groovechick

Was this because it was in the school holidays with a lot of families onboard. We were on Aurora in June and the dress code was adhered to.

Possibly Mandy, but we always cruise during school holidays, have been on Aurora to the Fjords in summer, Azura to the Iberian coastline in summer and Britannia to the Caribbean at Christmas and as I said, this is the first time I have seen so many people choosing to not comply with even the casual dress code. There were quite a few big 3 or 4 generation groups and lots of families, but there were also plenty of couples of varying ages and singles. There were a lot of first time cruisers on board (about half the passenger numbers IIRC).

Whilst I had the use of my package I was logged on using one of the ship's computers. I then tried to use the package at the same time with my smartphone, and got a message to say that if I wanted to use the package with another device I had to log out from the first device. So you can use as many devices as you like, but can only be logged on to the package with a single device at any given time.

We're just back from 10 nights on Aurora. The following are observations, not criticisms.

On formal nights many ladies wore full-on beaded and sequinned evening gowns and dresses, but there were a lot more ladies wearing the kind of dress one might wear to a wedding or a day at the races than on our previous cruises (the kind of thing that might previously have been worn on semi-formal nights). A lot of the men were wearing suits rather than DJs or tuxes, and most were not dark suits. A couple of men looked super-smart in dress uniforms or kilts.

I like putting on the glam because for 50 weeks of the year I rarely get the chance.

I would say adherence to the formal dress code was somewhere around 75% or below. There were a lot of people who preferred to remain casually dressed and they were certainly allowed in the freedom dining MDR.

Even on casual nights many people did not observe the dress code (maybe 30-50%?) (faded/light-coloured jeans, T-shirts, hoodies, flip-flops) - the kind of clothes I would expect to wear around the ship or ashore during the day. Even my teenage son, who dislikes "dressing up" commented on it. I never saw or overheard anyone being challenged regarding their dress.

This is the first P&O cruise where I have seen so little observance of the dress code - it was very, very noticeable. Your figure of 95% compliance may be true for adult-only cruises or cruises during school term-time, Dai, but for this one it was way off the mark.

Beware! I did exactly what you suggest Annie, taking a package out at 3 pm. We changed time zones overnight and when I logged on the next morning, the system told me my package was only valid up to 2 pm! As we were in port that day and going on a shore excursion, by the time I returned the package had expired.

I am currently taking this up with P&O because I paid for 24 hours of access, which I did not receive, and there was no indication anywhere that you would lose time with a time zone change. (Bet they don't give you extra if the clocks change the other way!!).

If you contact customer services by e-mail they take up to 28 days to reply, Helen. This is what I was told yesterday by our personal cruise consultant. I contacted her regarding some luggage damaged when disembarking our recent cruise. She has dealt with this, but another complaint regarding the Internet service has been forwarded to customer services.

If you need a rapid response best to contact the high-ups.

As an alternative to asking your steward for a jug of milk, in the buffet on Aurora they had little jugs on top of some of the serving counters, so we would get one for the table at breakfast and another to take back to the room fridge for use with our morning cuppa next day.

The coffee served in the restaurants, and as far as I've experienced in the Select Restaurants too, is hardly deserving of the name.

I drink very little coffee, but when I do I like it to be good and have always steered clear of P&O coffee because it is so awful. We are just back from Aurora and had a fabulous cup of coffee to round off our meal in the Beach House. I hold out little hope it will filter down to the MDR. :D

As others have said it's easy to pick up a tour in Gibraltar, but if you want to prebook I can highly recommend John Lopez (find him on Trip Advisor/Facebook), he gave us a fabulous tour, longer than stated, no extra charge, funny, informative, saw absolutely everything, just brilliant.

Cadiz is very easy to DIY. When you get off the ship and come out of the port gate there are walking trails painted onto the road - red, orange, purple, green and blue routes. They take you through different parts of the city - old town, merchants' quarter, sea promenades, and so on. You can mix and match and swap from one to the other where they intersect. Very nice square close to the port where you can get a beer and tapas.

We've just booked with John Reid on Tenerife for our upcoming Canaries cruise, I can report back if you like, but judging by the dealings I've had with him so far and the easy booking process, I'm sure it's going to be great.

Valencia - I think if your cruise company operates a shuttle into the city you can easily DIY all the main sites. We did a ship's tour to a very nice, quiet, unspoilt beach with a few facilities as we needed a chill-out day after lots of ports.

