Cathygh

20 minutes ago, puppycanducruise said:

Use the shorex credit as soon as you see a shore excursion you want.  Some excursions are sold out long before the cruise so you don't want to miss out.

Thank you for the heads up. I am used to other lines where nothing sells out till close to sailing date

HI I'm new to HAL and have the HIA package, sailing a year from now. Can I  use the shorex credit before we board? Or do we have to pay upfront for any excursions we book now? Thanks

For Iona and Arvia there is a list of bed positions on a certain bookish social media site but I don't know about the other ships

51 minutes ago, NorbertsNiece said:

I've not looked at how much an itinerary on Scenic Eclipse would cost. The shock wouldn't be good for my heart!!

That's why we will be on Holland America or Princess. 

11 hours ago, NorbertsNiece said:

Any other Brits following here..... Ch 5 has Cruising with Susan Calman in Antarctica. Have watched the first few minutes of ep 1.... want to watch one straight after the other..... she starts in Buenos Aires then flies to Ushuaia to board an expedition ship.... haven't watched long enough to see which one.....

I've been following this live from and your own live as we are hoping to do the same cruise later ths year or in 2025. You have a real treat when you catch up with Susan Calman, we weren't going to do the Antartica sail by itinerary but I am beginning change my mind!

1 minute ago, D&N said:

As does ours. I was quoting from the pdf copy.

@Cathygh That's a Britannia Club and a Queens Grill booking with the same Main dining room shown in My Cunard.

Thanks. I'll tell her.

3 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

No, all Princess Grill cabins eat in the Princess Grill. 

Thank you that's what I have told her but the confirmation says Main Dining. She has just rung Cunard who won't change the wording. Sounds like an error by Cunard maybe?

Hi

A friend on mine who is not on CC has booked a cruise on QA with a PG confirmed cabin number. The confirmation says 'main dining.'

She is worried that this menas she will be eating in the MDR not PG, is that right? Her TA is off today so she can't get an answer from them.

TIA

1 hour ago, Tommart said:

Frequently it takes a few days for the tests to show positive, particularly with the more recent strains.  I hope it proves to be bacterial though, rather than viral, and that the antibiotics clear it up quickly.

Yes just had a friend test positive on day 4

If it is the same grade as your current cabin and one is available your TA might be able do this for you, I am not sure if there is a charge. If it is a higher grade you will have to pay what that grade would ahve cost on the day you booked. If it a lower grade- I am not suree tbh!

22 hours ago, holidaydebbie said:

 

Great idea, thanks for the tip. I might try this. Could you give me a clue as to how/which site to sell it on?

 

P&O cabins for sale is on facecloth. There are instructions on there that tell you how to sell. I hope that helps. 

We tried to do this for Sindhu in May on Iona last year. 8 of us. It was a surprise for my husband's big birthday.The restaurant manager at the time was very unhelpful. We wanted to eat at 7.30 and we had prebooked 2 tables of 4 but could not get the same times. They were 15 minutes apart. We were told they could not merge the bookings and that the maximum size was 6. Then they offered a table at 6pm No way was DH going to eat at 6pm. We came to a compromise. As long as someone was seated at the table by 6.30 they would hold it until the rest came at 7.15. They didn't put us in the main restaurant but in the bit btween the restaurant and the kitchin. Not happy. I complained to shoreside who actually said they didn't know why the MD had done that!

Anyway, hopefully this issue has been sorted and I hiope you are able to get a table together. Why P&O ever tjought theu only needed table for a max of 6 on a familyship which attracts large family groups I don't know!

May be ask on the roll call if there is one

6 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Day 27 - Monday 29th January - At Sea

 

After 3 weeks of mostly quite disappointing weather, we have thankfully now had a decent run and today was probably the best day yet, with calm seas, plenty of sunshine and temperatures in the high 20s. 

 

In spite of yet another clock change (forward another hour - now 4 hours behind the UK) we were up and about fairly early, so were able to have a light breakfast in the MDR prior to Margaret Gilmore’s second talk at 0930, this time on her covering the 7/7 attacks in London as a BBC journalist. 

 

Afterwards we did a partial lap of the promenade deck - partial because the forward section is still closed 🙄. We then retreated to our cabin and balcony until lunchtime. We had a window seat for lunch and my wife managed to see some more flying fish, which look a lot bigger from deck 6 than they do from our deck 11 balcony!

