cclarke12

Yes very unfortunate that it took numerous announcements by the captain before a small number of selfish passengers would go back into cabins and close their balconies as requested. It required him to put an announcement out early this morning across the whole ship to get compliance. In an emergency situation this selfishness could delay the rescue unnecessarily.

Well the selfish passengers are well known faces now as the captain did a debrief on the evacuation and shared their photos - demonstrating they can take CCTV pictures of balconies. Well done to the captain for shaming them.

He explained that in such an emergency the balcony cabins near the point of the airlift are evacuated due the risks involved if the helicopter hit the ship, and other balcony passengers on that side are asked to stay inside their cabins for safety reasons too.

A good assertive captain that didn’t mince his words. As he says he’s the captain, the buck stops with him and he expects passengers to obey him.

I wouldn't be happy with that. The actual location of the suite/cabin is crucial to us, and for P&O to expect a financial commitment from the customer without their giving any guarantee of an actual suite/cabin seems incredible.

Each to their own. It makes no difference to me. I’m happy with the price I’ve paid and I’m happy to take the gamble of where I end up being located. I obviously live life on the wild side. I even stay in hotels without knowing which room I’ll be allocated.

I am well aware how it works having pre registered for many cruises in the past. Pre registering with a TA you can do exactly the same but tell them what cabins you want and if they are not available dont book it. By booking direct with P&O you cannot tell them cabin numbers only cabin grade and they can put you in anyone anywhere on the ship as long as in the chosen cabin grade. So what is the point of booking direct with P&O when you cant choose any cabins only grades and you can be put in a cabin that is not suitable and also by booking through TA it is cheaper than booking direct with P&O. But the biggest point of all is no booking is guaranteed especially if you are not Caribbean Tier or above until bookings open 21st March hoping that all decent cabins in the grade chosen have not been taken by higher tiers on 19th March.

That's incorrect. I have pre registered and my booking is 100% guaranteed. What's not guaranteed is my cabin location. I have booked the cheapest grade inside for Xmas/New Year cruise. I can see they have already stopped taking pre registrations on that grade for direct bookings. Last time I did this I was firstly allocated the highest grade inside, before getting a free balcony upgrade 6 months before departure. I have no expectations of a balcony upgrade this time though - just got lucky.

In fact I suspect it's better not be in upper tiers. They get their choice of cabins and first ones to sell are usually least and most expensive, so those of us willing to go pot luck at pre registration probably end up with something higher then we paid for.

On our last cruise on Britannia we were allocated a restaurant for the cruise,we both thought the food in the MDR was really good but the old spectre of being seated too close to an 'idiot',even though we had a table for two,they are so close you wouldn't know it,on 2 occasions had us dining elsewhere,we didn't have any problems getting into the Glass House but,apart from our first night when we really enjoyed it,we just couldn't get into the Beach House,often a 2 hour wait being quoted.

We always ask for a table for two with chairs (to avoid the banquette seating where tables seem very close).

We would have liked to try Glass House for dinner but there were always long waits. It's in completely the wrong location on this ship. I think it will be moved when the next refurb happens. It's popular and they'd be making a lot more money from a better/larger venue.

We were on the Christmas cruise on Britannia and unless you wanted to be right next to the pool there was no issue finding a lounger. A couple of days it was full by the pool so I sat at a table instead and both times loungers became free with 15 mins so I was able to grab one. If you wanted more than a couple of together it might be an issue, but finding 1 or 2 was fine.

We love NCL and prefer to P&O. The dress code is relaxed and their freedom dining works better than any other cruise line we've been on. The traveller demographic tends to be quite different to P&O, younger overall with more international passenger mix. The all inclusive drinks package is excellent and water is available in the buffet. If you pay gratuities in advance in sterling then it's cheaper. The Jade is a smallish ship but still feels like it has lots of facilities.

