daiB

1 hour ago, david63 said:

If the canapes that you can order are anything like those that are given to suite passengers every night then I would have to say - don't waste your money - buy a couple of bags of crisps!

They are not.

2 hours ago, DamianG said:

Thanks for all the replies. We’ve now found an opportunity to sail on back to back cruises on the same ship (Iona) so are shopping around for the best price. 
 

Staying onboard between cruises when most others are disembarking & embarking sounds like a unique thing to do, and we’ve love to hear anyone else’s experiences of this.

 

 

Just seen this, we have not had a back to back on separate ships so I have no information for you. On the other hand we do a lot of back to backs. As it makes sense for the distance we have to travel. Yes it is good to stay on when it’s changeover day. You also benefit from knowing the staff in the bars so your service is great.

Nice touch now you get an invite to the welcome onboard lunch at the start of you second cruise.

We must be part of the lucky ones as we have booked all what we wanted on Arvia in 26 days time. I think it all went haywire about 2/3 hours after our booking.

Well we have pre booked for 4 cruises, 3 on Iona and 1 on Aurora. The prices ate getting cheaper. The Iona cruises are £57pppn cheaper than our first cruise in 2001 on Aurora in a better cabin, even Aurora is £30pppn cheaper.

Happy days.

Gan Canny

Dai

3 hours ago, Bin man said:

Just re-read email inviting to book dinning .Scrolled down to last bit after getting to excited and seems to imply two weeks before for MDR freedom dinning so why do they send the email inviting you to book.log onto your personaliser and booking for mdr are open but won't let you finish your basket bookings so I guess it is two weeks .Bar humbug !

No it’s gone to 120 days. We booked for ours in 4 weeks time.

2 hours ago, HappyGiraffe said:

I'm another one who had dining pop up several weeks earlier than expected and then wasn't able to check out.

 

Guessing IT are too busy frantically sorting out teething issues with the Summer 2026 pages in time for tomorrow to deal with the niggles elsewhere?

We booked for our cruise in 4 weeks time all of the dining we wanted. That was on Arvia

3 hours ago, Bin man said:

Forgot to say Arvia is the ship we are on didn't think mdr was available to about 3 weeks out not 6 weeks give a day or two .Anybody booked Arvia in the past for MDR how far out was you able to book ?

It appears to be 120 days before your cruise according to the P&O site.

11 hours ago, david63 said:

I bet there won't be many booking that on opening day.

That will fill up very quickly as it is so different. We would go but it is 2/3 weeks to early for us.

On 3/30/2024 at 5:48 PM, jaydee6969 said:

Cheers Andy. We always do on Iona. 
 

We just had an enhanced muster drill. Everyone to attend muster station and scan cruise cards at 4.45. No life jackets required. 
 

Bedlam after with pax trying to get lifts back up. No problem for us, down to Anderson’s to have my sail away champagne and the better half the lavender bramble. 

Very wise, never try to use the lifts after a full drill. Nearest bar and drinkies time.

😎😎😎

Gan Canny

Dai

49 minutes ago, sweep2907 said:

You clearly live a sheltered life within P&O, just take a look at other companies and their variety in itineraries. It just takes a little imagination. P&O cruisers are forced to look elsewhere after a while due to the same old itineraries. Some say the boat is the destination in which case I'd be unlikely to cruise on P&O who lack the imagination of new boats that other brands have. I love visiting new ports and varied itineraries personally. It is very much each to their own but many people understandably will feel its same old, which may be daft to you but it is fact.

I dont fly as I have a scooter. Your options above would all include flying. There are no ports i have not been to with cruiselines other than P&O which are available. Have you seen how many cruises I have been on?

4 minutes ago, rickycheshire said:

Same old same old??

I am currently on Arvia, just leaving Valencia as I write this, and out of about 6000 passengers less than half are Peninsular Club members! Plenty of new people wanting the ‘same old same old’ cruises! Couple in the cabin next to ours are mid 20s and never cruised before! 😆

Stating the obvious will not not please everyone. People  who have been cruising a lot will find it repetitive. The large number of newer cruisers will not. I and a BOF and just like cruising. I am with your people next door.

5 minutes ago, Pirateguy said:

Thats not correct Aurora and arcadia also southampton based

No they are on long / world cruises in Jan Feb and March. 

31 minutes ago, Pirateguy said:

Why do they never do regional departures e.g. Liverpool. Bristol, Scotland, etc,,,,,id have more ships based overseas in winter to avoid the bay of biscay 

5 out of the 7 are now with only Iona and Ventura available between New Year and the end of March. There are thousands of cruisers who do not want to fly And the two above are on long Caribbean cruises.

1 hour ago, sweep2907 said:

Cannot think there will be anything drastically different in terms of itineraries or newish ports to visit. Same old Azura in Med, Iona to Fjords, Arvia and Britannia doing round trips from Southampton for 2 weeks etc. The only ones that ever interest me are Aurora or Arcadia who do longer trips than 2 weeks and often include nice different ports such as Sorrento. I will prepare to be amazed.

