wilson2579

Are you seriously telling me that you know for sure that 2000 plus passengers are all old stalwarts during the winter months? What utter rubbish. there might be 50 to 80 that you may have seen before, but not that many.

Most passengers would need to be retired or ladies/gentlemen of leisure to be able to sail that length of time as it is a big chunk out of annual leave. This does make the age group 'old' as previousy described.:(

Why not?

 

The new security arrangements are part of the new embarkation process. if you read Chris Eddington's statement he explains that.

The way I read it, and I might be wrong, is that there were too many people going through security and someone did say they had never seen the Ocean terminal as full as it was today, so yes it is P and O's fault. However it is seen, this didn't happen until the new change in check in.:confused::confused:

Isn't it a theme thru every type of business now, no-one rewards loyalty, they are just interested in new business, be it car insurance, road-side recovery, etc. So you just have to beat them at their own game and get the best deal for yourself whoever it's with.

Exactly and this is why I change all my insurances every year.

Think the fire doors is a good idea for passengers but wouldn't work with crew dashing round to get everything ready IMO.

 

Update from FB from someone hoping to board this afternoon. Especially important for those travelling by coach and who've been told they will go straight to check-in when they arrive.

 

Check in chaos , check in suspended due to hold-up in security, arrived by coach at 12.45 will have to wait till at least 3 to check in. Not good

:(:(

I worked out that if you have Aurora, take out the suites and caribbeans, you end up with about 500 people per hour , to board in the 3 hours between 1pm and 4pm.

Now if you add into that people turning up early cos the cat said they could, you can see why the terminal gets full up.

Rather than go with the kick people off at the crack of dawn as some lines seem to do, they are going with the slightly later kick off times.

 

However its played the crew need time to clean the ship...properly...

 

Another idea let people board from 12.00 mid day, but all fire doors closed, so all you can do is go to the 1-2 bars open or the buffet. Or would people like to comment on what is wrong with that.

Good idea. I am sure most passengers wouldn't mind the doors being closed. When we sailed on Arcadia last year we noticed that the doors were closed but we normally don't go to our cabins until about 3.30 pm anyway.

I'm on Caribbean Tier and so may well be the kind of person about whom you refer as a P&O stalwart. However I would be extremely upset if you included me and my friends in the sweeping generalisation you made about the "old" P&O stalwarts. We have a ball on our cruises and we go with that in mind. However I will not pretend that it does not bother me am that I have cruised for 200+ nights with P&O and loyalty benefits are being withdrawn, not built on, to maintain our loyalty.

 

You cannot really believe that it is P&O's intention to rid itself of these people who are the mainstay of the line, particularly during the Winter season and who have supported P&O for years now. P&O does not want customers just because they adhere to the new process but wants passengers who return year after year. Many of us are also shareholders so have a vested interest in P&O making a healthy profit.

Tartanexile81, I am only Atlantic with P and O but I do think it is really bad that the loyal passengers are having their perks gradually taken away. Some do like to come on these threads and wind people up, sad really.

What you have to remember is that there are lots of people with the same time [emoji16]

Don't keep reminding me Florry:eek::eek:

No. Arriving at designated time didn't mean no waiting. We waited about 30-40 mins in the terminal.

 

 

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That's a shame. Hope you weren't too rushed before muster. Some have been told that if you arrive at your allocated time you will get straight on:rolleyes:

What's the departure times off P&O ships at Southampton ? We have only been on Caribbean cruises with P&O.

Well it used to be about 4.45 to 5 pm but with the new embarkation policy it might be later now. It was 6 pm when we went on Britannia.

Arrived at 3 for 3pm check in time. Now sat in Ocean terminal waiting to be called. We have letter Z and currently on S. Let's see how efficient P&O are today. Turning up later has meant no queues in the car at least.

 

 

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So arriving at the correct time doesn't mean straight on:eek:

I said a few weeks back about boarding at 3.30 wouldn't give you time to grab a cup of tea and unpack before muster, also if you were eating on an early sitting you would then probably end up unpacking late at night after the shows. Not sure if it was on here or Facebook I posted that but loads of people jumped on me and said I was wrong and muster wasn't until 5 or later. So thanks I am glad you are saying 4.30 as well.

 

 

How long does it take you to unpack. I can do mine in 15 minutes.

 

15 minutes for me too. Don't want to waste any more time than that.:eek:

P&O should police it, your phrase not mine, in the same way that any good holiday company should, and that is to provide their paying customers with the best possible service they can, so they come back time and again and tell all their friends and family what a great holiday they had.

This new system was brought in to improve the boarding process for passengers, their statement not mine. Clearly an untruth if you read all the various threads about this topic, since the majority view is that the current system, though flawed and inferior to most other cruise lines, is far better for the passengers than the proposed new one.

Therefore if its not to improve the service to passengers it must be to improve something for P&O, though what I have no idea.

Just another case of P&O customer service shooting itself in the foot for the umpteenth time.