 

At 2pm the Headliners Theatre Company put on a 2 hour Alan Ayckbourn play called ‘Relatively Speaking’ in the theatre. This was a very welcome addition to their usual song and dance shows. Considering that the performers are primarily dancers or singers, rather than actors, they did a really good job. Well done them. 

 

Another partial lap of the promenade deck as the front section continues to remain roped off, which is incredibly frustrating and really messing up my attempts to try to counter some of the cruise calories. It’s such a shame that IMO Aurora has the best promenade deck in the P&O fleet yet, for quite some days now, it’s not been fully usable. 

 

The 7pm show in Carmens was comedian William Caulfield and, as mentioned before, we almost never find cruise ship comedians to be funny, so we skipped it. We didn’t bother with a pre dinner drink either. The Crows Nest always seems too hot and Anderson’s, which we used to love, doesn’t serve the drinks that my wife likes (the cocktail lists in most bars are a shadow of their former selves). 

 

We were back in the MDR for dinner at 8pm, hoping that our waiter will be in one of his better moods. Thankfully he was! One of the better dinners I’ve had in the MDR. Crab soufflé with a really nice shellfish sauce, chicken Kiev main and rhubarb and ginger crumble to finish, to which I added some ‘Honey Combe’ (sic) ice cream 😂 

 

The 10pm theatre show was the Polish violinist Isabella Zebrowska, who my wife hadn’t seen a few nights previously. Another exuberant performance although, as with many of the live performers, she was done no favours by the Aurora orchestra. The brass player isn’t good and the drums are too loud and overpowering on some tracks. Two tracks that I particularly enjoyed were the Summer storm sequence from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and the Pitates of the Caribbean theme music. 

 

Tomorrow we reach landfall at last with our first of 6 consecutive port days. San Juan in Puerto Rico is our first stop. I’m doing a tour in the morning and then we will both be exploring old San Juan in the afternoon. 

I've noticed the orchestra issues on other ships. On a behind the scenes tour I discovered that it's handled by the sound mixer and I think it is all preprogrammed in Southampton. Probably by the same person who makes the girls with nice voices screech instead of singing.

I think the app  opens at 6pm for dining. You can't book a time, you can only join a virtual queue. 

You can still turn up but there might not be any tables available.

For drinks, just turn up.

I  am very sceptical about the excuse of the terminal will get over crowded as I still haven't seen any evidence of it. ie the chairs full. Has anybody else?

And it doesn't explain why the outside queues are used for the smaller ships, where overcrowding is not a problem. 

It is easily solved - enhance the app so you can preselect your boarding time, just as Princess do. 

5 minutes ago, mrsgoggins said:

My take on Celebrity v P&O - I appreciate that this will only be of interest to a few, so a warning, it’s wordy so don’t even start it if easily bored 😉

 

As I have declared that we are taking at least 2 more P&O cruises, I hope you would take it that I have no intention of talking P&O down!  This cruise is our fourth time on Ventura and we have also been on Azura and Iona once each - less keen on the latter but have enjoyed our time on them all.  However we are Elite plus with Celebrity, and find the loyalty perks very useful.  We are happy with either international passengers or mostly British, but the things we do value about Celebrity are:

 

1.  Hardly ever needing to share a table - tables for 2 can be close together but there are no banquettes as far as I can recall.  Even if your preferred table is occupied, they like to keep you with the same servers even on Anytime dining unless you request otherwise.  My DH is quite deaf and so in a noisy MDR sharing a table can be difficult as I’ve previously said.

 

2.  The morning breakfast service is usually very slick with someone constantly going around with tea and coffee, another with juices and another with a tray of pastries, in addition to your own table wait staff, who take care of the items you order from the menu.  It’s also the same on Princess btw.  On P&O trying to get refills at breakfast is a bugbear of ours, as I do believe I have already mentioned!

 

3.  I’m not a fan of buffets ever, but the Celebrity buffet before it get crowded can be a thing of beauty whereas the P&O ones on this class of ship have a poor layout in my opinion.  I’ve heard others speak well of the Iona buffet, but we were not impressed when we tried it - the fish and chip counter being the exception.

 

4.  Being able to wander into the theatre 10 minutes before start time and get a good seat. On this Ventura cruise especially, it’s common to stake your claim to a seat 40 minutes before a performance with hardly any left 10/15 minutes before the show.  I do put this down largely to the timing of the theatre shows, which are 8.30 pm and 10.30 pm on Ventura with the vast majority of us wanting the 8.30 show, unsurprisingly.  Both shows would be much earlier on Celebrity (and Princess).

