philipsw285

Hi...no it is not new....it was mentioned on her some time ago and when we came off our last cruise ...September 2017....P&O sent the offer through the post to us....think it was for £50pp OBC extra and above what was offered if a cruise include OBC. I may be calling it the wrong name but I think it is called Welcome Back or Home bonus

I came back on Azura transatlantic I got letter but have ignored it as I won’t be sailing P&O again.

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looking at explorer of the seas for 7th may 2019 it calls at Gijon northern Spain on way back has any one done this port with rci before do they do trips to Santiago de Compostela when they call there?

I haven't sailed RCI yet looking at September 2019 I have sailed celebrity I have set up a crown and anchor account how long does it take to link everything together I've put my captains club number in and it's accepted it but not linking my points or sea days yet?

looking for room layouts on independence of the seas looking at spacious promenade layout or a video have seen a few you tubes but they are part of a big tour so don't see much a video that shows more of the room the is what I'm looking for the other option was to have an ocean view but have 2 rooms rather than 1?

travel wrist bands work wonders they work on presure points in you're wrist just search boots adult travel bands.

they help us when we get back with the swaying you end up with when you get of the ship also work on sea sickness my parents swear by them I don't tend to use them I just lay down on sunbed going down length of the ship or on a bed in the cabin only need to do for about 20 minutes.

the wrist bands work I used them traveling through a particular bad trip through Biscay and they worked wonders.

when I sailed celebrity boarding times are fast I actually managed to board at 11am on the 2nd cruise do they put restrictions on times of boarding.

last time sailing Southampton on Britannia we arrived 2 hours early for our allotted time of 3pm and were made to wait until 2.45pm before boarding so do RCI want to get you to the ship as soon as possible?

yes I've had 3 bad cruise's since 2015 with p&o and each one had problems which involve each having port cancelation at last minute we did the fjords and out of 4 ports we actually visited 1 port and were taken to Bergen which wasn't on the schedule the trips they put on were a disaster we then went on Britannia in 2016 and it was already falling apart and they cancelled Gibraltar with a weeks notice before leaving due to to many ships being in port that day we just did azura transatlantic which had st martin cancelled last October which I accept but then we loose the azores on the way back if I had booked a cruise where it had 9 sea days in a row I would understand but we didn't and p&o hid behind t&c's saying it wasn't a major change only when it is major are refunds available that plus my issues while on the cruise put the nail in the coffin as far as I'm concerned with p&o.

I had 2 excellent cruises in 2012 on Azura and Oriana it has gone downhill since.

I'm looking at independence of the seas September 2019 round the med some ports we have already done and some are new I go with my parents and mum prefers Southampton due to luggage and being able to load the kitchen sink into the suit cases.....

I accept that no ship is perfect but with p&o there's now to much bad and not enough good.

What is the entertainment like during sea days do they always have things going on?

3 new questions I can't find the brochure online for anything beyond April 2019 even tho the cruise's are online when do you get the brochures? (sorry my parents are old school)

the next question is do they have formal nights where you have to dress up?

and the final question is they put arrival and departure times never had this before are these accurate most of the time?

when is the best time to look at pricing in the uk with p&o if you look during the week prices sometime go down does this apply to rcl?

Regarding customer service, despite lots of complaints on here, I have always found them very good. Any problems we've ever had large or(mostly)small have always been sorted fairly quickly to our satisfaction. I always think that they are an American company and have American service standards which seem much better than our British ones:)

 

Did you enjoy your Celebrity cruise compared to P and O, if so you will probably enjoy RCL too.

 

Julie

We sailed celebrity eclipse 2010/2011 only stopped and looked elsewhere due to cost the prices went up in 2011/2012 that was our only reason for change eclipse has loads to do and is aimed at adult market that and my parents now use tesco club card points to save on cruise which they can now do on royal Caribbean.

