this new generation be keen to explore cruising more generally, with a willingness to try other lines and itineraries, do fly-cruises etc etc, especially if they can bag a good baseline fare/special offer that tempts them to try elsewhere? If P&O want even a reasonable amount of repeat business, rather than a succession of one-off purchases, their overall cruise offering needs to measure up favourably against the competition - entertainment, activities, food quality and the like. I'm sure we'll have differing opinions on whether it does. Drinks prices, packages etc are just one aspect cruisers will consider, when making their comparisons.

We've tried lots of lines and I would have said Princess was our favourite, but we had a very bad experience with them a couple of years ago and that put us off somewhat. We don't really stay loyal to any particular line. We are looking forward to trying Virgin this Autumn, as the food looks really good, soft drinks are included, there's free wi-fi and we like the concept of the 'bar tab' rather expensive drinks packages, which are never good value for us. We booked the cruise a few months ago and taking into account the very good price, the included bar tab and several perks earned through their loyalty match (including some laundry, coffee credits and so on), the cost per day is very reasonable.

We visited Le Verdun a while back, though it was with NCL, not Princess. The cruise company offered a paid-for shuttle to Soulac, though it wasn't advertised in advance. We didn't want to go to Bordeaux or take the shuttle, so we just walked off the ship and through the port gate and went for a long and pleasant walk along the coast, as did quite a few other passengers. NCL very much tried to imply that it wasn't possible to leave the port area, and but this was not the case at all, however uninviting the port area initially looked from the top deck of the ship.