Carol58, we've done this cruise in early August. Think typical British summer weather, i.e. light layers, and a light waterproof. When we were there the average temp was low 20s. Pretty much every day started out cool/cloudy/drizzly, then improved as the day wore on.

Glad you are enjoying your cruise, but a bit concerned to hear the buffet is "dire" (as that's where we usually take breakfast and lunch) and that the entertainment is a bit lacking too, as I think we are on her next after you. On our Aurora cruise 5 years ago we found that the entertainment did not appeal (and we like most things) and ended up playing cards a lot of the time. I hoped we'd just been unlucky on that occasion. The shows on our last cruise on Britannia were brilliant so I was hoping for more of the same. Never mind, I've still got sunshine, cocktails and no work/housework to look forward to!

I looked into this for our upcoming Canaries cruise, although we are only visiting 2 islands - La Palma and Tenerife. I'm fairly sure that I found out that the HoHo in Santa Cruz on Tenerife isn't worth it. The route is quite short and there aren't that many sights of interest. If you look on Trip Advisor it gives you a good idea.

If you don't want to do a lot of walking in Tenerife one alternative is to take the new tram to the old capital, La Laguna, which is supposed to be very picturesque. Journey time about 35 mins, fare a couple of euros, trams frequent.

I believe La Palma is quite small and easily walkable.

Saw today that the excursions went live for our Christmas Cruise on Azura round the Caribbean, if there are any other first timers out there waiting to see what is on offer.

 

Better pay my balance tomorrow

I understand if you're a first time cruiser you might want to stick to ship's excursions, but TBH you can do the same or better excursions, organising them yourself, for a fraction of the cost. After 3 European cruises we'd done very limited DIY - walking around easily accessible places that you could walk into or get the ship's shuttle - but for the Caribbean I took the plunge and booked tours from the UK with private operators in the islands. Everything worked like clockwork - we were met where agreed, when agreed, were always back at the ship in good time and had some amazing trips and experiences. Lots of recommendations on this site for reputable and reliable operators.

A very short walk (10 min slow amble) from the dock in Stavanger is the Petroleum Museum. Sounds boring, but it isn't. Quite a few hands on exhibits (and it's a 5 years since we went so they could have added more) such as trying on a survival suit, getting into a survival pod, trying one of the oil rig escape chutes, etc. etc. We spent a whole drizzly morning there - my son was about 11 at the time and loved it.

I think there is a bus operating from the port in Olden to the Floen skylift cable car - if you search the threads there was quite a long one about this recently, with comprehensive info.

One tip: if you son likes/needs snacks and drinks to keep him topped up during the day, I would take items with you as food and drink is very expensive in Norway.

Thank you Cruise Puss. She has no idea what to expect and is a little nervous. She's quite particular, but her husband is very easy going. I hope they will enjoy it, as we've extolled the delights of cruising to them for some years now!

Thank you Les. I'd already advised her that the best thing was to read the info on P&O's website, then have a look here for "real life" info.

Because she knows I've cruised a few times she was hoping I would be able to give her chapter and verse/insider tips, but I can't because I've never sailed on Adonia or been to her ports of call, apart from Guernsey on a land holiday.

Thank you Jean. She is particularly looking forward to the overnight in Bordeaux.

A friend is cruising for the first time ever, on Adonia, in a couple of weeks, calling at Bilbao, Bordeaux (overnight) and Guernsey.

I have given her some advice but can't help re Adonia as I've never cruised on her, nor on an adult-only ship. I've directed her to this website, but do OPs have any special tips about the ship or advice about the ports I can pass on to her? Thanks

how much larger are the larger insides? It looks to add on another £250, which isn't massive in the grand scheme of things but equally that £250 would pay the tips..

I can't find any dimensions, but there are these photos https://ask.pocruises.com/help/PO/fleet/larger_inside

If you compare this to the picture of a standard Inside on Britannia, it's a bit more room, but not a lot. Also if you have a cabin with a sofa bed it looks as though you would end up scrambling over the sofa to get to your bed/the bathroom/the door.

Hi there,

 

Newphew just got back from 18 day cruise and came back with a broken arm after falling off the bunk bed.

 

bunk beds didn't have any railings and was advised (after) they should of, i always thought they look a bit unsafe for small children from the photos...

 

anyone got any advice/experience in this matter... should they have had railings on? should they have done that for them? thank you

When our children have used Pullman berths there has always been a short guard rail up by the head and another towards the end, I think, but certainly not a rail all round.

Hope your nephew recovers soon.

