sandancer

The poor people they featured tonight were devastated that they can’t cruise when they were so looking forward to it.

P&O on the One Show Watchdog again tonight. This is not going away!

Really enjoyed your review Tiger. We’ve only been on Arvia once and that was re-positioning from Barbados to Southampton and enjoyed it a lot. Since then we have taken 2 Iona cruises and find we much prefer Iona. We are on again for NYE. I can’t explain the preference, but it’s definitely there. Just a different ambiance. I have to mention how much I enjoyed your review of Cartagena. Some years ago we spent the winter in La Manga (campsite, not golf club) in our motor home. Once a week we would take the local bus to Cartagena for shopping. I hope some day we will find ourselves on a cruise calling there.

No kettle in the cabin on the Regal British Isles cruise but cabin attendant put one in at our request.

You are right, evacuation chairs are a hot subject on the P&O forum. I think this situation is creating a scenario where booking close to sailing when often prices have dropped, especially after final payment is just not going to be possible for anyone with mobility issues. In order to guarantee an evac chair you need to book as soon as the cruises are on sale which doesn’t suit many people.

P&O and Cunard are enforcing this now for motorised scooters and chairs. If it is a manual wheelchair and complies with the sizes specified by the cruise line then you can book a standard cabin.

So you are talking about one scooter on one cruise. The tone of your post made me think that this was across the fleet. I’m sure many others will also be under the same impression.

I have found a post on another cruise line forum claiming that any and all mobility devices are allowed to stay in hallways during the day and overnight on Princess ships. If this is true I will considering cancelling the 3 Princess cruises we have booked. This is way too dangerous in an emergency, especially for my other half who uses a wheelchair - which is never left outside the cabin.

Which Princess ship was this?

Not on our recent Regal Princess cruise. Did not see a single mobility scooter or wheelchair left out overnight. I would be very alarmed if that was the case as my husband has mobility issues and uses either a manual wheelchair or Rollator. He has enough problems getting by the room attendants carts in the corridors.

We were on Regal in August. Did not see a Carmenere. We had the premium package but we would definitely have ordered the Carmenere if it was available.

If you book the new premium package you can make dining reservations months ahead. I have booked for both June and August next year. I know that many people would not want to book so far out but it’s easy to cancel and release the table for someone else to book if your plans change. If you find you cannot get the reservations you want then you can cancel the premium and book the plus package instead. You cannot however revert to the “old” premium package as this will no longer be available. I assume of course that that would only be before final payment.

I have upgraded by calling the contact centre and have access now to every night without being charged in advance. We are doing an itinerary that is only once a year so didn’t want to take a chance on booking onboard.

Unfortunately I have been given the wrong information. We only have the “old” premium package. The agent assured me we had the new version and even said “enjoy your unlimited speciality dining” when she signed off. So only 2 meals included. Now to decide if we want to pay an extra £10 each a day. Note, not $10. We may still go for it - is it worth it. We do like speciality restaurants although the unlimited drinks will not be any advantage for us.

We have the new Premium package. I can book 2 speciality restaurants without payment but once they are booked I am being asked for payment for any other reservations. Whilst we don’t want to eat in a speciality restaurant every night, we certainly want more than 2 bookings. I have called Princess and they assure me we definitely have the new package. Anyone know a way round this?

It would now be almost impossible to book a last minute cruise with any kind of mobility device. Our upcoming cruise has reduced in price but booking now would not be possible as no doubt all evac chairs are already allocated. We do not have an adapted cabin. Our next P&O cruise will now be summer 26. Until then we plan to cruise with Princess.

We will take a couple of bottles of wine. If I can find a shop selling caffeine free/sugar free coke near the hotel then I’ll take some of that as well.

Thank you for the lists Family Cruiser

Never sailed on MSC so can’t comment on that. Of the other 2 I would go with Princess. We are about to sail on Iona for the 3rd time and like the ship for all the different restaurants and entertainment but prefer Princess overall. Tips are not included on Princess though as they are on P&O so factor that into your budget. Drinks are more expensive on Princess and will be charged in US$ rather than £s as will all your onboard costs. In March you are more likely to get better weather in the Canary Islands. It’s all down to personal choice. I hope you enjoy whichever cruise you take.

Are you allowed to take soft drinks on board or is it just wine. I drink caffeine/sugar free coke and and I’ve never seen it on a ship.

Thanks Tiger. That’s helpful.

We also sail in December so need to book before them but thanks a lot.

We are considering the alcohol free package. We wouldn’t get full value of the alcohol included version these days but we do drink at least 3 coffees a day and like bottled water.. With our discount it works out at £22.50 pp pd. I’m happy with mocktails and soft drinks so does anyone have a current price list of drinks covered in the package.

You can’t rely on the British weather. We did this same cruise in August and had awful weather most of the time. It was a great cruise, we throughly enjoyed it but we, of course, living in the North of England are used to dodgy weather. Just go prepared and enjoy the experience.

Yes. You may have to wait a while for a coach with available seats. I believe there is a ticket office in the terminals. The ticket may cost more.