heathcharnock

P&O do tours on both full size coaches and also on minibuses, The minibus is more expensive. In our case our 2 day minibus tour was marginally more expensive than Alba though they offered a very similar tour. We booked in advance and because of Peninsular Club discount the price was marginally cheaper on P&O. Our P&O tour did not get back in time for you to reboard the ship before the evening tour

The Maltese are very discourteous and impatient drivers. My experience over several visits is that cars there appear not to have direction indicators or at least they are redundant. Just watch out!!

So are we.

So are we !! seven of us

We sailed transatlantic on Arcadia on September 11th and it was on then

The captain is Luko Vojvoda.

Pity

We were hoping for Trevor Lane

John

Does anyone know who is currently Captain on Arcadia

John

We have just had a phone call from P & O to discuss this matter. They are making notes of the complaints so the more that do complain the more likely P & O will do something about it.

 

They admitted that it was trialled on Ventura which does more shorter cruises. Not a fair trial when pax on longer cruises like the world or USA cruises are more likely to need it to keep in touch especially as there are lots of sea days.

 

Sue

I too have complained but too late for our departure on Sunday

I love stilton and I love port but I cannot stand the mush that gets served up by P&O when they mash the two together. A plate of stilton and a glass of port for me when the "boss" allows

We were on Oriana when it made P&O's inaugural stop in Corigliano Calabro last month.

Don't get too excited about it. Our tour driver got lost on a housing estate and then found a dead end. Saw an interesting 8th century manuscript but the uphill and down dale walk in very high temperatures was too much for some passengers. We also went to a licorice factory which wasn't up to much and a wine tasting where the food was a challenge to both the palate and the teeth.

Things may well improve as the locals get used to cruise ships. I think that until recently they only had a very small number annually

Can't help with Red wine but we took a box of white on our last cruise. Takes up much less room in the fridge if you take the bag out of the box though eventually we decanted into empty 1 litre tonic water bottles.

I’m quite partial to paying over the odds for a cocktail, the last one being a Singapore sling in Raffles (yes I know they have them pre made in gallons out the back)

I followed some advice I had received and asked for a Singapore sling in Raffles made with HENDRICKS Gin. They have to make that freshll for you

John

You only have to consider the 35% increase in the Service Charge to know where is going on.

 

but then the bean counters decide to see how far they can increase it to subsidise the wage bill (the 35% increase).

 

And your evidence of the validity of these statements is where ?

 

 

Shouldn't P&O at least try to be a respectable employer by fairly paying its staff for work done.

 

Rather than blame the customer, blame P&O for being a shabby employer.

 

Again where is the evidence that P&O pay less than their competitors. Again all just imagination and conjecture

 

Again all just imagination and conjecture

P&O tell you what they will automatically add to your account for a Service Charge, not a tip.

 

A Service Charge is an amount that is charged for the standard service.

 

A tip is an amount that is offered on receipt of service that was above expectation.

 

P&O simply say that all of the Service Charge goes to the staff, which of course it would if it pays their wages.

 

Many employers operate pay systems that reward employees for performance. Few companies make public the details of the scheme to outsiders, and P&O is no different.

 

From P&O's simple statement there is no link between the amount you pay and the people that serve you. In respect of freedom dining and the buffet how could there be.

 

Therefore it is logical that at least part, if not all, of the Service Charge ends up in a single pot with everyone else's Service Charge to be divided up according to the remuneration scheme.

 

It is not logical this is done on a cruise by cruise basis (what do you do with cruises that span a pay period, etc) and is it even logical to do it on a ship by ship basis.

 

At the end of the day, the link between what anyone pays as a Service Charge and what the staff receives is virtually non existent.

 

Far more important will be what the passenger reports on their feedback questionnaire, as that will be linked to the reward system.

 

And on that point, isn't P&O stuck in the 1970's giving out one feedback questionnaire per cabin, with the expectation that all occupants of the cabin have a single view (or at least told they have).

This really is very simple. If you persist in imagining that there is a massive conspiracy, or you are unhappy with the information given by P&O you have two options

1) Remove the charge and do as you wish

2) Cruise with some other company

I. for one am bored by all the useless conjecture, which keeps being produced without a shred of concrete evidence. The bottom line is I don't care what you imagine might or might not be happening. I am happy with things as they are, I don't need a forensic examination of the relationship between P&O and their staff. If you are unhappy with the status quo then choose one of the options above but for goodness sake further pontification is a waste of time.