I don't care where they go. I think the ship is the destination although we do get off at every port, weather permitting. I think that is why i like the two big ones where there is plenty to do on board. I also have to say the daft expression "Same old, same old" really grates. Exactly where are p&O going to magic up these new ports.

2 hours ago, Presto2 said:

I feel your pain ... 

So do I. 

1 hour ago, pennib said:

No but many thanks for your advice

Pennib, Assistance does not start until you get inside the terminal, at Ocean It’s on the left as you go in and at Mayflower it is to the right before you go up the ramp. If assistance is needed from coach to the terminal I would suggest you need to have your own chair.

3 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Could be. Mine are with Hargreaves Lansdown. Doesn’t explain the delay in getting OBC applied once the shareholding has been verified though?

Cunard and Princess seem to be very slow in applying the OBC once you have been verified. On the other hand P&O are very quick. Our October cruise took 1 to 2 hours to be confirmed and I had an email from my TA the next day. Not sure why P&O should be better I would imagine they are using the same systems as the other two.

4 minutes ago, bobstheboy said:

We've had this debate previously. I have had two cruises since Covid reduce after pre registering and booking early on day one. One dropped in price, 10% discount and 800 OBC and free parking, even after losing my £150 pp deposit I saved £1200. It was an onboard offer.

There were some price drops due to COVID but we are getting back to where we were before the pandemic. As far as I could tell none of our cruises since COVID have been reduced, although I have to admit I did not look to closely for the first 3/4 as we were so glad to get back to cruising. BTW i have just checked and got a shock, we have done 13 cruises since the start of cruising again.

3 hours ago, sweep2907 said:

I totally understand increase in prices but issue is they aren't selling many caribbean holidays 2025 and beyond at this moment in time due to uncertainty over who will operate the flights.

 

With the current impasse, these holidays will remain high prices and no takers. If I'm paying £2k I want to know who is flying me there as that price is 35% higher than any offering P&O have put out there before for the lower end of the market. Don't mind P&O upping prices but their product is nowhere near worth the pricing they are quoting.  

And you know this ..How. If prices are going up then the cruises are selling. The prices are based solely on supply and demand. The company has used this system for many years.

2 hours ago, doog442 said:

 

I've just quoted our Arvia aft cabin, same Caribbean cruise and date that we had in Jan this year (booked March 23) and the 2026 price is showing a 52.75% increase (this taking into account OBC as well) - no drinks package.

 

These prices are exceeding decent land based all inclusive hotels on spectacular beaches territory with top shelf unlimited drinks. Their strength recently has been undercutting that particular market hence the recent very good value offerings. That said I don't blame them for making hay while the sun shines and /or perhaps the market is changing. 

If the price has gone up by that amount then the cruise is selling very well. The price is set y the computer algorithm which compares actual bookings with expected. If the actual is way above expected then there is a hiker in the price. Going back to what I said before this cruise has been on sale since the middle to late October 23. This is going into the highest point in the booking period. Prices are driven by sales… nothing else.

1 hour ago, david63 said:

I thought that I had read somewhere that there has been a change to the pricing policy and that now the price will never fall below the opening price

That may be wishful thinking. I think it may have been talked about but it may not be a policy which is sustainable long term

6 minutes ago, zap99 said:

No we didn't book on day one, but still fairly early. Once we cancelled, lost our deposit, rebooked the same cabin and saved over £400. Next time it  dropped £800 the day after we paid the balance.  The latest cruise we booked 3 months ago, that was after a price drop and got more OBC.  I don't book early any more.

Fairly early will not give you the best prices. Prices for some cruises go up on the afternoon of day one. However if you do not book on day one then you are correct to wait as the prices will peak between 18 month and 6 month before the sail date. If there is a drop it would come after the balance payment date. But even then rarely will it go below the price we pay and of course you have to take what is left.

1 hour ago, sweep2907 said:

Just been looking at starting prices for Caribbean inside cabin and shocked to see they all around £1900pp now. Has this been a big increase in recent weeks as I am sure I saw £1400pp when itineraries came out. I wonder if the large increase could be due to having to pay more to source a better airline than Maleth? What I am being quoted for balcony now on Britannia is not far off what I paid for a suite on her pre covid.

Which confirms what I have said for a long time, the best prices are to be had on day one of the booking process. Eg a deluxe cabin on Britiannia, the one which on Princess would be a mini suite, 2 weeks to the Canaries in Oct 25. I paid less than £100 pppn. Price now up to over £140 pppn.

11 minutes ago, zap99 said:

We don't book early any more after getting conned twice. We book a few months before the sail date. If prices don't drop to a reasonable level...we'll, plenty of alternatives.

But did you book on day one anything else is not early. I have still not had my price I paid on day one beaten for any cruise, up to 5 per year. It got close just after COVID but it is now back to pre 2020 conditions.

I think some people are more susceptible than others, my wife and I have been on 60 cruises and never had NV we have had a cough and runny noise a couple of times. On the other hand friends of ours on their first P&O cruise got NV, bad.