zap99

On 7/31/2024 at 10:48 AM, tring said:

 

A very different experience on Princess to P&O, but we only travel on the smaller P&O ships, having only done Azura for two cruises and Ventura for one. 

 

We would not be repeating Sky Princess, or any other Princess after our experience of Sky.  It depends how you describe cheerful, perhaps.  More along the lines of high and very obviously after your tips in my language.  Calm, pleasant and efficient are words I prefer to see to describe staff.  Even when we got on the ship, expecting to be directed to our cabin, we just ran the gauntlet of staff all basically saying, "Have a good Day", or similar, but none attempted to ask our cabin number, or direct us to our cabin.  Also the service in the MDR was incredibly slow - took a good 2.5 hours yet we did not always have sweets and all the lounges/entertainment venues had the sound turned up really high volume, to the extent my ears actually hurt at times.  We must have been on about ten different cruise lines, as done some specialist ones for certain places and Princess is about the worst for me.  Must admit we have not done other big American based lines, such as RCL or Celebrity, but are assuming they will be similar.

 

I have no particular wish for the P&O brand name to remain, but would certainly want it to still be a British based line.

 

 

 

On Arvia we were running a little late. When we ordered in the MDR I said to the waiter ' we may skip desert as we are booked into the 8.30 show followed by 710. This was at 7.40. Order pudding folks, I will speed things along for you. Best food on any of our P&O cruises.

20 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

We had one box well inside the use by date, but some of the test liquid vials had virtually dried out.

Brian tops them up with Voddy. He hasn't tested positive.

2 hours ago, majortom10 said:

Yes but what was total OBC if dropped FP and chose extra OBC on top of OBC given with FP.

On the 7 night cruise we have booked for next year we got £80 OBC. If we had chosen extra OBC, the extra would have been £80. That's £80+£80. That would have left us with having to pay for parking. P4C want £98. £80 -£98 = -£18.Not a good outcome.  We have never had an issue with CPS, so have no reason to change.

2 hours ago, brian1 said:

A little heads up from our recent cruise.For those who have not many pages left on their passport like us due to our to and froing to Italy.The Greek islands don't  require your passport when on a cruise.Don't know about mainland EU ports though.Brian.

We did a med cruise in April. Only Italy wanted to see our passport,  but didn't stamp it.

30 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Check what OBC you would have without CPS and instead taken extra OBC which is available with Select and then booked P4C and I bet you would be much better off.

I looked at 2 week Arvia cruises for next summer. Drop the parking and get £120 extra OBC. P4C want £130.

19 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Yes but what OBC would you get if you didn't have CPS and chose extra OBC and then booked P4C. I am sure you would be a lot better off and not just a"a few quid".

£80 OBC with select. Choose between coach, parking ,or extra £80 OBC.  Next June P4C is £98 for the week. Drop parking, get £80 extra OBC and pay £98 cash to P4C. No brainer really, but if the situation was reversed, would I go through the faff to save £18..No.

2 hours ago, majortom10 said:

"A few quid" for our cruise on QA which ended last Sunday for 14nts CPS were over £120 more expensive. Think that's more than"a few quid".

On our next cruise we could pick parking with CPS, or an extra £80 OBC. Parking 4 cruises price for the same cruise is £98, so actually a few quid in our favour. 🤣

57 minutes ago, Thejuggler said:

You can carry all your luggage if you want, but with porters on hand to take your bags from drop off to your cabin why would you?

Our carry on has the wine and soda. We would prefer that it was treated gently.

3 hours ago, posford said:

Couldn’t load luggage labels on iPad using safari, android phone using Crome, android phone using edge.

manage to load them on my son’s iPhone.

 

Done all the usual pop up and cache fixes. Nothing worked.

 

Once again this is due to P&O’s rubbish IT.

 

How do the older customers get on with no or limited IT knowledge?

 

I am in my 70’s but did work in the IT industry, though over 10 years ago.

 

Luggage labels still showing not yet available on my cruise personaliser.

I'm 74 and print mine from my android phone via Chrome with my wireless printer. I didn't ask a kid either. Just lucky I suppose.🤣

2 hours ago, majortom10 said:

"A few quid" for our cruise on QA which ended last Sunday for 14nts CPS were over £120 more expensive. Think that's more than"a few quid".