We loved the Britannia Christmas cruise. We've had a break from P&O for a few years and they're still not our favourite, but for value and ease of travel they were excellent, Sorry to hear OP was poorly. This was the second cruise I have done at Christmas and both times they've been full of people with coughs and colds. I think this is norm at this time of year, and for all the wiping and hand washing in the world, if people are coughing its airborne and hard to avoid, I went down with a nasty cold on an Oceana cruise at Christmas a few years ago and I suspect this partly clouded my view of that ship as it was a miserable holiday. I never been back in her since,

P&O offer plenty of variety, Britannia won't be for everyone, but we found her the best offering from them to date. I do agree about hygiene though and can't see why they weren't enforcing it. Others that joined the following cruise are reporting they are being more active on this now, with staff outside the buffer.

Actually its called Anytime Dining unless its changed recently and no-one told me.

 

Bar service is not something I have ever complained about, its how they make the most profit on most cruises. They will rarely neglect that as its more more more money coming in all the time.

"Freedom" (as it is referred to on another line) or "Anytime" dining, I'm sure no one would be in any doubt about what I'm referring to. I stand corrected if it's important to you that I refer to the dining arrangement by it's correct name and you wish to make a point of being pedantic.

We've only got the soda package so there's no additional incentive for good service once pre-purchased - yet service has remained constantly efficient and friendly.

Currently on the Crown and have nothing significant to complain about. Food and service is as good as - if not better - than Emerald ex Southampton last year.

Bar service is excellent and plenty of staff going round the pool deck taking orders.

Only niggle is freedom dining with long queues the first couple of nights. It transpires that even though it is called freedom dining, you can make reservations - so you end up with reserved tables being sat first and having to queue for a buzzer.

The kids are having a lovely time and despite mixed weather have made plenty of friends around the pool.

I'm on Crown Princess now. There are no kettles in the cabins.

Good luck.

I think you will find NCL will nickel and dime you to death.

Not my experience at all. With free drinks package promotion on NCL we spend very little onboard. It is the least hard sell of the all the cruise lines we've been on. If you want to buy extras you can, but there's no pressure or indeed any need to.

We're booked on the Crown next week as it was a very cheap cruise, but based on our Emerald Princess cruise last year, we've found service and food (particularly in the buffet) far superior on NCL. NCL are also the masters of freedom dining compared with Princess who just couldn't cope on Emerald.

We really loved the food on Celebrity but they are the worse cruise line I have ever sailed on for being harassed to buy drinks packages - it was unrelenting and just put us off. They were definitely nickel and dime

Really helpful - thanks

Hi

Does anyone know the approx dining times for first and second sitting on ex Southampton? I know in the Med it's 7ish and 9.30ish, so I'd opt for the earlier one. I wondered if it might be earlier for Northern European cruises? I definitely prefer after 7.30 if possible.

Thanks

UK pricing has rocketed under the new premium all inclusive deal. We're booked on the Spirit in August 2018 with the free all inclusive drinks package. The price with the new promotion is well over £1,000 more for our family - and essentially the only extras it includes are the gratuities and bottles water. I'm glad I booked when I did. Other cruise lines are starting to look better value for next year. That said, US pricing for NCL now looks pretty attractive and you can still get deals including the drinks package, so we'll probably book through a US TA in the future. My prediction is they're testing the waters with the new UK pricing structures, and prices will adjust downwards in the next few months.

The wine prices at the port shop are over inflated and there is little choice. You pay say €10 for a bottle which is €2-3 in the supermarket. I'd buy your wine before arriving at the port. There's no issue taking it through security as Princess allow you to take a couple of bottles onboard anyway.

Yes, did this on Celebirty, NCL and Princess last year. We've only got $1.33 for Princess cruise this year but I'll be prepaying grats to take advantage of better rate as well.

There were no paper slips for UBP orders on our TA out of Barcelona last October, either, but we were still charged Spanish VAT on every drink ordered in Spanish waters (and Florida tax on the other end of the cruise). No one signed anything, but the charges appeared all the same.

