Cruise_Rookie_2010

Agree with a lots of the points already raised and we'd also love to see, (1) the new Eatery (buffet) approach on Sun Princess rolled out to all ships, it's reassuring to know that only the kitchen team have had the opportunity to handle my food before I do. A significant number of fellow passengers still feel hand washing is a chore to be avoided and that food/plates at the stations need to be sorted by hand in order to ensure the best dining experience, based on recent experience. (2) Improvements in layouts of some venues to allow for separation of music and "enthusiastic conversation", at times we've found it almost impossible to hear the artists above the noise of those attending the show (Take 5 was the worst area for this on our recent cruise). I don't want those who enjoy a chat at the bar to be prevented from enjoying that pass time, I believe that Princess could change the layout of these venues to reduce the impact on the music being played. (3) Option to choose a regular gelato serving (say 2 scoops) instead of "Premium Deserts" on Plus/Premier package. (4) More consideration given to holding events in an appropriate location, quite often we found popular events are held in areas of the ships which simply cannot accommodate the numbers attending leading to frustration and poor behaviour of passengers. Alternative (larger) venues were often available at the time, yet went underutilised. (5) comfortable (non-smoking) seating areas in the aft of each ship, some are better than others, Royal class ships are perhaps most lacking in this area in our experience and we're delighted to see Sun Princess appears to have a really nice comfortable aft space for sitting while enjoying a drink and watching the sunset. Clearing some of the sunloungers in the evening and replacing them with groups of chairs & tables would increase the usability of these areas without too much work and perhaps reduce over crowding in other areas of the ships.

The following itineraries (currently) are in the path of the eclipse during totality. V615D, V615E, V616, V616A & V616B (Victoria @ Tarragona) H620 (Anne @ La Coruna) M618, M618A & M618B (Mary @ Reykjavik) Hope that helps.

Terminal 2 is huge, give yourself plenty of time to get from check-in to the gate. Like any airport security is hit & miss, we've experienced both, when it's good it's really good but when it's bad it's awful, we missed an early evening flight despite arriving at security an hour before the gate closed, after being in the queue for 20 mins we asked for some help & staff refused. We had to re-book the outbound flight, when we arrived back the following morning we sailed through security in less than 5 minutes, you just can't predict it.

Looks like Maleth have reached the end of their line with P&O. https://www.travelgossip.co.uk/latestnews/maleth-confirms-it-will-not-operate-flights-for-po-cruises-beyond-march/ I suspect P&O had very little choice at the time of who they would partner with, and Ford Aviation/Maleth took a gamble on being able to serve the demand. It's a tough gig transporting any passengers by air particularly at the moment when travel is booming after the lockdowns, not enough planes, not enough staff to crew them, costs increasing, chaos in the airport terminals (I'm looking at you Manchester) leading to all sorts of delays, etc. They've had less than 6 months, which from a standing start isn't a great deal of time, to iron out the kinks & it sounds like they were starting to get their act together but too late to save the situation.

Submit your redacted copy (print to PDF) to StockPerks via the app, they check the details and confirm (or reject) you have met the requirements of the stockholder scheme. Worked for me, took approx 72 hours from start to finish. Once you have confirmation you can then apply for the OBC through the StockPerks app. Personally, don't know why Princess have outsourced this to a third party as there are now more steps required, but there you go.

We're happy to sail inside for two main reasons (i) savings - which we then put towards another cruise, meant we did 3 cruises in 2023 & have 3 planned this year, choosing a balcony every time would probably reduce that. (ii) barely used the balcony when we've had one previously (4 occasions), much prefer to be out & about the ship, & dislike eating breakfast in the cabin. Cruising is a broad church with room for all regardless of their preferences, long may it stay that way.

Our first MSC as well, think you need to check your date though, WE departs Barcelona on the 6th, would hate for you to miss sail away. 😉

Had confirmation yesterday that my new passport has been printed and will be sent out to me next week. I'm not sure whether to be happy or upset by the news, it's been much faster than I was expecting and I'd been prepared for a long wait and maybe some last minute drama as our next holiday got closer & closer (I can hear the Countdown clock sound playing in my head).

We've found P&O's new ships to be comparable to anything we've previously sailed (Princess / Celebrity) but with a distinctive British flavour which we found very enjoyable. Obviously anyone can have a bad experience but that doesn't mean everyone will. At the moment it's hard to fault what P&O are providing, from our perspective having never sailed with them previously (before lockdown) we don't perhaps notice things that more experienced past passengers feel are missing. And the most obvious reason to book is that the value on offer is unbeatable, try booking a land based holiday at the same price we're paying for a cruise right now.

According to our most recent Horizon (29th March) Black Tie "Cocktail dress, tuxedo, ball gown or dinner jacket" I'm sure that's laid out incorrectly, but I'm never sure these days, "or, alternatively a dark business suit and tie, formal national dress or military uniform." this appears to apply across the following locations, Zenith & Meridian restaurants, Sindhu, Epicurean, The Crow's Nest, The Chef's Table & The Olive Grove.

Thought I'd post an update, it might help give an impression of the current situation. Posted the old passport on Tuesday (9th), signed for delivery (which cost £2.60), and today got a text confirmation from the passport office that they've received it. We'll see how quickly the new passport gets processed.

If you're feeling adventurous, we've used the West Quay shopping centre car park (entrance is next to Carnival UK HQ), it's monitored so reasonably secure and less than 1 mile from the dock. A taxi from there to Ocean Terminal is about £10, parking itself costs (currently) £5 per 24 hour period. Arriving early on the day of embarkation means you get to have a leisurely (late) breakfast in John Lewis before heading back to the car to grab cases and going to the ship. On the return it's a taxi back to the carpark, pay, and away home.

Just doing mine at the moment for exactly the same reason, we've a cruise booked for end of Oct and while GB gov are content that my passport is valid until end of Feb next year, EU countries won't accept a passport issued more than 9 years & 9 months previously. It's a pain but there you go, early renewal here we come. As for the renewal process, it was pretty painless. Did it all online, including the photo which you can upload yourself and the site checks it to make sure it complies. Only thing remaining is to post off the old one, we'll see how long it takes before the replacement arrives.

We were on the Arvia T/A earlier this month and I can't say I noticed any additional seating compared with our experience when on Iona last year. It's a very small venue, capacity of less than 100 would be my guess, when there's 4000+ passengers onboard you can see how that could be difficult to keep everyone happy, but then it's meant to be small to create an intimate atmosphere so would you want it to be any larger and risk losing that feeling? Personally, I'd limit guests ability to book more than a couple of shows, that would give more opportunity to others who would like to experience a show but miss out because they don't jump onto the app the instant they are on board.