 

5.  I like the Celebrity cabins and bigger bathrooms (no shower curtains) but miss the wardrobe/dressing area of P&O.  I like that Celebrity does not have fiddly theft-proof hangers (but Princess does 🙄).  Celebrity still offer a nightly room service with a chocolate on your pillow.  I would prefer not to have this so a win for P&O.

 

Photos are from Celebrity Apex, which will be berthed in Southampton this coming season.

 

 

 

The 2 things that most often come up in comparisons are food and price of the cruise.  Our take is that meals are going to be better presented on Celebrity and geared more to American taste, but we are happy with both.  Over on the Celebrity boards they complain of it not being what it was with regard to food, much the same as some do on P&O!

 

Price is an interesting one.  I have a spreadsheet of every cruise we have taken, price, what is/is not included etc and I would say it’s not always as clear cut as it might seem.  I have posted a few times before that one of my Celebrity AI Caribbean cruises last year cost less per night than my 2 week Canaries cruise on Iona, booked on opening and with little OBC but with parking!  I accept that Celebrity is usually more costly than P&O for similar itineraries once you have added in gratuities if not on AI, but not always.

 

As elite plus on Celebrity we get free drinks (from a menu) between 5 and 7 pm, 125 free high speed internet minutes each, 2 x free bags of laundry each, and the perk I value most of all, free specialty teas and coffees.  We also get diamond status on Royal Caribbean (Celebrity parent company), so good loyalty perks I think.

 

There are no laundry rooms for personal use on Celebrity but I’m not sure they have many cruises of more than 12-14 nights.  A P&O laundry room is a big bonus.

 

Celebrity ships IMO are quite classy with art works on display throughout the ships.  We have sailed on the Millennium class, Solstice class (favourites) and the newest Edge class.  

 

Different classes of cabins can have different dining rooms, with the majority using the MDRs, but Aqua class guests dine in Blu restaurant (a favourite with DH, not so much me) and suite guests in Luminae restaurant (we’d never see the value in a suite for us).  

 

The speciality restaurant prices can bring a tear to the eye, but that was not always so before the pound ‘tanked’ against the dollar (🤐 @Harry Peterson) and we have dined in them all, but would not pay the prices now.  Epicurean on P&O however, would be good value in my book even without generous OBS, and certainly Sindhu and the Beach House if you care for them.

 

I’ll stop now and try to add a photo of a Celebrity stateroom/cabin (who do they all think they are kidding with the ‘stateroom’ nonsense?)

 

If anyone is still with me and wishes to ask anything specific, please feel free. Thanks to those who lasted to the bitter end 👏😉

Thank you for your comprehensive comparison. I was the one asking megabear earlier. I am always nervous about trying a new line but I feel we will be ok on Celebrity and I've never heard anything that would put me off. I am looking forward to the food, but we are not in aquaclass so there is no dining in Blu for us 😥. Now that have described the Elite perks I am wondering how many nights will I have to do before I get there. It might make me look more at Celebrity for other long haul trips.

Meanwhile  I am following your live report and now I'm beginning to see why people do the long cruises in January. I have recently retired (2 weeks!) and can see us doing longer cruises going forward. Enjoy your travels!

6 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Yes we were on Celebrity Beyond over Christmas.  We absolutely loved it. It was my OH's first move away from P&O apart from one Cunard cruise and I'm now informed it's his go to despite the Miami flight.  I've only sailed Edge class ships so the dining arrangements are not really comparable with MDRs on P&O or other ships but I can confirm the quality was high and varied. We were lucky that we had the AI as a promotional add on as the drinks etc were extremely expensive.  I had to take a deep breath at the cost of excursions they sell but we had made our own arrangements so no problem.  Our deal was very reasonably priced but we caught it right.  That said the quality of service, cabin and overall facilities was so high I'd have happily paid more.  As most here know I'm a total devotee of Cunard and love the formality. Celebrity was the total opposite in that regard but Dress to Impress nights seemed well supported.  The P&O experience is still fun and offers a good deal, particularly on speciality restaurants, drinks and excursions but overall we think in future for our special cruises over Christmas, anniversaries etc we will definitely think of Celebrity and Cunard going forward.  I love P&O but my last two voyages - can't count this one really - did not offer the same thrill and well being feeling as my Celebrity and Cunard ones.

 

You might want to ask Presto2 her opinion when she returns from this first Caribbean cruise as she loved her Celebrity trip and will obviously have had a far better Britannia trip than us this time around.