Well said John.:)

The Duke of Wellington in Bugle Street is a very pleasant place to have a lunch and not far away from the Quay. Situated in a delightful part of the old walls in Southampton near St Michael's church. :)

Might have a look at that Scriv. it is good to have recommendations, thanks.:D

Where is Dai when we need him - he would soon sort this out:)

I am sure Dai will have been more than happy with his embarkation on to Britannia:)

Departing on RCI ships in Southampton starts at 6:15 and the latest is 9:15. Thats when we was on a few years ago.

We were off the Indy by 7.30 but we have a bit of a journey so like that:cool:

A bit of sense here, thanks,

 

.... but I still think that booking your boarding time like you book a cabin would work well ......... may take some setting up but it would work well????

 

Comes as a perk for a Select Fare and anyone on a Saver takes their chance.

 

Is it me or is this just so simple to sort????????????????:confused:

As has been said many times, if other cruiselines can get it right why can't P and O.:eek:

Yes there is. We embarked from Mayflower on September 10th. Instead of checking in downstairs, we went to a new area (well to me) upstairs and were given a card with a letter on it. We sat down with loads of others for about 15 minutes, then our letter was called.

 

There was a snack bar up there and toilets.

 

We arrived about 1.30.

 

Jean

Have you any idea what the snack bar sells as we are sailing from here next week.

Not for me. Give me Southampton any time. Nice drive to the port. Someone takes your bags, someone else takes your car, you're on board in half an hour and the holiday begins. I enjoy the first two days at sea enormously. wouldn't fly these days thanks :-)

 

Actually a 3 pm checkin wouldn't bother us at all. We would just leave as bit later.

I enjoy sailing from Southampton as I feel the holiday starts as soon as you board but never felt like that when flying. Having a morning flight, transfer to resort etc takes up most of the day.

Hi Scriv, I contacted P@O and they have been brilliant. I am now all booked for next March and they honoured the on board credit. They were really helpful and now I am looking forward to our transatlantic on Azura.

Good to hear. Well done P and O. Hope you have a great cruise.:)

Just got off the Ventura last weekend.

 

Can't help with the cabin grade question.

 

We had an inside cabin, there were 2 x normal 3 pin UK sockets. There was a 2 pin for the hairdryer provided in the cabin.

 

We have taken wine and spritis on board before, they have no issues with this and the Security Officer was joking with people as they brought Sprits back on board at Gibraltar. As long as its drunk responsibly and within reason you should be fine.

 

I love P&O, as long as you avoid the moaners you should have a fnatastic time. Ventura has an excellent crew who are very, very friendly and it is generally quite a relaxed ship. Avoid school holiday times if you would be bothered by a lot of children on board though.

I have to cruise in school holidays and I can reassure people that are worried, on the three Ventura cruises I have done we hardly saw the children during the day. Very well looked after by the kid's club. Just avoid sitting at the main pool, which we do. :eek:

Just found this on P&O website FAQs. Don't remember seeing this last time I looked.

 

"Your check in time is stated on your ticket and you should aim to check in as close as possible to that time.

 

We stagger check in for all guests to ease congestion at the terminal and surrounding roads, however unavoidable circumstances sometimes happen and you may find that you are at the terminal earlier or later than your stated check in time.

 

"Whilst arriving early is not an issue as there is seating and refreshment areas at the terminals we would like to remind you that you may have to wait and that luggage processing will not start until 11am, with check-in opening at 12.45pm.

 

Arriving later than planned may be a problem, depending on how late you are, however as a general rule, you should aim to arrive by 2.30pm for Adonia, 3.00pm for Aurora, Oriana, Oceana, Arcadia and 3.30pm at the latest for cruises on Britannia, Azura & Ventura.

 

All guests must be on board at least an hour before the cruise departs."

 

So checkin doesn't open till 12.45 now and they say latest time to arrive is 3.30 for Britannia, Azura & Ventura. This seems to contradict the times they have been giving people 😕

Well I will just make it having been given 3.30 pm :D:D

We were allocated Cinnamon on our cruise in Sept but took us 2 nights to realise that we had it wrong & had gone to Saffron on Ventura. We apologised but they said it didnt matter so we swapped about and no one minded as we did ask a couple of times.

This is interesting. I have sailed on Ventura 3 times and always had the Cinnamon restaurant. I am on again in 10 days time, so might give this a try.:cool:

We are looking at a cruise on Oriana but before booking, I have a quick question.

 

Can I fruit juice in the buffet during the day or is it only available at breakfast?

Only at breakfast but this lasts up to 11.30 ish, so you can pop back in for a fruit juice.

Love Funchal. Stopped there on quite a few cruises but also had several land holidays there too.:cool:

Our e- ticket is saying our cruise on Ventura on 31st October is leaving from Mayflower but the Southampton Cruise Ship Schedule is still saying Ocean Terminal.

 

I am assuming the e-ticket is correct so I was wondering what anyone's ticket on the cruise leaving on the 24th October is saying as their disembark terminal. I just want to double check before booking car parking.

 

Is Mayflower the same as Ocean where you go upstairs to check in? I have left from City and that's all on the same level. Also come into QE2 and that was awful.

 

Are they implementing the new check in system at Mayflower or indeed for Ventura yet?

Yes we are leaving and returning to the Mayflower on the cruise before you. I haven't been in the Mayflower since it has been refurbished so can't help there but I am sure someone else will be able to answer your question.:)