pennib

I thought that the cookery club was just a facility where you learnt to cook certain things under expert guidance. However on Britannia over Christmas, I had couple messages on my phone for what sounded like evening meals (without the teaching element). One such meal was Thai street food. I tried to book but the app said no vacancies. Has anyone had this experience and if so how do you go about making sure you can get a vacancy?

We were also on this Christmas cruise on Britannia. Putting aside the diabolical journey on 16 December from Manchester (which I will be dealing with in due course) our cabin was what we had paid for and was nicely cleaned each day. Our steward even supplied us with a bucket of ice each day which we have had to order on previous cruises. Can’t pass any comment about availability of drinks in any of the bars as we drank only in the GH before dinner and with a couple of friends. The boys knew what we all liked to drink and always had it available and they got us in for meals when it looked impossible to do so. Needless to say their dedication to service was suitably rewarded at the end of the trip……. We thought the Epicurean was very disappointing this trip and couldn’t hold a candle to its equivalent (the dining club) on Marella Explorer. We thought the beach house and Gh food was better than on previous cruises. MDR was OK. Oriental for breakfast was excellent and so civilised rather than having to fight your corner in the buffet which I find more difficult now that I use a walking stick. Going back briefly to the horrendous delays of 16 December, a fellow PE passenger on the way back to Manchester yesterday said that no one would be able to claim compensation for the 16 December delays at Manchester because they had put us all on the plane (where we all sat for 4 hours on the tarmac). In his view if you are put on the plane rather than just left in the terminal then you are deemed to be taking the journey and tarmac delays don’t count. In his words “that is why they put you on the plane so they don’t have to pay out any compensation”. we shall see……… Going back to the supply of water in tins, I don’t have a picture of one but if you know what a can of beer looks like, then the cans of water are the same size. finally, for this post, I was speaking to a fellow passenger at Manchester airport when we were waiting for our luggage and he and his wife had intended to go to Benidorm for Christmas but something went wrong with trip and they saw an advert for Britannia’s Christmas cruise and couldn’t believe the price. Usually they have an inside on a low deck but the cabin they got on Britannia was a huge inside with a double bed on a high deck for£2300 for the 2 of them. They were well happy (except for the flight delays). Apart from the fact that we have already booked Britannia for Christmas 2023, we have decided to bin the Christmas cruise and go for something else so we booked Ventura leaving 3 January 2025 35 nights Soton to Soton round trip whilst we were on board Britannia. Good price plus £1400 obc. Happy New Year.

We are currently on Britannia for the Christmas cruise. In our first week we went to the Epicurean on one of the formal nights. I saw a couple turn up to check in for their meal. She was nicely dressed. He had a red polo shirt and casual trousers. He was sent packing by the front desk a nd returned about 20 minutes later with a shirt and jacket on and decent trousers. Do these people not read what the advice was in the Horizon? However, I was impressed that the front desk took the right approach.

Are you having a laugh?

Hi Megabear. Nice to hear from you. We are in a deluxe balcony! We had dressing gowns last Christmas on Azura because I remember they disappeared pdq the night before our exit!! We also had water in bottles then. Not to worry. We have managed as you do! Our flight is the first to leave the ship on Friday so let’s hope that happens! Enjoy the rest of the trip.

A few updates as we are also on this cruise…… horrendous outward flight from Manchester on the Friday and passengers were basically stuck to their seats for 12 hours. I could hardly walk when we got off. Luggage arrived pdq though. Ship sailed at 02.30 local time on the Saturday/Sunday morning. (I know because I was up to see us leave as my body clock was still on UK time). Having visited this region many times and also with P&O Christmas cruises we can confirm that there are a lot of cutbacks. Water in silly tins, no dressing gowns (sure we had them last year on Azura), no turn down services etc but we have found the crew to be excellent. DH went down to reception as soon as we arrived and booked all the meals we wanted including the Epicurean for Christmas dinner. Actually this venue was a lot quieter than our previous visit a few days earlier. However they were still claiming the restaurant was booked out. People very spooked out about possible delays going home so much so that the queue to book day cabins was the longest I have ever seen (I of course was the first down there at 07.30). Caribbean lunch was very nice we thought except that the ship broke down afterwards!!!we are in the Bh again tonight. MDR has been fine for food but service a bit patchy. We have discovered the delight of having breakfast served in the Oriental restaurant so no more buffet for us. the official line is that the ship is full but we know for a fact that is not true as people have no neighbours in some decks. Can confirm that the on board internet is pretty rubbish and fortunately we did not take the advice of a staff member in reception that we really needed to upgrade to simply do emails and download the Daily Telegraph. The basic plan works fine for these activities. Also the My Holiday app has fits and starts but we are getting there! We are booked on Britannia again for next Christmas but are keeping an open mind on whether to stick with it or look elsewhere. Happy new year to you all🥂🥂

Hi wowzz. Day cabins are usually available to book about 3 days before the end of the cruise but you need to be up early to get in the queue.

