daiB

On 2/28/2024 at 3:12 PM, terrierjohn said:

I think the post was from a Caribbean fly cruise, probably there are likely to be fewer disabled passengers on a fly cruise, and when these cabins are not all booked it is quite likely they will given as "upgrades".

Correct John.

Just now, mrsgoggins said:

Thursday, 17th January update

 

Yesterday was a sea day so little to report. We took a walk around the deck, did a lot of reading and visited my newly-discovered Metropolis bar.

 

We dined at Sindhu, which has never been a favourite of mine, and this remains so. At 6pm the service was glacial, the background music, a tad loud and the food just okay - this is probably due to our taste in food however.  DH said he prefers M&S Jalfrezi (?). I'll attach a photo of my salmon and DH's Sindhu Signature for anyone who feels differently.  I had the cinnamon bread and butter pudding to follow which was incredibly sweet and half of it got left. 

 

'Astonishing' was the theatre show, which we enjoyed, despite having seen it a couple of times. The lone lady who sat next to me wanted to chat before the performance but I'm afraid to say it was a long list of complaints which she had brought to the attention of management but remained unimpressed. In a nutshell, she was a Cunard regular on her first P&O cruise, which would also be her last!  Oh dear.

 

 

 

We were there last night as well, wonderful meal. Best in Sindhu for some time. 

@Selbourne Perhaps you could wave as you sail past us. I do believe we are in Funchal at the same time. We may see you wandering about.

Gan Canny

Dai

4 hours ago, Old_tilly_billy said:

Never been on a cruise with so much queuing impossible to get a seat and served because everyone queuing at the bars been a nightmare. I think 90%+ are on drinks package and getting their money’s worth. 

It’s always the same as everyone want drinks all at the same time. Short cruises are always the same, the staff levels will be the same for our 5 week cruise on Wednesday. 

On 12/26/2023 at 7:37 PM, sandancer said:

We are doing b2b on Iona. However, they were not booked at the same time and one of them was moved from a different cruise. I assume this would cancel out the b2b benefit. 

It should make no difference. We have had the discount when booking cruises 6 month apart. One was the last cruise in one booking period and the second was the first in the next period.

8 hours ago, mrsgoggins said:

We're shortly going on a P&O 35 night Caribbean cruise on Ventura and I'm busy making a list of extras I might take.  I've done a few back-to-back cruises but this will be the longest cruise by far, and I confess to being a bit apprehensive about being away from 'my life' for 5 weeks, but then again, it is January and I know we are lucky to be able to do it.  On my list are:

 

Wire coat hangers (I've never liked the fiddly steal-proof ones, but since I had a shoulder replacement last year, they are even more difficult to use)

Decent coffee

Squash

Mid-size towel for drying my hair

Magic leaves laundry sheets

Stugeron!

Considering taking a jar of quality jam for breakfast toast since P&O dispensed with pots of Bonne Maman

Packet (or 2) of favourite biscuits/chocolate

 

Anyone care to add anything that you would/do take on a long journey?  Thanks

Having been on 4/5 of these cruises i can say we take none of the above apart from the laundry sheets, for hand washing.

See you on board

Dai

2 hours ago, molecrochip said:

Ventura is a grand class ship. Grand Princess, the first, debuted in 1998! 2 years before Aurora and 7 years before Arcadia.

I was going to say that. 🙂

2 hours ago, sandancer said:

Being a total doubting Thomas or Thomasina rather, I called Intercruises again and the agent I spoke to confirmed that they won’t worry about the size of the bags but only about the weight.  Next time it will be the Baggage Company for sure. Thanks to those who suggested it. 

They have just collected our luggage 30 mins ago, for our next cruise. Great service.

50 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

To be clear, nobody has asked me directly what I paid before, but several have offered what they paid, hoping to have their egos massaged by me recoiling in horror and saying how much more we have paid 😂 

Good God ….. that much. Is a good reply.

😎

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

You are lucky. We’ve had quite a few mention it. To me, it’s as insensitive a discussion over dinner as asking people who they vote for! Usually people raise it in a way to brag about how little they’ve paid and what great value they are getting, but these folk always conveniently fail to mention that they are in an inside cabin!
 

I hope, for their sakes, that nobody grills us on our 65 nighter, as if I gave them the details of what we are paying for our balcony cabin they would soon have the wind taken out of their sails!

I have to say i cannot remember anyone asking me either. Defiantly a no no a bit like how many cruises have you done?

On 12/17/2023 at 11:25 AM, jeanlyon said:

There was no queue for lifts and nobody being disturbed by us.  
As I said above, the crowds were all the people sitting in all the areas with their carry on stuff waiting for their turn to get off.  We got in the lift, nobody else around and when we got off, there was nobody around either.  We were off at 8 am.    Now this is Aurora.  I have no idea what it would be like on one of the big ships.  We have always done it this way and never had a problem.

