Thejuggler

Both our P&O trips were on Ventura. The issue is things can change. Unless you can find out from someone who has just returned you have no idea if the on board rate is competitive at the moment. It certainly was for us on both our trips.

The other way to look at it is unless you are spending thousands a few percent difference between exchange rates isn't worth losing sleep over. On £100 it may cost you the price of half a glass of wine.

Disagree about the ship rates not being good as we found the on ship rates as good if not better than UK, but neither were as competitive as ATMs and credit card.

Thanks for the information so far.

 

Positives and negatives are appreciated as everyone has different opinions.

 

We are considering P&O and the Arcadia because we are tied to Summer Holidays (Wife a Teacher), Thomson don't do the itinerary we wanted and we want "adults only" for a change.

 

Regarding "dress code" is it "formal" for the restaurant or "smart casual"?

 

Keep the advice coming.:)

Don't dismiss family ships as northern trips aren't as popular with families. We did Iceland/ Fjords trip on Celebrity Eclipse last August and there were only about 100 children on board.

As Norway isn't in the EU if you buy anything of value (winter clothing is excellent and can be found at decent prices) don't forget the tax refund form. You will be able to get a refund of 15-20%.

We had a balcony on Celebrity Eclipse for a similar trip and it is worth having for just sitting and watching the fjord go by, there is however no midnight sun in August.

Lisbon is easy. Shuttle bus into the centre then explore. Good metro system, trams and buses.

There is a lot to see so don't try and do it all. We have been back on a land based holiday since we visited on a cruise, done a further two days there and still not seen everything.

I would hardly call the 757 slow. It cruises at comparable speeds to other aircraft. Mach 0.8-0.82. The downside is the single aisle, totally unsuitable for any flight over 4 hours.

Comparison with Princess prices is impossible as they charge in dollars.

As time goes by prices increase. As the OP doesn't actually state when the lower prices were in force no assessment of how much the price has risen in annual percentage terms can be made.

If you are still in the restaurant at 1045 I expect only a skeleton of staff in fact I am surprised that you are not asked to leave. You sound like a right moaner that nothing is right to stay until 1045 and still expect more coffee I am afraid is extremely bad manners on your part because if you are still drinking coffee and wanting more you had no intentions of being out of restaurant until after 11pm that is unbelievable and very rude on your part.

 

I honestly believe seeing by you own admission this is your first cruise then cruising is not for you and that whatever you do or wherever you go you sound a habitual moaner.

Competely disagree. Freedom is advertised with last entry at 9.30pm. This is the time the OP went to their table. If P&O can't cope with people taking 90-120 minutes (which is the time it takes for club dining) to eat a meal at this time they should reduce Freedom opening times.

I would expect the same service at 9.30pm as I would get at 7pm and on the occasions we have eaten later this is how it has been and we have been taking 2 hours. It appears this may no longer be the case.

That definately suggests something is not working right. By that time we were straight in on Ventura and back then it only had one Freedom restaurant.

I suspect staff are being taken off restaurant duties at that time as the rush has gone and they are needed elsewhere, leaving a skeleton staff to serve the late diners.

P&O still haven't refined freedom dining. We never had to wait on Grand Princess which is the same design of ship and we had a table for four every night.

I wonder if the Ventura layout needs changing so there are many more smaller tables as this increases churn.

Freedom dining on P&O isn't as good as the offer on Princess or Celebrity, Princess have lots of smaller tables so 2-4 diners is easy to accommodate. Celebrity give the option of booking a table.

With the larger ships having two freedom restaurants this may change, but it depends very much on how the dining rooms are set up as to how large the change will be. It may just mean shorter queues at busy times.

Despite what the airlines say when you land, i.e we have arrived ten minutes early, you haven't. Flight time is from push back at the departure terminal to engines off at the arrival terminal, taxiing is included in the total flight time.

An hour from engines off to getting to the station is still touch and go.

Night nursery is excellent, but only while the child is asleep. As soon as the child wakes up the staff will try and comfort them for 5 minutes, but as there are lots of children in the room you will be paged to come and collect them if your child doesn't drop off so they don't wake others.

Each cabin is a separate fire compartment. The door will be as sold as the wall it replaces. Consider how solid the cabin door is. The connecting cabin door should be of equal construction and fit.

Its a 5-6 hours round trip to Berlin. Considering you typically only get 8-9 hours ashore it doesn't give you long to see anything in the Capital.

If the " up and down" trip is wait listed, try Norway in a Nutshell instead.

It costs more, but is far more interesting and is a full day.

One trip up or down the Flaam railway will allow you to see everything.

Some recent anecdotal evidence from a colleague who flew to Lanzarote about a month ago from Manchester. She arrived in T1 2.5 hours before the flight was due.

Check in was quick, but when she joined the security queue it was snaking all through the terminal and it moved very slowly. She arrived at the gate just as the final call was being made.

Adnalses is very small one street town, so a trip is a good idea. If Land of the Trolls is the Troll Road and Troll Wall trip it is excellent. Unfotunately it absolutely threw it down when we did it, so we couldn't see down the road or the top of the wall, but the waterfalls were magnificent. Some of the best the guide had seen during summer.

We did the trip from Alesund, the downside was we couldn't see the town as we were on the trip all day, arriving back about 20 minutes before we were due to sail.

We also thought Norway in a Nutshell was excellent value.

No loyalty with us. We cruise for the ports.

Any P&O on board savings such as cheaper drinks and tips can easily be covered by picking up last minute bargains on other lines.

It depends what you intend buying. We always wait and use ATMs, but in Iceland we found we needed no money.

We bought some items to bring home, but used a credit card.

Needless to say winter clothing is excellent quality and good value. Don't forget your tax refund forms if you do buy anything of value.

Plenty of Premier Inns in London, including two on Southbank, one in Southwark and one in London bridge which are cheaper than County Hall, but just as close to waterloo. They are basic, but comfortable.

The trick with them is to book as soon as possible, then $100 a night is possible.

If the cruise calls at Akureyri use this port for an official trip as DIY trips are very limited. Nice town for a wander, but you can see it all in an hour, there is the Icelandic Aviation Museum at the airport other than that there isn't much else.

Using "Significant" is weasel wording from P&O. If you want to cancel you are entitled to all your money back as the terms have been changed to what was offered.

An official letter of complaint, requesting refund of the full amount with 14 working days may make them see sense.