 

Thank you. You have confirmed what I thought. We have the Classics drinks package fortunately.  The trips are expensive but atm they are offering a discount if you book before hand. Most of the trips have sold out and we are struggling to find even non ship ones as these are sold out as well.

I see on the Celebrity boards that there have been lots of cuts but as we wiil be newbies wwe won't know any different. Hope you feel better soon,

18 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Not very good I'm afraid.  Doctor noted no improvement on the chest in fact right side is apparently "extremely rattly" whatever that means.  I've now been given another stronger antibiotic and am revisiting doctor Thursday with a view I may need to see medical facilities ashore in Barbados on Friday.  It was mentioned St Maarten has excellent European facilities if nothing improves but I'm going to hope for Barbados in case of the worst as far more flights home from there!  Allianz are being very good although I will not get confinement payout as believe it or not only first 48 hours was mandatory. Thankfully I have had the pneumonia jab and apparently this is helping keep the infection down.  I'd just like to sleep as I've not really been able to for 4 full days now.

 

Thankfully we have a deluxe balcony so my husband has moved to the sofa bed and so far - touch wood - hasn't gone down with anything.

 

Very glad to have lots of active threads on CC at present to occupy my sleepless nights.

So sorry to hear you are unwell but it does sound like you arae being well looked after.

Do I remember correctly that you went on a Celebrity cruise? If so I woud be interested to know how it compares to P&O. We are going on Millenium soon.

5 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Day 20 - Monday 22nd January - At Sea

 

Tonight was the 4th (of 11) black tie nights but I am at a complete loss as to why. There was no special menu and no special entertainment, so why a black tie night? A complete waste of time IMO. My wife and I had Chicken Tikka Masala for dinner. That’s the first time that I’ve eaten a curry in a dinner suit - and I’ve had an awful lot of curries in my time. I don’t mind dressing up formally for a special night with a special menu, but this should have been an evening casual dress code. 

 

 

I noticed that too- dress uo for dinner and no special menu. So if lots of people complain P&O can drop half of the black tie nights due to "customer feedback"?

4 hours ago, Eddie99 said:

Firstly, continuing thanks to Selbourne for the reports and pictures.  Appreciated

 

Secondly, one of the biggest changes we’ve noticed, after 4 years away, is the use of *extra charge* restaurants.  Before the break there always seemed to be availability, indeed, waiting staff were often to be seen going round passenger spaces during the day drumming up trade for Epicurean or Sindhu

This must be connected with the relative reduction in overall cruise prices?  They *lure* people on, with low lead-ins, then rely on that holiday vibe to kick-in, and the “Yeah, let’s do it; we deserve it”

 

One reason could also be that Epicurean and Sindhu can be prebooked. Another is that there could still be staff shortages, particularly of chefs with the required skills

Didn't Selborne  have problems getting on board Aurora even though he is priority? I recall that he was told the terminal was full but when I asked, he could not say if all the chairs were taken. IMHO saying the terminal is full is nonsense. What happened to us is that when we entered the terminal, no one was seated at all. They were getting every checked in straightaway and sometimes this caused a queue at the escalator. This is when people were stopped from going  into the terminal. There is no reason why the old system of waiting with a letter can't be reinstated. As I have previously said other terminals manage without issue.

1 hour ago, molecrochip said:

It’s the port being strict. The reason for being strict is that with the bigger ships, the terminal was becoming overcrowded. 
 

That's a health and safety issue hence early arrives being made to wait.

But that doesn't seem to apply the terminal MSC use for their mega ships? No enforcement for Virtuosa. Having said that Msc open boarding at 10.30 am so may be P&O need to adopt a similar model pronto.

The waiting in the naughty queue applies to P&O smaller ships and to Cunard so really the port is talking nonsense. IMHO.

You might be able to sell your cabin, there is a page on a another site that had P&O cabins for sale. I believe that P&O charge £20pp for a name change.

1 hour ago, Ardennais said:

Charles got into Cambridge with a very lacklustre set of A levels! 

In those days you could get in if you passed the entrance exam I think na dthe interview and there were always colleges who took you if your father went there.

In the eighties I was repsonsible for coaching (in a comprehensive school) what they used to call Seventh Term Sixth Formers. They had passed their A levels with not particularly great grades, for lots of reasons I won't go into here, but had definitely underperformed. Oxbridge set exam in the Autumn Term after A levels and as long as you passed the exam and the interview you got a place. It was a much fairer option IMHO than they have these days and gave the opportunity for kids to go there who wouldn't have got in otherwise.