We always book select as we don't want leftover cabins, so we use CPS and get to pick when we eat. We get some OBC as well. Folk will do what fits their budget.

3 hours ago, Purdey16 said:

Good morning all , it’s lovely blue skies and 22 at the moment reaching 37 today.

I went to visit my sister yesterday in Fareham and went out to lunch , it was so big it was my breakfast, lunch, dinner rolled into one . What normally takes me a 50 minute run to home took me 3 hours yesterday after a accident on the M27 in 33c heat , it was very hot yesterday.

Tomorrow I have a small op on my big toe for a ingrown toenail, so having it sliced off a bit and I’m not looking forward to that , plenty of rest afterwards to watch more of the Olympics 😁

Nearly a successful day at Gunwharf yesterday.  Nothing DW fancied in the Michael Kors shop and the snobby sales Lady gave me a huff and a men don't understand......Can I help you sir ? Yes convince my wife it is all well overpriced.....result. We walked around the corner and there was the Radley shop....poo £99. I got a shirt. in the Crew shop. That'll do for our Anthem cruise....you've got lots of polo shirts....women don't understand....Lunch in Carluccios. 25% off with taste card. Stay at home today.🤣

On 6/26/2024 at 9:41 PM, Ardennais said:

Same here! 

We always use CPS. Never a problem dropping of car, or collecting keys. Can't really be bothered to save a few quid.

21 hours ago, Vampiress88 said:

Sunday 

We were up at 5am. Showered and dressed we skipped breakfast and went to queue to get off the ship for 6am. 

We managed to be out and in our car which was just across the road in the car pack for 6.45am. So not bad timing even though we seemed to wait around for ages to be let off. 

We had some snacks from the bag and we were back home for 10am. We had already sorted a chili in the freezer before we left and had a filted milk ready in the fridge. So no need to go shopping instead we did the washing which was lots as we didn’t do any on the ship. 

It was all out and dried by mid afternoon and since it was red hot we sat on the garden with a beer and then had the chilli for tea. It was a lovely stress free end to the holiday. 

We wouldn’t go on Royal Caribbean again unless it was a great deal. There was far more we preferred on P&O. 
The good bits were quick embarkation. Free lemonade and ice tea in buffet. Juice as breakfast better quality. Bumper cars and roller skating. I would say that’s it. Not 30% better in our eyes unfortunately. 

Total onboard spending was $415.93 and since I had used the left over dollars from the Caribbean cruise we had then it had already been budgeted and paid for months ago. 

On shore spends was £463.25 so I came in on budget including the excursion up the mountain. So I was happy with that. 

£2549 Royal Caribbean 
£464 Noks
0 Spends ($416) are in dollars left over from Caribbean 
£100.00 Petrol
£113.00 Car park (TA2024-abparking)
£131.00 Travel insurance 
£3357. Total

Great report Vamps .As you know we sail with P&O, probably about a third. Celebrity Royal and NCL for the rest. We are on Anthem in September for the second time. I hope they lift their game. We have booked our third Fjords cruise for next June on Britannia.  Thanks for your review.

21 hours ago, Vampiress88 said:

Geiranger

The captain had warned us all to be up early in the morning to see the sights so we were up at 6.45 so that we were ready for the Seven Sisters waterfall out of our balcony. 

I really couldn’t do a cruise now without a balcony. The ship passed them and we took photos with the kids and then the ship did a turn so we could see the suitor too on our way to greinger. It was a very good start to the day. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Showered, dressed and down for breakfast at 8.30am. We weren’t in a rush this morning. The kids and Scott had bacon, egg and hash browns. They managed to get my order wrong and fetch me a bran muffin. I really must be incoherent as my order always seems to wrong no matter where I am. 
 

 

We were off the ship at 10am when the ship docked. We went around the shops and bought a Viking boat candle holder that I had seen a few times that I wanted which now has my ugly troll sailing in it on my living room drawers. 

It was a super small village. Lovely but not much there at all. A few shops and that’s about it. We had a walk and looked at a little waterfall next to a campsite. 
 