I've just done my 3rd cruise in a row where itinerary changes have happened at last minute this one was thursday and we flew out on the friday and ended up doing 8 days at sea due to change this was a transatlantic from Barbados when we left Barbados i realised the aircon wasn't working in the cabin after 3 complaints it wasn't fixed i gave up complaining when on the 3rd time i was made to feel it was in my head that we were both waking up sweating in the night the entertainment during sea days was none existent afte the 2nd day. When you complain to head office you after the most you can get is an on board credit on a future cruise so i'm not doing anything this time which even if you have had a major problem is peanuts under £70 a cabin.

another question we have sailed celebrity in the past i'm captains club classic does thi count on royal?

we have become disillusioned with p&o and their lack of customer care and maintenance of ships i'm looking at explorer of the seas over independence of the seas due to there being more toys on independence. My questions are do they maintain the ships (p&o have stopped doing repairs unless it's urgent and wait for refit time) what is customer service like if you have a problem do they try and fix it and manage to most of the time.

what are the differences between the 2 ships apart from the size.

Just of Azura 6pm the final full day onwards I think between 10 and 12 is final time it’s normally the room attendant that gets them to the service lift.

Disembarking we had 9.15-9.50 they were ahead and called us at 8.15 so be prepared that they may be pushing to get the ship cleared if they get luggage of quick which happened today.

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From Southampton I’ve taken a suit bag as well a rucksack the suit bag has wheels on it I have taken a big hold-all on which also has wheels as carry on luggage.

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I wouldn’t be surprised it has come to light that Ventura had a problem 2 years ago on its way out to Barbados and was stuck in ponta del gada for 2 days and still managed to make all it’s ports in the Caribbean so Azura could have made it as it’s the same build so it was a cost thing.

Last night they had about 10 dock workers and the pilot boat I bet the medical insurance paid for it can’t see P&O picking up the tab.

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One woman broke her hip the other woman hit her head every one was happy we docked even tho it was only for an hour they cancelled the Azores on the way back because of storm Riley and we were down for 8 days at sea across the Atlantic it actually made a break I should imagine someone went down to reception to ask to walk round the port at midnight!

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We had 4 ports Barbados Barbados St Lucia st kitts (applied) Antigua Barbados(applied again) 1st Barbados was embarking over 2 days but the rest Antigua my parents brought on small bottle of white rum no sign the 2 extra people it takes to police at the other 2 ports.

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We docked at Praia de Vitoria @ 12.30am after 5 days at sea it was a blessing just to stop captain said we need to go flat out to get back on track after docking there was at least 200 people on deck when the injured people came of they all started clapping!

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From what everyone says here, we are going to be hooked on cruising after our first cruise to Norway in May.Bearing that in mind, we're thinking of booking a 7 night Caribbean cruise for next January. Am I being optimistic in terms of getting a good choice of cabin or would we be better booking for Jan 2020?

 

I've looked online,and whilst there seems to be a reasonable choice on the 14 night cruises,it's very limited on 7 night ones.

 

Do most people book a long time in advance and register as soon as cruise schedules become available?

 

Thanks for any advice

 

Eve

I’m currently on Azura’s transatlantic we booked may 2016 but there seems to be a lot of people that have booked in the last couple of weeks as prices have fallen because it wasn’t full I had noticed before I came away that the cruises before it we’re going up which we’re all the fly there and back so if you want a specific cabin or deck I’d book early and if you book as brochure comes out you get a discount for booking earlier.

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I’m on Azura been a while since last cruise need to sort a massage to release my back I know there used to be cheaper times to go is this still true and if it is when is it port days or sea days morning or afternoon?

I read it this morning and the 1st thing I thought was my mum wanted to go to the Azores because of the shipping forecast on radio 4 a when she was younger.

The 2nd thing for me was 8 days at sea I’ll have proper sea legs by the time we get to Southampton I just hope biscay is ok after that long and also eu duty free from ponta Delgado.

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just got email from p&o no longer going to the azores but instead were going from Antigua back to Barbados we now have 8 days at sea in one hit. apparently they are having issues loading the ship due to storm riley and won't have everything on when we leave the 1st time.

I have booked premium seats for Barbados on Friday and was going to book premium security through Gatwick and have just read on P&O website that it is included in the premium seats package is this right or am I reading it wrong.

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i'm of on azura this Friday I know they do yoga and pilates classes do they charge for them if they do charge any idea how much?

I've used the holiday inn which was good enough and very close just outside the port gates for city cruise terminal I've also used a b&b in totton called brimar guest house which was clean and tidy and the breakfast was good from memory it was about £40 a person per night it's about 15 minutes to the terminal depending on traffic. holiday inn was about £70-£80 per person which I don't think included breakfast.