Re Nos 5 and 6

Both re Future Cruises

On this I very much agree

Trying to get a face to face with the agents is far too difficult and time consuming.

I, for one, have walked away on many occasions and have come off ship without having made a booking whn I clearly wanted to.

Happens on longer cruises not just short ones

I am off on my first cruise in 3 weeks and wondered if there is a limit to size of the carry on bag.I was planning to have a trolley case but is there a minimum/maximum size?

Also I have read about the lack of sockets in the cabins, I am going on the Arcadia. Would it be a good idea to take an extension lead?

 

Thank you in advance.

Christine :)

We always take one of those short leads with 4 sockets whichever ship we use. Never had a problem

We did one of the the P&O two days tours in a small group by minibus. Absolutely brilliant though we were too tired at the end of day 1 to go out again in the evening. Also there would have been very little time between getting back and going out again. The itinerary was probably just the same as Alla who we did research as we had many good reports about them. However whilst when we were there there was an apparent difference in the headline price when we worked it all out with various issues like I think tips but also our 10% discount from P&O it was marginally cheaper to go with P&O than with Alla. We didnt however approach Alla for discount and of course our 10% off was a factor. Whichever you choose I would say that you MUST go on a small tour in a minibus rather than a coach with 60 others. Early access to highlights, and much quicker to reassemble after a visit and move on to the next stop. This was our second visit to St Petersburg. The first was with the now defunct Orient Lines when we did do a coach tour and the minibus is infinitely better.

I hired a car once in Madeira from the airport at Funchal. Never again. It's a difficult little island to drive around with narrow roads and much up and down. I found that concentration whilst driving meant that I as driver saw very little. We were staying in an hotel. The final straw was that I found that you could hire a taxi and driver for the day for less than I paid to hire a car

On the website it just says 'Saver Fare' - not early or late. Sorry, but I will never understand why they don't ask you what your preference would be, no matter what fare you are booking. People booking late on a saver fare are filling cabins that would otherwise be empty and the guests will be spending money onboard - they get a lower price but they do have the inconvenience of not having long to get ready, in addition to not having any choice of cabin. It would cost P&O nothing to ask what your preference would be for dining to try and make you happy - by not bothering to ask they give the impression of not caring whether you enjoy the trip or not. Very odd for a service industry.

There is a very simple answer to this but you won't like it.

P&O have terms and conditions - they are theirs. You have a choice. Either accept their terms and conditions or book another cruise line. You do not have the option to change their terms and all the continual bleating about it wont make a scrap of difference. If you do not like what P&O offer then do not book with P&O

So does this mean you can buy chips with your OBC ( without discount ), keep them in your pocket and then cash them back for sterling thus getting any excess OBC back in cash ?

Thank you Helen

We are now booked on relocation cruise sail out fly back.

We managed to book on C deck on the port side

Looking forward to it

Thanks again

Hi

Are there any reccomendations for which deck I should choose, A, B, or C

Looking for sun

Thanks

 

serving 300 people a night.

Surely it's more than that ?

So if we choose to sail with P&O we would still active at 10.30am and take our chances that we would still be onboard before 4pm.

Which of course is exactly the selfish behaviour that is causing any problem.

Me, me, me

yes pools heated. however....... choose a different outfit if you can. you aint going to enjoy oceana.

the food is disgusting!! I am a chef so I know what i'm talking about. the filth they serve up is the sort of muck you/we do not eat at home. it's the processed stuff and chemically enhanced rubbish. I have written to them and was fobbed off. I have rang them, and some woman would neither deny or confirm that they use this rubbish. I asked about 8 times, and she continued to evade the question.

I have taken many cruises, and this is the first time I have returned home weighing less than when I started the cruise. p and o have lost my custom. the ship stank of sewage the entire cruise on many decks. p and o now stands for PONG AND ODOR.....

the lifeboats were constantly being worked on. they were up there banging away and applying heat to the mechanisms, and I heard one of them talking, saying to his mate, they were seized up and couldn't be launched. rather worrying when in the bob in rough weather. the ship is looking rather tired and sad, it's time they sold it to saga and got another one. it's a pity, because we sailed on this ship about 3 years ago and was great!!!

it has now put me off cruising for life.

Are you going to repeat this rant on every thread ?

We always leave the auto tips on. We've just come back from Adonia and had very good service from our cabin steward and gave him extra in an envelope at the end of the cruise. On our table of 8 everyone left the tips on. Some people who used the wine waitress a lot tipped her too.

Presumably then it was a topic of conversation at dinner. How exciting !!

How do you know they were telling the truth ?