We found a chocolate shop and they had coffee chocolate that we got. I went into the shop to pay while the others waited outside as it was small and cramped. I was waiting at the till to be served and an American slammed his stuff down and the proceeded to pay. I wasn’t feeling well and he was old so I bit my tongue much to Scott’s annoyance as we both don’t particularly like rude people. 

We weren’t sure what else to do and there wasn’t many places for the toilet but we really wanted to try the hot chocolate mania so after having another wander and a quick stop for another magnet and a hat for Scott we went back to the chocolate shop and got one and me and the kids shared while Scott had a coffee and he couldn’t help but open the expensive chocolate that then didn’t last two minute, surprisingly it wasn’t me who ate the majority of it either as I wasn’t quite feeling it that morning. We sat on some pallets that were turned into tables while we watched everyone who was going on the rib ride getting on their boat. It was a very lovely morning. 
 

 

 

 

We really wanted to go to the pub and get some lunch and sit and watch the fjords like yesterday as it had been so lovely just drinking in the sun. We did get in the queue to sit outside of one called Naustkroa and when it opened they went to sit outside and I went to the bar, I was told the one beer Scott wanted wasn’t available and that I had to wait for table service, so I told this to him when I sat down and he waited for the waitress while me and Scarlett went to the toilet. When we came back we were still waiting to be served but both of us had that didn’t like where we were feeling. 

Now it’s a running theme with me and Scott where we tend to stay somewhere and just try even though we don’t get a feel for a place and then we end up regretting it so we have started to try and get out of that habit. 

They didn’t have the beer we wanted anyway so that combined with the not feeling it feeling and the lack of service I asked to go back to the ship and Scott said he thought the same so we went back instead. They didn’t seem best please as we walked out. 
 

We went back on the ship, no one was hungry much after they had all had big breakfasts and chocolate so the kids had an ice cream instead and I had a Johnny rockets Oreo milkshake which was very nice. 

One of my favourite things on this ship was the milkshake, and one of the pet peeves was that it was a chargable burger bar right next to the pool when I think really it should have been an all inclusive burger place like on other ships. 

We went swimming in the outside pool and hot tub around 12.30pm. The kids and Scott spent ages in there and also sunbathed. Until Georgia swallowed some pool water which made her a little sick unfortunately. We left the pool around 4pm. 
 

 

 

 

So tired again with the sun so me and Scott had a nap for 40 minutes. The kids played on their phones while we did. It’s a good job they can do this now as I do get tired in the day often so napping for me is a regular occurrence. I think they may have taken some photos and videos of us at this point too. 
 

 

 

Well we felt awful after the nap but we got dressed and went to the main dinning room for dinner. We had coconut shrimp which was nice and pork bao bun which were very very good, wish I’d got that one instead of a shared one. 
 

 

We had garlic prawn and rice for mains. Scarlett was the only odd one having korma. She enjoyed it though.
 

 

Pinapple sunshine cake for dessert which I didn’t like at all as it had weird jelly on it. Scarlett had carrot cake. 
 

 

I wasn’t feeling brilliant so decided to go back to the cabin. Scott again got me a lovely coffee and we watched the fjords again with the coffee. 
 

Georgia put her nightie on the bathroom floor and ended up with bleach on which I was annoyed about as that could have been her skin. 
 

We played cards on our bed before went to sleep around 10am as usual. 

Onboard 
Heiniken £8.25
Coke £3.50
Milkshake £5.50
Milkshake £5.50
Heiniken £8.25
Coke £3.50
Heiniken £8.75
Heiniken £8.25
Total $51.50

On shore 
Magnets £7.16
Chocolate £7.03
Hot chocolate and coffee £8.21
Magnet £3.62
Hat £13.98
Candle Viking ship £14.42
Total £54.42

I remember your report from the first cruise you took your girls on..inside cabin, upgraded onboard..never look back. Your little girls will have these memories for life.

19 hours ago, Snow Hill said:

The Mayor of Paris was said that compulsory DNA registration of dogs may be need to resolve the issue, that way sample of dog poo can checked and the owner of the dog identified, fined and pay for the cost of the test. Already being trialed in few French cities. 

Good idea. A great City, but you can't look up.

5 hours ago, P&O SUE said:

Brittany is gorgeous! Enjoy.

 

I keep saying we must go to Paris again!

We haven't been for a while either. I wonder if they did a pre Olympic clean up after the dogs.

