mklions

I am guessing that P&O get in touch with all passengers a couple of weeks prior to sailing to let them know about the immigration form?, as this was never mentioned to me when booking the cruise. I've flew to Barbados many times in the past and this is the first I have heard of this pre on-line immigration form normally the cabin staff issue the forms on the flight to fill in.

Don't we fill this out on the plane before landing? Ive never had to fill out an immigration form pre flight. Or am I missing something?

Do they still do the embarkation lunch at Southampton for suite guests and high ranking loyalty customers? If so how do you get to know about it?

Interested to know what is a Tiffin Box?, and is it chargeable?

The seat booking for our flight to Barbados opened at midnight last night, it was 2.15am before I eventually got through to make the booking ensuring my wife and I got the seats together. Fortunately I managed to get two seat together although half of them had already been booked before us, so I guess everyone had the same idea come midnight. So my advise please if you want seats together especially in premium economy ( only about seven rows in a 2-3-2 formation) work out the 14 weeks prior to your cruise and look to book at midnight on that day. Ive also taken a look on the TUI website and see that on long haul flights flying premium you get lounge access at some of the UK airports ( only outbound not inbound) and wondered if the same applies to us cruisers traveling on a TUI flight with a P&O charter? Mklions

We went on the Valiant Lady in May, a totally different type of cruise to what most of us know. One thing we really did like however was that the ship had 20 different venues to choose from. The quality of the food was first class and fresh, as a ship the same size as Ventura/Azura that was impressive.

Lucky you with the weather tomorrow, its very cold here in Buckinghamshire and could be a frost in the. countryside tonight. Not so sure on the sailing though 15-30 knot winds, maybe a tad choppy tonight, let us know how it goes! Thanks for posting a great thread!

We normally stay at the premier inn and park our car in the multi storey next to the hotel. It’s £5 a night parking and very secure. in two weeks time we will be staying at the Moxy hotel ( £100 for the room with breakfast included) and it is next door to the premier inn so again parking in the multi storey.

Sorry I should have said we have booked four times in the Beach House.

Mine also came today 15 days before our Ventura cruise! ( can't wait) Booked 8 venues, 2 in Sindu ( one for week 1 and one for week 2 ) incase they change menus a week around. 2 in Epicurean ( one for week 1 and one for week 2 ) incase they change menus a week around. 4 in Glass House. Had to pay online today with CC, so cannot use our OBC. We have 4 formal nights which we have not booked speciality restaurants for hoping the menu/food will be a little bit better on formal nights in the MDR. Apparently you can always cancel a restaurant should you wish and get a full refund.

Thank you, the 13th Feb Casablanca and Canaries looks appealing .

Nice photos, love Malta, Have a great holiday and look forward to some more of your reports.

when will the 2025 cruises appear on the saga website, interested in a Jan/Feb cruise.

We are flying premium economy via Gatwick on TUI. One problem we have is booking seats together, my wife will not travel ( nervous flyer) unless we are sitting next to each other and we cannot book seats until 14 weeks before our holiday. In the past we have booked the seats at the time of booking, but this seems t have changed. mklions

Wow, That's amazing that the seats fill so quickly, I'm also amazed that people are prepared to stay up into the early hours to book their seats. I guess we will have to plan to do the same. We have always managed to get PE seats together and I don't remember having to book them on the same day that they become available. Our flights on our cruise personaliser are shown as flying with TUI, so hopefully they will not change aircraft.

Just a thought, We are flying home from our Britannia cruise on 9th Feb next year and we are thinking of booking the lounge access at Barbados. Airport. P&O always get you off the ship and to the airport extra early on disembarkation and maybe for a little extra comfort ( before our overnight flight) we should look to buy access into the lounge at Grantly Adam’s. Has anybody ever considered this as an option, and if so do they know the cost and the best place to book.? Thanks, mklions.

Be. surprised if it wasn't LGW.

Lets hope so.

Earlier this year I booked a Caribbean cruise (sailing on Britannia) through a well known TA who advertise extensively in the national papers. They made a mess of our booking which originally we were flying PE out of Birmingham. When I enquired a few weeks ago they told me that there were no PE seats available out of Birmingham and that we could only fly economy. The advertisement in the paper clearly stated book a suite and get PE flights included in the price. To be fair to the TA they recorded our booking and admitted the sales agent made a mistake in our booking. As compensation the TA agreed to arrange private transfers for us if we agreed to fly out of Gatwick. We agreed as long as we get the PE seats, which they said were booked for us. We have checked online and see that it states a TUI flight, which is fine, however we cannot book our seats until 14 weeks before we fly. ( in two weeks time) If they decide to swap aircraft and choose Maleth we will simply not go, as Malath do not supply a PE upgrade. I am 6''4' and cannot be done with travelling 8 hours in economy. millions.

I think with the current situation in Israel that cruise ships will not visit any ports in Israel. Saga has a couple of cruises / itineraries next year that would be affective. It would be a shame because we have recently had a cruise destined for both Ashdod and Haifa cancelled on us due to the unrest. ( substituted for two extra sea days) We have never been to Israel but I believe it's a marvellous place to visit especially the numerous religious sites.

Just looked at the Saga website and this 18 night cruise on the 20th October appears to have been removed, so thank you for the info. I was only talking to Saga yesterday and they were willing to take my booking which is a bit bizarre. I don't see too much else for Oct/Nov 2024 that appeals so I will see what they offer for Jan/ Feb 2025. We like to go away either side of Christmas to break up the winter. We are booked at the end of this month sailing from Southampton to the canaries on P&O Ventura in a suite and again in a suite on P&O Brittania in late Jan on a Caribbean cruise. We only sail P&O if we can get an aft suite but to be honest Saga is becoming more appealing the more we look and there all included perks for all guests are very enticing. ( especially the home and return pick ups to the port) Mklions.

Plus in most cases a hefty excess on your claim!

Thanks for your valued replies, I will need to investigate further, no point booking for next October if the ship is going into dry dock. Surprised the sales agent at Saga did not know this earlier today? Just out of interest when do the Jan/Feb 2005 sailings come out for booking? MKlions

Yes that is exactly the cruise we have been looking at. I spoke to saga this morning to send over a formal quote and the lady we spoke to never mentioned anything about dry dock maintenance for SOA. I will need to do some more digging, thanks Arlowood for the update.

Pardon my ignorance, but what is grade L and K. MKlions