Our easiest disembarkation recently has been on Iona. The key is they have 2 air bridges and two exits. BTW I do not get assistance.

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I agree that different ships tick different boxes for different people, but I don’t think it’s as simple to say it’s age related.

 

Like the lady that you spoke to, we have been on both Iona and Ventura very recently.  We are younger than the lady in question, yet our views are the polar opposite of hers. We didn’t particularly enjoy the passenger demographic on Iona but, by contrast, felt entirely at home on Ventura.

 

We started cruising with P&O when we were in our early 30s when it was a very different experience to now and we have been on all the P&O ships bar Arvia, many of them multiple times, so feel able to make comparisons. In the days when Freedom Dining didn’t exist, we got on famously with some table mates who were much older than us and equally we have have had table matWe are considerably older than you but es who were a similar age or younger who were not conversationalists and every meal felt like hard work. These were on the largest ships in the fleet (as they were then). Two or three bad experiences in a row pushed us to Freedom Dining. 

 

On our recent Ventura cruise we tended to share tables at lunchtime if we used the MDR and we got on well with everyone that we dined with, but our favourite couple, who we dined with twice, were old enough to be our parents, were great fun and shared loads of great tips with us for our upcoming Caribbean cruise. 
 

We are not party types, so don’t enjoy crowded and ‘lively’ atmospheres, as was the case on Iona. We also dislike the ‘look at me’ types who feel that everyone in a bar or restaurant needs to be aware that they are enjoying themselves, hence why we tend to prefer the ships with the older passenger demographic, where this is less likely. 
 

We like the facilities and choice of eateries on the bigger ships and we have never felt that a ship was too big, but we very much prefer the passenger profile on the smaller ships. However, there are plenty of regulars on this forum who are older than us but prefer the newest ships and all that goes with them and consider the older ships to be too stuffy. Just goes to prove that there’s no right or wrong, nor can you generalise by age. It’s just different strokes for different folks. 

We are considerably older than you but enjoy a lively atmosphere as well as peace and quiet. We enjoyed Aurora and Iona on our last two cruises although I find Aurora is less accessible now, Iona is brilliant. My wife and I have a saying, 2000  passengers on this ship and there are 2000 different holiday's. We were on Aurora at the time, 20 years ago.

18 hours ago, zap99 said:

I just had a quick browse. Plenty of P&O cruises at less than £200 pn for a balcony

That’s not fair using actual facts in a discussion.

On 12/9/2023 at 8:57 PM, Eddie99 said:

£999pp for an inside cabin on a one week fiords cruise

(inflation takes that to £1580 equivalent)

 

There is really no comparison between prices when we had a band and ticker tape send off, *savouries* after dessert, crumble biscuits and a Stilton wheel

Pays your money, takes your choice

 

Savouries lasted about 18 month they were never a regular feature.

2 minutes ago, enjoysailing said:

 

I have re-read the initial post and still stand by my post that you are commenting on. My comment was that P&O should not book more passengers that the crew can deal with. According to the P&O Brochure there are 1250 crew to 3100 guests. So if the crew are fewer they should adjust their expectations when taking bookings.

 

Surely it is better to give guests a good all round experience that will create good reviews and future bookings rather than taking on more than can be serviced well and they will have a less than good experience.  

However it is only the extra venues which seem to be affected. So the vast majority of customers are not affected. Foe example on Azura only 10% of passengers a use the Epicurean even working at full capacity. If it were affecting the MDR you may have a point.  

Just now, enjoysailing said:

 

I am not sure what I misread in the first post. I was commenting on the second paragraph "All the venues are running at a fraction of the normal capacity because of a lack of back of house staff ". I took that to mean a shortage of crew. Did I get that wrong?

The reason for the shortage is also given. These shortages are not apparent in other ships

On 12/9/2023 at 5:00 PM, 9265359 said:

Of course they should…

 

Commercial suicide. 
 

And of course most passengers who can’t book think they have been unlucky and the venues are running at full capacity, and unless you actually walk into the Glass House to get a drink you wouldn’t realise the truth. 

You have not read the first post either. We have been on Ventura/Aurora and Iona with no problems so there must be a problem with having the ships in Malta although I have not heard about it before.

On 12/9/2023 at 4:43 PM, enjoysailing said:

That seems to be disappointing if you can't book restaurants due to staff issues. Surely a cruise line should match the number of passengers they take on a ship to the crew available to deal with the running of it. If they are short of crew in some areas they should limit the passengers. 

 

Read the first post carefully. There is a reason.

On 12/5/2023 at 9:20 PM, Selbourne said:

Just to give an alternative perspective, we used to book Suites but don’t any more as we no longer feel that they offer value for money.

 

To qualify my comments, I should be upfront and say that my wife’s disability is now such that we have to use accessible cabins and these are around 50% bigger than standard cabins. The accessible Superior Deluxe balcony cabin that we had recently was in fact slightly bigger than the full suites, so the main benefit of the extra space is something that we no longer need to pay suite prices to enjoy (this being the only benefit of being in a position where a disability warrants an accessible cabin).
 