Very odd. We sailed at end of October and no charge. I wouldn't pay for anything I hadn't signed for.

I did two Barca to Barca cruises in 2016 with free UBP. No additional taxes payable on either, in fact they don't even bother asking for a receipt to be signed anymore. Anything we bought outside the package, e.g. Bottled water, did have the VAT added on.

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In the process of booking the Jade out of Southampton for a 10 day Norwegian Fjord cruise in August. Taking advantage of the 'Free at Sea' offer.

Very excited to cruise NCL for the first time and also to sail Europe for the first time. We have been mostly on Carnival (one HAL) and always in the Caribbean.

I have done reviews on the Jade, just wondering what those who have sailed on her think??

Do all charged restaurants need to be booked before the cruise or can we book while on board?

Do any shows need to be booked ahead of time or can we just show up?

Are there any 'adult only' areas onboard? Not sure if there will be many kids, but you never know.

 

As for the itinerary, can anyone share their experiences of ports, best things to do in port, must sees, etc. (Southampton; Stavanger; Hellesylt; Geiranger; Flam; Alesund; Haugesund; Oslo; Disembark Southampton (London)*(England).

We also plan on spending a week or so before the cruise in London, any recommendations of where to stay?

 

Thanks for any feedback, I know I am asking a lot of questions!:)

We were on the Jade in October and had a great time. You'll have the advantage of sailing after she has been in dry dock for refurbishment. I'm wasn't aware of any adult only areas of this ship.

There will be a large number of children on this ship as it is the school holidays in the UK and NCL has had some very attractive pricing on sailings out of the UK.

We didn't use any of the speciality restaurants as the MDR was more than adequate. I think most people to advise booking in advance though.

In terms of itinerary

- Stavanger has a surprisingly interesting petroleum museum 10 mins walk from dock

- Flam railway is lovely but don't pay the extortionate cruise tour pricing. You can book tickets directly for a fraction of the price.

- the funicular at Bergen can be pre booked too I think, and is worth doing given it's not a long day in port

I'm not sure wher you're looking to stay in London, but if you want a reasonable priced hotel chain (no frills but comfortable) then Premier Inn chain is good. As long as you're near a tube line then everywhere is pretty accessible.

Well I did end up booking in the end as the price was pretty good with the Black Friday deal. It also turned our that I am Elite on Princess due to previous P&O cruises and our Princess cruise last year, so some nice perks to enjoy. The exchange rate that's been applied for pre purchasing drinks packages and gratuities is about £1 = $1.33, so better than the prevailing bank rate.

Hi,if you have already booked your cruise you can log on your CP.Look under gifts and services look up a $100 dollar block of OBC put it in the shopping cart and the price in GBP should come up.We bought shedloads on our recent 29 day cruise and we got a rate of $1.54 to the GBP even after brexit.With a better rate you can buy the package onboard with your prepurchased OBC.If you do the same with the AIBP on the CP it should come up in GBP also,just get out a calculator and check the rates,they should be better than market rates.Guys that booked cruises later than us got 1.42 which is still good,cheers,Brian.

We haven't booked as yet. Drinks prices put me off with the current exchange rate though. Thanks

Not that simple, its dependent on the exchange rate on the day you booked your cruise. The price is fixed in us $ The conversion will be worked back from that

Thanks. It works the same as NCL then. I've a tempting cruise price but with the terrible exchange rate the drinks prices on all US ships are looking very pricey unless they are offering free drinks packages.

Hi - could any UK cruisers confirm the price of the all inclusive drinks package if you book from the UK? I can see a $ rate on the US site but I'm not sure if it's just a straight conversion of the $ price. Thanks

Paid my auto grats today @ £8.50 pppd + bought my OBC at a rate of 1.42 Def a fair saving all in than leaving it all to pay on the ship.

Thanks OP for the reminder!

I've just done the same. 10 days until sail away now :)