CaptainPedantic

Thanks to feedback from the lovely people on this forum, we used P4C for the first time last year after 'defaulting' to CPS time and time again, and seeing similar huge increases. Very impressed and like others have said, the slight inconvenience of a less-than-5-minute walk is well worth the savings (and actually was quicker too). Recommended.

Really?!? I haven't experienced this with them - but I'm not surprised if it makes it easier to take our money!

We had a fabulous 14n cruise on Caribbean Princess last May, no issues with illness or overcrowding, wouldn't hesitate to book again

Is there still a night nursery available for the under 5s? When our kids were little (a long time ago!), we were able to regularly make use of this excellent facility and enjoy our evenings safe in the knowledge that they were being well looked after, and we could easily be contacted by pager if needed.

Princess made changes to their process last year to allow UK passengers to request any outstanding refundable onboard credit in cash before disembarking. I was told of this when trying to get a refund from a Caribbean Princess cruise in May 2023 (which was later paid via NatWest PayIt) and by the time we were on our August 2023 Island Princess cruise, we received a letter in the cabin telling us we could do this. They've done this because they can't retain non-US card details after the cruise, so can't issue refundable credits automatically.

+1 for this... as long as they are spicy... we find the curries are 'dumbed down' for the masses and miss some heat!

We got this too - discount code JANSALE24M if anyone needs it

Agree with your comment on 1903 - we tried that but much preferred the Escape lounge, and it was cheaper (although both had the long queues)

Hubby will probably be even more disappointed if he has to be dragged around the shops 😉

As others have said... you do get fast-track but you don't get lounge access included. There's a dedicated check-in desk/queue for premium economy, last month it was the very last of the P&O check-in desks, and there are always staff on hand to help direct you. They will give you fast-track tickets/stickers at check-in so you can breeze through security. But no lounge access unless you buy it separately... and the last two times we've been on these P&O fly cruises, we've had to wait 20+ minutes to get into the lounge even though we pre-booked - both times due to P&O premium economy passengers trying to argue their way in for free (unsuccessfully). Hope you have a great cruise 🙂

Hope you have an amazing time, looking forward to reading all about it 🙂

The ship did feel pretty quiet. I suppose there will have been a combination of people making the most of their first full day in Barbados, people recovering from long flights, and those leaving the ship early for a last trip or beach visit before going home. The pool area was definitely quieter than any other day on the cruise - even at 10am there were sun beds available poolside. MDR was quiet for breakfast and lunch too. The only busy times I noticed were when dropping off our hand luggage at 9am - everyone must have had the same idea after vacating their cabin but even then, it was less than 10 minute wait. And it was busy in the waiting areas naturally.

Here are a few of ours... This year, thanks to cruising, we have: Bobbed along in a RIB with a pod of humpback whales Seen and touched icebergs Ridden a horse through a Caribbean rainforest, onto a beach and into the sea Zip-lined through a rainforest and a cave Swam with a dolphin in the wild (that one was a complete surprise!) Snorkelled with turtles, stingrays, so many colourful fish and over a shipwreck and an underwater sculpture park We feel so privileged to have been able to do these things, and yes while we could organise land-based holidays to do similar things, for us, cruising is the best way to travel 🙂

Over Christmas, me and Mrs Pedantic were reflecting on our first proper year back to cruising since the pandemic, and all the wonderful experiences we have had in 2023... We definitely had started to take cruising for granted before Covid, and we are very grateful to have been able to have so many brilliant experiences this year. Not to mention all the lovely people we have met along the way! So as we get close to the end of the year, I thought it would be nice to hear all your cruise-related highlights for 2023 in one thread 🙂 look forward to hearing your stories!

Last year on Britannia, we took the Turtle Snorkel tour on disembarkation day on Britannia, and it worked perfectly - back to the ship for 12, quick shower and change in the gym (and btw lots of people had left their toiletries behind there if you forget), lunch in the MDR and all ready for our 2pm disembarkation. Which was delayed to 3pm so we even got to keep using the drinks package for a little longer 🙂 it was a great way to end the holiday before flying home. You can leave your hand luggage in the theatre too, to allow you to do what you like without having to lug things around with you. So good, that we had booked exactly the same tour for our Britannia cruise earlier this month, but unfortunately it was cancelled a couple of days before due to low bookings. So apart from a quick walk outside the terminal building, we spent the morning sunbathing by the pool instead. I did note there was also a beach excursion available which would take you directly to the airport at the end, instead of returning to the ship (in which case, don't leave your hand luggage in the theatre 😄). One other note... If you're doing Friday to Friday, you will need to go through immigration on the morning of the last day. They ask all those with tours booked to go through immigration first - it was at 7.30am on Britannia this month, although due to a late arrival it was more like 8am and the queue was huge! Once they started to process the immigration, the queue moved quickly, but if you have an early tour booked, it's worth getting to the immigration early...