We spend a lot of time in our cabin during the day on sea days, enjoying the quiet space, the views and the balcony. Many people don’t, in which case the extra space becomes superfluous. The aft corner suites have massive wrap around balconies and we have enjoyed those on several ships. Personally, I don’t think that the midships suites are worth it as they don’t have this unique feature. Also, the midships suites on Azura on Riviera deck can be problematic and are best avoided. They are directly under the open pool deck and you can be disturbed very early in the morning with the chairs and loungers being dragged around for cleaning etc. Friends stayed in one of these suites on Azura and it disturbed them so much that they have never booked another suite since. 
 

We are now Caribbean loyalty tier, so always benefit from priority embarkation and the priority boarders lunch, two other suite benefits that we used to enjoy but no longer need to pay for a suite to benefit from.
 

The remaining benefits of having a suite are minor IMHO. We used to enjoy having breakfast in Epicurean, but that was ruined on a cruise when there was a noisy family with two unruly children and another couple with a baby who cried every breakfast time. In the end we stopped gOoing to Epicurean and went to the main dining room as it was more relaxing!

 

We found butlers to be intrusive, turning up doing nothing worthwhile other than trying to appear useful so that we’d tip them at the end of the cruise. They added virtually nothing to our suite experiences, other than a few meals on the balcony or in the suite, but all courses arrived at the same time so it wasn’t really as good a meal as being in a restaurant. Dining on the aft corner balcony whilst cruising down a fjord on a summer evening was magical though. We tend not to use room service, as we prefer going to the restaurants, but it’s free for suite guests. 
 

If P&O adopted the approach that Cunard does with Britannia Club and grills guests, and had a separate dining room where you have your own dedicated table for your sole use for ALL meals and an enhanced dinner menu with additional a’la carte options, then we might consider using suites again. However, given that we book accessible balcony cabins and are Caribbean loyalty tier, the remaining suite benefits with P&O are now so negligible for us it would be a complete waste of money.

 

If you decide that you really want a suite on Azura, I’d strongly advise getting an aft corner suite with a wrap around balcony. You are then getting far more bang for your buck. 

On Azura they are not wrap around. When we used suites we made use of the Butler as we would host a party in our cabin and he would arrange it all. But I now need an adapted cabin as well so our suite days are gone. But we now have more cruises weigh what we save.

😎😎😎

I have said for a while that the present situation with some good late deals on some cruises will not last. As more people return to cruising and P&O’s drive to get more new cruisers on board these deals will go. A large % of new cruisers will return pushing up demand. Added to this is the point Sandancer makes about the prices of land holidays. Taking this all into consideration I can see cruises filling quickly and prices not falling.

8 hours ago, davecttr said:

I

As i have plenty of OBC the Glasshouse is a good idea as is room service. My remaining problem is I like playing Blackjack and it won't be just me touching the chips. There used to be a hand gel that killed noro type virus but it was found that if you bathed your hands daily for about 20 years in the active ingredient you stood a risk of getting skin cancer.

 

I am on freedom dining but the buffet will be OK in the morning because i am usually first or second in. I also wash my hands on arrival and take some of the paper towels to handle the serving utensils. i will also go to the supermarket at Southampton and buy some decaff tea bags to ensure a supply

I have been in the casino every night, when at sea, for the past 22 years and I have never had NV. I also do not recall people being missing from the tables either. At least on BJ you don't touch the cards.

16 minutes ago, kermchem said:

I am not sure it is much better if you do book through a TA. Two weeks ago we visited our large chain high street TA on a Saturday morning (oops) to ask if we could change airport (from BHX which was what was left when booked, to NCL which now has availability) for a cruise where the final payment was almost due. Select price paid, so the answer should be yes, and indeed was yes. But only after the TA had phoned P&O on the dedicated TA-only number and waited about 30 minutes to get through. The actual call took only 5 minutes or so. 
We live in times when staff shortages are the norm. 

I always use nan online TA i have tried high street TA’s but I have found in general I knew far more about P&O than they did.

10 hours ago, gsmt47471015 said:

Do you know the name of the captain?

Not at the moment my wife did tell me but…………. 🙂

17 hours ago, gsmt47471015 said:

Indeed there will , but as we have now managed to get ourselves to the top it will be nice to gain some small benefit, and also expect a good deal of passengers to leave us in the shade regarding amount of cruises and nights spent on board😄.

That been said we are aware that there are a few first time cruisers on this trip  

Yes and one of those will be the captain whom we have never heard of so he may not know the way! However there will be plenty of cruisers who have been on this cruise before so he could always ask. 🙂

On 11/19/2023 at 2:15 PM, gsmt47471015 said:

Been informed from P and O that its a sit down and be served jobby in January

Well, we will look forward to that. The served meal has always been the best. There will of course be a large number of higher tier passengers on that cruise.