The weather looks good next week. Shall we pop down to Gunwharf. ...OK dear, shall we take a picnic?. OK, we can have that before we look in the Michael korrs shop....got me again.😂

2 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

We did a similar trip, and actually found the Rockies to be far more spectacular than mainland Alaska.  Although the Glaciers and the calving was exceptional.

Rockies were indeed spectacular, but we saw more eagles in Alaska. Both will do.

1 hour ago, kalos said:

 

Yes there is a lot of it about re the e-mails and I note from other purchases that they 

ask you to fill in a review from goods that they know have not even arrived , they tell

you to allow 5 working days for delivery but expect a review from day one.

In the actual shoe shop, the shop assistant was a trier (God loves them )

Once she realised I wasn't buying this "wonder" long life spray or giving her 

my e-mail, she then set about pointing at polishes etc but I had said bye and was 

half way out the shop..

They are not alone it's everywhere ,going out to our local carvery is like a scene

out of Little Britain.... 

Can I help you...

Yes a medium carvery please

How about a large only £2.59 extra ?

Nope medium is more than enough for us thanks !

Well how about our pigs in blankets and an extra Yorkshire pudding ? Only £1.50

No were more than happy .... 

Well how about a pudding for after ...  No thanks 

Ok put your card in and press the green tick to give to our charity or you can 

press red ,that's if you want to .

In fairness to some of the companies, if they are in a quality assurance scheme with 3rd party accreditation, a requirement of the standard is continuous improvement. The cheap way of measuring that is a customer survey.

50 minutes ago, Angel57 said:

I stayed at JPL too when we had a 7 day land tour from Calgary to Vancouver prior to joining the Sun Princess (@1995) for a cruise up Alaska. Fab hotels (Banff Springs, Lake Louise, JPL, a night on the train and then a night at the Empress). 

That was our retirement present to ourselves. Calgary to Vancouver staying at Fairmont hotels, Rocky mountaineer, Alaska Cruise. Majestic scenery.  No silly tourist stuff for us...oh no.

21 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

I was replying to Fionboard mentioning the need for power stations as she mentioned things other than ships.  Obviously things will be different for cruise ships but the principle of electric cars etc which were mentioned by Fionboard will be solved by the increased use of wind etc.

 

Actually some of the big cargo ships are trialling clean energy and electric so no doubt it's going to be feasible at some point although not immediately.

They could hang up great big cotton sheets. The wind would catch in the sheets and pull the ships along . I doubt that would catch on.

2 hours ago, purplesea said:

Morning to you all.

 

Bright and sunny down with a temp of 16c down here and expected to get a little warmer.

 

Got woken up about an hour ago, from our neighbour with a lot of crashing and banging going on. It appears he's having scaffolding put up.

 

I'm meeting up with a friend for coffee this morning, but nothng else planned.

 

Hope everyone has a good day.

 

I bet you thought your friendly seagull had come home.🤣

3 hours ago, Josy1953 said:

Awake at 4 40 this morning.  It is cloudy but it seems to be breaking up with bits of blue sky visible.  I have already finished my cleaning and and got the washing out to hopefully dry.

It is my sister's birthday today so I will be going to take her card and present later.

I just saw the report of wild fires in Jasper this morning.  We spent 2 days in Jasper when we did a road trip across Canada from Calgary to Vancouver to get on a Princess cruise up to Alaska.  it was a lovely little town with friendly locals other than the brown bear that appeared outside our cabin at Jasper Park Lodge when we planned to walk down to the main building for breakfast.  I hope that the fire is quickly brought under control without loss of life.

We stayed at Jasper park lodge. Brilliant, also on our way to Van conversion(stupid computer, I typed Vancouver) to join a Celebrity cruise. Look what turned up outside our room.

34 minutes ago, Splice the mainbrace said:

The forecast from tomorrow shows being dry for a week in Cornwall but still only 18 to 20c max.

18-20 sounds like a heatwave at the moment.

17 hours ago, Adawn47 said:

I'm onto page 36 now and I came across a long forgotten friend of ours.

Does anyone remember the lovely ROGER?😁

 

Avril

Sometimes you come across ..." I'm off. I'll never post on here again "..2 pages later...guess what.🤣