Great review Technoman2, thanks! We were on the same cruise and had an amazing time 🙂 and would agree with just about everything you wrote. We were in cabin G719, so a little further forward from your original cabin, and only noticed the noise from the Live Lounge a couple of times. To be honest, we had worse disturbance from the thrusters when docking early morning. Our balcony also overlooked the smoking area on Deck 7, which we thought would be a problem, but thankfully we barely noticed it. Freedom dining in the Peninsular MDR was excellent (so was breakfast and lunch), even better than we expected. Sure, there was quite a bit of repetition in the dinner menu, but there was always something nice to choose and all our meals were tasty and hot. I would personally like a bit more spice in some dishes, but I understand having to cater for the masses... Our waiters were truly amazing - even though we were on freedom dining, we managed to sit with the same waiters almost every night. Drinks service was also good at dinner and in fact, throughout the cruise. The only real issue we had was the ship running out of prosecco 10 days in, Mrs Pedantic not pleased about that! And I agree that the cocktails were disappointing, especially when compared to those on our Princess cruise in the summer. We thoroughly enjoyed all the ports, and for once took mainly P&O excursions, which were mostly very good both in terms of experience and value. The 'Cat Caribe and Turtle Snorkel' in Barbados was a particular highlight, and most of the other trips were also excellent. Our St Kitts 'Beach Hop by Boat' was saved by an unexpected but thrilling encounter with a dolphin, without which the trip would have been disappointing. And in Grenada, our 'Starwind Snorkel' trip to snorkel with turtles and stingrays wasn't as expected - we were taken instead to the underwater sculpture park which was amazing! I think this was due to the weather. I would still personally prefer to organise things to run at my own pace - we did feel a little rushed on a couple of the trips when we were expecting to be more 'chilled' - but no big issues and the security of a return to the ship is appreciated. Shame to have missed Antigua, thankfully our insurance covered that and our claim is already processed. We heard about the quiz disruption and allegedly the same person had caused issues in the Limelight Club. We also heard of 4 people being removed from the ship. All second or third-hand reports, thankfully we didn't experience any such issues ourselves the entire cruise. Just the usual sight of sunburnt towels... 😉 All-in-all an excellent cruise on a lovely ship with lots of happy and helpful crew - lots of great memories and new friends, and we can't wait to do it again 🙂

Just back from a fabulous Caribbean cruise on Britannia, and despite normally preferring DIY, we booked more P&O excursions than we would have done previously. Mostly snorkelling / catamaran trips. We found the prices to be reasonable - similar to what was available independently - and most of the trips were brilliant, well-organised and good value. A few were sold out before we embarked, and I did notice some of the prices had increased onboard slightly (but not all). If there's a specific excursion you want to do, I would recommend booking now to avoid disappointment. I'm sure we could have done the same with independent vendors - and without P&O taking their cut therefore helping the islands more - but the added security of getting back to the ship, especially for the longer trips, was a big plus for us. On the negative side, we did have a couple of trips cancelled at short notice (including Barbados on our last day 😞) and we did sometimes feel herded around to meet a schedule (e.g. only having 45 mins on the beach in Curacao was a shame) but then that could happen with independent tours too. We heard from plenty of people who had great trips with independent vendors and also lots of people who did their own thing, and I can't remember hearing anything particularly negative about any of them.

Yes they do. I've had emails with this reminder 3 days before (which is the earliest you can fill it in), on a checklist 2 weeks before that includes specifically the Barbados Immigration form requirement, another checklist 3 weeks before when online check-in for the cruise opens. And it's clear on the My Cruise login/personaliser checklist too. We had always had the forms like you until our last P&O cruise November 2022, it was online then.

I must have been lucky - or maybe being in UK timezone helps - but I've used the chat function twice and both times been really impressed with the service.

We've been lucky to get free upgrades on 2 of our last 3 Princess cruises - one from deluxe balcony to mini-suite (which was great, although on Sky Princess the balconies are much smaller on the mini-suites), the other upgrade from standard balcony to deluxe. That after going 12 years without a single Princess upgrade. Very nice when it happens!

We managed to do this yesterday for Saturday's flight. Looking at the travelform website now it looks like you can select upto 3rd December today so you should be ok for Saturday too:

According to P&O guidelines: https://www.pocruises.com/cruise-with-confidence/destination-requirements Barbados All guests flying into Barbados must provide evidence of completing the Barbados Immigration and Customs form here. The form will be available within 72 hours prior to travel. This will be checked at the airport before boarding your flight. We’ve put together a handy guide on how to fill this out here. I can remember filling this in on the plane years ago, but last November we were asked to fill this in online as above, and I don't remember being asked on the plane if we'd already done it - so I assume this is now an expectation pre-check-in.

P&O also provide a guide to complete this here: https://pocruises.msgfocus.com/files/amf_blueberry_wave/project_1165/Barbados_Immigration_Form_how-to-guide.pdf

Last year we were on Britannia 5-19 November and the decorations were being put up while we were on the cruise. I only wish we had been onboard long enough to also see them taken down in the New Year 🙂

I don't miss this lottery at all! Even if the prices do go down - and they might - you may find that cabins with extra berths are no longer available (even though you don't actually need the extra berth given your little one will be in a cot), or that they have reached the limit on the number of children in the relevant age group. We've fallen foul of both situations in the past, and to avoid that we tended to book as soon as the cruises launched. Not helpful for you right now I know... You might get lucky with some of the cruises that tend to be less popular with families in the summer, that's where we had our best late booking successes as a family of 4. We got a ridiculously cheap late deal with Princess for a British Isles cruise (and it was brilliant) and we've had decent late deals for Baltic cruises with Princess and Norwegian Fjords with P&O too. I agree you should have a Plan B!