Excuse me for being thick but how would removing settees and wardrobe doors save money???

It just shows you how one size never fits all…….!!we thought the tapas ok but the food in the dining club was exceptional. We also liked the surf & turf, kora La and Vista very much. But the revelation for us was breakfast in the mdr. Never done that before on any ship but we were really impressed with it on Explorer. The worst eatery on the ship is the buffet (in our opinion!!!).

I would double check the luggage for PE. We always use PE from Manchester to Barbados and return on P&O fly cruises. We have always had 28kg per person in the hold and, now for the last few years, 10kg per person hand luggage (used to be 5kg ). Cost this year is £399 each for the round trip. It is expensive but we think it is worth it for the extra roomy seats and you can usually get 2 seats together at the sides etc. Do not forget that you get penalised if you fly from Manchester (£100 each) instead of Gatwick. The 28kg hold luggage can be split between say 2 cases. We have our 56kg split between 3 cases.

Take care with getting the WiFi for 2 devices. You need a separate package for each device. If you don’t want to pay for 2 packages, then all you need to do is to buy one package and remember to log out of device 1 before logging in on device 2.

Thank you for that. I feel more confident now. Happy Christmas

OK so far but will we get our pc discount off the remaining on board account, for example if we have £500 obc and we spend £150 on restaurant booking fees leaving £350 obc. When that runs out do we get our pc discount on the remaining balance?

I know this has come up before but I am still somewhat confused. DH and I are PC Caribbean so we get 10% discount on certain purchases. In previous years we have been able to book restaurants from home and have always got our 10% discounts at that point. We are on Britannia on 16 December but at the moment I am unable to book any restaurant on the ship except the Limelight Club (which we don’t want). All the others is “enquire on board” . So we will run around on our first day trying to book what we want. We pay a booking fee at that point. My understanding is that the booking fee will be taken out of our obc and not our pc discount. Am I right? So when will our pc discount click in? Our obc will be mostly used up on the booking fees. I do apologise if this is old hat but I need to get it sorted in my head.

We have been in both!!

How boring can you get????never mind with a bit of luck and a following wind we will be doing the same on Britannia a week today. Then we will be boring!! Happy Christmas ⛄️🥳❄️🎄

Hi and welcome to the boards. You have asked the impossible question as everyone has their own likes and dislikes. We have been on Azura several times on Caribbean cruises and we like the ship. The Ventura is the same layout but we don’t like her as much as the Azura (see what I mean about likes and dislikes). In fact we did a 4 week cruise last Christmas on her which we enjoyed. As to which decks to avoid, steer clear of Riviera deck (I think it is deck 12) as if you have a balcony cabin your balcony is overhung by a roof extension from the deck above. We were moved to there because the cabin we had booked had been taken over as a quarantine cabin for COVID. It was supposed to be an upgrade but the only thing that was upgraded was that the replacement cabin was mid ships whereas we like to be on the aft side of mid ships. I would not advocate having a cabin that is far forward as it is then a long walk to the back! The buffet on the ship ( and also the same in Ventura) is just about the worst design you could have. The food however is fine. With regards to diets etc you can discuss this with the maitre d in the MDR and I am sure you will be fine. People I have spoken to about this are very happy with the arrangements. We are older than you but we have done the Canaries cruise twice this year on the Marella Explorer and absolutely loved it. Smaller ships but food excellent and all inclusive. Staff wonderful. In fact we like it so much we have booked the same trip on the same ship for next November!! We saw the Azura when we were both in Lanzarote. We are on Britannia for our usual Christmas cruise this year so it will be interesting to see what changes there have been since before COVID on her. Hope his diatribe has helped but Merry Christmas anyway⛄️

You can always buy some extra luggage weight. I do anyway

Rang P&O this morning about my internet booking not showing any peninsula club discount. I was told that it didn’t qualify for the pc discount because the internet is counted as a “gift “ and they don’t qualify for pc discounts. Seems like if you want to save a few bob, all you have to do is call something a gift and you are quids in. You really couldn’t make it up.

When we went some years ago on a land holiday they were really glad of the Green Back

And we are behind you Megabear as Gatwick flights are always ahead of those from Manchester so what chance do we stand. Hope to see you in the Epicurean on Christmas night👍

Not at all britboys. Been there done that and got the T-shirt.

You will have to go on Marella for traditional turndown with bed runners and choccies.

We are on Britannia boarding 16 December and have got the same info as mega bear although you can prebook the Limelight Club which we don’t want to do. You can also pre book the internet which I have done but no PC discount has been applied so will have to ring P&O to find out why. I think the company should update their information about booking restaurants as there will be a lot of people on these boards who have always done that and do not understand why it is different now. Otherwise it just means “running around” on our first morning or dealing with it on the evening of arrival when we will be knackered to get the restaurants sorted. Thank goodness we are getting on on the 16th so we should be ahead of half the ship!!

And trip advisor