Anyone got any tips as to particular inside cabins to go for or locations?

We had cabin C522 on our two week cruise. Not sure if it's a 4 berth cabin as there was just the two of us in it, our teenage children were next door but one. Location-wise it's just aft of midships, close to the central lifts or you can walk down the corridor to the aft lifts. All cabins on decks above and below, so very quiet. There's a laundrette a little way down the corridor, which might come in handy for you, but there's no noise from it. Handy for getting up to pool deck/buffet and down to restaurants/shops. We were very happy with it. Anywhere round there would be great.

You and partner might not be able to have the bed configured as a double if you're using the overhead Pullman beds for the children, although some stewards will set it up for you that way if you ask. The inside cabins are compact and, IMHO, not as spacious as insides on other P&O ships. I don't know how much bigger the balcony cabins are, but I don't think you'll gain much in space unless you make a big jump up price wise. There are what are known as larger insides, that might be an option for you.

I was disgusted when P&O revamped their loyalty scheme last time (around the time we returned to cruising 5 years ago) and we were told that the points we had previously accrued would be carried over.

By now this would have put us on the second from bottom tier of the loyalty scheme, but because P&O did not honour its promise we are still languishing at the bottom and will need another cruise to move us up.

At this rate I will need a Lottery win to get me to Ligurian!

Can anyone explain freedom dining to me. We are sailing on Azura can you book the same time every night when you first board and does this mean you can have the same table, restaurant and waiters.

 

 

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If you want to have the same restaurant/table/waiters every night then you are better using what is known as Club dining, which is served in one of the main dining rooms (MDR), at fixed times of 6.30 and 8.30. You will have the same table and waiters every night and if you choose this option it applies for the whole of your cruise, although you can use the buffet (no booking required) or speciality restaurants instead (booking required). If you have already booked your cruise and would prefer this arrangement, but haven't stated it as your preference, then you might be able to change it beforehand by contacting P&O, otherwise you will have to request a change once on board, which they might or might not be able to accommodate.

Freedom dining is the opposite of this. You don't book in advance, you turn up at any time (within the restaurant opening hours) and request a table for 2, 4 or whatever and are allocated whichever table is available. If there are no tables available when you arrive you will be given a pager so you can go off and have a pre-dinner drink and will be paged when a table becomes available. If you end up eating around the same time every night then you might possibly be in the same section of the restaurant and have the same waiters; when you arrive you can possibly even request to go in the same section as the previous night, but there are no guarantees. The whole idea is that you can dine at flexible times to suit you.

I think I'm right in saying that if you have booked a Saver fare you are automatically allocated Freedom dining. I think it's possible to change to Club dining, you have to request it on the first evening once on board, they will make the change for you if they can.

Thank you Goosebear Mum. I had already contacted P & O and they said they used to get details ahead of the cruise but not anymore.

 

It was a long shot but I hoped someone had already done this particular cruise and therefore had the answer.

 

Many thanks for taking the time to respond to my post.

Just because it's the same cruise you wouldn't necessarily have the same formal nights, P&O do chop and change, especially if they have to drop a port for any reason and you end up with an extra sea day.

First sea day is usually formal, and often the night before the last night at sea.

Yes that's the one [emoji2]I have a little chocolate addiction. This shop has some strange concoctions but they taste great, really smooth and no gritty texture like you sometimes get. I was talking to Ben a few years ago and he told me that he had a great chocolate caramel at Gordon Ramsey's restaurant, I did some research and found them in Selfridges, then a bit more research and I found M&S sell them and they are the same brand. So one trip to Guernsey led to an addiction to M&S chocolate caramels [emoji2]

 

Have you tried the chocolates made by Dave Golubows at Cocoadance in the Peak District. They have some amazing and unique flavours and are lovely people to boot. They do a chocolate making/tasting course. I bought one for hubby, who is a chocolate fiend, as a present and you basically ate chocolate for 3 (?) hours, and got to make loads of chocolates and bring home what you'd made. :D

We rarely go on a P&O ship without meeting staff who have served us before. It's one of the pleasures of cruising

I'm sure you do Dai, but you also cruise much more frequently than us (once every 1-2 years). My point was not so much about encountering the same staff, but about different passengers' varying experiences of the service they receive on the same ship. We've only once had waiters who I would call poor - surly, aggressive and inefficient - but the rest have been fine. Anyway, we always go to enjoy our holidays and it takes a lot to spoil our hard-earned treat. I'm a "glass half full" girl!